NCSA Does Thermal Camp
by Dan Colton
with
Andrew Chant, Boyang Zhang, and Stuart Humphries
ASI Thermal Camp2014 (NV23) – In a Word,
EPIC!
Saturday May 31st
The NCSA
crew got to Byron airport by 8am and disassembled and loaded our 1-26 (972)
onto its trailer. Great thanks to everyone
who helped and especially to Van for getting the ball rolling early. We next started the task of reassembly of our
work horse trainer Grob G103 (FB). Boy,
we should have read the factory manual (RTFM, as they say) because there was
some mystery step that we all missed and it took almost 2 hours to get the
second wing on. FYI, the mystery step
was “call Larry and get him to lead the wing insertion step”. Larry showed up shortly after our calls for
help and we were able to complete the assembly of FB, load our other G103 (81C)
onto its trailer and then load our single-seat Grob G102 (SS) onto its
trailer. By 3:15pm 81C, 972 and SS were all
on their trailers and we were finally on the road. Thank you NCSA board for allowing us to take
three ships to Thermal Camp. We got to
Air Sailing glider airport around 10pm, parked the glider trailers, and had a
late night snack under the gorgeous stars of the Nevada high desert night sky.
June 1st (Pre-Camp check out
day)
This
morning’s #1 chore was assembly of all three of our gliders. First up was 81C. Oh, if only FB was so cooperative yesterday
as 81C was today. All done in no time. Next up was SS.
Oh, a Grob that doesn’t have wings that feel
like they weigh a ton! What a
delight. And lastly was 972. Van was “the man” again and had this bird
ready to fly quicker than you can say “jack rabbit”.
Did I say that we are seeing lots of Jack Rabbits running around? Must be why there are so many coyotes howling in the middle of the night and telling stories of the really fast one that they caught. We also helped the BASA guys put their DG1000 wings on. All throughout the assembly process we were distracted with dust devils firing off everywhere. And they just kept getting bigger and more frequent as the day wore on.
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| SS coming together at ASI |
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| Dan thinks it is really dark in there... |
Did I say that we are seeing lots of Jack Rabbits running around? Must be why there are so many coyotes howling in the middle of the night and telling stories of the really fast one that they caught. We also helped the BASA guys put their DG1000 wings on. All throughout the assembly process we were distracted with dust devils firing off everywhere. And they just kept getting bigger and more frequent as the day wore on.
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| Does Van really know how to assemble this bird? |
The safety
briefing was completed and we could begin the process of getting our area
check-out flights with Larry. Dan flew
first with Larry in 81C and completed his checkout. Then Andrew went up with Larry in 81C
followed by Dan flying solo in SS. The
lift was rising up over Dogskin mountain and we even had some cumulus
markers. The thermals were allowing us
to climb with sustained climb rates of 4-6 knots and the best thermals had the
vario pegged at 10+ knots for a couple of circles. It was fun to watch the altimeter wind up so
fast. Both Dan and Andrew/Larry landed
at around 6pm after 1.5 hour duration flights.
We only came down because it was getting late in the day and we were
exhausted from all the activities of the past two days. Time for a good dinner and lots of rest for
the real Thermal Camp that starts tomorrow morning.
But this day
can’t end without a summary of what the ASI facility has to offer:
- The clubhouse is wonderful and offers:
- A large kitchen area with a refrigerator (usually full so come with alternate plans if you need to keep stuff cold/frozen), microwave, and full assortment of pots, pans, plates and silverware
- Tables with seating for 15 and additional room in the main living area with additional chairs and a wide screen TV for watching videos (Top Gun is reported to be the local favorite)
- A computer room with a computer to use and two certified/calibrated NANO flight recorders
- WIFI throughout the facility and campground
- An awning that surrounds the clubhouse 360 degrees to provide ample shade in the hot days
- Tons of electrical outlets for charging all your stuff
- Men’s and women’s bathrooms and two showers
- Running hot and cold potable [ed: and quite tasty] water
- There is also a bath house out in the back of the campground with additional restrooms and showers and even a laundry room with washer and dryer
The campground is expansive and has lots of areas for pitching tents (free camping) and there are also dozens of places for RV parking
The ASI campground - Three trailers for rent at only $15/day or $95/week
- A huge hanger building where they store some lucky gliders and where you can plug in your battery chargers\
- Ample glider and glider trailer parking/tie-down areas (but you may want to bring extra tie-down rope if there are a lot of gliders coming to the area). By my count there are 29 glider trailers outside.
