Aviation Forum / General / Learning / June 2009

Combining two of my favorite things (flying and computer technology) I
took my new iPhone with me into wave and shot some video with it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiqyqxeqzHs

It was an amazing day. I topped out at 10,000ft and could have gone
higher, although my climb was very slow at the end. I only came back
because it looked like the clouds looked to be closing up underneath me,
and I didn't want to be trapped on top. These conditions are *extremely*
unusual for June around here. I would be pleased to get up to 10,000ft
in wave in February, but I was *astounded* to get that high in wave in
June. (For those of you not familiar with soaring weather phenomena,
wave is usually a winter thing.)

Flying in wave is really a neat thing. You can't tell from the video
because my hand isn't all that steady, but it's *perfectly* smooth.
There's literally no vibration or bumpiness, and just a little wind
noise. It's incredibly peaceful even by soaring standards. Would have
been more peaceful today if I hadn't had to worry about my hole closing
up underneath me, but so it goes.

Since this is a student group, here's a list of things I learned, or
learned better, from this flight:

- Wave strength can depend greatly on where you are, not just
forward/back (in the direction of the wind) but also side to side. My
first spot was really crappy, giving me about 25fpm average down, and I
only got into the good stuff after moving about five miles perpendicular
to the wind.

- When you're bumping against a ceiling, search for holes by looking at
the shadows on the ground, not by looking at the sky.

- If the forecast calls for wave, believe it, even if it's completely
out of season.

- When your partner says he's going to return your plane to the airport
on day X, and you plan to fly it on day X+1, you should communicate this
fact to him so that when his plans go completely wrong and he has to
keep it an extra day or two, he can tell you not to expect it to be
there.