Surfing the Wave…..

[Ironflight]

I flew the RV-3 (Tsamsiyu) down to Big Bear Lake on Tuesday morning, and the wind was coming over the Sierra as I was flying down the Owens Valley. the mountain wave lines up parallel and east of the mountain, creating areas of rising air and areas of sinking air. Since I was flying parallel to those waves, I could find a spot a certain distance front eh Sierra where I was in constantly rising air, so the autopilot was having to nose down to keep from climbing, and that meant I was flying faster - the RV-3 will do 180 KIAS flat out, but not at cruise power settings! So this was free speed, courtesy of Mother Nature!

Of course, since the wind was strong and partially from in front, so she took it back in ground speed…..

(And coming back Thursday morning, the wind was still blowing from the southwest, so while I had a tailwind, today I also had a bunch of turbulence that kicked me all the way from Inyokern up to Smith Valley…Rough at all altitudes, so just cinched down the harness and rode it out….)

 

[Mike S]

You should have taken the Xenos

 

[BruceW]

With some good O2, could have ridden the wave higher!
Any glider traffic?

 

[Ironflight]

With some good O2, could have ridden the wave higher!
Any glider traffic?

Hah! Higher had more headwind. And….the redline on the RV-3 is 186 KTAS….

No gliders showed themselves - but then, they tend to be invisible anyway!

 

[PandaCub]

I had some of the same conditions flying back to Denver yesterday in my RV-14A.

While my Garmin autopilot diligently tries to hold altitude, the airspeed sometimes gets well into the yellow arc nosing down in the updrafts and I have to be Johnny-on-the-spot backing off the throttle.

How do you generally handle this, Paul?

 

[lyosha]

Owens valley has thermals strong enough to do some serious damage. Planes have for sure crashed into the side of that range. Hang gliders have been snapped in half... try to ride those thermals at your own risk.

 

[Marc Bourget]

Anybody who flies the "backside" of the Sierras has to be cognizant of ACSLs.

ACSL stands for Alto Cumulus Standing Lenticular clouds. You'll see stacked dark lens shaped clouds downwind from the ridge. Don't fly below, fer shure!

Vertical velocities in excess of 10,000 fpm are common.

They can be displaced a considerable distance from the ridge line.

Found out the hard way in a Mooney Mk-20E in 1969. It had a G-meter and saw +6 and -2.5 escaping from the rotors.

Rotor rolled us past vertical against full aileron. Only thing that stopped going further was some late rudder.

 

[Ironflight]

I had some of the same conditions flying back to Denver yesterday in my RV-14A.

While my Garmin autopilot diligently tries to hold altitude, the airspeed sometimes gets well into the yellow arc nosing down in the updrafts and I have to be Johnny-on-the-spot backing off the throttle.

How do you generally handle this, Paul?

Sometimes you just sit and watch the autopilot struggle, and sometimes you just [gasp] disengage and hand fly! North-south trips are less likely to get repetitive deviations - It’s far worse crossing Nevada east to west as you go ACROSS the basins and ranges (like your trip back from Denver).

This was not a day for “Lennies” BTW - just a typical day flying the Owens valley. We do it a lot, and usually early in the morning….. AND…stay away from the rocks - if you’re in a valley, pick a course line in the Valley with updrafts or neutral lift. If you;re crossing a range, do it at an angle, and well above the bright of the rocks. If you get caught in a downdraft, you can shear away more easily if you are at an angle.

 

[Marc Bourget]

Agreed,

Reciting recommendations to cross, at angle, if possible, at 150% of ridge height, but that may require supplemental O2.

 

[sailvi767]

I was was in a flight of 4 at 24,000 feet south of Mammouth. A g,idea went between lead and me. Not sure who was more scared. Me or the glider pilot!

 

[kibrickj]

Surfing the wave

Cool. Love surfing the Eastern Sierra Wave…though long ago experience taught me to love AND respect the Wave. Wonderful ups…..Impressive Downs….and potentially horrifying crashing clear turbulence with or without a rotor cloud in the sky. Same day a glider pilot out of Mohave decided to hang out 30k+.

Fun stuff.