After yet several weeks on the road I've been home (in Phoenix) for a whole week and am now using the time in a big bird to catch up on both my electronic mail and soaring reports. I'm somewhere over New Mexico in a 767 [yeah, I know] at 37,000' doing several hundred miles an hour; but I think we are still under final glide for Chicago.
I must have caught a New England cold whilst at Sterling, as I had to spend most of the week on the ground looking wistfully at the beautiful skies and basking in temperatures in the 90s. But I did get a couple of very nice flights that I'd like to report on.
There was a stationary low over much of the southwest that finally got
pushed out by a Pacific high from the northwest on Thursday that finally
got some convection going. Although the math led us to believe that the
top of the -3 would be at 8,000' MSL and the top of lift at 12,000 there
were two distinct inversion layers present that first had to be burst
through. I took off at shortly after 14:00 on Tuesday and released at
2,000' AGL (usual release is 1000' for private owners and since there
was no-one watching that day I "cheated" a bit) in what turned out to be
a beautifully consistent -1 knot thermal
At 400' right across from the touchdown point just as I reached for the
landing gear the dismal wail of the electric vario changed to a joyous
beep! I circled to the left and the next 20 minutes were a challenge -
I gained 200' in that time. But then the thermal finally triggered (or
the bubble popped off the ground) and the averager went up to 3 knots.
At 2000' I noticed a 2-33 circling several hundred feet above me - in
the opposite direction. I watched this for a couple of minutes and when
I had almost caught up with it I changed direction so that I could pass
without too much excitement. Two turns later the 2-33 had changed
direction - again. Fortunately it wasn't circling in the best lift so I
managed to pass it while turning in the opposite direction. I had a
couple of choice expletives for that exploit (I approached the pilot
after the flight and found out that it was her first ever thermalling
flight and we agreed that in future it might be more expedient to circle
the _same_ way; to her credit she hadn't been told about thermalling
etiquette).
At 8500' MSL I headed off cross country and went over the badlands (i.e.
no landing possible) towards Wickenburg, 50Km away. There were neither
clouds nor thermals and I was beginning to worry about the costs of an
aero-retrieve when a 2 knotter took me from 4000' MSL (2400' AGL) back
up to the top inversion at 8500. From Wickenburg I headed off to the
northeast and the high mountainous country in the hopes that the craggy
terrain would trigger more than the flatlands. I was lucky and still
can't figure out why I managed to fly about 35 miles and only lost
300'! I flew about 30 degrees away from the wind direction and neither
the wind nor my flight path paralleled any ridge lines. But not
understanding it didn't mean that I wasn't going to use it! The lift
starting petering out and I flew the final 35 miles in very buoyant and
otherwise still air.
The weekend flights were not quite as far, but any time one can fly
cross country and stay up several hours at the end of October is worth
remembering.
-Arnd
Sunday November 7th.
While I live near the top of a hill, I exit on the South West side of
the house and park on the East side, this along with the fact that I am
very slow to wake, means that I was either too protected, or asleep, to
miss the gentle 40 Knot breeze, and balmy -104º wind chill temperatures,
that ruled the day. Must have still been in the land of nod on the way
to Sterling, as I kept on wondering why the old Explorer kept on
changing lanes all by itself while motoring on down 495. I used the
British vernacular, motoring, because I was too sound asleep to
consider what I was doing as driving.
Pulled into the parking lot around 10:00, and figured all was not quite
normal, as a cloud of blowing sand stripped all the paint off the North
West side of the truck. Desi and John B. were just pulling out of the
lot, bound for the clubhouse, as I was now almost wide awake, I needed
coffee. The short walk into the coffee shop did four things for me, woke
me up for sure, brought out the fact that I was not dressed for the day,
re-enforced the need for coffee, and made me decide to get a good heavy
breakfast, just to keep this slim boyish figure of mine from blowing
away. Soon joined by Jim David, AM tow pilot, who figured that if he
stayed hidden in the Coffee shop, no one might be tempted to fly. As a
former Coffee Shoppe owner, the olde English Shoppe was my wife's idea,
I knew Jim was being very polite by not kicking us out as our warm and
toasty butt's were taking up space that could be used by paying
customers. Went on down to the clubhouse, the green shed for those newer
members, where we found a half a dozen other diehards who were too dumb
to "Just Say No", and go home, huddled in J.B's new Van. Jim being
slightly smaller in size than yours truly, by about 75 lbs. was able to
make it seven. Me, I just hung around on the leeward side and talked to
the crew inside through a window that Desi kept open about a quarter of
an inch. With the tinted windows on the van I had no idea who I was
conversing with, not that it mattered much as any conversation was blown
away with the roar of the wind.
