Great video and commentary, I've watched this one and "falling out of the sky" and plan to watch more. Very informative with comments made at exact time needed. As a Pre-cross country pilot these are perfect. Hard to believe, but the story line makes them not only informative but actually a bit suspenseful to watch. Once again, great job and appreciate the time and effort you put into these.
@@ChessInTheAir Thanks, was perfectly happy wandering around a 5 mile radius of airport for hours with no apparent purpose. Your video's really clarify the choices and risk management of it all. Just started your video "8th attempt". Perfect entertainment for treadmill
Bighorn: If you fly 270° of a circle in sink, the center of the thermal is outside your turning circle. If your FLARM allows it, when you hit lift stand on your wingtip and reverse the direction of the turn. Something taught to me by my CFI using beer glasses and the wet rings on the table to illustrate!
Just looked at this again - this flight was almost 2 years ago... One complexity at Bighorn Mountain was my low altitude above terrain and the need to keep a safe escape route without getting stuck in the narrow canyon behind. In a situation like this I find it generally easier and safer to move the circle towards the expected stronger lift than to reverse the turn. Reversing the turn can work if there really is lift where you hope to find it. But there is never a guarantee that there will be. I wasn't in a position relative to the terrain where I was willing to take the risk that I might find sink rather than lift.
Nice work. I feel that pain of knowing you'll likely catch that climb you need but in the opposite direction to the safe landings. It's never worth the risk though. I just think how many times I've gone under clouds that look like a sure thing only to be disappointed!
Totally agree. There is no way I would push under a cloud (or any other location) unless I positively know that I can have a safe glide back out in case there is no lift. Flying in Boulder is quite technical. You basically have to know exactly from where it's safe to glide out of the hills and from where it's not. It took me a lot of research and about three seasons of flying there to figure it out. And you always have to make adjustments and/or extra allowances based on the conditions of the day. I always want to retain my respect for these mountains!
Thank you very much - quite interesting video with a lot of precious comments. It was very interesting for me to observe your flight and see your decisions/ flight situation awareness in those comments. Good luck!
oh the memories this brings back... Q.: why did you tow north quite a ways and not towards the hills, west? I don't remember exactly the "exit strategies" and altitudes but I'd been tempted very much to head for Gold Hill earlier (escape via Lefthand Canyon...?), as there was sun - even before you mentioned the changing drift direction. Thanks for the video and all your comments - great work and I enjoyed it a lot!
We now tow north up to Left Hand Canyon before turning west for noise abatement reasons. The tow plane would have turned west right where I did; I just thought I might be able to climb where I released. Obviously a mistake. And yes, pushing to Gold Hill earlier probably would have worked but I was just a little below my personal minima and tried to get just a little higher before I felt it was safe to push further west. I’m glad this revives memories for you!
Josephine Bennington Hi Josephine, the river analogy is a good idea, except there is usually a way for the water to continue to stream downwards and you don’t see much of it rising. Convergence is the confluence of two air masses. A small scale experiment would be to have two leaf blowers blowing air towards each other. The leaves on the ground would be blown high into the air. Now imagine two rows of many leaf blowers blowing air at each other and how high the leaves would rise. This might be a better analogy. But this is of course happening at a far bigger scale than just rows of leaf blowers. Here is another video that might help you: th-cam.com/video/o5JtRDPheVI/w-d-xo.html
Ahaaa. Gottit. I began to wonder about turbulence where they meet, then later you made it clear you stay out of the actual mixing air, yes? I found The UK Met service has YT vids that explains this diagrammatically. But also mention convergences cause rain, lots of it. Is this a consequence where you fly? It didn’t look like.
In the UK, a very common cause of convergences are sea breeze fronts. As the sun warms the land during the day, thermals rise over the landmass. As warm air rises over the land, cooler moist air gets pulled in from the sea, causing a surface wind. (When you’re at the coast during the summer, there is almost always a wind blowing from the sea towards the land that children use to fly kites. The thermals that rise over the landmass are the cause of that surface wind.). Now, if you have a prevailing wind in the opposite direction - let’s say the prevailing wind is westerly and you’re 20 miles inland from the east coast - the westerly wind and the easterly sea breeze come together causing a sea breeze convergence. Because the air from the sea is very moist it can cause rainfall. In Colorado, our typical convergence is obviously not caused by a sea breeze and the air is much drier, hence typically no rainfall. (And there is some turbulence where the air masses meet but it is usually relatively mild because the wind speeds are typically modest so there is normally no safety concern flying where the two air masses meet.)
Not as bad as being one of the last of the competition grid to launch and then accidentally releasing at 1,000' instead of 2,000'. The next launch was done without water ballast, as this had been dumped.
