Team Pilot

Soaring

One of the goals I had set for myself was to skyout from 450 foot launch at Morningside. This is not an easy task, and it requires conditions to be just right - a combination of wind and thermals to push you high enough to leave the hill.  Some luck is required, too.

A prize for the lucky ones who gets higher than 1000' from 450' launch - Morningside Team Pilot status... and a t-shirt. Bragging rights - priceless.

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I got to Morningside Friday morning, July 15th. The wind was blowing straight in at around 10mph. It certainly looked like a day to perform that feat. An hour later, I was at launch with Ilya as my wire crew, ready to fly.

The launch was quick and easy, and the Green Sporty was instantly floating 500' above the launch. Great feeling that was... for a minute or two. Unfortunately, there was no passage to higher levels. The next 30 minutes were spent by diving at the trees, bouncing back up, staying between 50' below and 200' above the launch.

Above 450' launch (photo by Ilya Rivkin)

That was my best flight off that little hill since I started flying! However, the hill didn't let go of me this time.

Flight recording (click to play)

Later in the day, I tried my luck with an aerotow. Thermals were elusive, and a 22 minutes sledder was all I could get.

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Skying Out

On Saturday morning, after a breakfast, I took a nap, and finally wandered outside around 11AM. A hang glider was already soaring 1000' above launch. It was Mike Asle in his Falcon. Damn! What was I still doing on the ground?

The Green Sporty was all set up since yesterday, preparation time was short, and we were at the top in no time. That's where things got a little out of hand.

I was standing on launch trying to pick a good cycle, but the flow was a bit cross. Without letting the wing to settle completely, I started running. The left wing dropped. It wasn't flying! I was going for the trees on the left. No time to contemplate the reasons. "Oh, SHIT!", I said once, and instantly switched into a full recovery mode. Pulled nose down more, kept running, trying to get the left wing to fly. Sporty left the ramp, pulling me up just enough, but still moving toward trees on the left. With just enough airspeed the glider finally responded, and rolled to the right.

I lost plenty of altitude, and the next obstacle was a tree line in front of the launch. Pull in more, pull in! I dove at the tree line, got close to it, pushed out, and safely got away from the hill. All that training paid off (diving at the obstacle for airspeed wasn't my natural reaction a few years ago). I was slapping myself for being complacent on launch, and not waiting for the wing to settle.

Here is a video from a camera that was mounted on a downtube. From that angle, the whole thing doesn't look like anything dramatic, and it was certainly very quick.

Anyway, what's done is done. No reason to pile in a poor flight on top of a poor launch. I filed launch technique review for later, and started concentrating on ridge soaring. Going south over 250 launch - nothing. Going back north - maintaining. Turning away from the hill - going slowly up, but not enough to make a 360 deg turn.

After a few minutes of that, turning again away from the hill, I hit something strong. It pushed me right up, 200' above the hill. Outstanding! I made a few complete turns, falling out of the thermal as I was turning back upwind, and finding it again on the downwind side.

I gained 300', and then lost 200', maintaining 100' over the hill. It wasn't a thermal after all, just a bubble.... Back into a search mode.

After searching for a while, I finally hooked a thermal to 1000' above launch. I was all alone now. I wasn't sure where Mike went. Below me, a few other gliders launched, but couldn't get up. It looked like the get-me-out-of-here window has closed. Right place, right time.

I kept going up. Around 2000' MSL air wasn't going up anymore. I set on a glide upwind, in hope to find a stronger thermal, and also to make sure I didn't drift too far behind the hill at low altitude. There are no landing options east of Morningside.

My first attempt didn't produce any result. I lost a few hundred feet, and instead of continue searching to the north-west, turned around and headed for the last known thermal location. It was still there. The same, or a new one. I recharged to 2500' MSL, constantly falling out of the thermal on upwind leg. This thing was tiny.

Another glide. This time going west. Again, no thermals. And again, I turned around as I started losing altitude. I came back to recharge, but found nothing over the hill either. I still had 1000' over the hill, so I figured, I needed to take a longer glide this time. What I got to lose? I had ~1500' above ground level, and I had lower saves than that here. I already had a good flight. Let's go!

I went beyond power lines to the west, with 1000' AGL to spare, I finally hit a thermal. The drift was pretty strong, so I got back where I started in just a couple of minutes, but I also got back to 1500' AGL. Behind the hill, the thermal stopped working once again.

With new found confidence, I again started on a longer glide to north-west. I made it almost all the way to route 12. Getting a lot of zero-sink and some bubbles, but nothing substantial to turn in.

