Gyro ridge soaring, and hazards

[birdy]

One of the most relaxing forms of flight you can do ina gyro is ridge soaring.
Its almost hypnotic. :)

Any flyn machine can ridge soar, if the conditions are rite, even a 747.
Iv seen footage of the supposed flightless bird the penguin stepn off cliffs sumwhere near the south pole and ridge soar.
So its no supprise gyros can do it so easy, and safer than other aircraft types coz of our controlability in even the gustyest air, and our no need for airspeed.

You dont need much of a ridge or very strong wind to soar a gyro.
Iv soared off a line of 50' gum trees, and riden batic winds ona calm day off 500' hills.
Iv traveled bout 15km, at idle, riden 30' off the ridge.

Its not hard to figure where the lift is comen from, and where its go'n to be strongest.
Of course, every ridge is go'n to be different, and every day that same ridge will fly different.
It only takes timed adjustments of power n stick to hold it on the peak of virtical wind.
Sumtimes its only very minor adjustments, others take full range of control, depending on wind consistancy.
Its a good way of overrideing any ground referancing problems you may have, coz youv got to 'feel' the craft and the air.
ASIs and VSIs aint worth jacks with such low ASs and close proximity to terrain.

As iv hinted, no two ridges or two days are the same.
But the principal never changes.
Wind rushes up the gradient, given a virtical or near virtical wind and you just place the machine into a virtical decent over the strongest area of virtical wind.
Pice of cake.

However, as with all jollies, theres hazards, and its specialy difficult to remember any hazards out to get you wen things are so calming and peaceful.
And as the principals of lift never change, nor do the hazards.
Obviously you have to be ever vidulant of 'dead' air.
Calm breaks in the wind your rideing will have you drop like a rock, so power and or altitude sacrifice needs to be avalable at all times.
Extra strong blasts of wind will pick you up like a pice of paper, so they aint so bad.
BUT, the strong blast is very likely to put you in the most dangerous positin there is wen ridge soaring, behind the lift.
As with everythn that gose up, the air must come down.
And the transition from riseing head wind to decending tail wind is very quick, so your in very real danger of getn caught falln like a brick, with a tail wind and low RRPM, and a cliff to land on.
So NEVER let the thrill of fee lift conn you into thinkn alls good.
Even if you just drift backwards, your still in danger of getn caught.
Your reversing into less lift or dead air, requiring more or full power, your AS is low so the nose is high, the prop is unloading an already slowed rotor, prop torque roll over is a very real possability.
And even the best would have his work cut out tryn to salvage anythn from this situation.

Im not tryn to scare anyone out of ridge soaring gyros, thatd be like tryn to talk you outa sex.
But as with sex, there are hazards, ignor them at your perel.

[birdy]

This youtube flic give a good idea [ wen the music stops] of how the power requierment changes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLGEPbuM8UE
The ridge was bout 60-80' high and only bout 100 yards wide. I was bout 20-40' off the peak, in bout a 15-30 knot hot gusty breeze.
These produce smaller areas of lift compared to a long ridge coz the air flow aint concentrated, but youv always got plenty of room to move if it all turns to sh!t. [ you can go either side instead of only haven the forward or down options.]

The one thing you NEVER do is turn down wind.

[choppergabor]

That was extra cool! :) Thanks for the video.

[Vance]

Hello David,

I love ridge soaring but I never took it that far.

I will follow a ridgeline so I can pull the power back and maintain my airspeed and altitude.

The drop is not too sudden or severe when the lift goes away.

The hawks around here will fly in a circular path near little canyons catching lift and it is fun to join in.

You did a great job on the video.

Watching it I had that feeling of insecurity that I get anytime my airspeed is down and I am near the ground. I felt like I was flying with you.

I have been down for four days because of rain and thunderstorms so it was particularly nice to fly with you.

Thank you, Vance

[StanFoster]

Birdy- I have always thought that you were hands down the best gyro pilot I have seen. Your thousands of hours of real world experiences...flying not only when you want to...but when you had to...plus your natural skills....all combine into a Perfect Storm....so to speak....and have made your skills as a gyro pilot at such a high level.

Your posts are a pure pleasure to read....and if I have one regret in life...its not having saved enough spare coins to come down under and visit you.


Stan

[Riff Raf]

Smooth Video Birdy

At 1:40 in the video you fly backwards about 4 - 5 meters.

[jcarleto]

Very cool, Birdy. You never cease to amaze.

[WaspAir]

Let me add a few thoughts from a (gyro and) glider instructor.

Sailplanes pilots are taught:

1) lift is strongest closest to the ridge. If you are below the crest, you may need to get wingtip (rotor for gyros guys) pretty close to terrain/trees to get the best lift. It's not for the timid, but it works and can be done safely with care.
2) if you are coursing back and forth, make your turns away from the ridge and into the wind. This gives best obstacle clearance and reduces the likelihood of getting blown to the wrong side
3) sailplanes sometimes share the same ridge; if you've got company, and you need to pass somebody, do it expecting him to turn upwind/away from the ridge side; if you're both surfing back and forth, sometimes it helps to plan to do your reversing turn before the guy in front of you so that you don't approach head on.
4) speed is life - it gives you options if something unexpected happens (especially close to terrain/trees with varying wind), so keep it cooking
5) expect a nasty "curl" and downdraft if you cross the ridgeline, so gain some altitude before you try it, and do it at an angle that allows a quick turn back into the wind.

[giro5]

Thanks, that is a cool video.

