First Flight of the Year

Sunday the soaring forecast looked acceptable, the wind was forecast to be high, and it was supposed to be better to the west with lighter winds. I originally had hoped to fly a closed course but after arriving at the airport and feeling the wind, Leah and I re-formulated our plan to go downwind. The towpilot thought I was crazy but gave me a tow anyway. Wind was probably about 20G25 knots. We rigged YYY easily, even though I haven't flown the glider since last July at the 13.5 Meter contest, it was like meeting an old friend again.

Takeoff roll was short. SeeYou says 4-5 seconds from start of roll to takeoff. Bob and I had both estimated where I would be airborne and we both guessed way too far. The souped up 175 towed fast, 9.2 knot average to 2000 AGL where I found some nibbles of lift. However I wasn't really able to get above release altitude and so Leah waited. After working a few thermals, I ran back over the airport to get a good start on my declared task, which was to, I believe, O'Neill Nebraska, just over Diamond Distance to the north. Yes, I believe in unashamed optimism. The Oudie said the wind was 27 knots from about 190 degrees. I found a weak thermal over the airport, got the start, and started rapidly drifting north, directly for Hutchinson. The towpilot was putting the towplane away and I had Mills Field, a local grass strip, easily in range. I still wasn't above release height but told Leah to head out anyway. The thermal finally improved and I climbed to about 4500 feet in it, spending the first 5 miles of the flight circling continuously. I contacted the Hutchinson Tower as I passed over their airspace and found another really good thermal over the Salt Mine parking lot which took me to 5500 feet, which still was not cloudbase. I was starting to think that this could end up being a good day! Directly downwind there wasn't any clouds very close, a more westerly track showed a few wisps but was also the Sand Hills State Park, an area NW of Hutch that isn't very landable. However there was another grass strip showing solidly green on the Oudie and after all I did have hopes of eventually working a bit to the west. Off we went.

Naturally, I could find nothing but sink and was soon low enough that the clouds weren't too helpful. Oh well on we go, towards Huey grass strip and hopefully to my save. A quick radio call to Leah "Struggling east of Nickerson" and I spot the runway. It didn't look particularly wide but the wingspan on the Cherokee is short so I was happy to have an out. I kept finding gusts of wind, getting tricked by sucker thermals, and everything else that happens to me when its windy. Oh well I pressed on towards some open fields to the west. Many of them were planted with winter wheat, which is only a few inches tall right now and would be landable. Some were open dirt though, which of course was preferable. I kept working anything I could find, but the thermals weren't agreeing with me and soon I was on downwind to a dirt patch. About that time I noticed a little standing water in the field and thought maybe that was part of my problem. It had been several sunny days since it rained in this area but apparently not long enough. I prepared for a wet landing but picked a line on the edge of the field that turned out to be very dry and solid. I called Leah, visited with a local who helped with directions, and sat in the glider and waited. Soon she arrived, we packed up, and I was a back at home in Wichita by 4:30 PM. I made it a whopping 18 miles and enjoyed my second landout of the year.

Last year I also made my first flight in the Cherokee for the year on April 21, and also landed out. Perhaps its a sign of good things to come :)

Here is my OLC trace: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2901067

Leah took this picture of me upon her arrival.

Where have you been?

I've gotten that question a few times this winter and I have no good excuse. I guess I've just been busy. I have been working on gliders just not Cherokee II stuff so haven't had a need to post anything. We are restoring a 2-22E in the garage, Matt is working on his SH-1 fuselage, and we've had the Cirrus in and out a few times too. I have been collecting some pictures for an eventual winter summary post so here it is.

First, I'm sad to report that William Ree, the surviving builder of YYY, passed away last summer. His wife Alice sent me a nice card with his obituary and a picture of his headstone. I was just about to mail out the annual report of YYY and my adventures in 2012 when I saw his name listed in the Final Glide section of Soaring. William flew the hump in WWII and he and his brother John went on to build YYY, then the first Cherokee RM (The R is for Ree), N10124, a Tern II which was lost in an unrecoverable spin, and then a Pioneer II. I believe that all of the gliders were built in the space above the shop they had in Philadelphia.

The scale model of 373Y that was built by Al Clark has been sold to John Mears. John added the YYY lettering to the glider in preparation for last years Huntsville Aerotow. I helped him out with the sizing and placement. Looks pretty good! And no, the pilot in the glider is not a scale representation of me. He is much older.

Dick Bean sent me some pictures of a Cherokee RM that he mostly built. At the time he sold it, it was ready to cover, and went to someone in Gresham, Oregon. He is unsure if it was ever completed.

You get a really good look at the internal fuselage and wing structure in these pictures. You can see that the RM uses the same two spar design by has a plywood shear web instead of spruce cross bracing between each rib bay. I believe the RM also has a solid leading edge glued onto squared off ribs and sanded to shape.

Josh Knerr saw this Cherokee fuselage (and maybe a wing too) sitting outside of an A&P school in Vacaville, CA. While the side of the Cherokee is large enough to make a billboard, I do not recommend it be used for this purpose. I have tried to contact some people at the school but never received a reply. If anyone out there might have more info about this glider, please let me know.

Robert Vogt sent me a really nice report on the history of N8079, or at least as much as he was familiar with, being one of the original builders. I'll get its entry updated.






Steve Leonard posted a few pictures of the Leonard Annebula on Facebook. I particularly enjoyed this one. "Waiting for the towplane. Towels can make good air scoops!" he says, a little Kansas wind helps too.

I wrote an article for our club newsletter about the theoretical performance of the Cherokee based on the measured polar vs. what i've actually acheived in flight. It was mildly interesting to see the results and you can read all about it here: http://www.soarkansas.org/vario/2013%2002%20VARIO.pdf

Finally, Chester Mumpower got ahold of me about selling a Cherokee II project that is hanging in his grandpas hangar. I don't know any details about it but can get you in touch with Chester. He is asking $2000 OBO. Here s a picture, I have a few others:

YYY is happily sitting in its trailer, I checked on it the other day. I don't have any big flying plans for it this spring, and I will probably focus my time early in the season on the Cirrus as I'm flying it at the Region 9 conetest in Moriarty in June. There is going to be a Vintage Rally in Moriarty over Labor Day and I plan to fly the Cherokee there.

