GPS LOG!
A weekday operation was on for April 4th and the weather looked pretty good for my second flight of the year. Some kind of mania urges me to choose tasks on the ground and try to fly them. A 219 KM triangle (Moore AAF, Keene, Southbridge, and return to Moore) went into my computer. When I talked about flying the task I saw blank faces and heard vague mutterings about having fun, bureaucracy and might as well go to work... However, Bill Brine said he would come along in his new ASW-28 since all the turn points were within the 50 mile initial airworthiness restrictions.
Thermals were small, rough and often vanished. I got a little low off tow but climbed out and went over to Moore for a start. It was dark and overdeveloped but thermals were working and I could see sun on the ground along course. The wind was 15 knots or so from WNW. After starting at Moore and heading into wind things became difficult right away. There were radio calls about airport names and Keene and Dillant something. Apparently Bill was trying to enter the task in his computer. I was trying to stay up and getting farther from the turn point. One knot climbs don't cut it when you are bucking that kind of wind. My confidence bottomed out when Bill radioed he had landed at Fitchburg. I ran for Fitchburg myself, twice I think. Finally a real thermal found me and I got to the upwind side of the high ground between Fitchburg and Jaffrey. The rocks on the summit of Monadnock were reflecting sun so on I went. By the time a good climb appeared over MT Monadnock I had to admit that I was freezing my ass off. But there was sun on the upwind slopes of the valley running south of Keene and so I pressed on to the turn point. It turns out speed for the first leg Moore to Keene was about 20 mph.
Things really improved south of RT 2 as sun soaked into the cockpit and 5 knots + showed up on the averager. The second two legs went by at around 50 mph. Back on the ground at Sterling I cranked the heat up in the truck and piled on hats and jackets for de-rigging.
Mark
GPS LOG!
Saturday April 6th turned out to be a very good day. It was cold and windy at the field but good CU were popping overhead. North Adams and return seemed like a good task.
After release the wind was very apparent and I stuck with the first thermal to a comfortable height. Then a little exploration revealed really good lift. Doug and Bob were on their way to Sugarbush. They radioed confirmation of climbs over 5 knots to 7000 feet and beyond. Juan launched after me in Z8 and showed interest in going along to the west.
Despite the headwind it was easy going with strong, well marked thermals and high cloud bases. Off to the west snow showers were hanging down under the clouds in many areas. Between Gardner and Orange we had a very interesting few miles. It looked clear past a curtain of virga so we pushed through and found strong lift along with very fine snow and poor visibility. Farther west the snow looked heavier and the Berkshires were obscured in many places. We decided to turn Turners Falls and go north to Springfield VT. Conditions were still very good. The averager ticked up to six, seven and eight knots in the good lift. Then I noticed that my computer had been reading 41 miles to Springfield for a long time. The thing stayed resolutely in hang mode while I tried the PMB (push many buttons) method. Then a long tech support news group followed on 123.3 while I reset it and found that somehow pocketnav.exe had gone away to byte limbo. I made a note to buy a compact flash card and proceeded on to remedial training in map reading (and folding).
The all too common turn point blue hole was evident as Juan and I progressed beyond Bellows Falls along the CT River. But it turned out to be easy to get there and it was tempting to keep going. From experience on Thursday I was dressed in warm layers and especially well equipped in the sock department. Despite the thick socks my feet were complaining a little and Juan mentioned that his were in full rebellion. I didn't like the idea of heading east into the hinterlands northwest of Hawthorne without a computer so we tracked back down the river to intercept a line of clouds pointing home. My radio started acting up around Keene and so I decided to head straight home to sort out my electrical problems on the ground. Without my computer the final glide had to be calculated by my John Willy prayer wheel and map just like the old days. A few miles south of Keene I made one last circle and began placing the scale on the map and looking at the altimeter to get the needed data. It all became irrelevant quickly when I realized that I was not losing any height. The flight trace puts numbers to it. The final glide was over 30 nautical miles and used less than 2500 feet. From last circle to finish was more than 70:1 at over 100 knots. Spring is a kick!
Mark
GPS LOG!
On board temperature around the foot area by the end of the flight was approximately that of liquid nitrogen.
DJ