Spotted a sailplane in an odd place today

MAKG1

MAKG1

Touchdown! Greaser!
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MAKG
Maybe this isn't as weird as I think it is.

There was a lot of terrain turbulence in the East Bay today. I got bumped around quite a bit flying VFR below a 3000 foot broken ceiling, from Napa to Reid. IFR just takes too long, as ATC always seems to want the Point Reyes arrival, which is twice as long.

There was a LOT of cloud suck. Holding altitude was a chore.

I encountered a sailplane thermalling just outside Dublin. I would think it's a poor place, as it's under the same 3000 foot ceiling, and there aren't any obvious places to land out, except maybe the two crowded interstates that go through there. I think they could make Livermore. I couldn't in a glide, but a good sailplane should have four times my glide ratio.

To my knowledge, the nearest regular glider base is at Byron, very far out of gliding distance. There are plenty of closer ridges to that.
 
Plenty of places closer, but if your goal is cross-country, it's tough to do staying local.
 
Where exactly was he? Near the ridge? In not familiar with the area, but the only 3,000' shelf I see in the vicinity of Oakland. Over Dublin it's 6,000'. And Byron to Dublin is not far at all for a decent soaring day. It looks like about 15 miles. I'm a newb when it comes to cross-country, and I've been farther than that in an early glass ship.
 
He was right against the east slope of the ridge, west of VPDUB.

Byron isn't that far, but staying below 3000 would seem limiting. There is another 1700 foot ridge intervening (or else he'll have to cross a lake -- sink) and he'll have to cross the leeward side.

I'm not used to seeing sailplanes in urban areas due to the landing out problem, though maybe it's not as weird as I think. That couldn't be a cross country, as a few miles further would put him in the SFO Class B.
 
Why would he have to stay below 3,000' there? The sectional shows the floor of the Class B a 6,000'. He could have been heading out and planning to fly south. It looks like if the wind was from the east, there might be good ridge lift in that area. Or if it was later in the day, he might have been on his way back and trying to pick up some altitude before crossing the lower ridge.
 
In a modern glass ship, he should be able to go at least 6 nautical miles for every 1,000' of altitude lost. So it looks like Livermore would not be problem from there, even with a slight headwind.
 
He may have a pusher engine. Doesn't look much different from the outside.
 
Lindberg said:
Why would he have to stay below 3,000' there? The sectional shows the floor of the Class B a 6,000'. He could have been heading out and planning to fly south. It looks like if the wind was from the east, there might be good ridge lift in that area. Or if it was later in the day, he might have been on his way back and trying to pick up some altitude before crossing the lower ridge.
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Because there was a broken ceiling at 3000. That's the only reason I was cruising through there at 2500. I would have preferred 1000 higher.
 
Broken 3000 right there doesn't necessarily mean he's limited to that on the ridge or on his route. But even still, not unusual to see gliders below 3,000 that close to home.
 
weilke said:
He may have a pusher engine. Doesn't look much different from the outside.
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A folding engine would be my guess too, but how reliable are they? Do people let themselves get out of other options by thinking "no problem, I'll just pop the engine"? I can imagine doing this in a Stemme, but I'm not sure if I would do it with a folding 2-stroke.
 
MAKG1 said:
Maybe this isn't as weird as I think it is.

There was a lot of terrain turbulence in the East Bay today. I got bumped around quite a bit flying VFR below a 3000 foot broken ceiling, from Napa to Reid. IFR just takes too long, as ATC always seems to want the Point Reyes arrival, which is twice as long.

There was a LOT of cloud suck. Holding altitude was a chore.

I encountered a sailplane thermalling just outside Dublin. I would think it's a poor place, as it's under the same 3000 foot ceiling, and there aren't any obvious places to land out, except maybe the two crowded interstates that go through there. I think they could make Livermore. I couldn't in a glide, but a good sailplane should have four times my glide ratio.

To my knowledge, the nearest regular glider base is at Byron, very far out of gliding distance. There are plenty of closer ridges to that.
Click to expand...
In addition to what others have said, if you were getting sucked up toward the clouds, he probably was too, which would extend his gliding range.

What time did you land at RHV? I was there around 7 PM.
 
I landed about 1PM.

There was plenty of (spotty) lift just west of 680, but it wasn't everywhere. While I didn't fly over there, I'd expect sink on the east side of Livermore due to the leeward side of Altamont and Brushy Peak. The clouds limited how high one could climb VFR.

I should have flown over the top. I could have gotten a clearance at Reid if I needed it. Turns out, I probably wouldn't have needed to go that far.
 
If the lift is good to 3000' AGL you can go XC. I'd prefer more though.

As to self launchers and sustainer gliders, they tend to call it quits much sooner than someone in a pure glider. In a pure sailplane you still have 35:1 or better until you open the spoilers, but once that mast comes out you go down to 172 territory. If it don't start then and you don't have a plan b you are super hosed. I'd have much more confidence in an electric solution like the FES though. As long as you got battery you ought to be ok, and you don't have that whole mast issue with a folding prop on the nose.

http://www.front-electric-sustainer.com/
 
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