Tom had already spoken up about going and was asking who else was interested. I was interested but still skeptical as it was 12 hours out from the morning forecast; things could change dramatically in that time. I finished my blog update and headed to bed.
Morning came a bit too quickly and I awoke with anticipation, but also no regret if it meant I could go back to sleep. Tom sent me a message asking if I was going, I turned on the laptop with groggy eyes to spy the weather forecast for the day. Things looked good but the RUC was showing winds over the back which completely conflicted with the NAM. After some discussion as to this fact, Tom, Pete, PK, and I had all half-decided to go. Time for breakfast!!! We need to be there early on East facing sites in order to get the best conditions so I rushed.
Halfway through cramming down my food, Tom sends a note with some hesitation due to a lack of drivers and getting the car down from the mountain. He began sending garbled texts about picking up some stranger at the base of Equinox to drive our truck down. My retort was short and sweet - "I just want to fly! I'm not interested in picking up strange men! Let's go!"
We were finally all committed (like herding cats), and ready to meet up off Rt. 2. Peter Judge and Tom Lanning arrived at the meeting place and I threw on with them and we were off. John Beckley called as we entered Rt. 2 and said he was about 15 minutes behind us. We were already pushing the clock so we decided to keep on and have him try and catch up to us so we could all ride together. Through the construction stops we never ended up doing that and met him at the base of Equinox.
PK arrived fashionably late along with a driver (Thanks Ron!) to get the truck down once we were up top. We still had no driver to get us back to the mountain but we'd manage. After we all crammed in to PK's truck like sardines (5 pilots, 1 driver, 5 harnesses, PK's closet and kitchen sink, and 5 gliders, we headed up the mountain.
The setup area was a little tight, mostly due to Pete Judge's king post (joke), but we managed to get our wings assembled. At one point Peter and I were grumbling about the size of the setup area, brush poking up everywhere, and he made a comment - "why do we come here?" We ate crow for those comments later in the day!
As we set up, we noticed a complete lack of lift anywhere. No signs. There were amazing clouds 50-100 miles off in the distance (as usual) but a blue sky over our heads with fast approaching cirrus which would shut down our day.
After seeing a hawk soar by, Tom suited up and stepped up on launch. After PK kept trying to rub wings with him, he was finally able to take off first. He turned left and maintained, turned back and was now below launch. He quickly found a thermal off the saddle and climbed right out.
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| Launch |
PK took off and climbed right out after Tom. John went next and climbed like a rocket!!! My turn was next. I climbed up on the ramp, felt something strange snag my shoe, and looked down to find my boot untied. CRAP! Luckily there was no wind so I was able to set my wing down on the ramp and get my footwear situated. I was soon back in action but missed turning my video camera on for the launch.
I turned right off of launch, and shot right for the saddle even though I was in a steady but meager climb off launch. I hit the overlook and found my bus out of there. I entered the thermal and started cranking and banking, ignoring the desire to zip up my harness, adjust my VG, etc. I wanted to establish myself first. As I gained a few thousand feet, things started to get cooler and cooler. I finally found a moment to zip up my harness and get situated for what was to come.
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| Looking back on Mt. Dorset and Equinox beyond. |
The thermal was going straight up, and I was getting lift averaging 800fpm but finding 1300fpm cores in the midst of it. Within minutes I was passing 7000' but still far below Tom, PK, and John. Peter Judge was in the air below and snagged his climb and was in pursuit. I heard Tom come across the radio saying he would follow PK if he had a direction he wanted to go. PK didn't respond and two turns later Tom said - "we've got to go".
I called out that I was at 7700' and climbing. A few minutes later I had joined the three of them at 9600 feet!!!! I was ecstatic! This was the highest altitude I have been yet and it happened in New England! We rarely get days like this so this was very special. After hearing all the long time pilots talk about hitting 10,000ft at Equinox, I had finally joined that small and specialized club.
