SSB Mountain Wave Articles
These articles were written by SSB
members and have a wealth of great information on wave flying and
particularly local conditions. A must read before flying the local Boulder
wave. Print them out.
The 2000K Wave Flight Pt 1 - Dr. Joachim Kuettner
The 2000K Wave Flight Pt 2 - Dr. Joachim Kuettner
Fun Wave Flights - How To - Mark Terry
Flying Wave for the Altitude Diamond - Mark Terry
Some Thoughts About Getting Your Diamond - Colin Barry
Wave Window Tips - Vic Haynes
Fun Wave Flights - How To
Mark Terry
The wave
was working very nicely on Wednesday and I made two
training flights to 18000' - one from a release at 8000' near the
East end of the runway and one two hours later around 2:30 p.m from
a height of 10,000'
just south of Boulder reservoir.
Both the climbs were made east of the foothills and were started at
a relatively low altitude. Since one of the students had a couple
of days earlier taken a tow to 15,000' in effort
to work the wave and ended up nearly beating the
tow plane back to the field I thought it might
be helpful to describe Wednesday's wave climbs to give some
pointers to those wishing to fly the wave this winter.
First just because some the best looking lennies are located high
back on the divide - you don't have to tow back there to contact
the wave. In fact a tow straight back into the
mountains is quite likely to encounter areas of
strong sink and rotor which may force the tow
back out of the mountains.
Also it is generally not necessary to stay on tow until the lift goes
laminar - which it usually does around 12-14000'. Lift below the
laminar layer can be rotor, thermal or generated by shear (this was
the case on Wednesday).
When there is workable lift - get off!!
You will gain more experience and more enjoyment
by working you way up to the wave than by hanging on to the
towplane until the lift goes laminar and your tow bill matches a
good night out on the town. Working laminar lift
frankly takes little skill apart from matching
glider speed and headwind to stay in the up
going wave location.
However if you accept the challenge to climb into wave
you must have patience. Sometimes you can get
off in strong rotor and get a fast wild white-knuckle ride into the
wave. At other times like this Wednesday it took about an hour or
so to climb into the wave. The best looking
lenticulars on this day were located up
north-west Hague Pk, Red feather lake area. The
clouds over head were 20,000' feet or more.
There were almost no clouds below 18,000 and no
visible rotor clouds. There was east, south-east winds
on the field and a fire near the foothills south of Boulder showed
East wind. The climbs were made I believe in a shear layer between
the west and east winds. The lift strength
varied from 1/2 knot to about 3
knots after passing through 12,000' it became more laminar and once
past 14,000 we obtained 6 knots. On the first flight after reaching
16,000 we headed into the hills and found the secondary wave over
Jamestown. At that location there was noticeable rotor and climb
once it went laminar was 10 knots plus.
On the
second flight we had to work very weak lift over Boulder
Reservoir from about 8,500 up to about 11,000 before finding
stronger lift over Longmont which was worked
till 18,000 - going laminar around 14,000'.
We had considerable wind-shear in the pattern on both flights - west
at pattern height and east on the ground. In these circumstance
make sure you keep your airspeed and
don't get fooled by watching groundspeed.
Finally if you think there is a chance of making up into the wave
wear something warm - I always seem to end up at 18 wearing a
T-shirt and oxygen mask with an enthused student
who wants to stay up another two hours.
Flying
Wave for the Altitude Diamond
By Mark Terry
Wave lift is often described as silky smooth, but to get there you often
have to go through very rough air, so rough sometimes that this diamond
can aptly described as - 'a diamond in the rough'. I would like to outline
the preparation you need to go through to attempt a diamond climb in wave
at Boulder, and also use this as an opportunity to describe the procedures
that we have in place to use our wave-window - the Araphoe Peak soaring
area.
A diamond climb is a climb of 5000 meters, (3.2808 feet/meter) which is
16404 feet. To be sure of obtaining the climb you should at least climb
17,500 off tow on the altimeter. The climb is measured from the low point
on the barograph trace (that is any- time after the notch procedure which
identifies that you are off tow) to the highest point obtained. You should
give yourself a margin of at least 1000' to allow for inaccuracies in
altimeter readings, and barograph trace measurement. At Boulder we are
already at 5000' and even if we contact wave around 10,000 MSL that will
dictate climbing to around 28,000 MSL which means we will have to make use
of our wave-window to legally climb above 18000 MSL. Above 18000 MSL you
are in positive control airspace Class A and normally you would be on an
IFR flight plan and be in radio contact with ATC. Opening the Arapahoe
Peak Soaring area (APSA) and maintaining radio contact with Denver ARTCC
allows us to fly above 18000 MSL as long as we stay within our designated
airspace. So part of our diamond climb attempt at Boulder involves opening
APSA and following the agreed procedures. This means reading and signing
the letter of agreement between Denver ARTCC and the SSB. A copy is kept
in our shack in the checkout box, read and add your name to the attached
sheet if you have not already done so. Use of the area will be indicated
on our wave- window board located on the outside of the shack. The first
person to request use of the APSA will enter details on the board
(time slots, altitude requested). Subsequent potential users will
only need to telephone to ARTCC if they want to extend the time
parameters, that is why the first request should be for an ample time
block (3-4) hours. The board will indicate launch times of other gliders
and possibly whether any glider is in the APSA.