My club is hosting a Low Performance Contest in July, limited to gliders with Standard Austria SH-1 performance and lower, and handicapped per normal SSA Sports Class Regional rules. I was hoping to fly YYY in that contest but it looks like I'm going to be the CD which will be equally rewarding.

Hopefully it won't be 6 months until my next update!!

Pictures from the Wichita Vintage Rally

A few weeks late but I've finally downloaded pictures that I have from the vintage rally. Of course I didn't actually take any. First up is a bunch from Lee Cowie:

 Leah & I with Kate the Std. Cirrus

YYY being assembled on Friday

Me launching in the NG-1 on Sunday

Hank Claybourn and Neal Pfeiffer with the Starting Line from the 1961 Nationals in Wichita. Hank's dad Marshall helped organize the contest and Neal's Ka-6br "14" in the background was flown in the contest by Fritz Sebek.

John Hardy's Ka-8, being flown by Chad Wille, I believe

Rafael Soldan's Salto

 Jim Short launching in the MG-23

John Wells launching in the Dart 17, it's first flight since the late 1980's

The following are courtesy of Matt Gonitzke:

 Kate on Friday

 Neal Pfeiffer's award winning Ka-2b

 Pete VonTresckow getting ready to take off in YYY

 YYY on tow

 The Dart 17 on tow

 NG-1 Landing

Glider yard sale. I see at least Steve Leonard's ASW-12, Neal's Ka-2b & Ka-6br, the WSA Ka-6cr, and Rafael's Salto

Finally, local ultralight pilot and fly-in traveler Brian Fitzgerald was at the rally on Saturday and got many pictures of the goings on. Here is the blog post he made about the day, Vintage Rally coverage starts about 2/3 down the page: http://fitzvideo.com/sky_surfing/2012/10/05/cottonwood-falls-the-flint-hills-the-sailplane-regatta-and-more-by-brian-fitzgerald/

Sunday at the Wichita Vintage Rally

Well the rally ended today and as far as I could tell everyone who attended had a great time. The soaring weather today, once again, was not too fantastic but it didn't stop many of us from flying. First I must mention a few flights that I missed yesterday. One is that John Wells flew Richard Kirkland's 17 Meter Slingsby Dart. This was the first flight of this plane since the late 1980's and after some pretty extensive inspection work done to comply with the spar AD on this type. John used to be a part owner in this Dart and said that it flew just as wonderfully as the last time he flew it, nearly 30 years ago. Also, at least one flight was made yesterday by Neal Pfeiffer's Ka-2b which has been a regular flyer at the rally here, giving rides to vintage pilots.

Today we started out the morning with Matt, Cory, Pete, and I cutting down 3 dead birch trees in my yard. We arrived at the gliderport about Noon and concocted a plan. Matt & Cory were headed back to Iowa in the 150 so I planned to fly the NG-1 and Pete once again flew YYY. Other flights today included Dave Schuur and Jim Short in the MG-23, John McMasters in his Grob Std. Astir, Matt Gonitzke & Charles Pate in the WSA Ka-6CR, Neal Pfeiffer in his Ka-6BR, as well as flights made by the local Grob 103 and Neal's Ka-2b. Duration of over an hour was a pretty good flight, most were less I think.

The primary task as the afternoon wore on was de-rigging gliders. I had a handful with the Cirrus, NG-1, and Cherokee. I also helped Rafael get his Salto back in the trailer. We had a great time visiting with everyone who came up for the rally, we had a really strong out of town presence this year that was very nice. I'll be spending most of the week re-arranging trailers back to their rightful spots and generally recovering from the rally.

Leah and I are the new VSA T-Shirt mongers so if you're looking for new threads featuring your favorite vintage sailplane let me know. Nothing featuring the Cherokee II...yet.

I'll try to get some pictures from the rally up in the next few days.

Saturday at the Wichita Vintage Rally

Well we had another great day here in Wichita. A few new arrivals today as Scott Williams arrived from Oklahoma City, sans his SHK, Matt Michael & his friend Cory flew down from Iowa in Matt's 150, Rafael brought out his Salto with its nice new canopy and Steve Leonard arrived to display his ASW-12 which was quite the attraction to those ground-bound.

The morning started out with some presentations including Jim Short talking about the glider operations at Soaring 100, Matt Gonitzke showed some slides of his Std. Austria restoration, Neal Pfeiffer discussed operations at the gliderport and some specifics for us to avoid the airshow traffic down at McConnell Air Force Base today, and Harry Clayton finished up with a discussion about some repairs he's been working on.

Flying was slow to start with some high cirrus overhead not being too encouraging. Jim Short launched first in his new-to-him MG-23 and got a good flight in of over 2 hrs I'm sure. Chad Wille flew John Hardy's Ka-8, Matt Gonitzke flew the WSA Ka-6, I flew the Std. Cirrus, Pete VonTresckow flew my Cherokee II (YYY) and Matt Michael launched in my NG-1. Some fell out immediately and others had good soaring flights. I made it to 4500 MSL and got in just over an hour. Matt M and I had a lot of fun thermalling together. There were also flights made by the local clubs Grob and Lark and maybe a few others that I didn't notice.

Those of us who managed to stay up for a bit got a chance to see the airshow going on down at McConnell. I saw the Thunderbirds a few times doing their passes and otherwise a whole lot of smoke.

Harry & Sue organized the cookout tonight with some venison burgers supplied by Bob Holiday taken from the airport. Everyone had a great time and we enjoyed watching a bunch of old and new glider videos.

More tomorrow, hopefully Dr. Jack is wrong and we can get some better conditions.

