Would you have gone higher to get the pix?

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I live 10 miles west of the 'big town.'

I am the direct center of all the local pilot training GPS coordinates. Daily, I get new pilots practicing with their tutors 500-2000 ft directly above my house. They think that since it looks like forest, surrounded by corn fields for miles, that it must be a safe spot to practice. I once called the head of the local school and expressed desire that they move a few miles from my epicenter, they agreed, but nothing changed.

This morning I was offered a cool personal acrobatics show with a biplane doing vertical circles right over the house! Neat! I normally don't get the biplanes but every 2-3 weeks. This guy did real swell, probably a dozen flips!

But I degress....

So 3pm I decide to fly. Get to 200ft and moving back and forth over about a 1/4 mile area and notice a plane directly overhead! NO sound! What? It is a Glider! My guess 1000ft altitude, doing circles right around my P2V3! Cool! So up I go to meet him - I stop at 400ft - well below him. He keeps circling me. I guess his wingspan was a good 50ft. No sound.

I thought they got thermals UNDER cumulus coulds! We had 'em, dispersed all around the clear sky - but this guy kept doing HIS circles to gain altitude BETWEEN them. Hmmmm... Was he enjoying wacthing ME?? Or did he find a good thermal BETWEEN the clouds? NO idea.

So my question to everyone: Would YOU have gone UP to be closer to his altitude to get a good video??

Not doing so, I studied my video closely but did NOT get him on film! It is not fair!
 
While the desire to have the good shot might be strong in all of us, this FACT is simple. Manned planes have the right of way in ALL circumstances vs. unmanned aircraft.

Even if they're breaking Federal Aviation regulations, which this guy wasn't doing with the information you've provided, the manned aircraft ALWAYS has the right of way.

In a sailplane at 1,000' isn't very high for a sailplane without some serious thermals. Perhaps he was higher than you think.
 
Plain and simple.. rising above 400 ft with an aircraft in the vicinity would be irresponsible, dangerous, and stupid. And you may have gotten into serious hot water with the FAA (assuming you are in the U.S.) if the pilot could identify where the drone had risen from below. Sounds like he had a pretty good view of you flying it.
 
as an x hanglider pilot I can tell you that you don't always have to be below a cloud for lift, as the cloud is drifting with the prevailing wind the thermal is a tail at an angle down wind so I presume that the nearest cloud to the glider was a bit upwind from your house and he was trying to gain height in the "thermal tail"

and don't even think about getting closer as some guy did in the UK a few years ago with a RC plane, the guy lost perspective and hit a wing wire on the hanglider cut it and the pilot died, so think seriously about it
 
You did the right thing. Maintain the 400 and below.
 

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