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From: raveling@unify.com (Paul Raveling)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation,rec.birds
Subject: The most competent soaring pilots are...
Message-ID: <1990Sep11.125658@unify.com>
Date: 11 Sep 90 19:56:58 GMT
Sender: news@Unify.Com (news admin)
Reply-To: raveling@unify.com (Paul Raveling)
Organization: Unify Corporation, Sacramento, CA, USA
Lines: 41


	Raptors.   [That's why this is cross-posted to rec.birds,
	which I don't subscribe to.]

	Sunday, while soaring near Minden, I had another of those
	rare encounters with a red-tailed hawk -- with the hawk joining
	up in the thermal I'd found.  I still find it damned exhilarating
	and take it as a compliment from the expert -- the hawk, that is.


	In this case lift was good that day, but at the time I'd been
	cruising through a large area of sink.  I headed for a hill that
	looked like it should trigger a thermal, found one, and started
	climbing.  At about 8,500 feet the hawk joined up.

	A sign that I'd centered the thermal well was that the hawk
	flew a smaller circle, concentric with mine, and even briefly
	flew in formation about 10 meters off my inside wingtip.  Note
	that hawks obey the same safety rule that we sailplane pilots do:
	Anyone entering a thermal circles in the same direction as
	whoever is already in it.

	About a minute later we'd reached 9,500 feet and I'd become
	so engrossed in watching the hawk that I'd drifted off center.
	The bird departed, probably grumbling something like "What's
	that bozo doing?", and used the sailplane pilot's favorite
	technique of crossing directly through the core of the thermal
	on the way out.  I have nothing but admiration for these
	feathered folks' flying skills, and they're probably exercising
	some skills that we're not even aware of.


	BTW, good thermals were providing solid 800-1,000 fpm climb
	and were topping out around 15,500 feet.  Surface wind was
	essentially 0, turbulence was VERY light.  Minden's looking
	even better than my old Mojave Desert soaring haunts.


------------------
Paul Raveling
Raveling@Unify.com