flying competition in mountains

Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?

I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.

One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.

Regards,
Brad

Brad wrote:
Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?

I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.

One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.

I'm not aware of any place in the US where pilots routinely fly IN the
mountains, as they do in places like the Alps and NZ, but there are a
lot of places where pilots routinely fly OVER the mountains. Is that the
kind of distinction you are making?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* Sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

On Aug 10, 5:14*pm, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Brad wrote:
Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?

I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.

One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.

I'm not aware of any place in the US where pilots routinely fly IN the
mountains, as they do in places like the Alps and NZ, but there are a
lot of places where pilots routinely fly OVER the mountains. Is that the
kind of distinction you are making?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* "Transponders in Sailplanes"http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* * * Sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" atwww.motorglider.org

Hi Eric,

Not really.................imagine a contest that would be held say at
Twisp airport in the Methow valley and has the course set up to be
mostly in the mountains, perhaps making turnpoints at Lost River,
Scott, and Brewster, then back to Twisp.

Brad

There is a contest that just started today in Logan, Utah....mountains
all around.


Warren

Brad wrote:
On Aug 10, 5:14 pm, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Brad wrote:
Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?
I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.
One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.
I'm not aware of any place in the US where pilots routinely fly IN the
mountains, as they do in places like the Alps and NZ, but there are a
lot of places where pilots routinely fly OVER the mountains. Is that the
kind of distinction you are making?

Not really.................imagine a contest that would be held say at
Twisp airport in the Methow valley and has the course set up to be
mostly in the mountains, perhaps making turnpoints at Lost River,
Scott, and Brewster, then back to Twisp.

Twisp is pretty small; Methow Valley airport would be better.

A common complaint about mountain tasks is they can depend much more on
local knowledge, particularly knowledge of safe landing places and the
valley winds. The number of available tasks can be much smaller,
particularly if the cloudbases are near the mountain tops.

FAI classes could be run "fairly", but Sports Class would be almost
unworkable, as the higher performance gliders would have a considerable
advantage. Of course, if it's great conditions and cloudbase is 6000'
above the peaks, then it's no problem, no whining. Not a likely weather
situation for the area you mention!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* Sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

On Aug 11, 12:37*am, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Brad wrote:
On Aug 10, 5:14 pm, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Brad wrote:
Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?
I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.
One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.
I'm not aware of any place in the US where pilots routinely fly IN the
mountains, as they do in places like the Alps and NZ, but there are a
lot of places where pilots routinely fly OVER the mountains. Is that the
kind of distinction you are making?
Not really.................imagine a contest that would be held say at
Twisp airport in the Methow valley and has the course set up to be
mostly in the mountains, perhaps making turnpoints at Lost River,
Scott, and Brewster, then back to Twisp.

Twisp is pretty small; Methow Valley airport would be better.

A common complaint about mountain tasks is they can depend much more on
local knowledge, particularly knowledge of safe landing places and the
valley winds. The number of available tasks can be much smaller,
particularly if the cloudbases are near the mountain tops.

FAI classes could be run "fairly", but Sports Class would be almost
unworkable, as the higher performance gliders would have a considerable
advantage. Of course, if it's great conditions and cloudbase is 6000'
above the peaks, then it's no problem, no whining. Not a likely weather
situation for the area you mention!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* "Transponders in Sailplanes"http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* * * Sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" atwww.motorglider.org

There's always R4S held every fall at Newcastle, VA. I know, it's not
the
Alps or Rockies, but those ridges are pretty rugged and make for very
fast flights after a cold front goes through. No sports class though.

-- Matt

On Aug 10, 5:17*pm, Brad wrote:
Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?

I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.

One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.

Regards,
Brad


Pilots trying to fly in mountains cause problems in these parts - we
recommend flying over or around them.

Bill D
Colorado

On Aug 11, 2:53*pm, bildan wrote:
On Aug 10, 5:17*pm, Brad wrote:

Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?

I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.

One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.

Regards,
Brad

Pilots trying to fly in mountains cause problems in these parts - we
recommend flying over or around them.

Bill D
Colorado

Good point..............I assumed that "in the mountains" would be
understood to be in the vicinity of mountains, not actually "in" the
mountains as you seem to imply......

Brad

On Aug 11, 3:09*pm, Brad wrote:
On Aug 11, 2:53*pm, bildan wrote:





On Aug 10, 5:17*pm, Brad wrote:

Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?

I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.

One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.

Regards,
Brad

Pilots trying to fly in mountains cause problems in these parts - we
recommend flying over or around them.

Bill D
Colorado

Good point..............I assumed that "in the mountains" would be
understood to be in the vicinity of mountains, not actually "in" the
mountains as you seem to imply......

Brad- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On good days in the Sierras and places like Parowan you are so high
that you are not really flying close to the mountains but rather high
over them. Usually on these kind of days the options for getting to a
airport are very good and other than the initial 2k tow you are never
close to the pine cones or rocks. The chances of a landout on these
days is very remote and probably this type of flying is safer than
working a narrow band of lift over flatland.

On weaker days especially the windy ones the danger increases and you
better know what you are doing. Flying close to the mountain with
associate turbulance and stress is something that takes a lot of
experience and training to do safely. Coordinated turns are much more
difficult to accomplish close to rocks and trees. Even the best
pilots get into trouble with some of the freak conditions that occur
on mountain ridges and/or thunderstorms. I would suggest a lot of
training, practice and caution.

On Aug 10, 5:17*pm, Brad wrote:
Not being a competition pilot myself I am not in the know regarding
this subject. But.......are there any soaring competitions held in the
U.S. where flying in the mountains is common for the whole course?

I've been told that pilots prefer the "safety" of desert or basin
flying since there are "more" places to land and that the separation
between ground and aircraft is greater.

One undisputed fact is that the scenery is better in the mountains.

Regards,
Brad

Brad,

As Warren mentioned Logan, Utah is one of the few places were pilots
fly "in" the mountains in the US. Run my flight from Monday (8/10) in
Google Earth and you will get to see the mix of "in and "over" the
terrain we do.

Had a great 400 K run today out over the Salt River and Wyoming ranges
in Wyoming. Most of us were in three states today and up near 17,500
feet.

Tim