Using thermals to climb?

In article ,
Martin Hellman wrote:
at my home base (Hayward, near Oakland and SFO). The marine air in the
Bay Area kills most thermals.

You can say that again. Living on a 14nm x 30nm island, you can imagine
just how much marine air we have.

However, I have had some long soaring flights here in the Blanik. I just
bought a share in a Schleicher Ka-8 (which will happilly thermal in a
fairly tight turn at 35 knots), and I expect to be able to do my Silver
duration this summer without too much trouble :-) People often are
attracted to these hot glass ships, but forget how much fun and how good
a wooden glider soars.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Dylan,

Schleicher Ka-8 (which will happilly thermal


Ka-8 and "happily thermal" in the same sentence - wow! ;-)

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

In article , Thomas Borchert wrote:
Schleicher Ka-8 (which will happilly thermal


Ka-8 and "happily thermal" in the same sentence - wow! ;-)

And what's wrong with that?

You're not one of those TINSFOS (There Is No Substitute For Span) crowd
ar you? Are you!?

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Dylan,

You're not one of those TINSFOS (There Is No Substitute For Span) crowd
ar you? Are you!?


I spent too many hours in Ka8s to be one. They are great - if you don't
want to go somewhere.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

In article , Thomas Borchert wrote:
You're not one of those TINSFOS (There Is No Substitute For Span) crowd
ar you? Are you!?

I spent too many hours in Ka8s to be one. They are great - if you don't
want to go somewhere.

Well, our island is barely long enough to do your Silver distance, so
that's generally not a problem here :-)

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Kees Mies wrote:
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?

Well, you have had quite a number of good answers already.

I'd just like to point out the safety considerations, collision
avoidance in particular, if we get powered aircraft looking around
for thermals, and perhaps circling in them while there are also
gliders in the area doing the same thing.

The visibility in turns out of your average light power plane
is way inferior to gliders (in your case, with the Rallye
you may be a little better off on this than the Cessnas and
Cherokees but still), your airspeed will be different than
that of the gliders and you might be less maneuverable in
that situation (turning tight and just above stall speed).

Assuming you want to use the thermals to supplement your
engine, as you said, you will be climbing under power, at a
higher climb rate than the gliders and coming at them from
below, where it is more difficult for them to spot you.

So if you plan to use thermals, make sure you are aware of where
the gliding sites are, in what areas gliders are likely to be
flying, and remember to keep a good lookout, even more than usual.

Gliders are much more difficult to spot in the air than power
planes. They will normally see you more easily than you will
see them.

It would also be good to find out what frequencies are used by
the gliders, listen in and let them know where you are.

Not that I'd like to discourage you, but this is something
I thought should definitely be mentioned.

As somebody else alredy said, it is a very good idea to take
some gliding lessons - I agree with that, and would add that
it is good for safety as well.

Cheers CV

"CV" wrote in message
...

It would also be good to find out what frequencies are used by
the gliders, listen in and let them know where you are.


Where can we get a list of these frequencies? Are they published?

There's a glider area near me (Jean, NV) & I was surprised
to find that they weren't using the frequency of the nearby
airport. But of course I can't remember what that frequency
was....

Great summary, btw. Lots of good stuff to think about...

"Tony Cox" wrote:

Where can we get a list of these frequencies? Are they published?

There's a glider area near me (Jean, NV) & I was surprised
to find that they weren't using the frequency of the nearby
airport. But of course I can't remember what that frequency
was....

123.3 and 123.5 are standard for gliders. They're used for
contests, local flying and XC.
Todd Pattist
(Remove DONTSPAMME from address to email reply.)
___
Make a commitment to learn something from every flight.
Share what you learn.

CV e wrote:

Assuming you want to use the thermals to supplement
your engine, as you said, you will be climbing under
power, **at a higher climb rate than the gliders**

I wouldn't be so sure about that. :-)

and coming at them from below, where it is
more difficult for them to spot you.

Definitely more difficult if you're below, not to mention understandably
extremely unnerving to be able to hear a powered aircraft below and not be able
to see it.

So if you plan to use thermals, make sure you are
aware of where the gliding sites are, in what areas
gliders are likely to be flying, and remember to keep
a good lookout, even more than usual.

Thank you! I'd like to add...even if you are NOT planning to use thermals, if
you just happen to be flying through or past a glider site, please take the
time to look at the AFD or Flight Guide for specifics such as the location of
aerobatic boxes that may be in use while you're passing through (bad idea) and
any other info on the preferred path for powered aircraft during hours of
glider operation.

It would also be good to find out what frequencies
are used by the gliders, listen in and let them know
where you are.

Never hurts, but not all gliders even have radios, so don't assume that because
you've called, they know you're there. Again, no substitute for (a) having
researched how and where they operate and where they'd like you (in a powered
aircraft) to fly during their hours of operation, and (b) using common sense
about flying through an area in use by another type of aircraft.

While the original poster mentioned gliders, I may be wrong, but I don't think
he was talking about using the SAME thermals simultaneously with gliders.

--Shirley
Glider Pilot

Tony, it's 122.9 and we live on that freq..

BT

"Tony Cox" wrote in message
news
"CV" wrote in message
...

It would also be good to find out what frequencies are used by
the gliders, listen in and let them know where you are.


Where can we get a list of these frequencies? Are they published?

There's a glider area near me (Jean, NV) & I was surprised
to find that they weren't using the frequency of the nearby
airport. But of course I can't remember what that frequency
was....

Great summary, btw. Lots of good stuff to think about...