Anyone here know if there is any soaring activity in the United Arab
Emirates or Dubai? A local friend thinks I should go over there and
start a soaring school. He's a real nice guy but I take his ideas
with a grain of salt. That said, he does know a lot of folks there
and thinks they would not only dig soaring but be able to afford it as
well. I'm only slightly less skeptical of this idea than of the
perpetual motion zeppelin glider thing.

Matt Michael

On Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:08:21 -0800, wby0nder wrote:

> Anyone here know if there is any soaring activity in the United Arab
> Emirates or Dubai? A local friend thinks I should go over there and
> start a soaring school. He's a real nice guy but I take his ideas with
> a grain of salt. That said, he does know a lot of folks there and
> thinks they would not only dig soaring but be able to afford it as well.
> I'm only slightly less skeptical of this idea than of the perpetual
> motion zeppelin glider thing.
>
This is second hand, but:

A long-time friend was working in Quatar, just up the gulf from the UAE
on the 80s. As he's a keen model flier and figured that thermals had to
be great with all that sun on the floor, he took an RC soarer out there.
No luck at all: he tried valiantly but couldn't find any thermals. He
eventually realised that all the sand, and the lowish sandy hills heat up
equally, so there are few temperature differences to kick the thermals
off.

Certainly a glance at a list of UAE birds shows many more shore birds and
non-soaring species than raptors, vultures etc. Many of the raptors are
marked as rare/endangered.

I've worked there (Abu Dhabi) and must say I didn't see many soaring
birds - not at all like India - but OTOH I wasn't looking all that hard.

HTH


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Dec 7, 1:08*am, wrote:
> Anyone here know if there is any soaring activity in the United Arab
> Emirates or Dubai? *A local friend thinks I should go over there and
> start a soaring school. *He's a real nice guy but I take his ideas
> with a grain of salt. *That said, he does know a lot of folks there
> and thinks they would not only dig soaring but be able to afford it as
> well. *I'm only slightly less skeptical of this idea than of the
> perpetual motion zeppelin glider thing.
>
> Matt Michael

My firm has folks working in UAE all the time. I know a bunch of them
tracked down a sky-diving operation and had an absolute blast. Their
sense was/is that there's a LOT of disposable income looking for a
place to be spent, and action/adventure-themed stuff is certainly
hot. So, if you were in the mode of doing say a rides business,
maybe incorporating aerobatics, I bet it could be profitable. Don't
know much about "soaring" and how that would work given the
conditions, airspace, etc.

This is the operation my guys went with: http://www.uaqaeroclub.com/

P3

On Dec 7, 12:53*pm, Papa3 > wrote:
> On Dec 7, 1:08*am, wrote:
>
> > Anyone here know if there is any soaring activity in the United Arab
> > Emirates or Dubai? *A local friend thinks I should go over there and
> > start a soaring school. *He's a real nice guy but I take his ideas
> > with a grain of salt. *That said, he does know a lot of folks there
> > and thinks they would not only dig soaring but be able to afford it as
> > well. *I'm only slightly less skeptical of this idea than of the
> > perpetual motion zeppelin glider thing.
>
> > Matt Michael
>
> My firm has folks working in UAE all the time. *I know a bunch of them
> tracked down a sky-diving operation and had an absolute blast. * Their
> sense was/is that there's a LOT of disposable income looking for a
> place to be spent, and action/adventure-themed stuff is certainly
> hot. * So, if you were in the mode of doing say a rides business,
> maybe incorporating aerobatics, I bet it could be profitable. * *Don't
> know much about "soaring" and how that would work given the
> conditions, airspace, etc.
>
> This is the operation my guys went with: *http://www.uaqaeroclub.com/
>
> P3

I should have mentioned that India is certainly a place to
consider. I've spent hours watching kites and eagles outside my
office window in Bangalore (I typically spend several weeks there each
year), and the soaring conditions can be spectacular. 8,000 -
10,000 foot cloud bases and amazing cloud streets are not at all
uncommon. There were two problems when I looked into this in the
past: 1) Enough disposable income (no longer an issue, as the middle/
upper class has grown tremendously in the last 5 years) and 2)
airspace. I suspect the latter issue is probably the bigger one. I
did do one ride in a Blanik L-23 as well as several Microlight flights
there about 6 years ago, and the problem was that the military owned
almost all of the airspace, at least near the major population
centers. It was painful to be climbing at 9kts and having to pop
the boards at 3,000 AGL because we were going to bust airspace. I
suspect things may be changing, and it might be a viable business to
do rides outside of one of the major cities like Bombay, Bangalore,
etc.

