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Posted by Ray
on 5/15/2009, 5:35 am, in reply to "Re: Super Day"
69.205.81.50
Thanks so much Mark and Doug for your pilot observations, they really are indispensible for trying to understand and quantify PBL convection...and if my brother (Dr. Zabinsky) has anything to add (such as 8 knots steady up Chuck?) please do.
This coming weekend is going to be quite "interesting" meteorologically and thus aviationally, and since at least a few members are interested in research, I will go off on a briefing which if I'm feeling my usual perverse self might just get a tad technical. That will be later today, I have to run off to the Flour City right now for an AM meeting. Stay tuned.
Ray
--Previous Message--
: Ray:
: I launched in the FLSC Pegasus at 2:30pm
: into phenomenal conditions. Both Chuck and I
: had +6knots lift on the averager. Cloud base
: was about 8500'msl at 3pm and 8900'msl and
: 5pm. In 3 hours I flew nearly 200sm
: shuttling back and forth between Hannas, N
: of Geneseo, Perry Warsaw, a few miles SW of
: Portageville, Hornell and Avoca. I stayed
: above 7k most of the flight and flew under
: long streets with minimal sink. For example,
: at 5pm I set off north from Cohocton at
: 8500' and flew straight to burn off altitude
: before landing. When I reached Geneseo I
: still was at about 8000' and turned back to
: avoid being lifted higher by a large cu.
: The lift still was very strong when landing
: at 5:45. My only regret is that I did not
: fly my own ship with adequate maps, GPS map,
: etc to embark on a more ambitions xc flight.
:
: Mark:
: The total energy probe on the ASK21 is not
: functioning correctly resulting in typical
: stick thermals. We have looked at the
: plumbing and know that the total energy
: probe is connected but have not yet located
: the source of the problem.
:
: Best regards
: Doug
:
: --Previous Message--
: Cy and myself were flying the 21. We got a
: later start than Chuck and Doug, and went N
: to Hannas, then south to Avoca staying
: almost exclusively to the east of the valley
: and above 6K msl.
:
: Cloud base at Dansville at 3:00pm was easily
: 8500ft msl, perhaps even a bit higher. For
: the most part the upper level thermals were
: well organized on an individual basis. Some
: streeting where the lift streets were
: pockets of very strong lift separated by
: mild sink. The sink streets however were
: going down hard.
:
: My sense was that thermals were weaker near
: the tops, but later, further south toward
: Avoca, they were strong, perhaps stronger
: near cloud base. I don't think we had
: trouble staying out of the clouds but I
: think others reported this difficulty.
:
: When we made the turn south at Hannas, it
: seems the conditions N of the field had
: weakened, or cycled perhaps, we had a
: difficult time staying out of the strong
: sink and maintaining 6K msl. Once we got
: back the somewhere east of the field we were
: back to cloud base.
:
: At about 4:00pm, SE looked fabulous. I
: would bet you could have gone all the way to
: Harris Hill without the necessity of
: turning. Once we got to the line of lift
: and clouds just south of Cohocton, we easily
: made it to Avoca, and probably could have
: put on some speed and gone to Corning and
: back in short order. Cloud base was about
: the same 8500ft.
:
: As I would have expected with the NW wind,
: South and East, later in the day, almost as
: far as you could see from 7K, looked
: excellent. With an early enough start, one
: could have possibly made a Gold triangle
: task in the 1-26.
:
: I am not sure if the trouble I was having
: with the thermals around Conesus was the
: thermals, or as Cy suggested, the
: compensation in the 21. I think we were
: seeing some stick indications that was
: causing me some confusion.
:
: In general it was a exceptional day. Lift
: was strong, organized, high, and well
: marked. Sink was punishing and
: intimidating. Streets were somewhat
: organized but confusing at times. But all
: that was necessary was to follow the clouds
: and hurry through the sink.
:
:
: Mark
:
: --Previous Message--
: Mark...glad you were able to stir the pot
: and
: finally get some weekday flying going, and
: kudos to Jim for making it happen and
: reminding everyone that we would be grounded
: most of the time without our unsung heros
: the towpilots.
:
: I would love to have joined you but had a
: cancer seminar in Buffalo to attend.
: Nonetheless I did pay close attention to the
: sky all day. The cloud field extended to
: well north of Batavia, and well west of
: Alden, which is most unusual this time of
: year in view of the "shadows" of
: lakes Erie and especially Ontario since the
: northerly wind component was larger that the
: westerly. A major contributing factor of
: course is the relatively dry spring western
: NY has so far had. Obviously a diamond day,
: speaking of which....
:
: As a student of the atmosphere who still has
: a lot to learn, how about some feedback from
: those who flew that day? Trying to forecast
: PBL convective strength is difficult due to
: the nonlinear interactions, and still
: largely an art which requires input from
: pilot observations, not just model output.
: Now, according to DSV and GVQ ASOS, CCL at 2
: PM was ~ 9,000 and 8,500 respectively (you
: expect it to be higher further from the
: lakes). Can people verify? Did anyone go
: south? Would not be surprised if it went to
: 10,000 at Elmira or Wellsville. How about
: thermal strength? Was it stronger at cloud
: base, or tend to weaken? Also, mean sink
: between thermals, and thermal
: "quality"? Solid as a rock, or
: difficult to center? (suspect the former).
: How easy or difficult to judge whether a
: cloud you went to was forming or
: dissipating? If anyone got low (say,
: 3,000'), how were the thermals there? Any
: tendency for streeting? How late did people
: fly (at 7 PM, flat-bottomed cumuli were
: still clearly visible to the west from the
: UB south campus)? Anybody have any GPS
: traces?
:
: Thanks in advance if anyone has any input!
: PS Did anyone make a badge
: requirement?..hope so.
:
: --Previous Message--
: What a guy that Jim Rizzo, driving all the
: way
: down to Dansville to tow a few of us into
: some fantastic soaring. There is no doubt
: in my mind that Jim loves this sport and
: this club. We perhaps could all learn a
: lesson about empathy from Jim.
:
: Thank you very much Jim.
:
: One humble weekday flyer.....
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