WEATHER CONDITIONS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA FOR LONG DISTANCE AND HIGH SPEED SOARING FLIGHTS

Authors

  • Helmuth Fischer Presented at XXV OSTIV Congress, St. Auban, France

Keywords:

Meteorology, Climatology

Abstract

Extraordinary soaring flights, such as Klaus Holighaus' world record over a 1400 km triangular course and Helmuth Fischer's speed world record over a 1000 km triangular course of 769.7 km/h, have put the spotlight on South Africa as one of the prime "hunting grounds" for world records. Due to the lack of understanding of Southern Africa's weather mechanism, the potential of this area has not been fully explored. Record attempts were mainly undertaken duringrelatively short periods and launch points were not systematically chosen. This is not surprising as to date no in-depth analysis exists of the South African weather conditions in respect of soaring flights. With this paper the author attempts to shed some light on the subject.

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Published

2013-10-10

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 1 (2000)

Section

Articles

License

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