My name is Christopher Fleming, and I'm the creator of this channel, Fayence Soaring. I've been a pilot since 1988, and have been flying gliders in the French Alps since 2005.
I am a New York City based Boeing 767-400 captain for Delta Air Lines, and an Alexander-Schleicher ASH 31 Mi pilot based in Fayence, France. I have been teaching pilots how to fly for over 30 years, and I will soon be bringing my experience here to help you soar farther, faster, and safer.
Toller Flug, super video! Bin in den 80/90ziger Jahren in Fayence geflogen, weniger weit aber auch schön - La mure, Barcelonette, Mte Viso schöne Erinnerungen!
Bonjour. Merci. je suis un vélivole ne volant plus. S’il vous plaît pouvez-vous « conserver le bruit de l’air », et pas de musique, merci. Cordialement paisiblement. Hello. Thanks. I am a glider pilot who no longer flies. Please can you "keep the sound of the air", and no music, thank you. Kind regards peacefully.
Bonjour. Merci. je suis un vélivole ne volant plus. S’il vous plaît pouvez-vous « conserver le bruit de l’air », et pas de musique, merci. Cordialement paisiblement. Hello. Thanks. I am a glider pilot who no longer flies. Please can you "keep the sound of the air", and no music, thank you. Kind regards peacefully.
Thank you. Your videos (amongst others) have inspired me to give gliding a go. I have booked a 2 week course in January to get to solo and hopefully beyond.
In the USA this is referred to as "scud running" and is the cause of many fatal accidents because the situation can turn against you without warning. For example, your visibility forward is limited and the next valley could be totally obscured and your path back blocked because of your loss of altitude. I haven't seen your panel, but I would highly recommend having an artificial horizon - and be trained in its use!
No. Scud running is when one flies VFR at LOW LEVEL under a low cloud CEILING with NO escape route - I’m at nearly 10,000 feet, under a scattered cloud layer, with many escape routes. “Cloud flying” gliders in Europe, and flying gliders IFR in the USA is legal and safe for qualified pilots.
Great explanation of how glider performance is calculated, but the title is pure clickbait. Would also like to have an acknowledgement of its creator, Paul MacCready.
@@FayenceSoaring Hello, "prepares to land out" means basically the physical acting to landing out, at low altitude. In my understanding and seemingly for others, too.
Chris . . So good to see another chapter of your flight journey. This episode, IMHO, belongs in one form or another, at the beginning of the instruction manuals for every pilot, tactical operator, Police Officer, Fire Fighter or anyone who needs to keep their head on a swivel. And if we accept the reality that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, or danger, every plan requires contingencies. As they say, "Failing to plan is Planning to Fail",
Another fantastic video! I never knew about safety mccready but I do now. That’s the problem with the high tech glide computers, just like Apple phones, you only use a fraction of their functions. I made it down to the Alps with my glider earlier this year (Sisteron) for a couple of weeks for the first time for a few years, and had a great time reacquainting myself with the mountains - I will certainly learn how to use safety McCready for my next visit.
This Tuesday I helped retrieve an ASH31 from a field. The pilot failed to start the engine. Luckily he had picked a good harvested field as his outlanding option.
Another insightful video - thank you (although I watched it at x2 speed). The LX9000 is a wonderful piece of kit. Others also use XCSoar but I'm curious about how those land out fields get uploaded into the LX9000. Like so much technology, half the learning process is extracting more than a fraction of the ability of the equipment. I remember trying to identify a land out field not far from St Aubin on a non flyable day. We went by road, parked and headed on foot in what we thought was the correct direction. There were 4 of us & after 1 hour, none of us were 100% confident that we had identified the correct field. It was either tiny or there were some big trees at one end. Some videos on land out sites would be very interesting !!! Thanks for the brilliant uploads. I enjoy them a great deal.
Thank you for your kind words. We can manually add any waypoints, but the procedure between manufacturers differs. On the LX, we have many ways to customize each waypoint, including the few that I showed on this video. Regarding your experience at surveying a field near Saint-Auban, I would recommend looking at it first on GoogleEarth so that you can also see how to access the field. You can also follow a GPS to the waypoint's coordinates.
