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Darick,
That's no kind
of official terminology. It's what I call it.
Thermals start at
ground level and develop structure as they go up. They always top out at
a certain level which depends on the temperature at each layer and the moisture
in the air. Early in the day, they'll top out at 2,000-3,000 and
the level raises through the day as the temperature goes up.
When I went out West,
I found that the really strong thermals they have there top out higher than
Ercoupe fly. I got under a cloud street of thermals, each topped with a
cumulous cloud, and had trouble staying below 12,500' with no power.
Here, in the
What I call the bump
layer is the base of the cumulous clouds. That flat bottom of the clouds
is right at the place where it gets smooth as you climb up between them.
As a chicken-VFR
pilot, I always kept big and/or frequent gaps in the cloud available so I could
glide through clear air if I shut off the engine at any time.
But, because of my
motion sickness tendencies, I like having a climb prop and I cruised higher
than any other Couper I've ever met. Also, flying has mostly cured
my motion sickness for all vehicles and boats. Just those very thermally
days sometimes make me wish I was on the ground.
Now, I'm
building a Challenger II Long Wing with which I hope to do some soaring on the
thermally days. I guess I'll have to get to *like* the thermals! ;-) I might
even register it as an experimental glider (self-launch). (Still a
long way to go in building - everything gets in the way.)
Ed Burkhead
http://edburkhead.com
ed -at-
edburkhead???.com (change
-at- to @ and remove "???")
From: Darick Gundy
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005
11:25 AM
To: 'Ed Burkhead'
Subject: RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] FL to
Hello Ed,
The bump layer? Are
you referring to the effect thermals have and I can also assume that they
normally don't go higher than 7000-8000 ft? Although I've
always been an aviation enthusiast, there is new jargon to learn once you start
talking with pilots.
Darick (7 hours now in the log book!)
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