rottydaddy
En-Route
What a long, wet, miserable winter/early spring... but finally the grass was dry and firm enough, so after re-assembling the 2-33 (the wings were finally blasted and repainted recently), the club did some flying yesterday. Pretty good conditions, but not great, and a bit of a gusty xwind.
I only got one flight in, after Herb made three hops in the trainer and declared it airworthy.
But it was great to fly again- first flight in anything since October(!!?). The launch went well enough; it all comes back quickly, even with a stiff xwind. Got off around 2300, found a weak thermal, flew out of it, tried to get back in, failed, wandered to another spot, found some zero, farted around a bit, then decided when I was at about 1700 and a few miles from the pattern to just bring it in. Of course, I found some weak lift as I entered the downwind, but that was not a good place to try to do anything with that.
The landing was interesting, as it always is when using 25 at 47N when the wind is pretty much south, but occasionally veering just a hair southeast. A bit gusty too... just as I got "in the groove", with my target area made perfectly, I got popped up and knocked out of whack. But the wind stayed on the nose just enough for me to land pretty much where I'd decided, without much fuss. It happens... on days like that at that drome, there's no use in switching runways, because a S/SW wind there will just tease and torture you no matter which way you're landing.
The 2-33 definitely seemed slicker with new paint replacing all that filthy, peeling crud it used to have, but it's hard to say how much. The more noticeable difference was flying it right after everything had been lubed... wow!! Flew more like a tugboat than an oil tanker... very sporty!
Herb took our newest member, 13-yr-old Cameron, up for his first lesson, and since he'd let the kid fly it on tow a bit and liked what he saw, he stayed up a while to show him how to thermal. They did pretty well, with some intense buildups moving in from the south. Cameron seems the quiet type, but he had that grin that we all know so well... I think the hook is set.
A squall moved in quite rapidly as I was thinking about doing my second hop... took a good look to the south right after that dual flight landed, and decided to pass. Then we just decided to call it a day. It was a good call- as we were tying the glider down, the wind picked up, went this way and that, dust, pollen, and leaves took to the air in a cloud, and the rain came down like a big bucket was being emptied onto the field. When it passed, it was just too damn wet to think about slogging through the grass again to stage the glider.
Today I decided to have another go, but since it was just me and our "new" tow pilot Art (who is definitely not new to soaring or towing), I figured I'd use the 1-26, as I could easily stage it myself while he fetched the Citabria. I arrived later than usual, and he arrived even later, so I didn't launch until almost 4PM.
Conditions were similar, but the wind was more westerly. There were some promising clouds in the area. My launch was not my best- actually got into a moment of the dreaded 1-26 PIO right after I lifted off- a gust or rust, it doesn't matter when you actually think about getting off... when the towplane is just lifting off, and you're suddenly looking down on everything.
Managed to get fight the temptation, got back in position without smashing onto the runway, and off we went. I didn't box the wake, but I thought about that launch, and realized I was just behind the damn thing. Got airborne before I thought it would, and I hadn't moved the stick too much- I just hadn't moved it at the right moment to check the ballooning.
I'd expected to be a little shy trying to thermal with the single-seater, and I was... been a long time, and I was still getting a feel for it last fall. Got off at 2000 in what seemed like a sure-bet thermal, but lost altitude pretty quickly, as I was nervous circling slowly and steeply enough to make proper use of it. The thermals were tighter and more wiggly than yesterday, with some strong sink in between in places. I moved SW towards another area that had seemed strong on the tow, and fought my way back to 2000. Stayed there for a few minutes, but I was definitely not ready to do as well as I had last year on similar days with the same glider.
Soon I found myself nursing a weak, fragmented thermal just above a corner of the pattern, so I decided to bring it in before I did something foolish. And again, I had to pop the spoilers and force it to get down so I could slip under the power pattern and be near 600 AGL abeam the landing area. The landing went quite well, even though I wasn't feeling terribly confident about it.
My tow pilot was then out of time, so it was time to put the toys away and go home.