There is a similar option on XCSoar, but for best results, I'd recommend NOT connecting XCSoar to an intelligent variometer. I'd recommend using traditional MC (speed) values on your variometer, and a separate safety MC (glide) value on your XCSoar. This gives you the best of both worlds: Speed-to-Fly information on your vario, and safe Glide information on your XCSoar.
Always wonderful to see a new video from you, Chris. I'm reminded of "why I fly gliders " when I do! I've actually been medically grounded since June, but I anticipate getting some fall flying in my Cirrus soon. My ship has a little more than half the performance that yours does, so safety MacCready and knowing where landouts are (and keeping them in glide) is something that is forefront in my planning, even with the short distance flights I do. Anyway, thank you for another beautiful video, and here's to safe flying. ~Sara
Nice work as always. I flew there myself last week during my second advanced gliding course at St-Auban. On last day of the course I crossed the Barcellonnette valley by myself. Flying a glider in the mountains is very rewarding. The rule they teach is to be always within a glide sloop of 20 to an airfield.
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, a 20:1 glide ratio is the stated norm, but it makes many assumptions. For example, 20:1 would be dangerous in a ASK 21, and overkill in an ASH 30. 50% of best glide is the intent in normal weather conditions, and an even more conservative value (10:1) in high winds/wave may be required.
@@FayenceSoaring I would totally agree. In the context of that course it makes a lot of sense, because they control many of the conditions on the assumption you raise. Furthermore, it is very easy to follow. When I build my experience it makes sense to think in less rigid terms about these margins. I will definitely consider your method next time I fly there, or any other out land option scares region. Thanks for that!
I use the same technique even in the flatlands. My glider is worth as much as a Ferrari, and I wouldn’t drive a Ferrari through a field at 100 km/hr unless I had inspected it first by foot. And congratulations on your recent achievement - sorry for omitting that on my first reply!
As always ,your videos are first rate and very informative.Just a point of clarification , on the arrival altitude , is that an AGL value,or is that the height you will arrive over circuit height ?
Thank you for your kind words. Check with your computer's operating manual, but on the LX it is AGL. You may (and should) add a Safety Altitude to that value so that Arrival Altitude brings you to a point greater than zero AGL (Beginners usually set 300 m as their Safety Altitude).
Your videos are always sublime and educational. I was a student gilder pilot in uni many moons ago, at an ex RAF base in Wiltshire called Keevil. We always winch-launched, a thrill in itself 😂❤
@@FayenceSoaring I have it, but I loose 600m in a single half turn close to Barcellonette (coming from South est at 2500m...), due to unespected Mistral irruption... Gliding w-o an escape plan is always a risky business... Few risky options if you (again) get stuck in the (last) lee side. Mr.Griogio Galletto (World Champ) get trees in a race close to St. Crepin...
Having an escape plan was the entire point of this video. All of the green dots are safe places to land, and were within range, and many of them were within a 10:1 glide. Also, if you look on my glider's computer screen, you'll see that I'm on the windward side of the mountain, and if you look in my Actual Glide navbox you'll see that I'm achieving an infinite glide ratio -- actually, I'm climbing as is evidenced by the FlightLevel navbox.
@@FayenceSoaring it is of course not possible to make good evaluation from the video, also having a 50:1 glider helps lot. I know Fayence pilot are very skilled in outlanding due to the low hills in early morning and late evening, but for strangers pilot it is always better to show right good fields, because there are lot of wrong gree spot... Thanks for having more details and sharing !
Could you do a video on flying below ridge level versus flying above ridge level. I have never done ridge flying ... yet! I believe there are pilots that try stay above ridge level and avoid going below. You seem very comfortable below.
Yes I could, and I eventually will. But, while there is a ridge and a glider in this video, I'm not ridge flying, which implies using orographic lift. In this video I am using anabatic lift.
@@FayenceSoaring Huh. Interesting now you have me research more. By the way - I'm the guy that went for a flght in Fayence in January. I want to go back and do it again.
Very useful, but doesn't your onboard motor have a huge impact on your confidence level? I get it that just taking out the motor is like opening your spoilers, but your motor is electric (95% chance of starting up and running) and if you are too low ..... just start it up and....
Actually, relying on the motor of a self-launch glider to keep you out of trouble is the most dangerous thing you could do. There are so many ways that an air-start could fail. To be safe, pilots flying self-launch gliders should fly as if they were flying a pure glider, which includes landing-out.