- A covered BBQ patio with four large picnic tables and several gas BBQ grills
- Free Oxygen fills for all NSA members (we paid $30 for unlimited refills for the week)
- Multiple glider for use (free to NSA members)
- Seven day per week towing (may need to call ahead to ensure they can schedule tows during slow periods)
- Three golf carts to help pull gliders, trailers and the oxygen cart
- Fantastic people
- And last, but not least, an airport dog named Bear
Bear - a real sweetheart
June 2nd (Thermal Camp Day 1)
Today
started out with an orientation to Air Sailing and the mandatory safety
briefing for all participants of Thermal Camp.
We have 10 total pilots attending the camp. The first day of Thermal Camp presentations followed
with tag-team presentations by John Scott (Jay Bird) and Larry Suter (Flying Penguin). The presentations included
some good pointers on the local “playground” (10 nm circle around the airfield),
the structure of thermals, and suggested technique for identifying a thermal and
centering the lift. Larry also covered
human physiology in the high desert and the effects of factors such as proper
hydration, nutrition and use of oxygen; all of which, if not properly addressed,
as Larry said, “Make You Stupid” during the most critical phases of flight.
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| Larry introduces Andrew to the mysteries of oxygen |
The
classroom session then ended with a weather briefing by our own Larry
Suter. The forecast was so good that
Larry ended the talks at lunch time and said “Go fly!” So we did.
Dan’s report: There were about 14
launches in planes ranging from a 1-26 to the big BASA DG1000. Most pilots logged 2 hours duration with
cloud bases at 15-16,000’. The lift was
everywhere with well-developed cloud streets so it was hard to keep the Thermal
Camp pilots within the official playground area. Lift was sustained at well over 10 knots
while circling and it just didn’t seem worthwhile stopping to circle in thermals
with under 4 knots lift. There was also
lots of virga. At 15,000’ and a few
miles North of the airfield I encountered snow showers under a cloud. It was obviously cold up there but I love the
image that snow speeding horizontally past you in flight provides. Terry Lowe
(Magpie) even reported encountering hail under the clouds at the North end of
the Dogskins at 14,500’. I’m glad I
only saw snow.
Just about then the over-development moved in and shut down the lift.
The 6 knots up in most areas turned into 6 knots down in most areas and
it was obvious that the day’s soaring was coming to a rapid end. The sink in the vicinity of the airport was
10+ knots down in several areas, including base leg for the big BASA DG1000
which caused them to alter their runway choice while on base leg for their initial
choice runway.
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| Just a ho-hum day at Thermal Camp |
Winds also
got gusty on the ground with peak gusts of well over 40 knots for brief periods
of time while we were flying, but settled down by the time most of us
landed. Then the winds picked up again
in the late afternoon but fortunately all gliders were securely tied down by
then. The wind was so strong that it was
a total brown-out from all the sand and dirt picked up by the wind. Visibility went down to under 2 feet when
these gusts blew through (and one is blowing through right now as I type this). In fact the big BBQ grill was just knocked
over and is tumbling end-over-end right in front of the ASI clubhouse. I think I even see Dorothy and her little dog
Toto flying overhead in their farm house.
Seriously, the BBQ grill did just do three cartwheels. I think I will microwave dinner in the
clubhouse tonight. P.S. Note to self:
remember to shut all windows of your trailer during the day at ASI. This should have been in the ASI guest documents. I had a layer of fresh dirt covering
everything and had to sweep and wet-wipe the entire trailer and shake out all
my stuff. Crap!
June 3rd (Thermal Camp Day 2)
First chore
of the day for Dan was to wash the dirt off SS so he could try and get an
earlier place in line for today’s flying.
The
classroom session began with pilot reviews of their flights and analysis of IGC
files in SeeYou of a couple of flights.
This was very helpful to see things like percentage of time circling
left vs. right and altitude gain during left circling vs. right circling. This gave
us all pointers on areas to focus on while flying.
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| Morning classes provide the foundation for the day's flight |
Andrew completed his ASI checkout with
Larry and flew 972 this afternoon.
Boyang showed up mid-morning and flew
in the afternoon with Larry in 81C. The flight was a great orientation to the
surrounding area and local landmarks. First, they flew south to Reno Stead. Later they crossed over to the North side of
our playground and flew over the Red Rocks, Dogskin Mountains, and Tule Peak.
The flight was a bit over 2 hours and did not end because of lack of lift.
Dan’s flight: Let me start by saying that my longest duration flight prior to
today was 2.5 hours and my maximum altitude gain was 8,500'. Today I beat
both of those personal bests and I am happy.
Today my goal was silver altitude and gold altitude. I was short
of Gold altitude by 600'. My altitude gain was shy of Gold with a 9,200'
from low point after release (7,000' to 16,200'). I launched at 1:30pm
and the day started off with blue thermals. Some cu started to develop by around 3pm and the
day was a mix with over half of the lift areas not marked by clouds.
My first task for the flight was to “notch” a low point
on release (a new maneuver for me). I
released at 7,000’ in lift over the Dogskins ridge and made one full circle to
make certain that I was in a thermal.
Then I straightened out and put the nose down, WAY down and quickly bled
off 200’ followed by a pull up and turn back into the thermal. WOW, it worked. Now it was time for my Silver and Gold
altitude gain badge leg hunting. I
easily got the Silver altitude, but the Gold altitude eluded me as the lift
topped out at 16,200’ and I needed 16,900’.
Working the lift today was not as easy as yesterday’s
wide thermals. Today the thermals were
narrower with no cloud markers early on.
However, after 2 hours in the air I decided that since the forecast was
indicating sufficient lift for a duration try I would see if I could manage a
>5 hour Silver badge leg duration flight.
And I had to use all the tricks I knew to make it happen because even
though there was lift (2-6 knots with the occasional boomers at 6 to >10
knots up) there was also monster sink (typically 6 to >10 knots down in wide
stretches). It was easy to lose 2,000’ in between thermals and I did on
more occasions than I care to count. Also,
because of the duration of the flight I flew the first 3 hours on the Western
hills (the Dogskins), the next 1.5 hours on the Eastern hills (the Red Rocks)
and the final hour in the valley using convergence and random thermals.
By the end I was beat and my butt was sore. I took off at 1:30pm
and landed at 7pm. I was the last glider
to land at ASI today but they still saved me a filet of BBQ salmon. Unfortunately the battery in the glider died
about 1 hour into the flight and the NANO flight recorder got accidentally
turned off prior to take off so there was no log of the flight for a badge leg
application (bummer).
June 4th (Thermal Camp Day 3)
We had so
many leftovers from last night’s BBQ feast that some people decided to have pie
and ice cream for breakfast. Sounded
like a good idea to help us add to our ballast for another strong lift day (ha
ha).
The
classroom session again began with pilot reviews of their flights and analysis
of IGC files in SeeYou of a couple of flights.
Topics
covered in the classroom session included: Review of prior day lessons, Glider
Accidents – Statistics and Prevention, Finding the Next Thermal. The forecast was again very good so we ended
the lectures early to give us time to re-fill the oxygen tanks for another day
long/high flights.
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| Pretty birds all lined up waiting their turn at Thermal Camp |
Flying:
Boyang (81C with Larry): Did a high tow
and had another 2-hour duration flight plus some pattern practice.
Dan (SS): Finally figured out the NANO
flight recorder and got an actual trace for today’s flight. He had lots of fun practicing thermalling to
the left and to the right. The battery
crapped out again today after 1.5 hours flying time so he had to thermal “old
school” using the altimeter, needle on the vario and good old seat of the pants
inputs. Great practice but he sure
appreciate the benefits of the audio feature.
This flight was almost 3 hours and he also got to do some exploring of
the areas to the North since he flew mostly to the South yesterday.
The lift was
high enough and well-marked such that it would have been easy to cross county
to Truckee and back but this was Thermal Camp so I kept it within 10-15 miles
of the airport, which was a good thing as you can see in the analysis of cruise
L/D discussion described in the summary of tomorrow’s lecture. By the end of the flight, when I had had
enough flying for the day and was still at 5,000’ AGL I said to myself,
“Self. What do you do at the end of a 3
hour flight at Thermal Camp?” Well, you
practice entering and recovering from stalls, incipient spirals and then top it
off with some 60 degree bank turns right and left. What fun.
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| Shh! All tuckered out from the day, the NCSA gliders are resting |
June 5th (Thermal Camp Day 4)
The
classroom session again began with pilot reviews of their flights and analysis
of IGC files in SeeYou of a couple of flights and an analysis of performance in
lift and cruise flight. Percent of time
circling right/left, average climb rate and climb rate circling right/left, IAS
when thermalling vs. cruising, mean L/D and L/D in sink. We then compared us to the former national
champion David Volkman (he won hands down but our analysis of his flight trace
showed that he was definitely on a mission to do some serious cross country
that day).
Topics
covered in the classroom session included: upper level instability cause and
effect (get high/stay high), ridge lift, wave lift, cloud streets, anabatic
lift (upslope winds) and late afternoon valley lift. We also covered soaring safety subjects
including: windsocks (specifications and performance), checklists, takeoff
tips, landing tips, landing glideslope and spoiler specifications and optimal
usage technique.