Not exactly an epic season-opening weekend, but I am happy enough. Got some air under my butt, hung out with the airport bums, got a little sunburn, caught up on the airport gossip... and I've got the whole rest of the season to do better.
I only got one flight in, after Herb made three hops in the trainer and declared it airworthy.
But it was great to fly again- first flight in anything since October(!!?). The launch went well enough; it all comes back quickly, even with a stiff xwind. Got off around 2300, found a weak thermal, flew out of it, tried to get back in, failed, wandered to another spot, found some zero, farted around a bit, then decided when I was at about 1700 and a few miles from the pattern to just bring it in. Of course, I found some weak lift as I entered the downwind, but that was not a good place to try to do anything with that.
The landing was interesting, as it always is when using 25 at 47N when the wind is pretty much south, but occasionally veering just a hair southeast. A bit gusty too... just as I got "in the groove", with my target area made perfectly, I got popped up and knocked out of whack. But the wind stayed on the nose just enough for me to land pretty much where I'd decided, without much fuss. It happens... on days like that at that drome, there's no use in switching runways, because a S/SW wind there will just tease and torture you no matter which way you're landing.
The 2-33 definitely seemed slicker with new paint replacing all that filthy, peeling crud it used to have, but it's hard to say how much. The more noticeable difference was flying it right after everything had been lubed... wow!! Flew more like a tugboat than an oil tanker... very sporty!
Herb took our newest member, 13-yr-old Cameron, up for his first lesson, and since he'd let the kid fly it on tow a bit and liked what he saw, he stayed up a while to show him how to thermal. They did pretty well, with some intense buildups moving in from the south. Cameron seems the quiet type, but he had that grin that we all know so well... I think the hook is set.
A squall moved in quite rapidly as I was thinking about doing my second hop... took a good look to the south right after that dual flight landed, and decided to pass. Then we just decided to call it a day. It was a good call- as we were tying the glider down, the wind picked up, went this way and that, dust, pollen, and leaves took to the air in a cloud, and the rain came down like a big bucket was being emptied onto the field. When it passed, it was just too damn wet to think about slogging through the grass again to stage the glider.
Today I decided to have another go, but since it was just me and our "new" tow pilot Art (who is definitely not new to soaring or towing), I figured I'd use the 1-26, as I could easily stage it myself while he fetched the Citabria. I arrived later than usual, and he arrived even later, so I didn't launch until almost 4PM.
Conditions were similar, but the wind was more westerly. There were some promising clouds in the area. My launch was not my best- actually got into a moment of the dreaded 1-26 PIO right after I lifted off- a gust or rust, it doesn't matter when you actually think about getting off... when the towplane is just lifting off, and you're suddenly looking down on everything.
Managed to get fight the temptation, got back in position without smashing onto the runway, and off we went. I didn't box the wake, but I thought about that launch, and realized I was just behind the damn thing. Got airborne before I thought it would, and I hadn't moved the stick too much- I just hadn't moved it at the right moment to check the ballooning.
I'd expected to be a little shy trying to thermal with the single-seater, and I was... been a long time, and I was still getting a feel for it last fall. Got off at 2000 in what seemed like a sure-bet thermal, but lost altitude pretty quickly, as I was nervous circling slowly and steeply enough to make proper use of it. The thermals were tighter and more wiggly than yesterday, with some strong sink in between in places. I moved SW towards another area that had seemed strong on the tow, and fought my way back to 2000. Stayed there for a few minutes, but I was definitely not ready to do as well as I had last year on similar days with the same glider.
Soon I found myself nursing a weak, fragmented thermal just above a corner of the pattern, so I decided to bring it in before I did something foolish. And again, I had to pop the spoilers and force it to get down so I could slip under the power pattern and be near 600 AGL abeam the landing area. The landing went quite well, even though I wasn't feeling terribly confident about it.
My tow pilot was then out of time, so it was time to put the toys away and go home.
Not exactly an epic season-opening weekend, but I am happy enough. Got some air under my butt, hung out with the airport bums, got a little sunburn, caught up on the airport gossip... and I've got the whole rest of the season to do better.