Friday at the Wichita Vintage Rally

Well we had a great day today here in Wichita. Most gliders arrived yesterday and about 25-30 people attended the cookout we had here at the Condon house last night which was a lot of fun and a great way to open the Rally. This morning we awoke to 200 foot ceilings and fog but I pulled the Std. Cirrus out to the gliderport where Hank Claybourn helped me rig. Hank and I were planning to do his flight review in the morning, once the clouds lifted.

The main task for the day was rigging and by 3 PM we had the Cirrus and the Cherokee II assembled, Richard Kirlkland and John Wells had assembled the 17 meter Dart, Matt Gonitzke and Pete had gotten the WSA Ka-6CR from Sunflower and rigged it, Jim Short's new-to-him MG-23 was together and John Hardy had arrived and rigged his Ka-8. Hank and I finally launched shortly before 3 on his flight review. Cloud base was low but there was lift EVERYWHERE, especially on our second flight. We were running at 70 mph on NE/SW lines for about 4 miles each direction and not losing altitude. It was great fun! John Hardy launched in the Ka-8 to join us and Neal Pfeiffer flew his award-winning Ka-2b with a passenger, Dave Ochsner I think.

Right after Hank and I landed I started quickly getting YYY ready to launch about the time it started sprinkling, which literally washed John & Neal out of the sky. All the gliders got a nice bath too, at least all that were sitting outside. The rain lasted for about 30 minutes which was long enough for me to decide not to fly after all, and we managed to squeeze everything in the hangar. Dinner was a local mexican place and lots of fun was had by all.

There are a lot of people here just visiting, without gliders, which really reinforces the always strong social aspect to a vintage glider meet. Lee & Dave from Lawrenceville drove over with Jim Short, Chad Wille is down from Iowa, Mike Weatherford & Hank Claybourn & Jim Duea & Steve Hard are all visiting from Oklahoma. Mike passed his Commercial Glider checkride last night, congrats to him!

Last I looked the soaring forecast is looking good for tomorrow and we'll have a few more attendees and a few more gliders too. I'll try to get a report up in the evening, I'm sure there will be some attempts for those coveted VSA coins to report.

Picture of N72DG

Dean Gradwell sent along this awesome picture of N72DG turning final at Montague. He'll be hosting a vintage/classic rally there over 4th of July weekend next year and it should be a good time. Not sure if I'll be able to make it but hopefully I can take YYY. We'll have to see.

Plans are coming together nicely for the vintage rally here in Wichita. Matt & I have been working nightly on his Std. Austria and the wings should be painted and all the parts will be assembled in time to be on display for the rally. YYY will be there flying as well as the NG-1. We're also expecting a couple 1-26's and some other vintage and classic gliders. I'll be posting updates here!

Updates and Wichita Vintage Rally!

Well I've had a few conversations lately that deserve an update here. We had a good time in Uvalde although stayed busy enough that I didn't get time to write much up. Seeing the Concordia up close and personal as well as all the other new racing gliders was quite a sight. I'm not sure how I'll deal with seeing the short span of YYY the next time its out of the trailer after spending the week with Open Class gliders.

Al Clark sent me the following picture of N4937C. He saw this glider in the hangar at Eagleville, TN when he first started flying gliders and eventually went on to own N4182 with John Chapman.

I also received an email from someone who is trying to sell a Cherokee II project. Their Dad has had it for several years, hanging in his garage, and come to the conclusion that they won't have time or energy to finish it. I'm still working on getting details but if you are interested let me know and I'll get you in touch. It is located in Wisconsin.

Finally I checked in with Greg Pelfrey and they are still working on restoring N3393, an RM in West Virginia. As often happens, some other projects have gotten in the way but hopefully this winter they can get the glider finished up and back in the air for the spring.

Finally, the Vintage Sailplane Association's annual rally here in Wichita is coming up at the end of September. Please contact me at abcondon@gmail.com if you are interested in attending. Bring your glider or if you don't have one just bring yourself. We'd like to see as many people there as possible! I'll definitely have YYY and the NG-1 there, and probably Kate the Std. Cirrus. As we did last year I think Leah and I will have a cookout at our house on the Thursday night before the rally for any early arrivals, then you can see how slow the progress has been on 4653T. Speaking of, Matt is nearly finished with his Std. Austria, the fabric is back on the wings and tail surfaces and painting will probably begin next week. It has now cooled off to the point where it is bearable to work outside so we should be back to work on 53T once that project is finished.

Uvalde Day 1

Well this isn't exactly Cherokee II related but I'm in Uvalde, TX this week for the World Championships. Matt & I arrived yesterday evening and we both had a great time watching the first day of competition. The gliders here are amazing and on top of that I've enjoyed just one days worth of visiting with new and old friends that I've seen so far.  I did get a chance to have a good visit with George Applebay, who built one Cherokee II, with Mickey Jensen, in Wichita back in the late 50's. I believe that one was N7616B. Of course George went on to bigger and better things, notably designing the Zuni 15 meter racing glider. He also built a modified Cherokee II with a 15 meter wingspan. He told me that it is now hanging in a school south of Albuquerque.

Also saw Ritz who is doing the contest reporting for Soaring Cafe as well as Bill Elliot (WE) who is flying his 18 meter JS-1 for the US Team. He hooked me up with a Soaring Cafe bucket hat to replace my old one which was nice of him. It started off the day nice and white but with all the blowing dust here by the end of the day it was a light tan. By the end of the week I'm sure it will be completely brown.

After the launch we met up with club-mate Steve Leonard who is crewing for his brother Dave (ZL) in the 15 meter class. With him we ended up back down by the US Team trailers which was a great vantage point to watch the action once gliders started coming back. The weather on course was tough with some rain build ups in the task area and the sea breeze all influencing to shut the day down early. This did not help the US Team any as 4 of the 6 pilots were scored as landouts. Ron Tabery (SS) was able to use his motor to still make it home but everyone else ended up at airports I believe. Dick Butler (DB) was aero towed home in the Concordia and we all were happy to help his crew get it tucked in for the night. What a glider!

