Winter Thermal Cross-Country

Where do you fly, Stefan?

I did ~200km with a 2 knot average thermal on Friday. But I have few
landout options in Arizona ... if I'm at 1500 feet, I've long since
started to get closer to a place to land!

~ted

Winter-spring in Florida (go to Seminole-Lake Gliderport west of
Orlando) is actually the best soaring of the year in Florida with good
XC opportunities. Pack up your glider and reposition it to the US
"sunbelt"!

Burt
Marfa Gliders, west Texas USA
(soaring and havin' a mighty good time here, year-round)

Mike the Strike wrote:
.../..

I was driving in Idaho last February in snow showers and there were
snow devils that looked just like our summer dust devils. I suspect
that winter thermals might be more common than we think.

Slightly off topic, but....

Many years ago I wanted to check the still air trim of a F1A towline
glider, so when I woke up to see still air and a couple of inches of
snow I thought the time had come, grabbed the model and headed for the
park for a quick before work session. Wrongo: there were thermals a
plenty over the snow. It was fun, but the still air trimming session
didn't happen.

The park was Clapham Common. We don't get much snow in London, hence the
excitement.

--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. |
org | Zappa fan & glider pilot

At 01:12 14 November 2005, Marc Ramsey wrote:
I've done a few turns here and there at 20+
knots, but the stronger days average 10 to 12 knots,
decent days 7 to
10, and weaker days 5 to 7 knots.

Wow Marc either you totally rock at finding thermals
or we have a different definition of average climb
rate. I just looked back across a bunch of flights
over the past couple of years in NV, UT and AZ and
I've never averaged over 6.0 knots. This includes a
750k (4.0kts), several 500k's (4.2-4.7kts) and bunch
of tasks in the 200-300 mile range with average speeds
of 85-97mph where the average climb never topped 6.0
knots. The best sustained thermal I've ever seen since
getting GPS is 9.8 knots average over a 5000' climb.
That was in Arizona this summer.

This is all according to SeeYou.

Post some of those 12-knot flights and I'll follow
you everywhere!

9B

Andy Blackburn wrote:
Wow Marc either you totally rock at finding thermals
or we have a different definition of average climb
rate. I just looked back across a bunch of flights
over the past couple of years in NV, UT and AZ and
I've never averaged over 6.0 knots. This includes a
750k (4.0kts), several 500k's (4.2-4.7kts) and bunch
of tasks in the 200-300 mile range with average speeds
of 85-97mph where the average climb never topped 6.0
knots. The best sustained thermal I've ever seen since
getting GPS is 9.8 knots average over a 5000' climb.
That was in Arizona this summer.

This is all according to SeeYou.

Post some of those 12-knot flights and I'll follow
you everywhere!

Shhh, Andy, the sources and methods for the hyper-secret PASCO marketing
plan for Region 11 have not been cleared for public discussion. All
will be revealed at the Seminar on Saturday (location: Western Aerospace
Museum, Oakland). The 17 knot climb is real, the rest, well, you should
go fishing with me sometime...

Marc

At 16:24 15 November 2005, Marc Ramsey wrote:
v The 17 knot climb is real, the rest, well, you should

go fishing with me sometime...


I am biting my tongue really hard right now...

9B