I include a synopsis of the letter of agreement below- The wave window is
controlled airspace that you need to activate for glider use if you intend
to fly in wave above 18,000'. You must have radio contact with Denver
Center (DARTCC) before you enter the window. The
location of the window is as follows:
40 02'N 105 53'W (1 NM S of Elkdale,CO)
40 08'N 105 53'W (4 NM NE of Grandby,CO)
40 09'N 105 22'W (3 NM NE of Jamestown, CO)
39 58'N 105 14'W (1 NM NW of Marshal, CO)
1.
Call Denver ARTCC Military Coordinator (303 651-4252) at least 30
minutes prior to use. Request use of the Arapahoe Peak soaring area. You
will need to specify TIMES at which the airspace will be used and also an
initial altitude (ask at least for 30,000'). You need to say which gliders
will want to use the window.
2.
Get
and confirm Radio frequency typically it will be 128.65
3.
In the air and below 18,000' contact Denver center, say position
and altitude and N number and ask to enter the window e.g. "N134BC
request clearance into Arapahoe Peak soaring area".
4.
Remain within the released airspace, altitudes and time parameters.
5.
Comply with instructions received from DARTCC while operating above
FL180. FL means flight level and this means the altimeter should be set to
29.92.
6.
On leaving and or below 18,000 contact DARTCC and say glider N----
is leaving window.
Maintain a listening watch on assigned radio frequency. In the event of
radio failure, aircraft should exit area 'prior' to end of time period.
Then on the ground 'immediately' notify DARTCC at 651-4241. That is if you
have lost radio contact and were unable to make re-establish radio contact
prior to leaving the APSA, you MUST do the telephone call when back on the
ground.
7.
The last glider when on the ground should telephone 651-4241 to
release the area back to DARTCC and also report the number of sorties into
the area (that is the number of gliders that entered the airspace).
This final telephone call to DARTCC should occur before or a short time
after the end of the allotted time slot.
A
likely diamond climb scenario might go like this- on arriving at the
field, the sky signs look promising, lenticular clouds, rotor clouds maybe
also cumulus clouds lined up north-south. We obtain the wave forecast from
Denver to give us wind speeds and direction and also potential wave
height. We go through our checklists for wave flight- warm clothing -
radios (best to have a backup handheld as well as a working ship radio) -
oxygen checks
PRICE
- Pressure, Regulator, Indicator, Connections, Emergency (bailout bottle).
Our wave-ship the 1-34 has a pressure demand system which is good to 40,000', for a diamond climb at Boulder 27,000 will usually be sufficient and you would want to switch to 100% oxygen above 20,000'. For this system to be effective you need a good seal on the mask (part of the PRICE checklist - connections). Prior to this attempt you will need to have had club checkouts wave-rotor, west-wind, oxygen, parachute. Also an altitude chamber ride which among other things will demonstrate signs and dangers of hypoxia (lack of oxygen) - one of which is the insidious effect that nothing at all is wrong and that you feel great.
We make the telephone call to request use of APSA, or we add our name and ship to the wave board if the request has already been made. During the preflight check everything in the ship must be towed and made secure (including you -straps tight) since the rotor will attempt to shake everything loose and you don't need barographs, cameras and handheld radios flying around the cockpit while hang on white-knuckled trying to maintain position on the tow ship. Check security again in the takeoff checks (ABBBCCCDE - altimeter, brakes(open-then shut),ballast as re-quired but bolted in or secure, belts(tight as you can- make sure you can reach radio mike), cable-good (you need a good rope and links for wave/rotor tow), canopy-yes make sure this is shut secure, controls, wind Direction, Emergency plan - what of you do if rope breaks?). Have the oxygen mask on before giving the rudder wag to the tow ship- you don't want to be fiddling with this while trying to climb in rotor. You have two options for the getting into wave (1) let the tow ship take you there this may mean a tow above 12000' (but you will get off before 14000' won't you? the tow pilot does not have oxygen). You may get towed through several rough rotor areas and areas of bad sink before reach the up-going wave, but this is usually the fastest way of getting into the good stuff. A good tow pilot will stay in the lift band to get high before heading west. However you may elect to work the upwind rotor lift to get into the wave layer. This can be exciting, often this takes surprisingly little time however you may also have your brains well and truly beaten out, and conclude it may have been smarter to let the tow plane tow you above this turbulence. Sometimes thermals can also take into the wave, particularly in the summer.
