Manitoba is generally flat. The area of Manitoba where the Winnipeg Gliding Club is located is completely flat. That means that the rising air used by glider pilots comes from temperature differences rather than wind interacting with things like mountains. That means that student pilots are provided with a very consistent horizon. Flat means agriculture and there are always lots of fields to land in.

Manitoba has very cold winters with snow. That means that we have a delayed spring. That allows the sun angle to be quite high when the snow cover comes off the ground. At that point there is a lot of ground heating when the air is still relatively cool. The rising air from the warm ground can produce remarkably good soaring conditions for such a northerly location. As a result of this effect; spring is the peak soaring season in Manitoba. Fall is the second best season with occasional intrusions of arctic air overrunning ground still warm from our surprisingly hot summers.

Sometimes over flat terrain certain combinations of rising air and wind can cause bands of rising air to form. Such “streets” are relatively common in Manitoba. This allows climbing while flying straight ahead and is a nice break from circling to gain height.