Finishers were Bill Elliot and Dave Leonard. Dave said he spent about an hour trying to make it the last 10 miles to the finish. But, he finished!!

More tomorrow if I get time.

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Day 7

Well the contest finished off with a great day of soaring. CD Jim was faced with a dilemma this morning as there is always pressure to make sure everyone gets home for the closing banquet but the top spots in both the 13.5 Meter and 1-26 contest were pretty tight. He set us up with a 2.5 hr TAT that went down to the south with a big circle and then back up to the east of TSA, a steering point at Maypearl, and home. We gridded early, at 11:30, with hopes that we could get started early. The forecast was showing that the skies would blue out later. This would also allow any landouts to get back in time for the festivities. Unfortunately the sniffer report wasn't too great and we ended up launching just a little before our normal time. It went well though and the task opened quickly. Luckily we were towards the back of the grid so it was a short wait before the start and I found a few good climbs. I started good and high out the side of the circle and was on my way.

Out on course there were once again several mini-streets that made working into the wind relatively easy. Just south of the start circle I picked up a thermal with Glenn in 508 and Jacob in 430. We worked together a bit and Glenn and I headed out together towards Hillsboro. I had fun flying with him as we both tried different lines and more or less kept up with each other. However as we approached Hillsboro we both found a distinct lack of good thermals, or our standards were too high and we both ended up low east of town. I remembered my days of flying with the Silent Knights in Ames, IA and headed for the Wal-Mart parking lot where I found about 1 knot up. 1 knot was OK for the moment. I saw Glenn up around the north side of town circling and cheered him on, hoping he would be able to dig out too. At 2000 feet, for some reason, I decided to either be a hero or a zero and pressed upwind another mile or so for a nice dirt field that was getting a lot of sunlight. Luckily it was putting out about a 3 knot thermal and I dug out without too much trouble.

Back up high I managed to generally stay that way as I got to about the middle of the first circle. I wanted to go as far as possible into the first circle so that I wouldn't have to make up any more distance in the 2nd one and put myself downwind of TSA. I was doing good, I found a great climb over Hillsboro on my way back and couldn't help but notice that Glenn had landed out in the field I had picked out! He and 508 were just fine and this was his first honest to goodness land out in a real field. He had 'landed out' the rest of the week at airports, often getting an aero retrieve home. He did a good job but it was a bummer that he didn't make it around the task.

Somewhere after Hillsboro I managed top out at 6000 feet and was starting to get on the edge of a final glide. I just needed one more good thermal. I kept finding lift that would get me a little bit closer but never anything that would positively put me over the edge, and my max altitudes were starting to trend down. I nicked the 2nd circle and headed for Maypearl, still about 400 or so feet under final glide. I worked some weak lift and got that up to 100 under for a little while. I nicked Maypearl and turned downwind for TSA. Things were looking a bit grim for a while but I found some weak lift around 1000 feet and was able to drift a little closer to the airport while climbing slightly and made a good finish and had a comfortable pattern and landing. We de-rigged quickly and headed for the hotel to clean up for the banquet

YYY just landed with 428 on short final

The PW-5 guys dominated, with Francois winning the contest and Bill Snead in 2nd and Pat Tuckey in 3rd. 1-26 scores aren't final yet so we'll find out at the morning breakfast who the top 3 were. We enjoyed the banquet and the company. I presented Francois with the James LeSueur Trophy for his win. It is presented every year to the top finisher at the Region 10 contest, and the 13.5 Meter Super Regionals were the only contest this year in Region 10.

The Podium, (L to R), Bill (2nd), Francois (1st), Pat (3rd)

Francois receives the LeSueur Trophy

Tomorrow morning we have the 1-26 breakfast and awards, then we'll get two new tires for YYY's trailer and head for Wichita. It's been a great contest but I think we'll all be happy to be back home. I'm not sure what my plans are for YYY the rest of the season. The NG-1 needs some attention and "Kate" the Standard Cirrus needs to be flown too. I'll certainly have it out for the Vintage Rally at the end of September if not before.

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Day 6

Team YYY is back to full force now since Amy has returned from her weekend in Austin. We got to the airport early and had YYY ready to fly in record time. 

Today Daniel's weather report indicated much improved conditions. We all were hopeful that he was right. Bill Snead told us how he beat us all on Day 5.  He thought the cloud line I saw was a dew line, which is a common Texas phenomenon. I'm embarrassed that I didn't recognize it, as there was significantly lower cloudbases to the East. I should've known to stay on the high side of the line. Oh well. Tom McKnight in PW-5 "67" made the same mistake and we had nearly identical flights. I think we landed within 2 miles of each other.

The good news was that the weather today was looking good and we were given a 3 hr TAT. I was excited for a longer task as it would give us a good chance to rack up some more miles and have more time to recover from mistakes! I was on the front row of the grid but the launch with smooth with only 2 relights I think and I started off soon after the gate opened with a pretty good start.  The run upwind to the first circle generally went well. The only problem I had was that teenager Daniel Sazhin was running away from me in 1-26 #428. I couldn't stand to watch it anymore so I turned down a slightly different land and followed Tom for a bit in 67.  We found a good line of clouds and I decided to go deep into the circle so that I could avoid needing to build up distance in the last one.  Before the start the clouds to the west had looked pretty lousy and I didn't want to have to count on it still working there at the end of the day.

I got down to nearly Hubbard when I found a good climb back up to cloudbase which was a great opportunity to head back north, downwind. I was aiming for Ennis or so which was in the middle of the circle. I found a few more good lines and with the wind at my back didn't really have too many problems going north. I got to the south side of the lake by Ennis and turned back crosswind for the last circle. 

The only real lousy low point in the flight occurred about half way to the last circle as I got below 2000 AGL near Italy. I noticed that 215 was sitting in a field east of Italy as I was dropping down around 1500 feet. I found a weak thermal that averaged .8 knots and I climbed in that back up to around 2000. Then, thankfully, I saw a bird just to the west. A short run of maybe a mile and I was in a 5 knot thermal that took me to cloudbase! Whew! Of course I lost a lot of time with this little excursion. While I was there 215's crew showed up and I heard Jacob in 430 land out south of Italy right next to I-35E. I was really happy to be in the air and from there just did everything I could to stay high. I generally stayed above 3000 MSL for the rest of the flight and tried my best to stay above 4000.

