We received this report from Mitch Polinsky summarizing a truly remarkable string of record-breaking flights from Utah and Nevada that he made last summer. Bravo to Mitch on his annus mirabilis in soaring!

In a six week period from the end of June until the middle of August I had great fun and success flying my ASH 31Mi/21M in the Great Basin of Nevada and Utah. During that period I broke eight U.S. National soaring records in the single-seat motorglider category, including one of them twice.

Here’s a summary of the record flights (month/day/year): (OLC claims)

6/29/13: Free triangle distance: 1157.2 km

7/2/13:  Triangle speed 1000 km: 133.77 km/h [surpassed on 7-18-13]

7/18/13: Distance up to 3 TPs: 1070.3 km

7/18/13: Triangle distance: 1070.3 km

7/18/13: Triangle speed 1000 km: 139.01 km/h

7/20/13: Triangle speed 750 km: 150.66 km/h

8/6/13:  Triangle speed 500 km: 156.63 km/h

8/6/13:  Triangle speed 300 km: 156.63 km/h

8/14/13: Out-and-return speed 500 km: 155.91 km/

All of these flights were done from Ely, NV except for the last one, which was done from Parowan, UT.

Part of the inspiration for these flights was the remarkable speeds achieved by John Bally in his EB28 at Ely during the first part of June, several times exceeding 160 km/h for 1,000 km OLC flights (plus a notable 173 km/h for a 910 km flight). It was shortly after flying in the back seat of John’s EB28 that I started succeeding in my record attempts!