Don't let this happen to you - XIII

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Long range forecast

From today until March 22, it will be mostly dark.

Season's Greetings!

52165 feet

The Perlan team claimed the World Altitude Record earlier this month, and this is probably the first time that a non-rocket-powered glider has made the cover of Aviation Week and Space Technology.

Contest in progress

New Castle, Virginia is a special place for glider pilots.

Today is the second-to-last day of the annual competition known as "New Castle," and whose official title is "Region 4 South."

Evan Ludeman (T8), Dan MacMonagle (EA), and John Good (X) are all competing. This year, as usual, the partying at this contest is better than the weather - and the weather has been very good!

Yesterday John, Evan, and Dan were 2nd, 3rd, and 5th - not bad!

Mountain Flying, Explained, Again

Here is another video describing how airplane pilots can get in trouble flying near mountains.

It is amusing in at least two ways.  First, it actually contains some humor, which is unusual for a safety video.  But it also contains a fair amount of misinformation, which always brings a smile to my face.

We went through this with AOPA, whose Air Safety Foundation made three attempts to create a lesson on Mountain Flying for power pilots. The final version was OK, and they get credit for correcting their initial errors.

You can’t blame the guys in this video for trying to keep ignorant power pilots away from the turbulence and sink. But why can’t they ever make the distinction between turbulence and sink?  And why don’t they ever mention how smooth it can get?

And, of course, they never explain why some pilots are actually attracted to mountain waves.

Here’s a challenge.  Let’s collect a list of inaccuracies in the comments. I’ll go first.

Thanks to Andy G for finding the video.

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.

Empty back seat

It was a beautiful day on Sunday. We had a very efficient operation, due in large part to the hard work of Dakai Zhu who kept us organized on the launch line, ran ropes, kept the golf cart moving, and made sure that every takeoff and landing was logged.

Finally, at the end of the day, he took a couple of short review flights in the 2-33, and on the very last flight of the day, made his first solo.  The photo above shows him about to touch down.

Congratulations, Dakai!

The event was well documented by a couple of serious photographers, and the celebration featured an unusual double-dousing ceremony.

Maine

I'm not certain who started it.

A few years ago, the Post Mills XC milk run to Mt Washington started getting stretched routinely to Old Speck Mountain, the highest point in the Mahoosuc Range.  Subsequent trips to the Mahoosucs have shown that they can produce good soaring, albeit a long ways off from Post Mills and surrounded by a whole lot of... not very much.  To the West is a lot of water and trees and bears.  To the East is, well, even further away from Post Mills.

After a particularly lousy, rainy stretch of weather in a persistently wet and rainy Spring, Wed June 7 was mostly dry and Thurs June 8 finally offered the prospect of decent soaring.  Club enthusiasm was high. Spring loaded.  Turn out was probably a PM weekday record.

Grid Time!  First Cu peaking over the hills.  What's all that uninvited cirrus doing there?

Clouds just beyond the copper mine -- time to go!

Wind Dummy on tow.

Nine pilots, mostly shirking work.  Nine sailplanes.  Hopes for an extra early launch were dashed by slow starting convection.  This wasn't too surprising given 3" of  recent rainfall.  Finally, about 1130, the launch begins.  I'm the wind dummy. The ride is pretty smooth so I hang on for 3000.  Good thing too -- I had to glide about 5 miles West of PM airport to connect.  A slow climb of a few hundred feet gave enough extra margin to move a little further West under some early clouds.  I soon got up to 6000.

While climbing, I watched clouds form like stepping stones to the North, ending around Spruce Mtn. I'd checked the accumulated precip maps, and straight North was a good (well, less soaking wet) direction.  I thought the Connecticut river valley would start slower and although Cu were forming on the high ground East of the River, the quick start was to take this line North.  I expected most of the fleet to head towards the Presidential range and the more ambitious guys to head on up the Mahoosucs.  I resolved to meet them after going the long way around via the Canadian border.  By the time I got to the high ground near Spruce Mtn, my stepping stones had extended Northward and conditions were strengthening.

Moving along well and about 20 miles short of Newport, VT, I reach the edge of the field of Cu and start bearing right.  I end up right on the border skirting large areas of  overdevelopment(OD) and then over the boonies between Colebrook and Rangely.  I fly extra conservative through here, and it goes well.

I get on the Mahoosuc range at Saddleback Mtn and call EA and JD.  They are just a couple of miles behind, also Northbound.  We don't make visual contact until somewhere NE of Sugarloaf airport. Sugarloaf is about 130 straight line miles from Post Mills and about as far as I ever dreamed I might go today.  Now, the real silliness begins,  it becomes apparent (we hadn't discussed plans before flying) that EA and JD are on an out and return record attempt.  Today!?!  Ugh.  I know better.  My gut told me this morning that this day was apt to shut off early.  No sign of that right now though.

