I have had Salt Lake Center offer flight following; Edmonton Center sometimes offers as well. I assume the US side keeps a close eye on me, even when I'm not being "flight followed".
The flight plan covers the entire flight. I keep my flight plan vague, that's the reality of gliding.
My concern with ATC is their workload. Don't make them worry about you, tell them when you are heading back to Canada. If there was a half-dozen experienced pilots doing the same flight, I think ATC would accept it. By contrast, if you have 6 canadian gliders transiting the descent airways into Calgary, that quickly becomes untenable.
Cruising along the eastern slopes north of Helena is not going to be conflicting with a lot of jet traffic descending into big airports. I'm not going to drop behind a mountain and disappear off radar because I'm effectively flying on the prairies. If the wave dies, I have a 50+ kt tailwind out of the SW, easily giving me glide to Canada. If I don't have glide to Canada, the engine comes out over an airport. If the engine fails, let ATC know and accept that I might have to explain this weird hobby to a judge.
The further south the flight goes, the risk of not making it home goes up. Wave terrain continues way south of Jackson Hole, but at some point (around Helena, in my estimation) it makes sense to land, clear Customs, and continue on with less potential legal consequences.
Chester
I'm pleased your flight was legal. I'm not likely to try a cross-border flight,
but now I can fantasize about it more knowledgeably.
Did USA ATC have you use "flight following"? Did you have to have a flight plan
for the entire flight, or just the US portion? And I wonder about each countries
ATC response to several gliders on the same mission the same day.
--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf