How do gliders use convection?

Answer 1

convection in general is molecules moving in a fluid. When we are dealing with large masses of fluids like air, we call them wind, breeze, draft and such. The most advantageous draft to a glider pilot is updraft, when a pocket of air on or near the ground warms up faster than the air around it and starts rising, taking any glider that happens to be in it with it. Pilots will fly back and forth through it as many times as they can, hopefully gaining altitude with each pass until the heat disipates and the column flattens out. Downdrafts, on the other hand, are cold air moving down which tends to defeat the goal of gliding, but brings up the art of crashing. Crosswinds are equally perilous, though for slightly different reasons, such as structural integrity and flight stability. Some head winds and tail winds are very useful, but need very skillful handling to make full use of them. Pilotless gliders, like paper airplanes, are more stable in calm, still air because the thrower generally can't change the flight path or react to currents after it leaves our hand. But a large stable model can show some pretty amazing flight changes in small headwind gusts and small updrafts.