Well, that's a little embarrassing.

Two days after I posted my rant about having to fly my 5 hour flight....I went out and flew my 5 hour flight!

I'm really lucky it worked out - I had my eye on the weather and aborted a Thursday attempt when unforecast high cirrus moved in.  The next day looked good, though, and I set my attempt for then.

My flight path over 5 hours.  The straight line isn't part of the flight.  It is a measurement that shows I flew about 40km from the east to west side.  I'll need 10 more to get my Silver badge and I'm confident I'll be able to do that.

I arrived early at the Hill and assembled the Discus.  I certainly could have made the flight in the 1-34 but the Discus is simply more comfortable to spend that amount of time in.  The forecast was good, but the clouds were low and cycling quickly by 11:30am.  I laid out a hopscotch course to fly that put about 8 miles between landable airports but didn't necessarily plan to fly it unless the conditions really improved.

I took off at noon and was under a thermal fairly quickly.  The lift was there, but still cycling quickly and the clouds were sort of ratty looking, not the dark-bottomed well-defined clouds one would prefer.  I headed West over the higher ground as that is usually where the clouds worked best.  I was still in gliding distance of Harris Hill but further out than a normal 'local' flight I would make.

After about an hour of circling, I started to think if I was going to have to work this hard all day I was definitely going to get sick eventually.  I'd brought an airsick bag with me just in case but it turns out I never needed it or even got close to it.  I kept alternating my circles and my early day strategy was to take every scrap of lift out there and not get low early on.  Even so, I eventually got down to 3,200 before finding another thermal to climb in.

After 1pm, the cloudbases kept getting progressively higher and each cloud would work to some extent.  I'd thought about trying to get to Blue Swan (to the Southeast past Wellsburg) and thought I'd work the high ground east of Elmira to see how close I could get.  By this time, I realized that I had a good shot at making 5 hours, so I made sure not to get too low.  As I moved out there, I could see Blue Swan in the distance and it would be an easy glide there.  However, I encountered weaker clouds further away and decided to turn back to what I knew was stronger lift.  If I was going for distance rather than duration, I would have had no compunctions about continuing but I kept reminding myself this was my duration day.  "Get high, stay high, complete your duration," was my mantra.

I headed back west and south of Elmira and found some good lift along the way, stopping from time to time but the wind was at my back and I was covering ground nicely without much altitude loss.  In no time I was almost 40km west near Cownesque reservoir.  This was nice, since making my distance flight will involve a 50k flight and I could have easily done that on this day.

I turned north at Cownesque, intending to head up to Corning, but wanted to get some altitude before I did so.  After scratching around a bit and trying several clouds, I was no higher and no lower but if I wanted to glide back to Harris Hill (into the wind) and get back without being too low, I needed to head back.  Again, if I was on a cross country, I would have kept going.  There were plenty of good looking clouds within easy gliding range, but today was for duration and there were also some good clouds on the way back.  I turned towards Harris Hill.

This was when I got the lowest (except for very early on).  Returning into the wind with a couple of clouds not working, I wasn't worried about making it back to the Hill, but I was worried I might not be able to climb back up and make my duration.  Suddenly, the vario began insistently beeping that glorious climb sound steadily.  I turned and centered at 2kts, which quickly strengthened and up I went.  Ahhhh!

The thermal petered out lower than I wanted, but gave me plenty of altitude to the Hill and as I approached, I spotted the 1-34 circling in what looked like lift.  I slotted in underneath him and we both rode to over 6,000 feet.  At this point, I need about an hour more to get to 5-1/2 hours and be sure I made my time.

The late afternoon clouds (4:30 or so) began to merge and form enormous black-bottomed, steady lift clouds that would suck you up if you just flew in a straight line for a mile or so.  I happily flew at high speed in 4kts or better of lift, zooming under the cloud base, popping out the other side, making a jet-fighter style high banked turn to reverse direction and plunge under the cloud again.  Each time, I lost no altitude and was at about 6,200 the entire time.

I did this until the cloud began weakening and had already picked out the next cloud to try.  When I could no longer maintain 6,200 I moved to the next cloud and repeated the pattern.  There were multiple formations like this in easy gliding range and I knew I had my time made.  After 5-1/2 hours, I laid off and went into coast-down mode, making huge victory laps around the Hill and a 'speed' pass at 3,000 feet (1,300 ft AGL) that I finished off by absolutely sticking the landing and looking like a pro.

To my surprise, the Juniors were waiting for me with full buckets of water for a 5 hour dousing.  Auggggghhhhhh!!!! It was cold and I had squeaky shoes while disassembling the glider.

