Great video. Wave flying is the pinnacle of gliding in my view. Its 10% glider handling and 90% mental effort and knowledge. I was politely advised by the air force once when we called them up that continuing past 12000ft may not be the best idea. Their training aircraft were undertaking 'high energy manoeuvres' (aka dogfighting) above us in uncontrolled airspace over Snowdonia in the UK. We tended to agree with them and went to play elsewhere ! Sitting at 21k in the blue over the Eastern Pyrenees with all the noises turned off was an almost spiritual experience. You realise you are one of a tiny fraction of humanity ever to have experienced that.

Never be afraid to say “Unable” when ATC makes unreasonable demands. They have their realities, you have yours.

Gliding is one of the most elegant inventions by humans. Hard to think of a more magical one.

Great video. I will always love the wonderful contrast of high tech gauges, digital equipment and the piece of wool taped to the windscreen.

what a superbly fascinating video that was thank you ..guess Im lucky to be typing this after a wave flight to 18500 feet at matamata in 1980 in an Auckland gliding clubs K8 , India Mike, I had no radio, or food, or anything to drink, no maps, or warm clothing, or parachute and no oxygen! all I had those days was an annoying ticking barograph right behind my head , after about 45 minutes soaring up in wave I felt myself going to sleep and feeling a bit odd, hmmm, so trimmed the glider out for a cruising speed, opened the brakes for a while, (I tried to jam them open with my knee, in the end think I left them cracked open), I folded my arms and thought, I will wake up when I get down to a few thousand feet, the stars where out and I couldn't see the ground as it was nearly dusk and the sky was cobalt blue, beautiful, but I didn't fall asleep luckily, by now the sun had set, and some folk had been looking out for me and put their car headlights on for me to land, I got my gold height award for that flight, apart from reading "beginning gliding" by Derek Piggott, most of my wave flying knowledge and education was gleaned at the Auckland and Piako gliding clubs bars lol, things where so different then, happy landings..

Great video Tim, one of your best. I've been asked to vacate twice and on one occasion replied "unable to comply" and was asked to call the supervisor upon landing. It wasn't a big deal either.

This is my Dream , every time I see these clouds formation

Haha I've had a similar situation. We were in wave above Mt Taranaki at 10,500 ft talking to CHC centre and the transponder battery went flat on us! We were very kindly asked to "Descend and not break 9500ft" 🤣

Not a question but just taking the opportunity to mention that your videos are excellent. I haven’t flown a glider in 29 years but I am still very interested.

Well Tim in the past I have thought that I could look and learn to be safe from watching your excellent videos. Now you are taking me to 19000 feet, evading detection by ATC, and narrowly avoiding big trouble. Hmmmm. Kids, don’t try this at home!

My wave flight to 22.000' in the mountains of Scotland remains one of my most memorable. Fortunately it was in to uncontrolled airsapace, so didn't have that to worry about.

Wow, I understand better my weather courses in real applications! Thank you

Nice vid, thanks for sharing! I used to fly gliders decades ago in Switzerland, but shortly after getting the glider license I was drawn into commercial aviation and ultimately ended up doing a couple of thousand tows (flying the tow plane). Your videos make me want to fly gliders again! Alas, I've moved to Australia in the meantime and am living nowhere near a glider base. A note on ATC "booting" you out of their airspace: They shouldn't throw you out once they've let you in - there are contingency procedures when transponders fail - it happens to powered airplanes as well. You simply revert to position reports and estimates for when and how high you'll be at the next point. However, because you're not on an instrument flight plan, that might be a bit tricky - also, in the interest of not getting blanket refusals for future flights, it probably pays not to make life difficult for ATC. But next time perhaps simply ask them for a block altitude and area. I can't imagine airspace in NZ is that congested - sheep don't fly I don't think! :) In any case, always remember you are the commander of your aircraft/glider and you have ultimate authority on where you fly. If they try and boot you from the airspace and you can't do so safely, you pull the emergency card and use it. ATC are trained to deal with all kinds of traffic, and if they didn't have the capacity to deal with an unusual airspace occupant, they wouldn't have let you in to boot.

I got a chuckle out of " what could possibly go wrong " Another great informative video Tim. Thanks

Soaring in New Zealand - What a beautiful way to see a beautiful country. Us non-pilots really enjoy these videos, too. Thanks for posting the video and sharing the experience!

Wow, you've got some magnificent scenery to frighten the crap out of yourself with!

