Flying a PG in wave rotor?
Well it certainly is not something you´d set out to try but one day last week the winds were strong and the clouds were low and ripped and yes we flew and at launch it was not very turbulant and even as we flew over the back and then got a low thermal from the pinitas it too was not so bad but after i topped out and was headed for the trash dump when two of my clients hit some low lift and i thought i would go back upwind to help them and for the next five minutes all hell broke loose, i took a 60% hit and as i rotated thru 120 degrees i took another 20%whack on the other side which actually helped slow my rotation. then i took several more hits and after each hit i would just plummet out of the sky.
I thought that this turbualnce would soon end but it did´nt, i watched several other piltos below getting hammered, i took over 20 big hits in five mintues and no where seemed to be excempt.
I finally got high enough to glide over to the next valley where the trash dump is but the winds were too strong to get on the west side so i was forced to be on the east side of the gap and i took several more hits as i glided thru. I landed just past the high tension lines.
I think that was the longest most sustained big turbulance that i have ever expereinced, i´ve hit bigger turbs but never sustained for over five minutes without break. later that day we noticed many clouds showing wave type lift signs and even some obvious signs of wave rotor at our flying altitudes. Pretty much all pilots agreed that day was the worst they have ever expereinced.
Now conditions have improved but it has also dried out very fast and now we are on day three of serious high pressure.
The skies here in Valle have been more crowded then i´ve ever seen and there has been at least one serious incident daily.
At least when the comp starts the crowds will be easier to deal with.
More soon,
David.