jsmith wrote:
I cannot personally speak for the "a few hundred miles", but I have
experienced mountain wave within ten nm of the lee side of the
Appalachians in both North Carolina and Georgia.

Maybe I shouldn't say "mountain wave". There is a definite vertical component to
the air movement where I live, about 200-300 miles east of the Appalachians in
NC, when the wind blows perpendicular to the ridges. If you're flying east-west,
you are alternately pulling and pushing to maintain altitude as you pass from
crest to trough of the waves. I'm *guessing* the time from push to pull is a
minute or so, so that would make the wavelength about 5 nm at Mooney speeds.

[Before someone else says it, yes, I know, efficiency can be improved by
allowing altitude to vary and just staying trimmed for your airspeed.]

Dave


Dave Butler wrote:

Here in NC you can get mountain waves a few hundred miles downwind
from the Appalachians, though I've never experienced anything as
severe as the OP describes. I think St Simons is too far south for
Appalachian mountain waves, though.