Into the Sky

I arrived at 12:45 Saturday morning after leaving home at 4:15AM Friday.  I usually make the drive from my home in Massachusetts to Wallaby Ranch in 20 hours, but heavy rain and traffic added another 30 minutes to my 1230 mile drive.  It was great catching up with old friends at Wallaby Ranch and then at the Wills Wing demonstrations at Quest Air later Saturday.  I could have picked up my new T2C and flown but decided to be conservative and stay on the ground.

Foul weather was predicted for Sunday, so I spent some time outfitting my Subaru Outback with the necessary glider-friendly accessories.  I installed a set of Mike Barber's new airfoil-shaped rack pads.  Check them out, they are truly "factory class" additions.  Later in the afternoon Patrick and I picked up our new gliders so we could at least fondle them.

Slick rack pads

Heavy flooding rains arrived Sunday evening and night.  My tent was surrounded by 2.5 inches of water Monday morning, but luckily the tent stayed dry.  The wind blew after the rain cleared so I spent the afternoon shopping for other accessories with Dennis and Matt.  Patrick and I spent most of Tuesday completing all the little prep-work that obsessive competition pilots do to new gliders.  We also greeted people arriving for the annual Wills Wing demo days.

 Rick

 OB

Wednesday we flew!  I took a quick sled-ride at 9AM to check out the new glider.  I was pleased that the new glider flew well just as it was delivered.  After a quick breakfast we pushed out for an afternoon of flying.  Some pilots flew a defined task, but I decided to stay local and spend some quality-time with the new glider.  I flew with many pilots during the afternoon, including a trip down and back Deen Still road with OB, Shapiro, and Jack.

 Wallaby Ranch

 Haze at the inversion

I ended the nearly 4 hour flight with a sweet landing next to the tie-down wire.  The weather looks good for the next couple days.  I just hope this old body keeps working!

Flights: 2, Duration: 4:10, Distance: 27 miles