Friday Slackers

During the flight tests last weekend, it was noted that the oil consumption in the towplane was getting a bit excessive.  A hasty arrangement was made with our new mechanic, Noah, and the L19 was delivered to Dean Memorial airport for some maintenance on Sunday after flying.

We expected to get the towplane back on Wednesday, which would be in plenty of time for the forecast good soaring weather on Friday.  In the end, however, there were delays and more things to fix than originally anticipated.  As the forecast for Friday got better and better, we stood by nervously as Noah, Andy, Mark, and Don worked on the L19.  It was finally back at Post Mills and ready to go on Thursday evening, and eleven Slackers got the word that Friday was a go.

The day started early, and we had four gliders in the air by noon.  It was difficult at first, with light winds and an uninspiring ribbon of blue sky along the river.  It wasn't too difficult for the high performance guys to glide out to the clouds to the west, but conditions were difficult around home.  Despite this, Jeff (505) managed to stay in the air for 1.5 hours at the beginning of the day.  He wasn't done yet.

We had a surplus of towpilots, and both Mark (PM) and Tim (BU) were able to go flying after towing.  They flew together between Lebanon and Moosilauke, giving Mark his first real taste of cross-country flight in a glider.

Moshe (RU) and Peter (HG) flew west to the Green Mountains.  Moshe came home via Franconia, and Peter reached 7500 feet after getting low near Bailey.  It was Peter's first 250 km flight.

Meanwhile, the conditions back home improved, and Dave B (NT) and Jeff (505, again) flew for 4h35 and 3h11 respectively.

Leslie (H) flew for five hours and 162 km in the Libelle.  He spent 45 minutes stuck at Dean on the way home, eventually landing there.

The longest flights of the day were achieved by Greg (JR), Shawn (SB), and Evan (T8).  Greg and Shawn flew together for 450 km, with turnpoints at Jay Peak, Old Speck, and Mount Ascutney.  Evan had the longest flight of the day (549 km).  He flew along the Canadian border from Jay all the way to Rangeley, Maine before heading back to Post Mills.

Seven by Five

Yesterday was a hot and hazy summer day with a maximum temperature of 90F, a dewpoint of 66F, and negligible wind.  The air was hot, but the ground was even hotter and thus we had a soaring day.  There were cumulus clouds, thankfully.

Five Slackers made seven remarkable flights yesterday in the heat.

With care, everyone took off safely out of Post Mills, despite the 3400 foot density altitude at the beginning of the launches.  Jeff was the first to go in the 2-33, and we joked about getting his 5 hours on his second solo.  He took off at 11:30 and found nothing but sink, the only short flight of the day.

Jeff getting ready to go

He was also the last to take off, at 12:21 (more about that later).

Greg (JR), Peter (HG), Dave (NT), and Kari (2C) took off in rapid succession.  One of these days Peter will learn how to record his flights.

Greg had the longest flight of the day, a tour of the White Mountain peaks (Moosilauke, Lafayette, Washington (twice), Speck, followed by an excursion out to Catamount airfield and a return via the Knox Mountains, for a total of 339 km.

Greg visits several peaks

And here's another picture of Greg's knees:

The other three had nice flights as well.  Peter tried to chase Greg into the Whites, but wound up making a perfect landing at Dean, his first sailplane landing away from Post Mills.

Dave had the longest flight of the day, over five and a half hours, with a high point of 6000 feet, where it must have been a little bit cooler.

Kari made a counterclockwise tour of our task area, visiting Dean, Montpelier, Sugarbush and Brandon before returning to Post Mills.  Then, at the end of the flight, he headed back out toward Wentworth and didn't find any climbs.  He turned around and made a slightly uncomfortable final glide home.

Meanwhile, Jeff vanished on his third solo.  Just when we were beginning to wonder where he might have gone, he showed up in the pattern and made a perfect landing shortly after 5pm, only 11 minutes short of his five hours!  If only he had stayed up on his first flight!

Andy did all the towing (thanks, Andy!)  Seven tows in total, including one at Dean.

Together, then apart

 The soaring weather has been so crummy so far that we've begun grasping at straws.  Perhaps we should do that more often.

Last night the forecast for today was "mostly cloudy," which sounds a whole lot better than "rain all day."  Indeed, the sky was grey all morning.  But that didn't prevent the four desperados from showing up and rigging their gliders.

