Repeating Thermalling Mistakes
I tried this pickup line on this pretty girl at the bar, It didn't work. So a few minutes later I decided to give it a go again. Same line, same girl, same outcome. I then tried it again... The outcome was just as successful as my student who kept circling over the beginning of the ridge when we found a small little bump barely large enough for a bird. After the first turn I was pretty certain we were not going to climb, after 4 360's (averaging a loss) he still wanted to try for 5..,
If we try something and it fails why do we try the same thing and expect a different result? Move on!!!! If you have been making centering corrections the entire time it should be getting better with each turn. So if it is not improving despite your best efforts, it is not going to work, roll out and move on.
I ask students while we are thermalling where the best part is and have them point. Sometimes I have to remind them that we want to go that way with each turn. I always think the goal of thermal centering is to make the next turn better than the last one. I have written about leaving once the average is dropping down to below what you can find farther along. But what I see a lot of is multiple circles trying to find the lift again that is never found and only results in lost altitude.
Once you start getting centered figure out where you are going next. The thermal you are in has been caught you need to be ready to find the next one for when you top this one out. Since you are planning all the way to the ground you should have a quick idea of where you are going next. I think many times we are caught off guard how quickly the thermal stopped and we go around a few more times trying to find it again.
This should not be confused with the bus stop thermal...which I will describe next week.
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.
