I would rather be lucky than good My cross country experience is minimal with a Silver distance flight ( 74 miles ) 28 years ago as my best. It was mainly the weather and luck. My story from May 5th is a very similar story. As we all know a lot of things have to come together for a successful flight and even more so for a cross country flight. Dr. Jack said it looked good. All the weather forecasts looked good. When the first CU started at about 11:15 am everybody started getting revved up. Now of course most things must be in place, ready! Tow pilot and crew ready for launch. Aircraft rigged with batteries installed, radios checked, and the water input and waste relief system working. Your flight needs to be planned with your tasks or goals set and declarations made if need. Like my silver distance flight I flew with another, Nyal and I agreed to try to go to Boone Co. airport and return. I launched first and was climbing through 6000 MSL almost before the tow plane was back on the ground! After Nyal got up, I joined him in a thermal and looking up I laughed. He forgot to retract his gear! ....wait a minute so did I! Always something to humble a guy. Nyal and I crossed the airport outbound, per club contest rules, at 5,000 ft AGL. That was about the lowest we got till we landed 133 miles later at Alex. The route was Alex to Boone Co. to Terry to Sheridan to Muncie to Anderson to Alex. We had changed our plan and flew farther than planned. Weather and luck that's the deal. Mike Nichols 1. Sky about 11:45 am. 2. Notice the even spacing of the clouds. They all had lift under them. 3. Panel shot shows normal altitude leaving thermal. Please ignore the yaw string being displaced and fact that I am flying too slow for the sink that I am in.

Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

BACK ISSUES