Wind and dynamic flight - friendly guide
The wind is your invisible fuel
When you start flying in paragliding or wing delta, you quickly learn that the wind is not an enemy but an ally - if you know how to read it. With it you can stay in the air for hours without thermal, fly along a ridge like an albatross, or take advantage of breezes that change according to the time of day.
What is the dynamic flight?
It is called dynamic flight to which it is held with the wind crashing into an obstacle (a mountain, a cliff, a dune). When the wind hits the hillside, it has to go up it. The pilot takes advantage of that descent. This is also called ridge soaring or hillside flight.
Ridge lift - the rules of the game
For it to work, you need:
- Wind blowing towards the slope, not parallel or back.
- Suitable slope: 30-45 ° is ideal. Very flat does not push; very vertical (cliff) generates dangerous areas.
- sufficient speed: 12-15 km / h minimum for paragliding, 18-22 km / h for delta wing.
- Non-excessive speed: > 30 km / h begins to be dangerous in paragliding.
Once in the air, the pilot flies back and forth parallel to the crest, like a pendulum. As the wind blows, you can stay indefinitely.
Where there's a lot of wind, there's danger
The leeward: behind the ridge, the air "falls" and shape rotors (horizontal whirlwind as waves under a drain). The rotors can fold an entire paraglider.
Rule 20: 1: stay at a horizontal distance of at least 20 times the height of the obstacle when strong wind blows. That is, if the hill is 200m, stay away from the hill.
Brisas of the day - your friend and your enemy
The local breezes are winds that are born from unequal warming:
Valley breeze (day)
When the sun comes out, the sunny slopes warm up and the air goes up. As the valley remains "empty," the wind enters from below. It is the breeze that holds the mountain ridge flights during the day.
Mountain breeze (night)
As the sun falls, the slopes are cooled by radiation. The cold, dense air, drops through them towards the valley. If you're flying at sunset, it can catch you with unexpected tail wind on the landing. Dangerous. Land first.
Sea breeze
On the coast, during the day the sea is cooler than the earth. The hot ground air rises and the fresh sea air replaces it → wind from sea to earth. It's what makes Iquique fly, Torrey Pines, Rio de Janeiro. At night it is reversed.
Foehn / Zonda / Chinook
Strong and dry wind that comes down on the other side of a mountain range when there is a great difference in atmospheric pressure. In Argentina it is called Zonda. Violent rapes, temperature goes up. Day of not flying
The magic of "glass-off"
When the sun begins to hide, but the slopes are still hot, the heat is turned off but there is a "last gift": a soft and extensive descent that covers the whole side for 30-60 minutes. It is called glass-off or restitution. It's the quietest and most poetic flight of the day. Those who fly in Annecy, Roldanillo or Bir know him well.
Mountain wave - the dream of flying very high
When the wind perpendicularly crosses a mountain range at high speed, it generates stationary waves in the atmosphere (like the waves behind a stone in a river). Under the crest of the wave there are very soft, powerful and silent ascents. The planners take advantage of this to get up to 10,000, 15,000 meters. Paragliding and delta wings have reached 8,000 m under exceptional conditions.
Visual sign: clouds lenticular, those with the shape of a stationary flying saucer. If you see lenticular, there's a wave. But it is very advanced technique: under the wave is the rotor, with destructive turbulence. Do not enter without specific training.
Venturi - when a step becomes a wind tunnel
When the wind has to pass through a narrow hole (a cabbage, a throat), it * * accelerates *. If the synoptic wind is 30 km / h, the cabbage can reach 50-70 km / h. The local pilots know the "venturi" cols and avoid the windy days.
How the wind uses an XC pilot
- Wind in favor (tail wind): ideal for free distance. You fly at 40 km / h of your own + 20 km / h of tail = 60 km / h from the ground.
- Crossed wind (with crossed wind): to fly FAI triangles.
- Wind against (against the wind): it penalizes a lot. A flight against the wind needs much more energy and altitude.
An experienced pilot looks at the wind at several altitudes: surface, 1,500 m, 3,000 m. If the wind gradually increases with height without change of direction, it is good. If it changes abruptly, there is shear → broken thermal.
Dynamic flight vs thermal - complementary
Day without thermal but with wind: flight of ridge, soft kilometers attached to the crest.
Day with thermal but no wind: pure XC flight, valley crosses, turn in clusters.
Day with both: the best combo. You can go up in thermal to base, plan long with tail, and use ridge when the thermal fails.
Simple rules for rookies
- Before taking off: look at the sleeve. If it moves hard and changes direction, it's not day.
- On the hillside: always fly with the wind in favor of the hillside (not the other way around). If you feel turbulence, stay away from the ridge.
- Near the hillside: closer = more support, but also more risk of rotors. Keep 50-100 m of the wall in paragliding.
- If the wind goes up a lot in flight: it goes down to land. Don't wait for it to be worse.
- Land: always face the wind (flag points to you).
Classic dynamic flight sites
- Iquique (Chile): coast, sea ridge, convergence with breeze. Dynamic flight practically all day.
- Torrey Pines (California): coastal cliff. Modern paragliding cot.
- Ölüdeniz (Turkey): Mediterranean coast, ridge + thermal.
- Interlaken (Switzerland): ridge alpino, convergences.
- Cerro Otto (Argentina): ridge andino.
Each has its best wind "window," which local pilots know in detail.
In summary
The wind is not an enemy if you respect it. Learning to read it - its speed, direction, how it changes with height, when a breeze is born, when it becomes foehn - is as important as learning to fly. And when you tame that, you realize something magical: the air has textures, and flying free is learning to walk through them.
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