??Back in my hang gliding days I participated in a competition at ?Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina - about an 800 foot cliff ?followed by another 800 feet of mountain Ð and the cliff was part of a ?soarable ridge. Grandfather mountain is a tourist attraction with a road ?to the top and a gift shop at the summit. We knew we weren't going to ?soar that day because we had trouble walking into the gift shop. The ?weather station inside was reporting winds in excess of 90 mph. But the ?wind direction was perfect - dead on the ridge.??We didn't soar that day but the local residents did. They have ravens at ?Grandfather mountain - lots of ravens. We were literally hanging on to ?any thing we could because we were afraid of being blown off the ?mountain. And, walking across that suspension bridge between the 2 peaks ?was probably not the smartest move. Anyway, the ravens were soaring the ?flippin' ridge. They had their wings tucked in real close and were just ?zipping along. T
hey were at ridge top level about 30 feet in front of us ?and it was just amazing. I can only guess at what their airspeed was, ?but they were probably moving across the ridge at 20 to 30mph and so ?when you factor in the 90+ mph wind speed, their ASIs were probably ?hitting near 130. You'll never convince me they were flying to catch ?lunch - they were flying because they were having a blast. Of this I ?have absolutely no doubt.??Tony V. LS6-b "6N"?