[birdy]

The drop is not too sudden or severe when the lift goes away.
It depends on your proximity to the terrain Vance.
The closer you get, the more critical it is to hold your position.

come down under and visit you.
If you ever win the lottery Stan, your always welcome ere. [ and dont forget your bird ;)]

you fly backwards about 4 - 5 meters.
Still flyn forwards mate [ albeit, very slow], it was just a stronger gust pushn me back.

Let me add a few thoughts from a (gyro and) glider instructor.
Sumthn iv always wanted to do was jump of a cliff. :)
Iv got no 'traffic' hazards ere, cept the birds, and youd never hit one if you tryed.
Its good to hear from a proper glider driver.
Any tips Waspair?

[Redbaron]

Interesting reading birdy, always had an interest in soaring myself! Never tried flying a true sailplane but tried soaring my little 2 axis plane a few times and never found the slight or sometimes major out of control problem comfortable! usually when you hit a good thermal the wings would bob up and down if you hit the center of the thermal! if you hit to the left or right of the thermal would usually require full left or right rudder input Airspeed would usually be bobbing up and down so you would slow down to a speed just above stall to avoid stress on the wings! Sink is where the real pucker factor is, sometimes requiring full power just to maintain altitude!

Sounds like you got some real brick suckers over there in oz, bird! :yo:

[okikuma]

Birdy,

That's a great video. Thanks for sharing! I still want to ridge soar a sailplane at Torrey Pines near San Diego! Now days, it's just hang gliders and paragliders.

Wayne

[Chopper Reid]

Birdy- I have always thought that you were hands down the best gyro pilot I have seen. Your thousands of hours of real world experiences...flying not only when you want to...but when you had to...plus your natural skills....all combine into a Perfect Storm....so to speak....and have made your skills as a gyro pilot at such a high level.

Your posts are a pure pleasure to read....and if I have one regret in life...its not having saved enough spare coins to come down under and visit you.


Stan

Well said Stan. I have had the pleasure to see Birdy fly and while I set myself up as no expert,watching Birdy is seeing something very special. The sort of thing you see when watching Tiger Woods or Roger Federer at his very best. Birdy is also reasonably light and flies a lightweight machine which further enhances his ability but I have seen him fly heavy machines with the same skill.

We do also have another David here in Australia, a David Jackson who flies a different style as Birdy but again, is a master pilot and the things the two Davids can do with a gyro is well worth going a long way to see and I'm more than sure that the two Davids would hold their own with any gyro pilot anywhere !!

[birdy]

Bloodyell!!!:o:lie:

[WaspAir]

Let me add a few thoughts from a (gyro and) glider instructor.
Sumthn iv always wanted to do was jump of a cliff. :)
Iv got no 'traffic' hazards ere, cept the birds, and youd never hit one if you tryed.
Its good to hear from a proper glider driver.
Any tips Waspair?

I didn't imagine there would be too many sharing your lift down there. The country is just too big and the people too few.

I've shared ridges here with as many as six other sailplanes nearby. Much of our stuff is done on big terrain features while flying below the top of the ridge with one wingtip scaring the squirrels, where the lift can be really strong, and you can fly at very high speed for free. Instead of using the energy to lift you up higher, you use it to offset the big sink rate you would otherwise have from flying fast so that you can cruise along really quickly while holding altitude. Sink rate for a glider is sort of the other side of the power required coin for power pilots; soaring this way is like getting a high cruise speed with your engine at idle.

When you meet another glider head on, the convention isn't exactly what the regs call for ("each shall deviate to the right") because one of you has lots of rock and trees to the right.

Where it gets interesting for gliders is where you can link together ridges. There are places in the U.S. (for example, along the Appalachian mountains in particular) where the terrain will present hundreds of miles of ridges with similar orientation and with a fairly reliable prevailing wind direction along the whole way. Sailplane pilots will fly along these and periodically work up enough altitude/energy to bridge across a gap to the next one, to cover very long distances. The speeds can be really high (100mph), and it can be a real efficient way to travel, if the ridge orientation is good for the direction you want to go. For thermal lift, you can move your course line until you're following a cumulus cloud "street" that marks the thermals and dolphin-fly from one to the next; for ridges, you just parallel the crests. It's not common to get to do both the same day, because the really good winds for the ridges tend to mess up the formation of the thermals.

I've got no clue what your terrain looks like on a big scale, but if you've got enough bumps in the ground on a windy day, it might be fun to hop hill to hill and see how much gas you don't burn.

[birdy]

The country is just too big and the people too few.
Actualy, the country is just big enuf, and theres already too many people.

it might be fun to hop hill to hill and see how much gas you don't burn.
Mate, im the laziest [ tightest] flyer in this country.
Im always usen natures energy whenever n wherever i can. ;)

[Vance]

I love imagining the wind caressing the mountains and speculating where the lift is.

I find joy in cutting back the power and loafing along the ridgelines.

I feel these are special joys that a ground person will never experience.

I love romancing the wind.

Thank you, Vance

[Chopper Reid]

Bloodyell!!!:o:lie:

I'll smack my wrist if that helps.:hail:

[Aussie_Paul]

I agree Brian. Birdy and Jacko are a pleasure to watch ever sooooo smoothly extract every once of energy out of a gyro.

Aussie Paul. :)

[Passin' Thru]

Isn't Jacko a bull rider? Now that's a damned good way to get hurt!

[Chopper Reid]

Isn't Jacko a bull rider? Now that's a damned good way to get hurt!

No, you got the wrong bloke.

You might have been thinking of a Rob Cook who did some bull riding before he got hurt in a chopper accident on his property.