By Peter Kelly
This page is for Instructor Ben Mayes. There are many articles on the Williams Today Pages that Ben feels would be helpful for new glider pilots to read — especially about the weather forecasting for soaring, but trying to locate specific topics is difficult. This is a list of a few of the postings that discuss weather and soaring conditions in the Williams Soaring Center flying area. Postings here are listed in reverse chronological – with the most recent on top of this list.
Training articles on the Forum
Select the link to go directly to the respective posted article on Williams Today.
Unstable Air – 9/29/2019
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1379-Unstable-Air-9-29-2019
Extracts:
- to display the instability (via the simple sounding charts shown on the RASP) and
- show a couple of … photos … “tornado davis california”
Picking the right day (9/8/19) to practice cross-country soaring
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1369-Picking-the-right-day-%289-8-19%29-to-practice-cross-country-soaring
Extracts:
- …This posting is about how to plan ahead. Fly on the good days. You need to…
- …Monitor the various forecast tools. You should…
Soaring saturday 31 aug?
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1366-soaring-saturday-31-aug
Extracts:
- …and followed nice convergence line south to Bessa Tower, exactly as RASP predicted. Never got out of glide home. Why the forecast was accurate south bound and not north i have no idea. I flew back north as far as Goat south to …
Soaring Friday 8/2/19
https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=7564365
Extracts:
- I practiced my final glide calculations by going from Goat directly to the Gold Mines, keeping WSC within glide, then pushed SW after a climb and then did a quick task to Dunnigan – again keeping WSC within glide at all times.
- A detailed review of a flight always has the potential to improve the decision making on my next flight.
Soaring on 7/14
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1348-Soaring-on-7-14?p=7353#post7353
Extracts:
- The “monday morning quarterback” report. As I look back at the fcst RASP’s I see they were not that far off. Those pesky cloud bases were certainly present – as was in the forecast.
- … a tow by Rex to the singular cu near the Goat South TP. Wind was out of the south at 6,500 ft – where’d that come from? But I finally got up to 9,000 and headed north. It was….
1002km from Williams (Alex & Kempton)
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1343-1002km-from-Williams-%28Alex-Kempton%29?p=7336#post7336
Extracts:
- I finally had some time to put down some words and pictures from my amazing flight with Kempton 2 weeks ago.
- To be completely honest, I think I must have missed 90% of the details in this post, but 10 hours in the air is hard to capture without writing a novel.
Soaring on 7-5-19
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1341-Soaring-on-7-5-19?p=7322#post7322
Extracts:
- This post is not a thermal alert about an exceptional day… just another average day at WSC.
- But, Kempton’s accomplishment yesterday is motivational – to be sure.
Thermal Alert: Sat June 29
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1334-Thermal-Alert-Sat-June-29
Late spring conditions continue and this Saturday is a great example. A light front passes Friday eve, leaving behind enough moisture and instability for what looks to be a long distance Saturday
Thermal Watch Jun 14-17 Fathers Day Wknd
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1327-Thermal-Watch-Jun-14-17-Fathers-Day-Wknd
This coming Fri thru Mon looks very good with strong heating, within a week of the summer solstice, light winds and most important, good moisture (700mb moisture):
Solar Energy at Williams, why winter thermals are weak
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1325-Solar-Energy-at-Williams-why-winter-thermals-are-weak?p=7286#post7286
Fri May 10: Wave Alert
https://www.williamssoaring.com/news/showthread.php/1309-Fri-May-10-Wave-Alert?p=7253#post7253
End