Visiting NCAR

The weather hasn't been good, so I went to NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) today.

Our host explaining their computer system

A micro tornado generator

First day at Boulder

Since I arrived past midnight last night, I parked outside the airport and waited until morning to check with glider club here on where to park, etc. I knocked on Mile High Gliding around 9am, and met the owner Dave, a ride pilot Shawn, and CFIG Bob. I also met Nick who was kind enough to let me park my glider in his space. Cu's developed quickly as we spoke. But they turned into ODs around noon, so I decided not to fly today. Instead, I went to Broomfield to do some checks on my camper. We had severe storm in the evening.

Driving to Boulder, CO

The weather forecast wasn't too good. No private pilots showed up in the morning. Cu's developed around noon, but they quickly overdeveloped. So, I decided to disassemble the ship and moved on to my next destination Boulder, CO.

I met lots of interesting nice new people during this one week stay. The owner of Sundance Aviation Rick Kohler, CFIG Brooke David, Barton who flies 304CZ, Michael who flies Discus, another Rick and his wife who were visiting from Southern California, Dior who flies Pegasus and is a docent at Soaring Museum, Bill Hill who flies Discus 2, Angle who flies DG808S, Robert Mudd who owns a repair shop, George Applebay who is also the owner of another repair shop at Moriarty airport, Dave who helped my rigging my ship twice, Jeff who is a tow pilot and sometimes flies to San Jose, etc.

Driving to Boulder was a nightmare. Because I was slowed down by storms, it took almost 10 hours.

Drove 403 miles

Second flight at Moriarty

It's Saturday. Bunch of local pilots showed up, and there was a long line for tows by noon. As soon as I released, I had a good 6 to 8 kts thermal up to 14,000 ft or so. Most of the day, the cloudbase was 15,500 ft except for over Sierra Blanc Peak where the clouds were a bit lower. Clouds started to overdevelop from the east, so I took a western path on my way back from Sierra Blanc Peak. Albuquerque Center responded well when I inquired if there was any activities in the MOAs and Restricted Areas. Overall, I had relatively worry-less flight. Flew about 450km in 4.5 hours.

Sierra Blanca peak

Flew 458km

Finally! A flight at Moriarity

The cloudbase was around 15,000 ft to 16,000 ft. I couldn't go too far because all directions were blocked by ODs, but I had some nice stretch under a cloudstreet. Flew about 250km in 2.5 hours.

ODs!

Fourth day of no flight

No flight again. There was an overcast in the morning which quickly cleared as the sun rose. We saw some Cu's developing over the mountains, but not around the airport. The airport kept being in a blue hole until clouds over the mountains finally moved over, but by that time, it was over-developed, and we had quite heavy rain for an hour or so.

No flight

Cloudbase was too low.

Santa Fe

The wind was blowing at ~20 kts on the surface in the morning. We already had Cu's around 10-ish, but the cloudbase was around 8,500 ft or 2,300 ft AGL. I waited till 1pm. The wind died down to 10 kts or so, but the cloudbase was still 11,000 ft, so I went sightseeing to Santa Fe which is only 50 miles from Moriarty. Had a relaxed day. A couple of people flew, but they both did local flights.

Soaring Museum

The sky didn't look too good and the surface wind was strong in the morning, and also I was tired of a long driving yesterday, so I decided not to fly today. I went to South West Soaring Museum.

There were around 30 gliders on display in a huge hanger as well as numerous photos, story boards, and other small items. The one most interested me was Schreder HP-18. It's built in mid 1970's, but it has almost every features modern gliders have such as winglets, flaps, water ballast tank, wingroot fins, retractable gear, a canopy that extends to feet, and even sidestick control. It also has a built-in camera housing in its left winglet.

Click here to see photos of exhibitions.

Moriarty airport is home of a big soaring community. This is probably the biggest soaring community gathered in one airport I have ever seen. Unlike other public airports I have seen where glider operations is under a constant pressure from powerplane operations, here in Moriarty, glider community is the major party. There are about 70 gliders based on this airport, and glider trailers are parked everywhere in the airport. There is a club Albuquerque Soaring Club which does lessons and rentals for club members, and a FBO Sundance Aviation which does lessons, rides, rentals, and towing for privates.

There are two repair shops, one operated by Robert Mudd and the other operated by George Applebay. Robert is one of designers of Genesis glider. After designing the ship in the US, he lived in Lithuania to be involved in the manufacturing process. Once he got the ship, he traveled with it and flew it in Germany and UK before coming back to the US. Robert's hanger was full of gliders waiting for repairs, and he seemed to be pretty busy. He is leaving for Oshkosh on Wednesday. I haven't met George Applebay yet, but heard many very high reputations.

Driving to Moriarty, NM

Since the weather is not supposed to be at its best today and tomorrow, I decided to drive to my next destination Moriarty, New Mexico. Moriarty is the home of Albuquerque Soaring Club which always ranks at the top or second in OLC. When I arrived at the airport around 2:30pm, I saw eight tail dollies left on the ground. Clouds looked good, but there were some signs of ODs. Later, a nasty storm hit the airport around 6:30pm.