Here's a nice view of a completely unpromising sky:

Tim (BU), Greg (JR), Peter (HG), and DaveB (NT) launched in rapid succession (4 takeoffs in 21 minutes), and even though there were no shadows on the ground, they were able to stay up!

It is interesting to compare the flights of JR (red) and BU (cyan):

For the first half of the flight, they flew together, advising each other of climb rates and trying to stay out of each other's way in the haze.  They wandered across the river and found their first good climb over Mount Cube.  Then they split up and went their separate ways.

Tim eventually went back to Vermont and found a good thermal to 6000 feet.  He landed just after it started to get sunny on the ground.  A three hour flight, not bad!

Slacker Day in the New Climate

Whatever we think we know about the new climate is probably wrong.

It used to be that we never got a cold front in July, and on the rare occasions that cool air from Canada arrived, we never got Spring-like windy conditions the next day.  Finally, we never used to think about wildfires a thousand miles away.

Yesterday, for the second Friday in a row we called a Slacker Day following a frontal passage the night before.  Most of us expected cool dry conditions with high cloud bases and a light NW breeze.  Moshe was the only one vigilant enough to check for wind and smoke.  He warned us, but we didn't listen.

He discovered, from the usual sources, that it would be atypically breezy, and from a newly discovered website, that a high pressure system would be bringing us a band of smoke from Saskatchewan.  We went flying anyway.

Seven gliders launched in gusty conditions, beginning about noon.  At first the sky was blue.  We found climbs to about 5000 feet, but kept blowing south while circling, making it a struggle just to stay local.  Greg (JR), Dan (EA), and Andy K (2R) took advantage of their high performance gliders and charged off to the northwest.  Moshe (RU), Peter (HG), and Dave (NT) fought the wind and sink to no avail and landed back home.  Rick (LEL) took the easy way out and dashed down to Lebanon, found a nice climb to 6000 feet right over the control tower and followed a street back to Post Mills.

By mid- afternoon the sky to the northwest was completely gray.  The combination of a relentless headwind and decreasing visibility made it difficult to be optimistic about getting anywhere that day.

Greg made a low save at Morrisville and finessed a return to Post Mills.  Andy turned around just past Catamount and nearly landed at Montpelier.  But he made it home.  Dan didn't get the memo and landed in a field near Morrisville.  Everyone was on the ground early, several hours before sunset.

Greg went off to retrieve Dan, so we'll probably get a story from them later.

All in all, it was a fun day for everyone - except the firefighters in Canada.

Weekend report May 7 - 9

It's not easy being a newsletter editor when you're out of town on a spectacular soaring day and nobody writes their story.  All of the following is scraped from the OLC, a few emails, and the forum.

On Friday, technically a Slacker Day, there were eight flights posted, for a total of 2979 kilometers.  Everybody ran up to Mount Washington (probably together), and either came home directly (NT, DC, 2C) or via an excursion over to the Green Mountains JR, T8, AG).  Tim (BU) did the run twice, for 516 kilometers.  David (505) racked up 69 kilometers in the local area in the 1-26.

That was a lot of good flying, and congratulations to everyone.

But if you think that was special, consider this:  Tim (BU), Evan (T8), and Greg (JR) flew all the way across the Champlain valley into New York on Sunday.  This has never been done before.

The next day Evan wrote:

Yesterday, Tim, Greg and I kicked over the left side of the Post Mills sandbox, crossed the Lake Champlain valley and flew to the highest point in New York State.

One of the reasons for trying this on Sunday was that the weather forecast seemed to indicate less likelihood of overdevelopment on the Adirondacks.  Another is that the wind direction (SW) would keep us out of the wind shadow of the big part of Lake Champlain.
 
The second bit worked as designed. The first not so much. It OD’d on us hard, but we managed to find the climbs we needed to make it back. Patience and teamwork were required. Glider performance helps too!
 
Last night I emailed Adirondack Soaring to tell them we’d planted our flag on Mount Marcy and claimed it for the republic of Post Mills.
 
I added “next time we’ll try to bring better weather.”

I don't know what's more amazing, the flight or the fact that Evan wrote about it.

Weekend report May 22 - 25

PMSC finally got underway at Post Mills this weekend, thanks to all the work on the towplane performed by our chief towpilot and chief mechanic.  It's never obvious how much work the two Andys do in order to keep us flying.  It's a lot.

