NAVIGATION AS APPLIED TO CROSS-COUNTRY SOARING

W. S. Ivans, Jr.

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	Cross-country soaring flights customarily begin with launching of the sailplane at altitudes ranging from several hundred to several thousand feet above the ground. From a height of 2000 feet, a high performance sailplane can glide in still air perhaps 10 miles before being forced to land. Greater distances than this can be traversed only if the pilot can locate and use updraft areas, in which rising air currents provide a source of energy which can be used to offset the aerodynamic losses due to motion of the sailplane through the surrounding air. If the updrafts are strong enough to exceed the sinking speed of the sailplane, altitude will be gained, corresponding to a storage of potential energy. This stored energy may be called upon to supply losses during subsequent periods of flight in still air or downdraft areas.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 2, Number 7
Pages:	212 - 216
Cite this article:	Ivans, W. S., Jr.,, "NAVIGATION AS APPLIED TO CROSS-COUNTRY SOARING", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 2, No. 7, 1950, pp. 212-216.
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