It was quiet when we showed up but there was an ASK-21 on the line - number 8, and we did a walkaround, then strapped in and got ready for takeoff. Winds were light, although they had favored a North landing for most of the day.
After we took off and were suitably high enough, I turned over the flying to Kevin, who immediately realized how rusty you get when you don't fly for a few months. To his credit, flying tow from the back seat of the ASK-21 is a little more difficult and he hung in there without getting too far out of line from the tow plane.
We let off at 2,000 above the field and found our first thermal. Kev flew some sort-of circles as he tried to remember how to fly a circle at a constant airspeed. It didn't help that I kept telling him to tighten up on one side and lessen the bank on the other to move us into the lift. Nevertheless, we managed to climb steadily and pretty soon were at 4,000 feet on the altimeter (about 2,500 above the field) before it began to peter out.
We moved North out over the valley since the low ground seemed to be where the thermals were being generated and found several more thermals. We hung in there on one for a good 10 minutes and Kevin finally started smoothing out and centered the strongest lift.
After a few awhile, we decided to head back to the field. We'd seen a few other gliders in the air, particularly number 6, which had stayed above us most of the time. I had Kevin run through the checklist as we approached the initial pattern entry altitude. He's been taught to use WEAT as a memory aid, so I had him run through it.
W - Wind. "Hmm. Winds are light, I've only landed North on the couple of flights I've had this year, let's land South. Slight tailwind, but nothing we can't handle."
E- Emergency? "Nope. No emergency."
A- Airport Surface. "Nobody on the surface, the tow plane is parked over by the hangar. We've got the field all to ourselves."
T - Traffic. "Nope, don't see any....."
Kevin called out, "Straight ahead!" At the same time, I spotted number 6 flying slightly lower than us and heading in the opposite direction. I'd entered the downwind leg for a South landing while he'd entered the downwind leg for a North landing. Opposite directions, similar altitudes.
I maneuvered out of his way and did a 180 to change direction and follow him in for a North landing. We both stopped near each other and discussed what had happened. In the end, neither of us did anything wrong. I probably should have landed North because that was the prevailing direction for most of the day. But, I wanted to practice a South landing and...well...we more or less had the field to ourselves. Except we didn't.
The other pilot had obviously not spotted us as soon as we had spotted him. He was a little more alarmed at what had happened, particularly because he had done a scan of the traffic pattern before entry. Twice.
No harm, no foul. What was supposed to happen is what did happen and the result was a non-event. See-and-avoid is based on one or both pilots seeing and avoiding. In our case, even if neither of us had seen each other, it would have simply been a close call - and frankly, not nearly as close as we are when we thermal together. But that's usually when you are intentionally flying near each other. This was not intentional.
Lessons learned? Well...nothing really to change in my operational procedures other than to be sure I remember to follow WEAT in addition to the pre-landing checklist. Keep a sharp eye out, remember that even when there are just you and one other aloft that when you enter the traffic pattern, that's when you are most likely to be in the same place, perhaps at the same time.
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