Information AboutSlope Soaring |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SLOPE SOARING | |
| aeronautics | |
| gliding | |
| radio-controlled aircraft | |
| aviation terminology | |
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Slope soaring is an activity whereby a pilot gains height in a full size or Radio-controlled Glider by flying in the Updraft produced by Wind blowing up the face of a steep Slope . Model glider pilots commonly refer to this as "slope gliding" or "sloping". Pilots of full-sized gliders call the lift " Ridge Lift " and its use "ridge flying". They use it to potentially fly hundreds of kilometers where there is suitable terrain. BASIC REQUIREMENTS Slope soaring requires a Hill and a wind that is blowing on the face of the hill. The wind will create a region of rising air directly in front of the hill which may extend quite a distance upwards and outwards from its face because the airflow follows the contour of the hill (this is called Orographic Lift ). However at near vertical Cliff s, there is usually an area of Turbulence with descending air near the base of the cliff. Downwind of the hill, Standing Waves can form that are also used by glider pilots to gain height but this should not be confused with slope lift. The rising air from the slope is used to keep gliders airborne. Although a glider is always descending through the air, it will climb if the surrounding air is rising faster than the glider's sink rate. TYPES OF MODEL SLOPE SOARING Combat Combat is usually flown with expanded Polypropylene (EPP) models due to their impact resistance. Each pilot tries to knock the other's aircraft physically out of the air. A "kill" is scored only when the opponents aircraft hits the ground. If a hit occurs and each aircraft recovers and remains airborn, the hits generally do not count. Often this activity includes extreme maneuvers and Aerobatics . Ridge racing Ridge racing (or pylon racing where markers are present) is essentially using the slope lift to race along the "lift zone" -- generally parallel to the slope. This can either be done MoM (man-on-man), in heats of 3 or 4, or simply against the clock (timed). Dynamic soaring See Also: dynamic soaring Dynamic soaring is a relatively new style of flying model gliders whereby the Windshear just downwind of certain slopes can be used to create high speeds. SEE ALSO |
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