Im surprised Dylan hasnt weighed in yet... He used to talk about doing
it (somewhat) in the Cessna 140 he used to be part owner in. He was a
member at a local soaring club as well as the flying club that I had met
him in

His page, which is not very up to date, is
http://www.alioth.net/flying/soaring/index.html and may have some
information with regards to thermalling. The main concern as I've had
related to me is that to stay in the thermal you need to fly tight and
slow. Remember your stall speeds in steep banks/high G turns go UP.

My best guess would be to try a best angle of climb tactic, with short
field flap settings and give it a go.

As for doing this on a XC trip, I dont see a whole lot of point to it..
unless you are in SLC and need to climb up out of the bowl there.

Dave

Kees Mies wrote:
Hi All,

I need some advise.
The summer is starting and my plane is a rotten climber, certainly on
hot days at MTOW.
The best it can do in these conditions is about 300fpm.

My idea is to use thermals to climb (much)faster like gliders do.
Is this a stupid idea?
If my idea is not that stupid how do I find thermals and how to use
them properly?

Maybe I should have asked this on a soaring site but I think there are
a lot of pilots flying both kinds of planes.

BTW, my plane is a MS880 Rallye.

Thanks,
Kees.
D-EDMB.