Glider flying in heavy turbulence over Utah mountains

[BigRedNZ1]

What's "The yellow arc"?

[bviv]

@BigRedNZ1 That is the upper airspeeds you fly where you need to be more careful on the controls and in turbulence. Gliders are built crazy strong but you still want to fly within limits. Bruno

[waltergiordani]

Bel video Bruno!!

[bviv]

@6btl6 Thanks for the kind words. If you start watching my videos you will see that there is plenty of bad techniques and mediocre soaring skills but, as you said, that is what makes this sport so amazingly fun, challenging and keeps us pilots coming back to do it for our lifetimes. Bruno

[TheQuiksilvr]

what happens if you start loosing lift in the mountains and start descending? is there a chute for the glider?

[HotelPapa100]

@TheQuiksilvr You should never fly into a situation where you cannot safely glide out to a field that is landable. As modern gliders have glide ratios of above 1:40 thats not so much of alimitation. In the mountains you must allow for heavy downdrafts as well. People who do not adhere to these rules sooner or later end up on an accident report.

Remember the saying: There's old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.

[bviv]

@HotelPapa100 Completely agree with HotelPapa100. On video it looks like there is no place to land but in these videos we had farmers' fields within just 5-10 miles at the most and we needed only a glide ration of 10/1 to get there. That gives plenty of margin if you hit crazy bad sink. Mountain flying is very unforgiving. I lost a good friend to a mountainside just a year ago. Good reminder. Bruno

[HotelPapa100]

@bviv Just to clarify: I did not mean to say that you were not adhering to the rules stated above, but reading again over my post I see that it can be read that way. I merely meant to explain @TheQuicksilvr how we safely fly in mountinous terrain.

[bviv]

@TheQuiksilvr No but most of the time we are flying over a single mountain ridge and there are fields just down at the foot of the mountains. You just glide down to the ridges and land in a field. Trust me, have done it many times. :) Bruno

[misichuri]

hey great flying

[john198119811]

I have what maybe a stupid question. I am a 200 hr private pilot and 2 this day i am what some would call scared to death of what we affectionately call bumps. I heard you say thats one that can rip a wing off. Thats exactly what im afraid of. i cant bring myself to go into the yellow arch even in smooth air. am i being overly worried about turbulence or is this a common fear new pilots have and will this fear ever go away?

[bviv]

@john198119811 Hi John. Not a stupid question at all. I don't have a lot of heavy turbulence experience myself. Most of the bumps I hit on the Utah ridges is moderate at best. I have no idea how strong one has to be to rip off a wing but it has to be a LOT stronger than I was experiencing in this video. Gliders fly the ridges back east all the time at much higher speeds and bigger turbulence. I have not heard of any wings ripping off. Good! Its just scary the first time you hit a big one. Bruno

[john198119811]

Overall thank you for this video. Gives me more confidence that the diamond I fly will hold together in some moderate turbulence. I just hope someday and can get to the point you have were I can just laugh them off like you do..Thanks again.

[Macsgrafs]

I havent been gliding since 1984, but watching this makes me realise what Im missing. Lovely scenic location, nice bumps to add to it ;) Great filming, need more!

[bviv]

@Macsgrafs I have another 60+ youtube videos with dozens of hours of this kind of gliding footage. Just check out my youtube channel to see them. Enjoy and thanks for the support! Bruno (BVIV)

[Macsgrafs]

@bviv Thanks Bruno, will check you out some more. I use a gopro but in RC aircraft, mainly heli's...so its nice to see smooth filming ;) Regards, Ross

[willbertdsgc]

i actually love this... 'please don't rip wings off' :L

[bviv]

@willbertdsgc I laughed when I first heard this when editing but at the time it was a heart felt prayer... ;) Bruno

[WConn100]

Bruno, are you shooting any video at the Nationals at Logan? I see the daily reports. Looks like it is a challenging event to say the least.

Walt

[bviv]

@WConn100 Hi Walt. Yes, I took about 20 hours worth of footage. I should be able to get at least 4-5 really interesting youtube clips from the footage. That said, it might take me a week or two to edit them down and post them. Enjoy. :) Yes, the nationals was crazy challenging for all pilots but everyone stayed safe and we had a great time. Bruno

[yankuenchiu]

Let open the window~

[Shady8967]

Did anyone notice how close his phone came to falling out of the DV panel? haha I love your videos (: Makes me want to do it one day! Keep us the good work :D x

[skydawg98]

Nice video! Are you coming down to El Tiro for OLC challange? Thanks for inspiration! I started doing wing cam vids with Gopro HD. Check it out!  Dawg!!!!

[bviv]

@skydawg98 Been a while! Great video with the GoPro. I would love to get additional footage from other places on the glider but hate the idea of the lost performance with things hanging out on the wings, etc. I have enough of a hard time with a clean ship! :) I would love to go down and play with you guys but am doing 2 contests already this year including the 15 meter nationals so I am already committed to about a month of flying vacations. :( Would be fun to go though. Have fun and be safe.

[whiteTiger941]

the one who disliked this made a crash landing with the glider and now he/she has to buy a new glider LOL!

[iflydplane]

Great video, right over the ridges. Nothing like footage to show how it really is. But even the footage doesn't reveal the real impact it has on your body or the excitement (good or bad) moderate/heavy turbulence inflicts.

[WConn100]

Bruno, many years ago I owned a J3 Cub that needed an A&P. I asked what he charged and it was 25 dollar an hour. (this was some time ago) I told him I wanted to work with him as a helper to gain some mechanical experience. He told me that would be 50 dollars an hour. I always found it to be cheaper to hire a mechanic and get the hell out of Dodge.

[WConn100]

Bruno, maybe all that turbulence is why your Pitot needed new washers.

[bviv]

@WConn100 LOL - good one. I am now into it 11 hours trying to get that dang rear washer into place. Can't fly until it goes into that crazy to place spot. Will keep trying. Thanks for the laugh. :) Bruno

[Shnatzcke]

dont open the window =) ^^ cool video greetings from germany

[F10Freeskier]

Whats that at 0:24 ?

[levelat350]

IN SMALL LIGHT AIRCRAFT,I ACTUALLY DO NOT LIKE TURBULENCE. IN BIG HEAVY JETS HOWEVER,NO PROBLEM.

[choppageworshipper]

I hate flying because of turbulence, but its so funny to watch other people experiencing it :-)

Kind of sick really lol.

[doudy009]

can you explain what the your new winglet design does?

[bviv]

@doudy009 Sorry to be vague but they are designed for high speed cruise but also slow speed thermalling. Sounds like the best of both worlds...and they are.

[plassie1995]

Scary flight dude.. You almost lost your Iphone, at 0:26 ;)

[keegan773]

You could almost feel the wings load and unload with the changes in the turbulence. Glad it was you and not me in the hot seat.!!!! Yet another great vid.

[helipilot727]

Weeeeeeeeee lol

[patryk7771]

Bumpy flight- I like it !

[matthiashaenni]

Wonderful!

[Flightkid9]

you're lucky, here it's pretty much all flat unless you go 400km to the rockies which aren't that good for gliding around normally, I hope I can go gliding down in Utah sometime!

[sparkin88]

@Flightkid9 Depends where in the Rockies you are. There is some good gliding to be had in the Canadian Rockies

[Flightkid9]

@sparkin88 ya, I live in Edmonton so I'm about 300-400km away from the Canadian rockies, but that part of the rockies is known to have bad winds and not very good for gliding, to get to a part that is good for driving I'd have to go about 600km at least :(

[whisperaircraftnz]

pretty sweet!