Gliders flying in cloud
I'm not a professional pilot. I fly gliders in my spare time. I've been doing that for 31 years so far. I don't have a grievance or a grudge, I've never posted to pprune before and I'm not asking to get swatted, I'm just curious.
Quite by chance I've recently noticed several comments by "gliding virgins" to the effect they didn't realise gliders are allowed to fly in cloud in the UK. I just wondered if this is a common misconception among power pilots?
For anyone who genuinely doesn't know or hasn't ever thought about it, cumulus clouds are caused by thermals, and gliders commonly circle underneath them in order to gain height. However, thermals don't stop at cloudbase (otherwise the cloud wouldn't be there). Gliders equipped with suitable instruments can continue to climb in IMC until the lift peters out, and it is legal to do so outside controlled airspace.
ChrisN mentioned in another thread that the amount of cloud flying done by UK glider pilots is decreasing, and I think that's right. Older wooden gliders were a lot easier to handle in cloud than modern slippery designs. Also, many gliding instructors nowadays don't cloud-fly themselves and so aren't able to pass on such a skill, or indeed the enthusiasm for it.
Contributors in another thread were apparently treating quite different cloud conditions as if they were the same. Cloud flying is most likely to occur if there are isolated and TALL cumuli with lots of blue sky between them, no water gushing out of the bottom, and if its a weekend day. At the other extreme, if there is solid 8/8 cloud cover on a Tuesday afternoon, with showers, embedded Cu-nims etc, most glider pilots will be earning a crust or digging their gardens.
Descending through cloud when it has closed up below you is a different matter. This can happen when you have been wave soaring, in or near mountainous areas. The advent of GPS has made such descents easier and safer, but even so, most glider pilots would not put themselves in that position by choice.
If you get the chance on a suitable day, listening for a while on 130.4 may give you some idea of what is going on.