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nibotI haven't done so much flying lately - well, compared to the weeks where I was going to Byron for flight lessons every weekend day. I did make it to the legendary Air Sailing in Nevada for a three-day weekend, but, alas, due to wildfires in Northern California conditions were terrible. Smoke filled the valley, and set up a thermal inversion that just killed all the easy lift. Some of the better pilots in better aircraft were able to get up to 12,000 feet, but then even they complained about poor visibility and returned to base. Matt and I took three tows to 8,000 feet and just took a "sled ride" back down to the gliderport (6,000 feet MSL), failing to work any meaningful lift. Another weekend I made a daytrip to Truckee (three hours driving each way!) and had a great lesson with one of our club's best soaring pilots, Buzz G.
Back at Byron this Saturday, went up with Larry, first for a high tow (to around 3,000 feet above the quarry), then a pattern tow. On the high tow, I did my best-ever boxing-the-wake. We did stalls and incipient-spin-recovery and steep turns. In boxing-the-wake, you take the glider - still on tow behind the towplane - down through the turbulent prop wash, then make a rectangular "box", going right, up, left, down around the wake. Aggressive stalls still give me the willies - pulling the nose up over the horizon, then recovering pointing very much down towards the earth.
On my pattern tow, to simulate a rope-break, Larry pulled the tow-release at 300 feet AGL. This is just above the threshold (200 ft AGL) where making a U-turn to land back on the runway - in the backwards, downwind direction - is prescribed. I made the landing just fine, but should have turned one way instead of the other to more gracefully line up with the runway. In powered airplanes, this is called the "impossible turn" - if your engine fails in the takeoff climb, powered airplanes, with their poor glide ratios, generally can't turn around to land on the runway from which they came. In the glider, by contrast, you actually have to use the airbrakes (or slip) to get down after making the 180.
After this, Larry set me off on my own, first a solo high tow, then three patterns. Practice makes perfect - in most of my flying at Byron there's been a 20 kt wind, but yesterday was calm. It takes practice to get the approach just right in varying wind conditions.
Four glider solos in the logbook now - need a minimum of 10 for the rating.
Back at Byron this Saturday, went up with Larry, first for a high tow (to around 3,000 feet above the quarry), then a pattern tow. On the high tow, I did my best-ever boxing-the-wake. We did stalls and incipient-spin-recovery and steep turns. In boxing-the-wake, you take the glider - still on tow behind the towplane - down through the turbulent prop wash, then make a rectangular "box", going right, up, left, down around the wake. Aggressive stalls still give me the willies - pulling the nose up over the horizon, then recovering pointing very much down towards the earth.
On my pattern tow, to simulate a rope-break, Larry pulled the tow-release at 300 feet AGL. This is just above the threshold (200 ft AGL) where making a U-turn to land back on the runway - in the backwards, downwind direction - is prescribed. I made the landing just fine, but should have turned one way instead of the other to more gracefully line up with the runway. In powered airplanes, this is called the "impossible turn" - if your engine fails in the takeoff climb, powered airplanes, with their poor glide ratios, generally can't turn around to land on the runway from which they came. In the glider, by contrast, you actually have to use the airbrakes (or slip) to get down after making the 180.
After this, Larry set me off on my own, first a solo high tow, then three patterns. Practice makes perfect - in most of my flying at Byron there's been a 20 kt wind, but yesterday was calm. It takes practice to get the approach just right in varying wind conditions.
Four glider solos in the logbook now - need a minimum of 10 for the rating.
