My 1st gliding experience
 

As a follow up to previous thread (“Looking for pointers/advice/ideas’) I started regarding my experience hitting mountain rotors over the Scottish highlands in the Maule, several replies to that thread advised that I try gliding to better understand updrafts/thermals/rotors and mountain waves etc. Well i finally did it !!

Last Monday on my way to Vegas I stopped off at Crystalaire Soaring Academy situated at 3400ft at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains to the South and the Mohave desert to the north, I was told that several records had been set from this field.

The 90 minute flight started with a tow from a 285hp piper Pawnee (at least I think that what is called) which I was told is a converted Ag sprayer with a reel for retracting the tow line where the hopper would be. Released at 8000ft the hunt for lift was fascinating, the instructor seemed to be able to read the sky like a POH explaining about cold air coming up the valleys from the beach causing sink etc. he intuitively know where the lift would be both in the mountains and over the desert which was impressive, after a few “ lets head over to our X o’clock” we were at 12000ft MSL and skirting round the tops of Mount Baldy (closer than I would dare to in the Maule) then headed out over the desert and followed some birds who must have attended the same lift training school my instructor went too. The descent took forever and on short final I was somewhat apprehensive as it seemed my ass was about 2 inches off the ground just prior to landing, the slight knock I received on touchdown was nowhere near the one my wallet took that evening on the blackjack tables.
All in all an absolutely amazing experience, can’t wait to get back to Scotland and stop by Roundyhill and score another flight.

My 1st gliding experience
 

Wow that sounds amazing!

Ive also wantedto try it and based on what you said i think i will!

Shame it will probably be in the midlands!

Ill leave the gambling out... I tend to loose

Now you know why the birds sing!!

Yeah, I felt like singing myself knowing i wasn't burning 70 quid an hour on avgas

You can do all of that in Scotland and you wont need an 8,000ft tow. Check out the British Gliding Association's website at gliding.co.uk, look for 'Find a club' and take your pick. My recommendation would be the Deeside club at Aboyne.

Gliding in Scotland
 

You don't say whether you were flying in wave or thermal lift. There is a difference you know. However if you want to sample similar conditions in Scotland without heading for the Highlands (Aboyne) I can recommend two clubs near here in the Scottish Borders where there is a good chance of wave flying to quite high altitudes - 14000 -16000ft. One is Portmoak near Kinross and the other is Millfield almost on the border itself. Portmoak mostly winch launch which by the sound of it you haven't tried yet (strongly recommended for the sensation) and Millfield is aerotow only. Portmoak is a full time club - Millfield is weekends only.

Suspect the release was AMSL, not AAL. It was still a very long tow though, the height of the launch point is given as 3400'. No wonder his wallet took a beating. What kind of glider was it? The DG1000? They are lovely to fly.

here is a couple of vids from the flight, the light bit of desert you see in the disxtance is El Mirage lake bed next to Edwards Air Force base and General Atomics where the predator drone is built

Videos make it clear it's a K21, not the DG1000.

Another vote for Portmoak!

Been there a few times and the ridges are always good fun. If the wind is anything from south westerly to northerly one of the ridges will be working. Portmoak is where I reached 14,000' from a winch launch and did my 5 hours towards my silver badge.

Plus Mary's cooking and hospitality is second to none... Just don't sit on her tables! :}

Mary? Who is Mary? How long ago are you talking about? !!!!!

And BTW we have a ridge that works in a southerly....

Pilot Lyons, in the midlands you can try the Midland GC at the Long Mynd, or Shobdon. They both have wave as well as thermal (and the MGC have a superb ridge too).

Further south is the Black Mountains club at Usk, near Abergavenny. Wave is very common there.

See the BGA map as advised in another post.

Chris N.

I had a great 4 days flying and staying in Aboyne over one Easter. Thermals, wave, rotors and snow front. Flew inside the leading edge of a lenticular and a snow cloud (wearing a chute of course).:ok:

Looks great - thanks for sharing the videos

chrisN,
Black Mountain GC is at Talgarth. NW of Abergavenny, South Wales GC is at
Usk, SW of Abergavenny.
Both clubs, as you say, get some very good wave, last Wed and Sun for example at Usk .

Sorry, yes, I had rolled the two together by mistake. I've been in wave at both, a long time ago.

Chris N.

sensible flyer, 14k msl from winch? Nice.
Only in hilly area where you can use ridge to lob you up further into thermals or direct from ridge lift to wave..
I never got to fly wave so far in glider and at Usk, one needs more than winch to reach the wave, since the thermals don't connect to wave easily in that area, from what I was told when I did bit of gliding there. There was shear or inversion etc between achievable height from thermals and bottom of wave, so guys usually took high tows into wave.

Now I've done bit of gliding in Oregon this season, WVSC (North Plains, OR) and about 30 bucks (20ish quid) for 3k ft tow seems expensive compared to winch. Wait till I pay UK tow charge again.. Double the cost.

I'm hoping to have more time in between my rotary and fixed wing flying/training/instructing, to sample the wave soaring somewhere in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado etc coming years. Coincidentally enough, I checked out SSA website. Truckee would be nice to get to fly out of, too. Own glider would be nicer, but too much hassle for someone living around.

Come down to Australia in your "off" season, we can show you great thermals, not much wave until May-Sept though.;)

I think he means Irene!! PMK is one of the best club's I have flown at and I've been at more than a few.

I have lots of time out of both Talgarth and Portmoak and can highly recommend both of them. They both have good track records for ridge and wave in the winter and add in excellent thermals in the summer.