Did find out that Nancy Lincoln had flown already, been up for her
Instructor revalidation flights, with John B doing the tows. It had been
decided, that for safety, it was best to keep the equipment tied down,
not that the aviating was that bad, but a ground crew of six would be
needed to hold the aircraft down before launch, and another six to grab
it upon landing. Needing a dozen people, plus a tow and glider pilot,
and having only ten present, we decided to retire for coffee. It might
be noted at this time that MITSA had an aircraft in the staging area at
the end of 34, two people on each wing and one flying it on the ground.
On the way to the coffee shop I noticed that Juan had "S" assembled,
figured he was doing some maintenance on the ship and went for coffee.
Coffee soon stretched into an early lunch, and Charlie Ryan relieved Jim
as afternoon tow pilot. After some admonishment from Charlie, our
intrepid treasurer decided to untie a B4 and go aviating. Frank Spital
and myself, being wiser or at least a little grayer of beard, had more
coffee. About the time we figured they were ready for launch, we decided
to drive on down and watch the excitement. Arrived in time to see Juan
launch, and the crew push the B4 back to the staging area, seems it had
a flat tire, not that that would have made any difference, watched the
MITSA Blanik gain 10 feet before the tow plane had started to roll. Prop
wash added to 40 knot gusts will do that for you. Took three of us to
hold down the L-19 until we could get some ropes on it. John B started
off on a quest to find an extension for the airhose so he could fill the
tire, it was finally decided to tow it back and tie it down, before it
flew off on it's own. Jim and myself went to help Charlie put the L-19
away, when we were about finished with the 19 we noticed the golf cart
pulling the B4, with two people dangling from the wings, and Ritz at
the controls, on a sort of modified low auto tow flying back towards the
tiedown area.
With everything tied down it was time to clear out, but seeing we were
so damn cold more coffee was in order. Desi remembered that Juan was
still up and we should wait to assist him. Having said that he promptly
made himself scarce. After a few more cups, Frank and I decided to drive
over to the glass farm to see if Juan was back. Got there just in time
to see Errol Drew (MITSA) land his brand new ASW-27, had not even seen
him leave but assisted him in derigging, had to, the mans feet were so
cold he could hardly walk. Before we were finished Juan was back and I
went to assist him. Errol had assembled down near the MITSA tie down
area, in a good wind shadow area, Juan was up with the rest of the
trailer park trash, in the full brunt of the wind. After we pushed the
ship over to his trailer, he decided that we should wait until Errol and
Frank were completed as one short fat guy was just not going to be
enough to safely hold his expensive wings. In a few moments both ships
were stowed, nothing like the threat of frostbite to keep the dilly
dallying to a minimum.
Everything safely tied down or stowed, it was time for, you guessed it
more coffee. But wait, the closed sign was up, Jim having had one of his
best days ever, at least 2 breakfasts and four bowls of soup, per person
and more cups of coffee than he has ever sold before, had decided to go
home. But everyone's car was still there, turns out that Desi had talked
him out of a thermos full of coffee while they waited for Juan to
return, with the promise that they would lock up when they left. They
were thoughtful however, Frank and I both got about a half a cup of
lukewarm coffee before we departed. No worry about sleeping on the drive
home, in fact with three dozen cups in my system, I was a bundle of
energy till sunup.
It was noted that after lunch, when some of the heavier gusts died down,
that MITSA, ran one ship for the day, thus bringing into question the
statement in their pamphlet, that members must be of sound mind and
judgement. I am sure it was a good learning experience for their
students however, crab angles of up to 90º, flying the down wind
backwards, and turning final at the mid-point of the runway, can teach
you a lot about not flying set patterns, but flying the conditions. They
also had a small army of people to jump on the ship when it landed.
Amazing how many people would come piling out of that little trailer
when a ship was ready to land.
Kept asking my self, are we having fun yet, and surprisingly the answer
kept coming back yes. A lot of, if not tall, slightly embellished
stories of colder and windier days at the North Conway Wave Camps, and
very early mornings in Pennsylvania at the Ridge, of watching a certain
nameless (Genesis) pilot take the top couple of feet off a pine tree on
a very gusty January day in Salem, just a little green smudge on the
Libelle was the only damage. Good stories, good company and escaping
without any frostbitten extremities, day could not have been all that
bad after all. Just have to remember to wake up and dress up before I
leave home the next time.
John Farrington
Early November in Sterling