Looks like a 18m Ventus 2 with a Turbo? There is a perception that turbos are useless flying out of the high elevation airports in the Western USA. But I see you're flying out of airport that is more that 1 mile MSL. I have a Discus 2T and one time burned a full tank just to see how high I could climb. Starting at about 7k I got to 13.5, and if I had been more disciplined about holding best climb speed I'm pretty sure I would have made 14k. I would say as long and you understand the limitations it can get you home or to lift in many situations. Any comments on your experience flying a Turbo in Colorado?
Hi Dennis, my own experience running the turbo is still limited. I only have about 150 hours in this glider and have not had to run it yet to prevent a landout. I think you can definitely climb to 12,000 ft on hot days, on cold days probably somewhat higher. But the climb rates are modest. (I’m getting about 150 fpm at 8000 ft on a hot day.) East of the Continental Divide it should be good enough to get me home, but I don’t count on it getting me back across the mountains (the passes are around 12k). I’m planning long tasks such that the last turn point is on the east side of the mountains. But in general I am treating the ship just like a pure glider.
You have that backwards. It gets more interesting the longer you search for lift without finding it. The prospect of landing off airport concentrates the mind. When it is too easy to find lift it can get boring (unless you're flying 500 km XC).
Pascals Spotting Videos yes, there is a commercial operator, Mile High Gliding, that rents out gliders. You can check their website. Their equipment is more geared towards local flying. My club, the Soaring Society of Boulder has much nicer equipment (two Discus CS, a DG 505, and an ASK 21) but you would have to become a member and get checked out by one of our instructors to use them. And you would need a US license. Not sure how that is handled by Mile High Gliding.
The weather nearly checkmated you there ;)
Great example of how to hang on and scrap for lift after making a bad decision. Yea, I have been suckered into releasing in the same area.
Great video and commentary, I've watched this one and "falling out of the sky" and plan to watch more. Very informative with comments made at exact time needed. As a Pre-cross country pilot these are perfect. Hard to believe, but the story line makes them not only informative but actually a bit suspenseful to watch. Once again, great job and appreciate the time and effort you put into these.
Thanks Kip for the kind feedback! Good luck with your progression as a glider pilot. The best part is that the learning never ends!
@@ChessInTheAir Thanks, was perfectly happy wandering around a 5 mile radius of airport for hours with no apparent purpose. Your video's really clarify the choices and risk management of it all. Just started your video "8th attempt". Perfect entertainment for treadmill
Bighorn: If you fly 270° of a circle in sink, the center of the thermal is outside your turning circle. If your FLARM allows it, when you hit lift stand on your wingtip and reverse the direction of the turn. Something taught to me by my CFI using beer glasses and the wet rings on the table to illustrate!
Just looked at this again - this flight was almost 2 years ago... One complexity at Bighorn Mountain was my low altitude above terrain and the need to keep a safe escape route without getting stuck in the narrow canyon behind. In a situation like this I find it generally easier and safer to move the circle towards the expected stronger lift than to reverse the turn. Reversing the turn can work if there really is lift where you hope to find it. But there is never a guarantee that there will be. I wasn't in a position relative to the terrain where I was willing to take the risk that I might find sink rather than lift.
I really enjoy everyone of your videos. Simple, explanatory, to the point and as less as possible bla bla bla!!! Thank you very much!!!
Glad you like them!
awesome!
As beginner glider (ASK21) pilot, I learn a lot ... Many thanks
Nice work. I feel that pain of knowing you'll likely catch that climb you need but in the opposite direction to the safe landings. It's never worth the risk though. I just think how many times I've gone under clouds that look like a sure thing only to be disappointed!
Totally agree. There is no way I would push under a cloud (or any other location) unless I positively know that I can have a safe glide back out in case there is no lift. Flying in Boulder is quite technical. You basically have to know exactly from where it's safe to glide out of the hills and from where it's not. It took me a lot of research and about three seasons of flying there to figure it out. And you always have to make adjustments and/or extra allowances based on the conditions of the day. I always want to retain my respect for these mountains!
Thank you very much - quite interesting video with a lot of precious comments. It was very interesting for me to observe your flight and see your decisions/ flight situation awareness in those comments. Good luck!
Great job of scratching out the weak lift! Really enjoyed your strategies on searching for the thermals to get yourself high enough to continue west.
Imagine that. Lift near Gold Hill. Glad you had a good flight!
Nice work and great flight. A lot to learn from your video. Thank you for sharing. It was riveting 😎
oh the memories this brings back... Q.: why did you tow north quite a ways and not towards the hills, west? I don't remember exactly the "exit strategies" and altitudes but I'd been tempted very much to head for Gold Hill earlier (escape via Lefthand Canyon...?), as there was sun - even before you mentioned the changing drift direction. Thanks for the video and all your comments - great work and I enjoyed it a lot!
