Video - Soaring with Turkey Vultures

A little video I shot last year in my DG-303 near Houston, TX.
Something for you guys buried in snow up north.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q0FOnjJGLk

Nicely done Gus, I too like flying with soaring birds but have not had
much sucess with Turkey Vultures . Black Vultures however I find are
much more willing to let you stay with them . Never have I seen a
Vulture show aggression and when closing on one they have in my
experience always left in a hurry . In talking with an ornithologist
he offered the opinion that not being predators Vultures are much less
likely to consider any threatening actions such as Eagles might . None
the less I could not agree more about keeping your distance as I knew
of a pilot whose canopy was smashed in a collision with a Vulture . He
was lucky to survive .

On Dec 14, 6:19*am, " wrote:
Nicely done Gus, I too like flying with soaring birds but have not had
much sucess with Turkey Vultures . Black Vultures however I find are
much more willing to let you stay with them . Never have I seen a
Vulture show aggression and when closing on one they have in my
experience always left in a hurry . In talking with an ornithologist
he offered the opinion that not being predators Vultures are much less
likely to consider any threatening actions such as Eagles might . None
the less I could not agree more about keeping your distance as I knew
of a pilot whose canopy was smashed in a collision with a Vulture . He
was lucky to survive .

Turkey Vultures hunt by smell and usually stay close to the ground,
soaring in micro-lift that isn't any good for sailplanes.
Occasionally, you'll see them at cloud base like in this video. Here
in Arizona, they often mix with Black Vultures, which have a higher
wing loading and hunt visually. In South Africa, the Cape Vultures
would frequently fly with gliders, making sometimes an uncomfortably
close formation. I have had a close encounter with an eagle (Golden,
I think) that made a few stoops at me to scare me away, but the
vultures never seem to be a flight risk. I guess you can hit anything
if you try hard enough!

Mike

Mike

Gus,
You are my hero!. I am a new owner of a DG-303 which I have not
flown yet. Your accolades of the DG at the end of the video give me
great excitement and anticipation for flying next spring. Even my
wife thought it was cool and she does not impress easily with out
glider toys. Big boys need big toys, especially if they are 15 meters
wide!
John

I flew with a corn stalk once at 5,000 ft AGL. Cool.