tonycondon
Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Today was awesome for a different reason. I didnt go anywhere except up. I was planning on towing and then noticed the AWOS in Ames reporting Few at 9000 at 1 PM. hmmmm. Matt had been up flying and verified this, so I scrambled the phone lines and secured a towpilot. He is my personal hero. Matt helped me get the barograph ready and I double checked that the state altitude record is 11,200. I was seriously thinking it could fall, and Matt knew it was a possibility too. Its his record.
I launched at 2 PM. The tow went really fast and I was soon climbing. I stepped up in about three thermals and got to over 9000 feet. For the next few hours I floated from cloud to cloud, trying to work upwind a little, and made it up higher, around 9500 feet. I had a solid 2 hrs above 7000 feet. The lift was great and the clouds were really sucking (thats a good thing). Two other guys from our glider club were up. One in his Schweizer 1-35 and another in the clubs 1-34. The 1-35 fell out and landed after an horu and a half. the 1-34 had the best flight of his career and landed after about 3 hrs, having been to over 9000 feet, he was pretty tired. Im used to this sort of punishment so I continued on for a couple hours.
The lift all day was smooth, even with the semi-strong 15-20 knot northwest wind. It wasnt always really strong, but it was easy to work so I had no complaints. Better to have a 300 fpm thermal that you can stay in instead of busting your butt to find a 500 fpm one that just isnt workable.
It was only about a year ago that I did this flight, but how quickly I forgot the pain of a long duration flight in my glider. The good thing is that after about 3 hrs the pain just fades away and you dont feel anything. Between the cold and the cramped cockpit I was mostly numb. I found this to have a marked effect on my flying. An incredible improvement, to be exact. Matt and I discussed it later and decided that when you cant feel your appendages you relax and are able to concentrate on thermalling a lot more. This pays off because the end of the day thermals are small and require attention.
I hooked my last one at 6:45. It wasnt very strong and it was small. It required about a 45 degree bank and absolute minimum speed, about 50 mph. I was averaging a mere 100 fpm climb, but I was in updraft during the entire circle so that was good enough for me. The corrections that I was applying to my circle were working out and I was really carving my turns. The air was dead smooth. perfect time to be flying.
I topped that one at 7700 feet a little before 7 PM. From there it was a nice gentle glide back to earth for a landing at around 7:15. Not a bump was felt during descent. It was a very beautiful evening to fly and I was really sad to have to land. I definitely became one with my glider today.
I launched at 2 PM. The tow went really fast and I was soon climbing. I stepped up in about three thermals and got to over 9000 feet. For the next few hours I floated from cloud to cloud, trying to work upwind a little, and made it up higher, around 9500 feet. I had a solid 2 hrs above 7000 feet. The lift was great and the clouds were really sucking (thats a good thing). Two other guys from our glider club were up. One in his Schweizer 1-35 and another in the clubs 1-34. The 1-35 fell out and landed after an horu and a half. the 1-34 had the best flight of his career and landed after about 3 hrs, having been to over 9000 feet, he was pretty tired. Im used to this sort of punishment so I continued on for a couple hours.
The lift all day was smooth, even with the semi-strong 15-20 knot northwest wind. It wasnt always really strong, but it was easy to work so I had no complaints. Better to have a 300 fpm thermal that you can stay in instead of busting your butt to find a 500 fpm one that just isnt workable.
It was only about a year ago that I did this flight, but how quickly I forgot the pain of a long duration flight in my glider. The good thing is that after about 3 hrs the pain just fades away and you dont feel anything. Between the cold and the cramped cockpit I was mostly numb. I found this to have a marked effect on my flying. An incredible improvement, to be exact. Matt and I discussed it later and decided that when you cant feel your appendages you relax and are able to concentrate on thermalling a lot more. This pays off because the end of the day thermals are small and require attention.
I hooked my last one at 6:45. It wasnt very strong and it was small. It required about a 45 degree bank and absolute minimum speed, about 50 mph. I was averaging a mere 100 fpm climb, but I was in updraft during the entire circle so that was good enough for me. The corrections that I was applying to my circle were working out and I was really carving my turns. The air was dead smooth. perfect time to be flying.
I topped that one at 7700 feet a little before 7 PM. From there it was a nice gentle glide back to earth for a landing at around 7:15. Not a bump was felt during descent. It was a very beautiful evening to fly and I was really sad to have to land. I definitely became one with my glider today.
