Report from the West

After harassing Tony for not sending any pictures or accounts of his western adventures, we got this report about his flying in Bishop, California. (Thanks, Tony!)

The Air Sailing Club just went to Bishop, California, a small town about 200 miles south of Reno, for our annual encampment. Yosemite is 70 miles to the northwest and Death Valley some 100 miles to the southeast.  It's at the north end of the 10-mile wide Owens Valley.

The Bishop area has the strongest soaring conditions in northern Nevada.  High-end ships out of Minden often make the flight.  Air Sailing is farther to the north so only a few of our ships with sustainer engines fly down.

The White and Inyo Mountains on the east side of the valley generate tremendous lift when the wind is from the west.  Getting to the top is the challenge.  The peaks are 10,000 feet above the airport so it's prohibitive to take a tow all the way to the top.  Because of the valley alignment there are generally only light winds which parallel the valley early in the day. The sun doesn't begin to heat the west-facing slopes until around noon.  Light upslope winds that trigger thermals are usually absent as is ridge lift. So getting up requires staying extremely close to the lower cols and ridges using S-turns and Figure 8's at recommended speeds five knots or more above best L/D for safety.  This flight log exaggerates ground proximity but does give a sense of the drill.

You never know how much of a workout you'll encounter getting on top.  It can take 15 minutes one day and over an hour the next.  Once up you can generally rocket north/south on the Whites and pick your way along the lower Inyos to the south where the lift generally isn't as strong.  Closing speeds are high so pilots use "Procedure Alpha," a safety protocol on a frequency not used for other traffic, to report their positions relative to six prominent peaks including altitude and flight direction.

The Sierras on the west are far more jagged, foreboding, and beautiful than the Whites.  But the prevailing westerlies late in the day can generate huge sink and turbulence.  In 2007 Steve Fossett went down flying a Citabria about 45 miles northwest of Bishop apparently due, at least in part, to these conditions.

I flew to Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower U.S., the last day of the encampment. Couldn't get on top so had to fly just off the ridges 60 miles each way. There was enough 1 to 2.5 knot lift to offset the huge sink, but it was a workout in a narrow flight band all the way.  Obviously you always keep a bailout to the Owens Valley, which has a few airports and suitable fields, in range.

The soaring community is indeed small.  John Boyce, Evan Ludeman's brother-in-law, is an Air Sailing member.  He was at the field this weekend but did not make the Bishop trip this year.