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Sunday the soaring forecast looked acceptable, the wind was forecast to be high, and it was supposed to be better to the west with lighter winds. I originally had hoped to fly a closed course but after arriving at the airport and feeling the wind, Leah and I re-formulated our plan to go downwind....
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Author’s Note: This is a reprint from my club newsletter about a weekend trip to Talihina, OK in February 2013. For more information on ridge and wave soaring in Oklahoma, check out http://talihinasoaring.com/Talihina_Soaring/Welcome.html. The toll booth operators in Oklahoma are getting smart. They wanted to know if I was headed to a glider convention....
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Today promised to be warmer and we hoped for some better soaring conditions. Unfortunately the last two remaining visiting Vintage gliders, the Ka-8 and Ka-10, loaded up and left this morning. We were sorry to see them go but hoped that it meant good things for our potential. Pete VonTresckow and I had earned...
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Leah and I arrived late last night for the Vintage Sailplane Association‘s rally here at Chilhowee Gliderport. Unfortunately we weren’t able to bring a glider since we flew down on a Boeing 717 courtesy of Air Tran. However, we figured we would be able to rent some of the gliders here from Sarah...
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“This glider was unique. First of all, she was no contest sailplane. Most competition-oriented pilots could see that.” — Stan Hall (1956) Stan Hall dryly made this statement in his report about the first flight of the Cherokee II in the November/December 1956 edition of Soaring.While the glider was not designed as a competition...
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Today’s task was a “Banquet Task”. 2:30 from Llano up to San Saba (15 miles), FLF Gliderport (25 miles), and Mason (20 miles). Minimum distance was a mere 76 miles so even I would have to actually go inside the circles. Yesterday Frank (TA) and I had a discussion about why I always start...
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The task for Day 4 was a 3:30 MAT. Mandatory turnpoints were Eagle Rock Ranch for the first and the West Start point for a steering turn at the end. It was up to us to fill in the gaps. Frank Paynter (TA) gave a quick how-to talk after the pilots meeting to help...
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Todays task was another 3:30 TAT. Turnpoints were Brady (25 miles), Lampasas (25 miles), Harris Ranch (25 miles) and Mason (15 miles). We got our turn at the back of the grid today which was nice. More time to relax before launch and less time churning around in the start cylinder before the gate...
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Today we once again had a TAT with a 3:30 minimum. Turnpoints were Hamilton (30 miles) to the north, then back south to Moursund (25 miles) then west to Mason (20 miles) and a short run east to Llano. I appreciated the task as the north/south of the first two legs was more or...
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Today’s task was another Turn Area Task, this time with 4 cylinders. The course would take us generally over the same area as we flew yesterday in the practice day. By the way, I was very pleased to learn this morning that the old Cherokee II and I won the practice day! Our handicapped...
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