tonycondon
Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Sundays flight was pretty awesome and the forecast for today was good too. I had one of the line guys at the airport help me assemble the glider this morning and got everything in order for a 1 PM tow. I had a student scheduled at 5 PM so a straight out cross country flight was not in the cards. I got off tow in some good lift and started to creep to the west. I followed highway 30 to the west slowly but surely and eventually made it the whopping 11 miles to Boone. Altitude was between 4000 and 5500 feet and the lift was strong, but so was the sink.
I made a couple key changes to my flying strategy which I think helped out. First, I flew the cruise portions a tad faster. I think that previously I was flying too slowly in sinking air, which was causing me to lose more precious altitude. Secondly, I promised to myself that I would stop in EVERY thermal and go for max altitude. Sure it would slow me down, but I was frustrated with having landed in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday when there was still several hours of soarable weather left. The fact is my glider is just low performance and if i dont leave every thermal at the maximum altitude its quite likely I wont make it to the next one. And the odds of me skipping one thermal and finding another are pretty slim.
I found a nice thermal right over the Boone airport and circled with a plastic grocery bag for a little while. I made it up to around 6000 feet. From there I easily couldve glided straight back to Ames, but it was only about 2:30. Lots of day left. I decided to set out Northeast towards the town of Jewell. It would be a crosswind run, and leave for a more or less downwind trip back home. Although the winds aloft were basically calm anyways, as on the surface. The sink on course was strong again. Occasionally as much as 800-1000 fpm DOWN! But usually that was followed by a thermal with at least 500 fpm up. I enjoyed the strong conditions and took the opportunity to practice thermalling to the right, which I am getting better at.
It was a slow 17 mile flight but I managed to creep up the altitude to around 7000. Silver altitude gain was in the bag! (1000 meters from low point). I was happy that the barograph performed flawlessly. I did get down to around 3500 at some point on this leg which had me a bit nervous. It was after a particularly long run in heavy sink and I was worried about the prospect of having to land out. But another strong thermal was found and all worries were lost. I made it over Jewell probably about 3:30. I then spent a fair amount of time working some lift off town to get to maximum altitude before final glide back to ames. I eventually got up to about 7100 MSL, or 6100 above airport elevation. Using my Mark I eyeball flight computer I determined that I was on final glide for the airport, so I set off straight for the goal, 18 miles away, and vowed not to turn until I got there. As I continued I went through some light sink and a little lift. All the while, the angle to the airport was pretty constant, indicating that I wasnt high or low.
As i came towards the north end of the city of Ames I could see some dust coming up off a gravel pit, an indication of possible lift. I was down to around 2000 AGL with 3 or 4 miles to go. Slim, but possible. I decided that since there wasnt much landable terrain between me and the runway that I should try for some more altitude before crossing town. I went for the gravel pit and found a little bit of lift but nothing strong. Other gliders in the ames area were reporting generally weak conditions. Amazing, considering how strong the thermals were out away from the airport! I worked for about 15 minutes and managed to gain maybe 200 feet and decided I had the airport made. Over town I went. some zero sink was found over downtown but then a huge sink hole that put me on the north edge of the airport boundary about 800 AGL. I was set up for a landing when I found a little bit of weak lift. I worked it for about 5 minutes to try to extend the flight, but couldnt stay up and landed about 4:30.
All in all a 3hr 10 minute flight with an average groundspeed of 14ish knots. Not too bad really considering the conservative flying I was doing. There was quite a bit of satisfaction in completing the task. And making it back home in time for my lesson was an added bonus.
I made a couple key changes to my flying strategy which I think helped out. First, I flew the cruise portions a tad faster. I think that previously I was flying too slowly in sinking air, which was causing me to lose more precious altitude. Secondly, I promised to myself that I would stop in EVERY thermal and go for max altitude. Sure it would slow me down, but I was frustrated with having landed in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday when there was still several hours of soarable weather left. The fact is my glider is just low performance and if i dont leave every thermal at the maximum altitude its quite likely I wont make it to the next one. And the odds of me skipping one thermal and finding another are pretty slim.
I found a nice thermal right over the Boone airport and circled with a plastic grocery bag for a little while. I made it up to around 6000 feet. From there I easily couldve glided straight back to Ames, but it was only about 2:30. Lots of day left. I decided to set out Northeast towards the town of Jewell. It would be a crosswind run, and leave for a more or less downwind trip back home. Although the winds aloft were basically calm anyways, as on the surface. The sink on course was strong again. Occasionally as much as 800-1000 fpm DOWN! But usually that was followed by a thermal with at least 500 fpm up. I enjoyed the strong conditions and took the opportunity to practice thermalling to the right, which I am getting better at.
It was a slow 17 mile flight but I managed to creep up the altitude to around 7000. Silver altitude gain was in the bag! (1000 meters from low point). I was happy that the barograph performed flawlessly. I did get down to around 3500 at some point on this leg which had me a bit nervous. It was after a particularly long run in heavy sink and I was worried about the prospect of having to land out. But another strong thermal was found and all worries were lost. I made it over Jewell probably about 3:30. I then spent a fair amount of time working some lift off town to get to maximum altitude before final glide back to ames. I eventually got up to about 7100 MSL, or 6100 above airport elevation. Using my Mark I eyeball flight computer I determined that I was on final glide for the airport, so I set off straight for the goal, 18 miles away, and vowed not to turn until I got there. As I continued I went through some light sink and a little lift. All the while, the angle to the airport was pretty constant, indicating that I wasnt high or low.
As i came towards the north end of the city of Ames I could see some dust coming up off a gravel pit, an indication of possible lift. I was down to around 2000 AGL with 3 or 4 miles to go. Slim, but possible. I decided that since there wasnt much landable terrain between me and the runway that I should try for some more altitude before crossing town. I went for the gravel pit and found a little bit of lift but nothing strong. Other gliders in the ames area were reporting generally weak conditions. Amazing, considering how strong the thermals were out away from the airport! I worked for about 15 minutes and managed to gain maybe 200 feet and decided I had the airport made. Over town I went. some zero sink was found over downtown but then a huge sink hole that put me on the north edge of the airport boundary about 800 AGL. I was set up for a landing when I found a little bit of weak lift. I worked it for about 5 minutes to try to extend the flight, but couldnt stay up and landed about 4:30.
All in all a 3hr 10 minute flight with an average groundspeed of 14ish knots. Not too bad really considering the conservative flying I was doing. There was quite a bit of satisfaction in completing the task. And making it back home in time for my lesson was an added bonus.