We then
analyzed our actual L/D for the cruising legs of our flights to see where we
were with respect to the recommended 50% safety cone glide slope vs, the
published L/D. My worst L/D cruising
yesterday was 22:1 in SS (recommended safe glide is 18:1). Andrew did 14:1 or better in the 1-26
(recommended safe glide is 12:1). This
validated the recommended NCSA 50% safety factors for our club ships. Again we ended the classroom session with the
daily weather briefing which was once again “absolutely amazing”.
Flying WOW:
The day was
blue with no cloud markers but a strong forecast in the RASP so we loaded up on
Oxygen and took to the air and Dan, Andrew and two other camp participants all
achieved greater than 10,000’ altitude gains!!! A truly Golden (badge leg) day.
Dan again flew SS and logged 3.3
hours. He did not have availability of a
NSA flight logger but switched batteries in SS with one that was working in 81C
the day before. This time the logger
captured the flight and so long as we have calibration paperwork for it he will
be able to claim his Gold altitude leg (actual altitude gain was 3,300 meters
to 17,998 feet). This was yet another
new personal best for Dan. Seems
everyone is getting new personal bests each day of camp.
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| Pyramid Lake |
Dan also did
a bit of exploring on both sides of the ASI area going to the North end of the
Dogskin range, West to Fred’s Mountain, South to the middle of the Virginia
Range and East to the far side of Pyramid Lake.
One pilot observed Dan crossing over Pyramid lake heading East and just
about got on the radio to say, “Hey guy what are you doing?!? Check you oxygen. Don’t you know that gliders can’t fly over
water!?!” Well I guess they can. Dan was in calm air all the way over the lake
and back and was 3,000’ above safe glide (18:1) back to ASI all the way.
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| ASI from on high. If things go poorly, you have a lot of runway |
Andrew had another epic flight in the
1-26. He also achieved Gold altitude
gain while gaggle flying with Dan. He
and Dan were competing to see who could out-climb the other. But Dan in the G102 just couldn’t out-climb
Andrew in the 1-26 or get quite as high.
At the top of this climb Andrew excitedly announced, “17,000. That’s Gold for me!” Then Dan broke off to the West and Andrew
broke off to the North. Andrew was
amazingly adventurous in the 1-26 and logged 119km and 229 OLC points. Check out his flight on OLC at http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=3738585.
June 6th (Thermal Camp Day 5,
Final day of Camp. Boo Hoo)
The
classroom session again began with pilot reviews of their flights and analysis
of IGC files in SeeYou of a couple of flights and an analysis of performance in
lift and cruise flight. Percent of time
circling right/left, average climb rate and climb rate circling right/left, IAS
when thermalling vs. cruising, mean L/D and L/D in sink, difference between GPS
altitude and pressure altitude (several pilots flight recorders showed >18k
GSP altitude even with <18k pressure altitude.
Topics
covered in the classroom session included: preparing for next year’s XC Camp
(practice what we learned at this camp), dangers of low altitude thermalling, how
to apply for badges (several of the camp pilots will be applying for badges), and
comparing soaring forecasts to actual experiences during the week. Lastly we went over the weather forecast for
today.
Flying:
Dan: I was on a mission today to log 5+ hours in flight and claim my
Silver badge duration leg so he borrowed a calibrated flight recorder from ASI
and made sure that I had a functional battery in my glider. I flew SS again and was in the air by
1pm. I released at 7,000’, climbed 200’
and then dove 200’ off to notch the flight recorder. The lift was a bit hard to figure out at
first but when I finally got to above 12,000’ the thermals got a bit easier to
work but they were still a challenge as they were tight and it felt like they
were being blown over a bit. I managed a
climb to 13,000 that allowed me to move over from the Dogskins to the Peterson
range where some clouds were beginning to form.
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| Reno Stead is the nearest airport, although there are safe landouts closer |
It may have
been 90F on the ground but the temperature aloft at 17k was 21F (-6C) and I
kept closing the air vent just to keep that refreshing (f&*@%ing cold) air
from blowing in my face. After over four
hours in the air I headed back toward ASI and did a lap around the Virginia
Range just to put more miles on the flight and see some more of the scenery
while I killed the final 90 minutes required for Silver duration. Larry was at the end of the runway to view
and capture a video of my landing. A
perfect ending to a perfect week. The
fight trace is on OLC at:
Larry helped
me process the FAI application for the Silver/Gold altitude gain and Silver
duration badge leg achievements. A reply
was sent from the FAI administrator a few days later which read as
follows. I am stoked!
