Return To Kitty Hawk - A Personal Experience
(continued from page 6)

Day 3 - Dallas to Durant, OK. The hottest day ever for me in the cockpit ( like a sauna). Perhaps in part it was my fault as after launch I hung around the start for an hour and a quarter waiting for the cloud bases to go up. The field at TSA is in an area more like Indianapolis than "the west" even though it's in Texas. Greenery everywhere and hot humid air to go with it. This gliderport is home to the biggest soaring club in the country and many of the great names in the sport fly out of there, or from airfields nearby. I had no hesitation in seeking LOCAL KNOWLEDGE from one of the most famous glider pilots in the world today. Dick Johnson was on the field that day so I unashamedly asked him how to plan the flight. "Well " said Dick "There is a good tailwind , and as the cloudbase will not be high, just get high and use the wind to your advantage". "But" he cautioned "There are many good sized lakes in this area, stay away from them on the downwind side. The sink is usually bad for a good distance downwind". I started almost last, began to catch up with a few pilots and had final glide made from about 45 miles out. All went well until about 16 miles from the finish . I was exactly on glide slope BUT a fair sized lake lay exactly on course ahead. I felt like I did not have sufficient altitude to deviate around the lake so plowed straight ahead. To my peril. All of a sudden on the downwind side of the lake the instruments began to signal I was falling well below glideslope to the finish. Desperately I searched for and finally found a weak thermal that cost me many points, but allowed me to finish about 6 minutes slower than I should have. Can you believe who's LOCAL KNOWLEDGE I had ignored ! The next race leg would be from Illinois to Indiana so on we drove to the St. Louis area. For any glider types who have spent time at Silver Creek in Illinois it will come as no surprise to hear that the hospitality there was as fantastic as ever. Most pilots and crews enjoyed a barbecue meal, lots of beer and a campfire before camping on the field that night. They had four inches of rain in the day before we arrived, but all looked good for the next day.

Day 4 - Silver Creek Illinois to Terry, Indianapolis. On this day ZA started first, not intentionally first, but early because I thought an early start would be better. In my experience if the ground is wet here in the Midwest the thermals quite often die early, and the ground was very wet in places. Today I would have to be my own LOCAL KNOWLEDGE. My start was good from the top of the height band at around 5500msl. The flight seemed to me to comprise three distinct sectors. The first third we had some marker clouds, and as if to vindicate my early start decision I flew for several thermals with DJ, usually a sign that you're doing it right. The second third of the flight only an occasional wisp of cloud was seen although lift when encountered was still good. The last third of the flight was completely "blue" and lift was harder to find . By 4pm pilots began calling for their crews to "stand by" at this or that airport. I took full advantage of a very good thermal that Dick Mockler (IT) was marking near Clinton, IN, but when Dick sped off, something told me to hang around for a few additional turns. The last 40 miles into Indy were really tough, and the final 1000 ft. I needed to make it in were gained at 72 fpm. For me there could be no sweeter way to arrive in Indy - the only 18 m glider to complete the task that day. I was really happy to see my crew, my club mates and most of all my family. Everyone in the event I know really enjoyed the Terry stopover. How could they not with the Hoosier Hospitality delivered by the CISS members and Montgomery Aviation. Unfortunately the soaring gods did not hold back a front that moved across the area as the launch began (a little late perhaps) on the day we were to race from Terry to Caesar Creek, so that day was canceled. For me it worked out well as Dick Hutchinson and John Dittrich were to take over as my crew for the "Eastern" legs of the race. We decided to fly the next day, which had been declared a "rest" day and test all systems. The bonus was we retrieved the floating trophy, and as of this writing no one has flown up to take it back yet. I'm sure they will shortly.

Day 5 - Caesar Creek to Gallia Meigs Airport ( on the Ohio river in Eastern Ohio) This race was for me one of my best even though the analysis shows it was by far the most difficult conditions we encountered. The average lift was only 166 fpm. and never in the entire flight did I get higher than 3500 ft above the ground. The ground by the way was heavily forested rolling country in the eastern sector, with few places to land. As I felt I had to push a little harder now I elected to start late - and hopefully "catch the pack". In fact I started about 30 minutes after almost all the others in my class and maybe close to last of all. To survive and hopefully do well the only way was to use the clouds, as the height band was so narrow that no one in their right mind could ignore the certainty of the lift under the clouds. By using the streets. Deviating when I had to, and straining to search out any glimmer of a shimmering wing up ahead I was able to steadily "catch up" with the stragglers at first, then some serious contenders and finally some of the pilots I knew it would be good to finish with.

(continued on page 8)