Ridge Soaring the Long Mynd
For a considerable time the Long Mynd soaring club committee have been trying to promote pilots to explore more of the Long Mynd ridge than just the few yards either side of our launch. We have very important reasons for doing this and first of all I will reiterate these reasons before moving on to offering experienced advice on how best to explore the ridge and get the best out of our site.
Reasons not to hang around near launch.
1)If pilots are remaining close to the launch area especially if actually ridge soaring directly in front of take off, this makes it very difficult for Hang Glider pilots to launch. Hang Gliders travel much faster than paragliders but perform significantly better in sink rate and glide, but do need more space for the initial take off and first turns to gain sufficient height to then move away from the area. Hang Glider pilots especially during the launch cannot see above them while paraglider pilots especially if flying very supine in pods cannot easily see behind and below. This creates a significant collision risk, at a height which is unlikely to be survivable for either pilot, being too low for a reserve deployment and too high not to hurt.
2)Having pilots flying in front of take-off can be daunting for the less experienced pilots, as they have to cope with being able to fly their wing, stay up and try to negotiate other aircraft immediately they launch. Generally speaking, pilots who have relatively recently qualified are not used to flying with other pilots who are not necessarily intending to follow the same flight path, not being within the same group of trainees who are all tasked with similar flight plan and briefing. Cross country level pilots will fly in a very different manner to early soaring pilots, and this can add to the anxiety level of those awaiting a launch opportunity. On the one hand they are unsure of what the thermalling pilots are going to do, and also a level of peer pressure to perform in the same manner.
3)Red streamer pilots are statistically very safe pilots, they are easily identified, have been educated in a very safety conscious environment and are quite risk aware. The pilots with the highest number of incidents are those who are post red streamer, who think they are more capable than they really are. That is no criticism of those pilots, it’s just a fact of life, they have flown as red streamer pilots in a safe manner in safe conditions and then become more adventurous – we have all done this. This period can go on for a number of hundred hours, depending on what sort of flying they do and the conditions they fly in. After that pilots tend to be risk aware and safe until they get highly experienced and start to push the boundaries once more, either in weather conditions or the manner in which they fly. The significance of this is that if you want to fly when conditions are less than ideal, do think about how this may affect those on the ground, and it may be worth talking to other pilots before you launch, as a self briefing to ensure that it is actually suitable for you to fly, and that other pilots are aware of your experience/competence level and can make their own informed decisions on whether it is also suitable for themselves to launch. If you do take off, move away from the launch area quickly.
4)Having lots of pilots flying in close proximity with differing levels of skill and intention increases the chance of a mid-air incident dramatically, and sadly this has proven disastrous a number of times, not just here. A number of cross country thermalling pilots climbing up in a thermal away from the hill is not usually a very high risk situation, as each pilot can see what’s going on and the dynamics of the group change relatively slowly. Put this situation onto the edge of the ridge, with ridge soaring pilots trying to thread their way through what appears to be idiot pilots suddenly doing circles for no reason, and everyone needs eyes in the back of their heads, which none of us have. Unless you know and have flown regularly with the pilots you are on the hill with, you must always assume that no one else is looking where they are going. Again sadly some pilots never learn that they have to look what is going on around rather than just gazing at the pretty countryside, and it has not always been themselves that they have killed. Not all pilots who are experienced at using thermals are good pilots, there are many out there that still never move their head away from straight ahead, and never take account of other pilots needs to maintain their course.
How to leave the launch field and get the best out of the Long Mynd ridge
1)First of all, before you launch, have a look over at the Midland Gliding club and see if there is a land rover, or winch unit somewhere on our side of their field adjacent to their clubhouse. If there is then they may be either about to do ‘short west’ launches, with gliders being towed up just a couple of hundred feet directly to the west and in a position between our take off and their clubhouse. Or they may be about to aerotow a glider out in this direction. If the lights are flashing, then it is imminent, so don’t launch just yet. If it looks like a possibility, then this will impact your flight planning as it restricts any movement to the south once in the air. Also when in the air, before you cross in front of the Gliding club field make a deliberate lookout for this and also look back at the glider launch area to see which way the gliders are parked and if anyone is holding a sailplane wingtip indicating an imminent launch.