Thank you, Tim - very precious video and recommendations about wave flying.

Amazing trip. Thanks.

That. Was. Incredible.

Thanks for sharing another super exciting adventure.

I find your observations and common sense problem solving very helpful and entertaining as well. I recently purchased a Ventus C and will employ much of the detail you have presented when I fly.

Amazing flight! FL165 👏👏, it’s incredible. Congrats

A beautiful and informative video. Thanks for sharing Sir!

Enjoy watching your videos. Very informative. Always been reluctant about the idea of going up in a glider knowing they lack an engine lol but I bet the experience is amazing. Keep up the great work bud!

Thank you for another great video. Very enjoyable.

Really enjoyed that. I never have gotten into wave. Not flying now. Did get my glider cert. in the US. So have done some on a fairly novice level. Thanks again. You make it look so easy.

Amazing Video! Very informative. Thank you for sharing.

I’m so glad I stumbled on this video. Well done! I’m a fixed wing pilot but would really like to get into gliders!

Great video! I think in this case you made a safe decision to comply with their instructions and descend, but people who don’t have a lot of interaction with ATC sometimes forget that they are there to assist you, not fly for you. Like you have mentioned, it is totally your right to refuse instructions from ATC if it puts you or your aircraft in danger.

This is amazing, I would panic if I saw all those mountains having to decent without knowing if I'll be able to climb..

You do a great job. Thank you!

Absolutely Spectacular

Sweet flight. No music! Love it

WOOOOOO.. 19 thousand feet! AS WE EASE ON IN TO MY LIMO!... WOOOOO! STYLIN AND PROFILIN' !

Tim good stuff thanks

Great video. I did some wave flying in Scotland back in the 70s. Having the clouds close up under you is not a fun experience. I had to descend through cloud and was forced to make an out landing as I was too far from base to get home. One of our gliders was talking to the RAF and they directed him to a clear area away from the mountains. I was lucky to spot the cloud closing in and started to descend but it takes time even dong tight turns with full brake out.

Sitting here in the hospital watching your videos Tim. Thanks for the fresh upload buddy. Hopefully I'll have this kicked in a day or two and one day we can go flying sometime in the near future.

what a great hobby. amazing views. still quite a bit of noise but nothing compared to a propellor aircraft.

NICE !

Step 1: make sure your transponder works. ;)

Amazing !!! I really would like to test wave fliying!! Thanks for the video

Great video! Fun for an ‘ex’ glider pilot indeed!

So cool

Philip Wills in his book "Where no birds fly" described the 'cobble stone effect' when transferring from a lower wave to a higher system. I was delighted to experience this same sensation out of RAF Dishforth over the Ripon at about 10k ft. some years ago which took me to 16k Is the 'cobble stone effect' now a common phenomenon?.

Great and instructive video. I only experienced two times of wave gliding, but it is a sort of addiction :) thank you for your really helpful videos. Greetings from northern Germany - no hills, no waves, and a 5m/s thermal is like Easter and Christmas together;) Lars

ATC are service providers - even to sport aviation. “Unable to comply” would have alerted the controller to your predicament even if it produced some post flight paperwork. Descending early into those rocks and wind looked hairy Tim.

I love how the ground is barely passing by until he's a couple feet off the ground and it looks like it's in warp speed.

Great video. Wave has to be the most addictive form of lift. The thing I really love is the smoothness. I’ve been above 20,000 on several occasions, three times on one day (see below). My wave flying has also been simpler than on this flight, probably because of the topology of the ground. The hills in the UK are nowhere near as extreme as those in New Zealand resulting in a wave system with less turbulence at higher levels. I also had the possibility of legally flying in cloud. Your advice regarding things to consider were very important. The temperature decreases at about 2ºC per thousand feet so at 19,000’ you’ll be 38ºC cooler than on the ground so dress accordingly. The other is sunset. Because we live on a globe, the sunset at altitude is considerably later than on the ground. It is quite possible to be soaring in glorious sunshine when it is pitch black underneath you. Another consideration is that should you enter cloud you are quite likely to pick up ice. Very few high performance gliders glide well with ice. Your aircraft will be cold-soaked and being white will not heat up when you leave cloud and fly in clear air so any ice will take ages to shift. And you do have anti-freeze in your ballast, don’t you? Lastly strength of the wind can take you by surprise. A 60 kts will, no surprises, take you 1 mile every minute. To date the biggest things I have soared are jet aircraft. I’ve tracked along the Pennines in a Fokker 100 maintaining height and speed at flight idle and used wave to climb an Embraer 190 in Norway. The wave added well over 1,000 fpm (10 kts) to our climb for 10-15,000’. The thing to bear in mind is if one side of the wave is going up at 1,000 fpm then the other side is going down at the same rate. Do you really want to be there? I had an underpants changing moment in Tasmania in a C206 that really brought this home, but that’s another story. Losing radar contact? Is there the possibility that you were surpressed due to low ground speed. Many radar systems have ground filters. Three times in one day: 1. Got to 21,000’ and realised I had forgotten by barograph. 2. Passing 23,000’ and realised I hadn’t turned it on. 3. Finally I departed with a barograph turned on climbing from a low point of 1,500’ up to 24,500’. Diamond height!