Drove 254 miles

Second day at Durango

Today, a couple of local pilots showed up. Dennis flies Hornet, and Bob flies 17.6m Ventus B. Bob went up first, then me, and Dennis followed. There were many good Cu's slightly north to Val Air, but we all had hard time getting the first real thermal. I followed the ridge to the west of Val Air to the north, and finally caught a workable one 3.8 nautical miles north of Val Air. The ridge had three exposed surface, and apparently got heated better than others. I went up to 17,600 ft, and headed east north east where clouds looked good. We had about 13 kts of north wind at 15,000 ft near Val Air. But when I reached Mineral County airport, the north wind increased to 24 kts. There were still good-looking Cu's to the east and north, but I couldn't go further in either direction because thermals were all chopped up and were hard to climb in consistently. After struggling for a while, I turned back, and came back to Val Air. I hanged around a bit, but decided to pull the spoiler and land so that I have enough time to disassemble my ship before BBQ.

After flying only two days, I think that ridge soaring is one of the most interesting form of soaring you can do out of Val Air. Because the airport is at the bottom of a rather steep valley, there are so many ridges you can fly by even without going out of the glide range to the airport. And there are ridges with various different texture - rocky ones, ones covered by trees, etc. I myself is not a ridge soarer, though.

I flew for 4 hours 42 minutes, and the distance was about 300km.

After the flight, we had a BBQ party hosted by Durango Soaring Club. Staffs were friendly and helpful. Local pilots Dennis and Bob were very kind to share local knowledges and their flight experiences out of Val Air.

Animas Valley to the north of Val Air

Climbing over a ridge south of Needles

Flew 300km

First flight at Durango, CO

The best feature at Val Air airport is its grass runway. As Yuliy quoted, Landing on a grass runway has special feeling, which is of course a good feeling.

My first flight had to be preceded by a mandatory area checkout by a CFI in Super Blanik. We were towed up to 3,500ft AGL, and the instructor explained names of near mountains and thermal spots, and showed me how to enter the pattern. The cost of this area checkout was $85 including the tow and the use of aircraft. To fly your glider at Val Air, you also need to pay $10 per day club fee (or $50 per year) in addition to the tow price ($40 for 2,000ft tow) and another $10 per day glider tie-down fee. Parking RV is $15 per day, and camping is $5 per day. Bathroom is open 24 hours, but there is no shower facility. There is no food service at Val Air airport, but downtown Durango is only 3-mile driving. There are lots of nice restaurants and other shops in downtown Durango.

My first flying in my LS8 went pretty well. With help of lots of Cu's, I quickly went up to 18,000 ft. Firstly, I went to Telluride, because I know they fly glider there when the airport is open. Right now, it is under remodeling, and there is no glider activities, though. Then, I turned south, and followed clouds as south as I could. I turned a dirt airfield called Ghost over Abiquiu reservoir. The flight was 5 hours 35 minutes, and the distance was 524km. Except for frequent glider rides, I was the only pilot who went for cross country.

Click here to see more photos.

Nice grass runway

Val Air airport and Animas river seen in Animas Valley

Abiquiu reservoir

Flew 524km

Driving to Durango, CO

I left Moab in the morning for Durango, CO. Val Air airport at Durango has a glider FBO which is operated by former Soar Truckee staff Joe and Samantha. I didn't know them directly, but knew through Yuliy.

Drove 179 miles

Canyonlands National Park, meeting with Lou

The reason I dropped by Moab was to say hello to Lou, a former tow pilot at Williams Soaring Center. He now operates Balloon ride business at Moab. In the evening, we had a nice pizza dinner at Nick's house with Elizabeth. Lou had married his girlfriend Sandra, and they have a cute 5-month old son Ansel.

Prior to meeting Lou, I visited Canyonlands National Park.

Lou, me, and his dog Lodi

Last flight at Parowan, drove to Moab

The forecast was good, and Cu's were developing over Panguitch, so Dan, Kevin, and me flew up. But none of us could get high enough to get to the clouds partly due to the fire TFR which blocked the way from Parowan to Paguitch. After scratching a few hours, Dan and I landed, but Kevin managed to reach clouds over Panguitch, and from there he flew like an arrow to Boulder, CO.

After the flight, I disassembled my ship, and drove to Moab, UT.

Drove 253 miles.

The road from Parowan to Moab was scenic. Going through San Rafael Reef.

Canyonlands

Since I flew 9 hours yesterday, I thought I'd do a short flight today so that I don't pile up too much fatigue. But it ended up another long flight of 7-hour duration, with great satisfaction.

