Keith Gould — March 18 🏆
📊 The Big Picture
This is a massive flight. 147 minutes smashes the previous record of 88 min (Mar 5). 1,046m is the highest you've been from Domi — only Arthur (1,064m on Mar 14) has gone higher in our records. 35 thermals means you were constantly working lift for nearly 2.5 hours.
Device note: This flight was recorded on the Stodeus UltraBip (GPS vario), not FlySkyHy. Different recording characteristics may affect metric precision slightly.
Thermal Skill Metrics
🔑 Reading the Metrics
Lock-in at 1.2 turns is your best ever. You're centering thermals almost immediately now — faster than the corpus median (2.2). This is a clear, sustained improvement from your career average of 2.3.
Consistency and extraction are at career averages. 82% and 30% are where you've typically been. With 35 thermals over 2.5 hours, many of these were short re-connections with the same thermal rather than fresh cores — which drags these metrics down. The long flight itself is evidence of good thermal management even if the per-thermal stats look average.
The paradox of long flights: More thermals often means more short bumps and re-entries, which lowers consistency and extraction averages. A 30-minute flight with 3 perfect thermals can score higher than a 2.5-hour marathon. Duration and altitude are their own metrics — and today those are off the charts.
Career Trend
| Date | Duration | Max Alt | Lock-in | Consistency | Extraction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 14 | 77 min | 838m | Pre-metrics | ||
| Jan 26 | 73 min | 820m | Pre-metrics | ||
| Jan 29 | 53 min | 834m | Pre-metrics | ||
| Mar 5 | 88 min | 889m | Pre-metrics | ||
| Mar 11 | 37 min | 778m | Pre-metrics | ||
| Mar 13 | 63 min | 869m | Pre-metrics | ||
| Mar 16 | 32 min | 867m | 1.4 | 91% | 40% |
| Mar 17 | 53 min | 809m | 2.8 | 84% | 31% |
| Mar 18 | 147 min | 1,046m | 1.2 | 82% | 30% |
Green = best per-thermal metrics (Mar 16). Blue = best flight overall (Mar 18). Different kinds of personal bests.
Altitude Profile
Flight Map
Thermal Detail
📋 Standout Moments
T34 — The breakthrough thermal. At 2:11pm local, 130 minutes into the flight, you hit the day's strongest thermal: +197m to 1,046m in 2.5 minutes. That's the patience payoff — conditions peaked late and you were still in the air to catch it.
T12 — The grinder. 7:43 minutes for +237m to 862m. Long, steady climb that kept you in the game during the middle of the flight.
T29 — Late afternoon surge. +182m to 886m at 1:51pm local. The afternoon CAPE peak (1,280 J/kg at 2pm) delivered exactly as forecast.
Endurance is a skill. Staying airborne for 2.5 hours at a site where most flights are 30-60 minutes requires sustained concentration, thermal management, and knowing when to work marginal lift vs. wait for the next cycle. Today you demonstrated all three.