Sunday the 26th did not start off well for me. Alasdair showed me that the NESA 2-33 was missing a cotter pin on one of the bolts holding the tailplane. The nut was spinning freely but still attached. It had been assembled after our safety meeting and then flown a week ago. I then pre-flighted it Saturday for my Flight Review, with Alasdair. I try to touch everything I am checking to make sure I do not just give it a cursory look, but apparently I had not done so this time.
Bob Iuliano was already climbing out over Hawks Ridge when I released just below him. Usually we would fly together as long as possible but Bob had to get back earlier that day. When he headed toward the Green mountains, I took a northerly track up the middle of the state. The clouds looked good everywhere. A slight detour to the Greens along with the arc formed by the mountain range would result in a longer path versus heading due north. One of my goals has been to fly to the Canadian border, and this seemed like a good day to give it a shot.
The initial clouds worked well. I hit a relatively low point of 4800 feet near Chelsea, but the cloud I had been aiming for looked good and I was within range of Post Mills, so no worries. Near Montpelier I made a pointless diversion east toward what I thought was the best cloud in the area. It offered weak lift but at least afforded me a bit more altitude. It also gave me time to look around, and I noticed wisps of clouds starting to develop in the blue area just to the west. I backtracked west and headed toward the cloud street above Barre. All of this time I was within spitting/gliding distance of the Barre/Montpelier airport, so again, no worries. Turning west turned out better than expected and I was able to turn north while still in the blue. From there I flew without the need for any major climbs, just thermaling enough to top off my altitude.
One of the things that I think has helped my soaring is that I have learned to focus on being smooth and being more selective when slowing down. Not every patch of lift needs a sharp pullup. The glider gains energy in the small pockets of lift that we traverse and every control input or change in flap setting costs something in terms of drag and therefore altitude. I try to pay attention to what my flight computer’s MacCready speed-to-fly is telling me but I do not react instantly to every change. I try to avoid slowing down in anticipation of lift. Not every cloud works and slowing too much leaves me with little energy when I find sink instead.
There are several metrics available in WeGlide that I track. One is glide ratio over segments of flights. The leg from my initial climb to the border was 109 miles. On that leg I achieved a glide ratio of 63/1, significantly better than my theoretical 48/1.
There was a cloud growing just on the Canadian border and there was a light wind from the north. I could see the border on my flight computer but from 5,000 ft I could not actually see the 20 ft border break on the ground. Several roads in the area made it somewhat confusing. I turned, just barely touching Canadian airspace and gaining some altitude in the thermal while enjoying the view.
Heading back south the lowest point of the flight at 4600 feet came when I was near Morrisville airport. There had been a larger than normal gap between clouds but again the clouds ahead looked very good so I was never worried. I had also started to notice that the clouds over the Greens were at two levels, indicating a convergence.
Flying south I experimented with
the optimum distance from the convergence line and found it to be well to the
east versus closer to the convergence. However, I never did get extremely close
so perhaps it would have been even better at that point.
Between Sugarbush and Killington I was able to fly without turning. Near Killington I gained nearly 1000 feet in a thermal and then an additional 2000 feet in straight flight. I did not turn again until well past Bennington. At that point the clouds seemed to be a bit more spread out and there was smoke from a rather large fire. Two years ago I had come this far and then tried to return under an overdevelopment only having to land at Bennington. Not wanting to repeat that, and with plenty of altitude, I turned back. Retracing my recent path I maintained altitude and decided to head east and add a bit of a triangle to the flight. This had the added benefit of allowing me to stay within final glide of Hartness, minimizing the potential need for a retrieve.
In retrospect, I should have continued south into Massachusetts. At that time, I did not know it but two pilots from Post Mills were in the same area with me, just returning from their flights to western Connecticut, near where the three states of Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut meet. Evan Ludeman eventually flew 370 miles and Greg Hanlon flew 304 miles. I could not have flown to Connecticut but I think I could have gone well into Massachusetts, which for me is unexplored territory.
The leg of my flight from the border south covered 139 miles at a glide ratio of 111! Another WeGlide metric I look at is per cent of time circling. A very good number to aim for is 20%. For this flight it was 16.3%! Needless to say, my flight of 349 miles (560 km) was the longest of my life.
Clearly a great day to fly cross country in Vermont. Hopefully my skills and decision making have actually improved and it was not just the right time and the right place!
