Outlanding stories

[bagmaker]

OK, Ive not done one.
Been checked out, approved and even go to the "all ready to break my outlanding virginity" stage during many flights -only to be saved by a low thermal or afternooon crop fire. So, outlanding is an interesting idea that I am sure to come to grips with soon enough, weather (not) permitting.
Who has the best stories of outlanding around? Long walks, cold nights, new friends/lovers -nothing horrific please- crop damage, ego damage, bugs, all that stuff.
I cant wait!
Wayne Carter

[[email protected]]

I managed to landout after a 5 minute flight in my 1:48 glide ratio LAK
12 - two fields away from the airfield.

Clinton
LAK 12

[[email protected]]

Two landouts on the same day. Contest task, landed out (at a
gliderport) while on course, got a tow and rejoined the gaggle on the
return leg, then landed out again (along with just about everybody
else!) when a cloud deck moved in and shut off all lift.

Second landout was in a wheat field, requiring many of the classical
landout "events": hike out to find a farmer, challenge of meeting up
with new crew (pre-cell days), midnight derig and carry-out of glider
from middle of field, etc...

Bags of fun!

[Alistair Wright]

"bagmaker" > wrote in message
...
>
> OK, Ive not done one.
> Been checked out, approved and even go to the "all ready to break my
> outlanding virginity" stage during many flights -only to be saved by a
> low thermal or afternooon crop fire. So, outlanding is an interesting
> idea that I am sure to come to grips with soon enough, weather (not)
> permitting.
> Who has the best stories of outlanding around? Long walks, cold nights,
> new friends/lovers -nothing horrific please- crop damage, ego damage,
> bugs, all that stuff.
> I cant wait!
> Wayne Carter
>
>
> --
> bagmaker

My first outlanding was on my second cross country check. A large sheet was
placed in the middle of the airfield and you had to land within 10 meters of
it. Up I went on a winch launch and I was so busy in the cockpit that I
forgot to look out and check the wind. Next thing I knew I was too far away
to get back to the club and landed out two fields away. I got my book
signed 'OK for C/C' and was grounded by the CFI for a week!

Then there was the time I went on a (failed) Silver distance over North
Yorkshire. Got up to 6,500ft in cloud, but didn't find another thermal. I
landed 5 miles short in a field next to a house where there was a very
alcoholic 21st birthday party in progress to which I was immediately invited
(they thought I was a glidergram). By the time my crew arrived I was
feeling no pain and took no part in the de-rig or drive home!

Alistair Wright
UK Silver 4759

[[email protected]]

bagmaker wrote:
> OK, Ive not done one.
> Been checked out, approved and even go to the "all ready to break my
> outlanding virginity" stage during many flights -only to be saved by a
> low thermal or afternooon crop fire. So, outlanding is an interesting
> idea that I am sure to come to grips with soon enough, weather (not)
> permitting.
> Who has the best stories of outlanding around? Long walks, cold nights,
> new friends/lovers -nothing horrific please- crop damage, ego damage,
> bugs, all that stuff.
> I cant wait!
> Wayne Carter
>
>
> --
> bagmaker


Here's a link to my first landout story. It takes place at Wellington
Gliding Club in NZ with a Blanik L-13. Rain, kids on motorbikes in the
way, intentional ground loop... It's a wonder I didn't give up gliding
afterward!

http://www.soarmn.com/soaring_files/flightstories/My%20First%20Landout%20-%20Matt%20Michael.pdf

Matt Michael

[GM]

bagmaker wrote:
> OK, Ive not done one.
> Been checked out, approved and even go to the "all ready to break my
> outlanding virginity" stage during many flights -only to be saved by a
> low thermal or afternooon crop fire. So, outlanding is an interesting
> idea that I am sure to come to grips with soon enough, weather (not)
> permitting.
> Who has the best stories of outlanding around? Long walks, cold nights,
> new friends/lovers -nothing horrific please- crop damage, ego damage,
> bugs, all that stuff.
> I cant wait!
> Wayne Carter
>
>
> --
> bagmaker

