Birds do it too...

On Friday, May 25, 2018 at 10:48:18 AM UTC-4, Tom BravoMike wrote:
On Friday, May 25, 2018 at 8:47:03 AM UTC-5, WB wrote:
Interesting article at The Scientist. Parallels between behavior of soaring birds and soaring pilots (I almost wrote "soaring humans".

original url:

https://www.the-scientist.com/?artic...hsmi=63231246/


Short url:

http://tiny.cc/mutzty

Purchase Access to this Article for 1 day for US$30.00
Hmmm...

BTW, between the lines, maybe the secret to so many successful Polish pilots in the history of soaring: Poland has the world's largest population of white storks (ca. 25% of the world's count), virtually all of them migrating every year back and forth between Europe and Africa. Flying with them in a thermal is a common experience in Central Europe (including around Leszno), although they are a little bit timid and probably not as good in centering upwinds as soaring birds of prey.

I find downwinds easier...

While the original paper is behind a paywall, quite a bit more about the project and the findings are he
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0524141655.htm
Summary: those with poor thermaling skills land out in a dump. (And the retrieve takes months.)