Florida Soaring Conditions in August- Seminole

[Neil McLaughlin[_3_]]

I have a work trip to Orlando coming up in August and have the option
to stay on for a few days afterwards.

I was thinking about visiting Seminole Lake and doing some flying out
of there.

My first question is will the weather be good to make it worthwhile? I
can see it could be quite hot and humid in late August!

I think because it will essentially be a long weekend I am looking at
that it wouldn't be worth going through the hoops to get a FAA license
and medical, which leads me onto my second question... Any Seminole
members with decent two seaters that would like to do some XC flying?

I might be mistaken but I dont think the club fleet has any high
performance two seaters looking at the website?

Background on me I'm UK based, UK issued SPL license, 700hrs+, 3
diamonds and plenty of XC experience, and not a terrible person to
have to spend time with in a two seater apparently :)

Cheers for any advice- need to book flights this week so any quick
responses greatly appreciated!

Neil

[[email protected]]

Seminole Lake is not a Club, but rather a Commercial Operation. The PW-6 is probably the newest addition to their fleet.

Yes, Florida will be HOT and HUMID in late August.

[Neil McLaughlin[_3_]]

Thanks for the emails with insights everyone, very useful- The
conclusion is I think it would be a better choice to add this onto the end

of a trip at a different time of year!

At 22:54 20 March 2019, wrote:
>Seminole Lake is not a Club, but rather a Commercial Operation. The
PW-6 is
>probably the newest addition to their fleet.
>
>Yes, Florida will be HOT and HUMID in late August.
>

[[email protected][_2_]]

What kind of high performance two seaters does your organization back home fly?
R

[Rich Owen[_2_]]

Neil, Give us an email at . I have a DG-1000T that we could fly but August is outside our good soaring season for XC. Our XC season goes from September to mid June. You can look at the SSA.org website under sailplane racing, results, Senior Soaring Championship and see the speeds and distances flown in March at Seminole-Lake.
Rich Owen
VP Seminole Flying and Soaring

[rj]

I have flown at Seminole Lakes,

While August is not ideal flying weather, there are some days that are good. It just depends on the local forecast. Typically, expect a hot daytime temperature and cumulus over development by 4 PM followed by a brief rain shower.

Start flying no later than 1 PM and expect to be back on the ground a few hours later before it starts raining.

If you are going to Orlando anyway, just keep an eye on the forecast.

[Bob Youngblood]

On Wednesday, March 20, 2019 at 8:30:04 AM UTC-4, Neil McLaughlin wrote:
> I have a work trip to Orlando coming up in August and have the option
> to stay on for a few days afterwards.
>
> I was thinking about visiting Seminole Lake and doing some flying out
> of there.
>
> My first question is will the weather be good to make it worthwhile? I
> can see it could be quite hot and humid in late August!
>
> I think because it will essentially be a long weekend I am looking at
> that it wouldn't be worth going through the hoops to get a FAA license
> and medical, which leads me onto my second question... Any Seminole
> members with decent two seaters that would like to do some XC flying?
>
> I might be mistaken but I dont think the club fleet has any high
> performance two seaters looking at the website?
>
> Background on me I'm UK based, UK issued SPL license, 700hrs+, 3
> diamonds and plenty of XC experience, and not a terrible person to
> have to spend time with in a two seater apparently :)
>
> Cheers for any advice- need to book flights this week so any quick
> responses greatly appreciated!
>
> Neil

August and September can be extremely wet, thunder boomers pop up with little notice. The inland temp of Orlando can make for a very wet and challenging day. Be prepared for a hot humid day, get an early start and enjoy the ride.

[[email protected]]

Unless a tropical storm elsewhere is breaking the normal Bermuda High pattern with winds from the East, it probably won't be great. Also there are occasional days that are dry - watch the GOES water vapor loop a day or two ahead if time to see if the "hot" colors are heading our way:
https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/sector_band.php?sat=G16&sector=se&band=10&length=12