tonycondon
Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Well I dusted off the Cherokee II on Sunday as lift conditions were predicted to be good and it was feeling lonely. Havent flown it since July 4th when I made it 75 kilometers downwind.
I had the glider assembled as I had been hoping to fly it several weeks earlier but it was not to be. Then I was hoping to make it to Fairbault for the Minnesota Soaring Regatta on Saturday but the forecasts didnt look good. So I kept it put together in the hangar. Drove up to Fairbault for supper and saw Jesse, and Matt Michael flew up in a 152. Turns out that it had become soarable, especially late. As I got to the airport a DG-1000 (new hotshot two seat fiberglass ship, about 45:1) had landed and an LS-6 (more fiberglass) also had fallen out. Only ship left out was a Ka-6 (wood and fabric woohoo!) and he was called down so that we could go to supper! I was wishing I had brought the Cherokee up as I couldve stayed up longer than the glass ships and really felt good about myself. Anyways supper was good, and the forecast for sunday was good throughout the region. I had to fly with my recently licensed IR student at 5 in Ames so I was planning on flying in Iowa sunday.
The nice thing about having the glider assembled is that it is much easier to get ready to fly. I got the parachute, seat cushions, camelbak, radio, and trailer all ready, then pulled down. Terry Lankford, who had taken over tow duty for me (Thanks Terry!) arrived and I pulled out for departure. At 1145 I broke ground and was pulled into a nice thermal. Off tow at 3000 feet I discovered that I had issues with my static system. I had installed an inline connector which was causing extreme lag in the Altimeter and Vario, and rendered Airspeed totally worthless. I flew best I could but landed after half an hour.
I disconnected the static line so it vented to the inside, figured that would be good enough and pulled out again. I knew that there was lift out there, just had to find it and work it. I got off this tow at 2600 feet in what I thought was a great thermal, the vario had been showing 1000 FPM! but I couldnt recapture it and was soon scraping along at only 1500 AGL in 0-100 fpm lift. Another friend, Paul "Sky King" Mcilrath was a couple miles north of me in his Schweizer 1-35 in good lift, but I wanted some more altitude. I wasnt climbing though and after Paul came over by me and declared it was way better to the north, I headed out. I was on a right base to 13 at ames so if I didnt connect I had a safe landing made but then I hit the lift Paul was in and was soon climbing at 3-400 fpm. I rode it up to about 4200 feet, nearly cloudbase and departed the area to the west. I cruised straight for about 8 miles, slowing in lift and speeding through sink, and by the time I made it to Boone (home of Chris Jones) I had lost only 500 feet. Thats effectively a 60:1 glide ratio! Of course I was going downwind, that helped.
I snapped a picture with my digital camera of the Boone Airport and decided to head south. I was thinking of a nice triangle, making it back to the airport with plenty of time to fly at 5. Running crosswind proved to be difficult at best and while I started out cruising betwee 3 and 4000, my average altitudes got lower and lower While I had spent maybe 15-20 minutes on the 10 mile cruise to Boone, the 10ish miles to Madrid mustve taken well over an hour. By the time I reached the town I was down to about 2000 feet (1000 AGL!) and had picked out a grassy area next to a cemetary northwest of town to land in. Things were looking grim, but then I got kicked in the butt. A good thermal was coming off of town and I was soon circling with insects, barn swallows, and hawks. Things were looking good. I either topped or fell out of that thermal at about 3000 feet, snapped a picture of the town of Madrid and Saylorville Lake to the south, and decided to scoot back to Ames, hoping for good lift on the way.
Flying that low didnt really bother me too much, I was always on the lookout for places to land, but hadnt had any issues finding any. Most glider guys would not think of going cross country with that low lift, but Im not typical. I started out on course to Ames but quickly found myself getting lower and lower with unworkable lift. I just could stay in it, would fly through the cores which would rock me up 3-400 fpm but then on the other side of the circle would be 3-400 down. I had an area scoped out with a couple nice looking pastures in them, right next to houses for good access and wasnt going to leave that area in case I needed to land. Eventually I was too low to be able to even think about saving it and out came the airbrakes, in came a full slip and down I came to a nice alfalfa field, freshly mowed, with a rolling slope. I rolled up close to the house, everything was fine. Got out and introduced myself to the farmers wife. They had a houseful and i was quickly answering the usual questions about how I got pulled up and how far I went. Matt Michael came and got me and I was back to Ames for more flying by 5.
Overall it was a great trip. Matt commented that if I keep it up I will have more landouts than him. Im up to 5. Two were dual, three have been in the Cherokee, four of five have been this season. I cant wait for the crops to come out of the fields, then I can land anywhere.
First picture is of the glider after pulling up to the yard and beginning derigging.
