Any sailplane pilots?

On the other hand I can't tell you how many times(numerous) I
intercepted a dust devil at 1000-1500 AGL and climbed out at less then
1kt or even did not climb. Most times however I get 3-6 kts out of
them. I have see dust devils go to 7-8000 feet up. Hate to tell the
one gentleman this that wouldn't fly into a dust devil, but if he flys
using thermals he is just flying into dustless dust devils, As far as
I can tell the only difference is if it is lifting air over an area
were it can pick dust up or not.

Brian
HP16T



Eric Greenwell wrote in message ...
Casey Wilson wrote:

That said, I did once, inadvertantly fly into a dust-devil. I NEVER want
to do that again. If I had seen any dust indication that it was there I
would definitely have avoided it in the first place.

No dust, no dust devil! But, of course, the thermal can still be there.
Coming into one low can be dangerous, but up here in eastern Washington
State, we use them frequently, especially on blue days. They are usually
quite tame. Only the biggest are potentially dangerous, and then only
when "near" the ground (say, less then 1500 feet AGL).

What you are flying makes a difference, too: a 1-26 is going to be
tossed around a lot more than an ASW 20 with ballast. Flying faster than
the normal thermalling speed helps quite a bit if the thermal is rough.

"Brian Case" wrote in message
om...
On the other hand I can't tell you how many times(numerous) I
intercepted a dust devil at 1000-1500 AGL and climbed out at less then
1kt or even did not climb. Most times however I get 3-6 kts out of
them. I have see dust devils go to 7-8000 feet up. Hate to tell the
one gentleman this that wouldn't fly into a dust devil, but if he flys
using thermals he is just flying into dustless dust devils, As far as
I can tell the only difference is if it is lifting air over an area
were it can pick dust up or not.

We are apparently sharing different definitions of "dust devils." The
ones that rage across the part of the country I fly mostly do not fit the
structure of a thermal.
Thermals, at least where I am, are rising volumes of air created by
differential temperatures on the surface. One of our best local thermal
engines is the black paved surface of Runway 10/28 at IYK. The equipment
parking lot for the highway maintenance yard is another. The location of
these is pretty constant and reasonably predictable and reasonably benign.
Dust devils on the other hand, while they may begin at convective
sources, are cyclonic whirlwinds that travel laterally across the ground,
sometimes for miles. DDs in our area are typically less than five meters in
diameter. One monster dust devil that went across a portable weather station
at the Naval Air Warfare Center spun the anemometer over 80 knots before it
ripped the mast apart. We watched that one travel about ten miles. On
another occasion, a monster went across a mobile home park and took the roof
off a home and dissassembled tool sheds like card houses.

Casey Wilson wrote:
Dust devils on the other hand, while they may begin at convective
sources, are cyclonic whirlwinds that travel laterally across the ground,
sometimes for miles. DDs in our area are typically less than five meters in
diameter. One monster dust devil that went across a portable weather station
at the Naval Air Warfare Center spun the anemometer over 80 knots before it
ripped the mast apart. We watched that one travel about ten miles. On
another occasion, a monster went across a mobile home park and took the roof
off a home and dissassembled tool sheds like card houses.

Yeah, those are the kind of dust devils I look for 8^)

I remember one I saw in a valley north of Tonopah, when I was down low
looking for lift. It had one huge central column and six smaller ones
twisting around it. I could see huge pieces of sagebrush literally
getting blown out of its path. I pulled into it at roughly 1500 feet
AGL, and centered a 14 knot climb with dust and twigs flying all around
me. I was at 18000 feet in what seemed like a moment. Even at that
altitude, there was plenty of dust, and looking down into was like
looking into the maw of a huge snake that stretched all the way back
down to the ground.

You don't know what you're missing 8^)

Marc