We now tow north up to Left Hand Canyon before turning west for noise abatement reasons. The tow plane would have turned west right where I did; I just thought I might be able to climb where I released. Obviously a mistake. And yes, pushing to Gold Hill earlier probably would have worked but I was just a little below my personal minima and tried to get just a little higher before I felt it was safe to push further west. I’m glad this revives memories for you!
Thanks learned a lot if I ever get out there I’ll be watching this video again 👍
Bravo !! Great work, will done !!!
I enjoy watching your videos. In this one I would have flown more for areas of sunshine on the ground and looked for wind shadow thermals.
Nice travel ! with many
details from the flight !
Very informative. Any chance you can explain a convergence line in more detail? Like two rivers coming together? Then what?
Josephine Bennington Hi Josephine, the river analogy is a good idea, except there is usually a way for the water to continue to stream downwards and you don’t see much of it rising. Convergence is the confluence of two air masses. A small scale experiment would be to have two leaf blowers blowing air towards each other. The leaves on the ground would be blown high into the air. Now imagine two rows of many leaf blowers blowing air at each other and how high the leaves would rise. This might be a better analogy. But this is of course happening at a far bigger scale than just rows of leaf blowers. Here is another video that might help you: th-cam.com/video/o5JtRDPheVI/w-d-xo.html
Ahaaa. Gottit. I began to wonder about turbulence where they meet, then later you made it clear you stay out of the actual mixing air, yes?
I found The UK Met service has YT vids that explains this diagrammatically. But also mention convergences cause rain, lots of it. Is this a consequence where you fly? It didn’t look like.
In the UK, a very common cause of convergences are sea breeze fronts. As the sun warms the land during the day, thermals rise over the landmass. As warm air rises over the land, cooler moist air gets pulled in from the sea, causing a surface wind. (When you’re at the coast during the summer, there is almost always a wind blowing from the sea towards the land that children use to fly kites. The thermals that rise over the landmass are the cause of that surface wind.). Now, if you have a prevailing wind in the opposite direction - let’s say the prevailing wind is westerly and you’re 20 miles inland from the east coast - the westerly wind and the easterly sea breeze come together causing a sea breeze convergence. Because the air from the sea is very moist it can cause rainfall. In Colorado, our typical convergence is obviously not caused by a sea breeze and the air is much drier, hence typically no rainfall. (And there is some turbulence where the air masses meet but it is usually relatively mild because the wind speeds are typically modest so there is normally no safety concern flying where the two air masses meet.)
ChessInTheAir. Excellent. Thank you v m.
Not as bad as being one of the last of the competition grid to launch and then accidentally releasing at 1,000' instead of 2,000'. The next launch was done without water ballast, as this had been dumped.
A really useful video, thanks, too. What software did you use to insert the view from the other package (was it SeeYou?).
Looks like a 18m Ventus 2 with a Turbo? There is a perception that turbos are useless flying out of the high elevation airports in the Western USA. But I see you're flying out of airport that is more that 1 mile MSL. I have a Discus 2T and one time burned a full tank just to see how high I could climb. Starting at about 7k I got to 13.5, and if I had been more disciplined about holding best climb speed I'm pretty sure I would have made 14k. I would say as long and you understand the limitations it can get you home or to lift in many situations. Any comments on your experience flying a Turbo in Colorado?
Hi Dennis, my own experience running the turbo is still limited. I only have about 150 hours in this glider and have not had to run it yet to prevent a landout. I think you can definitely climb to 12,000 ft on hot days, on cold days probably somewhat higher. But the climb rates are modest. (I’m getting about 150 fpm at 8000 ft on a hot day.) East of the Continental Divide it should be good enough to get me home, but I don’t count on it getting me back across the mountains (the passes are around 12k). I’m planning long tasks such that the last turn point is on the east side of the mountains. But in general I am treating the ship just like a pure glider.
It has to get a bit boring always searching for updraft, no?
You have that backwards. It gets more interesting the longer you search for lift without finding it. The prospect of landing off airport concentrates the mind. When it is too easy to find lift it can get boring (unless you're flying 500 km XC).
no
Can you rent gliders at your Airport?
Greetings from Germany
Pascals Spotting Videos yes, there is a commercial operator, Mile High Gliding, that rents out gliders. You can check their website. Their equipment is more geared towards local flying. My club, the Soaring Society of Boulder has much nicer equipment (two Discus CS, a DG 505, and an ASK 21) but you would have to become a member and get checked out by one of our instructors to use them. And you would need a US license. Not sure how that is handled by Mile High Gliding.
What is that annoying sound
you would do a lot better if you balanced your turns with the rudder.....
Good god, he addressed that point! watch and listen...