Once off tow and when you have found lift get the notch squared away ; you will need a good notch to mark 'off tow' particlulary if you have been in rough rotor. When you arrive in good wave lift remember you need to maintain position over the ground to prevent being blown downwind and into down-going wave. Often this means 'S' turning, but if the wind is strong fly directly into wind and adjust your speed to stay in the lift band. Typically you will be in the secondary wave and this may go high enough for the diamond climb, but often you will have to leave for the primary wave to obtain the required altitude. Make sure you sufficient altitude before diving for the primary since you will be going through strong sink before contacting the up-going primary wave. Any time when you are in good lift and it appears likely to take you above 18000' you need to contact DARTCC and obtain clearance into the APSA. Sometimes the lift can be tremendous and you need to contact early or you will be holding the ship down with full spoilers (and even that might not be enough).
Once you have been cleared in and are climbing you can try to locate the strongest lift. As you are climbing towards your goal, relax and enjoy the spectacular views this will conserve your oxygen. Normally the diamond climb can be completed under 30,000' MSL. If you elect to go higher above 30,000' be aware that you are taking substantial risks due to the reduced pressure and extreme cold. At these altitudes oxygen has to be forced under pressure into your lungs, by the pressure demand system, in order for you breathe. Your mask must have a good seal for the system to work. TUC (time of useful consciousness) maybe less than a minute, so if your oxygen unit failed you would have to make use of a backup system e.g. the bailout bottle, while descending. In order to descend fast you may need to fly into descending wave. At even higher altitudes your blood boils - dissolved nitrogen forms bubbles which can lodge in your joints and give extreme pain (this is called the bends) and flight in these regions requires a pressure suit or pressurized cockpits. It is also extremely cold at these altitudes and you can risk frostbite. Be aware also the canopy can frost over from the water vapor in your breath. The time I did my diamond I had to chip it away with a credit card. You might try taping a clear plastic sheet to the canopy before the flight which I am told works.
Lets assume you complete the climb and want to descend - the best method is turn downwind and find the down going wave. At all times keep an eye on the clouds to make sure you have ground contact. You will want to have practiced the Benign Spiral just in case a descent through clouds becomes inevitable. In our Grobs this means trimming for about 60 knots, full spoilers and taking hands and feet off the controls - the ship will enter a gentle spiral which is stable. Trying to fly the ship with no visual references will typically end in a unhealthy high speed vicious spiral. However, as long the glider pilot is alert no such emergency procedures will be necessary but you should know how just in case. As the descent continues below 18000' MSL you need to contact Denver ARTCC to tell them you are leaving the airspace. (If you cannot contact them you must telephone once in the ground.) At this time call the field to find out winds, of-ten there will be a brisk west wind waiting to make the landing interesting.
Once
you are on the ground update the wave-board and if you are the last glider
(nobody else signed up on the board) then you should telephone and report
which gliders are down. As long as everyone uses the wave-board correctly
then communications with DARTCC can be accurate. The last operation is to
enter details of your flight in the wave-book kept in the shack. With good
preparation and on the right day a diamond climb in the wave can be a
blast.
Some Thoughts About
Getting Your Diamond
by Colin Barry
Colin Barry’s thoughts after his diamond height gain flight.
- Be
prepared, have the clothing you will wear in a bag in the back of your
car.
- If
it looks like a wave day phone Denver Center as soon as you get to the
field to request the wave window. Pick an appropriate time for it to
open. You can figure on:
-
45 minutes to get the glider/barograph ready (Does not include O2 fill).
-
20 minutes on tow
-
20 minutes to get to 17,000 ft (if your lucky) when you should call to request entry to the wave windows.
- Request
at least 30,000 ft. You need 16,404 ft for your diamond so check with
the locals at what height they are contacting the wave.
- Visit
the bathroom before the flight. You will experience cold temperatures
and this may affect your bladder.
- I
recommend a layered approach to your clothing. I especially recommend
a set of "Long John" underwear and a wooly hat. Be careful
that the clothing you choose is not so bulky that it inhibits your
ability to pilot the aircraft.
