Thermo dynamic flying in St Andre Les Alpes

Every visiting pilot wanting to go XC here should understand and enjoy Thermo-Dynamic soaring.

This subject is covered in many books and educational videos.

William Malpas in Sailplane & Gliding magazine covers our region and Alpine flying superbly well! Click here for the first in the series

Click here to see other alpine soaring articles worth reading.

Thermo dynamic soaring explained in a nutshell,

1. In our region we have a lot of thermals and sun facing slopes - A LOT!

2. These thermals rush up the sides of mountains to release

3. As the hot air rises it creates up slope wind = Thermo Dynamic lift

4. We often see evidence of thermic wind as moving foliage in otherwise areas of calm

How do Hanglider & Paraglider pilots exploit Thermo Dynamic lift?

1. The mountains often face west (into sun) and are often aligned north south. Nature has created "soaring highways" for us to quickly cover great distance. This is why St Andre is so often used for competitions

2. We use the length of the mountain flank to cover distance

3. We hop from one mountain to the next. Ideally taking our climb towards the end of the mountain in our chosen direction of travel. Gaining enough height to reach the next mountain at slightly above ridge height. Always have your reach-able bomb out field selected/available

4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 and you quickly move through the mountains. This is of course a very simplistic view of whats happening

Thermo Dynamic soaring in practice at St Andre hangliding

Here is my decision making logic while soaring hangliders:

How is the day going/changing? = strong, weak, turbulent
Whats my average climb rate? = can I fly faster with saftey
Am I in strong sink? = speed up
Am I in lift? = slow down
Hows my altitude? = do I need to change gear - Move to conserving building height or speed up
Where will I land in an emergency? = Always have a good reach-able spot in mind
Can I run this ridge or should I get high and stay high? = Yes or no

It is possible to cover tremendous distance in out and returns using the weakest conditions applying these simple rules.

I also have a fairly weak tolerance to turbulence and will generally fly much later in the day using my class 5 hanglider. I love the mellow glass off flights that start from about 3-5pm depending on the time of year. Even leaving at this time we can easily cover 100km out and returns or cats cradles round the mountains.

I am often dismayed to see visiting pilots launch and land early when the day would have been so much better a few hours on.Saint Andre is generally a better flying site later in the day.

Go and enjoy the lake the area and other activities. Aim to launch for 2-4pm depending on the time of year.

Thermo Dynamic soaring in practice at St Andre when paragliding

Utalise the above principals. But where possible get high and stay as high as you can.
The speed, glide ratio of a paraglider do not easily allow you to out-run pockets of rapid sinking air
You also need to be mindful of the valley flows and possible strong winds lower down
Paraglider pilots wanting to cover large distances at the height of summer will need to launch early 10-12pm as the winds quickly become too strong for safe take-offs

In general

By about 3-5pm the day begins to melllow, valley winds soften. Allowing you to ridge run in the thermal dynamic lift.

Good flying can be had here till as late as 9pm in the Summer and 7pm in Autumn/spring.

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