I had my first off-field landing in a Ka6 during the club's soaring
camp in Bourges, France. I wasn't signed off for XC and made the
typical beginner's mistake of not watching the 'lift-to-drift' ratio.
So here I was low looking at the airfield upwind at an impossible angle
but over huge fields. I called the ground crew and told them to get the
trailer ready and landed uneventfully near a small farm house. Walking
up to the house I was greeted by an old woman, who apparently lived
there alone. She seemed very excited to have someone come to her house
and kept on talking and talking - except my French was (still is)
limited to a very basic level. I was able to give her the number of the
'aerodrome Bourges' and she got busy on the phone. All seemed to be
going well up to the point when in very short order several police cars
arrived, including one unmarked car with gentlemen in suits and dark
shades. They all wanted to see my I.D. or license, which of course I
didn't have with me - after all, I didn't intend to land out. Here they
had a German registered glider with a guy who could only communicate in
German or English (two strikes against me) and no I.D. in the heartland
of France. Knowing that cops are a similar breed no matter where you
are in the world, I pulled out the Ka6's log-book. It had on the front
pages rows and rows of small official looking stamps and signatures -
one for each annual. The officials all inspected that book, copied just
about every line and entry and seemed to be satisfied with what they
saw. A heated debate amongst them and the woman followed which stopped
several times abruptly while all of them where looking at me only to
resume again. I saw myself spending the night in some cell! The
discussion ended, the police left, the woman slammed the door shut and
I tippi-toed back to my glider waiting for my crew. Only later did I
learn that nobody had called the field and directions were given to my
crew by a tow-pilot overhead. Lesson learnt: Always carry your license
and I.D., watch that lift to drift ratio and dial the phone yourself!


On another outlanding in the German countryside, I attracted the usual
crowd of kids and adults. After a lengthy Q/A session about how gliders
work and what happens, when the wind stops, all but one good old farm
boy had left. He leaned over and said: 'ok, they are all gone now. You
can't fool me - where are you hiding the engine?'

Uli Neumann

[[email protected]]

I have two good ones, not the only two outlandings I have made. Early
on in my flying days I was out chasing the big boys south of Boise, Id.
when conditions turned ugly. All three of us landed out. The other
two, more experienced guys, picked cut and mowed hay fields out south
of a small town. I picked a field right in the middle of town that was
being worked by a farmer with his tractor. I felt I had picked the
best field. close to phones, roads and immediate help. My buddies
were out in the boonies. Well, they, the more experienced ones picked
a field accross the street from where a wake was taking place - beer,
food etc. While my field, right next to a Mormon Church, owned and
worked by one of the big shots in the church. No beer or food but very
helpful. By the time I had arranged for retrieves for all of us, my
buddies were pretty happy. I had made a new friend and been given a
gift- a copy of the Book of Mormon.

The next one was at a contest in Ephrata, Washington. Last day, very
bad weather with lots of rain, everybody lander out. I picked what
looked like a freshly plowed field. The field did not look like it
had standing water in it as most the surrounding ones did. Everything
went great until touch down,then there was a wall of green/brown water
that came up from the gear. My nice white ship took on a pale green
color from the bath. The ship guickly stopped and sank into the mucky
dirt. Turns out I picked a field that had been fertilized that morning
with fresh cow manure. The rain had turned it into a slurry. Can't
say that has been my only sh*8y landing todate.

Tom
Idaho
bagmaker wrote:
> OK, Ive not done one.
> Been checked out, approved and even go to the "all ready to break my
> outlanding virginity" stage during many flights -only to be saved by a
> low thermal or afternooon crop fire. So, outlanding is an interesting
> idea that I am sure to come to grips with soon enough, weather (not)
> permitting.
> Who has the best stories of outlanding around? Long walks, cold nights,
> new friends/lovers -nothing horrific please- crop damage, ego damage,
> bugs, all that stuff.
> I cant wait!
> Wayne Carter
>
>
> --
> bagmaker

[For Example John Smith]

2 for you--
Trying for a Silver distance I landed out uneventfully. Walked to the
nearby farmhouse and asked for directions I could give to my crew. The
owner wanted to give me a lift back to the field where my ship was. I
declined. He said he really just wanted to see my ship, so I agreed--hell,
it's his ranch. He then offered me a diet Coke. I hate diet drinks and
politely declined. On the ride back to my ship, he again offered a diet
Coke. I pointed out that I had water and sports drink--thank you, no.
After I showed him the ship and let him sit in it, etc., he again offered a
diet Coke. Not wanting to be rude, I finally agreed. He whipped out a
'koozie' with the ranch logo on it and popped a diet Coke in it and handed
it to me. I thanked him for the great souvenir.
Trying for a Diamond goal, I had to land on an abandoned ranch strip. Two
ranch hands ambled up, one of them looked right out of central
casting--extra tall cowboy boots, big hat, big bushy moustache, and a voice
like the large animal verterinarian and cowboy poet they sometimes have on
NPR.
"We saw you circling over the auction pen" cowboy says.
"That's right. I was trying to climb back up and continue my flight. I saw
a buzzard over there and wanted to join him in the thermal" said I.
"We saw him to. Noticed he was able to climb...."

"bagmaker" > wrote in message
...
>
> OK, Ive not done one.
> Been checked out, approved and even go to the "all ready to break my
> outlanding virginity" stage during many flights -only to be saved by a
> low thermal or afternooon crop fire. So, outlanding is an interesting
> idea that I am sure to come to grips with soon enough, weather (not)
> permitting.
> Who has the best stories of outlanding around? Long walks, cold nights,
> new friends/lovers -nothing horrific please- crop damage, ego damage,
> bugs, all that stuff.
> I cant wait!
> Wayne Carter
>
>
> --
> bagmaker

[Papa3]

wrote:
> Two landouts on the same day. Contest task, landed out (at a
> gliderport) while on course, got a tow and rejoined the gaggle on the
> return leg, then landed out again (along with just about everybody
> else!) when a cloud deck moved in and shut off all lift.

So, this gets me to wondering, "What's the worst (best?) landout count
for a single day." I'll admit to a two-bagger twice in my career.
Seems hard to believe that there could be more than two...

Enquiring minds want to know.

Erik Mann
LS8-18 (P3)

[Maule Driver]

Erik, I don't know about the worst count but I know landing out before
getting thru the start gate felt like several landouts at the same time
- Ouch! (Fairfield Regionals, my first contest)

I learned no matter how stupid you want to be, try not to embarass your
crew too!

Bill Watson (Foureyes)

Papa3 wrote:
> wrote:
>
>>Two landouts on the same day. Contest task, landed out (at a
>>gliderport) while on course, got a tow and rejoined the gaggle on the
>>return leg, then landed out again (along with just about everybody
>>else!) when a cloud deck moved in and shut off all lift.
>
>
> So, this gets me to wondering, "What's the worst (best?) landout count
> for a single day." I'll admit to a two-bagger twice in my career.
> Seems hard to believe that there could be more than two...
>
> Enquiring minds want to know.
>
> Erik Mann
> LS8-18 (P3)
>

[Maule Driver]

Chester SC, USA late 80s. Couldn't quite make the final glide home.
Knowing that there were plenty of landable fields approaching from the
NE, I pushed on lower, hoping.... I spotted a familiar golf course and
decided to pack it in. Golf courses are not typically choice spots for
such operations but the driving range had a nice flat expanse with an
approach between the trees. I knew that it was short and would require
good airspeed control and heavy braking.

A quick turn, short final and touchdown in front of a half dozen
startled golfers. A little fast with lousy brakes contributed to
overrunning the planned landing area. A nicely contoured drainage
ditch brought me to an abrupt but safe stop with the nose resting on the
opposite side of the ditch. No problem, I know the drill. Beyond being
****ed off, all is well.

I walk up to the clubhouse and ask for a phone. The curious are asking
questions. I try to hold back the competitive bitching and answer the
usual questions.

