Marc Ramsey wrote:

Stefan wrote:

Definitely not. If it "just happens" to you, then something is *very*
wrong with your flying tactics and possibly even with your attitude.
(It may "just happen" at night, but I rarely find thermals at night.)
In all real world situations where you might get trapped, there is
always plenty of time to spin up that gyro.


I recently reviewed an article from a pilot flew into what became a
measured 30 knot climb (~15 m/s) below one decent looking cumulus in the
midst of an area of 70+% cloud cover. It took about 30 seconds to go
from a normal (for this area) 10+ knot climb well below cloud base to
being inside the cloud. Nothing much wrong with his tactics or
attitude, he just didn't realize that he had hooked the "big one" until
it was too late to escape the lift.

How long does it take to spin up a gyro?

My 1 minute turn rate T&B will provide useful guidance after about 3 or
4 seconds from power on, and the red flag disappears after about 6
seconds. I suspect that would be fast enough in the incident you
mention, but I can't be sure.

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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA