Bill Hoadley wrote:
It would be interesting to hear about his coordination with Air Traffic
control to get use of the Class A airspace. Using the higher altitudes
must have been a big plus for this flight. B. Hoadley

I'd like to be in the room when Gordon and Kempton discuss the value of
higher altitudes for these cross wind flights. Summarizing what Kempton
said in a recent lecture in Seattle:

"Above 10,000', my ASH 26 is limited (redline) to 162 knots true
airspeed, so flying above 18,000' doesn't provide a speed advantage on
strong days. In fact, the higher winds at higher altitudes may work
against you as the crab into the wind reduces your speed along the wave
system. A glider with a higher redline would make longer flights easier."

The higher altitudes do give you more opportunity to deal with weak
patches, but these are likely not important on the kind of day needed
for these very long flights. The greatest advantage of the Class A
flight is for downwind attempts because the extra altitude is needed to
get to the next wave source. We'll have to hear from Gordon and Kemp
about it's value for crosswind flights!


--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA