Efficient Deviation

Remember our clouds from last week? The three clouds to the left and a larger one to the right. Rather than deciding early and head towards one on a long glide. Split the difference and head for the middle. As you get closer you might be able to make a more informed decision with less deviation.

If you are Ingo Renner (think Chuck Norris jokes) you don't have to deviate as the thermals will line up to you. For the rest of us, a 30-degree deviation is nothing to worry about.

Dale Bush has a great motto regarding deviation and clouds. "Always follow the clouds unless they are too far off course. Then follow them anyway."

Another key factor in the decision process is the cycle time. Remember thermals do not last forever. I read that they generally only last seven minutes. This is where the practicing I mentioned before, where you look from the ground and guess a path will come in handy.

One path may look better in the short run, but in the long run, it might be much worse because it deviates too much. Remember the target cloud.

Plan all the way to the ground. This cloud, then that one, then left towards the town, over the barn, landing in one of those fields.

It is generally hard to tell what is going on when you are "at cloudbase". It is fun cruising along at cloudbase (possibly closer then FAR 91.155) however you cannot tell what is ahead. It becomes more difficult to connect the clouds and you don't realize you made a wrong turn until you are into the blue.

I was doing a flight review a month ago and we headed out, we were not getting the climbs I was expecting. He came to a decision of going left or right. Follow multiple smaller clouds to the left and in the direction of another airport or swing right to the last two good-looking big clouds. We went left but for different reasons. He wanted to try the smaller ones because the larger ones had not been very honest. I wanted to go left because there were better odds with the multiple smaller clouds.

You never know if your decisions are the fastest until you start racing.

Banner Photo by Jan Czonstke

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 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.