I'm sure some folks lurking on this group would have more current
info.

> I'm sure some folks lurking on this group would have more current
> info.

Seeing as you spend actually time there, you probably already know
your options, but someone from one of the clubs in India may be of
help: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/2083/#Gliding%20in%20India

As for Emirates, it looks like gliders are basically wide open and
there most certainly are folks who can afford to burn it off with some
acro or sled rides should soaring there actually suck. I seem to
recall seeing UAE sailplane stamps as well as contest covers from the
past though, so I think they've at least heard of gliders...
http://www.eaa-uae.org/uae-aviation/index.htm

-Paul

On Dec 7, 10:59*am, Papa3 > wrote:
> On Dec 7, 12:53*pm, Papa3 > wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Dec 7, 1:08*am, wrote:
>
> > > Anyone here know if there is any soaring activity in the United Arab
> > > Emirates or Dubai? *A local friend thinks I should go over there and
> > > start a soaring school. *He's a real nice guy but I take his ideas
> > > with a grain of salt. *That said, he does know a lot of folks there
> > > and thinks they would not only dig soaring but be able to afford it as
> > > well. *I'm only slightly less skeptical of this idea than of the
> > > perpetual motion zeppelin glider thing.
>
> > > Matt Michael
>
> > My firm has folks working in UAE all the time. *I know a bunch of them
> > tracked down a sky-diving operation and had an absolute blast. * Their
> > sense was/is that there's a LOT of disposable income looking for a
> > place to be spent, and action/adventure-themed stuff is certainly
> > hot. * So, if you were in the mode of doing say a rides business,
> > maybe incorporating aerobatics, I bet it could be profitable. * *Don't
> > know much about "soaring" and how that would work given the
> > conditions, airspace, etc.
>
> > This is the operation my guys went with: *http://www.uaqaeroclub.com/
>
> > P3
>
> I should have mentioned that India is certainly a place to
> consider. * *I've spent hours watching kites and eagles outside my
> office window in Bangalore (I typically spend several weeks there each
> year), * and the soaring conditions can be spectacular. * 8,000 -
> 10,000 foot cloud bases and amazing cloud streets are not at all
> uncommon. * *There were two problems when I looked into this in the


India is a fantastic place to view raptures.

In the 70's-

I remember riding on a bus, and looking out of the window, while
Delhi was in the middle of the monsoon with some flooding, seeing a
hawk gliding along a row of first floor balconies suddenly dip for a
few seconds, coming up with a big rat. I have never seen such a high
concentration of raptures in such a major metropolitan area.

Looking up in thermals sometimes there were groups of different types
of hawks and vultures, each at their own flight level. I remember
thinking the separation might be due to their different wing types
and loadings.

> past: *1) *Enough disposable income (no longer an issue, as the middle/
> upper class has grown tremendously in the last 5 years) and 2)
> airspace. * *I suspect the latter issue is probably the bigger one. *I
> did do one ride in a Blanik L-23 as well as several Microlight flights
> there about 6 years ago, and the problem was that the military owned
> almost all of the airspace, at least near the major population
> centers. * * It was painful to be climbing at 9kts and having to pop
> the boards at 3,000 AGL because we were going to bust airspace. * * I
> suspect things may be changing, and it might be a viable business to
> do rides outside of one of the major cities like Bombay, Bangalore,
> etc.
>
> I'm sure some folks lurking on this group would have more current
> info.

On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 13:18:06 -0800, Mike wrote:

>India is a fantastic place to view raptures.
>
>In the 70's-
>
November, 1977.

I remember sitting outside the Govt. Tourist Hotel in Jaipur, which was
outside the city walls and maybe 1km from the local abbatoir. We were
watching many hundreds of vultures and kites flapping up into the base of
a huge, stationery thermal, then soaring up at least 1500 ft before
peeling off in a long skein way across the city to a second thermal where
they specked out. They were all flying the same diameter turn, so it was
like staring up into the end of a giant rotating pipe in the sky.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

At 21:18 07 December 2008, Mike wrote:
>
>India is a fantastic place to view raptures.

India is, of course, big on the whole spiritual experience
sort of thing. However, given the right kind of drugs,
you can view raptures just about anywhere you choose.

Jim Beckman