Sailplane & Gliding 1966 - Lakes Gliding Club

RIETI 1966
By PHIL.lP WILLS
W·
HEN the Aero Club d'ltalia invited
me to fly in their 1966 Gliding
Nationals at Rieti, 2nd-12th August. I
accepted with alacrity, but little did r
realise in what a treat I had been permitted
to take part.
I had flown in (and won) the 1961
Italian Nationals at Perugia, and it had
been a wonderful experience; but Rieti,
about 60 miles away in the next valley
to the south, gives gliding conditions
which I have little hesitation in saying
equal in strength of lift those met in
Texas or South Africa (though over a
smaller area), and. which for variety of
flying and beauty and interest of the
country flown over exceed both by a
very wide margin.
And where Rieti, in August, beats
every other site I know of is in that
month it has nearly 100% meteorological
reliability. We could have flown every
one of the 12 days, and the same was
true in 1965. On rest days there are
dozens of wonderful things to do, from
bathing in one of the many lakes to
expeditions to buildings and works of
unrivalled beauty and history.
To beat our National (and even
World) records, over triangles of up to
300 kms., one need go no further tban
Ricti, and until you have learnt about
mountain flying you are not a fullydeveloped
glider pilot.
Although a lot nearer than Texas
or Kimberley, Rieti is still a long way
- three days, including the Channel
crossing, the Mont Blanc tuoDel, ani.! a
thousand miles motoring with the trailer,
gets you there fairly comfortably. And
the other thing to say is that, although
not nearly as tricky as mountain fiying
in the Aosta valley (with 10,000 to
14,000 ft. peaks all round), flying over
the Apennmes is still a man's game:
not nearly as dangerous as it looks
rwhich is just as well), but stn!. requir­
109 skill, discipline and caution.
The risk is minimised by not flying
except in conditiolls which, by Our
standards, are absolutely roaring, and
on no day did ·one launch into less than
3-knot thermals, which worked up to
double that figure, and even then conditions
were said to be subnormaL
From the ground the country looks
unlandable: small fields and powerwires
in the valleys, and steep mountains,
but from the air there are only
a few, and known, valleys in which for
a few miles there is no landing-place
to be found.
The lessons to be learnt from mountain
flying form a chapter in the behaviour
of the air which to most British
pilots is virtually unknown.
Envisage the valley containing Perugia,
Assisi, Foligno and SpoIeto, perhaps
20 miles wide, and 30 miles long from
north to south, surroun~ by steep
mountains running up to 5,000 ft. To
the south, over the mOUfltaim, a deep
valley running east and west contains
Temi (a steel town), then another range,
south of which is the bowl containing
Rieti, about 10 miles across in each
direction, surrounded by more mountains
running uo to 7,000 ft.
Now the surface wind can effectually
blow only up and down the valleys, but
the upper wind is almost invariably
across them. One day, flying over the
west-facing mountain south-east of. Perugia,
I saw factory-chimney smoke at
Perugia blowing to the south, smoke
from Spoleto, 20 miles south, blowing
to the north. Cloud shadows, showing
the upper winds, were coming from due
west. My mountains had spurs facing
N.W. and S.W. To which place should
one go for lift? Without a relief m'11',
it is difficult to answer this and the other
hundred simil~r problems which present
themselves, but I got very much better
at forecasting the right ansWers before
the meeting was over. The time of day,
and hence the direction of the sun, of
course came into the calculations, as
did your own altitude when the problem
presented itself.
In one day's task I used thermal lift.
mountain-slope lift to 10,000 ft, wave
lift and the roughest rotor I have ever
met - I thought for a few minutes it
might use me, but the Dart overcame it.
We flew seven tasks -all were enchanting,
two were memorable, and OOe
was amongst the half dozen most
interesting and exciting !lights I have
ever made. I will try and write these up
for the next issue of S. & G.
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