KickAce
Aug 20, 2008, 02:05 PM
About the video: Looking for LIFT - Thermal Soaring
I have posted the video here because I had problem uploading to this site, so check out the video from here:
Looking for Lift - Thermal Soaring (http://www.rcuvideos.com/video/Looking-for-LIFT-Thermal-Soar/theater#theater_title)
http://www.rcuvideos.com/video/Looking-for-LIFT-Thermal-Soar/theater#theater_title
Upon launch I begin to search for lift, I like to work the sailplane from right to left at about a 45 degree angle across the field in front of me… I am looking for a change in height or direction of the sailplane as it flies across my path… Watch the vario readings along the bottom of the SeeYou software screen that was imported from the SkyTraceGPS tracking system… As I begin my search pattern I notice a bump-up in the sailplane and I started to circle to test the waters of sorts… I am watching what the sailplane is telling me, as I circle I noticed a quick gain in altitude during the turn and make a quick correction to try and get in the strongest part of the lift… I am always watching to see what the sailplane is telling me, is it rising, is it sinking and if so how quickly is it doing so…. As you watch the vario readings while you’re watching, you will notice that I keep making fine adjustments to seek out and remain in the strongest part of the lift… If you watch the ground track, you will see that the core of the thermal was not a core that went straight up but was angled… Watch as I drift the plane slowly down wind trying to match the thermals speed and direction… Always watching, always listening to what the sailplane is telling me… Sometimes making tight circles and sometimes not so as too try and stay in the strongest lift…
So when you go out to fly and find lift, work it and test the waters to see if maybe the strongest part of the core isn’t maybe just over a bit… Watch the plane and it will speak to you… Adjust your flight to what it is telling you, this will come soon now that you have caught your first few thermals… It will become second nature to you, like tying your shoes or riding a bike…Remember though that when you do notice a bump in your sailplane and turn into it, do not stay too long if in two, three, or four turns and not finding a core to ride up into, just bail out and continue your search looking for those signs as your sailplane moves across the sky…
Yes, I had bought the “SECRETS Of Thermal Soaring” from Radio/Carbon Art after trying to self-teach thermal soaring to myself without much success, but after watching the DVD and the thermals moving and growing while the plow was kicking up all that fine dust from the field feeding into the thermal(s), I was so STOKED that the next time I went out to the field to fly, after the 9th launch I nailed my first thermal and almost specked out only to bail because I was afraid of loosing the sailplane and being scared because it was the first one that I ever caught and wasn’t sure just how to react…
I do recommend the “SECRETS Of Thermal Soaring” from Radio/Carbon Art to anyone starting out, I think that video(s) like the one that I have posted there, in see a thermal flight in action helps to fill in the gap in the “SECRETS Of Thermal Soaring” DVD that you could not quite pick out by watching the video of him flying in the field…
I just hope that the visual will help you and anyone else beginning to learn the art of soaring…!
KickAce
I have posted the video here because I had problem uploading to this site, so check out the video from here:
Looking for Lift - Thermal Soaring (http://www.rcuvideos.com/video/Looking-for-LIFT-Thermal-Soar/theater#theater_title)
http://www.rcuvideos.com/video/Looking-for-LIFT-Thermal-Soar/theater#theater_title
Upon launch I begin to search for lift, I like to work the sailplane from right to left at about a 45 degree angle across the field in front of me… I am looking for a change in height or direction of the sailplane as it flies across my path… Watch the vario readings along the bottom of the SeeYou software screen that was imported from the SkyTraceGPS tracking system… As I begin my search pattern I notice a bump-up in the sailplane and I started to circle to test the waters of sorts… I am watching what the sailplane is telling me, as I circle I noticed a quick gain in altitude during the turn and make a quick correction to try and get in the strongest part of the lift… I am always watching to see what the sailplane is telling me, is it rising, is it sinking and if so how quickly is it doing so…. As you watch the vario readings while you’re watching, you will notice that I keep making fine adjustments to seek out and remain in the strongest part of the lift… If you watch the ground track, you will see that the core of the thermal was not a core that went straight up but was angled… Watch as I drift the plane slowly down wind trying to match the thermals speed and direction… Always watching, always listening to what the sailplane is telling me… Sometimes making tight circles and sometimes not so as too try and stay in the strongest lift…
So when you go out to fly and find lift, work it and test the waters to see if maybe the strongest part of the core isn’t maybe just over a bit… Watch the plane and it will speak to you… Adjust your flight to what it is telling you, this will come soon now that you have caught your first few thermals… It will become second nature to you, like tying your shoes or riding a bike…Remember though that when you do notice a bump in your sailplane and turn into it, do not stay too long if in two, three, or four turns and not finding a core to ride up into, just bail out and continue your search looking for those signs as your sailplane moves across the sky…
Yes, I had bought the “SECRETS Of Thermal Soaring” from Radio/Carbon Art after trying to self-teach thermal soaring to myself without much success, but after watching the DVD and the thermals moving and growing while the plow was kicking up all that fine dust from the field feeding into the thermal(s), I was so STOKED that the next time I went out to the field to fly, after the 9th launch I nailed my first thermal and almost specked out only to bail because I was afraid of loosing the sailplane and being scared because it was the first one that I ever caught and wasn’t sure just how to react…
I do recommend the “SECRETS Of Thermal Soaring” from Radio/Carbon Art to anyone starting out, I think that video(s) like the one that I have posted there, in see a thermal flight in action helps to fill in the gap in the “SECRETS Of Thermal Soaring” DVD that you could not quite pick out by watching the video of him flying in the field…
I just hope that the visual will help you and anyone else beginning to learn the art of soaring…!
KickAce