I learned a lot from your Details into this flight . Nice to know but an oldie like me when I get back into it probably aint going to get much in a K8😊😊 Thanks

A tip perhaps from an old and bold instructor. If you open your brakes, do not take your hand off them until you close them. So many pilots have wondered where all the sink was coming from before hitting the ground early!

Wow.

Nice and one of my favorite videos you’ve done.. So nice you get clearance up into class A airspace, we never get it here.

Prepared for altitude by wrapping up as best I could but still nearly froze to death at Aboyne in Scotland in October. Bloody good lift though and worth it.

Wow, what a nail- biting- adventure! You had no time for nail- biting, but mine are now well trimmed! 😁

G Dale I knew when he was an instructor at Lasham

I joyed your flight

Great Video! I find the topic of wave flying very fascinating. If you have more ideas for videos on this topic, please feel encouraged to produce them. Balleka's KZfaq videos -flying high above clouds- were the original source of my fascination with gliders. I hope to start my training next season. Also thanks for including the landing. I always enjoy watching landings and they are a great way to end a video, i think.

I could almost hear your flying brain reprogramming! Great video. 👌🏻

Great flightTim, enjoyed it and learnt a lot.

Loving your videos. Very instructive. What software are you running on your iphone on the left of your cockpit?

I've been enjoying your videos within the last weeks (haven't been watching you before, not only videos from the last few weeks) at this is a great one too. Would you mind me asking why your phone is unplugged in the video sequence at 6:55 ?

19,000' , come on now. That's a normal afternoon around here. I've made 39,000' in the wave!

The intermittently functioning transponder seemed to be the cause of 90% of potential problems near the end of your flight! Maybe abandoning the plan to wave soar in controlled airspace would have been the best (albeit disappointing) pre-emptive solution here? And I mean that with absolute respect and sincerity :) love the vids!

The thumbnail looked like this was a Rodney Dangerfield video.

That's what I would call "Maximum safe descent"

To your first question..... well... you are making the vid... so I would guess yes. LOL. Great vid!

Excellent video as usual, may I ask you what's the software you use on your phone, couldn't recognize it. thx!

Tried launching a paraglider at that height once.

Great video! I really hope I get to try this one day - we only have thermals where I fly. :) BTW, do you fly a Ventus? I recognize that canopy latch, but I can't see the flap handle...

Very nice video! May I ask why you have two yaw strings?

Wow... Looks so amazing. As a guy with no previous experience in flying, I would really love to try this sport. Just a quick question, will they allow someone to sit in the back seat while wave flying 🤔

Do mention what kind of glider/configuration you are flying in your videos ( span, ballast, wing loading). Thanks!

"Expedite descent... " next time the reply is "unable"

zoeper... !! we have to go to the European Alps or Schotland - Aboyne for we can fly golf. Netherlands are so freeking FLAT...... :-) google Aboyne wave flying :-) thnx for sharing

Is NZ a glider paradise? Greetings from Spain

It's neat to see an iphone in there just like I have and it's useful to you! I'm starting to think smart phones might not be just a fad for the kids. jk jk 😆 I saved a lot of money over the years not using one but I got one maybe a year ago. Extremely helpful especially with something like directions. I didn't get data yet on my phone though: offline Google maps works fine and I get wifi most of where I go. I'll cave in one of these days to get data for emergencies.

man you are crazy

Got a copy of Jean-Marie Clements 'Dancing with the Wind' ........ all you could ever need to know about Ridge, Wave & Hydraulic Jumps. Lovely photos. If I spoke colloquial idyomatic French and advanced Mathematics I'm sure it would have proven a great resource (instead of impenetrable). So. G Dale's Soaring Engine ..... There are now 4 Volumes. Is Vol the latest update or is Vol 2 specific to Wave?

