Region One Contest

Our friends at NESA have announced that they have applied for a sanction to organize the 2022 Region One contest at Springfield.

It will be in the Sports Class and "Bus" (2-seat trainer) classes, and the dates are July 2 - 9, 2022.

Check the contest webpage for more information.

All it takes to enter is a Silver Badge, and all it takes to become a volunteer is to volunteer.  It's a great learning experience if you haven't seen an official contest before.

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.

New Year's Day Flight

I had a nice wave flight to celebrate the New Year.  Took a long tow and could only find weak wave behind Okemo Mountain.  Moved upwind of Okemo because the clouds looked better, and was able to climb while heading south almost to Mt. Snow.  I think the wave system was well establish to the west (from New York) as can be seen in the satellite images.  Okemo Mountain must have interfered with the established wave resulting in the poor climbs east of the mountain.  Maximum altitude was about 15,000'.

Stratton Mountain in the shade.

Mt. Ascutney is in the Center.  VSF, CMH, and Lake Sunapee are visible in the right pane.

Solstice Wave

Took my (AT) first wave flight out of Springfield, VT for the winter during the solstices (actually a week early).  Up north it was completely socked in, to the south there was no clouds but at Okemo there was just the right amount of clouds.  Wave was 1-2 kts down low, increased to 3-4 kts up to 13,000', and then slowed back down above 13,000'.  I was still climbing at 1-2 kts at 15,000' when I headed down to tow the next flight.

Walter and Peter Kelley took the next flight (i1) but couldn't connect to wave.  Then Walter flew with Bob Morehardt (i1) for about an hour and a half but could only get to 8,500'.

 Looking North - too cloudy

 Looking South - too clear

Looking at VSF from 9 nm away, 2 nm up and 50 kt tailwind - final glide even for a space shuttle

Wave Flights - March 12

Saturday was a warm, cloudless, wave day.  Tim (AT), Tom (2W), Dan (EA), Evan (T8), and Jerry and Larry (i1) flew out of Springfield VT (VSF) with the assistance of Andy L. in the Pawnee.  Evan found the highest climb to 16,000'.

I (Tim) took the first tow around 11 AM followed by Tom.  We found week wave to 8,500'.  I was in the primary and Tom in the secondary.  At 12:40 the wave shut off and sent us scrambling to find lift.  I hung out by ridge soaring the west face of Okemo until the wave lift returned about 20 minutes later.  Tom never fully recovered and landed about an hour later.

I found the Okemo wave to have a very short wavelength.  My climb was only 2.5 nm from the summit and I found lift as close as 1.6 nm (over the base of the ski lifts) from the summit.  Evan and Dan's climbs were about 3.5 nm from the summit.  Once I topped out at 9,000' I headed for Killington.  Thinking the wavelength for the day was short I stayed to the west of Rt 100.  I was rewarded with sink all the way.  At 6,000' I was just about to head back to VSF when I found the Killington wave.  Evan and Dan followed a line further west to Killington and did much better.

Dan topped out at Killington at 12,500' and lead the way to Sugarbush.  Evan stuck around a little longer and got to 16,000'.  Dan, Evan and I found our climbs 4 nm - 4.5 nm from the summit, so it looked like the wavelength was longer than Okemo.

At Sugarbush we all found climbs right over the airport at 5-5.5 nm from the summit to about 15,000'.  We all continued north but Dan was the only one brave enough to hop the I89 gap at Waterbury.  Dan made it up to Mt. Mansfield but could not find the lift and had to land at Morrisville.  Evan and I stuck our tails between our legs and headed for home.

The wind was a bit out of the north and made the return to VSF easy.  From Sugarbush to Killington I gained about 500'.  From Killington to VSF I flew as fast as 120 kts IAS which worked out to 153 kts TAS or 176 mph.  With the quartering tail wind the ground speed hit 216 mph!  Evan and I landed about a half hour after Dan.  We packed everything up quickly and I was off to get Dan.

My new theory about wave in the Green Mountains is that the best lift is at the major ski areas (Okemo, Killington, Sugarbush and Stowe).  The best terrain for skiing (tallest peak, moderate steep slope, bowl shape) is also the best terrain for wave.  As an added bonus 3 of the 4 ski areas have airports near by.

Tim

Wave Flight - February 6

Had another nice wave flight on Saturday.  I took a long tow to the primary but wasn't able to connect so I drop back to Little Ascutney.  From there I was able to thermal into the secondary.  Here is a picture from 8,500' over Little Ascutney looking toward Okemo:

This is the first flight this year where clouds did not obscure the primary around Killington.  This is the view from Plymouth looking toward Killington:

Climbing in the Killington wave to about 12,000':

I followed to the primary to Sugarbush where I climbed to 15,000':

This is the view from Sugarbush looking north.   There was more wave to follow but I was already shirking my tow pilot duties (sorry Walter) and I chickened out.  I turned around:

I got to Middlebury Ski Bowl but the primary hole was getting hazy and heading south with the lowering sun I couldn't tell where to fly to stay in the primary so I headed downwind into a secondary hole.  I got a little lost.  I knew I was 28 nm from VSF (15 nm from 2B9, 11 nm from LEB) and I could see I89 down through the hole but I couldn't tell if the secondary hole was going to lead me too far downwind (like to Sunapee).   I knew I could drop through the hole and land at 2B9 or LEB but I really wanted to get back to VSF.  So I tanked up with a little more altitude and carefully headed south.  At about 20 nm out I spotted the Mt. Ascutney ski runs and knew I was home free.  The hole led me straight back to the airport.  Its nice of the ski industry to create these giant land marks for us but I guess its time to get a moving map display.

