Milk Run

As the weekend was approaching, it looked like towing at Tanner-Hiller would be a good, lazy, option. NNW, 15mph at 6K, great thermal forecast. Hey, I might fly some place south...

On Thursday, I got a text from Ilya - "Planning on Ascutney tomorrow." ... Damn! That hike again. I reluctantly checked the forecast for that area, too. It looked great. And a big group of pilots was going... Tempting...

Ascutney and I had some unresolved issues. In particular, I hadn't flown away from the mountain beyond the main LZ in all my previous attempts. I hadn't even done the "mandatory" milk run - Ascutney to Morningside. I also had not done off-season flying at Ascutney.  All of these could be resolved at once, all in one flight... OK, the hike it was, even if I had to carry my glider all by myself. "I am in" - I texted back.

...

Friday morning everyone gathered at the Ascutney State Park gate to go up in one or two cars. There were 8 pilots ready to challenge Ascutney - Crystal Wolfe, Ilya Rivkin, Jon Szarek, Bill Gottling,  Mike Holmes, Jake Pierce, Jeff Bernard, and I.  Dave Milton and Ryan were helping with launching and retrieve (thank you guys!)

I loaded my glider on Ilya's truck, and off we went. The temperatures were still on a colder side, I even put another layer on while we were driving up.

Since I didn't have a hiking buddy this time, and my gear was heavier than last year (my new harness weights at least 10 pounds more than my old retired tracer), I decided carry it all as far as I could in one go. Then rest, and start splitting the hike - hike harness a hundred yards, then come back for the glider, and hike with it for 200 yards, rinse and repeat. To my amazement, I hiked pretty much half way there with all the gear, without a stop. I probably could have gone longer, but the trail started to be too uneven, so I switched to a "split" hike. It gave me a chance to rest plenty as well.

As I got to a widowmaker part of the trail, Ilya and Crystal finished their hike, and Ilya ran back to help me the rest of the way. Man! I was so happy to see him :-) He even grabbed my harness! Thank you, my flying brother!  Much appreciated!

Here is a video of the complete hike from last year. Just to give an idea what we are going through to fly this mountain!

...

On my last flight from Ascutney, I launched last, and sank out. I also had to get an improvised wire crew from willing spectators, which was rather stressful. This time, I was also launching last, but at least we had a wire crew that didn't need any training or persuasion :-)

The day, however, didn't progress the way it was forecasted. It looked overdeveloped, light, and cross. But in the afternoon, clouds cleared up for a while, letting sun to heat the ground a bit more. Decent thermal cycles started to roll through. By 2PM, the collective pilot's brain decided that it was as good as it was going to get. Everyone started launching. It looked like a rollercoaster though. Up and down. It seemed no one could find a sustained climb. Some pilots were getting low, heading for the LZ. Not very encouraging... but always beats walking back with the glider.

...

I got ready to launch around 2:30PM. Ryan and Dave helped me with the hangcheck, and to carry my glider to the rock. Thermals were rolling through. Not very strong, but enough to lift the glider if I wasn't careful, so help was definitely appreciated.

Hang check

Ready!

My launch went OK, but I didn't ran as far as I should have. I caught myself doing that, and pulled in to gain more airspeed before clearing the trees below the rock. I am still adjusting my foot launching technique to the longer harness hang strap... Later in the day, after the flight was over, Dave Milton told me that my launch indeed didn't look ideal. ... things to work on...

Run!

I flew away from the hill and joined the rollercoaster.  I gained a few hundred feet right next to the mountain then started losing it rapidly. Circling in a very close proximity to the mountain and to other pilots didn't help matters either.

Jon circling in a light lift as I am gliding off the launch

Working a very bumpy, tiny thermal close to the mountain.

As I was being flushed by mother nature, I decided to play it safe and look for thermals over the LZ, away from the terrain.

The last year at Ascutney, I observed Jake climbing out over south end of the LZ. It was a rather low save, too. I figured, I'd try that spot first. I set on a glide there, and as I was approaching the edge of the field I started slowly climbing out. By that point I was 1000' below launch, not exactly a low save, but I didn't need to set any records. Actually, Crystal did set that record for the day - she climbed out from 500' AGL.

Anyway, the lift was rather weak, 50 - 100 feet per minute, but as I got to the launch height, lift was getting more organized, and I could center in it better. Very soon I had a solid climb at 400 FPM. Life was good. Big A was treating me better this time.

I climbed to 4900' MSL and that thermal couldn't push me any higher. I decided that I needed to fly some place. So... Well, let me digress for a bit ... Now that I can thermal OK, and land OK, and launch OK... the hardest thing about free flight for me is making the next decision - where to fly. Where should I look for the next thermal? Or even where the drift is taking me? Simply - observational and directional skills. Why am I saying this? I guess, I am trying to "explain" my decision making process here, or rather significant lack of it.

The drift was taking me south, but I paid no attention to that. For some reason, I wanted to fly over the mountain. Some robot in my head thought it was a good direction. So we, my robot and I, went there - over the mountain, flying east.

I didn't fly directly over the mountain, but skirted it to the south as I was losing altitude. It's always safer to stay away from the terrain, eh? I got to the other side of the mountain, but lost 1500 feet in the process. I needed another climb, and it presented itself right when I was about to start worrying. Life was good again.

This climb took me to 5600' MSL. Now I finally figured out I wasn't flying in the "right" direction, I was also not getting as high as I hoped I would (I dressed for 8K, and was sweating like a pig at 5K :-))  so I decided that Morningside was an adequate destination for me (gotta check this milk run off my list anyhow). Now, I could see Claremont airport, and I knew where Morningside was. I could see it far in the distance, too. Just in case, I punched Morningside waypoint into the instrument. The instrument also confirmed that I had the flight park on a glide. And so I went there.

That was basically it. It was just a 15 minutes glide, and I arrived to Morningside with 1500' AGL to spare. The sky over the park was all cloudy. I didn't find any air going up, but found less sink. While on the glide, I played with the vario watching actual L/D numbers changing depending on the sink I was hitting. I was trying to make sense out of those numbers (comparing to L/D required) for future reference for waypoints I cannot easily see.

It didn't take long to burn off 1500'. I landed, and got greeted by Morningside welcoming committee, with cameras rolling and all. My landing wasn't perfect, I was late with the flare, and ran it out. Tried to hit the bullseye, too. It didn't happen. I guess, my future H4 rating needs a bit more practice time.

Ilya and Crystal arrived 30 minutes later. They struggled at Ascutney for awhile, but then got much higher than I did 7-8K MSL and arrived to MFP with way more altitude than I did. I guess, they didn't feel like going anywhere that day either. It's nice to have a company on the ground though :-)

Three Sport Twos - Ascutney to Morningside (photo courtesy of Crystal Wolfe)

I didn't set any personal bests with this flight, but it was very satisfying anyway. My first decent flight off Ascutney. For many pilots in New England, Ascutney to Morningside is the first XC. It wasn't the case for me, but I am happy I got this one off my list :-)

---

Flight time : 58 minutes
Point to point distance: 9.5 miles
XC distance: 13 miles

---

Recording of the flight: http://doarama.com/view/764071