We discontinue operations for the winter at the end of October. Between weather and travel, I haven't made many flights but I did manage to check out of work early on my birthday and go for some 1-26 flights. Dr. Jack's Soaring Weather site said it was a reasonably good day and I thought I'd take a shot.
The first two flights were okay, but nothing spectacular. Not a direct descent, maybe in the 20 minute range. I figured I'd get 4 flights in and call it a day.
The third flight started out like the others but I found a nice band of lift, giving me a steady 2 knot climb. I found it by observing a cloud street (a long, usually narrow band of clouds) and cruised under it. Before long, I was above my release altitude and climbing. It was really cool to climb while flying in a straight line.
I flew along the line until I felt like I needed to turn back to the airport, then flew the line back to the north side of the airport. By that time, the cloud street was drifting off to the east and I needed to stay closer to the airport, so I turned and headed upwind. I've read that if you are looking for thermals or streets, turn upwind and sometimes you can find them in the blue.
Not this time, so I headed back to the airport. By this time, I was down to 2800 feet (about 1100 feet above the runway), so I decided to cruise the ridge near the airport to see if I could slow my descent. The wind was light from the North and I was losing maybe 50 feet each pass along the ridge.
About the fourth time across the same point on the ridge, I felt a firm push upward and I immediately turned into it. The variometer read 4 knots, a nice and solid climb! I turned circles and did my best to maintain minimum sink airspeed. Before long, I was climbing through 3000 feet, then 3500, then 4000! I kept circling until the altimeter read 5200 feet and watched below as one of the ASK-21's joined me in the thermal.
Gradually I noticed that it was getting a little more difficult to see the horizon and realized that if I kept circling I was going to head right into the base of the cloud I was under! By this time the climb was slowing anyhow, so I headed back upwind towards another cloud street while enjoying a personal best for solo altitude gained.
No dice as I got under the cloud street. I was descending now and needed to turn back to stay close to the airport, so I headed back over the ridge again. The wind had picked up slightly and I cruised the ridge for another 15 minutes, maintaining my altitude until it died a bit.
Seeing 2600 on the altimeter, I decided to head back in to land and not be greedy. When I touched down, it turned out that I had been airborne for 59 minutes! Another personal solo best for me.
I had a smile on my face all the way home, thinking what a great birthday gift I'd just gotten.