I got to the last circle and sure enough it was blueing out to the west. Thankfully I could stay on the east edge of it and run to the town of Hillsboro to get my distance. From there it was somewhat blue back to TSA but there were a few clouds just north of the Hillsboro airport. I saw Mel in 97 in the last circle and was excited to see him make it that far. I also saw Tom in 67 again, as I had many times during the flight. With the climb north of Hillsboro I made final glide according to the Oudie. I needed 19:1 to make TSA at 500 ft and had about a 15 mph tailwind.  I managed to do better than that and had it down to 14:1 and finished about 800 feet, 6 or 7 minutes over time. Perfect!

Most people made it back, i think 215 and 430 were the only landouts. A few did come back early but most people made it around the entire task. We were happy to see Glenn Fisher make another finish in 508. He is having a great first contest. Daniel Sazhin the Condor Wunderkid won the day. This is his 2nd day win for the 1-26 contest and his first day win in the 13.5 meter contest. He enjoyed not only finishing the task but also landing back at TSA after the finish!

Tomorrow is the last day of the contest and then we will drive back home on Thursday. We'll need to get some new tires for the trailer as it is running on the spare at the moment. My Day 3 (I think) landout in the pasture managed to wreck the left tire on the trailer. Not a huge deal though since those tires are well past their expected life, they've got a lot of good miles on them.

The banquet tomorrow is at 6 PM and i hope to get a report up after that but before bedtime. Talk to you then!

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Day 5

Leah and I were out to the field early to rig after a very relaxing rest day.  We did attend a dinner at the airport and the following 1-26 Association annual meeting last night. Other than that we didn't do a darn thing and it was great. The area was hit with heavy rain about 4 PM and by it all cleared around 6 they had gotten 1.9 inches of rain at TSA.

There was still a lot of mud on the field and I don't think anyone was really optimistic about getting a flying day in. We knew it was a bad sign when the PW-5 pilots were hooking up their trailers before takeoff, not just the 1-26'ers and us.

Task for the day was a 2hr open ended MAT, with just a final steering point. There was plenty of preflight discussion about general strategy, rules, etc. Grid time was set for 1 PM.

The launch actually went surprisingly well, with only one relight. The task opened and I headed east because the clouds looked good that way. I headed initially for the Waxahachie Dam but then continued on to Ennis as it appeared there was a line of building clouds out that way headed to the southwest. I intended to turn along that line and make great time down to perhaps Italy or another turnpoint in that area. I was making great time on the way to Ennis and it was on the edge of a shadow but I felt confident that I could get back to the sunlight with plenty of altitude to find some lift.  Famous last words!

Initially after Ennis I turned into the wind and started dropping like a stone until I crossed the lake and was over the Flying O airport which happened to be a turnpoint. From there I headed more or less due west towards Shank airport and into the sunlight. I was getting lower and lower but headed towards a huge open cut wheat field which seemed to me like it should be a great thermal generator. Unfortunately it was not but it did make a good landing site. It was right next to a paved road with no fence or gate or anything. The ground was soft but not too soft and we were able to get the trailer in.  We were back to the airport in plenty of time for supper.

So after todays lawn dart I am down to 7th overall. There were several 1-26's who were either well under time or just got distance points so the day was devalued at least. Tom McKnight in PW-5 "67" also landed out.

Last I saw the blipmaps were looking great for Tue and Wed so hopefully we can finish off the contest with some awesome flights!

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Day 4

This morning we awoke to blue skies.  Since YYY had spent the night assembled we slept in a little and enjoyed breakfast next door with Pete Vredenburg who flies 483 "Bulldog". Pete and I spent a lot of time flying Condor together this winter online and it has been really nice to meet him in person. We once again gridded at noon for an immediate launch. The task today was shortened to 2:15 with circles first east to Ennis (10 miles) then down to West (20 miles) and then Itasca (5 miles) and Maypearl (2 miles) and back to TSA. I think we all were happy to see that the wind was lighter than any of the previous days once we got going. YYY was at the back of the grid today so that was nice.

I had trouble finding any truly good lift in the start circle, doing some gaggling with several 1-26's, PW-5, and with local Tim McAllister in EY. I still wasn't able to get much above 4000 but the gate was open so I worked my way East. Right at the edge of the circle I think I finally got my first climb better than 2 knots and headed out to the north of Waxahachie.  I went to the Northwest edge of the first circle, as close as I wanted to get to the Class B and then turned downwind for the 2nd circle. The lift, and speed, was increasing although I had one real low point as I passed south of Waxahachie.  I dug out though and found a good 6 knot thermal up a little higher that helped make up for the weak lift I had to take down low.  After that I managed to generally stay above 3500 and usually 4000. Max altitudes were around 5500.

I ran into the 2nd circle until I was south of Hillsboro. The Oudie was figuring me 5 minutes over time and I had never been able to make up time into the wind all week and didn't expect to this time either. Of course as I started back I kept encountering stronger lift than expected and the time started going away.  I maxed out my distance in the Itasca circle and was back to about even. Then I managed to find a line of lift which allowed me to run for 13.6 miles straight into the wind at 69:1!!  Then a quick thermal and I had final glide and was definitely going to be under time, even with going to the back of the Maypearl circle. Oh well nothing I can do about it so I bombed away at 70-80 mph with about a 15:1 angle required to make the finish at 500 ft. I got a little worried for a few seconds on the way from Maypearl but caught a patch of lift and was back above glideslope.

