But the upward aerodynamic force they are looking for
to accelerate their craft upward as a result of this lift is called
drag.

Not really.

Yea really. The upward acceleration of the flying glider in a thermal
entry is caused 100 percent by the component of the relative airflow
caused by the thermal. It requires a force to accelerate the glider
upward as a result of the thermal. Lets see what aerodynamic force is
most accurately defined as the aerodynamic force that is in the
direction of the relative airflow that caused it? That's right drag.
Any lift from an upward airflow will be horizontal. That will be why
the increased lift points more horizontal.

It is true that angle of attack goes up causing more lift but as far as
accelerating the glider upward this extra lift is negated by the fact
that the direction of this lift moves farther away from the upward
direction. This additional lift comes with additional drag and so does
the additional wind speed as a result of the thermal. And the direction
of this drag is more in the upward direction as a result of the
thermal. The thermal not only changes the direction of the relative
airflow it increases its speed. A fact that you conveniently left out.
Don't dem thar velocity vectors have magnitudes?

Now hear is another clue. When drag causes the acceleration of an
object the faster that object goes the less drag it generates until it
reaches the speed of the air and generates no drag, like the horizontal
flight of a balloon. This is because the more the object moves with the
wind the less motion between the object and the air. This is why the
flight stabilizes to a steady climb at the original constant speed in
the rising air. When lift causes the acceleration of an object it has
similar dynamics as the flying glider in a thermal entry. If the
glider accelerated upward as a result of the aerodynamic force lift it
would also affect the relative airflow by changing its speed and
direction. You never said any thing about this influence in your
analysis.



Before entering rising air, a glider's wing
sees a relative wind pointed slightly upward. It's pointed
straight back up the angle of the glidepath. The lift
vector is perpendicular to this, so it angles slightly
forward. As the glider enters rising air, the relative
wind turns and now angles more steeply upwards as the
upwardly pointed vector of rising air is added to the
previous vector of relative wind from the glide. If the
glider's attitude is unchanged, the changing relative wind
increases the AOA and the corresponding lift vector, and
that lift vector tilts forward.

The drag vector also increases and tilts upwards. Most of
the additional force that initially accelerates the glider
upwards comes from the increased lift vector. A smaller
component comes from the more upwardly tilted drag vector.

As the flight stabilizes to a steady climb at the original
constant speed in the rising air, the lift and drag vectors
will return to the same magnitudes and angles as before
relative to the ground. The glider will be in the same
attitude relative to the ground. The drag will be the same
(same magnitude, same direction), the lift will be the same
and the vectors of lift and drag will add up to produce a
vertical aerodynamic force that exactly opposes the downward
force of gravity. The glider will continue in unaccelerated
flight and the only difference will be that the glider is
now in a steady unaccelerated climb instead of a steady
unaccelerated descent.


Do not spin this aircraft. If the aircraft does enter a spin it will return to earth without further attention on the part of the aeronaut.

(first handbook issued with the Curtis-Wright flyer)