VSA Report

Well we all had a really good time at the VSA Rally.  Gliders in attendance included Lee and Mary Cowie's beautiful Grunau Baby II, freshly restored, and Dave and Betty Schuur's Ka-6E.  Locals included 373Y and my NG-1, WSA's Ka6-CR, Neal's Ka6-BR, Jerry Boone's Zuni, and Bob Holiday's Duster. The Grob, Lark, and 2-33 at the gliderport also made regular flights.  John Wells and Richard Kirkland had their 17 meter Dart on display and of course there was lots of oogling over Neal's Ka2b which is nearly complete. He was working steadily over the weekend getting the cockpits put back together on it.

Pete arrived on Thursday night and I took Friday off work so that we could fly.  He had flown 373Y last year at the rally and I intended to get him back in the Cherokee this year since he airlined down instead of pulling his Ka6-CR. We rigged 3Y and the clubs Ka6 which would be my bird for the day.  We both launched into really great conditions for the end of September. I was often seeing 3-4 knot average thermals up to around 4000-4500 AGL.  I radioed Pete and suggested that we run east to try to get 50km away and then return for our VSA silver coins.  He wasn't going to argue and we headed out. It was a fun flight and we made the 50km. I made it back but Pete landed out. He has written up his flight and I'll post it right after this one.

Here is me taking off in the Ka6 (photo from Lee Cowie):

Saturday I headed to the gliderport early to get the NG-1 rigged before the morning seminar. Big thanks goes out to Caleb Teel from Tulsa, OK who helped me wash all the dust off the glider. He was visiting with his dad Randy and it was great to finally meet them. I talked about flying 3Y in the Region 10 contest during the seminar.  After the talks we ate lunch and then rigged 3Y in record time.  Matt Michael arrived in his Flybaby and Neal offered him the Ka6-BR so the three of us all launched.  Unfortunately Pete and I found the lift weaker and spottier than Friday and only managed about an hour each.  I did have fun flying with Matt in the Ka6 though and he got some air to air pictures of the NG-1 which looked pretty good. Saturday night was the cookout at the gliderport and there was a ton of people there. We had a blast eating good food and visiting.  We finished the evening with a run to Bob Holiday's place for homemade ice cream. Yum!

Sunday my main goal of the day was to get Matt up in the NG-1.  Pete gave me permission to fly 3Y so Matt and I launched.  We both had 2 hour flights.  We had a great time gaggling together and of course Matt blew me away in straight glides.  I did a small triangle to Augusta Airport, Stearman Field, and back to the gliderport.  When I returned I joined up with Matt again for a few turns but then we both were getting low so landed.  It was a great end to a great weekend of friends and soaring!

Many more pictures from Sunday here: https://picasaweb.google.com/abcondon/WichitaVSA2011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIakjeG5hprOaw&feat=directlink

VSA Prep and 53T Update

The VSA Rally in Wichita is coming up at the end of the month and of course there are a few things I'd like to get done on 3Y before the date.  I ordered a quart of Daytona White from Stewarts to do some touchup painting.  There are several spots on the glider where I made small patches and only have the gray Ekofill showing and I'd like to try to get the glider all one color for the rally.  So hopefully late this week I'll be setting things up for shooting paint.

I'll also probably have the NG-1 out there too and it can use some TLC in a few places after a season of trips in and out of the trailer.

Third, Leah and I will be giving a talk about flying in the contest with YYY, so I need to get prepared for that.

On the subject of 53T I have actually managed to get some work done on it lately.  Nothing too monumental but I've spent a few evening replacing the control cable pulleys.  Right now the only thing left in the fuselage is the aileron cables and the airbrake.  In the wings I need to get the bellcranks for the ailerons cleaned up and reinstalled and replace the airbrake pulleys.  So hopefully sometime in the near future I truly will be ready to replace the cables!

Ulysses Report

Leah and I once again spent the Labor Day weekend in Ulysses with 3Y.  We had a good time even though the soaring was a bit sub-par. 

Saturday was looking the most promising but still challenging.  The challenge lie in the fact that a cold front moved through at about 8 AM.  Soaring to the south of the front was forecast to be very good but behind the front not so great.  Winds were 20 mph on average when I launched for the downwind dash.  My idea was to fight it out in any scrap of lift I could find and keep drifting downwind, eventually get to the good stuff further south and then go like the dickens.  I was even brave enough to declare Plains, TX as my goal, 314 miles.  Leah had the truck all ready to go.  I took a high tow to take advantage of the 1000 meter allowed altitude loss for the flight and to increase my chances of finding workable lift in the windy conditions.  I ended up covering a whopping 26 miles in only 36 minutes from takeoff to landing in a dust field northwest of Hugoton, KS.  I should say, a blowing dust field.  Leah wrapped a bandana around her face cowboy-style to avoid eating dirt while we were derigging.  Three dove hunters stopped by after seeing my fly over and then seeing the trailer and were very helpful derigging.  Apparently the dove weren't flying in the wind either.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=845531386

Sunday I was less than inspired by the forecast as the lift was forecast to about 3000 AGL but still with 15-20 mph winds.  I wasn't looking forward to a repeat of Saturday and with the wind it would be a real struggle to fly locally.  So I helped Steve get ready for his first flight in the FJ-1, a mostly 301 Libelle modified to landing flaps only.  It was fun getting him launched and after watching him soar away and then Bruce do the same in the Grob we decided we might as well rig.  By the time the glider was together we decided that Leah was going to fly so she took off for her first flight in 3Y in a few months.  It was better than the last flight, her only complaint was a bit of a rough landing.  The conditions were not exactly in her court though with a decent wind, about a 10 knot crosswind component, and plenty of thermal activity to keep her busy on tow.

Monday Leah did two more flights in 3Y around noon and reported some zero sink.  Her landings were much better with more moderate wind conditions to deal with.  I got my parachute and launched about 1:30 and was able to climb up to 4500 AGL.  I circled with Steve (FJ-1), Jeff (Apis), and Ed (PIK-20) which was fun.  The Cherokee seemed to climb right with the FJ-1.  I was curious as I had once circled with a 201 Libelle that also climbed right with me.  Of course as expected Steve walked away from me in cruise.  I did follow him south for about 7 miles but that was as far as I dared.  I wanted to make it back!  The rest of the flight was nice and relaxing staying by the airport and just having fun playing in the thermals.  I landed about 3:30 in order to get derigged and on the road home.  Bruce and us hit the road about 5 PM and we were home right around 10.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1019923512

All in all a good fun weekend was had by all.  ONce we get pictures from Leah's camera i'll try to get them posted.

Day 5, Region 10

Today's task was a "Banquet Task".  2:30 from Llano up to San Saba (15 miles), FLF Gliderport (25 miles), and Mason (20 miles).  Minimum distance was a mere 76 miles so even I would have to actually go inside the circles.

Yesterday Frank (TA) and I had a discussion about why I always start right away.  I perfectly understand the strategy of waiting to start late as the day develops to its best but I also know that if I run into trouble in the Cherokee I'm going to need time to dig out.  Once again today I was the first one out the gate, perhaps 500 feet below max start height for the downwind run to San Saba.  That leg was pretty easy with high groundspeeds and only one or two thermals.  Clouds were already forming on course and I was waiting to see a coherent group of clouds connecting to the east side of Lake Buchanan before I turned.  I wanted to avoid any possible weak area to the downwind of the lake.

Once I decided to turn east I managed to connect with a great group of short cloudstreets running straight into the wind.  My strategy, per the last few days, was to do no circling unless I was below 6000 feet.  I managed to run straight into the wind for nearly 25 miles on streets all while staying high!  SeeYou says the average L/D for this portion was in the 140's!  Thanks to this monumental run my groundspeed was still in the 45 or 46 range.  Now I just had to decide when to turn back west towards Llano.  I did some mental calculations and figured that when I had about 50 minutes left I would turn.  Running west I tried to cheat a little south to minimize the headwind on the final leg back to Llano.  Visions of my Day 2 landout were still haunting me so I wanted to do everything I could to avoid that again.

The run west was awesome.  I found a 5 knot thermal right over the middle of the lake and then just southwest of Llano caught an 8 knot thermal to my best of the day, about 9500 feet.  Now that I was seriously local to Llano I decided to keep it that way.  I ran out to the Mason circle and continued until I was 15 miles out with 15 miles remaining.  I was about 10:1 to make it back to Llano but I knew that my speed would be fantastic even if I came in a bit under time.  So I turned back.

The final glide back to Llano was mostly at about 80 mph indicated just to get down and I still finished at something like 3000 AGL.  Oh well.  The Oudie showed my average task speed at 50 mph although my scored speed was a bit slower due to being about 4 minutes under time.  I didn't care, this was certainly a career best flight.  Fantastic speed, never got low, and everything just worked awesome.

YYY and I ended up winning the day and moved up to 3rd overall.  I was amazed and very pleased to make the podium.  All the other pilots made it back today, all with smiles on their face.  It was definitely a fantastic day of soaring for everyone.  The awards banquet was a great time.  Bob Holiday and I were proud to present the James LeSueur Memorial Trophy on behalf of the Kansas Soaring Association to the Region 10 Champ, Frank Paynter (TA).  Great job Frank!

My flight from today: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-355613644

Day 4, Region 10

The task for Day 4 was a 3:30 MAT.  Mandatory turnpoints were Eagle Rock Ranch for the first and the West Start point for a steering turn at the end.  It was up to us to fill in the gaps.  Frank Paynter (TA) gave a quick how-to talk after the pilots meeting to help the rest of us rookies understand what to do.  His main suggestion was to get at least half your miles early then find a small triangle to finish up your time.

I set up a plan to go back southeast to Sunrise Beach and then do a triangle from Sunrise to Spicewood to Moursund and back to Sunrise.  At that point, depending on how much time was left i could go back to Spicewood again for more distance or head back downwind-ish to Llano for the finish.

The run to Eagle Rock was very easy.  I had a lot of fun gaggling with Frank in his Ventus and Dave Coggins in his Nimbus near the north edge of the start cylinder.  We were wrapped up tight and climbing well together.  We got to nearly 8000, the maximum start height, when the gate opened, so I left.  With the tailwind component heading out there I was able to make 26:1 average and only took one thermal on the way.  I found a great thermal over the airport there and it was nice to tank back up on altitude before running back towards Llano.

I had to keep a sharp eye out as I was now head to head with the rest of the field who started after me.  There was a good sized gaggle about 1/3 of the way to Llano that I took a few turns in before continuing on.  I didn't get low-ish again until I was to Llano town and caught a thermal off a construction site, the same place where I had released from tow and climbed out. At one point we heard Keith Miller (AJ) call that he was landing out near the Flying D Ranch which was a bummer.  He made it into the field alright but getting his trailer out of the field was, and still is, another story.  I was able to make pretty good progress flying straight and dolphining.  My general plan was to fly straight until below 6000 then take 4 knots unless I was below 5.  I wanted to make sure to stay up high today and overall it worked well.  I averaged 23:1 and 28% circling on the leg to Sunrise Beach, quite good considering it was into a quartering headwind.

After making Sunrise I diverted south a bit to stay upwind of the lake.  Spicewood is along more or less the same course line that I had been on.  I found a good thermal near the powerplant and was able to get back up high and back into cruising mode.  For the short leg I was 26:1 and 29% circling and gained 1000 feet.  During this leg I spotted a brush fire starting near the Herbert airport, and reported it, and heard that Mike Brooks (XL5) was getting ready to land out at Moursund Ranch.  Well I didn't hear from Mike for a few minutes so I called him back and it turned out he had caught a thermal and was digging out.  I turned Spicewood and headed for Moursund.

Another short leg into a quartering headwind but no big problems.  Mike and I circled together for a few turns near the mid-point in a pretty good thermal, 5 knots average, and continued on our way.  I got to Moursund slightly low but found a Vulture assisted thermal near the airport and started climbing as I drifted back towards Sunrise Beach.  The leg from Spicewood to Moursund was once again 26:1 but only 14% circling.  Of course I lost 2000 feet in the process too.

The run downwind to Sunrise again was very easy with the tailwind helping.  I started tanking up on altitude.  The run around the triangle had been in the clouds but it was blue back to Llano.  I was nearly 50% circling for the 14 mile leg but still had good speed and a 29:1 glide thanks to the tailwind.  Once over Sunrise it was decision time.  Total Blue towards Llano and I had 50 minutes left.

Visions of my Day 2 landout were starting to replay again.  On that day i had extended further downwind to avoid coming in undertime and ended up landing out.  Today I decided that coming in under time was not the end of the world and I knew my speed would still be a competitive 40-ish mph if I finished early. Additionally, running back to Spicewood to pick up another turnpoint would add more time than I wanted.  I was pretty worried about the day shutting down early.  I had not been able to get above 7000 under the clouds and didn't expect to do any better in the blue.  So I decided to just head for Llano and if I came in under time oh well.

I picked up the Llano airport as a final turnpoint and crossed over it at about 4000 feet.  I had assumed correctly that the lift was soft in the blue.  I took two thermals on the way to Llano and only averaged 2.8 knots.  Now the only thing left was a 4 mile run out to the last turnpoint and straight back to the landing.  I managed to find some weak lift on the way out there and maintained a respectable altitude, was still about 10:1 to make it back when I turned and the last few miles I had enough reserve altitude to push the speed up to 70 and (finally!) finish at 1000 feet.

I did finish about 15 minutes under time but I was happy with the flight.  Initially I, like many others, were pretty worried about the MAT since it adds another element of decision making on course.  Thanks to Frank's discussion before hand though I felt like I did a pretty good job.

Today is the final day of the contest and I've had a great time so far.  I'm looking forward to a good final flight and the banquet tonight!

The flight: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-459916812

One more picture

I managed to get the picture from my landout on Day 2 off the phone. 

Region 10 Pictures

Can't sleep, too excited about todays flight.  Here are some pictures from the week so far.

Telling Glen about the Day 3 win:

Leah and Glen spent Day 3 visiting Enchanted Rock, a 500 ft tall piece of solid Granite:

Glen points out the only cloud in the sky, Day 3:

 

Attracting a crowd, Pre-Practice Day:

Turning Final:

Staying cool on the grid:

Finished!

On Tow:

Dollar Store umbrellas are no match for powerful Texas thermal gusts:

Dean and I in the pasture on Day 2: