:ooh: Crikey, Caernarfon is on my list of places 'to do' next spring and my route will take me straight over Snowdonia. What height were you at and looking back would you have stayed upwind of the hills?

Looking back, with a surface wind of < 5kts at Caernarfon, no I wouldn't have done anything different (why would I?). On the way back, I routed well west over Anglesey to remain clear of any rotor. Caernarfon is a regular run for me and I've never known that before with almost zero surface wind. You can't get there if you stay upwind of the hills in an easterly. :E

Flying over Snowdon is fine, but I wouldn't do it in high winds or lowish cloud.

You could take the long way around...:)

There is no way round to get there in an easterly while staying upwind of the hills. The field itself is downwind of the hills in such a wind!

I was thinking more of the great circle route long way around.....;)

I had a friend who was extremely experienced tow-pilot (he stopped counting his tows, but it must have been over 10,000). We were discussing rotor-turbulence at Cowley - a wave-site just downwind of the front-range of the Rocky Mountains in southern Alberta.

His comment was "it's not rough until you get rolled inverted on tow!" I never had an experience like that, but came very close.:eek:

It's not good enough to look at surface winds next to areas of higher terrain, check winds aloft as well. They will give you an indication of the general direction of the air and whether or not to expect leeward turbulence. It takes a bit of experience to work out how the air will be deflected and channeled by the hills and mountains, so it is worth talking to someone who flies in the area to get their views on what to expect.

It is worth remembering that wind aloft data is not always that accurate around mountain areas though. This year I took off in calm surface conditions from my home airport which is located next to a mountain range only to meet an unforecast/unexpected 40kt+ wind jet at 300ft on the climbout. This gets your attention.

Many years ago a friend of mine was instructing at night in a C150 over the Peak District, talking to Manchester who were reporting negligable surface wind. They noticed a considerable and increasing rate of descent which could not be arrested even with full power.

My friend took control, reduced speed right back to minimum, and they impacted the lee side of Kinder Scout. The aeroplane was wrecked but they survived with minor injuries. They had been caught in strong sink downwind of the hill, despite the few knots of surface wind at Manchester.

Scariest part of flying
 

How about unexpected loud noises of any description ? A few years ago I set off on a gliding cross country, but one of my gear doors failed to close when I raised the main wheel. It finally freed itself after 2 hours and snapped shut under bungee tension with a hell of a bang. Certainly woke me up and got the adrenaline running for the next 30 minutes. And how about the dubious privilege that glider pilots have of actually hearing the engine noise of that aircraft right in your blind spot - you crane your neck through 360 degrees and STILL can't find the b*gger - now THAT'S fear !

Cheers all

Pegpilot

For those flying in the UK, the weather is one of the biggest issues.

Training takes forever to wait for good days

Weekend pilots often struggle to get consistency

When the Wx is good, every man and his dog can be out

Questionable Wx can lead people to get up, as it may be even worse when they're next due to fly

For those not flying that regularly, they can then struggle with falling cloud bases and x-winds > 10knts.

It's changeable and makes any kind of distance flying hardwork, which leads to people just flying in their comfort zone of 30 minutes from the field