We had 25 kts of southwest wind again. After the launch, clouds looked good in the north and east, so I decided to try going to Canyonlands because Yuliy had told me about its great landscapes. But to be honest, until I see it by my own eyes, I thought Grand Canyon was THE great landscapes around Parowan, and everything else was a subset of it. I was wrong. It is true that Canyonlands does not have cliffs as deep or as wide as Grand Canyon. But it has numerous small ones, all with different shapes and colors. They are very sophisticated and artistic. Also, they are spread over a wide 2-dimentional "area" as opposed to Grand Canyon's extending on a "line". So, when you do a 360-degree turn over both of them, if you are flying above Grand Canyon, you will enjoy the view only when you are facing it, but if you are flying over Canyonlands, you will always see something interesting in front of you. If I have a choice, now I personally prefer flying around over Canyonlands to Grand Canyon.

I took 95 photos and a few videos in this flight, but after taking all this, I felt that I just couldn't take enough photos of this place. There are too many interesting landscapes. Click here to see them.

I had to add that coming back 150 miles with 25 kts of head wind wasn't the quickest part of the flight. I'd love to visit Canyonlands again, but not on a day with 25 kts south wind!

Here are some of features I saw over Canyonlands and its vicinity.

The green belt that goes horizontally in the center of photo is a river. There is a village along the river.

This is my personal favorite place San Rafael Reef. The color looks much nicer in reality.

A ditch obviously made by a river long time ago.

Colorado river

A random pattern probably made by becoming a river and a lake many times over a long period, like an oil paintings.

There are lots of these "Island in the sky"'s as Canyonlands National Park calls them.

Flew 556km - but it wasn't the distance that was important of this flight

Flight to Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyon

A big day came after a small day. Eric and Yuliy left Parowan for bay area. Ramy, Darren, and I flew. Ramy did 1,000km in the north, Darren flew to Ely, and flew to Grand Canyon and back.

By the time I launched, a few gliders including Ramy had were already in the north, but a line of ODs formed between them and Parowan, and lots of radio calls were being exchanged about it. So, I decided to head south instead, into the 25 kts head wind. I got low near Cedar Breaks, and a forever time seemed to have passed before I reached Zion National Park. But then the head wind weakened to 13 kts, and a beautiful cloudstreet was extending to the south all the way to Grand Canyon. I wasn't expecting such a long flight, but of course I decided to go as far as I could following the cloudstreet. Without much trouble, I was above Grand Canyon National Park! I considered this as a bonus for staying extra day at Parowan.

I flew over Grand Canyon last year too, but as soon as I reached Grand Canyon's rim, my camera's battery died, so I couldn't take pictures of it. This year, I didn't make the same mistake. I took 178 photos and a few videos in this flight.

There were a few OD clouds near Zion National Park and between Grand Canyon and Zion National Park, but other than that, most of clouds were working honestly. I didn't have much trouble going back north especially with 13 kts tail wind.

The flight distance was about 600km, and the flight time was 8 hours and 54 minutes. This is the longest-duration flight I've had so far.

Click here to see more photos of this flight.

Grand Canyon National Park

Flew 600km

Landing out on Milford

Today, I took the first tow of the day. By the time of take off, there were many Cu's and noticeable ODs in Panguitch valley. I headed straight north using non OD cloudstreet. I passed Sulpherdale (which is unlandable even though the database says it is) for about 10 miles when I found that the street ended there. I turned south, and veered west to avoid ODs developing over Beaver. The clouds over the ridge between Beaver and Milford were not OD'ed yet. There was a bit of blue hole over Milford, but nice Cu's were observed west of it. So, I veered west hoping to connect to those clouds. But the blue hole over Milford was worse than I expected, and I hit a widespread sink which drained altitude which I hoped to use to get to the clouds to the west. I struggled a lot, but after all, I had to land on Milford airport. The airport had a very nice wide smooth runway (you can comfortably land 18m ship), and the airport manager was kind enough to let me stay in his airconditioned office until my towplane arrived, and even offered me cold drinks. Other people had a tough day, too. Yuliy had to start the engine to get back to Parowan.

Milford airport

It was rather a short flight - 185km

Just a local soaring

After three days of non flying, everyone was anticipating a great condition today. The forecast was encouraging. In the morning, there was a bit of high clouds, but we hoped that they would somehow clear out and we have good thermals. Unfortunately, it didn't. As the day progress, we had more high clouds, and eventually the whole sky was covered. Some people caught wave, and went up to 16,000 to 17,000ft, but mostly thermals were topped around 14,000ft. A big wildfire near Panguichi didn't help generating thermals in the north with the southwest wind. But at least, we had a few hours of soaring! Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow are supposed to have more moisture. We are crossing fingers that that does not mean thunderstorm..

Later, I heard that someone overran runway 22, and slightly damaged glider and also ran over someone's wingwheel. Overrunning runway 22 seems to be common mistake here. Prior to our stay was a Region 9 contest, and two gliders overran runway 22 and did minor damage to their gliders.

In the morning

At the end of day

The third day of no flying

The wind was still strong, and there were no clouds, so half of people decided to take another day off. Yuliy, Eric, a couple of people from east coast, and some of the group from San Diego flew. Surprisingly, Yuliy and Eric made it to Durango, Colorado. I went Cedar City to buy items needed for the trip. Cedar City has many useful shops incluidng HomeDepot, ACE hardware, and AutoZone.