Tom,
That is really good advice.
If the storm front is not a solid monster, but is composed of discrete cells,
it may even be possible to fly through a gap in the front, to get to where you
want to go! Be aware though, that the air behind the front will in the main be
completely dead. The exception is a rain cell behind the front. The rain is
falling down, and the displaced air immediately alongside the cell just may be
going up! If you fly in real close (and probably get somewhat wet), it may be
possible to use this lift. However with wet wings, it is a trade-off situation,
that may not work too well for you.
If the front is a solid monster, I suggest that you RUN (like hell).
However if you are an adrenalin junkie, and depending on the terrain, and the
orientation of the front relative to the land/seascape, you might try a run
along the front, for the ride of your life. Of course it just might be the LAST
ride you ever take: The general advice - don't f**k with CBs - is very sound!
As an aside, there was a (rather crappy?), SF/Horror movie made in 1995 called
"The Langoliers" based on a novel by Stephen King. Amazingly (as I remember
it), they get the storm/passage visuals just about right - a trip through Hell
indeed - check it out.
Regards,
Gary
----- Original Message -----
From: tom claffey
To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 7:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Beverley Storm, take home messages
If you are airborne and unsure if you can safely land and get secured
consider staying up and going around storm [if possible] or even running storm
front to another site to be secure. Better to be at 10000' or 50km away than
trying to land in a gust front.
Tom
--- On Mon, 31/1/11, Texler, Michael <[email protected]>
wrote:
From: Texler, Michael <[email protected]>
Subject: [Aus-soaring] Beverley Storm, take home messages
To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia."
<[email protected]>
Received: Monday, 31 January, 2011, 1:04 PM
In all my years of gliding since 1987 I have never experienced
anything
like that!
I was the Level 2 rostered on for that day at BSS. Thankfully,
everyone
on field and in the air kept a level head and made sensible
decisions. I
believe that having the morning briefing helped.
I had flown earlier in the day with students and could see the sky
darkening to the north. A call come over the radio from a glider
airborne to the north at 9,000' the storm was 60km away. Initial
impressions was that its groundspeed was 28 km/h. So there was time,
so
it seemed. Nevertheless, I advised people to start packing club a/c
away
by landing long on RWY 34. From my days sailing boats, I had seen such
conditions develop and had been out on the water when a 60 knotter
storm
has hit.
I launched about 40 mins before it hit, in the belief that the storm
was
not moving too rapidly towards us. On tow, you could see it
approaching
very rapidly with raised dust in the gust front that stretched to the
horizon, so I bunged off early at 2000' AGL and landed long too, the
air
was quite bouyant. You could've ridden the gust front to Albany!
Fortunately all club a/c were hangared 15-20min before it hit (not
much
time really). Members cars were placed undercover too.
The wind was furious around the 70+ knot mark (125km/h +). Day went to
night with the dust. It was noisy and a little bit scary. Big gum
trees
were bending over. The windsock pole snapped!
The bad weather lasted 15-20 minutes, then afterwards all was still.
Some members ended up looking like b&w minstrels from the dust.
The trip back to Perth was eventful with powerlines down and trees
across roads everywhere.
Very fortunate that no-one was hurt or worse.
Some take home messages:
* BoM had forecast CB for later in the day, regard such a forecast
seriously. The RASP and temp trace also indicated that such an event
would occur (but not the severity though).
* In the morning briefing the likelihood of later storms was covered,
and advice given that only doing extended local soaring would be a
sensible choice.
* Also given that a fire ban with extreme to catastrophic conditions
was
in place, so again, no paddock retrieves (including trailer retrieves)
were possible until the fireban was lifted.
* Being outlanded with an approaching thunderstorm is not an
attractive
proposition, so don't tempt fate, remain within local soaring
distance.
* Looking back, the storm approached much more rapidly than people
realised, if in doubt about an approaching storm, get a/c and people
safe sooner rather than later. We packed things away with not much
time
to spare.
* Given the ferocity of the wind, any a/c tied down outside in the
open
would have easily been blown over, even despite being pugged down (the
pegs would have ripped out of the ropes would've broken). If a pilot
was
sitting in an a/c on the ground attempting to control the a/c in such
conditions, serious injury or death would've been a likely result.
Other feedback and experiences welcome.
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