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>>Derek seemed quite impressed with it and, importantly, the thermalling
>>speed was slow enough to make good use of British thermals.
>
>>er, are "British" thermals different to "Rest of World" thermals?<<
You bet they are, like small and weak, usually. Low thermalling speed is
vital here so that turning circle is within the effective part of the
thermal. This means much above 45 kts is no good unless the gliders min
sink rate is very low. We are trying to balance the sink rate of the glider
with the strength of the thermal.
It would seem that the Europa's min sink may somewhat lower than that of
most motor gliders hence it would climb when othes wouldn't. Ivan was
somewhat surpised ( never having flown a glider before) the first time he
switched the engine off, the glider gained 500 feet is 20 minutes. Being
close to Sutton Bank, a 1000 foot ridge, there was obviously some weak wave
about.
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