Tailwind strategy: how to launch it further

Almost everybody plays Tailwind the same way for the first dozen goes: draw the band all the way back, aim it at the sky, and wonder why the numbers stop improving. Both halves of that are wrong, and they are wrong for different reasons. Here is what is actually going on.

Harder is not further

The catapult brings the aeroplane up to speed over a short stroke, and getting to speed over a short distance is a violent acceleration, tens of g at a full draw. Every airframe has a figure it takes cleanly, and past that the wing strains: it loses lift and gains drag, and it keeps them for the whole flight.

So over-drawing does not simply waste the extra band. It spends the glide you chose that aircraft for. The flight looks fine for the first second or two and then quietly refuses to go anywhere.

That figure is what the strength bar on the pick screen is telling you. The lightest aircraft in the fleet wants roughly half a draw. The strongest takes nearly all of it. If you fly two different aircraft with the same launch, one of them is being flown wrong.

How to find an aircraft's draw

You cannot dial it in, because the band draws back on its own and you tap to stop it, so find it by aiming a little short and creeping later, watching where the distance stops climbing. That is where the airframe started paying. Then stay just under it.

The tell in flight is distinctive: an over-drawn launch climbs beautifully, tops out, and then comes down far steeper than it went up. If you see that, it is not your aim. You caught the band too late.

Which is why early beats late when you are unsure. Falling short of the best draw costs you a little distance; going past it strains the wing and spends the glide for the whole flight.

Why straight up loses

Height is worth a great deal in this game, because a gliding aeroplane turns every metre of height into several metres of distance. That is a real effect and it is why the best angle is steeper than most people's instinct.

But it does not follow that vertical is best. An aeroplane thrown at the sky arrives at the top with no flying speed left. A wing with no air moving over it does nothing at all, so it hangs, drops, and has to dive to get its speed back before it can fly again, and it spends most of the height it just bought doing exactly that. Fired straight up, it comes down close to where it left.

The best angle is the steepest one the aeroplane still arrives at the top flying. In still air that is high. Higher than it feels like it should be. Push past it and the distance does not taper off politely; it falls away.

The wind decides the aim

The dial at the top left is rolled fresh for every attempt, and it is the single most useful thing on the screen. It moves the best angle a long way:

The shape of it is not what most people expect, so it is worth learning properly. The best aim rises as a headwind builds, peaks, and only then falls away, and in a real gale it flips completely.

Ignoring the dial and repeating one good still-air launch costs you around an eighth of the distance on the worst days. That is not ruinous, but records are not won by an eighth.

Choosing an aircraft

None of the six is best. Flown properly they all reach within a few per cent of each other, which is deliberate: the pick screen is a choice, not a ranking. What differs is how each gets there, and which day suits it.

• Light and lifty aircraft float beautifully and own the calm days, but they are fragile, so they want a gentle draw, and a headwind pushes them about badly.
• Heavy and blunt aircraft take a full draw and punch through air that stops the light ones. They come into their own in a gale.
• The even ones in the middle have no weakness to work around, but no special talent either.

Since the launch is timed, the fleet also differs in how much precision it asks of you. Lacerta is the gentlest to aim, its good band about half again as wide as anyone else's, which makes it the one to learn on, as long as you remember it is also the one that punishes a heavy draw. Sirocco and Zephyr are the sharpest, with barely forty milliseconds of aim to hit.

Each aircraft keeps its own record, so there is no cost to trying the fleet against the same weather.

When to spend the boost

Once the aeroplane is in the air you have one burst of thrust, and it is the single largest thing you control. Spent well it roughly doubles the throw. Spent badly it is worth almost nothing.

The rule is that thrust costs the airframe, exactly as the catapult does. Adding speed quickly is an acceleration, and an acceleration is a load. Fire the boost while the aeroplane is already fast and the wing takes that load on top of the launch it has already absorbed: it strains, loses lift, gains drag, and the glide you were saving is spent. Fire it while the aeroplane is slow and the same burst costs almost nothing.

So look at the airspeed, not the clock. The read-out under the aeroplane is the whole clue. Speed is highest just after launch and lowest near the top of the climb, which is why the best moment is usually up there, as the aeroplane runs out of the speed the catapult gave it and before it has settled into the glide.

It is not one number to memorise. The moment moves with the aircraft and with the wind, from very early on some days to almost the end of the climb on others. That is the part worth learning, and the only way to learn it is to watch the speed rather than count seconds.

A mistimed boost costs you the throw and nothing else. There is no penalty, no streak and nothing to lose, and a short throw puts you back at the catapult sooner than a long one does.

Small things worth knowing

• Distance is counted where the aeroplane stops, not where it touches down. A gentle, shallow arrival rolls a long way; a heavy one does not.
• Nothing is dialled in. The band draws back on its own and the catapult swings on its own; you are tapping against both. There are no numbers or meters on screen on purpose: the band's stretch and the aeroplane's attitude already tell you where you are, and a marked bar would just be a mark to memorise.
• The windows are tight, around a twentieth of a second on either input. Missing one is normal; the aeroplane still flies, just not as far.
• Nothing is random except the wind, and you are shown it before you touch the band. Two identical launches on the same day give the identical distance.

The short version

• Find each aircraft's draw by creeping later until the distance stops climbing, then catch it just before that.
• A launch that climbs well and then drops steeply was caught too late on the band, not mis-aimed.
• Aim high in still air, steeper still in a gentle headwind, and low and flat once it is really blowing. With the wind behind you, flatter than still air.
• Straight up loses: it arrives at the top with nothing left and falls out of the sky.
• Pick the light aircraft for calm days and the heavy ones for rough weather.
• Spend the boost when the airspeed read-out is at its lowest, usually near the top of the climb. Early, while it is still fast, is the one clear mistake.

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