I heard Jim Lamb finish in JL and could see another 1-26 out in front of me which I was pretty sure was Daniel Sazhin in 428. There was at least a K-21 in or near the pattern and perhaps another. It was difficult to hear the radio clearly with all the noise in the pattern. Anyway I heard one of the gliders on downwind comment that they had the glider on final in sight. I replied that there were 3 gliders on final as it appeared to me that the 1-26 was landing straight in and so was I. Jim was on short final. About that time the 1-26 stopped moving! Daniel had landed in the field just short of the airport! Heartbreak! I lined up to land as a 1-26 turned base and we ended up landing side by side while an ASK-21 landed behind us.  Exciting times at the airport.

Daniel had a blazing fast flight and did at least get a good finish for the 1-26 Championships, which has no minimum finish height. Later we heard Glenn in 508 call 4 miles and he coasted home for his 2nd finish of the contest. Milt Moos (578) and Len  Root (215 Team) were the only other landouts.

Our Scorer Terry was the sniffer today and he ended up landing out in his ASW-27B so he was late getting back to the clubhouse. He did get several of us finishers files but the scoresheet was still a mess when I left for supper, so we'll just have to watch the website or wait until Monday to know how our flights compare.

Tomorrow will be a rest day, our only plans at the moment are to sleep in. YYY is tucked away in its trailer and ready to get back to racing on Monday!

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Day 3

Well we awoke this morning to a thick blanket of fog in the area. Some of my best soaring days have happened on foggy mornings so I was optimistic.  Amy is gone now so Leah and I were back to our old ways of rigging with the two of us, which still went quickly and we were finished before it got too hot. No one mentioned at the pilots meeting that it was Friday the 13th. but we did hear form Francois and Kevin about how they won the day on Day 2. Daniel showed that the forecast was pretty optimistic but he was not quite as optimistic.

Hank Claybourn on the grid providing good luck

We gridded at noon again and started the launch by 12:30, it was our turn at the front of the grid so we were in the first wave. Thankfully the gate was opened a lot earlier today, at 1:20 I think, and I was off shortly after that, but not without some trouble. I got low enough down by Maypearl before the start that I couldn't make it back to TSA, this was about the time the gate opened I think, but thankfully I managed to find a thermal and climb back up to a semi-respectable altitude and with some gaggling help from Glenn in 508 I was on my way.

On the Grid

I decided that I did not want to go west of a line down the center of Lake Whitney. That caused nothing but trouble yesterday so I went to the Southeast edge of the first circle and then headed NW towards the east edge of the second circle.  I had no real problems with only one semi-low point near Hillsboro and had black vultures marking most of the cores. I was generally able to find pretty good climbs.  As I got to the second circle the computer was showing me about 5 minutes under time but based on the last few days experience I figured I would be OK.  I saw John Barr in 215 in a thermal and we worked one together as I drifted a little more into the circle and got good and high before the run into the wind to the finish.

What happened on this leg made me feel like a real 1-26'er. After leaving the thermal with 215 I stumbled upon Glenn again in 508.  He marked a thermal ahead for me and we climbed together and then we both ran for the next one and worked it together.  I was really encouraged to see Glenn on the final leg home since he's had a few short flights, landing out at nearby airports on his way out on the first leg.  I left our second thermal with best wishes for the rest of his flight. Then lo and behold I see Tom Barkow ahead in 264 marking the next thermal. We climbed together and I stuck in the thermal a little longer than Tom who left above me.  By the next thermal I was now above him and he was once again marking it for me. Thanks Tom! We climbed up once again.  Our route was taking us out of the way of the direct course line for Maypearl but it was the only way to stay under clouds. After leaving Tom I couldn't believe it but there I see yet another 1-26 ahead marking a thermal for me again. This time it was Bill Vickland in 238. I got to the first thermal just as he was leaving and climbed up, only needing a few thousand more for a nice steep final glide.  He again marked the next one which gave him and eventually  me final glide. He finished a few minutes ahead of me.  It was really unbelievable to have a 30 mile run with a 1-26 marking each thermal along the way! Thanks guys!

I started final glide with only needing to make a 14:1 angle to get to the finish. I spent most of it running at least 70 mph and sometimes 80 or a bit faster just to get down. At one point I had been running 75-80 and hitting so much lift that I was doing 19:1 over the ground!!!  I got to the Maypearl circle and extended just a bit to burn off a little more altitude and get a little more distance, then turned for TSA. I finished at about 800 feet and continued to hit lift as I entered the pattern to land.  It was a great flight!

At that time just Bill and I had finished and we knew that Cathy had landed out in 97.  Kevin in 192 had once again gotten a really late start and I was worried about him considering the huge blue hole I had seen on course. I was keeping an eye out for 264, 508, and 215 since I had seen them working their way home.  215 landed a little after I did and pretty soon we heard from Tom in 264 too. He made it back but had to skip the Maypearl turnpoint so just got distance points.  Daniel was waiting for Ron to finish in 428 and just a few moments after Leah and I informed the retrieve desk that we would be happy to crew for Glenn in 508 if necessary we heard him call 4 miles! We all ran out to watch him come in and land and greeted him at the runway with congratulations on his first career contest finish.

Daniel with Glenn (508) after his finish

Eventually Ron, Bob Hurni (190), Pat Tuckey (4K), and Bill Snead (6W) finished, Bill being the last one in. We heard that Kevin had landed out and Tami headed out to get him.  After the last few days, only having 2 landouts was quite a success! Hopefully we can continue the trend for the rest of the contest. Here is todays flight: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2551731

YYY tied down and ready for another day of racing

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Day 2

Well today was a tough day for Team YYY. We gridded at noon and started the launch shortly after. The start gate opened at 2:10 and I was off immediately.  Amy was catching a flight to Austin for the weekend so Leah took her there once they saw that I was off.  I made great time to the first circle in Hillsboro and went west past the airport before I turned Northwest towards a big huge 2nd circle.  I had some more trouble running crosswind which is typical for me and had one good low save around some mining areas north of Lake Whitney. I found a good core with a couple of black vultures and took it up to 5000 feet. I was feeling pretty good again and paid extra attention to staying high. I ran into the second circle until the computer was predicting me at about 10 minutes over and turned back.  Well history was repeating itself again as all the sudden all I could find was lift. The landout options in the area were not as good as closer to TSA with lots of trees, mining areas, and a few pastures interspersed. I kind of hopped from one field to the other, spent a lot of time working 1 knot lift just trying to stay aloft, and creeped along as best as I could trying to stay alive. There was a big blue hole ahead that would have to be circumvented too, just to complicate things.

