Where to go?

The constant rain has made it nearly impossible to fly in New England this season. So when a dry day miraculously appears during an extended holiday weekend, its time to fly. Pete, Rodger, and I carpooled north, but were not sure where we were headed. Rodger wanted to launch from Ascutney, I favored towing at Morningside, and Pete just wanted to fly. Some of the computer models predicted 10 mph winds at 300 degrees while the National Weather Service predicted westerly surface winds going to southwest by evening. We quickly ruled out West Rutland since it added a couple hours of driving to our already long trip. Ascutney is a good thermal source, but launching with a crosswind or even a tail wind would not be fun. Launching behind a tug at Morningside would work well, but Morningside is famous for its scarce and anemic “valley” thermals. Even after talking on and off for 2 hours, we still hadn’t made a decision when we approached the Morningside / Ascutney decision point in our drive. We decided to stop by Morningside and check out the local conditions. We eventually decided to tow after Rhett reported the wind aloft was blowing from the west around 10 mph and it was obviously hot, humid, and mostly stable.

Dave D towed first and managed to hang on for a decent flight. Pete was next and then it was my turn. I pinned off in some broken lift to the northwest over the metal roofs of the factories. I slowly climbed there until I noticed Scott L, who towed after me, was climbing better to the southwest. I came in well below him and was treated to very rough sinking air. I searched in vain for the juicy center, but left with just enough height to get back to the airfield. I found a weak climb on the low hill to the west of the airfield and slowly clawed my way back up. Once again I left a steady slow climb to join Dennis and Scott who were circling to the south of me. They abandoned their climb and started sniffing around just as I arrived. Crap. I decided to head upwind to the west and was joined by Rodger for a short time. Rodger turned around but I kept pushing on to the other side of the river. I found a broken, but productive climb, and settled in for a long ride up. I watched Rodger get ready to land on the runway between the tall grass hayfields. (Check out Rodger’s story in this month’s USHPA magazine about landing in tall grass!. That is Rodger standing next to the hayfield in the picture above.) I also watched Scott and Dennis start to slowly sink out on the other side of the valley. I continued my climb for awhile until it eventually fizzled and I went looking for something better to the south. I made a big pass around the area and didn’t find anything. I landed back on the strip hoping to get quickly towed back up, but I was now at the end of a long line. Oh well. I should have worked harder to stay in the air.

While I was waiting for another tow, Chris H arrived at Morningside from Ascutney for his first XC flight; congratulations Chris! He said it was blowing in lightly on launch, he left the mountain at 6200 feet, and he had a smooth glide over. He also said that Greg and Jeff were climbing below him when he left but some other pilots had already landed in the LZ after extended sled rides. (I found out later that Greg and Jeff got to over 7000 feet and flew 22 miles to the north. Um, maybe Rodger had the right idea. The pilots at West Rutland had soaring flights ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours and were topping out around 4200 feet). Meanwhile, most of the other pilots being towed up were getting extended sled rides.

Although the soaring was over, Peter, Rodger, and I each took another flight into the glassy early evening air. I took some pictures of the river valley to the north (with Ascutney) and to the south. I also took several pictures of the airfield at Morningside. You can see a glider on approach to the bull’s eye near the bottom of the picture, Rhett’s green tug on the runway, and the smaller RC runway near the top of the picture. After I tucked the camera away, I yanked the VG tight and proceeded to make the “wires sing” as I sliced through the buttery smooth air. I zipped around until I ran out of altitude and flared for a nice landing in the mowed LZ at Morningside. I was really hoping for some XC flying today, but after sitting through all those rainy days just getting my feet off the ground was a real pleasure.