How about some talk about flying?

Since this group is being overwhelmed by an incredible quantity of crap,
and contains virtually no actual reasonable on-topic posts, here's a
little attempt to switch things up. I wrote this message to my club, but
it ought to fit in here OK. Even though it's not about big complicated
machines with spinning fans up front, at least it's about flying!

....

And an incredible testament to the power of XCSkies here.

I checked the XCSkies forecast in the morning before I left home. It
showed good lift to about 3,000ft over the Massanutten, and to 6,000ft
over the Blue Ridge. Since they're so close together, I figured this
couldn't POSSIBLY be really accurate, and just took it to mean that the
lift would be spotty.

After the shortest non-rope-break tow I have EVER experienced (the vario
needle disappeared past 10kts before the end of the runway, and
eventually pegged so hard that the needle went all the way around past
zero a second time) I climbed in good lift over the Massanutten to... a
little over 3,000ft. Couldn't get much past that no matter what I tried.

Remembering the XCSkies forecast, I fell back to the Blue Ridge. Lift
was consistent enough that I got there at around 3,200ft still, and hit
solid lift again. A few minutes later I banged into cloudbase and
checked the altimeter... 6,200ft.

Now THAT is incredible weather forecasting precision. An XCSkies
subscription is worth every penny in my view.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

On Nov 7, 7:15*am, Mike Ash wrote:
Since this group is being overwhelmed by an incredible quantity of crap,
and contains virtually no actual reasonable on-topic posts, here's a
little attempt to switch things up. I wrote this message to my club, but
it ought to fit in here OK. Even though it's not about big complicated
machines with spinning fans up front, at least it's about flying!

...

And an incredible testament to the power of XCSkies here.

I checked the XCSkies forecast in the morning before I left home. It
showed good lift to about 3,000ft over the Massanutten, and to 6,000ft
over the Blue Ridge. Since they're so close together, I figured this
couldn't POSSIBLY be really accurate, and just took it to mean that the
lift would be spotty.

After the shortest non-rope-break tow I have EVER experienced (the vario
needle disappeared past 10kts before the end of the runway, and
eventually pegged so hard that the needle went all the way around past
zero a second time) I climbed in good lift over the Massanutten to... a
little over 3,000ft. Couldn't get much past that no matter what I tried.

Remembering the XCSkies forecast, I fell back to the Blue Ridge. Lift
was consistent enough that I got there at around 3,200ft still, and hit
solid lift again. A few minutes later I banged into cloudbase and
checked the altimeter... 6,200ft.

Now THAT is incredible weather forecasting precision. An XCSkies
subscription is worth every penny in my view.

Sounds like there might be decent wave in that area..

In article
,
george wrote:

Remembering the XCSkies forecast, I fell back to the Blue Ridge. Lift
was consistent enough that I got there at around 3,200ft still, and hit
solid lift again. A few minutes later I banged into cloudbase and
checked the altimeter... 6,200ft.

Now THAT is incredible weather forecasting precision. An XCSkies
subscription is worth every penny in my view.

Sounds like there might be decent wave in that area..

I had similar thoughts. The satellite picture showed unmistakable signs
of wave farther south, terminating about 30 miles or so south of my
airport. The clouds in the area weren't classic wave formations, but I
thought they looked promising. However, no matter how hard I searched, I
never found wave. The area where I was flying was very rotor-like, with
strong turbulence everywhere, decreasing slowly with altitude, but I
only ever found very bumpy lift under the clouds, never anything away
from them, and never anything smooth.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

On Nov 7, 1:23*pm, Mike Ash wrote:
In article
,

*george wrote:
Remembering the XCSkies forecast, I fell back to the Blue Ridge. Lift
was consistent enough that I got there at around 3,200ft still, and hit
solid lift again. A few minutes later I banged into cloudbase and
checked the altimeter... 6,200ft.

Now THAT is incredible weather forecasting precision. An XCSkies
subscription is worth every penny in my view.

Sounds like there might be decent wave in that area..

I had similar thoughts. The satellite picture showed unmistakable signs
of wave farther south, terminating about 30 miles or so south of my
airport. The clouds in the area weren't classic wave formations, but I
thought they looked promising. However, no matter how hard I searched, I
never found wave. The area where I was flying was very rotor-like, with
strong turbulence everywhere, decreasing slowly with altitude, but I
only ever found very bumpy lift under the clouds, never anything away
from them, and never anything smooth.

Get a tow into the 30 mile south area and do an orbit on tow.
If theres anything you'll feel it.
It may be that the areas pretty dry and lenticular won't form.
Was the rotor visible?

In article
,
george wrote:

On Nov 7, 1:23*pm, Mike Ash wrote:
In article
,

*george wrote:
Remembering the XCSkies forecast, I fell back to the Blue Ridge. Lift
was consistent enough that I got there at around 3,200ft still, and hit
solid lift again. A few minutes later I banged into cloudbase and
checked the altimeter... 6,200ft.

Now THAT is incredible weather forecasting precision. An XCSkies
subscription is worth every penny in my view.

Sounds like there might be decent wave in that area..

I had similar thoughts. The satellite picture showed unmistakable signs
of wave farther south, terminating about 30 miles or so south of my
airport. The clouds in the area weren't classic wave formations, but I
thought they looked promising. However, no matter how hard I searched, I
never found wave. The area where I was flying was very rotor-like, with
strong turbulence everywhere, decreasing slowly with altitude, but I
only ever found very bumpy lift under the clouds, never anything away
from them, and never anything smooth.

Get a tow into the 30 mile south area and do an orbit on tow.
If theres anything you'll feel it.
It may be that the areas pretty dry and lenticular won't form.

Well, there were lenticular-looking things on the satellite photo. I
wasn't up to doing such a long tow, though, especially since the 30
miles was just a rough estimate.

Was the rotor visible?

There were a couple of lower-level clouds that looked like they may have
been rotor clouds, but for the most part no.

Another interesting part to this day. It had been mostly calm all day.
The report came in from another fellow that there was lift, so I started
getting ready for takeoff. As I was standing next to my glider getting
the cockpit prepped, there was this sudden WOOSH as the wind went from 0
to 10+kts instantaneously, and just stayed there for the rest of the
day. Really odd stuff!

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

On Nov 7, 6:35*pm, Mike Ash wrote:

Well, there were lenticular-looking things on the satellite photo. I
wasn't up to doing such a long tow, though, especially since the 30
miles was just a rough estimate.

You -could- always go slumming and get a ride with a friendly power
pilot in the general direction :-)
If its wave it'll be there :-)
What, might I ask, are you flying?