XC - Cross Country

"What do you mean you haven't flown in the Duo?  You need to get in there!," one of our senior members said.  It was late in the day and the lift was still good, with cycling cumulus clouds for most of the afternoon.  The sun was starting to move lower in the sky but there was still some lift left in the day.

I explained that I'd been trying to arrange cross country instruction in the Duo for several weeks but a broken canopy latch had kept our Duo Discus grounded for a couple of weeks.  Just then, someone exclaimed, "Pretty!" and the very object of my desire -the Duo, flashed past in a high speed low pass, pulled gracefully up and entered the pattern for a landing.

After it rolled to a stop, the instructor yelled, "Anyone need the Duo before I put it away?" and the senior member I was talking to shouted back, "Tom's going to use it!"  He quickly arranged for one of our advanced instructors to take me for a ride.  "Go!  Go!," he shouted and before I knew it I was in the front seat of a competition class sailplane about to take my first cross country trip.

Monty Sullivan, the instructor, talked me through the basics of the takeoff, we hooked up, I waggled the rudder and we were airborne almost immediately.  The ship handles very nicely and wasn't skittish or difficult to fly.  I spent some time getting used to the feel as we climbed and pretty soon we were off in a thermal.

After that, it's all sort of a blur.  But a happy one.  I spent a little time feeling like I was mishandling the Duo and it took awhile to sort out the low and high speed characteristics but despite my clumsiness, we were circling through 5,200 feet in just a few minutes and set off to the south from cloud base.

The most impressive thing about the Duo is the speed range.  It handles well circling at 45 knots and is equally at home screaming through the sky at 80 knots.  The handling is light but not twitchy, the aircraft doesn't feel nearly as big as the specs say it is (20 meters) and it is an easy touch to fly.

I won't bore you with the blow by blow of the flight - it was simply a short out and back in the evening lift, but it was further than I'd ever flown from the Hill before and it was so much fun to do it with the confidence that an expert instructor brings with him.

Arriving back at Harris Hill, we milked the lift for all it was worth at 7:45pm and set up for landing in still air.  The approach speed is similar to the familiar ASK-21 although the glide ratio is better, so you need to keep that in mind as you approach.  Only upon touchdown did the mass and wing size of the Duo become apparent.  I was certain we were out of airspeed and the beast would give up flying just as we touched but no - a bump and we floated again for another 50 feet before we touched down for good.  It also took a lot of brake to bring us to a stop, even though we'd touched down right on the numbers.

To say I was excited would be an understatement.  I REALLY enjoyed breaking free from Harris Hill, even though we never went all that far - perhaps 15 miles or so.  But it was enough for me to get very interested in flying some more.  It's really another level to soaring and one I'm looking forward to exploring.

Leveling Up

Although I'm a bit frustrated by my lack of progress on either the towplane or cross-country side of soaring, I've taken steps to fix the cross-country issue starting next week and in the meantime, I've continued to fly as much as possible, particularly commercial flights.

Recently, I was scheduled as commercial pilot on a day with awesome weather but a forecast for building winds.  By the time I began to fly, it was 15 knots steady with about a 20 degree crosswind with gusts above 20 knots.

Before flying passengers, I took the time to talk to an instructor, asked several pilots who were flying, and talked to the previous commercial pilot about the conditions.  They were as I had expected - yes, the winds were strong but the crosswind component wasn't enormous and the required North landing was the area of interest.

On a day when you have strong winds from the North, you approach the runway from the South, heading North.  Because that is on the lee side of the ridge, you can expect any or all of the following:  turbulence, wind shear, rotor, sudden loss of airspeed.  Flying myself is one set of risk management decisions.  Flying a paying passenger is another set.

Based on my consultations and experience level, I decided to take a passenger flight.  Knowing that the winds would strengthen as the day went on, I kept that in the forefront of my mind for whether I would take another passenger later.  My plan was to be particularly alert for uncontrolled departure from intended flight path on takeoff, releasing if necessary.  On landing, I would stay very close to the field, add 10 knots to my approach speed to compensate for shear, expect turbulence and turn final early to prevent an overshoot.

My passenger was a 3,000 hour helicopter pilot.  I made sure he knew that it could be bumpy but after we got a few hundred feet below us that it would smooth out -at least until we landed.  He said he was looking forward to it.

Takeoff was smooth and uneventful.  I kept my hand near the release knob, made sure to correct any drift IMMEDIATELY and we rolled nice and straight until we were airborne and I crabbed into the wind after liftoff.  Whoosh!  We rode the elevator of lift up the front side of the ridge and had 300 feet beneath us in almost no time.  The tow was mostly uneventful until we got around the lee side of the ridge and I watched the tow plane sink waaay down below me.  I added opposite rudder for more drag and eased the nose down just as the tow plane popped up again giving me a slack line.  I kept the rudder in and let it out just as the rope went taught.  Problem solved and we were back on tow in the proper position.

I released above the ridge in the company of at least 4 other gliders and the flight was excellent.  Real ridge soaring in consistent winds, smooth and positive lift.  Either end of the ridge worked best and we spent most of the 20 minutes over the ridge flying slow, fast, circling and generally playing around.  We  started our descent from about 500 feet above where we'd released originally.

I entered the pattern midfield and set my approach speed to about 63.  In a flash we were downwind.  Given the tailwind and my extra speed, we were probably traveling close to 80 knots over the ground.  I turned to base early to keep from over-running it, then flew the base with the requisite crab as we began to pick up some turbulence from the hill that lies on final to the runway.  I turned early to final so I wouldn't overshoot and rolled out with plenty of altitude.  I extended spoilers fully, pointed the nose down to keep the speed up and we flew off the altitude without an issue.  We hit the normal shear and rotor on extremely short final, using up the last of our altitude and I settled in to the flare, touching down just slightly beyond my aim point.  I flew a couple of more rides that day, each one slightly windier than the last and we decided to cut passenger operations off for the day around 2pm.  

The most amazing thing to me was how confident I was in handling the aircraft in very windy and gusty conditions.  I know what my personal limits are and what they are for passengers.  The conditions were well within my no-go criteria.  Last year, I probably wouldn't have flown in these conditions but this year it was truly a non-event.  Effectively, I have 'leveled up,' in video game-speak.

I'm fully aware that with a few hundred flights under my belt, I'm still a less experienced pilot than many on our field.  I will do my best to balance the desire to push my limits outward and the over-confidence that can accrue to a pilot with moderate experience.  They say that in the power flying world there is nothing so dangerous as a 200 hour pilot.  That's the level where you think you can handle anything but you haven't seen it all yet.  That is probably where I am right now.  I'm eager to take on more challenging flying but have to balance that against the macho pilot instinct to fly regardless of conditions.  Especially with passengers, who expect ME to keep them safe.

I did an accurate assessment of my experience, the risk of flight, and the expected conditions, but the flying was not what puts me up a level.  It was my decision to quit flying as the winds developed further.  The difference between 13 gusting to 25 and 18 gusting to 35 is one mainly of degree and risk.  While I could have flown a personal flight in the latter conditions I didn't do it with a passenger.

THAT'S my level up.