Summertime, and the living is easy

Happy Solstice!

Today is the longest day of the year, but it isn't the day with the latest sunset.  That day will be Wednesday, June 27.  The sunset will occur on that day at 8:36pm, almost two minutes later than today.  Tonight will last only 8 hours and 32 minutes.

And Happy Birthday to the Solstice Babies: Lane, Andy, Tony, and Sherry!

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.

Update from Tony

Tony Moehrke checked in this morning and sends his greetings to his Club-of-Origin.

Tony is taking a break from flying at Air Sailing Gliderport in Nevada, where they have apparently recently run out of towplanes.  His latest flight was a spectacular tour of western Nevada, taking in the Carson Range, Lake Tahoe, and Minden.

You'd think that with all that scenery, he would send us a picture once in a while.

Weekend report August 17 - 18

We had a three-day weekend, if you want to count Sunday, which was grey and barely flyable.

On Friday, a trio of slackers (EA, JS, and JD) went out for a total of 457 OLC kilometers.  On Saturday, nine different gliders took off from Post Mills, which may be a record for this year.  It would have been ten, but Sonny's plan for the day changed when the radiator in his car split open on the way to the airfield. Moshe (RU) had a flight at Morrisville, so that makes it ten (and that doesn't count Tony, who flew on Saturday, but he seems to have switched loyalties from his friendly, supportive, club-of-origin to a dessicated impersonal wasteland operation with nothing more than pecuniary interests, and probably nowhere near as good a social infrastructure.)

Anyway, back at Post Mills, Greg (JD) and Dan (EA) held hands around a bow-tie shaped course:

Greg in red, Dan in blue

and Skip (JS) and Rick (6Q) joined up at Dean where they set out for home together, with mixed results:

Rick in red, Skip in blue

(Evan and Paul also landed out, but they aren't men enough to post their flight logs).

But never mind the flying part - the highlight of the weekend was the dining.  We had 23 at the cookout:

Andy, Christina, Dan, Dennis, Evan, Geoff, Greg, Henry, Laurie, Lynne, Marsha, Mike, Paul, Peter, Petey, Keith, Mary, Rick, Sawyer, Sherry, Skip, Sue, Tim

and thanks partly to the season, but mostly to our volunteer chefs, we enjoyed an amazing assortment of side dishes to go with our chicken, sausage, salmon, pizza, and beer!  Let's do it again next weekend!

Oh, yes, there's a rumor going around that we bought another glider!

7H or N4 - Take your PIK

Usually this time of year, we get reports from Tony, reminding us of how much better the conditions are in Florida than in Vermont. Well, it turns out that he's been spending his time shopping for a glider and not flying so much.

It appears that his efforts have paid off, and he has successfully negotiated the purchase of another dive-brake-free glider, a PIK-20B. Congratulations, Tony!

The glider is still in Nevada, and if all goes well, he'll be flying it at Air Sailing or Minden during his annual western pilgrimage, before finally bringing it home.

The only question that remains is whether he'll keep his current contest number (7H), or undergo a complete change of identity (N4).

Also, the original 7H is for sale.

Solstice babies

Happy Birthday to Andy, Tony, Sherry, and Lane, all of whom were born on this date, roughly.

Did I miss any?

Whatever you do, don't put your speculations about who's the oldest in the comments.

Gold rush

After reading his story of almost making it, we knew it wouldn't be long before we would hear of Tony's successful 300 km Gold Distance flight on August 3rd.


Details are sketchy, but we know that he took a long tow from Minden (possibly to avoid an early outlanding), and that the flight lasted only 3 hours and 45 minutes. At that speed (92 kph), he could easily achieve his next milestone, 500 km. That would be a rush.

Congratulations Tony! Send us the story.

Update from Minden

Tony writes:

Last Friday the auguries shouted Gold distance. Cumulus clouds were popping at 9:30AM after weeks of blue sky. The Reno soaring forecast projected strong thermals with tops to 17,900. The meadow next to the airport was suddenly in full flower clear to the Sierras.


And it was my flight instructor's 60th birthday.

I launched into a 5 knot thermal directly over the airport, jumped off tow at 1,500 feet, shot up to 4,000 feet AGL, and headed toward the hills and ridges that ladder up east to the Pine Nut Range and my declared start point.

That's when it fell apart. Soon there was nothing but sink with the vario hitting as much as 10 knots down. Thinking that big sink had to mean huge lift ahead, I put the nose over and pressed on. I arrived low at the first house thermal, got zero lift, and then more sink. Now I had to start searching ahead for a place to land, since a return to Minden over unlandable terrain through the same sink wasn't an option.

The only choice was one of the cultivated fields in a sea of sagebrush that surrounded some odd-shaped, symmetrical buildings. I noticed guard towers and concertina wire but the fields appeared to be on the outside.



I lined up with the plowed furrows and came to a quick stop in a cushion of loam. Then I saw the SUV's with yellow strobe lights racing toward me.

Bad news. I had landed at the prison farm, part of the Northern Nevada Correctional Center at Carson City.