Conditions are fantastic.  Bases are 10 grand, the OD has simply vanished (when does that ever happen?). Visibility at cloudbase is limited, which conveniently hides the cirrus that must still be lurking overhead to the South.  Out of sight... out of our minds!  Dan and Greg have water ballast on board.  I'm dry, and I have to scramble.  Greenville comes and goes... we should really turn around!  I'm unwilling to do so on my own.  If I bail early, these two loons actually make it around, I'll kick myself for a month.  So I continue to scramble, Northeast.

Greenville, ME.  Not too many glider pilots have seen this place!

Moosehead Lake.  WTH are we doing here...?

About the time we get to Moosehead Lake, Dan asks if I know the VT state free O&R record.

"It's about 500K."

"We've got it then."

"You get it when you get home..."

We press Eastward over Yogi and Booboo country.  You can't really fly here except on an amazing 10,000 foot day because there is nowhere to land except widely spaced airports.  Mt Katahdin is about 25 miles ahead now, easily visible, massive even at this distance.  It's 3pm.

Greg: "Hey Tango, I thought you were going to turn at 3."

Me: "I'm waiting on Echo!"

We're over 180 miles out of Post Mills!  Finally we all turn together.  My guess is that we might get back to Franconia, unless it's really good, or all goes to hell.

Thermaling up somewhere East of Moosehead Lake.  That's T8 at left.

Cruising at cloudbase.  Good for the moment.

EA off my right wing near Indian Pond, Westbound, 159 miles out of Post Mills.
View from 8700'.

The first 40 or so miles on the return go well.  Fast & efficient, we're really enjoying this ride.  Past Greenville, it starts to look like trouble.  Sugarloaf Mtn is 100% shaded in OD.  Worse, the only sun on the ground leads off into Canada.  We can't see much further down the Mahoosucs, maybe it's localized.  Later: nope.  We get right down on the rocks at Bigelow Mtn, crawl around on Sugarloaf until we all climb out when the sun peeks through, a little.  But we're slow and the OD is solid to the Presidentials.  The wind shifts from SW to South, and that's even worse news.  That's marine air coming in now and it not only kills convection, it's creating the convergence that sustains the OD, even in the absence of convection.  Somewhere up on top of the OD is the cirrus deck we ignored earlier.  That's three strikes.

Now the real fun begins... where did the sun go?

We struggle to get decent final glides to Bethel.  I get a marginal glide, and lose it.  Dan gets a marginal glide and squeaks it in, Greg fell off on the first attempt, got what must have been the last thermal of the day to make it. I end up ridge soaring some little spurs, waiting on a miracle or a final decision on where to land.  I've been eyeballing a private strip in Roxbury that looks like a great little place, nice house right on the runway.  "I bet I'll get a great reception there".  Lacking a better idea, I give up and land, roll up into the driveway of the house on the runway.  Good call.  Minutes later I have a cold beer in hand and some new friends: Douten and Donna Thomas.  They'd never had a glider drop in before and thought it was pretty neat.

Once on the ground, it's time to start sorting out this mess we've made -- and it's a pretty big mess by Post Mills standards!  I'm 98 air miles from Post Mills, but for a whole bunch of reasons, this retrieve has to be by ground.  I guesstimate a 3 hour drive one way, which turns out to be unfortunately accurate.  Bethel is about 2.5.  It gets crazier: it turns out we've put 6 gliders on the ground away from Post Mills today. DC and NT ended up at Dean, DG in a good field near Bradford in the CT river valley.  So some of our ground crew are pressed into service for the second time today.  Thanks Pete, Tim, Mark & Sonny.  Tim,  Mark and Karl (no flight log) are the heros who got home so they could start tidying up

Long way from home...

Tim and I had T8 in the box and on the road at 10pm.  We got home... when we got home (it wasn't quite light yet...).

Triangles

July 5 was a good day for FAI triangles**.  Thanks for towing, Rick!

Dan & Greg join the New England 500K FAI triangle club, which I reckon numbers about 8 pilots and fewer than 20 such flights.  These guys have it figured out.  Superb flying.  Well done!

Evan had a good day, as well.  Most of the flight was too involved for sight seeing, but the Green Mtns offered "hero conditions" that allowed a moment of relaxation and a few quick photos.

T8 Northbound on the Green Mtns.  Mt Snow at center.

Same location as photo above, looking NE.

Same location, looking East.

EA approaching NH's lakes region.

Lake Winnipesaukee as seen from EA.

**For courses under 750km, the definition of an FAI triangle is a course defined by three waypoints, with the shortest of three legs being at least 28% of the total distance.  The start & finish points must be co-located, and may be either on one leg or at a vertex.  If more than 750K, the definition isn't quite that restrictive, but nothing we've needed to worry about in New England.  Yet.

15 hours 28 minutes

Today is the longest day of the year.  Happy Solstice, and Happy Birthday to the Solstice Babies.

Does this glider make my car look big?

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.]