1 Mile East of RU17

The Scarlet Knight, glider number RU27, just crossed the eastern end point of RU17/s track from last year. We are now at longitude 35 degrees, 50.47 minutes West. We have just flown 1 mile farther east than RU17.  We are in new territory, less than 19 km away from the Azores EEZ.

Way back in April, we also started RU27 (white line) closer to shore than RU17 (yellow line).  RU17, because of its indirect route, still has longer total distance flown.  But RU27, with its more consistent speed and steering, and with the improved environmental guidance, has done much better in distance made good along a west to east line.

Looking along the full track in between, the region around 45W, just east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, seems to be a trouble spot for gliders.  Each track has large excursions from the west to east line due to eddies.