Dalhart, TX

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Messages
15,503
Location
Wichita, KS
Display Name
Tony
Home Airfield
AAO
Anyone from here from the Dalhart area? It looks like I'll be going there for glider camp the last week of June, from the 25th to July 1
 
Couple of big sprayer guys working in Dalhart. That's where we pulled the 802 and 602 from to help out a few seasons.
 
They used to have a good cafe across the street from the airport. That's about all I remember about Dalhart.
 
CJones said:
Couple of big sprayer guys working in Dalhart. That's where we pulled the 802 and 602 from to help out a few seasons.
Click to expand...

from what i've read they are about the only other traffic at the airport. sounds like the gliders typically operate off the ramp. I'm looking forward to it, should be some great soaring and the landout options in that part of the country can't be beat.
 
current forecast for saturday is 105 degrees no the ground and thermals to over 18,000 ft by 1 PM. 21,000 by 4 PM. damn class A airspace!
 
Never been Tony. Wish I could tell you something about it.
Have a great camp.

Best.

Dave
 
tonycondon said:
current forecast for saturday is 105 degrees no the ground and thermals to over 18,000 ft by 1 PM. 21,000 by 4 PM. damn class A airspace!
Click to expand...

Leave the thermal early to avoid bumping your head on Class A and having to run at redline to not get busted climbing to high.

Have fun!!!:)
 
not much to report so far. Saturday was a dud, all the lift was 15-20 miles south of here. One guy in a Discus made a do or die run for the lift and contacted it before he had to land out. He ended up with 3.5 hrs and got to 16,500 but it wasn't easy he said.

yesterday was 30 mph winds out of the west so we sat and watched the wind blow. hopefully the winds will be slightly more reasonable today.
 
i flew a crosswind out and almost return on monday. landed at another old air base east of town and got an aerotow retrieve back to Dalhart. Between both flights got about 4 hrs and made it to 10,200 on the second one.

Today (Tuesday) i decided to go downwind. One of the guys at the camp came without a glider, just to hang out, and is at least an acquaintance of mine. We've met once or twice. So he chased and I flew. Had high points in the 11-11.5K range and a few low points of 1000ish AGL but manage to stay up for 5:20 and landed at the airport at Goodland, KS for about 240 miles.

When i uploaded it the flight was good for 2nd in the US and 5th in the world.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-560199443
 
Come to think of it, Tony drove to Texas from Kansas, towing a trailer containing a glider, so he could fly to Kansas in a glider, with a car he'd driven from Kansas to Texas being driven to Kansas with a trailer, so he could load up the glider in Kansas in the trailer and pull the trailer back to Texas so he could get his toothbrush and dirty underwear from the hotel room and drive the car with the trailer with the glider back to Kansas.
 
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SCCutler said:
Come to think of it, Tony drove to Texas from Kansas, towing a trailer containing a glider, so he could fly to Kansas in a glider, with a car he'd driven from Kansas to Texas being driven to Kansas with a trailer, so he could load up the glider in Kansas in the trailer and pull the trailer back to Texas so he could get his toothbrush and dirty underwear from the hotel room and drive the car with the trailer with the glider back to Kansas.
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They raise em smart in the Midwest don't they? :rofl:
 
spike that pretty much covers it, although I will also fly again Friday before driving back to Kansas.

although...it is kind of tempting to just fly back to kansas tomorrow. Then I'd have to figure out a way to get my crew back to Dalhart but that could be arranged. Will have to see what the weather looks like in the morning.
 
Hey Mari, met a co-worker of yours at Goodland this morning.
 
Dang, Tony -- you were close enough you could have just come on over to KAPA... ;)
 
ha, thanks Spike. Today I drove home watching some of the nicest soaring weather in Kansas that I have ever seen above me. Talked to a few friends on 123.5 who were up flying and saw an old glider guy in Greensburg where I stopped for gas. Tomorrow and Monday will be more fly days, then back to work
 
It occurs to me that glider pilots on quests such as these are akin to big wave surfers. And both have heard, yet not quite comfortable with phrases such as, "You should have been here yesterday." Or, (after you've been waiting for a week or two and now must return home), "Tomorrow will be so great!".
 
Not that we haven't had this thread before and proven that no one in the aviation community really seems to care about legal licenses beyond their FAA ones... But...

Which FCC license were you talking to the gliders overhead from your automobile with on your hand-held radio, Tony? Tsk tsk. :( :nono:

Just your friendly public service announcement/warning since sometimes FCC Field personnel get bored, and their usual MO is fines. Big ones.

Liens on your nice new house aren't worth the radio chit-chat on the Aviation band. Get some FRS radios, pay a few bucks and step up to GMRS, or even grab an Amateur license if it's all non-commercial nature discussions...

And of course, you'd have to convince your gliding buddies to do the same...

In other words, I know it isn't going to go down that way, just be cautious about posting that you're operating an illegal aviation band transmitter without a station license, here in public. ;)

Of course, if you're the rare exception that actually carries a station license for portable ground glider work, disregard all. ;) ;) ;)
 
FCC license required for a portable handheld radio?
 
tonycondon said:
FCC license required for a portable handheld radio?
Click to expand...

Yes, widely discussed here or on Purple Board before.
Handheld radios do require an FCC station license if operated outside of an aircraft. Ground crew radios, handheld, in vehicles, balloon chase vehicles require their own station license.

FCC does not care, unless there is abuse on the frequency, foul language, transmitter failures blocking the frequency etc. Then they have to catch it in your hands and prove you were transmitting.

Very hard to enforce, but they could very easily walk onto any airfield and see all of the handhelds and ask to see the station license. If you only use it in the glider, no problem.
 
All it would take is an aspiring Field Agent to realize it'd help their career and create a new revenue stream for FCC for them to get serious about enforcement.

Ever wonder how all those NOTAMS about tower lights being OTS make their way into the FAA system? Years ago, the FCC realized that burnt out tower lights (even if all the other lighting is active) is a $10K pop, every time they catch a tower out of compliance.

Buddy in the tower biz's company spends a fortune on remote lighting system monitoring gadgetry and he files NOTAMS weekly. LED tech has helped, but they're still prone to electronics damage in lightning strikes.

I also just realized that my recommendation of FRS or GPRS may be faulty. I can't remember if those are licensed as terrestrial services only.

The regs for the FCC are even more convoluted than the FAA. 14 CFR has nothing on the FCC's stuff.
 
My crew and I wrote an article for Soaring about the flight to Goodland. It made it in the magazine this month. :D
 
5:20... more than my total time last season. :(

You su- I mean, hey, wow, way to go! :D
 
unfortunately, no. I will try to find a copy and post it here though
 
Here is the article we submitted and the pictures that went along with it. Enjoy :)
 

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Great article, Tony! That was a fun read. And you even made me think that being on the ground acting as chase crew would be a fun adventure, too. :thumbsup:
 
glad you liked it Kent. Bob did genuinely have a lot of fun chasing me, and he did a good job of putting that in writing.
 
I could see a job for a "high bird" for communications when you guys are doing your long XC stuff. Someone aloft loitering in a powered aircraft, way up there playing radio relay station for you guys...
 
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