To the point on my earlier post - am I better pilot because I flew my 5 hour duration (and I actually managed a 3,000 foot climb, too)?  Nope.  I'm not disagreeing with the requirement to do a 5 hour duration flight but to be frank, the flight was just 90 minutes longer than my previous longest flight and since the conditions were so good at the end of the day, it took little skill to beat it.

On the other hand, you really do have to draw a line somewhere to say, "Okay, this shows that you have a particular level of skill."  If that line is at 5 hours, then that's where the line is.  Now that I've done it, I'm ready to move on and try to fly some turnpoint tasks.  I ought to be able to get my 50k flight during that time and I'll officially graduate to the next level of my soaring career.

A couple of things I learned - this was the first time I got 'sleepy' flying.  I realized as I was thermaling at two different points that I was zoning out.  My attention level was falling and I felt sleepy.  I drank some water and felt more alert, then ate a power bar and that made a difference.  A couple of hours later, I could feel the same thing coming on and did the same thing with similar results.  I presume I was getting some low blood sugar and so I learned the importance of having food and water with you during your flight.  I made sure to drink regularly all flight and had the appropriate and thankfully functioning, plumbing that made it easy for pilot relief inflight.  What a difference that makes!

The season is coming to a close as we go into September and I'm on vacation the next two weeks -away from the Hill.  I'll keep my eye open for cross country opportunities and see if I can finish up that 50k requirement for my Silver badge.

The agony of it all.

If you've read this blog, you know I've been trying to get the 'next level' of soaring by flying cross country.  I'm starting to think it won't happen and I have to blame myself for it.  The problem is I don't have my Silver C soaring badge.  Silver C says that you flew 50km away from the field, climbed at least 3,000 feet and stayed aloft for at least 5 hours.  You don't have to do all three in the same flight.  Think of it as the beginner's cross country badge.

It turns out that you need to accomplish 2 of the 3 Silver badge requirements (climb and duration) to take one of our club's Schweizer gliders cross country.  And you need the actual badge to take the Discus cross country.  Makes sense.  You can't just take an airplane that isn't your glider out and about without proper training.

But, I'm not a badge guy.  It's not that having a goal to shoot for and achieving it aren't worthwhile, they're good things.  It's just not my thing.  When I approach a topic, I have a tendency to measure myself against myself.  I can't compare myself to a championship soaring pilot any more than someone who cycles measures themselves against a Tour de France winner.

Instead, I prefer a measure approach that builds on things I know with gradual extensions that a) minimize risk; b) are achievable.  That's what I've done with my cross country training.  First, I read everything I could on the subject.  Then I tried it out in my simulator.  Then, I flew numerous training flights with our cross country instructors.  Then, I cautiously pushed out to be just one thermal away from the field on various occasions.  Now, I'm ready to push out further.  Each time I fly, I review, analyze, ask questions, and make changes.  I'm no ace, but I know for a fact that I'm improving in measured steps.

As for the Silver badge, I've never pursued it with any real energy.  I figured when it happens, it will happen.  One of these days I'll be out on a flight and I'll do 5 hours.  One day, I'll be out on a flight and will go more than 50km.  Maybe on the same day.  It's totally within my capabilities.  In fact, I've already flown that far and climbed that high.  

Having those (Silver) numbers to shoot for are good, but anyone will tell you that just because you make them doesn't mean a switch has suddenly been flipped that now makes you an ever-wise cross country pilot.

So - what's the problem?  If it's easy, I ought to be able to get it, right?  Sure - all you need is the right weather conditions and complete schedule freedom to take off work when they happen.  Hop in the glider at 11am, land around 5pm and you've got your duration.  I've climbed numerous times over 3,000 feet so that one is pretty easy to get one afternoon.  The distance is a little more difficult, but 50km isn't that far and is easier.

No, it's the 5 hour that is the more difficult one.  And I don't mean difficult in the sense that it is hard.  It's certainly no cinch to stay aloft in changing conditions continuously for 5 hours, particularly when you have to stay in range of the field, but I've stayed up for 3-1/2 hours before and if I just hadn't of landed on that particular day, I could have easily stayed up another 90 minutes.  But, I'm not a badge guy, so I saw no reason to saunter around the sky.  Stupid me.

So now I'm stuck waiting for the right set of conditions to come along on a day when I can get things arranged the day ahead at work (unless I'm really lucky and a free weekend day works out) so I can fly for 5 hours.  Stupid me, I should have gotten my badge.  So, I'll try to get it.  But that may cost me yet another year simply to get the opportunity to move to the next level.  Good thing life is a marathon, not a dash.