One would hope that after a crappy flying season a great flying season was going to be next. But no... Spring of 2018 in New England seems to be a repeat of last year. All high winds and rains were perfectly aligned with the weekends. I tried to work around this nonsense by taking a day off here and there, but work is busy and interesting as well (I am building robots now!), so I cannot just take a day off any time I want to.
Nevertheless, I managed to fly for a few minutes almost every week. Aerotowing at Tanner-Hiller airport and Morningside. Not going into the mountains. Flying is flying. All worries still disappear as soon as I touch the sky.
I am still flying my trusted Sport 2. It so familiar now and so easy to fly that I find myself getting more comfortable flying closer to the terrain, and attempting really low saves. I quickly get reminded that I need to pay more attention though.
An attempt to delay landing at Tanner-Hiller almost put me into the trees. All those years of training kicked - I pulled in, flying fast _at_ the trees so I could clear them. It would be a totally unnatural reaction for me a few years ago. Even now, I had to consciously tell myself to keep pulling in.
.....
The first weekend of June had finally some possibility of XC. East-south-east wind with reasonable (below 10 mph) velocity, and decent thermal index. The only problem - a blue day, no cumulus clouds to mark the lift.
I have never attempted flying west from Morningside. A quick look at the Google maps showed that it was possible to reach Rutland, VT -- 32 miles... or even farther than that. Possible - if you can stay high over all green forests below. Google maps showed a few possible landing options, but not too many. A crazy adventure for sure.
Crystal, Ilya, Bill and I decided to launch around 2pm. That gave us about 3+ hours of best thermal forecast.
I launched first. Found some weak lift, with very strong sink in between. Thermals were broken and punchy below 3000 feet AGL. The progress was very slow. Frustrating.
Crystal launched second, and pinned off low. I kept drifting NW. We wanted to fly XC as a group, so I abandoned my weak thermal, and went SSE toward where Crystal was. She found another thermal and I joined in above her. Very soon she climbed through me and then left in a search of something stronger. Since I wasn't going down, I stayed where I was.
The thermal I was in finally turned into 200 fpm up. Nothing too exciting but respectable. Meanwhile, Ilya got towed up and reported 600 fpm up where he was. I still stayed put a thousand feet below him. Thermals were too broken to go hunting. Bill launched last and he was struggling to get high. Crystal also couldn't find a stronger core anymore. We were getting separated. This wasn't going an easy day....
I noticed Ilya was flying a bit close toward me. Not being sure if our thermaling paths were about to collide I banked hard away from him, briefly noticing that Ilya was gesturing excitedly. I guess, we got too close? He didn't say anything on the radio. I slowly started another circle, while setting up my vario with Springfield airport waypoint. A minute or two later, I looked around, and couldn't find Ilya. Oh, there he was - far in the distance to the NW.
- Ilya, are you going XC?
- Yes.
Hm... Ok. I guess, I am going, too. Time to leave doubts behind and keep my flying buddy a company. I didn't lose much altitude while playing with vario, and Springfield was still on a glide. Here I go.
It was way easier to have another glider in front of you. I saw Ilya losing altitude, and then gaining altitude - another thermal! Now I can definitely make it to Springfield. By the time I joined Ilya in his thermal, he reached TOL and went NNW. I was still another thousand feet below him. Where I was drifting, the terrain kept going up leaving even less AGL altitude to play with. I stayed where I was, trying to make it back to TOL before making another decision.
A few minutes later, I saw Ilya pretty low, turning back toward Springfield. Was he landing? He reported as much. There was nothing to be found NNW.
I finally reached TOL while drifting very close to the hills NW of Springfield. There was a pretty big hay farm right on the other side, right in my flight path (I assumed it was hay by the color of the field). Another glide then. I was a bit anxious about this decision. There were simply no other landing options but that farm.
Midway toward the farm I found another thermal. I slowly drifted toward my new LZ with plenty of altitude to spare. Here I determined two things that I couldn't see from far away - there were electric wires/polls crossing one side of the field, and second - both sides of the field were on an slope. The lower part of the field was not too bad, but my ideal path would be downhill anyway. Not good.
Trying not to think about landing, I was milking that thermal I found. My next possible LZ was a big field closer to Okemo mountain - 5-6 miles out. I couldn't break 4000' MSL and wasn't about to risk gliding over 5 miles of forest. All fields along my path that looked pretty good on Google map, didn't look very inviting from the air.
Eventually, I lost the thermal and couldn't find anything else. Bubbles of air going up here and there, but nothing that could sustain me, or propel me up.
Landing... which way? Upwind downhill? Downwind uphill? None of those seemed like something I wanted to do. While I was waffling, it was time to land. My automatic brain decided to split the difference - landing diagonally to reduce downslope effect but with cross wind. I was over a wrong part of the field for that approach. That got fixed by a diving turn. Not ideal, but worked.... then it was a transition time.... glider started going up! It was either ground going away or I let the glider pop on transition, or both. Images of a hard whack, bent downtubes, and similar fun items started flashing in my brain. I was pulling in as far as I could, but couldn't bring the glider down. I stepped on the basebar and pulled it in with my foot. It worked! Except... while doing this I initiated a turn (weight shift and all). Now images of a hard cartwheel started creeping in... all while my body was automatically in a hard recovery mode. It worked in the last second. Glider's wings leveled out and it stopped with a loud "Fuck!" coming out of my mouth. Saved by the Sport! This glider's handling certainly made it possible. Phew!
