Monday, August 22, 2016

Cloud Street

Another weekend - another 10-ish miles XC flight. Me from 2015 would feel strange to say it, but it seems silly to keep writing about those short flights. And even more interesting question is - why write at all. I am not entirely sure. I find it interesting to reflect on my new experiences. It's a place to put my "flight afterglow" energy.

Back to short flights. So far, each of those short flights is different. I learn and experience something new every time. This flight wasn't an exception.

....

Saturday, August 20th, 2016.

I haven't flown at Tanner-Hiller in more than a month. The forecast for Saturday was nothing exciting, but decent for August in New England - SE wind in the morning switching to S later in the day. 7mph on the ground. Low cloudbase (below 5K), and no strong lift.

My ultimate goal was to fly to Morningside (~67 miles straight line), but a more modest one was to make it to Orange airport (Orange, MA) - ~16 miles. I thought it was doable... if I could get to the cloudbase.

What I like about Tanner-Hiller is that this airport is just an hour away from my house. I can have a late lazy morning, and yet make it to the airport for an afternoon flight.

I was hoping that Crystal and Ilya would join me this time, but they bailed, claiming the wind direction was too cross. It was true, but the wind was light. I have flown at Tanner-Hiller a lot (80+ tows so far), so my tolerance for cross winds there is higher. Plus, I didn't think 5-7mph would make much difference at that location (in my experience anyway). But it is a longer drive for them, so they took an easier option. I can totally relate.

XC wise, I was on my own this time. Less fun, but if day worked - I was game.

When I pulled into the airport, the conditions were indeed too cross to launch safely:

Fine, fine. No more sarcasm. Conditions were perfect. Very light wind, or no wind at all on the ground. Decent looking clouds... maybe a bit overdeveloped so early in the afternoon. Looked like a pretty good day.

I took my time setting up, then went for a sandwich to Cloverhill Country Story (nice place, good people, good food). And finally launched around 1pm.

I stayed with the tug all the way up. With forecast like this, I wanted to have some altitude to play with. Rhett dropped me off at about 4K MSL. Very generous of him. There was lift, but I only made it to 4200 before it disappeared. A bit lower than forecasted, and way lower than the cloudbase.

The day was gearing up to be very challenging. Staying in lift was a lot of work. For the next hour I was jumping from cloud to cloud trying to work my way to at least 4500' MSL before making a go/no-go decision. It was exhausting. I got as low as 1700 MSL twice, and got back up to 3000 MSL. I was not in a mood going anywhere. I actually flew back to the airport for easy and fast landing option.

Meanwhile, south of the airport, dark clouds were forming. I didn't like the look of them, but a couple of other pilots were still under those clouds, I just took a mental note of it - "pay attention. no flying in rain, please".

In the previous post I mentioned that often my go/no-go decisions are impulsive. This time, I pretty much decided that I wasn't going anywhere... until I noticed a "strange" thing. Each time I would turn downwind, I'd get into better lift. Then, slow me (took just an hour), noticed that there was a pretty long cloud street, and I was trying hard to stay on a very edge of it. Interesting... What if try to fly under - it might work. So what if I was low, if this cloud street kept me there, I might even be able to come back if I didn't like it.

I was very tired trying to get to the clouds above me. I didn't like the darkness coming at me from the south, and so at 3500 MSL I set on a glide under that long cloudstreet pointing north.

Tom Lanning told me once that flying under a cloud street it's like riding waves. You go up and down, but on average you either climb or maintain. Indeed. it was just like that. For 4 miles I was flying straight, and slowly climbing up. By the time this cloud street stopped working I was at 4300 MSL, and no silly circling was needed. Way less tiring!

The street continued for a half more mile, and then there was a gap over the forest. I have crossed that forest before, but with much more altitude. I was confident I could cross it again. Wind helping me and all. In retrospect, I am not sure it was the best course of action. That forest below was obviously interrupting the lift line, maybe flying east was a better option. Tunnel vision took over, and I continued straight.

I made it under the clouds on the other side of the forest, but there were only hints of lift. Certainly nothing I managed to stay in. I could see my intermittent goal - Orange airport. It was still another 6 miles away, and even if I was at 4500' MSL, I would need fly over/around yet another forest with no LZs.

A few minutes later, I landed in the exact same spot where Jeff Curtis landed last time. 11 miles point to point. Not too bad...
XC Dance or something...

I carried the glider to the edge of the field I landed in, and barely had a chance to get out of my harness as my phone rang. Rhett was calling to ask how I was doing. A gust front hit Tanner-Hiller 20 minutes after I disappeared, and Rhett was worrying if I got hit by that. All pilots that stayed at the airport scrambled to land. There were some exciting landings. With winds hitting 25mph, 2 pilots on Falcons couldn't make it back to the airport. Everyone landed safely, no serious damage was done. I missed that whole thing completely. The gust front never caught up with me. That's because my Green Sporty is super fast! Right?

Rhett asked me if I needed a retrieval. Of course! Apparently Jeff Curtis also got to the airport after I already launched. He was safely on the ground and more than willing to drive and get me. Awesome! I just finished breaking down my glider as Jeff already pulled in.

What a day! I couldn't have planned it any better, and as usual, I haven't planned it at all. I just wished there were a few more people flying XC with me...

Flight time: 1h 34m
Flight tracklog:

PS

This flight put me over 100 hours of total flight time. It doesn't sound like a lot especially divided by number of years I am flying, but for a weekend flying warrior - it is a pretty good number. 60 of those hours are in the last two seasons. Oh, and every minute in the air feels like an adventure. Immediate. In the moment. Real. 

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