At 1500' MSL, I turned back, but explored to the east first. And I was rewarded with another thermal. This flight already felt like a flight I would have from an aerotow. I was just looking for an elevator up.

This thermal certainly was the best I found so far. I got to 4000' MSL before it started fizzling out. And it made me realize - I was underdressed for this kind of flight. I didn't put any layers on, and my t-shirt wasn't keeping me warm at all. To add insult to injury, my vario started beeping at me sounds I never heard before - LOW BATTERY. Oh, that's nice. It was showing 60% on the ground. <sarcasm>Thank you, Flytec, for such precise battery indicator on your next generation instruments.</sarcasm>

So I wasn't feeling like going on XC, but I wasn't feeling like giving up on this flight either. I had a follow cam to experiment with, so I started playing with that, while gliding back to MFP, and looking for another thermal. The cloudbase was above 5K... I could get a bit higher...

Follow cam shot (or rather dangling camera that is)

I flew over route 12, going as far upwind as I could. At 2000' MSL I found another ride up. This thermal had a chance to warm up a little longer. It was strong and fat. I wasn't falling out of it all the way to 4800' MSL! Mission accomplished!

I was pretty cold, and I was a couple of miles  east of MFP, over the forest. I either had to fly to NE, to have a safe LZs, or come back. Since I decided already that I wasn't going on an XC, I turned back.

Over MFP, with 20% of the battery left, my vario finally shut off. Thanks, Flytec.

It was interesting to discover that all my senses were expecting confirmation from a beeping vario. I was in yet another thermal, but after a few turns, I could tell that I lost it. There was no way for me to stay in it. Oh well, I guess that was it. I boated around for a few minutes, trying to pretend that I could fly up without a vario - I couldn't.  I landed just a few minutes later.

Before I could even get out of my harness, Josh already brought a couple of Morningside Team Pilot t-shirts for me. Then he snapped a picture of a happy pilot. Thank you, Josh!

Happy Team Pilot

What a day!

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Here is a recording of this flight

Tradition

There is an old Morningside tradition - after you fly from Ascutney to Morningside for the first time, your fellow pilots throw you into the pond. I had nothing against the tradition, but when I landed on my flight from Ascutney to Morningside back in May, it was rather cold. I was "spared" at the time. Which I didn't mind either - I just do not like cold weather at all.

So, fast forward to July, for one reason or another,  Max dunking never happened... until now, July 4th. That's the way to celebrate Independence Day!

Dunked. (photo by Mariyan Ivanov)

And here is a video, also shot my Mariyan.

Still flying...

For the rest of the weekend I stayed dry. Got a nice flight from aerotow. The conditions were light and we didn't go anywhere. But I boated around for 1:40. Flew to Claremont and back. Sharing thermals with Crystal and Ilya was fun, too.

Here is the recording of that flight (Davidson Tarufly, a paraglider pilot, also in this recording. He launched from 450 and went on XC flying far).

I also got a chance to try a new camera mount. A follow cam. The video didn't come out the way I expected, but I still have a few ideas on how to improve things.

Camera dangling below me

a snapshot from swinging camera

Thermalling with the follow cam. Needs angle adjustment.

And of course, some fire burning commenced after dark. Tradition, you know...

XC Weekly

It's been only one year as I started flying my Sport 2. The last year was amazing - learning new glider, really learning to thermal, taking all the skills I learned on my Falcon to a new level...  But as far as cross country flying was concerned - I had not done much. I landed out once while doing a triangle. And that was it.

So a "sudden" abundance of cross-country flights, especially in New England, really makes me happy. It's like if, very slowly, I was building something, and then they came, eh?

I got a lot of help from other pilots, of course, and this makes the whole experience even more gratifying. We all share something very special, and having too much fun in the process.

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Ok, now, with self reflection out of the way, I got another awesome cross-country flight. Again from Tanner-Hiller airport.

Another high pressure weekend. On Saturday, Nick Caci,  Jeff Curtis, and I were at the airport, ready for some XC action. Very good forecast for the day (if you believe those things) and cummies were popping up above our heads around noon. The winds were SSE so after a brief discussion, Jeff and I decided to attempt a flight to Morningside - 67 miles away. The wind was very light, below 10mph, so we wouldn't get much help, but if thermals were good - it was doable. The first goal was to get to Orange Municipal Airport (Orange, MA), and then make our way to Connecticut river. After that we could follow the river all the way up to Morningside. There are more landing options (fields) along that route.

