Monday 5/30 @ Highland

drice21037 · Post by **drice21037** » Tue May 31, 2005 9:38 pm

Something happened to me at Ridgley on Monday that has never happened
before. I launched at the right time. But I'm getting a little ahead
of myself.

My plan was to arrive early and get a sled in the docile morning
conditions in order to shake off the rust and convince myself that I
still know how to fly. Early turned into about 9:30 at which time I had
to find my equipment which had been left there a few weeks ago for a
repack and an annual inspection. By the time I got my act together and
was ready to launch it was about 11:00 and the students doing pattern
tows were just wrapping up.

The tow was not nearly as uneventful as I expected. There was more
texture to the air than I thought there would be. It wasn't bad, it's
just that I wasn't expecting any. At 2,500' Windsor waved me off into
one of the thermals I didn't think would be there. I took that to about
3,000' when it dissipated (it's possible that I flew out of it but let's
go with dissipated anyway). I figured that was probably it for me as my
Falcon search range is limited and my ability to guess where the next
thermal might be has not been impressive in the past. Never the less, I
flew toward the light and found, to my great surprise, another thermal.
Which I took back to 3,000' from the 2,500' I had sunk to on the way.
Then when that was over, I picked another sunny spot and it happened
again! Cool, this was starting to be really fun.

By this time there were a few other gliders in the air working some
other areas that were, at least for a time, below me. It was fun
watching other people under me in search mode. I also noticed how much
faster every other glider is. They can search a lot more places than I
can and many of them are further away than I'm willing to go. Something
to think about...

At one point after taking a thermal to the point of dissipation (see
above) I was looking for a place to try next and saw a bird fly under
me. He flew to a point about 300 yards or so in front of me and started
to circle. I couldn't believe my luck. I headed straight for him and
watched him beam up and disappear without ever flapping. By the time I
got there, if in fact I was able to find the right spot, nothing was
happening. Maybe it was just a bubble, or maybe I just missed the spot.
Either way, I think he stuck his tongue out at me when he went by.

After a while some high clouds moved in and there was a general flush
cycle which claimed me and a few of the others I had been flying with.
The end result was about an hour spent between 2,000' and 3,500' in very
gentle lift. Not bad for my first flight in almost a year.

I took two more but they were little more than extendos. I found some
lift during each one but I never got much above release altitude. My
first two approaches were good but my last was a little embarrassing.
Safe, but not pretty. I think that's where my lack of currency shows
the most and is my most convincing reason to stay on the Falcon until I
can fly more regularly.

It was great to get out and see everyone. There were lots of people
there on Monday, it almost looked like a fly-in. Hopefully, I'll have
lots more stories like this one as the season goes on.

Dave

P.S. Perhaps the most unexpected part of the whole day was the complete
absence of traffic on the way home to Annapolis. I must have been in
the twilight zone.

rancerupp · Post by **rancerupp** » Tue May 31, 2005 9:59 pm

Dave,

Sounds like a very nice day at the flight park. Not every good day has to be booooooming. I hope to have one of those pleasant days tomorrow (Wed). I hope you have MANY more of those this year.

Rance

Post by **breezyk1d** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:24 pm

Hey Dave;

Was that you below me? <S.E.G.> < sh*t eating grin>

Congratulations on your superb thermalling event!

I finally managed to do a couple real thermals myself (finally, FINALLY! FINALLY! ) My very first real ones which I was free to explore to the boundaries of my miniscule cone of overcautious safety margin... I guess I stayed up for about 10 - 20 minutes longer than the basic sled, at which I excel . Out of 4 tows to altitude, I found a thermal or small string of thermals, in 3 of them, with the last being the most impressive continuous one.

P.K. told me I had been pimping off of him on one of my flights (thank you for the thermal marking P.K.!) There were some crow looking birds in the last thermal, though I was by myself as far as pilots were concerned. Steve K. very kindly inquired about where I found such a good thermal. Last one climbed from about 2200 to 2900 where I was able to stay for a good while (hey, it's all relative folks) (for maybe 20-25 minutes?)

During patterns my approaches and landings were awful, but when I went to fly to altitude and try to find thermals, then my approaches and landings improved significantly. So, by extrapolation, if I go for aerobatics, will my thermalling suddenly improve? (JUST KIDDING!)

So even staying current with footlaunching in the mountains over the winter does not necessarily translate into muscle memory of coming in to land with big, wide open approaches, or into lovely gentle glides to the MANICURED windsock field at Highland. (Cart launch needed a little tweaking too - you know that Fred Flintstone thing....)

All-in-all, a good day of flying. - Linda B.

drice21037 · Post by **drice21037** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 8:19 am

Yes, I think it was me below you.? Then I launched... (Sorry I just couldn't resist

)
?
I'm glad you had a great day too.
?
Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: breezyk1d [mailto:lbaskerville@wba-arch.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 11:24 PM
To: hg_forum@chgpa.org
Subject: Monday 5/30 @ Highland

Hey Dave;

Was that you below me? <S.E.G.> < sh*t eating grin>

drice21037 · Post by **drice21037** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:01 am

Well, booooooming would be nice too...? I hope you have a great story tomorrow night.
?
Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: rancerupp [mailto:rupps@truevine.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 9:59 PM
To: hg_forum@chgpa.org
Subject: Monday 5/30 @ Highland

Dave,

Sounds like a very nice day at the flight park. Not every good day has to be booooooming. I hope to have one of those pleasant days tomorrow (Wed). I hope you have MANY more of those this year.

Rance

Post by **mcelrah** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:53 pm

Weaned myself off the strap-on tailfin with the U2. Flights of 30, 20
and 10 minutes. All landings satisfactory. - Hugh

On 1 Jun 2005, at 08:19, David R. Rice wrote:

> Yes, I think it was me below you.? Then I launched... (Sorry I just
> couldn't resist <icon_smile.gif>)
> ?
> I'm glad you had a great day too.
> ?
> Dave
> :
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: breezyk1d [mailto:lbaskerville@wba-arch.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 11:24 PM
> To: hg_forum@chgpa.org
> Subject: Monday 5/30 @ Highland
>
>
>
> Hey Dave;
>
> Was that you below me? <S.E.G.> < sh*t eating grin>
>
>
>
>
>
>