Yesterday a group of us attempted our 8 hour LSF Level V slope task. We
chose Parker Mountain as the site. The weather pattern in Southern
California this time of year is noted for a dense marine layer along the
coast ("June gloom") giving way to sunshine in the afternoon. Parker's
location is at the end of a west facing valley, and the onshore flow caused
by the desert brings the wind straight up the slope. In theory!
There was a storm system that hit the Northwest, and we got the tail end of
it. Luckily the wind direction was still good, but our day began under a
thick cloud layer and 15 mph winds. John Yee was the first to launch. He
was flying a borrowed Marauder, a 118" RES ship. I launched immediately
after. Well, almost immediately after. Major Anderson, one of our able
assistants, followed my instructions by pointing the nose down on my Topaz
and giving it a strong throw. The wind at the lip of the bowl was gusting
to about 20 mph. The plane left his hand and went straight into the ground.
The world's fastest pancake landing. No damage to the plane, just a little
embarrassment, which of course, was recorded on video.
I picked up the plane and headed about 15 feet down the slope face. The air
was much more manageable. I gave my trusty Topaz a throw and off she went.
Anticipating a windy day, I had loaded her up with 2 pounds of ballast. I
would soon find out that I now possessed the world's fastest Topaz.
Joe Nave next launched his Ava. He had wired in 4 double A's and placed
them in his wing. This was a clever set up that added capacity and doubled
as ballast. Ian Douglas, LSF #1192 and Level V #71 (Nov. '89) launched his
2 meter after Joe. Ian is going for his Level V a second time! He was the
voice of experience in our group and always seemed to be in good air. He
was flying with 4 double A sized Li-poly packs. Plenty of capacity.
Finally Dan Borer was ready to launch. Major and Dennis Ingram (our other
assistant) were both needed to steady the wings of Dan's 14 foot Gnome.
This monster plane had successfully been flown back in 1983 for the 8 hour
task. Dan had enough battery capacity for, by his estimate, "43 hours of
flight time".
I keep mentioning battery capacity because it was a big concern of mine. By
my calculations, I figured that the 3 servos of mine might draw about 50 mah
each. Multiply by 3 then by 8 and you have 1200 mah. I have a 1850 pack on
board. Thought I would be fine. Dan, a few nights earlier, had reminded me
about the receiver draw. Oops, forgot about that one...
We now had 5 planes in the air. It was quite a sight. It looked funny to
see all these big thermal planes parked up in the sky, with all of us trying
to get a lot of altitude because it felt "safer" up there. We were later to
find out that this certainly mattered.
We settled into our chairs about 20' back from the lip of the bowl. We all
started the "multi-tasking" that is required for this endurance event. This
included simple things like opening up your bottle of Gatorade, to more
advanced things like applying the second coat of sunscreen, or the most
advanced, relieving yourself with your back to the plane. I won't get into
details on this one!
The first couple of hours went by quickly. There were patches of blue
starting to come through and the wind was fairly steady. As we got closer
to lunch, thermal activity began. You'd think that a slope is somewhat
immune to thermals, but at Parker this is not the case at all. One thing
that you really learn when flying for 8 hours is how weather changes through
the day. When a thermal would roll up the hill, the wind in our face would
nearly stop. The flags on the antennae sometimes faced towards the bowl!
The thermal would pass through followed by a huge amount of sink. We had a
couple of close calls, even though the wind speed indicator was now reading
20 mph with gusts to 25.
Dan had been giving us numbers to ponder, like after the first hour when he
told John Yee and me that we were "12%" done. We, of course, corrected him,
telling him it was actually 12.5%. Yes, conversation does get down to this
level :-)
When we reached 50% I realized why Nowell Siegel had seemed a little grumpy
when we did our slope task last year. I had finished my 4 hour, and I was
jumping up and down and Nowell just sort of glared at me. I can relate to
Nowell now! BTW, he went on to complete the task.
