Mountain wave

"Thomas Borchert" wrote in message
...
Michael,

Fun stuff.


Now imagine doing that in a glider and getting up to FL300. Did that in
the Lake Tahoe area once. Wow!

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Must have been pretty cold up there in a glider.

Michael 182 wrote:

Must have been pretty cold up there in a glider.

There's no such thing as cold weather, there's only insufficient
clothing. Here's how it looks up there in a glider:

http://www.glidingbasel.ch/fotos_ber.../images/05.jpg
http://www.glidingbasel.ch/fotos_ber.../images/06.jpg

Stefan

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 18:35:47 +0200, Stefan
wrote in ::

As a glider pilot, I've never understood this hold-the-altitude-itis of
my motorised brethren.

The desire of pilots of motorized aircraft to hold an altitude is a
result of FAR § 91.159 VFR cruising altitude or flight level.

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text...2.5.33&idno=14

Larry Dighera wrote:

As a glider pilot, I've never understood this hold-the-altitude-itis of
my motorised brethren.

The desire of pilots of motorized aircraft to hold an altitude is a
result of FAR § 91.159 VFR cruising altitude or flight level.

And as a simple human being I'll never understand those people who can't
grasp irony unless it comes with a smiley.

Stefan

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 14:11:26 -0400, Todd Pattist
wrote in
::

Larry Dighera wrote:

That's what glider guiders do: slow in rising air, and dive
through downdrafts.

But when I discussed this with a CFII, he said, "what goes up, comes
down." His advice was to hold a constant airspeed while flying VFR
through wave activity, and permit altitude excursions to occur. In
the end it should all balance out, and the pilot should find himself
at approximately the same altitude at which he entered the wave
activity upon exiting it.

That's a reasonable approach, but it has some disadvantages.

First, you need to be sure you can get through the sinking
air before terrain clearance becomes a problem. Faster in
the sink means less altitude lost and more clearance over
bad terrain.

Agreed. But the technique of diving through sinking air works better
with aircraft that possess low parasitic drag than it does with
"dirty" spam cans. Parasitic drag increases with the square of the
velocity doesn't it?

Second, it's not as efficient.

Right. To the extent that the pilot fails to take advantage of the
rising air, the technique suggested by the CFII does fail to exploit
the energy inherent in rising air.

There is free altitude available here - why not use it, particularly
in the mountains where you may already be near the service ceiling.

If the mission calls for remaining near a specific cruising altitude,
pulling-up in lift zones and diving through sink zones will amplify
the altitude excursions beyond what would be encountered if constant
pitch attitude were maintained.

If the cruising altitude is within 3,000 AGL, a specific cruising
altitude need not be maintained (by regulation), and the 'dolphin'
technique would indeed provide a viable option for extracting energy
inherent in updrafts.

In article Bwq0d.166098$Fg5.68105@attbi_s53, Michael 182 wrote:
Hit a mountain wave today near Pikes Peak at FL190 in my TR-182. First I
couldn't maintain FL190 (I only have 300-400 fpm climb at that altitude
anyway) as my indicated airspeed descended to 80 K.

Speed up in sink, slow down in lift is the general rule (OK, you
probably don't want to slow down in lift if you're on an ifr flight plan
- but if you speed up in the sink, or at least maintain your cruise
speed rather than slowing to 80 kts you'll lose less altitude.

Used this sort of thing to good effect in my C140 which was decidedly
lacking in power when crossing the mounains in the western US.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Wow ! I Just found me a new background image !

Thanks,

Antonio

Stefan wrote:
Michael 182 wrote:

Must have been pretty cold up there in a glider.


There's no such thing as cold weather, there's only insufficient
clothing. Here's how it looks up there in a glider:

http://www.glidingbasel.ch/fotos_ber.../images/05.jpg

http://www.glidingbasel.ch/fotos_ber.../images/06.jpg


Stefan

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 11:03:24 -0400, Todd Pattist
wrote:

I went to FL300 in my glider over Mt. Washington once. It's
quite fun to gain 25,000' of altitude without an engine :-)

Todd, I've heard about the "box" over Mt. Washington. (I assume you
weren't busting Class A when you did that?)

How big is the box, and how many days a year is it in effect?

Thanks!


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Expedition sailboat charters www.expeditionsail.com

Michael,

st have been pretty cold up there in a glider.


You bet! If you want, I'll e-mail a photo of the panel showing minus 40
degrees centigrade - and of me in a thermo suit with moon boots. It's
not that bad where the sun shines on you through that big canopy, but
my feet were nearly frozen after two hours of flying. Some people who
do this regularly have electric thermopads in their boots.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Stefan wrote in message ...




There's no such thing as cold weather, there's only insufficient
clothing. Here's how it looks up there in a glider:

http://www.glidingbasel.ch/fotos_ber.../images/05.jpg

What is the black object that appears to be pasted to the outside of
the canopy in this image? Some kind of relative wind indicator?