Flying in a Thermal Field Trip in the Sky by Elizabeth Howard I had read about thermals, but now I understand them. Thanks to Dr. Ian Worley, pilot and professor at the University of Vermont, I went up into the sky and found out what it's like to fly in a thermal. "I take my students on aerial field trips because we can see things from the sky that we can't see so well from the ground," said Dr. Worley. "But more excitingly, we can have a feel of the sky and learn its shape--what’s going on in the air-- because though the air is sometimes invisible we can feel it with the airplane. Today, we’re off looking for thermals, those rising columns of air that take gliders and hawks and butterflies to higher heights so they can glide to the next thermal and find their way south during migration." We hopped aboard his plane and headed for the sky. But where would we find a thermal? And, I wondered nervously, what WOULD it feel like to fly a small plane through one? Dr. Worley spotted a fluffy cumulous cloud and banked the plane to the left. A cumulous cloud is the tell-tale sign of a thermal. The cloud forms when the column of air rises, and then cools at higher altitudes. The moisture in the air condenses and forms the cloud. "We're going to fly to it and see if we can get an upward rise of air, which we'll feel as a bump. And if it's a REALLY good bump we'll feel it in the seat of our pants," he said. So off we flew toward the cloud. Here are photos, video and a transcript of the trip so you can find out what happened: Field Trip in the Sky: Flying in a Thermal Journaling Questions When we hit the thermal, the plane rose at a rate of 500 feet/minute for 30 seconds. How many feet upward did the thermal carry the plane? How did the plane's speed compare to the speed of a typical elevator?   This Season Teachers Kids Orientation Registration Search Copyright 1997-2009 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Questions or comments? Contact us.