Updraft causing airspeed increase?

[JustinPinnix]

I was flying along in some relatively bumpy conditions today and saw a phenomenon I'd never seen before. I was flying "straight and level", but suddenly my airspeed shot up about 10 knots. My engine didn't suddenly get stronger and the RPMs were in the same place.

Is it possible that I hit an updraft, which caused me to climb, nosed over to compensate for it, and picked up airspeed in the process while not losing altitude?

 

[tonycondon]

I was flying along in some relatively bumpy conditions today and saw a phenomenon I'd never seen before. I was flying "straight and level", but suddenly my airspeed shot up about 10 knots. My engine didn't suddenly get stronger and the RPMs were in the same place.

Is it possible that I hit an updraft, which caused me to climb, nosed over to compensate for it, and picked up airspeed in the process while not losing altitude?

yes. were you flying on the downwind side of mountains? coulda been some wave or some strong thermals.

power pilots could really increase their average speeds if they would divert a little from course to stay in updraft (thermal, wave, ridge) conditions.

 

[JustinPinnix]

yes. were you flying on the downwind side of mountains? coulda been some wave or some strong thermals.

power pilots could really increase their average speeds if they would divert a little from course to stay in updraft (thermal, wave, ridge) conditions.

Flat terrain, but there was a bit of wind shear going on. Pressure had raised from 29.75 to 30.27 in just over 24 hours.

 

[SkyHog]

Coming back from Gastons last year, I intentionally stayed in the updrafts as much as possible to get as fast a speed as I could. The secret is to not let the updraft push you up...boom, instant speed bonus!

 

[bqmassey]

Couple that with pressure pattern flying,.. you might be able to really increase efficiency.

 

[JRitt]

I got into some updrafts this weekend and saw indicated airspeeds of 125kts (in a C172) and had the nose pointed down. It was great. Maybe I should take glider training so I can find out how to better take advantage of it.

 

[Bill]

yes. were you flying on the downwind side of mountains? coulda been some wave or some strong thermals.

I flew from Concord, NC back to Chattanooga, and there was definiately some turb and mountain wave action going on on the lee side of the southern smokies. Wind was exactly out of the northwest at 30kts at my altitude, and we felt it.

As Nick said, in the updraft portion, the autopilot (altitude hold) would trim nose down, and we were getting Vno in level flight. Then, the pendulum swings, and we're at 90kts level flight.

A slow slog home, the final leg from NELLO to CHA had us getting 80kts ground speed while the plane was truing 125kts.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N4147T

 

[N7702Y]

A couple of times on trips from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California I've been able to hit the mountain wave over the Sierras just right and "surf" for up to 100 miles with "boost" of up to 30 kts. Good fun!

Of course, what goes up must come down, so you can also get clobbered by downdrafts, particularly on the downwind side of the mountains. I've experienced sustained sink of over 1,000 FPM.

Jay

 

[Michael]

Every time i get caught in an updraft, if i nose down, i hit redline, I cruise in the yellow and it is still pretty bumpy in these updrafts. I usually pull power so as not to break anything off the plane. Then wait for the other side of the draft to firewall it again.

 

[Bill]

I've experienced sustained sink of over 1,000 FPM.

Got stuck in one of those two years ago about 8nm south of Roanoke, VA. We were at 8000, full power, pitched for Vy, and the VSI was -500.

Three minutes later we popped out, and the VSI went back to +500, and we crawled back to 8000.