After I arrived at the top of the thermal, Tom called out that he was leaving and took off on glide. PK and John followed and I was right on their tails. About a 1/2 mile into the glide, PK stops to turn in lift in front of me. The others stall up and I decide that I'm going on my own as I didn't want to stop for every bubble of lift on such a high base day. I took off toward NY border with a rough plan of following the ridge line to the Hudson Valley and then trying to jump to Birds Eye peak and then our launch in West Rutland.
Tom called out that they were following but he headed North up the route 7 valley thinking I was just going wide. As the gaggle started moving again I rejoined them on the same course line and we headed north toward Dorset Mountain. Dorset was firing off another sweet thermal and we went from 7700' back to 9800'!!! Now my new personal record.
After topping out, we went on glide heading north up the valley again. I could see that I had Rutland Airport on glide from here, and decided that was where I was going to be landing today. Still feeling new in my wing, I wanted to keep things throttled back a bit and a 30 mile flight with 10,000ft. climbs was satisfactory to me.
We fanned out through the sky (a common tactic to see who can find the best lift line and it increases our chances of finding a thermal, especially on a blue sky day when there are no clouds marking the lift. I flew to the left of PK, and Tom took the far right, I lost sight of John as we glided north. I was gaining on PK and planning to pass him on the left by about 200 yds. As I approached, he started slowly banking left on a direct intercept course with me.
I assumed he saw me and kept heading forth but as I got closer, so did he. I quickly realized he wasn't going to look and we were going to hit. It was too late to initiate a turn. I had one option left, I pulled the bar in and dove under him as he passed over my head by maybe 10 feet...maybe! He yelled loudly as I startled the hell out of him and we passed by each other in what would be a really cool maneuver had we planned it. Ahhhh, what am I saying, it was still really cool!!! He later told me he was trying to zip up his harness and had no idea I was coming up on his flank.
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| Do Not Land |
As Tom started losing more and more ground, I drove forward maintaining my line and heading toward my LZ still 12 miles out. I saw Tom begin taking turns but it didn't seem like anything I wanted to turn back for. I later found out he stopped in light lift to take some pictures. As I reached 5 miles short of Rutland Airport, I had 7000' of altitude. I found some light lift and began to turn in it scanning for something stronger. As I turned back to the south, I noticed I was all alone and that no one had followed me.
I saw PK and John lower than me about 7 miles to the south, and Tom over their heads at 9000' watching them. I had no idea what they were doing but I decided that I was content to keep at it on my own. I started traveling to different parts of the terrain that I considered possible trigger points and seeing if I was right. I found lift but not much that I liked.
As I sniffed around like a dog in a pee park, I finally found an 800fpm climb. Tom called out on the radio asking where I was - altitude and location. "I'm at 6200' about 4-5 miles south of the airport and climbing.", I replied. He was heading toward me but about 2000' above and 4 miles out. I continued to climb for 5 turns or so and lost the core. I tried widening my circles looking for it but never found it again. In hindsight, if there were more of us there, I think we could have centered on that and took it back to 9000'+.
Tom came by at about 7000' and said he was landing at Rutland Airport as well. He started poking around the area and found a few climbs to carry him past Rutland.
Phase II
I worked my way toward the airport arriving 3000ft over it and spent the next 40 minutes just boating around climbing and gliding. The day had changed and the thermals were now substantially weaker and only getting me to 4600' max. I realized later that the cirrus had socked us in and blocked all the sunlight shutting down the lift.
As I tooled around I noticed John and PK squeak into some nice farm fields to the southwest of the airport. I was pleasantly surprised they made it after seeing how low they had been down the valley. Peter "Grey Ghost" Judge was on the radio not too long after that calling out his location just south of Rutland Airport. He did an awesome job getting there in his Sport 2 on his own after we had left him behind back at Equinox.
