450 km TRAVEL by GLIDER to Mont Blanc - Grenoble Ep. 1 

There was a big winter break in between 😅

Thank you so much!!

Super, das freut mich!

Thank you mate! 👍

Thanks mate! 😃Now we have snow and bad weather in Germany...

Thank you! I´m already back home in cold Germany ;)

Thanks mate, it was my pleasure to meet you. See you soon!

Wow, thank you so much!

Thanks for commenting! :)

Thank you 😄

Did I copied something about Namibia in the description? 😂 It´s an amazing place to fly!

Merci beaucoup 😃

@@SteFly Schade kann ich kein Herero, dann hätte ich bei den Namibia Abenteuern einen netten Kommentar in Herero geschrieben. Anyway, habt Spass beim Fliegen Jungs, das Leben ist kurz 🤙

Danke Philipp! 👍

Southern France and the Alps are an exceptional place to fly 👍

Yes, it was really great to know that we can land at any airfield where we will get back in the air the next day. It instantly feels like a holiday on a vacation 😂

Vielen Dank - mache ich! 😊

At the beginning it was not our plan to fly to Mont Blanc. At the same day others flew the other route to the Mont Blanc and the Vercors back. ;)

My arm was to short 😂

There is so much more I could do but at this point I don´t have the time for the editing. Sorry.

Das ist noch ein experimentelles Vario von Dr. Klaus Schäfer und Horst Rupp. Es basiert auf hochpräzisem Dual-GPS und funktioniert super. Aktuell wird der Varioton noch extern von XCSoar auf meinem Smartphone generiert und auch der Softwarestand ist nicht mehr der neueste. Bin jetzt schon sehr zufrieden!

@@SteFly Klingt hoch interessant.

It will take years of practise and you definately need thorough preparation! Even a lot of experience in the area. Probably the best idea is to join someone with more experience in a two seater glider first. Talk with local experts!

A 450 km cross country flight in the flatlands is not a big deal. It will take you two years until you have your license (in a club) and then 1 - 2 years cross country training. For flying in the mountains you should have more experience and as Eirik already mentioned, it would be the best to experience it in a double seater first.

Thank you so much for your answer guys! I was wondering if you find thermals or winds that lift you up on every hill/mountain edge (like in the vid) or only some? And of only some of them, how do you recognize these?

@@Le-J- There are certain mountains with better conditions, e.g. the orientation to the sun or wind is better, less snow, ... So you can´t say for sure you will find a thermal at a specific mountain but at some mountains the chances are higher. You always need to have a plan B or C and at the end you will also need to have a landing option. In the flatlands you can only read the thermals from the cumulus clouds or from the ground at blue days. My mountain flying skills are also not the best so far ;)

@@SteFly Once again, thank you so much for your answer. And how do you know the wind direction when you are in the glider ? Is there a map showing you ? Or do you need to carefully watch trees and grass moving ?

So true, except maybe late in the afternoon if you are high enough...

We wanted to see something different. ;) But I´m sure Chartreuse and Vercors would have been the better option also at this day. Good to know for next time. Thanks for you comment and congrats to your amazing flights already in this season!!

@@SteFly hab in den letzten Jahren nur 2x in Frankreich den Motor gezogen, beide Male weil mich die Belledonne verarscht hatte. Hab sogar einen eigenen Wegpunkt für den Nordeinstiegspunkt am Vercor so daß ich sehen kann ob ich es tief von der Belledonne da hin schaff, 1750 reichen aus. In der Regel flieg ich daher stumpf zum Vercor rüber wenn ich die Höhe hab, der Rest ist dann eh geradeaus und an der Glandasse schafft man abends immer locker Endanflug auf mindestens Serres (wo es in dem Mehrbettzimmer im Haupthaus an sich immer Übernachtung für 30 Euro gibt). Es wäre mal interessant zu wissen wo die miese Luftmasse an der Belledonne her kommt. Dazu kommt halt, daß die Belledonne sehr unstrukturiert ist und man viele Umwege fliegt wenn man tiefer kommt

In dem Gebiet um Grenoble herum muss es auch ein Paradies für Gleitschirmpiloten sein. 😉 Am Ende zählt der Spaß und nicht nur die Kilometer bzw. Punkte.