2)Before you launch a PG, make sure that no HG’s are about to launch as this is the most dangerous situation, once they take off they will be gone very quickly.
3)Unlike many pilots will have been taught, at the Long Mynd you do not always take off from the top of the hill as in our case if you are capable of launching a paraglider from the very top it is unlikely to be ridge soarable. Sometimes you will see PG pilots on windy days launching from a long way down the hill quite close to the rocky outcrop, and this is normal, but beware as it depends a lot on what wing the pilots are flying and how well ballasted they are, as it is easy to try to launch and then get blown back if you are not in that category.
4)Once you take off it is best to try to stay on our field for a few beats, and not get too far out unless it is windy. This allows you the chance of top or slope landing easily if it is not going well. Once you know that you can at least sort of stay up, there are then two options, left or right.
5)The turn left option. This is dependent on there not being any likelihood of sailplanes launching over the face of the hill before the gliding clubhouse. If ok then as you move across towards the road, you will find a small narrow gulley on our land. This almost always creates low level turbulence in any wind direction. It is not usually really bad, but don’t expect to cross the road with the same altitude as you have before you get to the gulley, either above or below. As soon as you cross the road, if you are below the top, there are two things to bear in mind, a fence running parallel with the hill a hundred feet or below the top, and this can impact any thoughts of slope landing, with a lot of bracken below. You are not allowed to relaunch from either of these fields, you must walk back to our field if you do so. Half way across the face of the gliding clubhouse slope there are power cables running down the hill. In order to soar this part of the hill, either turn before you get to the cables, or move out to allow you vertical space in case you suddenly sink out while going over them. If you do move out then beware as this makes scratching more difficult afterwards as you have to get in close again and the slope length to the south of the cables is shorter and will require you to turn back and forth much more if you are scratching low. If you do get low on this side then the safe bottom landing options and slope landing is limited /zero. This slope in front of the gliding clubhouse usually works slightly better than our launch field for ridge lift and also puts you in a good position to crab back across to top land on our field, rather than having to do a steep turn to go downwind if you are trying to get in from low while scratching our field.
6)The turn right option. Immediately to the right of the PG takeoff is a group of rocks low down while still in our field and this often gives some much needed lift if you have launched and are getting very low, sometimes just enough to then get you in position to slope land low down. If you go beyond those and over the fence to the north, then you are in a shallow sloping area of a bowl which has some unusual characteristics. It either doesn’t work at all, or can be really windy with little lift, so the best approach to it is to try to cross it as quickly as you can unless you are in a thermal and already climbing. Once about 100 yards to the north of our field, the hill runs for some while and it is often best to just get in fairly tight to the hill and head north, allowing yourself to slowly climb. As the actual hill height increases as you go north, you might think you are not getting anywhere, still being below the top of the hill, but if you look back you see that you are probably well above take off. After about a quarter of a mile there is another gulley and that is a good point at which to turn around and work the hill you have just flown along.
Further exploration
7)The big southerly bowls are daunting to many pilots, but they should not be for much of the time. They are a hurdle to cross, but if you know how they work then can be great fun and can be really useful especially if the wind is off to the south. First of all they are in the area of emergency run-off for sailplanes that are launching or landing, so do be aware of what is going on at the gliding club. Once you are over the main steep gliding clubhouse face, if you are high – maybe 400ft above take-off and the ridge working well, then try to get out front a little, then head towards the middle of the hill between the two bowls, so you are tracking slightly back towards the hill to reduce the affects of the crosswind component a little. If things are going well then continue across the next bowl and onto the hill which is covered in tree stumps from the old forest. This first section of forest usually works quite well in ridge lift but often not as good once you get beyond the first 100 yards if you are low, impacted by the trees lower down probably. If things are not going so well after crossing the first bowl, then the way to stay up is then to tuck in close to the first bowl you have crossed, you need to be really close in unless the wind is off, which in which case you are probably best to try to ridge soar the centre section between both bowls. If the wind is reasonably onto the hill, then if you get in really close to the back of the bowl, it almost always works really well as the wind funnels up and the back of the bowl and is very steep. From there you need to push forward and try to aim for the most southerly corner of the gliding clubhouse slope. You can usually push forward and crab onto that and then get lift again, but beware of the rapidly approaching power lines down the slope. If you start going down in these bowls then don’t leave it too late, get yourself in to slope land on the relatively gentle slope between the two bowls and then walk out back to our field. Going down is not a pleasant option at this point.
