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This page contains a few ideas or links to pages that may help your flying. Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules - what works for one, may not suit another persons style of flying. The purpose of this page, as with the rest of this site, is to suggest ideas that you may not have tried before. They have been kindly submitted by those who have experience in this area and have found that a particular technique works for them. If you are having trouble with a particular aspect of your flying, it's always worth giving it a go!!
If there is an area they you would like advice on, please use the Feedback page and I'll try to sort it.
Below are a few snippets from some of the articles on the site. They are there to give a brief idea of what the main text is about. If you which to read the full article, please use one of the links on the left.
- Thermal Lore
Develop a mental picture of what a thermal looks like. Thermals are rarely exactly like the textbook pictures. Watch some smoke rising from an industrial smokestack, or fast motion film of clouds to visualise the dynamic and somewhat chaotic movement of rising air. Thermals range from short lived bubbles to columns extending from the ground to cloudbase.They may be weak or strong. Some are wide, some narrow, some elongated downwind. Add to your picture with experience..........
- From Solo to Silver - Making the Flight Count by Trevor Wilcock
You're now solo, and the next step is to build up some experience before getting your cross-country endorsement, and onward to Silver C distance. However, given the right day, you could be getting your Silver Height in advance of the cross-country endorsement. How to achieve it is a matter for you and your instructors; the purpose of this article is to advise how to make sure, using club equipment, that it counts if you DO achieve it (and I speak from experience, having made the height three times without an acceptable record). There's a fair amount to do both pre- and post-flight; don't wait until the right day - everyone else will be rushing around to take advantage of it - but practice using the equipment now. Put your equipment pack together (more later), have the satisfaction of getting a barograph record of your 7-minute circuit, or use a logger and make sure you can download the flight, and come the Silver Height day you'll be ready for it........
- NOTAMs What are they?
- Tephigrams
NOTAM, "NOtice To AirMen", are notices containing essential flight operation information not known sufficiently in advance to publicize by other means. Just like weather reports, they include endless abbreviated text (known as a contraction) which are sometimes difficult to figure out. ..... The major problem with the NOTAM system from a glider pilot’s point of view, which is that it is presented in a difficult format and usually includes far too much irrelevant information. The system appears to be aimed at the international pilot, who understands ICAO terms and has access to data not readily available to us humble folk. Those who fly from clubs or airfields with adequate self briefing facilities may riffle through the NOTAMs covering the entire Flight Information Region stuck up on a notice board but there is so much information presented there, most of it irrelevant to the proposed flight, that many give up around page five and hope for the best as regards the unseen remainder.
This is how Wikipedia describe them. NOTAM or NoTAM is the quasi-acronym for a "Notice To Airmen". NOTAMs are created and transmitted by government agencies under guidelines specified by Annex 15: Aeronautical Information Services of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. A NOTAM is filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of any hazards en route or at a specific location. The authority in turn provides means of disseminating relevant NOTAMs to pilots. (That's clear then).
Basically, if you intend to fly anywhere and fail to check for any active NOTAMs, you just might bump into something and scratch your glider!!
This Power Point Presentation will give you step by step instruction on what Tephigrams are and how to read them.