Eventually it was time to give up and I had two fields under me. One unoccupied cow pasture and a hay field with bales. To me the hay field seemed to have better access so I started to set up an approach for it.  However I did a lousy job of setting up the landing, ended up way high and knew I wasn't in a position to fly an accurate enough approach to go between the bales so I side stepped over to the pasture. Leah was, at the time, stuck in traffic in Dallas but after some walking I managed to get ahold of someone at the house and all was well. Leah got some help from Hank Claybourn who came out on the retrieve and by about 7:30PM we were out of the field. We stopped for Ice Cream and supper at the Dairy Queen on the way home and the trailer was tied down by sunset.

There was no one left at the field when I got home but it appeared that a lot of the 1-26's landed out, many of them got aero retrieves home.  I'm not sure how my distance will compare but we'll find out in the morning. It looks like Francois was the winner again today and Kevin Anderson, 192, managed to make it around even after he took a really late start. This is a great rebound for him after a real bummer of a day yesterday. I'm sure we'll have some great stories in the morning. We'll be up early to rig.  Here is a picture of me and YYY in our pasture today.

Todays flight: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2551046

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Day 1

Well Day 1 is history and it was an interesting one. We woke up this morning to overcast skies and a generally pessimistic forecast. Still the possibility of unlimited development if it got hot enough and a forecast temperature of somewhere between 87 and 95 degrees depending on which weather guesser you believed. Daniel Sazhin, our weatherkid for the contest was on the pessimistic side but perhaps that was because it wasn't his day to fly #428, he was leaving that to team-mate Ron Schwartz.  We decided to grid at 1PM.

The sniffer struggled at first and launch was delayed but eventually everyone was up and interestingly no one landed for a relight until the entire grid had launched. Unfortunately though there was something like 6 relights, including one pilot twice. Conditions were weak and it was tough to get two good thermals in a row before the start. I got lucky at 1500 AGL just west of the airport and caught a good one just as the gate was opening. Off I went to the west, gaggling with Bob Hurni (190), Tom Barkow (264), and Pete Vredenburg (483 Bulldog) along the way.  The 1-26's kept heading west but I turned more southwest down towards Lake Whitney.

It seemed to me that it was fairly blue back towards TSA but further to the south there were more clouds so I decided to continue running south-ish until it looked like I had a good line back. I also wanted to get to the point where I would be solidly over time because I felt that I would be able to make decent speed back into the wind using streets and the like and make up some time.  I was doing very well going downwind and was averaging 53 mph when I finally turned back.

I saw Francois Pin out by Lake Whitney, on his way back to TSA. He commented after we landed that I was headed the wrong direction :) He managed to find some great lines and smoked us around the course.  Running back into the wind was very challenging for me and for the 1-26er's as I started to hear more and more land out chatter on 123.3.  The first landout had occurred right after the start opened and more and more gliders were getting collected.  From the sounds of things the retrieve desk and clubhouse in general were an exciting place to be.

On the way back the only glider I ever saw was Ron Schwartz, 428 Team, just northeast of Itasca. I was taking a thermal for everything I could get, he took a few turns and continued on. I was sure that I was going to see him in a field somewhere along the way but sure enough he made it home.  Perhaps he really does have some magic in those wings.  I made it to the final steering point, Maypearl, without enough altitude to comfortably make TSA. I needed a few hundred more feet to be able to get a good finish at 500 feet. I could see Bill Vickland (238) in a field just a few miles from the finish and I thought I was going to join him! I had the Leger private airport in range and it seemed I was just on the edge of a straight in landing at TSA, but I needed to be at 500 feet 1 mile out to get a good finish. I managed to find a few puffs of weak thermals along the way and squeeked in at 600 feet and comfortably made a straight in landing.  What a flight!

Turns out there were about 5 of us that finished the task, including 2 1-26's.  Milt Moos (578) wasn't sure if he was going to make the finish until just a mile or two before and was very pleased to make it.  Francois (FP) showed us all how it was done, beating me by 5 handicapped mph. I'm sure tomorrow morning we'll get plenty of good landout stories. When we left the club house this evening many were still out on retrieves. Supper this evening was full of interesting stories about retrieves gone good and bad.

Weather is supposed to improve from here on out so hopefully we'll have more finishers and fewer landouts as the days go on.

Todays flight: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2549959

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Practice Day 2

The weather forecast this morning wasn't too optimistic with our weatherman Daniel predicting major thunderstorm development and the National Weather Service pretty much backing that up. We had a lot of rain overnight too so I was generally feeling not so wild about flying. It seemed to me that it would be a weak day of running away from storms, likely landing out, and generally wearing out Leah, Amy, and I before the contest started. So YYY stayed in its trailer and I just hung out at the clubhouse all day.  There were about 6 or so that did fly, including an Apis, a few PW-5's and several 1-26's. It was hard to stick for the first few who launched and not many people ventured out. CD Jim did put together a TAT and Cathy Williams in 1-26 #96 did fly it. Unfortunately she landed out although I think that the 96 Team of Cathy and Mel have gotten that out of their system. Mel landed out yesterday, preferring to land elsewhere than come back to TSA in the middle of a rainstorm. Others mainly flew locally, I heard cloudbase was around 3500 although it seemed to lift later in the day. Jim Lamb in his Silent 2 was the last to land and we enjoyed a yummy chicken dinner and the safety meeting.

Leah and Amy took advantage of my voluntary no-fly day by making a shopping trip to Dallas.  I did get some wiring fixed on the trailer so all the lights are working again. We'll be up early to rig and be ready for the contest day tomorrow. 

