Wave today in Northeast USA

Several pilots climbed in wave today in Saratoga Springs, New York. It
is strange to have wave in August. This is the 1st time in 20 years
that I can remember having wave in August. It felt like autumn today.
Mike McCarron, MC, climbed to 18,000 ft and was hoping that through
Albany's Control Tower, Boston Center could be contacted for a wave
window. It was disappointing to hear Albany come back on the radio and
request that he return to flight level 16.5. A half dozen other pilots
flew between 15,000 to 17,000 ft. This sure beats the humid summer air
we normal get at this time of year.

Tim Hanke
Adirondack Soaring

It now appears that George Hanke flying a DUO Discus has broken the
NYS
Record held back in 1967 for altitude gain.


On Aug 18, 7:56 pm, Tim Hanke wrote:
Several pilots climbed in wave today in Saratoga Springs, New York. It
is strange to have wave in August. This is the 1st time in 20 years
that I can remember having wave in August. It felt like autumn today.
Mike McCarron, MC, climbed to 18,000 ft and was hoping that through
Albany's Control Tower, Boston Center could be contacted for a wave
window. It was disappointing to hear Albany come back on the radio and
request that he return to flight level 16.5. A half dozen other pilots
flew between 15,000 to 17,000 ft. This sure beats the humid summer air
we normal get at this time of year.

Tim Hanke
Adirondack Soaring

Tim Hanke wrote:
Mike McCarron, MC, climbed to 18,000 ft and was hoping that through
Albany's Control Tower, Boston Center could be contacted for a wave
window. It was disappointing to hear Albany come back on the radio and
request that he return to flight level 16.5.

I'm curious about the reason for the request to go to FL165. Is there
Class A or some other Flight Level type airspace in that area that is
below 18,000 msl?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

Tim Hanke wrote:
Several pilots climbed in wave today in Saratoga Springs, New York. It
is strange to have wave in August. This is the 1st time in 20 years
that I can remember having wave in August. It felt like autumn today.
Mike McCarron, MC, climbed to 18,000 ft and was hoping that through
Albany's Control Tower, Boston Center could be contacted for a wave
window. It was disappointing to hear Albany come back on the radio and
request that he return to flight level 16.5. A half dozen other pilots
flew between 15,000 to 17,000 ft. This sure beats the humid summer air
we normal get at this time of year.

Color me jealous! We were scratching around down here in Virginia, with
high cirrus cutting into the thermals and max altitudes under 5000MSL. I'm
glad to hear somebody on the East coast had a nice run of it today,
although I did enjoy my time in the air even though I topped out 4300.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software

On Aug 18, 5:17 pm, Eric Greenwell wrote:
I'm curious about the reason for the request to go to FL165. Is there
Class A or some other Flight Level type airspace in that area that is
below 18,000 msl?

I don't know the answer to that question, but have had similar
experiences that make me less likely to contact ATC. If there's a good
reason, I'd be happy to comply, but they just ask you to go lower
(even though the airspace doesn't require it) and I then feel I have
to comply with them and am loathe to ask them the reason -- sometimes
controllers get a bit testy when questioned. But it usually seems not
needed. In my case, it's happened near Mt. Diablo in the SFO area and
I haven't seen any jet traffic nearby when asked.

This is an area that the group working with Reno ATC and the FAA might
look into since the midair near Minden last year shows the need for
better understanding on both sides.

On Aug 18, 8:17 pm, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Tim Hanke wrote:
Mike McCarron, MC, climbed to 18,000 ft and was hoping that through
Albany's Control Tower, Boston Center could be contacted for a wave
window. It was disappointing to hear Albany come back on the radio and
request that he return to flight level 16.5.

I'm curious about the reason for the request to go to FL165. Is there
Class A or some other Flight Level type airspace in that area that is
below 18,000 msl?


No, we only have class C 30 miles south of us. We have never had a
wave window
established beacuse our previous alittudes never exceeded 16,000 ft.
We should
have had a window established incase we had these type conditions. MC
still had
2 knots of clim at 18,000 ft. Our guess is 20 to 22 k would have been
possible. You
are correct that he didn't have to go down to 16.5 but I am sure he
was trying to
comply with hopes of getting the clearance.








--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes"http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" atwww.motorglider.org