Gear, gear, gear
In writing parlance, this title is called a hook. It requires you to keep reading even if you do not want to. Every evening I sit down and start writing from notes I’ve collected during the day. Some come from pilots or crews or things that occur during the pilot’s meeting. It always starts with the title. Pete Alexander has given me the title for every article except this one. I will not disclose the pilot or crew that suggested this, but I will end this article with a lesson.
To call some light on my last two days, several people asked me about my nose. It seems I tried a new sunscreen that apparently, I’m allergenic to. My nose is now swollen, red, broken out and bleeding. Good thing I brought my Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Sunscreen for your face. Lesson learned, if it works, kept using it!
Before the pilot’s meeting, we had another go at the Gravity Well in the hallway of the Junior College. This time we had a competition (what else would you expect), between Kerry Huffstutler and Janette Baugh. They both chose different colors of marbles to keep track of the contest. Last marble to go down the hole won. They tossed the marbles so hard several left the playing field. It seems they used combat rules because they picked up the marbles on the floor and put them back in play. Needless to say, the pilots got a great laugh out of the episode. We never figured out who won, but we all had a good time.
The pilots meeting started right on time at 1000, thanks Michelle for herding the cats. During the winner’s speech, Danny Sorenson credited his victory to his two-year-old daughter Amanda. Right before he manned up for yesterday’s flight, Amanda shouted out, “Stay High, Go Fast”, five times on the phone. Well, that is exactly what Danny did.
Richard Kellerman, who is our weatherman, always cracks me up. During each brief he manages to sneak in some tidbit that makes me laugh. Today he completed the weather brief and was giving us a prognostication of what we could see in the next few days. For tomorrow he said the day is not hopeless but on Tuesday it is truly hopeless due to clouds, storms and rain. He proved it with scientific charts and big words. Thank you, Richard for doing the weather and bringing a little levity to the meeting.
Tom Pressley is our scorer and he was on to speak to the pilots on all the penalties that have been given out lately. Well, the internet must not be very good where he is. As he tried to speak, his voice came out like Alvin from the chipmunks. After several attempts, he decided to sign off.
Michelle introduces several pilots in the beginning of the pilots meeting and asks each of them to give a little background on who they are. Steve Leonard was introduced and he told us of his Nimbus 3 that has had a storied history. George Moffat won the Open Class Nationals in it as well as flying it in the Worlds. Ray Gimmey also won several National Championships in the glider. Steve also highlighted he hadn’t done s--t in the Nimbus since he got it.
As the pilots returned to Hobbs Army Airfield, the wind had picked up significantly. The task advisors and CD were busy trying to find a safe and fair task for the pilots to fly. In the end, we sent the “Red Baron” (Scott Smith from Texas Soaring Association & Chief Tow Pilot) into the air without a glider to see if it was safe to launch. When he gave the thumbs up, 4 ships were launched to see what the conditions were. Surprisingly, they were good except the takeoffs of the first 4 ships. The wind laid down after those ships launched and everyone else had a less sporty takeoff. In the beginning, we had 2-3kts of broken lift to about 8,200ft. As the launch progressed, the bases got higher. Both classes were sent on the same Turn Area Task (TAT). After leaving from Start B, they went to Pecos, Monahans and Finish, with 40km (25mi) and 20km (12.5mi) circles around the turnpoints. Open Class was sent on their way with the early starters only getting to around 9,400ft. The 15-meter ships were released about 15 minutes later which was a good thing. The weather did not look inviting on the first leg for the early starters. Dick Butler was the first of the Open Class to set out on task. Lower cloud bases and weak lift caused several to revert to survival mode racing. Others chose the “go for it” mode of racing which paid off. With a little latter start opening time, Rick Indrebo came out of the gate like a race horse. He was cruising between 82 and 95kts on the first leg and hardly turned. He didn’t get low, he just used all the energy out of the airmass it gave him. This leg separated him from the others. About half way through this leg the sun showed up and cloud bases and lift strengths increased. There were numerous lines you could take to get to Pecos. The key here was how far to go into the turn area. Jim Lee, one of the latter starters, had to max out most of the two areas but still came back 4 minutes early. Needless to say, he did well. The turn to Monahans was determined by the wind line. As Team 98 entered the Pecos turn area well to the east, we checked the clouds and chose a line that put us heading to the max distance point of Monahans. Once you made the turn for home, your arrival time was set. Average speeds on this leg were over 100mph. The clouds were firm, speeds were fast and we passed right over the Hobbs Regional airport and it’s Class D airspace. Team 98 has two pilots in the ship so it was easy for us to contact the tower and still fly a good final glide. I’m sure it was hard for all the single seaters.
Landings were also very interesting. Janette Baugh and Laura Lubon went out to the closed runway and marked all the obstructions with high visibility paint and provided the CD with clear directions on where the best and worst spots on the runway were. During the recovery the wind ebbed and flowed, allowing ships to land on the ramp or the closed runway that was more into the wind. All the gliders were recovered almost without incident (this is another “hook”).
In 15-meter class, Rick Indrebo won the day posting a 138kph (86mph) speed over 415km (258mi). In second place was Gary Ittner and third was claimed by Peter Dean. Open class blistered the pace for the day with Jim Lee posting a 442km (275mi) flight at 147kph (91mph). See what happens when you get a penalty the day before, come out swinging! Jim also started 41 minutes after the Concordia. Second place was Dan Mockler with Dick Butler in third.
Now for the lessons. Today we had several pilots who made some pretty basic mistakes. Simple things like dumping ballast before landing and setting up the proper start line or turnpoint radii. One of our crew members tried to pick up their husband’s wing and couldn’t. A couple of pilots who landed on the ramp because it was closer to their trailers, almost ground looped their ships. The biggest mistake was when a ship was landing and the CD noticed the gear was not down. He called “Gear, gear, gear” on the radio and the pilot was able to get the gear down before touchdown. However, the big pull up to get the gear down also caused a harder than normal landing. The pilot had heard the gear warning, but with all the new voice alerts with FLARM and nav system airspace warnings, he simply tuned it out. Were these pilots tired, dehydrated or hypoxic? Maybe. They were all experienced contest pilots who do not make these types of errors normally. We also had several pilots who did not feel they were able to safely fly on a contest day with the weather we had. Good on these pilots to pull out and not fly. Marshall McClung was on the ramp monitoring the recovery doing his job as CD. If he was not there, wind alerts, obstructions on the closed runway and other key information would not have been given to the pilots. Thank you, Marshall, for keeping us all safe!
It is that time again when we have to sign off and bid a fond good night. The ships are safely put away and all pilots and crews are accounted for. There is still a lot of racing to be had so stay tuned tomorrow. Until then, do your checklists, review procedures, and stay safe.
Cheers,
Rich Owen
Team 98 Backseater