I saw Pete pass by and keep heading up the valley so I keyed my mic and asked where he was going. He wanted to land a bit further up but realized he wasn't going to make it so he picked the field next to the airport to land in. I still had my eye set on the airport and figured if I landed there, I'd have a better chance of finding a ride back to Equinox to get the truck.
As Peter landed I began the long downind leg of my approach. I noticed a truck driving down the runway with it's yellow lights on, which I figured was just standard procedure for moving vehicles around the tarmac. We did similar stuff in the Army where vehicles on runways had to have their hazard lights on. As I turned on base I noticed the truck still coming but he was only halfway down the runway. I finished the base leg of my approach and turned on final glide.
I transitioned to the downtubes with plenty of altitude (50ft.) and had no trouble getting on the uprights. Landings in this glider has been my biggest challenge yet, so this was my attempt at trying to do everything right...that truck was still coming toward me. I picked the grass strip on the side of the runway to keep the tarmac clear for any other faster traffic that may be coming in. As I approached the ground I had good speed, rounded out, let the glider go to trim, and when the time was right - FLARED! Perfect one or two step landing! I was a happy camper...that truck was now looking at me.
I surveyed my surroundings trying to locate the best place to exit the field...that truck was now getting REALLY close to me. I turned away from the truck and began to walk toward some hangers...the truck was now slowly moving up beside me on the right. I could see it staring at me from the corner of my eye. That's it, I've had enough! Stalker!
I stopped and put the glider down and looked at this harassing vehicle. The human enslaved inside this metal 4 wheeled contraption politely asked - "Where are you going?" I said - "I'm going to put this down and take it apart." He responded - "You can't land here." "Oh. Really?" I said. "Well it's too late now." (Just kidding, I didn't say that. I kept the inner monologue inner.) I told him "I'm sorry, I thought this was an airport and we could land here as we've landed here in the past with no issue." (not me but other pilots)
He was nice about it and told me that it is a commercial airport and there is no way in or out as there are locked gates. He explained that I scared the hell out of one of the other trucks (good, those rude devices need a bit of a scare). I wasn't sure why, so I asked. He just told me the guy didn't know where I was going to land. Seemed pretty obvious to me...
After we chatted for a bit, he asked if I could squeeze through the gate if he opened it up for me. I said yes and he let me out while telling me how cool Hang-Gliding is. You could see the joy in his eyes as well as a couple of mechanics working in the hanger; that childish glimmer at something free and exciting. I told him where he could take a tandem flight not too far away, and that he should try it out. I also mentioned that I would pass the word that we are not welcome to land there and for all HG pilots to please avoid doing so in the future.
I packed up on the lawn next to the terminal and soaked in the awesomeness of the day. As I finished packing up, I contacted Tom before looking for a shuttle bus I had heard about and asked if anyone had found a ride yet. He said PK secured a ride back to Equinox and they were already on their way to the cars. I wandered into the terminal (airport is like a scene out of Wings) and found some cozy chairs to relax in while I waited for a ride.
I was picked up a while later and we were off to pick up that pie eating tosser Lanning. He managed to warfle his way north of Rutland and land another 17miles away in Pittsford, VT - completely ensuring that he would not be the one to have to get the vehicle. ;-) We snagged him and headed off for a quick dinner in Rutland and shared stories of the days great flights.
Total Flight Time: 2 hours
Total Distance: 28 miles straight line. 33.7 miles course-line.
Max Altitude: 9760 ft. MSL
Just hit 13.5hrs in the Combat. Another 50 hours and I should feel about right in this wing.
**I was very busy and focused on this flight and forgot to take pictures. Thanks Tom for sharing some of your photos. I did get video of the climb out from Equinox up to the entrance of our first glide before my battery died. I'll post the video once it has been edited.
Here's Tom's account of the day - http://skyout.blogspot.com/2012/05/high-day.html?spref=fb
1 comment:
Really nice flying Randy! I love the write up too. ..pie eating tosser.. had me laughing out loud.
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