tonycondon
Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Im back in Ames for Memorial Day weekend. Was hoping to do some great soaring flights but it looks like the weather is not cooperating. however, got to fly the 421 about 5 hrs yesterday. blasted off early in the morning for air sampling in Lincoln, NE and Waterloo, IA. quite fun. winds were pretty strong aloft. Departing Ames for Waterloo, we did a nonstop climb to FL250. Only problem was by the time we got there, probably around 60 miles or so, we still werent quite there. a couple circling climbs and we made it. At one point in the climb, at quite high altitude, I noticed that with a blue line climb of approximately 125 mph indicated (100 knots i think) we were showing ground speeds of over 200 knots!! the view and the flying at FL250 are always nice. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N42776/history/20070527/1510Z/KAMW/KALO
Ill be posting some pictures, and a few short videos to youtube, when I get back home.
got back from that about noon and called up the two newest students in the glider club. both are super motivated and a true asset to the club. with instructor, tow pilot, students, and gliders all arranged we flew as much as we could. The soaring was, generally, lousy. I managed to milk some really weak lift, cow fart kind of stuff, to extend a couple of the flights by a few minutes. Other features of the afternoon included a 300 foot "simulated" tow failure with return to landing. The pinnacle achievement for me was a flight with the more advanced student of the two. We managed to keep the Blanik (of pilotcast video fame) aloft for an hour, from 430 to 530 in lift that is best described as 200 foot per minute, at the best. often i was circling in less than 100 fpm. havent had to work that hard in a long time! Ended up with 8 glider flights total, 4 in the blanik and 4 in the Schweizer 2-22. That added up to 3 hours which gave me an 8 hour day! Haven't had one of those in quite a while. Sadly I didnt get a chance to fly single engine and make it a hat trick day. Those are truly my favorite and Ive only been able to do it a few times.
One of the students has his Private-Glider checkride in about 5 hours. I think today will be filled with doing some towing and more glider instruction. Evening features the annual club picnic and then I gotta drive back to Cedar Rapids.
Good day!
Ill be posting some pictures, and a few short videos to youtube, when I get back home.
got back from that about noon and called up the two newest students in the glider club. both are super motivated and a true asset to the club. with instructor, tow pilot, students, and gliders all arranged we flew as much as we could. The soaring was, generally, lousy. I managed to milk some really weak lift, cow fart kind of stuff, to extend a couple of the flights by a few minutes. Other features of the afternoon included a 300 foot "simulated" tow failure with return to landing. The pinnacle achievement for me was a flight with the more advanced student of the two. We managed to keep the Blanik (of pilotcast video fame) aloft for an hour, from 430 to 530 in lift that is best described as 200 foot per minute, at the best. often i was circling in less than 100 fpm. havent had to work that hard in a long time! Ended up with 8 glider flights total, 4 in the blanik and 4 in the Schweizer 2-22. That added up to 3 hours which gave me an 8 hour day! Haven't had one of those in quite a while. Sadly I didnt get a chance to fly single engine and make it a hat trick day. Those are truly my favorite and Ive only been able to do it a few times.
One of the students has his Private-Glider checkride in about 5 hours. I think today will be filled with doing some towing and more glider instruction. Evening features the annual club picnic and then I gotta drive back to Cedar Rapids.
Good day!
