Climbing Better

Everyone wants to get the most out of climbing in a thermal.  Maximizing thermal climb rate is easier said than done.  Climbing well requires precise airspeed control with an optimal turn radius.  Airspeed control is only one factor in your turn radius.  Shallowing and steepening up your turn is necessary to find and stay in the core.  Shallowing up too much will put you outside the thermal.  If you are too steep, airspeed gets too high.  Let's look into some details on how to climb better.

Shallowing

While focusing on thermal centering, I find students shallowing out at a nearly flat bank angle. If you have been working on centering, it is probably not there. Sometimes, there is a horizontal shift in the thermal, but I rarely find nearing the top of the thermal to shallow to a 5-degree bank angle and circle in the sink to be of any benefit. Just leave.

Spiral Diving

If you can lose 5 knots of airspeed, you should probably shallow the bank angle and do so. It will be more efficient than trying to thermal at a 60-degree bank angle while accelerating through 60 knots. But I find it common for pilots to slowly let the speed and bank angle increase, and before you notice, we are just doing giant spirals with a high rate of descent on the outside of the thermal core.

ASI control

The best way to get your speed in control is to stop looking at the airspeed indicator. Watch the nose in relation to the horizon. Do what it takes to keep the nose on the horizon. Many pilots are shy using aft elevator to stop the elliptical pattern with the nose. You can use the control input necessary to make the glider do what you want. This also means that sometimes you must push forward on the stick and occasionally hit the aft limit of travel.

As you enter and exit the lift, you will see a definite change in the nose with the horizon. You will also notice a slight airspeed change. If you chase the airspeed indicator, this will result in PIO (pilot-induced oscillation). Not to the extent that you might see a bad landing, but one where the airspeed varies 5-10knts and the turn radius varies by 100ft. If your thermal tracks never connect, it is hard to know where the thermal is if you are accidentally diving away from it.

Remember that airspeed is one factor in your turn radius. Therefore, if you continue to change your airspeed, your turn radius will continue to vary. We are attempting to center the thermal by adjusting the turn radius. If you change the bank angle and airspeed, the turn radius is going to have significant changes, possibly not in the direction you want to go.

Photo credit Petr Kolmann

 Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 8000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.