I hiked the glider out toward the road, then made a little XC dance. My rescue arrived 5 minutes later! What a day! Flying XC in New England is a crazy thing, especially when TOL is that low. Till next time then, eh?
Flight distance:
12.2 miles launch to landing
Flight visualization:
http://doarama.com/view/2203297
Flight stats:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1981322#
-----------------
PS
Just want to give the thumb up to https://www.livetrack24.com/ site, and an android app that I use on my phone that keep the tracking/flight info updated -> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tony.ttlivetrack24v2.pro The app sends an SMS to a number of your choice with a launch and landing location. It also auto-uploads your tracks to a few popular websites like doarama and leonardo. Pretty neat!
Nevertheless, I managed to fly for a few minutes almost every week. Aerotowing at Tanner-Hiller airport and Morningside. Not going into the mountains. Flying is flying. All worries still disappear as soon as I touch the sky.
 |
| Soaring over Morningside |
 |
| Banking hard near Tanner-Hiller airport |
An attempt to delay landing at Tanner-Hiller almost put me into the trees. All those years of training kicked - I pulled in, flying fast _at_ the trees so I could clear them. It would be a totally unnatural reaction for me a few years ago. Even now, I had to consciously tell myself to keep pulling in.
.....
The first weekend of June had finally some possibility of XC. East-south-east wind with reasonable (below 10 mph) velocity, and decent thermal index. The only problem - a blue day, no cumulus clouds to mark the lift.
I have never attempted flying west from Morningside. A quick look at the Google maps showed that it was possible to reach Rutland, VT -- 32 miles... or even farther than that. Possible - if you can stay high over all green forests below. Google maps showed a few possible landing options, but not too many. A crazy adventure for sure.
Crystal, Ilya, Bill and I decided to launch around 2pm. That gave us about 3+ hours of best thermal forecast.
I launched first. Found some weak lift, with very strong sink in between. Thermals were broken and punchy below 3000 feet AGL. The progress was very slow. Frustrating.
Crystal launched second, and pinned off low. I kept drifting NW. We wanted to fly XC as a group, so I abandoned my weak thermal, and went SSE toward where Crystal was. She found another thermal and I joined in above her. Very soon she climbed through me and then left in a search of something stronger. Since I wasn't going down, I stayed where I was.
The thermal I was in finally turned into 200 fpm up. Nothing too exciting but respectable. Meanwhile, Ilya got towed up and reported 600 fpm up where he was. I still stayed put a thousand feet below him. Thermals were too broken to go hunting. Bill launched last and he was struggling to get high. Crystal also couldn't find a stronger core anymore. We were getting separated. This wasn't going an easy day....
My patience was finally rewarded. I joined Ilya at TOL. We drifted a couple miles NW, crossing Connecticut river. Springfield airport was now on a glide. Should we go? The day was too blue, thermals were too broken. Flying over all those hills and forests didn't seem like a good idea anymore. And what about Crystal and Bill? Crystal radioed that we should press forward without her. Do we want to, though?
I noticed Ilya was flying a bit close toward me. Not being sure if our thermaling paths were about to collide I banked hard away from him, briefly noticing that Ilya was gesturing excitedly. I guess, we got too close? He didn't say anything on the radio. I slowly started another circle, while setting up my vario with Springfield airport waypoint. A minute or two later, I looked around, and couldn't find Ilya. Oh, there he was - far in the distance to the NW.
- Ilya, are you going XC?
- Yes.
Hm... Ok. I guess, I am going, too. Time to leave doubts behind and keep my flying buddy a company. I didn't lose much altitude while playing with vario, and Springfield was still on a glide. Here I go.
 |
| On a glide to Springfield. Ascutney is on the right. |
A few minutes later, I saw Ilya pretty low, turning back toward Springfield. Was he landing? He reported as much. There was nothing to be found NNW.
I finally reached TOL while drifting very close to the hills NW of Springfield. There was a pretty big hay farm right on the other side, right in my flight path (I assumed it was hay by the color of the field). Another glide then. I was a bit anxious about this decision. There were simply no other landing options but that farm.
 |
| Drifting past Springfield |
 |
| Nice view of Ascutney to the north of my position. |
 |
| On a glide into unknown. A lot of forests and hills. Okemo mountain in the distance |
Trying not to think about landing, I was milking that thermal I found. My next possible LZ was a big field closer to Okemo mountain - 5-6 miles out. I couldn't break 4000' MSL and wasn't about to risk gliding over 5 miles of forest. All fields along my path that looked pretty good on Google map, didn't look very inviting from the air.
Eventually, I lost the thermal and couldn't find anything else. Bubbles of air going up here and there, but nothing that could sustain me, or propel me up.
 |
| Thermalling over route 131 in Vermont. A lot of green... |
 |
| Thermal aerobatics over potential LZ. Hoping for a low save... |
 |
| Turning on final |
Flight distance:
12.2 miles launch to landing
http://doarama.com/view/2203297
Flight stats:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1981322#
-----------------
PS
Just want to give the thumb up to https://www.livetrack24.com/ site, and an android app that I use on my phone that keep the tracking/flight info updated -> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tony.ttlivetrack24v2.pro The app sends an SMS to a number of your choice with a launch and landing location. It also auto-uploads your tracks to a few popular websites like doarama and leonardo. Pretty neat!
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