Just a quick note about today, as it is already 10pm and I’m wiped out.
The day starts pretty early, around 7am with breakfast and a run/walk around the airport. Then the first meeting and lecture starts at 0930 and the day doesn’t end until 12 fun-filled hours later. Today was a bit interesting because we didn’t know quite when a front was going to pass through the area, so we had to delay the grid time until 2pm. However, the front cooperated nicely, and by 2pm we had sunny skies filled with puffy clouds in all directions. The wind was a bit high (in the 15kt category at altitude) and so the B/S ratio was not the best, but it sure beats not flying at all.
Grid time was at 2pm, and our first launch was at 2:30pm. Everyone was off within an hour, and we got about 3 hours of good XC flying. My group went northwest about 40 miles to Richond, then back east-southeast to Clinton, then home. About halfway out to Richmond we went out into completely blue skies as the drier air moved in from the west. Blue skies, high winds, and low B/S ratios don’t make for the easiest of XC flights, but we did OK. The only person that really got in trouble in my flight was the mentor (me), as I wound up digging out from about 1000′ agl. As I was desperately looking for lift, I was also desperately thinking up stories to explain how I had managed to land myself out – but fortunately they weren’t needed.
We all got back in good shape (no landouts at all today), got a wonderful City Barbecue dinner, and then were ready to go again by 7:30pm for the evening lecture. The lecture was over by 8:30 pm or so, but then I still had another 30-45 minutes of time to spend with my group members, going over their flights. By the time I got to the Micro-Castle, it was 9:30 and I still hadn’t showered, checked my email, or posted to Soaring Cafe.
Anyway, we all had a great time today, and I was very pleased to see that all our mentor pilots and camp participants did such a good job.
Three days to go before I can get some sleep! ;-). Stay tuned
Frank (TA)
