Eric Greenwell wrote:
wrote:

I'd love the ability to cross large blue areas, and I know it would be
glorious to pop out the side of a towering cumulus at 20,000 and glide.

Chances are the only thing you'll be doing after entering a towering
cumulus is looking for the rip cord after your beautiful 26 has come
apart around you Eric. The last guy we know of that went IMC in a
glider was quite rudly ejected from his 26 and he's a high time power
pilot that's paid to fly IMC.


And I'm sure he'd quickly point out that inadvertent IMC near Vne
without a gyro running is a heck of a lot different that a planned,
stabilized entry into the bottom of a cloud at thermalling speed.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed getting my

instrument rating and flying IFR, but I think glider pilots that are
not trained to and are flying aircraft not designed to do the job of
cloud flying are going to become statistics furthermore proving our
beloveid sport is more dangerious as thought of before.


The way you've stated it, you are right. But...every year, people in the
UK and Europe do get that training and do fly in gliders that are
designed to do the job, and they don't even get instrument ratings. I'll
bet some of our USA pilots can get up to the same standard.


Hi Eric

Just my 2c worth.

I got to fly in the UK recently, at Lasham (which by the way was very welcoming
and helpful)
We took an aerotow to 2500" in a K21, at which point we were circling in a
little hole 400" above the general cloud base. A little while later we nipped in
under the 7/8 of what looked like spreadout and soared quite happily in gentle
lift under a "cloud street" - darker strip in the grey... occasionally passing
through tendrils of cloud hanging below. All very civilised and a wonderful
experience. I would not recomend trying the same with your average South African
highveld Cu-nim. (or USA mid west - or Australian outback...)

As with all things gliding, I think the answer about whether cloud flying is
safe is - It depends. Among other things it depends on the energy levels and
depth of the average cloud in the area you are flying in. As you commented the
training is a big issue - It also depends largely on how competent the pilot is
to fly IMC.