Thermalling 101 - Roy Bourgeois

One of the most difficult things to do in instruction is to teach thermalling from the back seat. You can coach the student ("turn left here." "shallow out now," etc.), but teaching the "why" of it is more complex and requires some reading and studying on the part of the student. One of the best presentations on this is from an old (1977) book by Welch and Irving called New Soaring Pilot. I copied the chapter on thermalling for one of my students this week and thought I would also make a PDF of it so it was available to everyone if they wanted it. The book is long out of print, but I think that you may find the chapter helpful - especially if you have difficulty finding and centering thermals, or find yourself flopping out of them. I added some notes myself at the end to clarify and simplify a few points in the book. Please find the PDF here.