I have talked a lot about using ridge lift and/or thermal lift to aid weak engines in getting over passes going into prevailing westerly wind. This is the time of year when great performance can be gleaned from nature going east in the heat of day.

If we fly slow in updrafts and fast in downdrafts, we can get up nicely and fly fast in cooler air. On many after school on Friday afternoons I have used hydraulic lift going up rising terrain from Gallup 6500 MSL but 10,000 DA to over Mt Taylor meybe 15,000 or more DA with little effort from 65 to 150 HP airplanes.

Whew! I thought Vaya con Dios meant bad news for somebody!

So, Contact, when you ride the thermals up to 15k or so, do you get a smoother ride up there? I am tired of getting pounded in the summer thermals at 10-12k. Just wondering if it would be worth the effort to try to eek out a little more altitude for long cross country flights.

How high do you have to climb to get out of the thermal bumps? Is it a reasonable expectation in normally aspirated engines?

Generally higher is smoother. Generally no escape from the bumps. Almost always best to take what you get rather than trying to climb faster than the up and down movement of air. It means go with God. Don't fight him.

Attempting to out climb the hydraulic lift of air over rising terrain is inefficient because the lift is greater close to the terrain. Attempting to out climb downdrafts is inefficient because doing so reduces airspeed thus causing us to stay in the down air longer.

Go with God by climbing in good air and flying as fast as possible through bad air.

The reason going west in prevailing westerly wind is a more fluid tactical situation is that some low powered and small gas tank airplanes won't make the next gas stop, or even go forward at all, in the headwind up high.

Chiming in with Jim, I've learned that bumps are there or not there at the whim of the Almighty, it seems. For instance, last weekend I flew from Greeley (where I keep my airplane) to Durango to visit my Sis, via Pueblo, GOSIP intersection, over LaVeta Pass, Alamosa, BRAZO intersection, Durango, on Friday. Because it was pretty warm, I used flight following instead of my usual practice of filing IFR, because I was pretty sure I couldn't get my Little Red Bird to the 14,000' MEA necessary for IFR flight--and I was right.

So on the way there, I was at 10,500' until just south of Colorado Springs, then climbed to 12,500' for the remainder of the trip. On the way home on Monday, with the temp 92F at Durango, it took a long time to climb to 11,500'. I followed the same route, in reverse. To get over the ridge to the San Luis Valley, I got it up to 12,500' for a short time, then descended again to 11,500' across the Valley (hemispheric rule, you know), then up to 12,500' to go over LaVeta Pass, then back to 11,500' until the turn at Pueblo which put me on a slight westerly heading, where I climbed to 12,500' again for the remainder of the trip.

On the way down, I had about 8 minutes of smooth, and the entire rest of the trip down, 3.7 more hours, was bumpy. Not horrible, just constant bumps. Ol' Molly dog wasn't too happy about it, and neither of us banged into the ceiling, but it was pretty constant. On the trip home, however, it was just about the opposite, about 8 minutes of bumps around Colorado Springs, and the rest of the trip, about 3.1 hours, was as smooth as a billiard table.

The relevancy of all this is that the weather both directions was almost exactly the same: similar altimeter settings, similar winds, similar temperatures (actually a bit warmer at both ends on Monday compared to Friday, but not much). Why was the trip down mostly bumpy, and the trip home mostly smooth? I haven't the slightest idea!

Cary

DEGJR wrote:Whew! I thought Vaya con Dios meant bad news for somebody!

Being a native Spanish speaking person, that was also my first reaction when I saw the title. Not that it means anything bad because it's said regularly when someone leaves a group. My first reaction was that the thread was going to tell us about a fellow pilot who isn't here with us anymore.

Contact has already lived through everything that can kill you.

CFOT wrote:Contact has already lived through everything that can kill you.

Rarely do I laugh out loud on a forum, but I just did. Well played, mostly because I think you are right.

In my hillbilly way, I see the prayer as applicable to life as well as death. My wife, a fluent speaker of Spanish, says I live with my foot in my mouth.

Anyway go get some wind energy. In life I mean.

contactflying wrote:In my hillbilly way, I see the prayer as applicable to life as well as death. My wife, a fluent speaker of Spanish, says I live with my foot in my mouth.

Anyway go get some wind energy. In life I mean.

Where's the "like" button when I need it???

Cary