- Secure
all loose items in the cockpit, including yourself, prior to take off.
- You've
gone to a lot of trouble for this flight so make sure you are
confident of climbing before your release.
- Establish
yourself in the lift and notch the barograph noting your height. Use
this to calculate the target altitude you need for your diamond. You
may want to write this down as you may forget in the excitement of
climbing in the rotor.
- The
higher you get the more difficult it is to maintain position in the
lift using visual reference. A GPS with a moving map and ground speed
display is of great benefit in locating the "hot spots".
- You
may find the inside of the canopy starts to ice up because of the
moisture in your breath. Open all the windows and vents before this
starts happening… You did dress warm didn't you? You can also try
staying out in the sun rather than under the cloud cover.
- Monitor
your O2 supply at all times. Make sure your mask is a tight fit. You
may find moisture bleeding through the sides of your mask and fogging
up your glasses.
- Be
aware of your symptoms for hypoxia. Take immediate action if you
notice them occurring.
Boulder
Wave Window Tips
by Vic Haynes
The Arapahoe Peaks Wave Soaring Window is a block of airspace granted by the Denver ARTCC to allow gliders to operate in the Positive Control Area [Class A Airspace] above 18,000 feet. In granting it, the airspace is given with lateral dimensions which are fixed according to the agreement between the Soaring Society of Boulder (SSB) and the Denver ARTCC. The vertical dimensions can vary with them normally being 18,000 feet up to 60,000 feet. The lower limit is not fixed, as some may expect, and can on occasion be moved up to allow high speed aircraft to pass beneath the gliders flying overhead. I have had this happen on occasion when queried by ATC if I could maintain at least 2000 feet above the top of the required airspace, and watched jets cruise along below. It has been in place for over 15 years..safely and successfully allowing flights to as high as 44,000 feet. It would be quite notable to see flights above that..especially when the world record is roughly 50,000 feet set in California. I believe that it was created to allow high altitude flights to continue when the lowering of the Class A airspace occurred..dropping the altitude from 24,000 feet to 18,000 feet.
Key points in working within the defined agreement are listed for thought and discussion:
1. Pilots must be checked out in high altitude operations, which include a flight instructor check, and a ride in a pressure chamber ride.
2. The FAA makes the
assumption that the pilot can work with ATC in a conversant, competent
manner.This includes functional
radios, radio procedures, and phraseology. Pilots who are not competent
in any of the above should not
even think about flying in the wave window area. This also
applies to the planes involved.
Backup radios are a must. Pilots who are competent will find
controllers who actually enjoy the opportunity to do
something different, and work with gliders
certainly falls into that category.
Any pilot in the wave window represents the Boulder Soaring Society, and
glider pilots in general, and should
understand that more than merely a flight is involved - a lot of
responsibility rests on any pilot entering and
flying within the area.
3. Procedures listed in the agreement should be fully understood by
pilots before they fly. Information is requested about each flight by
the ARTCC, and our being helpful in this regard can facilitate further
wave windows in the area, as well as on a national basis. Basically
then, the wave window grants to VFR glider pilots a fixed section of
airspace into which they normally would not be allowed to fly unless
they and their gliders were IFR qualified [Instrument rating,
transponder, and radios]. By following the procedures carefully, safety
of both the glider pilot, and the flying public is facilitated.
As an aside, for Instrument rated pilots, this can also be accomplished by requesting block altitudes and a cruise clearance..a fact little known to most glider pilots. For cross country high altitude flying, requests can be made even by instrument rated glider pilots for blocks of altitude which will allow them to fly higher than 18,000 feet [nice on a high cloudbase day] and with the separation afforded between IFR aircraft. However the glider needs to have a transponder and good radio to ensure that communications continue in a clear and strong manner. It also needs to be IFR certified as stated by the FAR's. Perhaps this is another area to explore for the more qualified and competent pilots. Once competency in the window is achieved, perhaps xc flights using instrument rated pilots and gliders could allow distances over the Rockies which have been unforeseen.
And something to remember -since the Arapahoe Peaks Wave Window is a block of altitude granted by the FAA, like any clearance, it can be cancelled by a radio call from the controller...temporarily or permanently depending on the situation. It behooves all involved to work as competently as an IFR rated pilot for all of our well being both short and long termed.All in all it provides a marvelous opportunity to look down on the world and explore an area most people will never see.To sit serenely at 30,000+ feet, absolutely smooth, and look down on four or more states is an experience to be cherished.The beauty of the view is nearly unbelievable.