CLIMBING INTO GLIDERS FLY WHERE EVERY LANDING IS ENGINE-OUT ยป By John Mahany PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE FIZER M y high-performance glider has released from the towplane at 3,500 feet. Climbing steadily now, I am in good lift. Below me are the verdant hills of Warren, Vermont, and the Warren-Sugarbush Airport. I am in mountain wave conditions-where winds strike terrain at right angles, creating updrafts-so strong that the altimeter resembles a rapidly winding wristwatch. Today's conditions are ideal. After an hour spent soaring in some of the smoothest air I have ever encountered, with an altitude gain of more than 5,000 feet, it is time to return. But the lift in these wave conditions is so strong that I need to fully extend the speed brakes to get back down- devices that extend to create drag, without increasing lift. I have never experienced lift like this before. Welcome to soaring! 28 / FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORGhttp://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG