In article ,
Stewart Kissel wrote:
Part 2 of response-

Pushing limits safely is one of the appealing aspects
of our sport...once one can actually stay up, this
progression seems to be...

1.) How long(duration)
2.) How high
3.) How far
4.) How fast

An excellent list...how true...


(How low) seems to fit in there somewhere...but it
can bite harder then the others.

I saw an accident report that noted the cause:
"Pilot's inability to maintain terrain clearance."
Boy, that is SOME lazy investigator...I laughed a tiny bit,
and then was embarrassed at myself because it was a fatality...

I read a lot of reports about accidents caused not by
lack of lift, but presence of sink. In my close calls,
I was always glide ratio or better to an airport, but this
meant absolutely nothing. Sink is the killer.
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Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA