Bob Semans has a flight of extremes in KP at Minden

A week ago today, I had a flight of extremes in KP.   Take off around 12:30 proved to be too early for a release over the Johnson Lane sand pits.   Down to pattern entry altitude, it seemed to take a half hour of sweating to get back up to release altitude of 6,500 feet.  Finally, my passenger spotted two hawks circling nearby north of Starbucks (stayed with them for three turns) and got high enough to get to the first ridge NE of the sand pit.  There under building Cu a strong thermal got stronger, eventually yielding 13+ knots on the averager for several circles.   So, famine ... then feast!   Went East to the Pine Nuts easily and eventually reached 15k near Mineral Peak with Cu circling the whole Carson Valley.  >From there it was straight flying down the Pine Nuts to Leviathan Peak, Markleeville, Freel Peak and up the Carson Range to Marlette Lake ... the Grand Tour with no circling!

 

My passenger was Mike Wojcik, an ex F-111 pilot, who had never flown in a glider.  He is the USAF Liaison Officer for the CAP Nevada Wing who had come to "inspect" KP as a requirement for me to use a non-CAP glider to give CAP cadets their USAF paid glider orientation rides.  After I return in early October from a trip East, Mike will fly down to Byron to do his inspection of 81C and FB so they will also be approved for me to fly cadets.   I hope to fly a few cadets in October and through the winter. 

 

On this flight, I flew with my own Cambridge Model 20 flight recorder and posted the flight to OLC.   http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1198649639    As my summer home is near MEV, it's easy for me to fly KP during the week so to avoid the members who come to Minden to fly KP on the weekend.

 

BTW, I brought my Ventus to Byron and look forward to getting an introduction to flying in Tiger County this fall from those who have been making nice flights there.   During the years I flew at Hummingbird, I never got South into the mountains ... but then, in those days I was flying 1-26s.

 

Bob Semans  "SE"

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