North Wave- Ramy's made a video from his wave flight last Saturday:
http://youtu.be/qDdnfIANUxU?hd=1 It is also on our Web site.
Here is MANG's report of January 15- his first day as Field Manager:
Ramy called for Sunday to be a wave day and he was right! There was
quite the lineup of gliders eagerly waiting for the towplane at the
start of operations. Once we started it was solid tows until everyone
was up. Winds were mostly 210 varying from a relatively mild
11-17knots in lulls all the way to 25 gusting 31 when we decided to
end towing around 15:40. It wasn't an early end to the day though
since people were really staying up and there was an exciting finish
with three gliders all returning for landing at the same time just
before sunset. The CAP cadets had some great flights (with Major Bob)
and all of them got to fly.
The tow rope seems to be holding up OK but it was challenging
operating off 23 since it required someone to be at the turnoff to
coil up the rope after the tow plane would pull off. Luckily we had
some eager cadets with their supervising officers. Jerry cut himself
on the pinky while handling the rope during hookup (he wasn't quite
sure how, might have been on the rope/rings or possibly the tow
plane). I'll be glad when the winch is fixed and we can minimize
handling of the rope.
We had 11 tows and 2 self-launches. That makes 13 different pilots in
the front seat (each flight was a long one!) + instructors that got to
play in the wave
It was my first time as FM and it was a bit challenging with the big
lineup to start the day and the big finish at the end where three
gliders touched down literally within a few minutes of each other. At
one point there were 3 gliders that needed to be cleared off the
runway/taxiways and it was a bit of a scramble. Duh.... if it's a
great lift day there will be a big rush just before sunset. Next time
I'll have more people on hand. Randy the airport guy helped pull EP
out of the grass midfield where we he was guarding his glider against
the wind while we cleared the other two gliders. I chatted with him
while driving him back to his truck and he didn't seem put out by it.
Congrats to Terence who took the 1-26 to 14,000 feet! He rather
politely called down a few times to see if anyone was waiting for it
and we called back "nope, go have fun!"
No new squawks. The large handheld club radio was transmitting weakly
when we tried it. AFAIK there is only one club radio that is working
well and with no radio operational in FB I'd recommend bringing your
own handheld if you have one when flying that ship.
Mang had his FIRST SOLO the day before - see his solo take-off photo
SHANNON wrote about his 300km flight: "As Mang said, today was a nice
west wind wave day. When I launched around noon, there was wave lift
directly over the airport at maybe 2,000'and above.Can't get much better
than that. The most consistent and reliable lift seemed to be over Los
Vaqueros reservoir, and I was able to climb a little over 12,000 feet
there about 3 times.Otherwise, conditions were fairly dynamic and on
several occasions, we'd see wave markers (rotor clouds or high linear
clouds) but not find any usable lift nearby.
I explored as far north as Mt. Diablo and as far south as San
Antonio Valley. The RASP predicted an area of lift around Rel1 and
Rel2, and it did in fact seem to be there, though not much stronger than
anywhere else. Overall, it was a fun day to explore, and I managed a
little over 300km. Click on the link to see Shannon's flight path.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/glidingflightinfo.html?dsId=2192991
We did have a little excitement at the end of the day, with 3 gliders
landing on runway 23 in 25 knot winds (gusting to 31), but with a little
radio communication, we were able to coordinate the use of the runway
and get down safely. I got some help from the airport guy to get the
glider through the grass and onto the taxiway. No worries,
Mang,compared to landing out at a deserted airport and having to push
the glider around solo, it's nice to have any help at all. :-)
RAMY summarizes the day: Indeed we got wave today! Interestingly the
wind at altitude wasn't any stronger than on the ground, as a result the
wave only went to around 14K. The highest we got was 14.6K. Buzz,
Shannon and myself went south to Mt Oso area and I also went north to
Vacaville ridge. Ramy's flight is on OLC. The wave was easily accessible
from a local tow right over the airport.Descending through the rotor and
landing in strong gusty wind was interesting.
Special thanks to John Randazzo for lending me his O2 bottle. Also
thanks to all who helped me with my glider today and with my FM duties
yesterday which was much needed due to to my injured elbow."
This was SHAMIM's first solo day in wave. Shamim wrote
"I had planned to take a high tow and work on turns etc.
At the flight line everyone was heading off to the wave, but
I didn't think I'd know what to do with one if it were
handed to me on a plate... I decided to stick to my plan.
I released at 3k over the airport and found myself in 2 kt up,
perfectly smooth. Then I remembered Dmitry had radioed down that he
was in wave at 3.5 directly over the airport. I guess this wave _was_
being handed to me on a plate!
After that it was just figuring out how far it went and trying to stay
in the strongest bits, around 3kt. I had noticed another glider
further upwind, and it seemed to be climbing faster. I pointed the
nose into the wind and increased speed. And just like all the books
say, first there was lots of sink, then much better lift. And these
bands of lift had rotor clouds under and behind them, just like the
pictures in the books!
All too soon it was time to descend. I found the sink between the lift
bands (again, just like the books) and rode it down with boards out.
There was a large (rotor?) cloud over the pattern entry point that I
stayed well clear of but still found myself climbing with full spoilers.
Lower down it was the roughest air I've flown in, everything below 3k
seemed brutal. Shamim's favorite Glider Books:
" I think it would have to be the Hertenstein one, "Ridge, Wave, &
Convergence Lift".Also the FAA book. I will never forget that flight, it
felt like the books had come to life."
It was 1.7 hours on the clock, 11k highest (8k post-release gain!).
Best of all it felt like a big playground up there to explore. I could
get used to this!"
DMITRY sends his wondrous photo sequence of the day's sky:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60002130@N03/sets/72157628890840529/
No comments:
Post a Comment