Cairngorm Gliding Club
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AIRFIELD DIARY for Sunday 18th January
Sunday was a fabulous day for soaring the mountain waves over the Cairngorms. Photos by Paul Myers, who flew for almost 90 minutes in his single seat "Ventus" glider. He reports:
"The photo of a half frozen Loch Morlich was followed by a climb averaging 12.7 knots (almost 15mph) vertically to 13,000ft. Glories in the cloud tops, a frozen Bear's Paw, and very cold toes!"
Several other pilots made successful flights, including Nick Norman and Andy Farr who flew in the Perkoz two-seater to Corgarff Castle and back. Seven flights in all, with a total air time of 9hrs 40mins, and we think that everyone managed at least 7,000 feet in the wave (statistics by Andy Farr).
The 'glory' is a circular rainbow formation seen when the sun is directly behind. It indicates the cloud was formed of water droplets that were not frozen into ice crystals. It also means the droplets were very small compared to the size of normal raindrops, which refract sunlight in a completely different way to create an ordinary rainbow.
Also notice the tops of the wave crests are usually very smooth compared to the ragged edges down below.
Descending from a great height towards a landing at the nearby airfield. The Bear's Paw (Uath Lochans) was still completely frozen over on this day.
Stuart Naylor, one of our friends from the Highland Gliding Club near Elgin, sent us this view from the same day. He had only intended to do a short half-hour check flight, but the conditions were so good that he flew 220km (135 miles) across country, right above our heads and as far down as Dalwhinnie before returning to base. You can track his flight graphically from here.
