Another Campbell Tale (warning... Long)

[John Simon]

So,
In the never ending quest to conquer Campbell airfield, we mounted up once again on Monday, lances and shields in hand and launched our aluminum steads into the breach. I have not made a run this year and was feeling bad about it... but Charlie Allen called me Sunday night and said the weather looked good. When I arrived at 10:40 I was not so sure. The front could still be seen receding into the ESE and the wind, she was a blowin'. We set up and discussed the route and decided East of Salisbury would be the attempt. (Sorry Larry)

The conditions seemed to improve as well as a few puffies appear nearby. Charlie is up first and I follow, dropped off into a smokin' ride and it is surprisingly smooth as we both twirl easily up to 5000' at 500 or 600 fpm. Looking SE, there are a few clouds ahead and we charge forth. Incredible visibility and smooth air that has little sink greets us in between the clouds, nice. Reaching, we climb out from 4500' to 5500' and press as the climb slows to 200 fpm and only about 500' remain. Repeat a couple times, never going below 4500' or more and then... a big scary blue hole. Yelp.

I am off first from nearly 6000' and find the blue to be utterly pleasant. No great sink and as I glide downwind at nearly 60mph groundspeed, I see very faint haze domes trying to burst out in front. I head over with Charlie nearby and we both climb right on up to 6000+. We repeat this in the pleasant blue air for about 30 or 40 minutes, clicking off big miles in the 12-16mph tailwind. We have been up for 1.5+ hours and never got below 4000'... maybe not below 4500'. We finally glide over to the turnpoint and make the right turn south. The convergence is still way off to the East, over the coast very near the shore. The wind is now off our right, and worse... it's turning a bit more west as we go south past Salisbury and Ocean City. The air is kind, but the convergence will remain out of reach.

We press on for the target, 119 miles on the dogleg and half way there. Finally getting low (now 3500' !!) I stop for some 200 fpm in the blue and we climb up. We are drifting east quickly and the forest looms ahead. Out on glide from 6400' we go a long way, finally finding sink on glide but eventually connect near 2500' or so. Charlie has a tough time finding the sweet spot, as do I but after a long time I hook into 400 and up to over 5000' Off again but Wallops airspace looms ahead. I am down to 1800' and getting shoved out to sea (intercoastal) quickly, few LZ's and getting worried. I piece together a little ditty that treats me well and back up to 5000 or so. On glide again, I get to 2700' and find one right near the airfield and climb up drifting almost over the airport and then out into the intercoastal. Climbing over the water I top out at only 4200' and head south. The west wind forces me to angle west to ensure I don't become a submarine. The LZ's are very limited due to crops and I opt for safety and turn into the west wind for an LZ versus a nice cloud forming just south over some scary looking water.

This is the first time I've seen clouds south of Wallops, and I was sorry to have mismanaged the west wind. Larry, it was doable on this day be we blew it. The next time I will fly right over the top of SBY and avoid the dog leg. Can't wait.

Regards,
John

[Dave Proctor]

Nice flight John and Charlie. But, Is this truth or fiction? Got me wondering right off the bat with that tall tale of arriving at Highland before noon

[sailin]

Nice flight and great write up!!! Enjoyed it!!

Jon

[carweill]

The real question is, did you land close to a bar?

How close were you to Campbell?

How long (distance time) was the flight?


Carlos

[callen]

John,
Nice write up and good flying with you. I just checked my track log and I got about 68 out of the 120miles and flew for 2hrs 44min. 100% agree we definitely should have launched earlier and flown right over Salisbury.

The LZ's were a major problem which we didn't think about for the 1st 2+hrs as we were above 4.5k the whole time. However once I got low I realized that all the LZ's I thought were safe turned out to be very tall crops. I ended up landing between two corn fields on a very narrow dirt tractor road. The corn was so high on both sides that i had to turn my glider sideways to walk it out.

Also for anyone that wants to make a run the following two sites are very helpful for airspace:
Airspace downloads for google earth: http://www.lloydbailey.net
Airspace for Flytec 5030/6030: http://www.maddyhome.com/ctr/

Charlie

[John Simon]

Hey Carlos,

No bar! I was looking everywhere but at one point realized just making the coast would be enough. Nice landowner came out to great me and gave me a ride, I hinted about beer but nothing doing. No worries, my driver was there within 10 minutes of me breaking down with a cooler.

Flight was 3:18 and I was 36 miles short. I had completed about 83 miles of the dog leg when down I went... really a waste of 4000' but too risky going for the cloud with the water and so few LZ's looking nice.

Take care,

John