http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2610912
My first 5 hr solo "endurance" flight from Minden
The initial plan for Saturday, July 28 2012 was to get used to longer
solo flights along the Pine Nuts and around Minden Valley. However, the
soaring forecast was better than expected, with predicted ceilings at
17.300ft and lift in excess of 10kts. Particularly good forecast was for
south of Minden, along the Sierras. Around 11 am, a lot of pilots were
getting their gliders ready and staged them at the apron of rwy 30, like
birds on a wire waiting for the signal that the lift is good over the
Pine Nuts which then they use to jump further south. I spent most of the
morning with folks from Soaring NV and Mike S, figuring out which
official IGC recorder to use in case I have something to claim at the
end of the day. After multiple tests, we settled on the Cambridge
GPS-NAV that is already in KP, our G103 that is flying out of Minden
during the summer.
I was getting ready to launch around 1pm, and Mike S who had agreed
to be my official observer, said "See you after 6pm!" The tow towards
the Pine Nuts was 7min, and I released at 2900ft AGL. On tow, we were
mostly going through the sink in the valley - even Mineral Peak, a hill
in front of the Pine Nuts, looked high. But, there was one promising
thermal, and once I got off, it took me up to 12,500ft right away;
hopped to another one also around 12,000ft but closer to the ridge, and
that felt like a comfortable altitude and proximity to jump to Pine Nuts
and search for some stronger lift. It was mostly blue until now, but
little clouds starting forming over the Pine Nuts. They were growing
fast, and very quickly there was a nice and high (>16,000ft) cloud
street that I used to go up and down the ridge. I was hoping the cloud
street would extend further south towards the Mt Patterson and
Bridgeport, but no such luck. The furthest south I got was Topaz Lake.
Still, the lake is a very pretty sight and a good motivation to hang
around there for awhile. The first 3.5 hour I spent more-less yo-yoing
along the ridge, with one longer foray around the Topaz. Most of that
time was spent at a lofty 15-16,000 ft.
One thing that I have not witnessed before, even though I was told
about it many times, is the strength of the thermals under the clouds
that are just forming. Since the cumulus clouds on that day were
recycling fast it was very easy to spot a wisp of the cloud that is
being born. Those thermals pegged the variometer at 10kts, and in those
2-3 minutes it took me to reach the cloud base the cloud was already
fully formed - huge and mature and dark all of sudden above my head
offering a shade. Later in the afternoon the lift was dying; as I was
struggling to find the blue thermals along the Pine Nuts, the altitude
was dissipated and eventually I had to go back into the valley. I was
already past 3.5 hours in the air, and was hoping to find nice thermals
in the valley, as they do often show up later in the afternoon. I needed
those if I wanted to claim 5 hr duration. Alas, the best I found was the
band of zero sink, looking like the convergence setting up, but not
really. At 4 hours into the flight I was down to 6200ft, getting ready
to make the call that I am about to enter the landing pattern for rwy
30, when a 4 kts shy valley thermal offered itself on the 45 deg entry.
It was quite hard to climb in it; they are very narrow that low. As I
gained 200ft on one side, I lost a 100 on the other side. But, it did
mean staying up. That was a challenging hour and 20min, but at 5h and 12
min into the flight and from 7500 ft I was ready to open the spoilers
and get down. The total flight duration was 5 h 19min, and with 7 min on
tow, I had 12 minutes to spare over the required 5hr. The highest I got
that day was little bit over 17,000 ft.
Well, needless to say, I was quite happy for the rest of the day,
and still brag about it to strangers on the street. The Cambridge logger
has already been calibrated post-flight, and hopefully the badge dude
will not find anything obscure as a reason to reject my claim for 5 hr
duration leg towards the Silver/Gold badge. But no matter what, this
first 5 hour flight for me was a great experience. Many thanks to Mike S
for all his help so far and for being an official observer.
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