Tumbleweed at Cloudbase

[Mike the Strike]

With our best Arizona soaring day this year so far ( a 500 km day with
some 7-knot thermals), I was astonished to meet a tumbleweed at
cloudbase (about 7,500 feet AGL). I've seen some funny stuff sucked up
in thermals before, but this was the biggest and heaviest.

That got me wondering what other folks might have met in thermals?

Mike

[[email protected]]

Air mattress at 5000', no bathing beauty on it, however.


Mike the Strike wrote:
> With our best Arizona soaring day this year so far ( a 500 km day with
> some 7-knot thermals), I was astonished to meet a tumbleweed at
> cloudbase (about 7,500 feet AGL). I've seen some funny stuff sucked up
> in thermals before, but this was the biggest and heaviest.
>
> That got me wondering what other folks might have met in thermals?
>
> Mike

[Rudy Allemann 7Y]

On different flights I have seen:

A newspaper at over a mile up.

A plastic shopping bag at several thousand feet.

A flight of toy balloons tied together at over 4000 ft.

Tumbleweeds: many many times.

Two young eagles, talons locked, tumbling down at 10,000 ft.

But Eric Greenwell once ran into a kite string at (I think) over 4000
ft. He didn't see the kite though.

Rudy
Mike the Strike wrote:
>
>
> That got me wondering what other folks might have met in thermals?
>
> Mike

[01-- Zero One]

>
> That got me wondering what other folks might have met in thermals?
>



Of course, the requisite corn husk in Uvalde, several times.



Larry

"01" USA

[[email protected]]

Didn't seen a tumbleweed, but flying through the same skies you did
yesterday, I saw at various times a kid's ballon over Carefree, a
plastic grocery bag over Wickenburg, and unidentifiable garbage two
other times.

But the prettiest thing I met in a thermal was a Standard Libelle over
Moreton.

~ted/2NO

[Jono Richards]

Moving from rubbish to animals, I have met a bunch
of Swans at 14000ft in some strong wave, and I have
heard reports of them flying higher too.

I also met a wasp, which had made itself a stowaway
until about 200feet on the aerotow and thought it funny
to buzz around in my face. Must apolgise to the tuggie
for some eratic flying...

[[email protected]]

Funniest thing I ever saw was Al in a PW-5 :)

[[email protected]]

"Funniest thing I ever saw was Al in a PW-5 :) "

I was traumatized for weeks after flying that POS.

I once saw hay.... Lots of hay at cloudbase..
Just loose hay picked up from a field but it was like a funnel of it
for about 200ft below cloudbase.

Al

[Eric Greenwell]

Rudy Allemann 7Y wrote:

> But Eric Greenwell once ran into a kite string at (I think) over 4000
> ft. He didn't see the kite though.
>

Saw the kite, didn't reconize it as such, flew towards it, and
discovered a thick string on the leading edge of my Ka-6E. It broke
about the time I realized it was a large box kite I had encountered, but
not without sawing into the wood leading edge a bit.


--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA

www.motorglider.org - Download "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane
Operation"

[[email protected]]

Did anybody fly a 500km task or was it just a good-looking day?

Snagged a sheet of newspaper on my LP-46 wing years ago. A redtail in
the same thermal had snagged and shaken the sheet a couple of times,
seemingly daring me to try. I finally succeeded.

Rolf

[Mike C 17]

Newspapers in thermals are tough to hit.

I remember being pelted by sand about 7K ft AGL in a 10+ knot thermal.
The sand would hit the bottom of the 1-26 wing in strong pulses.
Although you couldn't see it, you could hear it hitting the metal
wing.

Mike

[[email protected]]

Task, no; OLC, yes. TS1 did 333 miles in his LS-8/18. I attempted 500k
as an MAT but came up about 2000 feet of altitude short.

~ted/2NO

[Bob Caldwell]

Telluride September 1979, 19,300' in a hang glider, no oxygen, I was seeing spots everywhere around me. They were golden colored aspen leaves in the thermal. Whew.... thought I was hypoxic.

Oh yeah, I was.....

[Gary Boggs]

I was in a very weak thermal one time, with just enough lift to keep me
aloft, near our airport over a carnival, and every couple of minutes a
helium balloon would get away from one of the kids below and float up. If
you timed it just right you could get 2 passed at it before it got above
you. It was great sport trying to get a kill in this target rich
environment!

Gary

"Bob Caldwell" > wrote in
message ...
> Telluride September 1979, 19,300' in a hang glider, no oxygen, I was
> seeing spots everywhere around me. They were golden colored aspen leaves
> in the thermal. Whew.... thought I was hypoxic.
>
> Oh yeah, I was.....
>
>
>
>

[[email protected]]

Butterfly at 6000

[Jono Richards]

At 15:00 22 February 2006, wrote:
>Butterfly at 6000
>
>

Wow, you must have good eyesight...!

[Jack]

I ran across Sam Fly and Dick Mockler in a thermal, once... warped my
development from that point on... I've never quite been the same. HAHA!

Jack Womack

[Tony Verhulst]

Soaring the moutain wind
I am out-climbed by
a butterfly

OK, this was in a hang glider many moons ago

Tony V
http://home.comcast.net/~verhulst/SOARING

[Ruud]

On 20 Feb 2006 09:54:43 -0800, "
> wrote:

>I once saw hay.... Lots of hay at cloudbase..
>Just loose hay picked up from a field but it was like a funnel of it
>for about 200ft below cloudbase.
>
At those occasions I always watch carefully for the farmer on his
tractor.
Most tractors are not equipped with Flarm.

Ruud.