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Yoga
Flash flood in our neighborhood
Upon arrival from our CA trip over labor day. Flight tried to sneak into Austin for over 40 min and eventually was successful. There were three flooded street sections inside of our neighborhood with half a foot of water.
On our way
After 1:10h in the TSA security line we’re finally sitting on the plane in our seats waiting for more passengers to arrive. The flight is held at the gate. One of the TSA checkpoints couldn’t open due to mechanical malfunction. Crazy! Get the bolt cutters out, is what I say !!!
Infinite freedom
Last week I went flying with my ASW-24E. I self- launched, flew for 3.5h and landed again without seeing one soul. I had the airport to myself and enjoyed playing with the clouds. GPS was unavailable (due to the president coming to town?) so I had to navigate old school with map,compass and clock. Exciting! I hadn’t done that in years. My flight ended with a final glide all the way from Goldwaithe, some 60 miles northwest of the field. I started below glide path, gained enough altitude on the way, only to fall back under glide path 4 miles north of the field. I had to circle low, tempted to use the engine but milked a weak thermal instead. I was rewarded with a speedy last few miles, flying low and fast for a straight in on runway 16.
What a celebration of freedom!
Sweet little Ro w/ Pixel
Sweet little Ro …
… was tired and needed to nap.
Glider tow tricks
With the powerful Pawnee the p-factor under full power is quite prominent and requires a lot of rudder input to keep the ball centered. This takes quite a toll out of the pilot over the whole day. The glider can help by off-setting its flight path on the rope off center to the left.
Our 180hp Cessna 152 requires a lot of elevator pull to keep the climb. The glider can help by assuming the low tow position below the wake and pulling the tail down a little bit by doing so.
Both techniques help reducing the tow pilots load and make the flights more pleasant. It makes a big difference over the length of a day.
You know it’s Texas summer when…
… the coffee you’ve forgotten in the morning is too hot to drink in the afternoon because it was left in the car that was parked out in the sun (outside temp over the asphalt was 118F)!
Aero tow retrieve from farmer’s field
This week-end I did something new: retrieving a glider from a farmer’s field.
When I got a call on my cell phone from a pilot that I had towed earlier in the day, I knew I was in for a retrieve. What he then suggested surprised me though: He had landed in a freshly mowed field that was as long and flat as an airfield and was lined up with the wind. Since he is a tow pilot, too, I asked him to walk the length of the field and to turn his glider 90 degrees out of direction if he thought I shouldn’t land for whatever reason by the time I arrived by air – it was 30 miles from home…
I took a quick glance at the map, the fuel tank and off I went with the trusty 260hp Pawnee – armed with my new Android phone as camera, video camera, GPS and phone of course 🙂
I cruised at 100mph, sipping 12 gal/hr gas – not exactly your Toyota Prius… But it beats towing a trailer by car and carrying the pieces of the glider over a fence in 102F heat (38C). Instead of being stuck for the rest of the day, we were both back within exactly an hour!
Below is a photo from the arrival at the field (tiny glider in extension of the middle blue stripe) and from the preparations for the launch (above) and the view down the “runway”. I could guess which field he’d chosen from 10 miles out!
I also shot an awesome youtube video with the camera out of the tow plane cockpit while flying, so please excuse the up side down format and and shakyness – it’s 480p nevertheless!: http://youtu.be/bqP3ukkwa4Y
