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MrNooo

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Posts posted by MrNooo

  1. I cannot believe I am looking out of the window at a virtually clear blue sky! There is cloud to the N/E nearer to where it is still precipitating but anyone would think it was set to be another fine Springlike morning rather than having a LOW centre spiralling over the region!

     

    Total cloud cover here, rain came through at 02.00am, wind did not seem too bad. Roll on Spring proper, had enough of the rain now!!

  2. I can't say I ever came across an example of that. Have you any links where I might read up on them please

     

     

     

    John the only link I have is http://mwp.flightplanner.info/Beschreibengl.htm that shows a breaking wave. I do know that there was a lot of research done namely the Sierra Wave Project in the 50's and gather that a team of pilots have recently been assembled for another project starting next year (source Sailplane and Gliding)

     

    I have heard it spoken about whilst gliding up in Scotland (Portmoak, Scottish Gliding Centre) the consensus seemed to be that the upward going parcel of air goes past the 90 degrees and as a result topples, then creates rotor like turbulence, this seemed to be born out by my variometers showing the climb rate in excess of 1,200ft/min I did see 1,400ft/min prior to the wave breaking up (this was at FL15 or circa 15,000ft) when normally on a good day we would see anything from 200ft/min up to 1,000ft/min in typical hotspots.

    The turbulence was pretty horrific, airspeed going from zero, with the control stick limp in my hands to 80kts in a blink of an eye, I was glad I still had my straps done up tight or my head would have been through the canopy. It's pretty sobering when looking out at your long flappy wings and one is bent up 6-8ft while the other is bent down the same amount the other side. The wonders of Carbon fibre!! 

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  3. I think the Lee waves are fairly easy to forecast, as a glider pilot I love them, but would say wave rotor is not very pleasant and sometimes bl##dy scary  but this tends to be found lower down. Toppling waves, I think these are the worst from my experience  (a glider is so small compared to a commercial jet so a jet may just fly straight through it?) I think it's when the top of a lee wave "topples" forward and breaks up creating serious rotor like turbulence, I had this happen whilst flying up in Scotland and can say it was the most frightening thing I think I've ever had to endure. How you would predict this type of event I don't know?

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