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.
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| 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.
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| 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...
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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!
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| Happy Team Pilot |
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Here is a recording of this flight
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