We did a pretty good job of observing our amended COVID operational rules.

Under our new (hopefully temporary) rules, every day is a Slacker Day.  This isn't great for our primary students, but it makes it easier for our instructors and towpilots to fly on the weekends.  Don't let them tell you that they aren't enjoying this.

Another consequence is that our first weekend of the season was also our first 4-day weekend.

Friday
The conditions were blue with light west winds.  The day started with thermals to 5000 feet, rising to 7000 feet by late afternoon.  Evan, Tim, Dennis, and Eric flew out of Post Mills, and Rick launched at Franconia.  Tim and Evan flew nice round trips to the White Mountains.  Eric did that as well, but was a bit more ambitious.  He wound up landing at Claremont after rounding his final turnpoint at Springfield.  Rick also landed out, conveniently, at Post Mills.

Dennis was the hero of the day, driving down to Claremont to pick up NT, bringing Eric back to Post Mills, then turning around again and driving home (not that far from Claremont).  He walked into his house at about midnight - and was back in Post Mills the next morning.

Saturday
Technically, Saturday can be called Assembly Day, since the 2-33 and 1-26 went together, thanks to the efforts of David, Peter, Karl, Andy, Don, and Karl's buddy Dave from Florida. That leaves the Blanik, which suffers from lack of pilots so far this season.

The weather was strange.  It wasn't blue, but it might as well have been.  High bands of stratus and a few altocu didn't help at all.  Thermals were sparse and difficult to center, but with patience, they could be worked up to 6000 feet.  The wind was southeasterly, which was disorienting.

All flights were local.  Kari probably had the longest flight, with Evan and Peter not far behind.  Dennis had a short one, and Rick couldn't even stay up.  David flew the 2-33 twice and is back on track to get his license early this year.

Sunday
The day dawned clear, but a thin overcast moved in just before launch time and hung around for the rest of the day.  From the appearance of the sky, you wouldn't have thought there was any lift at all.

But this is May.  The airmass is so good that it doesn't take all that much sunshine to get things going.  Tim (BU), Peter (505), and Greg (JD) all had local flights.  Peter's total time in the 1-26 this season is 5 hours already.  He got to 4800 feet and was the last to land.

Monday
Nobody flew.  But before you deny that this was a 4-day weekend, thank Tim for standing by to be the towpilot all day Monday.  The overcast was solid, and the slackers gave up early, as they always do.

There are 12 trailers on the field now (including HK, which just arrived from Florida).

Slacker day

After the crummy weekend, everybody was looking for a good day to go flying.  Wednesday was nominated, and when the day came, the usual suspects bolted from their day jobs.  One of them didn't even bother to change into his flying clothes as he went out the door.

In all, 8 pilots made 10 flights.  The weather wasn't quite as good as we wanted.

Don wrote:

The day started out breezy and improved as the afternoon progressed. Thermals were around but all chopped to pieces by the wind. During my brief flight, indications were northerly in the 20s-30. At 3000-5000’. 

Flights that started later in the day tended to stay up. Tim (BU) and Moshe (RU) made two flights, so had twice the fun. I had to leave before Tim/Dennis/Moshe returned so don’t know their stories. Eric (NT) started early and made it to Mt Washington and back. Kari (2C) made an hour plus flight in his Jantar.

Don took this picture of Moshe on his first flight.  Note the scummy sky and lack of cumulus.

Peter and Dennis (DC) made long local flights later in the day, both over 2.5 hours.

Weekend report April 28 - 29

The club got off to a great start, with the long-delayed first official weekend of operations.

We had fourteen flights at Post Mills and at least one in Pennsylvania.

Dennis took the first flight of the year on Saturday in the Blanik, followed by Kari, Eric, Pete, Mark, Sonny, Henry and Doug.  Then Eric (NT), Dennis (DC), and Mark (HG) took off in their own gliders, as did Greg (JD) and Tim (BU).  Greg and Tim found their way up to Mount Washington, and had nice flights that included a wave climb.  Everyone got home, which was nice, since we weren't all that organized back at Post Mills, and retrieves would have added some complication.

We're having the usual startup difficulties (trouble with the towplane, golf carts, mud, etc.), but none of these problems seem insurmountable.