I have processed the
application for Silver and Gold Altitude claims and Silver Duration Claim on
your June 6, 2014 flight. I am happy to
notify you that your claims have been approved and your records have been
updated. Congratulations on your achievements!
You should see your
flight listed in the August issue of Soaring Magazine. You will also find that
the flight will be included in your member achievement record.
Rollin Hasness
FAI Administrator
badgeandrecords@ssa.org
Andrew took a vacation from flying the
1-26 (972) and jumped in the back seat of the BASA DG1000 for a 3-hour flight
in a super-high performance glider.
Stuart: Indeed I was very grateful to Larry for the invitation and
thrilled to be able to join the thermal camp for the last day and fly dual with
Larry in 81C on Friday. What a great
soaring site it is at Air Sailing! Now I
know why everyone heads up there. I
think it's maybe even better than Truckee - at least it was last Friday - and
it does not have the intimidating cliff with mandatory downdraft wind shear
hazard at the threshold of the runway as you approach to land!
I was able to learn and practice
some thermaling technique and I was astonished at the power and abundance of
the lift. Clear off the top end of scale
the vario some of the time. What's more,
there were plenty of occasions when the lift was strong in straight lines or
almost straight as one followed the ridge line of the mountain tops. My excursion took me, as Dan mentioned, for
the grand tour taking in the Dogskins, followed by a straight flight over to
Stead - an alternate landing airport some 10 miles to the South West - after a
climb to 15,000’. Then another climb in
a strong thermal and a straight flight over to the Virginia Range to the South
East of the field. Then on to the Red
Rocks just East of the field, where there was no lift, and back over to the Dogskins where we climbed in strong lift again. Then up the valley to the North to a small dry
lake bed with much larger Flanagan Dry Lake in view further on to the North and
Northeast, used for land outs I understand.
All in all we had several, probably 8 or more very good climbs, a couple
to 15,000’ and could have stayed up longer than the 2.6 hours we did but by
then I was interested to see how planning to enter the pattern worked and to
get on the ground to stretch my legs. You
can have too much of a good thing and there is always another day. Larry showed me how to set up an OLC account
so the flight is there.
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| The end of a beautiful day at ASI, with the sun setting over the Dogskins |
Definitely worth the drive up
there, learned a lot and certainly plan to do the whole camp next year. Altogether an outstanding place to fly with
very hospitable folks, a nice campground, great showers and facilities etc.,
and superb sunsets to round off your evening before retiring for the night
totally exhausted in my case. I'll be
back!
June 7th (Thermal Camp Day
Epilog)
Some final thoughts from Dan: With
Thermal Camp now officially over we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the
clubhouse and went about the task of disassembling and loading two of our club
ships (81C and 972) on their trailers to be taken back down the mountain to our
home airfield. Sadly we thought of this
as putting them out to pasture because the lift conditions back home are abysmal
in the summer compared to here in the high desert at ASI. Our single seat Grob G102 is staying at ASI
for another week to be used at the annual ASI Cross Country camp. We wish you XC Campers excellent weather like
we had. It was truly an epic week of
soaring and one for the record books of our personal log books, with numerous
personal bests, FAI badge leg claims, and even one Region 11 record. As for me, next year I am planning on
attending the Cross Country Camp and expanding my horizons and skill
level. As Larry put it, “flying gliders
and understanding the weather is a lifelong learning exercise.”
Some final thoughts from Andrew: Thermal
camp was an introduction to the bigger world of soaring: two new communities of
pilots and the incredible thermals of the desert valley surrounding the Air
Sailing gliderport. The other students of the camp were pilots from other
Bay Area clubs, Oregon, and Pennsylvania and beyond. I was probably the
least experienced pilot, but we all had a lot to learn, and it was a great pleasure
sharing stories, tips, and experiences with them. I was shown an
immaculate Blanik L-33 that one pilot brought, and managed to squeeze in a
flight as a co-pilot in BASA's beautiful DG-1000.
In the end I
had six days of flying at Air Sailing, with each flight between two to three
hours. Every day taught something new – high density altitude takeoffs,
landing on unpaved runways, the importance of oxygen to my stamina,
aggressively using trim to help maintain thermal speed, the general location of
lift vs. the local terrain, and safely expanding my glide ratio comfort zone
doing solo mountain-flying. My butt may have been sore from the firm seat of
the 1-26, but after every flight I had a huge grin. The weather and lift were incredible.
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| Meeting this great group of pilots was an added benefit |