8)Once past the southerly bowls, then the main part of the hill to Black Knoll is not suited to slope or top landing, being covered in thick bracken or tree stumps and rarely seems to work really well in just ridge lift if the wind is very light. Often best to continue on to Black Knoll itself, which is the small group of rocks just before the south end of the Mynd drops away slowly and has a track going down the hill. Black Knoll works really well and if the wind is off to the south at all you can tuck in onto the edge of the hill that is sloping away to the south, and it works as the air is drawn up the hill rather than slipping over it. If all else fails then there are good top/slope landing options there, and is a good place to then re-launch from later when the wind improves. There are a small number of safe bottom landing fields down below the south end of the Long Mynd, subject to farmers crops, but please see the site guide for Black Knoll to show you satellite images of the particular fields. Not all bottom fields are allowed, so knowing which ones before you launch is a must. Black Knoll is also used for training so please be courteous and give pilots the space they need.
9)The northern part of the Long Mynd. If you go as far as the track going up the hill, then that is as far as you can go, as the next bowl is dedicated to Model Glider flying, and if they hit you then you will die. Before you get there is a great place to fly. The hill is well higher than our launch, so if you can stay up enough to have got there in ridge lift, then you’ll do well here too. Again there are two small gulleys and you can use the edge of the gulley if the wind is off, but the wind strength is usually much stronger than at launch. It is quite easy to get blown back as the slope is not as steep as nearer our field, but the fields behind provide safe emergency top landing. We are not authorised to land or take off from those fields, but at least you will be safe.
All of the above comments have to be adjusted for the impact of thermal activity and wave, so I’ll explain a little about that.
With thermal activity, the ups are obviously great as what they do is get you higher and also reduce the wind strength while you are going up and therefore you can move up and out away from the ridge which puts you in a better position to do whatever you want to do next on the ridge. The downside is that after the thermal has passed through the ridge area, then the wind speed increases, becomes more horizontal and can then pin you on the ridge in sink and possibly blow you back. Therefore the best approach is to try to move forward upwind before the thermal has completely passed by, this may mean you don’t get quite as high in the thermal on the ridge, but you’ll end up better off afterwards.
Wave has a great effect on flying on the majority of days at the Long Mynd, but is not always obvious. Don’t expect to see perfect lenticular wave clouds, as if they are there, it will probably be too windy even for Hang Gliders. Wave being present does not necessarily mean that it is good enough to actually soar in wave, but it influences the conditions on the hill. What you need to look for are;
Cumulus clouds that form and never seem to actually drift over the back. There may be clouds forming in front and they just don’t seen to get any nearer, or more often sit on top of the hill and cause the wind speed to be high on launch as the wind is pulled up into them with little lift apparent. Look for any other gliders flying, are there areas of the ridge which seem to have pilots flying high all the time and other part of the ridge where everyone is low most of the time. Wave is rarely parallel with the ridge and this means that some parts of the hill work well and others can be almost unsoarable. It impacts thermals too, as the thermals are suppressed in the down sections and improved in the up cycles of the wave. In between you may find turbulent conditions, so if you speak to pilots landing, they may report differing conditions, some saying it was lovely and smooth and others saying dog-rough. Look out for this and base any movement along the hill with these thoughts and observations in mind.