As a GA pilot, we like to avoid the bumps where possible. You talk about rotor cloud and bumps - be really nice to get a vid from a gliders perspective of the clouds that cause the big bumps and what they look like. Just an idea, but be nice to see - better than blokes with a whiteboard!!!

✨📖✨ You are one gutsy guy. I know you got a head full of knowledge. You have finally got me hooked on your channel. If I can work it out and get to NZ; I WOULD LOVE TO GET SOME DUAL WITH YOU. I have very limited time in gliders; But you have certainly rekindled a fire!! Btw: I love the way you do your debriefs of mishaps. 📖🛐🛫🛬🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🐆

"going up with full air brakes" And some say he is still up there, casting youtube with a green screen of home.....

"Control, I'll start my descent gobuskibobar." "Gobuskibobar you're all clear gobuskibobar" wut?

I took a DG 500 to 23500 feet in a wave once... had to get down early, it was way too cold

Just seen this video and really enjoyed it all. One question. When your transponder failed why didn't you give position reports, such as location, track/heading, altitude? At least ATC would know where you are/were. When I have flown (powered) in uncontrolled airspace using ATC I would give position reports and listen to everyone else's position so as to maintain situational awareness. I think ATC didn't know where you were.

Interesting...... at 19,000ft you're in possible conflict with other aircraft (is that just the one ? Ha Ha) and subsequently passing through 14,000ft you're instructed to expedite descent from controlled airspace. It would be fascinating to have the controllers perspective on that situation. I can fully empathise with ATC that without transponder contact, they are in the dark. On the other hand I would have hoped that 4,000 ft plus, of vertical separation would normally suffice. In the England if we'd have to keep 4,000 ft of vertical separation, most gliding pilots would either have to fly in Wales or Scotland or alternatively have to take up coal mining as a leisure pursuit ! P.S. Nice to be sponsored by G. ;) I hope he buys you a few beers when he's next down in the South Island. Great video. How long did it take you before you put on the O2 & what was your total flight time ?

In the US part 91.113 (d) Converging (2) A glider has the right-of-way over an airship, powered parachute, weight-shift-control aircraft, airplane, or rotorcraft. Does that apply the same way in NZ? I once heard on a radio tower arguing with a hot air balloon just lost all wind stuck there. The tower wanted him to climb he said didn't have the fuel to climb enough. Eventually they shut down the airport for awhile warning incoming aircraft of the hot air balloon. I remember heated discussion legal stuff to the tower about right of way made me wonder about gliders. The tower declared emergency on the balloon

So where to you find "The Soaring Engine Two" in English. I have only found Japanese editions.

Soaring engine on amazon and kindle was japanese, any alternatives for english?

From a fair bit of research, "Globally" I have seen plenty of case law and examples that If you are the Pilot in command of an aircraft, and the Ground based Controller asks you to do something that would likely endanger the safety of your aircraft, you are not required to reply anything other than "Unable." Unless you have a different ATC protocol set perhaps? 🤔🤔.

The most important questions of all: What if you have to go while you're up there? Do you have a bottle and a bucket with you? 😁

It appears o me that the Schemp Hirth Cirrus was/is the basis for all sailplanes today. I'm sure there have been many advances in the technology; but the basic shape of sailplanes look much like the cirrus. Would you agree?

That's an uncomfortable situation to find yourself in. Did you investigate how to improve your transponder reception?

Hi ! What app are you using on iphone for gliding ?

While talking to ATC what were you using as a call sign? It didn't sound like a tail number or standard "alpha, bravo, charlie..." mnemonics. Something assigned by ATC for the flight? Thanks!

i saw you still had phone connection at high altitude, how did you do that? do you have satellite provider?

Where you get the jumper?

🇺🇸

Just wondering could you put ads b on gliders

Hi Tim, great video. I was wondering how long your instruments/radio battery lasts and how long to charge them? I guess on a day of wave flying, this might be one of your limiting factors along with the other things you mentioned (daylight, pilot fatigue etc). Also, has anyone been mad enough to wave fly at night (maybe on a moonlit night). - I guess it’s not legal? Love this channel btw, thanks.

Do you live in a motor home? I have been up a couple of times in South Africa. What would it cost to go up here?