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Could i have found better air?
LOOKING FOR ADVICE
I am going to put up a video of a flight I took yesterday with a first
time passenger. Surface winds 5 knots at 190 and winds aloft at 3k were
about the same. Forecast for a bit of wind direction change but slight.
It was about 5pm on sunny day about 83 degrees. I expected thermic
activity closer to the ground but expect to climb above it. As I
ascended it was getting worse. So at 2300 feet I decided to come back
down to where it was a bit calmer around 1600 ft. I cut the trip short
because it was a constant battle, although my passenger Mike really
enjoyed our 30min flight. So here is my question… Do you think if I
climbed higher than the 2300 ft even though it seemed rougher as i went
up, that it would have smoothed out eventually? or gotten worse? or is
there no telling? I really wanted to stay out longer. I know I could
have waited till later in the evening to go up, but the winds forecasted
were increasing. I would love some experienced advice. ThanksI am going to put up a video of a flight I took yesterday with a first time passenger. Surface winds 5 knots at 190 and winds aloft at 3k were about the same. Forecast for a bit of wind direction change but slight. It was about 5pm on sunny day about 83 degrees. I expected thermic activity closer to the ground but expect to climb above it. As I ascended it was getting worse. So at 2300 feet I decided to come back down to where it was a bit calmer around 1600 ft. I cut the trip short because it was a constant battle, although my passenger Mike really enjoyed our 30min flight. So here is my question… Do you think if I climbed higher than the 2300 ft even though it seemed rougher as i went up, that it would have smoothed out eventually? or gotten worse? or is there no telling? I really wanted to stay out longer. I know I could have waited till later in the evening to go up, but the winds forecasted were increasing. I would love some experienced advice. Thanks -
5 Replies
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I spent a lot of money on a 2005 500 hr Airborne 912XT installing adsb in & out, new MGL radio & iefis, and updating wiring, lights, new wing … wish I would have bought a new revolt with all of this and more … working as designed.
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“If I climbed up higher would the air get better?”. No telling is the correct answer. Could get worse, could get better, could stay the same is what I tell my students and pilots. I typically climb about 5000 feet vertical for most of my flights and the air is different all the way up. My advice would be to keep climbing and see. If it gets drastically unbearable or worse, go back to where you just were you know the air was better. It will probably be different, maybe better, maybe worst. Good news is that altitude is safety since the ground is what hurts. Explore with altitudes.
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Appreciate the input Paul. Being a 3 yr Pilot I love to hear what the experienced pilots have to say.
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There are a LOT of factors. But in many cases If you can get to cloud base, the turbulence is over. And not just over but completely gone! Unstable gusty air and thermals usually get better with altitude if you can’t reach cloud base. If you are in the mountains like Paul, things can definitely get worse as you climb… But as mentioned above its easy to go down. I do a lot of demo flights and will wait until I am above the clouds to give the controls to a first timer. A lot of times when a cold front comes in there is a beautiful warm temperature inversion once you “get on top” and usually 40+ MPH winds “on top” it’s pretty cool sometimes! just remember when you get up to that heavenly still air, the conditions on the ground may be building quickly and you could be returning to air below that you DON’T want to fly in and certainly don’t want to land in. So have fun up there, but not for too long…
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Thanks Larry. I did know that if you could get above the clouds all should be better, but in the case of the flight I just had it was clear below 12k. If you watch the video I posted you can see the corrections I had to make and the conditions of the sky. So being a flat lander I am guessing based on what both You and Paul said, the only way for me to find out if the conditions above were better is to climb.
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