Soaring

soaring: see flight; glider.

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soaring

 or gliding

Sport of flying a glider or sailplane. The craft is towed behind a powered airplane to an altitude of about 2,000 ft (600 m) and then released. The glider pilot makes use of rising currents of warm air, such as those above a sunlit field, to maintain or gain altitude. Instruments used include the altimeter, airspeed indicator, compass, and turn-and-bank indicator. National soaring contests, which include events for altitude, speed, distance, and accuracy in returning to a starting point, are held annually.

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Soaring 

the flight of a glider in ascending air currents, with a gain, or at least no loss, in altitude. Soaring usually occurs when the rate of ascent of a rising current exceeds the glider’s normal rate of descent in a calm atmosphere. In practice, soaring is done in the ascending currents of airflows that develop when the wind flows over hills or mountains. Thermal currents, which arise as a result of local heating of the earth’s surface by the sun, can also be used for soaring, as can atmospheric waves that are formed over the crests of mountain ranges. Soaring requires a great degree of skill in piloting and the ability to determine from the topography the locations of ascending air currents. Gliders can occasionally soar for hundreds of kilometers.

REFERENCE

Goncharenko, V. V. Pariashchie polety na planere. Moscow, 1959.