And the good news? After checking my ID the warden got a farm hand to drive me to my trailer at Minden. Even better, when I returned seven trustees were waiting to help load my ship.

News from the west

Tony sent this report from Nevada.

Carol and I decamped this summer, 1-35C trailer in tow, seeking an alternative to Vermont and Florida soaring weather. Friends recommended Air Sailing ("ASI"), a glider club northeast of Reno which holds a six-day XC Camp in mid-June.

ASI is in the high desert at 4700 feet where rocks and sage brush predominate (Click on the photos to see the full size versions).


Mountains on either side reliably generate ridge, wave and even convergence lift from strong southwesterly winds.




Fourteen pilots participated in the camp. Prior experience ranged from little cross country to a half dozen 300km OLC flights but no declared Gold distance. Chalk talks started at 8:00AM and covered local conditions, land outs, weather, hydration, thermaling, wave and ridge flight and XC in the Sierra Nevadas.

Afternoons two students flew paired with an instructor. Those with little experience got one-on-one mentoring. We started with short XC and ridge flights, extending the task legs each day.

For Friday's graduation flight some of us declared a Diamond Goal out-and-return south in the Pine Nut range of the Sierras to Mt. Patterson/Lobdell Lake and return. The terrain is beautiful but rugged and remote. This picture south of the turnpoint gives a sense of the route except that it did not cross the large landable farmland visible in the foreground.


Unfortunately, I forgot some sound advice from Paul Natkiel, or was it Rick, and placed my turnpoint 10 miles into what developed to be unlandable terrain. That proved costly as I had to turn back just short of the goal when the lift softened.

Now that I know the area and conditions, I can't imagine flying in the Sierras without something like the ASI camp. I know, you're thinking that the biggest challenge in the land of booming thermals is filling out a proper Diamond distance declaration. And yes, many aspects of soaring don't require week-long training. For example, if dust devils tear up the flight line don't check Dr. Jack, just jump in your ship and launch.


Nonetheless, western conditions create a host of challenges we never experience in the east. Most of the desert and the Sierras are unlandable. Outlandings on roads are strongly disfavored. That leaves widely-spaced airfields, occasional alfalfa fields, and dry lake beds, most of which are still wet.

Strong winds generate tremendous wave, ridge and convergence lift. But they blow until sunset so returning flights battle stiff head winds. Ridge turbulence can be far greater than say Franconia or Mt Washington. Afternoon winds also create venturi effect and huge sink in west facing mountain passes between the Sierras and ASI.

But my current source of heartburn is something well known in the east-elusive soarable conditions. So after hauling my ship 3,000 miles based on reports of Diamond and Gold mines in the west, it has been tied down for two weeks. That's because there have been no days with the marker CU's I want for my first XC flights in challenging territory and strong winds have been breaking up the blue sky thermals.

They claim this weather is an aberration. Stay tuned.

Double Slacker Fail

Matt landed out today. He was too embarrassed to show his face when his crew arrived. He kept mumbling something about how he'll never be as good as Tony on cross-country days.


But just as we were getting ready to leave, Tony showed up and landed in the same field. Here he is wondering why we didn't bring both trailers on the first trip to the field.

Smooth Talker

As predicted, the supply of motel rooms in Gorham far exceeds the demand. It's a buyer's market. After flying on Tuesday, Tony and Carol sought motel advice from the more experienced club members. Carol was wise to ignore the advice from the bachelor-types whose only criterion was minimum cost. After some discussion, it was decided that if we joined forces, we might be able to negotiate a good price for a block of three rooms at the Mt. Madison Motel, which is actually a decent place to stay. The advertised rate for a non-smoking room with a queen-size bed was $109. We nominated Tony to do the talking with the Woman Behind the Desk. It went something like this:

TM: Good evening. I wonder if you could help me. I'm traveling with two other people, and I would appreciate it if you could quote us a rate on a block of three rooms.

WBD: We have some rooms available, yes.

TM: Yes, I thought so. I believe that we are all members of AAA and AARP. And one of us is Swiss, and you know how particular the Swiss are. We were hoping that he in particular would be impressed with the quality and economy of your motel. Do you think you could give us your best price?

WBD: Have you stayed here before?

TM: Well, we are part of a group of glider pilots, some of whom have stayed here before. We would be happy to recommend this motel to our other flying friends who will be here later this week.

WBD: Our normal rates are...

TM: Did I mention that we want three rooms? And I'm sure you'll understand that we're not really interested in your normal rates. I'm sure you can give us your best rate. Have you ever been up in a glider?

WBD: Are you trying to sweet-talk me?

TM: Well, I would, but my wife is out in the car...

WBD: (blushes) Umm... how much would you like to pay?

TM: Well, I noticed that the advertised rate across the street is 48 dollars.

WBD: I noticed that too.

TM: What would you say to $40 each, for three rooms?

WBD: That wouldn't include the tax...

TM: No, no, of course not.

WBD: OK.

I love Gorham in October.