tonycondon
Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Well I managed to get everything halfway together so that I could fly the Kowbell. Leah and I were up late friday getting the glider put in the trailer. We headed out to Sunflower Sat morning.
Launch was about 1:30 PM. the day was really humid at Sunflower. A couple fiberglass ships had launched and were managing to hang in there, barely. I knew that in order for me to maximize my distance I needed to maximize my duration so I was the third to launch. Managed to find a decent thermal above the airport, got to 2500 AGL and started heading west.
The forecast had indicated that the further south and west you went the stronger and higher the thermals would get. They were right. Each of the next four or five thermals that I took were stronger and higher. eventually i was climbing 5-600 fpm up to 6800 MSL, about 4500 AGL at that point.
I initially headed west but soon turned southwest toward Pratt, KS. There was a fair amount of high cirrus that was creating large shadows and causing all of us to change our strategies. I got to Pratt eventually, although I was a little low when I got there, around 1500 AGL. Managed to find good lift near the airport/cattle yard there and was back up to 6000ish in no time. From Pratt I could either head west or or a more southish heading, to avoid the shadows. I could see a few clouds ahead to the west and It seemed like a good idea. Also I would be following US 54 and there were a few airports along the way. Dodge City was the next big town.
I ended up skirting the north edge of the shadow, and I realize now that I was ending up working the fresh thermals that were forming after the sun came back out in that area. i.e. not the best thermals. If I would've stayed 4 or 5 miles more out in the sunlight i probably would've had a better chance. But I managed to keep making some progress, taking all of the altitude I could get.
Now big decisions to make. I was at about 3500 AGL with a decent 5 miles of shadow in front of me. To the northwest was sunshine but not a lot of clouds. I was encountering a lot of zero sink and there was some sunshine around the Greensburg area with good light and a few clouds just west of greensburg. I decided to run through the shadow and see if I could find some lift on the sunny side. I did manage to find a fair amount of zero sink which meant when I got to the light on the other side of the shadow I still had about 1500 feet to work with. I just kept drifting west with the wind trying to figure out which field was causing the lift that was making the clouds. Occasionally I would find a little bump but I couldnt work any of it. I had a couple of nice fields picked out to land in.
One was a cut wheat field that had been irrigated in a big circle. That's where I ended up. I landed in the southeast corner of it, to the west. This field just bordered US 54 and I was able to roll nearly up to the frontage road as I landed. No fences or anything. I called Leah who was only about 2 miles behind me and told her to keep an eye on the north side of the road. She was there in a few minutes.
My total distance was about 80.5 statue miles. I had a great flight, and it was really the first time in a while that i've been able to put some good mileage on in the glider.
Oh - The radio that I got for graduation from a lot of you worked great! Leah had no problems hearing me and i had no problems hearing her. Thanks again!
Launch was about 1:30 PM. the day was really humid at Sunflower. A couple fiberglass ships had launched and were managing to hang in there, barely. I knew that in order for me to maximize my distance I needed to maximize my duration so I was the third to launch. Managed to find a decent thermal above the airport, got to 2500 AGL and started heading west.
The forecast had indicated that the further south and west you went the stronger and higher the thermals would get. They were right. Each of the next four or five thermals that I took were stronger and higher. eventually i was climbing 5-600 fpm up to 6800 MSL, about 4500 AGL at that point.
I initially headed west but soon turned southwest toward Pratt, KS. There was a fair amount of high cirrus that was creating large shadows and causing all of us to change our strategies. I got to Pratt eventually, although I was a little low when I got there, around 1500 AGL. Managed to find good lift near the airport/cattle yard there and was back up to 6000ish in no time. From Pratt I could either head west or or a more southish heading, to avoid the shadows. I could see a few clouds ahead to the west and It seemed like a good idea. Also I would be following US 54 and there were a few airports along the way. Dodge City was the next big town.
I ended up skirting the north edge of the shadow, and I realize now that I was ending up working the fresh thermals that were forming after the sun came back out in that area. i.e. not the best thermals. If I would've stayed 4 or 5 miles more out in the sunlight i probably would've had a better chance. But I managed to keep making some progress, taking all of the altitude I could get.
Now big decisions to make. I was at about 3500 AGL with a decent 5 miles of shadow in front of me. To the northwest was sunshine but not a lot of clouds. I was encountering a lot of zero sink and there was some sunshine around the Greensburg area with good light and a few clouds just west of greensburg. I decided to run through the shadow and see if I could find some lift on the sunny side. I did manage to find a fair amount of zero sink which meant when I got to the light on the other side of the shadow I still had about 1500 feet to work with. I just kept drifting west with the wind trying to figure out which field was causing the lift that was making the clouds. Occasionally I would find a little bump but I couldnt work any of it. I had a couple of nice fields picked out to land in.
One was a cut wheat field that had been irrigated in a big circle. That's where I ended up. I landed in the southeast corner of it, to the west. This field just bordered US 54 and I was able to roll nearly up to the frontage road as I landed. No fences or anything. I called Leah who was only about 2 miles behind me and told her to keep an eye on the north side of the road. She was there in a few minutes.
My total distance was about 80.5 statue miles. I had a great flight, and it was really the first time in a while that i've been able to put some good mileage on in the glider.
Oh - The radio that I got for graduation from a lot of you worked great! Leah had no problems hearing me and i had no problems hearing her. Thanks again!
