A quick lesson on decision making while thermaling in light conditions -

A quick lesson on thermal decision making:

I was flying my new Sirius HLG late in November, the conditions were really light, just some small areas of lift, lots of neutral air, and of course cold sink everywhere.  While this new plane is world class and flies like it, I was still getting it tuned and used to its handling style. It was getting late, and what thermals there were seemed to be gone.

And old thermalers trick is to fly over vegetation late in the day in case any stored heat was to be released. Launched out over the field's tree line and searched over the brushy area north.  Just as I was about to turn back, I felt some positive energy, and did a turn to the right, just guessing where the best lift might be. In these conditions, any thermal is going to be really small and diffuse, so smooth flying is a must. Now when I say guessed 'right', it was more of an instinctual move, it just seemed the plane felt pulled that way. The turn felt good, and I completed a 360 and gained about 4 feet.  I kept the speed up to read the air better and give me some mmaneouvering speed. Got around 4 more circles and gained 20 feet more. But on turn 5, the plane felt sluggish on pitch, a sure sign of sink.  Where did this obvious thermal just go to?

The wind was calm, so it was not moving downwind fast.  Since I was turning right, I opened up a larger circle putting the plane in different air than I was in. This is the high percentage move which gives up the least amount of altitude for a quick search. As soon as I got more right, the air felt worse instantly. I pushed the nose down for a blip of speed then cranked ailerons left, and speed 150 feet left, away from that area I was just flying through. This took all of about 2 seconds.  At the end of the left search, finally the air felt better, airspeed went up, pitch came back, turned back to right circles, and climbed up a 100 feet in a few minutes, darn good for such super-light lift conditions.

So what's the lesson? I was thinking after the flight that it didn't matter what glider I was flying, world class machine or old beater, what mattered was the decision I made to change directions to find lift and the speed in which I made that decision. One or two seconds hesitation going right, and I would have sunk out no matter what glider I was flying. You have to trust your instincts even though the instinct might not initially make sense.  I made a commitment that I would listen more to that little voice. The higher you are, the more time you have to make a choice on direction. If you're low, fast thinking pays off every time.

You can only develop good instincts by getting lots of air time and flying in a wide variety of conditions.  Also, snooze you loose!  Waiting to leave bad air when your instincts say turn will kill you every time. My main rule is: I will not fly in sink for more than 2 seconds (or less) without making a decision to change directions. It is not the plane you fly, but how you fly it. Don't obsess on the latest and greatest glider, it will not make you fly better, flying the same plane over and over will.   -  © 2016  Paul Naton  Feel free to share or copy this text to others.