No doubt about it, when you have multiple hour plus flights on consecutive days, your soaring club is back in business! JD took this photo from his phone, which also runs XCSoar during an 80 minute flight - his longest solo flight by far! Read on for Dave's weekend report!
With Eric at the throttle, our little tug did a stellar job of getting our birds in the air, with 8 flights on Sat. and 5 on Sunday.
On Saturday JD took to the air at 1400 for a 40 minute exploratory flight in the 26. Greg then took the warmed-up 26 back up for 50 minutes. In the meantime mother nature was making it happen! Between the 1-26 flights, I took one of 2 rides up in the LARK and for over an hour, a great time we had! Thermals to 4k and better were common and Guy came back a smiling guy. Our second ride preferred the roomy front seat of the 33 so up I went with Terry for 30 minutes or so. By 1600, things were really cook’n and JD relighted in the 26 and well…for an hour and 20 minutes not hide nor hair nor flaking paint did we see or hear. Alas, a dead battery on his hand-held prevented him from communicating, but in no way affected his flight. Check it out on the OLC!!! And let me know if you can’t find it. Pull it up in Google, It’s even better.
Sunday saw lower cloud bases, but no matter… cloud streets and upwind lift worked well. Stefan took command of the 26 and launched at 1:30. After thermaling with Vince in the 33 for a bit, he was able to take that feather-lite little Schweizer, climb up and disappear, returning over 2 hours later. Vince’s possible ride did not materialize, so the LARK beckoned and in I climbed. She is heavy… and big, but she WILL climb! Off tow, AFTER Eric pulled me through a nice piece of lift, I was coming down and a short flight and landing did cross my mind. But upwind a bit floated a descent cume so upwind I went with the nose dead on that cloud. Sure enough it worked and I climbed back up. Stefan joined me a bit later in a thermal that seemed to top out at a bit over 3k I think? So with Stefan out-climbing me (?) back upwind I went again….into cloud-street after cloud street. Again, check out my shortened L trace on the OLC. I used the CU Recorder app to log my flight and the bloody battery on my phone died before I landed. As Pete would say… Aaarrrrgh!!! Nonetheless it was 2.5 hours of more fun than a human being should be allowed to have. Ha ha…NOT!
Oh, and while Stefan and I were in the air, Vince and Greg got more 33 time with 3 flights between them. Both are perfecting their skills. Greg for his imminent check-ride and Vince as he comes back from all of that job-related out-of-the-country “I won’t b at the field this weekend” time!
Finally, consider CONDOR. If you have not flown a glider on your computer in CONDOR I strongly recommend it. JD and I are getting back into it… flying together on the PA ridges. Pete is our resident authority on it. No it is NOT like the real thing nor can it be. But it will teach you some good basic skills. If nothing else, get into the air (I hate those CONDOR tows) turn on those thermal markers and practice practice practice! You will begin to realize that at low altitudes generally speaking, you MUST bank tightly or you will not be able to climb up into the stronger broader lift. And them’s my 2 cents about that!
CU next weekend,
Dave
With Eric at the throttle, our little tug did a stellar job of getting our birds in the air, with 8 flights on Sat. and 5 on Sunday.
On Saturday JD took to the air at 1400 for a 40 minute exploratory flight in the 26. Greg then took the warmed-up 26 back up for 50 minutes. In the meantime mother nature was making it happen! Between the 1-26 flights, I took one of 2 rides up in the LARK and for over an hour, a great time we had! Thermals to 4k and better were common and Guy came back a smiling guy. Our second ride preferred the roomy front seat of the 33 so up I went with Terry for 30 minutes or so. By 1600, things were really cook’n and JD relighted in the 26 and well…for an hour and 20 minutes not hide nor hair nor flaking paint did we see or hear. Alas, a dead battery on his hand-held prevented him from communicating, but in no way affected his flight. Check it out on the OLC!!! And let me know if you can’t find it. Pull it up in Google, It’s even better.
Sunday saw lower cloud bases, but no matter… cloud streets and upwind lift worked well. Stefan took command of the 26 and launched at 1:30. After thermaling with Vince in the 33 for a bit, he was able to take that feather-lite little Schweizer, climb up and disappear, returning over 2 hours later. Vince’s possible ride did not materialize, so the LARK beckoned and in I climbed. She is heavy… and big, but she WILL climb! Off tow, AFTER Eric pulled me through a nice piece of lift, I was coming down and a short flight and landing did cross my mind. But upwind a bit floated a descent cume so upwind I went with the nose dead on that cloud. Sure enough it worked and I climbed back up. Stefan joined me a bit later in a thermal that seemed to top out at a bit over 3k I think? So with Stefan out-climbing me (?) back upwind I went again….into cloud-street after cloud street. Again, check out my shortened L trace on the OLC. I used the CU Recorder app to log my flight and the bloody battery on my phone died before I landed. As Pete would say… Aaarrrrgh!!! Nonetheless it was 2.5 hours of more fun than a human being should be allowed to have. Ha ha…NOT!
Oh, and while Stefan and I were in the air, Vince and Greg got more 33 time with 3 flights between them. Both are perfecting their skills. Greg for his imminent check-ride and Vince as he comes back from all of that job-related out-of-the-country “I won’t b at the field this weekend” time!
Finally, consider CONDOR. If you have not flown a glider on your computer in CONDOR I strongly recommend it. JD and I are getting back into it… flying together on the PA ridges. Pete is our resident authority on it. No it is NOT like the real thing nor can it be. But it will teach you some good basic skills. If nothing else, get into the air (I hate those CONDOR tows) turn on those thermal markers and practice practice practice! You will begin to realize that at low altitudes generally speaking, you MUST bank tightly or you will not be able to climb up into the stronger broader lift. And them’s my 2 cents about that!
CU next weekend,
Dave
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