13.5 Meter Super Regionals Practice Day 1

We arrived on Sunday here at TSA for the 13.5 Meter Super Regionals/1-26 Championships.  The weather forecast was a bit iffy today with pretty much a guarantee for blowups later in the afternoon.  We had a practice pilot meeting and a practice task so we could practice flying and the scorer could practice scoring. The task was a 2.5 hr MAT with mandatory first turn at Luscombe Acres and final steering point at Maypearl.  I took off first around 1:30. Conditions near the airport were iffy because of some higher cloud cover but I found a small climb and then found a good climb near the edge of the start circle by Maypearl.

I was really  happy to have a MAT as I've only ever flown one before and it was good to have the practice.  There are a ton of close in turnpoints which turned out to be a bit too tempting as I started picking up a bunch of turnpoints without really building up much distance.  I was out in cloud-land while TSA still seemed to be in a big hole so I did my best to pick a direction that seemed to have good clouds and a turnpoint. I got just west of the Interestate and then did a couple North/South runs between Grandview and Hillsboro airport.  I had an awesome sort of low save at Itasca, finding a thermal off town that strengthened from 2 knots to a 7 knot average at one point. After getting back to Hillsboro the Oudie was still showing me about 4 minutes under but there were a few clouds sort of in the direction of TSA and I had heard Daniel Sazhin and Kevin Anderson call that they were landing.  I was starting to wonder about making it home and decided that 4 minutes under wasn't too bad. I found a good climb to cloudbase east of Hillsboro that put me right on the edge of a glide to TSA.  There wasn't much looking good on the way so I didn't worry about trying to pick up a final turnpoint before the steering point. I managed to bump up in a few weak thermals on the way and made the glide comfortably with a good finish slightly above minimum height.

We checked the forecast and decided to put YYY back in the trailer. Just after closing the door it started to sprinkle. By the time we were up to the clubhouse it was a steady rain, just as a Ventus landed. Then it turned to downpour. I ran out to hold down his wing and got a good soaking in the process. It was nice and cool though after a hot day.  At supper it rained more and more. Doubt there will be much flying tomorrow.  Hopefully things will dry out for Day 1 on Wednesday. I did check around and didn't find Frank Paynter anywhere so I don't know what the deal is with the rain ;)

Here is my flight from today: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2546199

Kowbell 2012 Continued

Kowbell, as some of you know, is always held on the first Saturday after the first full moon after the Summer Solstice. I look forward to it every year.  This year I decided to fly the Cherokee since we were immediately going to the 13.5 meter regionals after Kowbell.  My goal was to generally fly south towards Midlothian.

Like most Kowbell's, pilots and crew showed up plenty early to get ready for the day.  YYY had been assembled all week and after my 300km flight on Friday I had tied it outside next to the trailer so it was ready to go. Leah and I had help from my sister Amy and in not much time we had the glider ready and the trailer hooked up, tires checked etc. and the only thing left was to fly.  Everyone had moved their gliders to the runway and we were all either waiting for the weather to get good or someone to get in line.  There were cu showing to the south and west but none near the airport as we were under some cirrus cover.  No one was willing to take the chance that they could make the glide to the clouds and we weren't really sure there was any blue lift working at the airport. The wind was basically dead calm.

Finally KC and Lauren decided it was time to go so we all lined up. I was third and with two towplanes running the launch was quick.  I released into good lift and got a climb to 10,000 feet before heading west.I initially followed US 54 towards Pratt but just north and to the west of there was a big shadow with some large rain showers. I got the glider a little wet but stayed in left and turned a little more south. I alerted the girls that we were headed more south and they turned off the highway.  I was able to stay high without any issues until I got near the Cimarron River valley.  The river itself was dry but the valley gave me problems with some big sink and a couple low-ish saves. At least they were low relative to the rest of the flight.

Finally I was back up and running and ended up on a line more or less direct to Amarillo.  I still had Diamond Distance hopes although I was averaging in the 40-45 mph range and I would need to find more speed or have a really long flight.  I was doing good though usually staying between 8 and 10,000 feet until I got to the north edge of the Candian River. By then I had out flown the girls and had sent them a text message saying to go for Amarillo.

The Canadian is pretty beautiful from the ground I'm sure and absolutely terrifying from the cockpit of a low performance glider.  Without enough altitude to comfortably cross and cloud shadows closing in around me I decided to stay over the farm land and set off across a shadow to the sunlight to the west.  There was a line of clouds that appeared to have lift in the shade along with a few rain showers.  Once again we got wet but there was a lot of lift and I was around 11,000 feet when I got to the sunlight. Unfortunately there weren't many clouds and I couldn't figure out the ones that were there.  We were on final glide whether I knew it or not and ended up landing in a cut wheat field west of Morse, TX. Total distance was 242 miles, a new personal best for me and a new record for YYY, just a bit longer than last summers flight to Goodland.

Leah and Amy hadn't gotten my 2nd text about going west so they were still headed for Amarillo when I landed.  It didn't take long to get them headed the right direction and after an hour or so they found me and we had the glider loaded up and were out of the field by sunset and on the road towards Dallas for the 13.5 meter regionals.  It was a great Kowbell and one for the record books. Andrew Peters earned Diamond Distance in his LS-3 and Steve Leonard broke the long standing Kansas Free Distance record with his flight to Pecos, TX, something like 550 miles.

Here is where everyone landed:

View Kowbell 2012 in a larger map

Kowbell 2012

Don't have time for a full report but Kowbell 2012 was literally one for the record books. Many state records fell. My flight was 242 miles, good for 5th of 9, I landed a few miles west of Morse, TX in a cut wheat field. Leah and Amy didn't have too much trouble finding me and we were out of there before sunset. It was an interesting day with lots of over developed clouds, big shadows and weird winds.  Here is my flight: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2541141

This is my new personal best distance and of course now the furthest that YYY has ever flown.  Still working on that 260 miles that is the best ever done in a Cherokee II, by Jim Hard, and of course, Diamond Distance.