We weren't too grumpy, but staring into the sky for 4 hours isn't easy, and
knowing you have 4 more hours to go doesn't exactly put you in a happy go
lucky mood. One thing nice about flying with 5 guys, however, was someone
was always having some sort of adventure. We had several notable "pucker
factor" events, usually when swapping batteries for the transmitters, or in
my case, swapping transmitters. For the record, with a PPM receiver, the
procedure should be turn off T-1, and quickly turn on T-2. Don't turn them
both on at the same time. The world's fastest Topaz had a 400' vertical
dive and a pull out that bent the wings like I've never seen.
We got some company at about 6 hours when Gene Hays and his wife showed up.
Gene brought a lot of enthusiasm and everyone felt that they could see the
light at the end of the tunnel. The air, however, wasn't so kind. The big
thermals would literally change the wind direction and in one minute you
could be from 800' above the bowl to just about horizon height. I had more
experience than anyone else at flying Parker, and I told everyone to keep
their cool; you can always fly down canyon until you pick up some lift. Dan
had a very close call where his big plane was literally 5' above the
chaparral. He followed my advice, stayed cool, and eventually hit some lift
down the hill.
John Yee had been battling his plane all day. There was some sort of tear
in the monocote hinge and he was having trouble turning left. At 7 hours
and 28 minutes, disaster struck. During a sink cycle he got very close to
the lip. He had to do a 270 degree right hand turn to get away. He got
caught up in the turbulence at the lip, and on his next pass had to put the
plane down. We all flew on in shock. To be this close was such a
heartbreak. This was John's final Level V task! 32 more minutes and he
would have been the Level V number 119.
In a true form of character, John remained stoic and even helped us out with
words of encouragement. He wasn't feeling sorry for himself. He didn't
seem too bitter. He will do it again; it just wasn't in the cards for this
day.
Finally, like the length of this post, 8 hours had passed. My anxiety level
was high because of my battery situation. I just wanted to land. I burned
off some height then dove through the boundary layer in the back of the
bowl. I headed down towards Acton then circled back and up the bowl. I
managed my energy well, gave a little flair right in front of a softer
looking plant, and put the Topaz down. A perfect landing for Parker. No
damage, no holes in the Orocover. I felt a huge relief, although it was
tainted slightly because of John Yee's plight.
Joe next landed following the same pattern. Ian came down and cart wheeled
across the ridge, but all was okay. Dan was the last down and everyone held
their breath as the big plane lumbered up the back side of the bowl. We all
thought he may have been coming in too fast, especially Gene Hays. Gene's
Suburban was right in the line of flight. The big Gnome plunked down about
10' from the lip. A big cheer erupted. We were all down.
With the completion of the 8 hour flight, Joe Nave has now become Level V.
Congrats, Joe! I was glad to have been there for his slope flight and his
10K, done about 3 weeks ago. Joe's moving to Hawaii where he will gladly
host us when we coming to soar on Oahu, right Joe???
We ended up with a Mexican dinner at Don Cuco's then said our good byes and
drove home. I think Dan got in at about 11:00 pm. after starting the day at
about 6:00 am. I slept well!
The further along I go in LSF the more I appreciate how it was set up. The
steps have gotten increasingly more difficult, especially the 3 wins given
the caliber of pilots I fly with. I have two more wins to go, and a 2 hour
thermal flight and I will be done. The LSF pioneers had a good plan. You
fly with your peers, you challenge yourself, you learn a lot along the way.
I've posted some preliminary pictures here:
http://homepage.mac.com/jrerickson/Gliders/PhotoAlbum29.html
There will be more, and probably more stories as well. Finally, about the
battery pack. As of this writing I'm discharging the pack. It has already
discharged 430 mah and the voltage level is 4.62. It will cut off at 4.4
volts but I already know that I had plenty of juice left in the pack.
Interesting! I didn't use as much as I thought I would use.
JE
--
Erickson Architects
John R. Erickson, AIA
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