Help with bucket list item. Ridge soaring

Morgan3820

Morgan3820

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What is the max passenger weight for ridge soaring. I am on the far right side of the distribution curve for FAA average passenger weight. Additionally, I am 6’3”. I know that sailplanes are made small but the tandems might be a bit roomier. I need a target weight. I am planning a motorcycle ride in N. Italy next year and would love to remove mountain soaring from the bucket list while I am there.
 
It should be doable. The tandem I flew a lot has a useful load around 400+ pounds, so with a 180 pound pilot you’d be good for 220+.

And room isn’t generally an issue. I’m short and I had to use multiple cushions both below and behind me to be able to see the tow plane on climb out.
 
Of course it depends on the glider, but here's the specs for our high performance two seat gliders at Sugarbush, Vt. Rudder pedals are adjustable and you sit in a semi-reclined position, so it's pretty accommodating for height.

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Morgan3820 said:
What is the max passenger weight for ridge soaring. I am on the far right side of the distribution curve for FAA average passenger weight. Additionally, I am 6’3”. I know that sailplanes are made small but the tandems might be a bit roomier. I need a target weight. I am planning a motorcycle ride in N. Italy next year and would love to remove mountain soaring from the bucket list while I am there.
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I recognize the allure of soaring in Italy, but Chilhowee, TN is a lot closer and offers a grass gliderport and decent ridge soaring.
 
Back when I was teaching (five day networking classes), I would get west coast classes. We were prohibited from booking flights home before 5pm (even though with a small class, I was usually done at noon). Flying home after class ends always meant a red-eye. At 6'5, 225lb, sleeping on a plane just never worked for me. A few times a year, I would get a Sacramento class which was always small. So I would set up a Friday afternoon hop with an instructor at Minden, NV. The last time out, we flew the ridge between Minden and Tahoe for about 2-1/2 hours. Got up to 10,000' on one pass.

So yeah, big guys can soar.
 
Personally, I find ridge soaring to be relatively boring, having done it several times in Julian, PA (where I also got my commercial glider certificate). But I think ridge soaring in the Alps would be a clear exception to that. :)
 
To summarize as I don't know your glider flying experience, there are two main ways gliders are launched - aerial tow with a tow plane and a rope and winch launch with a much longer tow rope and a winch system. There is also a ground tow option with a truck, but I don't know much about this and don't think it is common. Winches aren't common in the US, but they are very common in Europe.

An aerial tow is cool, forced formation flying if you will. A winch launch gets you a few thousand feet in a matter of a minute or so. The acceleration is intense, around 0-100 in just a few seconds.

 
dbahn said:
Personally, I find ridge soaring to be relatively boring, having done it several times in Julian, PA (where I also got my commercial glider certificate). But I think ridge soaring in the Alps would be a clear exception to that. :)
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Always wanted to do the Glider up at Julian when I was up in Altoona/State College on business. Loved hiking those ridges.
 
Seanaldinho said:
There is also a ground tow option with a truck, but I don't know much about this and don't think it is common.
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Karl Streidieck once set the world record out-and-return flight from a ground tow (I think his wife towed him up using their Jeep) on the ridge near Julian, PA - over 1,000 miles without landing. A large portion of that record flight was along the ridge.
 
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With ridge soaring, you don't need a very high tow. The lift is down low.

Ridge Soaring in Julian was the start of a number of 1000 K certificate runs down the Blue Ridge to GA.
 
I am 6'4" and 300+. I flew an L-13 Blanik once, but I had to sit in the back seat due to height. If you absolutely need to do it in Italy, ask what kinds of gliders they have and their weight limits, and then see if you can find someone on this side of the pond who has one you can sit in. It'd really suck to go all the way over there expecting to have that experience and then not fit.

FWIW, the local glider club has something I do NOT fit in to my recollection. @vontresc can probably tell us what it is...
 
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