Great XC today!

[tonycondon]

woohoo had my first glider cross country of the year today. about 4.5 hours, highest altitude was 8000 MSL. took off from ames about 1 PM when conditions started cooking, headed north to better clouds. ended up around Iowa Falls then headed upwind on cloud streets to Clarion. Never got too low, I think once we were down to 3500 maybe. From clarion we headed due west past Eagle Grove and then decided Humboldt would be our last turn point then an easy downwind flight to Ames. It was starting to get late and we couldn't push any farther than that. Getting to humboldt proved to be tough. We had two low saves around 1500 AGL. That is where flying with two people comes in handy. I can look for dust devils/hawks etc. as well as pick out nice fields to land in while my instructor can focus on finding the core of the thermal and getting us out of there! finally got a picture of humboldt and turned downwind. We were at about 4500 MSL or so and were feeling OK about our position. It was about 5 and we knew we needed to get home fast. Started to get low pretty quick and I switched into field selection mode while Matt flew his best. got down to 2000 AGL I picked out a nice field, smooth, good access, level. 1500 AGL Matt was trying to work some really ragged lift. 1000 AGL I spotted a couple vultures below us. Matt couldn't work anything, the day was dying and we turned final and made a really nice landing about 530 about 8 or 10 miles south of Humboldt. Called for a pickup, the car and trailer were ready to go. A student in our clubs wife came and got us, the farmer helped derig and we made it back to ames about midnight!

Didn't get to fly my glider this weekend, trailer and brake handle still needs work, oh well

Have to tow in the morning so I better get to bed! Enjoy.

 

[SkyHog]

sounds like fun. So that's how it works when you don't get back to the airport, eh? Just pick a field and land? I assume if you cause damage to the field its your responsibility?

I've always wondered about that stuff.

 

[gismo]

sounds like fun. So that's how it works when you don't get back to the airport, eh? Just pick a field and land? I assume if you cause damage to the field its your responsibility?

I've always wondered about that stuff.

IIRC, landing a glider (in a suitable field) rarely causes crop damage but retrieving the glider OTOH, can and does. And yes some farmers expect to be compensated, but I think the majority wave it off thinking they somehow participated in the "miracle" of an "emergency" landing where no one was hurt.

 

[tonycondon]

yes nick, we assume responsibility for any damage done during the landing or retrieve. and lance is right, the retrieve usually does more damage than the landing. The field we landed in was just planted that day, so it was pretty much impossible to do any damage, but we were very careful. And the farmers usually think its pretty cool that we showed up in their field, its quite a bit of excitement for them.