tonycondon
Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
I had an awesome day today. A couple students this morning and after the 11 oclock student I noticed that the sky was looking great. Checked www.drjack.info for the soaring forecasts and it looked absolutely KILLER. A flurry of calls secured a towpilot for a 2 PM launch. A few more calls and some running around the airport got the schedule cleared for the afternoon. I had a student at 5.
Chris Jones helped me ready the glider before he blasted off for Alabama in the RV-7A. Shortly after he took off I hooked up to the towplane and was quickly at 2000 AGL and climbing away at over 500 FPM!! Launch was at 2:05 and by 2:15 I was over the west side of Ames at 5000 AGL. The lift was the best I have ever experienced in Iowa. My vario was consistently bobbing between 6 and 800 fpm up, occasionally spiking at 1000 fpm!! I knew this would mean big sink between the thermals too. I cranked up my Macready ring and headed west towards Boone.
Since I had a student at 5 I didnt want to venture too far from home but it seemed pointless to just orbit around the airport all afternoon. The lift was great and cloudbase was high so I continued. I got over to Boone, a 10.5 nautical mile trip, at about 2:50. Cloudbase there was 7500 AGL. At one point I was running at 85 mph and holding altitude! I avoided the skydivers falling over the airport and headed north.
My next destination was Webster City, about 23 nautical miles to the north. This leg was mostly into the wind. I have never flown my glider mostly into the wind. Thankfully the thermals were strong so minimum time was spent circling and getting blown backwards. The runs between thermals were at pretty high speed due to the strong sink, about 75 mph. I worked slightly upwind of the airport in order to follow some good looking clouds. As I departed Boone to the north I noticed a monster shadow to the west created by a thunderstorm. The actual rain and stuff was well away from me, but the shadow would kill all thermals and be the end of my day. It was slowly creeping to the southeast. I managed to get to the north of it as I went to Webster City so it was no problem on that leg.
My highest altitude of the day was on this leg, at 8200 AGL. In fact, this is the highest AGL that I have ever been in a glider, a whopping 6200 foot gain from tow release! I was quite excited, and a little chilly. I made it over the Webster City airport right on schedule, at 4 PM. Now it was time for the dash home. As I turned to the southeast I was relieved to see that the big shadow from earlier had passed by Ames and it was all sunny skies between me and home. There was a loose street of clouds along the course so I was feeling really good. In fact, im pretty sure that from 8000 AGL over Webster City and with the tailwind I couldve made the 29 nautical mile flight in a straight glide.
As I neared Ames I could tell that I was on the low end of the final glide. The angle to the airport was not getting worse, but it wasnt really getting any better either. I found another whopper 600 fpm thermal and did a couple turns. With just an additional 400 feet everything started to look a lot better. Off I went, over town starting at 3000 AGL. Amazingly, the lift down low was unbelievable. And there were no cloud markers in the area to indicate it! I the last 4 miles over town at 80 mph in order to lose altitude and land. The entire downwind leg was flown with full airbrakes in order to slow the glider to a sensible approach speed.
Matt Michael saw me coming in from the north and with my blazing speed could tell I was home from a great flight. As I floated in ground effect down Runway 31 for a long landing he pulled out to help me put the glider away. What a welcome sight. The time was 4:30. I had averaged 56 knots on the way home from Webster City. Incredible for a low performance wood glider. My triangle average speed was 25 knots, which isnt too shabby either considering that more than half of the trip had a headwind component.
I had everything put away in time for the student at 5, and he had his first solo takeoffs and landings about an hour later. What an amazing day!!
Chris Jones helped me ready the glider before he blasted off for Alabama in the RV-7A. Shortly after he took off I hooked up to the towplane and was quickly at 2000 AGL and climbing away at over 500 FPM!! Launch was at 2:05 and by 2:15 I was over the west side of Ames at 5000 AGL. The lift was the best I have ever experienced in Iowa. My vario was consistently bobbing between 6 and 800 fpm up, occasionally spiking at 1000 fpm!! I knew this would mean big sink between the thermals too. I cranked up my Macready ring and headed west towards Boone.
Since I had a student at 5 I didnt want to venture too far from home but it seemed pointless to just orbit around the airport all afternoon. The lift was great and cloudbase was high so I continued. I got over to Boone, a 10.5 nautical mile trip, at about 2:50. Cloudbase there was 7500 AGL. At one point I was running at 85 mph and holding altitude! I avoided the skydivers falling over the airport and headed north.
My next destination was Webster City, about 23 nautical miles to the north. This leg was mostly into the wind. I have never flown my glider mostly into the wind. Thankfully the thermals were strong so minimum time was spent circling and getting blown backwards. The runs between thermals were at pretty high speed due to the strong sink, about 75 mph. I worked slightly upwind of the airport in order to follow some good looking clouds. As I departed Boone to the north I noticed a monster shadow to the west created by a thunderstorm. The actual rain and stuff was well away from me, but the shadow would kill all thermals and be the end of my day. It was slowly creeping to the southeast. I managed to get to the north of it as I went to Webster City so it was no problem on that leg.
My highest altitude of the day was on this leg, at 8200 AGL. In fact, this is the highest AGL that I have ever been in a glider, a whopping 6200 foot gain from tow release! I was quite excited, and a little chilly. I made it over the Webster City airport right on schedule, at 4 PM. Now it was time for the dash home. As I turned to the southeast I was relieved to see that the big shadow from earlier had passed by Ames and it was all sunny skies between me and home. There was a loose street of clouds along the course so I was feeling really good. In fact, im pretty sure that from 8000 AGL over Webster City and with the tailwind I couldve made the 29 nautical mile flight in a straight glide.
As I neared Ames I could tell that I was on the low end of the final glide. The angle to the airport was not getting worse, but it wasnt really getting any better either. I found another whopper 600 fpm thermal and did a couple turns. With just an additional 400 feet everything started to look a lot better. Off I went, over town starting at 3000 AGL. Amazingly, the lift down low was unbelievable. And there were no cloud markers in the area to indicate it! I the last 4 miles over town at 80 mph in order to lose altitude and land. The entire downwind leg was flown with full airbrakes in order to slow the glider to a sensible approach speed.
Matt Michael saw me coming in from the north and with my blazing speed could tell I was home from a great flight. As I floated in ground effect down Runway 31 for a long landing he pulled out to help me put the glider away. What a welcome sight. The time was 4:30. I had averaged 56 knots on the way home from Webster City. Incredible for a low performance wood glider. My triangle average speed was 25 knots, which isnt too shabby either considering that more than half of the trip had a headwind component.
I had everything put away in time for the student at 5, and he had his first solo takeoffs and landings about an hour later. What an amazing day!!
Are there any plans-built gliders with air-start engines?
Have been walking 3 miles/1 hour each night... hopefully it will start burning off soon. Haven't seen anything yet. :-(