Second is of Boone Airport
Third is of Madrid, IA
Nick tells me I can not claim the alfalfa field as part of the ConUS challenge...
I had the glider assembled as I had been hoping to fly it several weeks earlier but it was not to be. Then I was hoping to make it to Fairbault for the Minnesota Soaring Regatta on Saturday but the forecasts didnt look good. So I kept it put together in the hangar. Drove up to Fairbault for supper and saw Jesse, and Matt Michael flew up in a 152. Turns out that it had become soarable, especially late. As I got to the airport a DG-1000 (new hotshot two seat fiberglass ship, about 45:1) had landed and an LS-6 (more fiberglass) also had fallen out. Only ship left out was a Ka-6 (wood and fabric woohoo!) and he was called down so that we could go to supper! I was wishing I had brought the Cherokee up as I couldve stayed up longer than the glass ships and really felt good about myself. Anyways supper was good, and the forecast for sunday was good throughout the region. I had to fly with my recently licensed IR student at 5 in Ames so I was planning on flying in Iowa sunday.
The nice thing about having the glider assembled is that it is much easier to get ready to fly. I got the parachute, seat cushions, camelbak, radio, and trailer all ready, then pulled down. Terry Lankford, who had taken over tow duty for me (Thanks Terry!) arrived and I pulled out for departure. At 1145 I broke ground and was pulled into a nice thermal. Off tow at 3000 feet I discovered that I had issues with my static system. I had installed an inline connector which was causing extreme lag in the Altimeter and Vario, and rendered Airspeed totally worthless. I flew best I could but landed after half an hour.
I disconnected the static line so it vented to the inside, figured that would be good enough and pulled out again. I knew that there was lift out there, just had to find it and work it. I got off this tow at 2600 feet in what I thought was a great thermal, the vario had been showing 1000 FPM! but I couldnt recapture it and was soon scraping along at only 1500 AGL in 0-100 fpm lift. Another friend, Paul "Sky King" Mcilrath was a couple miles north of me in his Schweizer 1-35 in good lift, but I wanted some more altitude. I wasnt climbing though and after Paul came over by me and declared it was way better to the north, I headed out. I was on a right base to 13 at ames so if I didnt connect I had a safe landing made but then I hit the lift Paul was in and was soon climbing at 3-400 fpm. I rode it up to about 4200 feet, nearly cloudbase and departed the area to the west. I cruised straight for about 8 miles, slowing in lift and speeding through sink, and by the time I made it to Boone (home of Chris Jones) I had lost only 500 feet. Thats effectively a 60:1 glide ratio! Of course I was going downwind, that helped.
I snapped a picture with my digital camera of the Boone Airport and decided to head south. I was thinking of a nice triangle, making it back to the airport with plenty of time to fly at 5. Running crosswind proved to be difficult at best and while I started out cruising betwee 3 and 4000, my average altitudes got lower and lower While I had spent maybe 15-20 minutes on the 10 mile cruise to Boone, the 10ish miles to Madrid mustve taken well over an hour. By the time I reached the town I was down to about 2000 feet (1000 AGL!) and had picked out a grassy area next to a cemetary northwest of town to land in. Things were looking grim, but then I got kicked in the butt. A good thermal was coming off of town and I was soon circling with insects, barn swallows, and hawks. Things were looking good. I either topped or fell out of that thermal at about 3000 feet, snapped a picture of the town of Madrid and Saylorville Lake to the south, and decided to scoot back to Ames, hoping for good lift on the way.
Flying that low didnt really bother me too much, I was always on the lookout for places to land, but hadnt had any issues finding any. Most glider guys would not think of going cross country with that low lift, but Im not typical. I started out on course to Ames but quickly found myself getting lower and lower with unworkable lift. I just could stay in it, would fly through the cores which would rock me up 3-400 fpm but then on the other side of the circle would be 3-400 down. I had an area scoped out with a couple nice looking pastures in them, right next to houses for good access and wasnt going to leave that area in case I needed to land. Eventually I was too low to be able to even think about saving it and out came the airbrakes, in came a full slip and down I came to a nice alfalfa field, freshly mowed, with a rolling slope. I rolled up close to the house, everything was fine. Got out and introduced myself to the farmers wife. They had a houseful and i was quickly answering the usual questions about how I got pulled up and how far I went. Matt Michael came and got me and I was back to Ames for more flying by 5.
Overall it was a great trip. Matt commented that if I keep it up I will have more landouts than him. Im up to 5. Two were dual, three have been in the Cherokee, four of five have been this season. I cant wait for the crops to come out of the fields, then I can land anywhere.
First picture is of the glider after pulling up to the yard and beginning derigging.
Second is of Boone Airport
Third is of Madrid, IA
Nick tells me I can not claim the alfalfa field as part of the ConUS challenge...
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