July 11, 2003 - Cedar Valley, UT in SGS 2-33, 2300 ft tow for .8 of an hour.
This flight was to fulfill a promise I had made to my friend Nathan Miller over 3 years ago that I would take him up on a flight (either power or glider).
I took off of work early and Nathan and I made it to the airport and had the glider ready to go by 2pm. It looked like it was going to be a booming day and it was. There was big lift when you found it and even bigger sink between the lift. Nathan seemed pretty excited to go.
I made sure that we stayed on tow for long enough to have a good flight and not have to come back to the airport soon. We centered a 4 knot thermal at release and unfortunately the circling did Nathan in within 10 minutes of release. He tried to stick it out but after 30 minutes of flying he was ready to go back to the airport. We were both disappointed but we had a good time. I have found that a good 50%+ of the people who go up for a ride are really grateful for the trash bags I give them before takeoff. It is really too bad that they get sick because it is so beautiful up there looking down at the mountains. Once someone gets sick, they have no appreciation for the view and just want to come down.
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July 12, 2003 - Cedar Valley, UT in Phoebus, 2300 ft tow for 3.0 hours, approx 165 miles flown.
To view pics of this flight, click here.
I looked at the soaring report for this morning and jumped up and down and kissed my wife thanking her profusely that she was going to let me fly today. The report predicted top of lift to be 18,200', strongest lift at over 800' per minute and minimal winds aloft. To top it off, low humidity so the day was likely to not overdevelop into thunder storms.
Dale Taylor and I had arranged for him to give me a call on 123.3 after he launched from Heber in his club's 1-34 and we'd try and meet up and take some photos of each other.
I took a while getting things ready and didn't launch until 3pm. There was a steady left crosswind at around 5-8 knots but I didn't skid a wing this time (like last launch). I was relieved that I didn't have 2 bad launches in a row. Thanks Roger for running my wing. :)
The lift was just starting in the valley so I took a 2300' tow and released in the 2nd good thermal I felt which was right after the first 1/4 mile NE of Cedar Fort. It was a good thermal and I circled up to around 15,000' over the same spot I released. Because I was starting late, I headed straight for Lone Peak to meet up with Dale. I was so elated that I could head back over to the Wasatch range two flights in a row! This time I made it to lone peak at about 11,500' and the lift was booming right above the summit. I saw one hiker on the peak.
Dale met up to me with the 1-34 and we took turns flying high and low position taking pictures of the other. I can't wait to see the pics he took of me and will add them to the slide show of this flight when I get them.
We headed south to Mount Timpanogos in formation which was real fun but it was pretty soft thermals down there to our surprise.
 Dale suggested we head over to the Uinta range and we headed back north to follow a great cloud street that started at Lone Peak and headed east over Park City and on into the Uintas. I was thrilled (and relieved) to see that the higher performance of my Phoebus was very noticeable over the 1-34. I would love to know what my true best L/D really is. My owner's manual say 37:1 but I would be thrilled if it is at least over 35:1.
I got to 17,900' while working the cloud street east and stopped just north of Kamas to meet up again with Dale. I decided that it was too late (5:00) for me to continue on into the Uintas because I promised my wife I would be home. Dale and I split with him continuing on into the Uintas all the way up to Mirror Lake! I followed the cloud street I just rode back west.
Over Brighton ski resort I decided that I had an extra 15 minutes to spare before heading back and landing, so I headed north over to Mount Olympus. I always thought it would be cool to soar over it but found the lift was gone for the day. I had plenty of altitude, around 16,500', so I wasn't worried about making it back to Cedar Valley even though it is 29 miles away in a straight line. It will be fun to soar more over there in the future.
I headed south right above the edge of Salt Lake Valley and circled over my parents' house in Sandy for a few minutes. I have always wanted to do that. My dad said he watched me through his binoculars from the back yard. I made a straight line for the edge of the Class B airspace in Lehi passing over my house on the way. My wife says she thinks she saw me fly overhead while in the car. My final glide cruising speed was kept to around 95 knots indicated airspeed. I was pleased with the landing. What a great flight! Thanks for meeting up with me Dale. Let's do it again soon and I will take better pics I promise. :)
July 12, 2003 flight path
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July 16, 2003 - Cedar Valley, UT in SGS 2-33, 3300 ft tow for 1.3 hours.
I promised my friend Whitney Dastrup almost 4 years ago that I would take her flying. I was a little nervous that she would get motion sickness but she ended up doing great!
We got to the airport close to 4pm and there was overdevelopment over the entire valley. Almost always this cools down the area very quickly and the lift vanishes. We didn't expect a very long flight.
I took a high tow to make sure we could at least stay up a few minutes. We got off on a bump that turned into only 100' per minute lift just east of the airport. After playing in it for 5-10 minutes I decided to take a chance and head northwest. The gamble paid off and we centered a 300' thermal and took it up to 8500'. We headed west trying to get to the mountains and got to them about 3/4 the way up. Whitney really enjoyed soaring along the ridges.
We headed back to the airport and Whitney took the controls and did a great job flying for about 10 minutes! She is a natural pilot and seemed very comfortable in the air. It was a great flight - didn't get sick and we flew for a lot longer than we thought we were going to.
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July 23, 2003 - Cedar Valley, UT in Phoebus, 2300 ft tow for 2.4 hours.
To view pics of this flight, click here.
I stole a few hours away from work and went out to the airport. The clouds were starting to over-develop in every direction so I was pretty anxious to launch as soon as possible to make sure I got a good flight.
My takeoff and landing on this flight were my best flying out of Cedar Valley so far. There was a strong crosswind on both but I am getting better used to it. I released just east of Cedar Fort and struggled for 5-10 minutes before I found a decent thermal that would take me up high enough to cross Cedar and Provo valleys. The air over the Provo valley was completely still. The was rain, virga, and quite a bit of overcast from the Western side of the Wasatch range east to the Uintahs. I headed down to Mount Timp and took some cool cloud shots and then decided to head north and made it to Little Cottonwood Canyon.
I had promised my wife I would be home by 5:30 so I didn't have as much time to fly as I would have liked. It may have been a good thing that I came back early because when I got back to Cedar Valley, there was rain falling 5 miles west of the airport and the runway crosswinds were pretty strong out of the west as well. On landing, I took a few pictures of my glider on the "grass strip" I land on to the side of the runway. It looks like Aaron installed my tail wheel backwards and it got a little tweaked, so I am going to need to fix that before the next time I fly. :( It was a fun flight.
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