It rained all day Sunday, but in Pennsylvania, Dan (EA) spent a nice afternoon running up and down the ridges between Nittany Mountain and Bedford for 365 km.  Evan is there also, but he hasn't posted anything on OLC yet.

Another visitor to Newmont Farm

Yesterday, Eric made his first off field landing in the northern hemisphere.  He chose the Newmont Farm in Fairlee, the fourth club member to do so since 2013.  We should put a windsock in that field.

Dennis and Don made quick work of retrieving him, and Eric was back on the field in time to tell his story to the gathered crowd.

Mount Washington O&R

Eric writes:

I enjoyed the opportunity to accompany Greg, Dan, Evan and Tom on a flight in NT from Post Mills to Mount Washington on Sunday. Greg had previously mentioned the idea of conducting lead and follow coaching for PMSC pilots to learn cross country techniques and I felt I was ready to try it. Although I'd had some cross country experience in Australia, New England's rugged landscape had made me shy about venturing out by myself. So I was delighted to be able to fly with a sense of safety, following seasoned pilots on their semi-regular run to Mount Washington.

Although the day was not particularly easy, it was possible to find strong lift, and especially so after we crossed the river into the New Hampshire high country. We crossed at Bradford and headed for Moosilauke. I think Dan scouted an area that looked promising but turned out not to be. Greg eventually found something in the foothills east of the river and we all came over and to join him.

Thus went more or less the whole day, with one pilot or another reporting something and others adjusting their flight to take advantage of it. We climbed twice on the way to Moosilauke and then once just north of the mountain itself. Dan checked southeast of the summit, but there was nothing particularly strong (which is surprising, given the gentle southerly). We then made a long cruise along the Cannon mountain ridge until we found lift south of Franconia. We spent a long time there in weak lift; Greg and someone else were at cloud base but my climb was taking forever. Greg advised we push on, "let's find something stronger."

After that, more long cruises and with widely spaced climbs. This was definitely a new style for me since I would have normally stopped to top up in anything strong ("you never know when you might need it"). At our second climb after leaving Franconia we had Mount Washington Hotel in sight with Mount Washington in the distance. We'd made it in six climbs from Post Mills! We then flew northeast with the Dartmouth Range beneath us and the Presidential Range to our right. We flew past Madison and I recognized all the territory from wave camp last year. Then, after Evan scouted northward only to find a "big blue hole", we gathered and climbed near Gorham and discussed going westward into Vermont.

Somehow though, having accomplished what I'd wanted for the day, coupled with the idea of pushing on in not particularly easy conditions, left me feeling it was time to head back. I said goodbye to the group and set my sights on the breadcrumb trail of alternate airports that would lead safely home.

Flying back seemed straightforward as far as navigation went since I could mostly recognize the landscape from the trip up, but a long stretch of sink on the way to Franconia, followed by a spell of major sink near Cannon Mountain (which I suddenly realized I was on the lee side of) suddenly left me low and considering Franconia airport to be my likely landing spot for the day.

There was lift in the area, but it was uneven and I needed a big climb. After a small climb I ventured west but was completely dissuaded by the heavy, ever-present sink. I returned to Franconia airport even lower; barely pattern altitude. I radioed them that I was a Post Mills pilot trying to return home but might land there if I couldn't get away.

My second try worked out better, I really just persisted in the lift that was there and as I got higher, the lift became stronger and more uniform. I was finally able to climb above Cannon's elevation and find a region of lift/zero-sink that I could proceed south in. And as I went south at mountain height I found more lift, climbed further, and kept heading south. At some point on that leg I was within final glide of home, and I must say it was a great feeling.

Thank you Greg, Evan, and Dan for the wonderful adventure and for encouraging us to stretch our wings and venture cross country.

[Extracted from the PMSC Forum.  Here's a video from Eric's cockpit. -Ed.]

VSF Wave 2-26-17

Eric (NT) wrote up the day on the PMSC forum.  I (AT) will just add a few comments and a couple of photos here.  The wind was unusually strong at ground level.  There was both cloud streeting and roto-cumulus clouds.  Wave lift was very localized.

Killington Ski Area

Roto-cumulus bars with streeting in the foreground

Here are the Skew-T and HHHR models from the weekend before when we (Eric (NT), Tim(AT), and Walter and Dennis (i1)) could not find wave.  It was a cloudless day.