On Aug 11, 3:09*pm, Brad wrote:
On Aug 11, 2:53*pm, bildan wrote:





On Aug 10, 5:17*pm, Brad wrote:

Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?

I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.

One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.

Regards,
Brad

Pilots trying to fly in mountains cause problems in these parts - we
recommend flying over or around them.

Bill D
Colorado

Good point..............I assumed that "in the mountains" would be
understood to be in the vicinity of mountains, not actually "in" the
mountains as you seem to imply......

Brad- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On good days in the Sierras and places like Parowan you are so high
that you are not really flying close to the mountains but rather high
over them. Usually on these kind of days the options for getting to a
airport are very good and other than the initial 2k tow you are never
close to the pine cones or rocks. The chances of a landout on these
days is very remote and probably this type of flying is safer than
working a narrow band of lift over flatland.

On weaker days especially the windy ones the danger increases and you
better know what you are doing. Flying close to the mountain with
associate turbulance and stress is something that takes a lot of
experience and training to do safely. Coordinated turns are much more
difficult to accomplish close to rocks and trees. Even the best
pilots get into trouble with some of the freak conditions that occur
on mountain ridges and/or thunderstorms. I would suggest a lot of
training, practice and caution.