I may have posted this in the past...I sometimes lose track with Facebook, emails, etc.

Good stuff though, if you can handle the shaking camera barf-inducer.

http://vimeo.com/1349369

Oh my!! What the heck was that pilot thinking??? One big downdraft and SMACK ......right into the side of the hill!! Not to mention scaring the wits out of them hikers on the trail!! Oh wait, I didn't see any hikers. But you catch my drift!!

No really, just f ing kidding!!

Absolutely awesome video!!! Even more awesome if I was riding in that thing!!

From his other videos, I gather that he's an accomplished glider pilot and was in a condition of predictable ridge lift. It seems like he stayed generally on the windward side of the ridge. Of course, maybe Steve Fossett did too...

I like that....

1SeventyZ wrote:......... a condition of predictable ridge lift.

Actually it's quite predictable in many cases. Here in the Western US you can fly hundreds of miles along the Sierra Nevada and the White/Inyo mountains making incredible speeds in a good sailplane.

I used to have a friend from back East who is world famous for running the Appalachian mountains, for a thousand+ miles at a time. There was a 1600 mile flight once, by him and three others, that stood as a world record for many years until Fossett (I believe) bested that record several years ago.

The trick is knowing for sure that you're on the upwind side

1SeventyZ wrote:From his other videos, I gather that he's an accomplished glider pilot and was in a condition of predictable ridge lift. It seems like he stayed generally on the windward side of the ridge. Of course, maybe Steve Fossett did too...

Post deleted, as I do not desire to confirm my gross ignorance of gliders for the entire universe to witness

I would say he's not using ridge lift. He's starting out at the fire lookout on Palomar ridge it (looks like) at an altitude of about 6300' msl and heading downhill to the south east toward CL35 (Warner Springs) the ridge is about 5-6 miles long and at the south end it's about 4000' msl. where it drops off into the valley.

Both sides of the ridge drop of quite steeply, leaveing an out, he was converting altitude into energy. Looked like a baby Grob @ 36:1 l/d in 5 miles you only fall 733' convert the rest into speed and you have plenty of energy. But that's a lot closer to terrain than I like to get in a glider unless I'm launching or landing.

Turbine??? Looked like a gravity fed glider to me.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:Turbine??? Looked like a gravity fed glider to me.

Gump

Me too. But I guess it could have been this Grob with a shaky GoPro

nmflyguy- It's a sailplane. They are surprisingly fast, especially so when viewed from the cockpit at 50-100 ft AGL. Rapid conversion of airspeed to altitude on an aircraft that weighs that little, with so little drag, is going to be pretty impressive. There are motorgliders out there with tiny turbines, but this is not one of them.

Glidergeek...you are right...he definitely in flying "down" that ridge, even with the big nooks and crannies, it's trending downslope along the ridge in his direction of travel.

Fun video.

I only referenced Fossett because his last minutes were speculated to be spent close to terrain like this in the lee of strong west winds.

Another (mostly) deleted post

I'm with Glidergeek. He started with his spoilers on to get in position for his run. 80 -120 kts is good ridge running, not ridge soaring. Only lift I saw was after the run during the last few seconds. I don't fly like that either but still love watching that video.

Maybe he was thinking this:

The grob 102 stalls at about 35...he had so much airspeed in the bank,that at any time he could have pulled a "stick thermal" and zoomed up 300 to 400 agl if he encountered downdrafts...I am betting light to no wind conditions considering he changed ridge sides several times...I am thinking he took a 10k tow early in the morning with no wind or thermal developement,air brakes deployed and near vne(143 knts in my ventus)to position high end of ridge and downhill from there...camera must have been on his head on a helmet like skydivers use..cool video...thin (ventus B n246d)

So what kind of rating do you have to have to fly a Jet Powered glider???

An endorsement to a glider rating?