By Ted Grussing
… the sun was warm and otherwise gray rocks glowed a warm and rich color … the mountain cast its shadow as far as the eye could see and clouds that were not blocked by the mountain picked up rich colors as well … volcanic cones were in the shadow of the peaks as well. So it was on September 29th of 2016. The peak on the left is Humphreys Peak at 12,633’and on the right Agassiz Peak at 12,360’. Within the bowl on the right are the upper runs of Snow Bowl Ski Resort … on the left side in the clearing below the tree line you can see the white debris which are the remnants of a B-24 Bomber that slammed into the mountain on a night mission on September 15, 1944 killing all eight crew members.
A nice day and I actually got out for a while and was considering getting an afternoon flight in, but the snow on top of the shade was so heavy I could get the steel poles out in the front – that meant the motorglider was a prisoner … hired a friend to clean it off and tomorrow will find me in the air and methinks it will be a beautiful (and cool) flight. The ISO group was over tonight and some absolutely stunning photographs were shared. I love beautiful images whether I shoot them or not!
Quite a few replies like what the heck is this adiabatic lapse rate all about. It is the temperature differentials between different air masses. For soaring pilots it is used to determine the soaring potential for a given day. As the sun warms the earth, the air above the ground is heated, which causes it to expand making it less dense than the cooler air around it so it rises and as it rises it cools and it is the lapse rate which is used to predict how high the air will rise before it cools and the convection stops. This rising air is one of the three principal types of lift we use to gain altitude … altitude is stored energy or fuel for a glider which is spent when traveling laterally across the surface of the earth. My motorglider “Mariah” has a sink rate of 165’ per minute and a glide ratio of 30/1 which means in the normal conditions it will travel across the surface a mile while losing about 175’ of altitude. It never works out that way in real world soaring … sometimes much less and sometimes much more, but it is a starting point for estimating what you can do. Traveling cross country in a sailplane is a series of working lift and gaining altitude and then spending it while flying across the surface. Fun, challenging and really busy. Anyhow a discussion of the lapse rate is at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapse_rate
A wrap and hoping for at least 40F tomorrow. Smile and share your joy … someone needs the smile that only you can give.
Cheers
Ted
Thou. Great God, uphold me also in the lonely hour; and though I fall in the din and the dust of the world, resurrect Thou me.
Even to the last, turn my hands to kindly service, and part my lips in gleeful songs of love.
And in the softly falling dark, when all grows strangely still,
May I be glad to have trod the sweet green earth, and know the tender touch of love.
Yet may I depart with joy, as one who journeys home at evening.
— Max Ehrmann
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The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com
In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.
Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.
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