Anyone interested in some more thoughts and details on this subject, I just found the article "This Brilliant Man Can Get You In Trouble - Misapply MacCready Theory At Your Own Peril" by Chess in the Air (can't post links, just google it quickly).
Thank you, I will try that on my next flight. What I also use is the visualization on the map, based on my actual McReady Setting, whoch is of course less reliable. I may be flying with a much too optimistic McReady at the time, I am considdering an outlanding option. I would need to realize that in a streessful situation. So this is certainly a smooth way to judge fast and more more reliable.
When planning a minimum glide to a safe place to land, using 50% of your gliders best glide ratio is widely accepted as a good place to start. One of your glide computer's nav boxes should be "Glide Ratio Required to Target," so that you maintain your situational awareness. There are situations where even 50% isn't safe enough, such as on very windy/wave days.
Yes, helpful! In addition to the Safety MC, do you also set a buffer for the arrival altitude (commonly 300m AGL) which the required LD then refers to (dropping you in the pattern, not on the ground basically)?
Yes, I also set a Safety Altitude, but that is beyond the scope of this video. When I teach how to use Safety Altitude, I always ask my students how high they'd like to be when they're still 5 km from their field. If they don't use a Safety Altitude, and plan on a conservative 20:1 glide ratio, they'll only be 250 m above the ground with 5 km to go.
Very nice video. Great music choice. I think it wouldn't harm it to have it voiced over. Also informative even for someone doing this just in flight sims and still scratching his head with what MacCready really is :D :D .
Superbe video, de belles images, des commentaires permettant de bien suivre le vol... En finalité le Cervin l'un des sommets les plus beaux des alpes...
Being an old glider pilot felt enchanted at my age of 78. Being with you on this daring flight, i feel so happy. Having been to Switzerland and to Mt Titlis etc i feel so enchanted circumventing Matterhorn...❤❤❤
MC is shorthand for MacCready. MacCready is the math of flying gliders -- it is used to determine optimal speed-to-fly and to predict glide performance.
Just marvelous. My father had a PPL in the 1970s, but was very busy building up his own enterprise, especially at weekends he had to work and meet with customers, so he hardly had time to fly. When I was 14, I also learned to fly a glider in the "Bavarian Forest" in Arnbruck EDNB. I had a great respect for the gentle hills of this low mountain range, so I know what it means to glide in the Alps.
This is as close to being an eagle as is humanly possible. Incredible knowledge of your environment and application of skills to complete this incredible flight....magnificent in every way !!
I took a final glide over the forrest back to Fayence once, in one of the club K6s, taking the shortest route instead of going the long way around where the energy was. It felt like the longest 10km of my life, with nowhere to land. I made it back, just with enough high for a shortend circuit. I learnt a lot that day.
As somebody who’s gliding experience had been mainly over flat terrain and only a rare visit or two to mountain soaring, I am ( many years later) very jealous but totally impressed by this video and also your thoughts and planning decisions that you presented during the flight. Cheers from an Aviation Tragic Down Under👍🇦🇺🇫🇷 .
@20:50 Matterhorn in full. An epic video. Matterhorn is so beautiful it doesn't look real. You are in a vehicle that weights a few hundred pounds; it has no engine. Yet you, soar to and encircle a magnificent mountain peak. A lovely video. Hope you make many more.
Unbelievable, that was fantastic, I take my hat off to you. Sorry I need to ask a few questions, might seem daft but I know nothing about gliders and can't get my head round how you can travel such a great distance without an engine, ok I know the thermals will give you lift but it takes some balls/nerve to go that distance/route. I want to ask if I was a total beginner in gliding, how long would it take before someone could do what you achieved? I have climbed the Matterhorn, and you only get about 3 months in the year to try climb it due to weather, what's the ratio you get with a glider? Did you fly with another glider? Do you ever fly pass point of no return, where if you can't get any more lift, you are not going to survive? Thanks for the great video, safe flying, hopefully I can do a wee bit of what you have inspired me to do, cheers.
1. It realy depends on your age, the junger you start the better. gliding is an open ended challange, you cant realy outperform your plane so you can always improve. 2. i dont know lol 3. realy realy dependson the season, it can be diffrent each jear 4. yes, pretty much everyone has flown in tems at least once 5. You realy shouldt do shit like this, and if you do someone should take away your licence
