| 31 minutes of crazy cockpit footage of Day 1 in the 15-meter Gliding Nationals for 2011 out of Logan, Utah. The first turn point took us right into a huge thunderstorm. A few smart pilots flew to the east of the storm and touched the turn cylinder. The rest of us did not see that option and flew right into the belly of the beast. Well more than half of the gliders got caught in the storm and landed out. This video shows pilot Bruno Vassel IV - B4 flying a highly modified ASW20B into a small gap in the rain trying to touch the turn cylinder and get out. Shows dozen of lightning strikes WAY too close, really cool looking rain, massive sink trying to get out, getting very low over the mountains while still in the storm in heavy storm front turbulence and rain, radio chatter of other gliders landing out at both airports and in fields in the middle of the storm, a lightning strike right next to the glider and when all hope was almost lost hitting an 11+ knot thermal (1100 feet per minute lift) that took the glider back up to cloud base and saved the day. Yes, a lot of people are going to criticize the decision to even fly into this storm. You are probably right. I wanted to share this because it shows how flying into a "gap" in a thunderstorm might look not all that bad but the storm can quickly close in on you and things go from bad to worse much quicker than you would like. Hope you both enjoy and learn to stay away from thunderstorms while soaring. :) Take care, Bruno. |
