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cumulus clouds in the sky surrounding the current airport similar to clouds that the pilot had seen far inland from where he or she took instruction and soloed. 

The pilot takes off in relatively calm winds, but it is unusually bumpy air. Without any experience in the high desert or with thermal conditions, the pilot has misjudged the conditions and is flying in strong thermal convection. The new pilot climbs out trying to get above the turbulence, which usually works near the beach because of the mechanical turbulence near the ground. However, the turbulence increases. 

As the pilot is climbing to a pattern altitude of 1,000 feet AGL at full throttle, the aircraft is pitched nose up while the pilot lets the force of the updraft raise the nose. Never has the pilot felt the nose rise with this type of force before. The pilot is shocked and disoriented at this high pitch attitude, but eventually lets up on the throttle. But now at an unusually high pitch angle, the WSC nose flies into the downdraft of the thermal. At the same time, the updraft is still pushing up on the tips of the wing while the downdraft is pushing down on the nose creating a forward rotation with a weightless sensation. Before the pilot knows it, the wing is rotating pitch down for a vertical dive. [Phase 1 in  Figure 6-23]  The student remembers from training that “in a nose down rotation into a steep dive the control bar is pushed full forward and full throttle applied” and initiates this corrective action. The pilot reaches the vertical dive, but because of the corrective action the WSC aircraft recovers from the dive and proceeds back to land safely. 

What went wrong? What were the errors? How could this near catastrophe have been avoided? 

• In a new area and unfamiliar with the conditions, the new pilot should have asked the local instructor or other pilots about the conditions for the day. Local WSC pilots are a great resource for flying the local conditions, but pilots of any category aircraft are knowledgeable of the conditions and could have provided advice for the new pilot. This might have prevented the new pilot from attempting this fl ight. 

• Flying in a new environment and not understanding the power of midday thermals in the high desert should have forced the new pilot to scrap this midday fl ight. The pilot should have started flying in the morning when there is little thermal convection and gained experience and understanding about the weather in this new area. 

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