cumulus cloud
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September 19, 2024
Cumulus clouds form when warm air rises, cools, and condenses into visible water droplets. Beneath these clouds, thermals create upward-moving air currents that we, as glider pilots, use to gain precious altitude. However, not all areas under a cumulus cloud will provide equal lift, and the challenge is determining where the strongest thermals are!
Factors
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October 21, 2021
Big and high cumulus days are super fun, especially when all the ducks line up. That’s the trick, to figure out the day's pattern so that they (ducks) do, as it is on every day and flight. However, when we fly under large cumulus clouds, it requires a different tact at the day. Instead of looking down, we must look up, this is to get all available cues from the clouds ahead. The
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January 14, 2021
Thermal entry You're approaching an area of lift, you can either see it, or you can feel it approaching, you slow yourself down to heighten your senses, hear the air better, feel the wings coming alive, listen to that audio become more excited - but which way do you turn? How do you attack that area of lift?
Attack the Area of Lift
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July 09, 2020
The art of thermalling begins well before you even start climbing, and can be divided into 2 simple phases: First of all you must locate the general area of the core; then you must find and keep the sailplane in the strongest part. Seems obvious, but to have a successful flight we must start with one of the objectives and work backward. I’ll give it my best to describe this below, once
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July 27, 2017
A growing cloud is much better than a decaying cloud. But determining what it is doing is key. Take a mental snapshot then look at it again a minute later and see if it is growing. There is generally too much going on to stare at the cloud for any length of time. Especially with all of the other pilots looking at and heading for that same cloud.
The base should be firm and well defined, not