- Tim

Wave Flight - February 4

Nice wave flight at VSF but I had taken my oxygen tank out to get it refilled. I reinstalled it and did a leak check but forgot to turn it back on before take-off. I got to 14,000' then dropped back to 12,000' for the rest of the flight. At 14,000' I was still climbing at 2-3 kts.

Up high the wind was very strong and out of the south. Flew north about 23 nm to Sharon When I turn around the computer said I had a 74 kt head wind back to VSF. I took a long time to get back.

Okemo Mountain's "largest vertical drop in VT" doesn't look so large from here.

Airspeed 70 kts, Groundspeed zero, 5.1 kts on the averager.

I followed the hole left of the 'L' in Lebanon to Sharon.  Could not access the primary because of the clouds.

Tim

More winter flying

On Friday January 1 2016 Tim flew to 17,999' in AT and Walter towed.

On Saturday Tim towed Walter and me up in I1 but we couldn't make into the primary so ~8k was the best we could do.  The view was spectacular. 

-Andy

December Soaring

Who says we're done flying gliders this season?

Today Tim flew AT and Walter & I flew I1 around Mt. Ascutney for two hours until the lift gave out. 

Nice day for flying. 

-Andy

Saturday at Springfield

Dennis writes:

It was a cool time and so refreshing not to be cooped up shoveling snow.

Went over to Springfield to do some prep on my glider and when I got there an FAA sponsored seminar broke out. It was about examining accidents and tips to better prepare to avoid them. Good food for thought to hear at the beginning of the flying season.

After I got through, (man I love tinkering on a glider in a warm clean hangar), I caught the seminar and then Walter took me up for a flight in the PW6.

BTW Walter gives his regards to you all...

Big air, 20 mph 30 degree cross, lots of sink and some good lift. We got to about 5400 and were able to play tag with a street for an hour or so. I had the back seat and Walter let me get some thermal stick time in the PW. That is an amazingly easy glider to fly. The air was rough but, that glider just handled the day just fine.

It beats Condor by a mile.

Can't wait for the season to start. See you next week...

Winter flying has started

Andy writes:

On Friday Tim and I made the trek down to Springfield for some flying.

The 304 is being stored in a giant hangar with a concrete floor so assembly could not have been any easier, except for getting the tape to stick to the ice cold glider. Walter's PW6 stays assembled and is sitting on dollies so all you have to do is roll it sideways out of the hangar.

There were three flights all together and I think the best (Walter and airport manager Larry) was to around 5000 feet. There might have been some weak wave helping them get there.

A good time was had by all, and I recommend taking advantage of Walter’s willingness to tow us during the winter months. It’s really been great fun.

Source

Another Day at Springfield

I went down to Springfield (VSF) to pick up PM so we could do some maintenance on it.  I was there, PM was there, Walter was there, the Pawnee was there.  It was sunny with no wind and clouds were starting to pop.  So I took a flight.  After about 40 minutes of struggling to maintain release altitude a cloudstreet developed and I was able to get to cloudbase and just kept climbing.  It was a slow climb but it went all the way up to 9,000'.  From there I pushed forward one cycle in the wave to Plymouth, Vermont.  I wandered around Plymouth for a while until I found the primary which quickly (4 knots+) took me to 11,000 feet.  At 11,000 feet Walter came by in the RV to check on me and then it was an easy flight to Killington (which I never saw because of the undercast), Okemo, Claremont and home.

PM should be ready to go again after a little maintenance.  I'll let you know where it's currently parked.  Tows can be arranged at VSF.  Go for it!

Tim

Trough Soaring

I took PM to Springfield last Thursday for a little trough soaring.  Trough soaring is like wave soaring.  Both use mountain waves.  In wave soaring you ride the crest of the wave to high altitudes.  In trough soaring you ride around in the trough of the wave hoping to get up to the crest.

It was a nice 3 hour flight (the data logger was not working for the first half).  A lot of it was hanging around between 5,000' and 6,000' waiting for stronger lift.

Thank you Walter for towing and Sonny for wing running.

PM is currently in Walter's hangar and ready to fly (I have the data logger and battery).

Tim

Stuck in a Hole

Had a nice 2 hour flight in Springfield yesterday. Took off around noon. 4 kt thermals to 6K. I was able to climb to 9K in a wave window but the hole in the clouds was only a mile or two wide. Couldn't climb high enough to go over the clouds (tops were about 10K) and had to go below 6K to get under them so I was pretty much stuck in the hole.

When I left Springfield at 3, Walter and Jerry were just starting out in the PW6 at 6K over Ascutney.

There are still a lot of opportunities to fly in Springfield before Post Mills Airport opens in the spring.

Tim

Winter Soaring

I had a nice flight in Springfield VT with Walter in his PW-6 on President's Day. Walter is in his new hangar and both the Pawnee and PW-6 are always ready to go. It only takes him about 10 minutes to have both of them ready to fly.

Dr. Jack had predicted weak thermals to less than 3,000 but we found wavy thermals or thermally wave to 6000 feet. The lift was quite strong at times and I briefly saw 7.5 kts on the averager. Wind at altitude I guess was around 20 kts. We stayed up for about 2.5 hours.

Okemo Mountain is only 12 miles from the airport so I think there is often wave lift when the wind is blowing (which is most days this time of year). There is also the possibility of thermal and ridge lift. Walter is willing and able to tow, so I am planning to fly the 304 down there a few days before the flying starts at Post Mills. Anyone else interested? We could take the 1-23 and/or Blanik too.

Tim

Sight for Soar Eyes

The VT soaring season opened on the last day of Winter, at 12:43pm. I've always enjoyed the view down Runway 5 at VSF, but rarely more so than yesterday.

-Evan