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Heinz McArthur* - NCSA |
Robert Hills - PSS |
Peter Pulfer - Foothills Regional |
Roger Fowler-NCSA* |
|
David Walsh - Harrier |
Ray Livengood - NCSA |
Ken Bell* - NCSA |
Gary Garavaglia - PSS |
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Matt McKrell - NCSA |
Charles Cook* - PSS |
David Walsh - Harrier |
Roger Fowler-NCSA*
4/25/2009 |
*
multiple winning flights
I arrived early to try
the water hoses in the Cirrus and to put
some water in it for a dump test. I had it
ready to install the wings and no one had
arrived at the staging area yet, so took a
short nap. Once the wings were on I
realized one hose is a little short, so put
the water stuff away and finished preparing
to fly.
Matt
reported climbing through 2000' so I
launched second at 12:40 and got off at
2500'. I drifted down to 2000' where I
could hold my own. Poking around for
something else I got down to 1400', but
managed to stay aloft and each thermal was
slightly better than the previous one. At
about 2 PM I got to 3200' and flew back to
the airport to go through the start line.
There wasn't much over Lillington until a
cloud formed and I flew to it. I was
rewarded with a climb to 5000' with the
vario above 8 kts most of the way and pegged
a large part of the time. So I reported
starting for Sanford. All the climbs were
in the blue because the few clouds were
cycling so fast I could not get to them.
But I didn't take any climbs less than 6 kts
and stayed above 4000'. The wind was pretty
much cross, so didn't affect the flight too
bad. I never flew over 70 knots because I
was never sure where the next thermal was
going to be. Somewhere between Sanford and
Siler City I looked at my progress and
decided I was slower than I would like to
be, but with just a little luck the lift
would last until I got on final glide. I
contacted the tow plane and told him I was
headed to Bahnson. While Ray and I had
talked about him coming to get me, we really
had no definite plans. But I decided to
hope he could get away from his ops duty at
a reasonable time.
I cut the
turn at Siler City a little short because
conditions seemed to be weakening (not
unexpected). As I headed for Asheboro I
seemed to be drifting downwind to find lift,
but there was a cloud street so I contacted
it and ran it until I was past Asheboro and
upwind of course. Then it got weaker and I
started flying from airport to airport and
taking weak thermals I would not previously
have taken. The low point of the flight was
between Asheboro and Davidson County
airport. The altimeter said something like
2700' and the grass airports in the area
were hard to find. But I found a thermal
under a cloud street that took me over 5000'
and I was close to final glide to Bahnson.
While there were no clouds that could be
used, there were enough Cu's popping to give
me confidence that thermals were still
forming.
Final
glides were interesting on this flight. I
was flying across lift streets, so when I
was going through lift the glide to the next
turn point kept looking better and better.
Then I would fly through the sink between
the streets and the glide would look worse
and worse. I actually took 2 or 3 thermals
on my way to Bahnson for fear that I would
end up a little short. I ended up over the
strip about 900' above the ground, didn't
see much activity in the windsock, turned
downwind, then noted that the flag was
standing out straight in the other
direction. So I came around and landed over
the trees and downhill.
All in
all, a good trip. The start was late and it
was mostly blue, but the climbs were good
and I was able to stay high most of the
way. I never got seriously low. And I had
plenty of time to chat with Tom Orrell and
another club member at Bahnson. The best
part was bringing the trophies home. We
left the glider at Bahnson since the Escape
seems to be having some drive train issues,
but it ran home just fine, albeit smelling
of burned transmission lube.
Many
thanks to the Golden Retriever for coming to
get me.
Roger
Fowler
North
Carolina Soaring Association
Harnett
County Airport, NC

Gary Garavaglia
presents trophies to Roger Fowler
Thanks
to BRSS! For more information on the
Boomerang Trophy as well as a list of those
brave souls that have kept it traveling over
the many years click on the below web link:
http://www.brss.net/boomerang.htm
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Soaring Society -All rights
reserved. |