​ @Stefan Langer Wer würd das machen, wenn´s kein Spaß machen würde? Musste zwar en paar Grenzen überwinden 😂..danach macht es Spaß... zumindest mit der Matratze

It´s a 3D printed suction cup mount: www.stefly.aero/product/kamerahalterung-fuer-segelflugzeughaube/

Higher pitch ascent, lower descent. It corresponds to the upper right dial on the dashboard.

That particular Farmer must be used to Gliders coming in this "low", for their landings, as his field abuts/borders the local Airfield ✌🏻🇳🇱

I was aware of him 😅

The audio is still from XCSoar because I´m using an experimental variometer...

My reaction is “ too much information”. But then I got my badges with maps, camera and a smoked barograph! Just upgraded to a 9070 and a Shark MS, wonder if anyone ever looks outside!

You can roughly calculate it. Gliders fly roughly 120 km per hour. So let’s say you have a 1200 km flight. That’s 10 hours

Just have a look at the flight track linked in the description. Flight duration was nearly 6 hours.

@@apersonthatshere3029 That´s not so easy to calculate. We glider pilots measure the XC distance with up to 6 legs and thermaling and detours are not included in the distance. In this case my average speed was 78 kph, what´s ok for an older glider. 120 kph is already very good for a long distance flight in Europe with thermals. My German record with a 18 m glider is 114 kph for a declared triangle with more than 1000 km.

@@SteFly sorry then. I’m not flying myself. I will start flying in about 5 months. I’m currently not living in Germany. Soon I’ll be back to the Heimat. Segelflug Stuede Bernstein See ivh komme

Also, do you ever feel claustrophobic in the cockpit?

There are always landing options within reach. At the beginning of the cross country training it´s a big milestone, if you know you can just make an outlanding. It´s nothing exceptional and with some practise it´s even fun to do.

Because I use thermals and ridge lifts to stay in the air + the glider glides very efficient. With 1km height, the glider can fly 41 km at calm air 🤙🏼

It´s not really possible with a single seater glider to film all the time with a hand held camera. In a double seater it would be possible..

@@SteFly yeah that makes sense, awesome video anyways

Yes, our friends from Vinon would have helped us to get back home.

Ja, sind IGC Files aus dem Flarm 👍

@@SteFly Cool, danke :)

YT itself, sometimes. Ratios the vid. Less monetization.

@@The_Modeling_Underdog Dislikes have no impact on monetization and you can´t see dislikes anymore on RU-vid.

@@SteFly There's an extension to Google Chrome that allows you to see hem, iirc. Nice to know about them not hitting on the money. We know you work hard on keeping this channel updated. Cheers!

I respect your comment, however if I would do everything wright for everyone, I must not publish any video. In this case it was late in the day so there was no lift operation anymore.

@@SteFly I understand and as mentioned earlier I really appreciate your efforts to promote gliding in such cool ways. Nevertheless, I deal with the DGAC/DSAC almost on a daily basis in the AURA region (Northern Alps basically) and I cannot stress enough how close we are to have flight restrictions so severe that gliding/flying in some mountaineous areas will be impossible in a very near future. The Mont-Blanc area have been closed by ZRT last summer, national parks have punitive altitude restrictions, there are more and more areas for us to avoid and the list goes on, especially in the Nothern Alps. I am sure that you had a briefing upon arrival that emphasised the need for pilots to respect the rules and there is a good reason for that. I only ask for you to be aware of this situation and avoid jeopardising all the efforts that we, local pilots, put to maintain the airspace open for everybody, including you. Again, feel free to reach out by PM to discuss further, I will be happy to provide some more details (why not do a video to explain to your audience and talk about solutions to help reduce the risk?) Otherwise, again I like your videos and kudos for the efforts to film, edit and upload all your gliding adventures!

*naon

There must always be a spot to reach where you land the glider. Especially in the mountains it is very important. In general outlandings are more or less normal for me and with my experience I know that it may happen a few times a year. At the end every outlanding is some kind of adventure and you learn from it. To overcome this fear is a fundamental part for cross-country flying ;)