Flying in the Fishbowl

Terry Reynolds dropped in with his Stearman this morning; what a sweet machine. Terry flew Mike to Seminole after breakfast. Terry had no problem getting the plane out of the field at the ranch. Mike later commented that he flies faster than the Stearman when on final glide to goal!

Everyone had high hopes for today, but cirrus clouds and high pressure soon had all of us wondering if we would soar at all. Around 2pm cumulus started forming and by 2:30 the sky south of the ranch was filled with signs of good lift. The original plan was to tag along with Mike's class and do some open distance. However, after we got into the air, Mike decided going downwind was not the best use of their time. Terry Presley and I were thinking of going to Quest and beyond and kept waiting for the other to make the first move. I finally took off not knowing that Terry just went on glide back upwind to join the class. I quickly drifted towards Quest in the 16 mph wind. I was about 1/2 of the way to Quest when I decided to fight back upwind to Wallaby and the rest of the gang. I met the class over the ranch and then continued working upwind along Route 27. I was about 5 miles SE of the hospital when I turned around and flew back to the ranch to share a climb with Dave. I left that climb and found another one over the factory that quickly took me to 6200 feet. From there I did a mini triangle; Deen Still Road/Route 27, Route 4 at Champions Gate, Route 4/Route 27, and back. I was a good day of flying that even featured some clouds. Another flight over four hours bringing my total so far this week to almost 10 hours. However, no serious miles yet.