Wazmo

I'm an experienced R/C power pilot but fairly new to gliders. Any tips on how to recognize thermal lift? I know the glider rolls away from lift when you pass near a thermal, so either turn 270 or a reverse 180 to get back into the thermal. How else do you "see" lift?

jim2

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There is a excellent DVD - Secrets of Thermal Soaring by Radio/Carbon Art - if you want to learn almost every thing about thermals.
But in reply to your question, loof for things like - Hawks soaring,more birds in the air than usual.anything floating up like dust or small particles of leaves or grass and bugs are usually noisier when there is thermal activity.
One thing you can build verry cheap are thermal poles. Get 2 eight foot sections of PVC 1/2 inch pipe and a 3 foot section of rebar iron rod (any decent hardware store will have both), cut the rebar in half and take a old video tape and attach two 6 or 7 foot piececs at one end of the PVC. Hammer about eight inches of the rebar in the ground and slide the pipes other end over it--do the same with the other about 80 feet away. Stand up wind of the two post about 75 feet. Watch the tape streamers, they will show you air movement.
Don't be surprized to see them blowing in opposite directions and waveing up and down -- it is the small amounts of ground warm and cold air shifting around. When they start to drop air is building and ready to lift - when the warm air rises so will the tapes and you will feel a cooler breeze around you. Before you fly just stand in position and watch them and feel what is going on around you.
Good Luck and wait till you catch a big one--WOW.[8D]

BarracudaHockey

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Check out rcgroups.com they have some serious sail plane stuff on that site including several pinned how-to's for thermaling.

The biggest thing though is to get your plane trimmed for straight and level hands off and just watch it and be patient, its like fishing. When the wing tip kicks you'll see it and turn opposite the side where the wind dropped.

R/C Deals

In the video Secrets of thermal Soaring where does it actually tell you when thermals are directly over head and its time to launch? I watched the whole video at a freinds house and never saw this.. the best info is being sold on ebay under rc sailplane.
heres the website www.rcgliders.blogspot.com

SoCal GliderGuider

Awaiting Approval? My. My. What did we say???

The afore mentioned DVD and local experianced flyers. Most important to remember is NOT to pull the nose up as there is no engine/motor to get you out of trouble. You will just stall the sailplane and rekit it if close to the ground.

perrylawrence

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I finally hit a BIG one after trying all summer - they do exist. Like mentioned before - trim for straight and level is first key. The pros like SoCal can thermal for hours in any weather. Newbies like me need a good sunny day that has big puffy clouds overhead. Jim2's comment about hawks, bugs, dust, etc. is right on too.

I got the "secrets" DVD and it is only ok. A better recomendation is "Old Buzzard's guide to Soaring" by Dave Thornberg. Google it - I just purchased one. VERY good info and well writen.

I was pushing each flight longer each time I went out which I thought was a good thing. !0 minutes was the longest - until I hit a boomer and was up for 50 minutes! Laughing and pinching myself the whole time. Amazing - it's like golf. That one good hit will keep you coming back for YEARS!

jim2

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Glad to hear you hit a big one--sometimes called a Noon Boomer. Since you have your sailplane set up well make flat gentle turns
and fly a zig zag pattern - with a fair distance inbetween turns. I think you will find more lift up there than you thought there was.
A lot of long flights are made by riding several small thermals than one big one.[8D]

jim2

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Glad to hear you hit a big one--sometimes called a Noon Boomer. Since you have your sailplane set up well make flat gentle turns
and fly a zig zag pattern - with a fair distance inbetween turns. I think you will find more lift up there than you thought there was.
A lot of long flights are made by riding several small thermals than one big one.[8D]

perrylawrence

My Feedback: (1)

Jim2,
Yep, flat and level w/WIDE turns seemed to be the trick. Also, I was surprised by how much increasing my airspeed helped.
At one point I left the thermal and moved to another area (below another cloud) to see if I could repeat the adventure. Sure enough. Conditions are sometimes perfect!
Wazmo,
I think you are going to love thermaling. MUCH more skill involved than w/prop planes IMHO. Back to your original question: Since you can't see the thermal, look for hawks, and other indicators mentioned. Another good exercize mentioned in Old Buzzard book is to visualize yourself at the bottom of a riverbed when thermaling. Water is always moving (and thermals with it) and eddies are created by obstructions/geo formations.
Good luck.

gldrgidr

Here are two articles on Thermals.

http://www.apogeerockets.com/educati...g_thermals.asp
http://website.lineone.net/~triggerfish/Thermals.htm