I have always thought that birds such as vultures and hawks have the advantage of feeling the warm and cold air masses they are flying in. Much the same way you can feel the warm and cold air as it passes you while standing on the flying field. Some of the hangglider buffs can answer if they use their sense of feel while thermaling.
Us poor ground based beings just have to watch for tell tale signs of lift. RB ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom H. Nagel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "RCSE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 7:33 PM Subject: [RCSE] [RCSE]Vulture Vario > While flying Sunday afternoon, it crossed my mind that soaring birds must > have some sort of pretty good vario on board. Does anyone know of any > actual research on what they use for a vario? Is it anything more than > the inertial inner ear pit of the stomach thing we sense when going up in an > elevator? > I had a ride in a Schweitzer years ago, and could distinctly feel it > when we hit lift or sink. But once in the lift or sink, the inner ear/pit > of stomach settled down and I couldn't tell lift from sink without the > vario. Are soaring birds any different? > > > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
