April 4 was a fine day on the Appalachian ridges. I launched around 7am in PA and landed after 6pm, having covered around 700 miles.
The snow-covered ridges of southwestern VA were beautiful in the bright sun there. The northwest wind approached 40 knots at times; the turbulence near Seneca Rock WV was about the worst I’ve ever been in.
A bald eagle found me a welcome thermal near Covington VA. Getting home through some late-day snow showers was a struggle, but it makes you appreciate the arrival even more.
Congratulations on a very long flight! A question occurs. When you fly that far. where do you pick to finally land? Do you have to have a good friend to come get you with the trailer? Do you usually manage to make it to an airport, or will any availble runway type flat surface do? (And not just in a pinch). Thanks.
When the wind is northwest and at least 15 knots, the Appalachian ridges (which generally run SW-NE) deflect the wind upward, and provide a reliable way to stay aloft and indeed to cover a lot of ground quickly. You typically fly 50 to 200 feet above the ridges at a speed that depends on the vertical velocity (which itself depends on the wind speed and the shape of the ridge).
On Tuesday the wind was very strong and we were often able to run at speeds above 100 kts.
The mountain wave is a different phenomenon, though also caused by a wind perpendicular to a ridge or mountain. It gives very smooth lift to high altitudes - sometimes 20,000’ or more above the terrain. We found none of it on Tuesday.
On Tuesday’s flight, I eventually made it home (though the final hour was a real struggle). It’s important to keep a landable field within reach at all times. This need not be an airfield - many farm fields will do. You need about 800’ (more is better) with a reasonably smooth surface, no tall crops, and no wires on the approach. Practice helps a lot for landing accurately in small fields.
Having landed, you’d need to call home and arrange for a friend to retrieve you by bringing the glider’s trailer. Most gliders are designed for easy assembly and disassembly - two people who know what they’re doing can put one in a trailer in under 10 minutes (assuming a well-designed trailer).
I never got to do any long flights at all (I think my longest barely broke 30 minutes… Kind of difficult to do long flights when you don’t own your own or belong to a club), and just hearing about that makes me green with envy. I really need to get my glider licence back in effect… I just wish I could afford to do that at the same time as continuing the rest of my flying… Maybe in a few weeks I’ll go see if they need another tow pilot.
What glider do you fly? How’s the gliding in the spring? Does having a partially snow-covered ground cause there to be fewer themals?
Here’s a photo of a glider similar to mine (though I don’t have those winglets).
It tends to be the best time of the year. Cold fronts go through, bringing northwest winds (that generate ridge lift) and unstable air (thermals to 7000’ or above). The days are getting longer, so flights can, too.
Technically, yes. Complete snow cover would certainly be a problem. But there are always some exposed rocks to be heated by the sun, so in practice thermals tend to be good even when there’s some snow.
It wouldn’t do to “hold it” for 11 hours (or even a decent fraction of that). The key device is a “male external catheter” - a sort of condom with a tube at the end. You connect this to an overboard tube and pee away to your heart’s content.
Carrying (and consuming) enough water is important - dehydration can be a problem. I had 5 liters of drinking water, all of which was consumed.
Wow, that’s slick. Much slicker than what I used to fly, being these ugly beasts. The highest performance glider I ever flew was a Lark.
Definitely going to have to check in to that tow-pilot deal. Be nice to fly a glider again, plus it means taildragger time, which is a pretty valuable commodity.
