A sail plane pilot flying regularly from 0l7 comments on the solar plant glare and notes the tower g...

Narrative:

I have flown from the 0l7 [for several years]. 0l7 is located about 12 miles northeast of the ivanpah solar power plant. My flying is conducted between march and october of each year during VMC conditions. My flight experience covers the time period prior to; during the construction of; and subsequent to the operational start of the power plant. Since the start of the power plant; my flight paths have been directly and obliquely toward; directly over; and around the power plant location at altitudes varying from initial launch (2;882 ft MSL; 0 ft AGL at jean) to about 12;000 ft MSL. The glare from one of the power plant towers is visible from ground at the jean airport. As the aircraft's altitude is increased; the glare from the other two towers as well as the surrounding mirror fields becomes visible. The intensity of the glare from the towers appears to be fairly constant once line-of-sight is obtained whereas the glare from the mirror fields varies depending on altitude; the aircraft's direction relative to the power plant; and sun angle. At worst; the glare is annoying and a distraction. To date; I have not experienced anything remotely close to flash blindness or cockpit illumination.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A sail plane pilot flying regularly from 0L7 comments on the Solar Plant glare and notes the tower glare is fairly constant whereas the mirror array glare varies with altitude; flight direction and sun angle. He has experienced no adverse effects from the array light.

Narrative: I have flown from the 0L7 [for several years]. 0L7 is located about 12 miles northeast of the Ivanpah Solar Power Plant. My flying is conducted between March and October of each year during VMC conditions. My flight experience covers the time period prior to; during the construction of; and subsequent to the operational start of the power plant. Since the start of the power plant; my flight paths have been directly and obliquely toward; directly over; and around the power plant location at altitudes varying from initial launch (2;882 FT MSL; 0 FT AGL at Jean) to about 12;000 FT MSL. The glare from one of the power plant towers is visible from ground at the Jean airport. As the aircraft's altitude is increased; the glare from the other two towers as well as the surrounding mirror fields becomes visible. The intensity of the glare from the towers appears to be fairly constant once line-of-sight is obtained whereas the glare from the mirror fields varies depending on altitude; the aircraft's direction relative to the power plant; and sun angle. At worst; the glare is annoying and a distraction. To date; I have not experienced anything remotely close to flash blindness or cockpit illumination.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1184458
Time
Date	201406
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	0L7.Airport
State Reference	NV
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Sail Plane
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise Climb Descent
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25 Flight Crew Total 11645 Flight Crew Type 145
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

A sail plane pilot flying regularly from 0l7 comments on the solar plant glare and notes the tower glare is fairly constant whereas the mirror array glare varies with altitude; flight direction and sun angle. He has experienced no adverse effects from the array light.