Mike Abdullah, who wasn't going to do any XC this day, launched first. When Rhett came back from that tow, he was like "A lot of lift up there. What are you waiting for?". We didn't need anymore encouragement. Jeff launched first, and pinned off rather low, so my wait wasn't long. Very soon I was in a booming thermal myself, pinning off at 1600' AGL.

I saw Jeff getting into my thermal above me. Vario was excitingly beeping at 700 FPM, and clouds were getting closer and closer. Around 6K MSL, I asked Jeff if we were going as planned. Jeff enthusiastically confirmed that he was at cloudbase at 6500, and he was going.

I was still climbing, but decided to fly after Jeff anyway. I left the climb at 6200' MSL and went on a glide slightly below Jeff.

Leaving the cloud. Jeff is ahead of me and 500' above.

Initial glide was still in a climb, but that didn't last long. After losing a couple of Ks, Jeff "stopped" to  recharge, and I also stumbled into a climb just a mile into a glide.

My climb was very weak, but it was there. On the other hand, I saw Jeff climbing much better just a quarter mile away and another 500' above me. I pushed in that direction, hoping that the thermal was still there at lower altitude. And it was there, good and strong. This time I took it all the way to the cloudbase. Jeff left that climb a few minutes before, but I could still see him.

When I left that climb everything was lining up really well - I had altitude, good non-sinking line, and a cloud far ahead.... A few miles later, I had 3000' less of altitude, no lift, and some stretch of forest to cross. While on a glide, I felt a few bumps and my vario beeped at me. I tried to turn in those bumps, but only lost altitude. So when time came to decide if I was up to the task of flying above that forest, I was really hesitant. While there was a bailout field to the right of my course, it would leave very little safety margin if I took that option.

Jeff however, at about the same altitude, was pressing forward. Hm... So be it, I kept going as well. I was really relieved when I stumbled into a weak climb. I was drifting toward fields on NW side of that forest and my safety margin was where I wanted it to be.

I didn't gain much, maybe 600' or so, but combined with slight drift it was enough to get my confidence back. As this climb reduced to zero sink, I set on another glide going NW. It took me over some small town (Petersham, MA). I mentally marked a farm as my potential LZ, and started searching for lift.

Jeff was above me and too far away. I couldn't get into his climb, and had to find something else. However, nothing was working for me. The cloud above didn't have enough oomph to pull me up. Potential ground triggers weren't working. I was fighting until the last turn for the final approach, but it was inevitable - I was landing. Of course, the last 500 feet of my "fight" were above the farm I picked earlier. Easy to reach landing zone. Safety first.

I picked the direction for the final based on my vario information. It didn't look like there was any wind on the ground, so probably any direction would work. I landed with a perfect flare, let Jeff know that I was on the ground, and then did a little XC dance.

Happy XC dance

By the way, this time, I picked a really good field. Flat, big, recently mowed, no obstructions, easy access to a public road. At least I got that going for me.

Jeff reported that he was at 6K MSL, still flying NW. Sigh...  I yet again had a 2-3 climb XC flight that felt more like a short race - 55 minutes airtime. Jumping from a cloud to a cloud is a hard skill to master.

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While I was considering where to break down, an owner of the farm came out to greet me. She yelled from a distance - "Are you stuck?". Hm, I never thought of out landings that way. Yes, yes, I guess, I was stuck. Stuck on the ground while others were still flying :-)

The property owners, Abby and Charlie, were very friendly and welcomed me to land at their farm anytime. I chatted with them for a bit, thanked them for their hospitality, but hopefully, I fly a bit farther next time. It's nice to meet friendly people though. It makes the whole experience so much better.

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I picked a spot with some shade to break my glider down. There was a nice little pond too:

The next order of business was to arrange a retrieval. It is never an easy task when you don't have a prearranged driver. I called Rhett and he found a willing individual. This time it was Noel. Much appreciated!

Noel picked me up in about 40 minutes, and drove me back to Tanner-Hiller. I got into my truck, and picked up Jeff (who landed just 2 miles down the road from me) and then Nick Caci. Nick had XC flight of the day. He landed at Gardner airport, which was another 5 miles farther north. My flight was just under 10 miles. I was joking that there is a magnet installed at 15 miles mark from any launch I take, it pulls me down to the ground before I can cross it.

In any case, it was an excellent day. Not all goals were achieved, but a lot of fun has been had and in a good company too.

Till next XC time...

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Flights: 1

Time: 55 minutes

Point to point distance: 9.3 miles