Lisa in the cockpit of VH-PNL (Peter and Lisa’s 15m LS8)
The original Post can be found here on the Gliding Caboolture Club website. We want to congratulate Lisa on her amazing flight. Well done! — the Editors
On 20-Dec-13, Queensland-based glider pilot Lisa Trotter (Kingaroy Soaring Club) completed an epic record-breaking flight … a declared triangle distance of 1,026.8km.
As it turns out, this one flight broke 31 records!
Not surprisingly, Lisa is extremely proud to have achieved World, Continental and National records in both the General and Feminine categories as a result of the flight.
In Lisa’s words …
The flight was done in our LS8 15m VH-PNL on 20 December 2013. It took a full 10 hours. The first leg was in a north east direction to Galong and then north north west to a point just north of Tottenham which is 80km west of Narromine.
I started at 10:37am (or 9:37am Qld time) into conditions that were far from ideal for a 1000km flight. A 15-20kt north westerly was blowing and convection was only going to 2,500ft AGL initially. I spent an hour plugging along down low and then was able to get some reasonable height to 6,000ft. It wasn’t until three hours into the flight that the cumulus clouds appeared. At this stage my speed was very slow – only about 85kph – and I was almost convinced that the task wasn’t achievable but then I picked up a 6.4kt climb to about 11,000ft. Still not sure that the task was achievable, I decided to enjoy the day since I had done the hard work and I pushed on to the first turn point. Also, if I could increase my average speed by 15kph plus I was in with a chance. The worst likely scenario would be to land out 100km or so from home. With Peter crewing for me, this wasn’t a problem.
I had a good run on the last leg under cus going to 12,000ft. About 190km out, I took a really big climb to 13,500ft then cruised with no lift over a 70km gap to the edge of the overdevelopment which spread for 100km on track to Tocumwal. At the edge of the overdevelopment I thought I would get my last climb of about 5,000ft, but could only find .5 to 1kt by the time I got there. I spent 30 minutes achieving only 2,300 feet and I couldn’t get the last couple of thousand feet I needed, so I pushed on under the murk. I headed on through zero lift with some areas of light rain. Still holding out for that last climb, I was considering the possibility that I would have to land at either Jerilderie or Finley airport. As I was approaching Jerilderie airport at about 5,000ft I felt a big wump under my wing and hooked into 2kts and climbed to 1100ft over final glide – whoopee. I had to use lots of self discipline not to push the stick forward and speed home out of excitement. I managed to keep a calm 70kt cruise going to cross the finish with 700ft to spare at about 8:30pm, twenty minutes before last light.
Tocumwal – Galong – Tottenham – Tocumwal
First Leg: Tocumwal to Galong (over Wagga and past Harden)
Second Leg: Galong to Tottenham (over Young, Grenfell, Trundle and Tullamore)
Third Leg: Tottenham to Tocumwal (past Condobolin and Griffith then over Jerilderie and Finley)
The 31 new records set by this single flight are…
World and Continental Records:
- World – Triangle distance – Feminine D15
- Free triangle distance – General D15
- Free distance using up to 3 turn points – General D15
- Free triangle distance – Feminine D15
- Distance using up to 3 turn points – Feminine D15
- Triangle Distance – Feminine D15
- Free triangle distance – General DO
- Distance using up to 3 turn points – Feminine DO
Australian Standard Class:
- Triangle distance
- Free three turnpoint distance
- Free triangle distance
- Three turnpoint distance
Australian Feminine Standard Class:
- Triangle distance
- Free three turnpoint distance
- Free triangle distance
- Three turnpoint distance
- Speed triangle 1000km
Australian Feminine 15 Metre Class:
- Triangle distance
- Free three turnpoint distance
- Free triangle distance
- Three turnpoint distance
- Speed triangle 1000km
Australian Feminine 18 Metre Class:
- Triangle distance
- Free three turnpoint distance
- Free triangle distance
- Three turnpoint distance
- Speed triangle 1000km
Australian Feminine Open Class:
- Triangle distance
- Free triangle distance
- Three turnpoint distance
- Speed triangle 1000km
What an awesome achievement by Lisa!
Her fellow Kingaroy, Queensland and Australian glider pilots as well as Australia’s “Women in Gliding” will no doubt be very proud to see your name featuring so prominently amongst the international gliding records.
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