Atmospheric stability and lapse rate

Andrew Sarangan wrote:
What you described is exactly the point many people (including
myself)
have been confused about. The 2C/1000' is the average environmental
lapse rate. Adiabatic lapse rate is never 2C/1000'. It is 1C/1000' or

3C/1000'. Many FAA texts do not explain this point clearly. Since
most
pilots get their meterology knowledge from FAA texts, and are not
formally educated on the subject, it is not surprising this confusion

exists.

There is an excellent explanation of all this stuff (including how to
predict cloud bases, the presence of vertical air currents, and the
likelihood of T-storms) in Reichmann's "Streckensegelflug" (man I hope
I got that right) which is translated into English (the whole book -
you need not speak German) as "Cross Country Soaring." It includes the
use of the Stuve diagram to predict what the atmosphere is going to do.

I would bet you any money that if you took a survey of CFI's
most would not know this fact.

Sure, as long as you limit to power-only CFI's. I can't think of any
glider CFI's who have not read Reichmann, though of course anything is
possible.

Michael