"Hey, you know another glider did the same thing here last year?"

"Really"

"Yeah, in fact there's a picture of it over here on the bulletin board."

"You don't say..."

"Why heck, that's you!"

"Yes it is (you SOB)"

.... and don't you know I pinned the glider in the same ditch in exactly
the same way.

Bill "Foureyes" Watson

bagmaker wrote:
> OK, Ive not done one.
> Been checked out, approved and even go to the "all ready to break my
> outlanding virginity" stage during many flights -only to be saved by a
> low thermal or afternooon crop fire. So, outlanding is an interesting
> idea that I am sure to come to grips with soon enough, weather (not)
> permitting.
> Who has the best stories of outlanding around? Long walks, cold nights,
> new friends/lovers -nothing horrific please- crop damage, ego damage,
> bugs, all that stuff.
> I cant wait!
> Wayne Carter
>
>

[Kilo Charlie]

Wow....lots of great stories!

My most memorable one was when a bunch of folks from Arizona were flying out
of Parowan a few years ago. We all headed north on a great day and on the
way home we agreed on the next turn out to the southwest. I headed out
there only to later find out that the rest of them (behind me) decided it
was overdeveloping and with rain starting went more toward Parowan. After
finding that out and not finding lift also headed that way. They all landed
at Beaver, UT and I was cut off by a wall of rain and virga. I found some
half kt lift over a trash fire and finally had enough altitude to get
through the virga and with them all on the ground decided to do a low pass
at the airport. They all lined up and mooned me as I came over.

Uneventful landing only to have several sheriffs cars pull in soon
thereafter. Turns out that the only house on the airport was occupied by a
nice Mormon lady that was of course appalled at the sight of all of those
white behinds and so called the sheriff. Also by then one of the crews had
arrived and there were many beverages being imbibed. We assured the sheriff
that the nice lady must have been mistaken and that none of us drinking were
going to drive and so they left.

Another similar story happened when once again 8 of us got cut off by storms
over a town west of Turf (Aguila). The entire town is made up of small
airport communities and we landed at the nicest one. After securing our
gliders one guy who had a hangar full of BD-5's, invited us to his beautiful
home where he made us some of the strongest margaritas I've ever tasted.
Luckily we all had crews since I'm sure that none of us could have driven.
Even taking the gliders apart was a challenge!

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

[[email protected]]

One of my favorites from JJ, try this link:

http://www.valleysoaring.net/story/jj/jj-torch.html

[Ken Kochanski (KK)]

4I

Didn't you get invited to go skinny dippin' on one of your landouts?

KK

[Kilo Charlie]

"Ken Kochanski (KK)" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> 4I
>
> Didn't you get invited to go skinny dippin' on one of your landouts?
>
> KK


A story related by one of my hang gliding compadres a few years back....

Has a nice long downwind flight and has no worries since his trusty crew is
waiting for his phone call but its before the cell phone era so has to find
a phone after landing in a nice plowed field. Sees a farm house at the edge
of the field so heads there. After opening a nice white gate in the fence
he proceeds into the backyard of the house where he sees an 80 year old
woman buck naked in a lounge chair drooling on herself. OK now what would
you do? Dare to go and knock on the door or hightail it outta there? He
choose the latter.

KC

[Jack]

wrote:

> I managed to landout after a 5 minute flight in my 1:48 glide ratio LAK
> 12 - two fields away from the airfield.

Given that outline, it must be an amazing story.


Jack

[Ramy Yanetz]

I heard of someone landed out AFTER going thru the finish gate...

Ramy

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> Two landouts on the same day. Contest task, landed out (at a
> gliderport) while on course, got a tow and rejoined the gaggle on the
> return leg, then landed out again (along with just about everybody
> else!) when a cloud deck moved in and shut off all lift.
>
> Second landout was in a wheat field, requiring many of the classical
> landout "events": hike out to find a farmer, challenge of meeting up
> with new crew (pre-cell days), midnight derig and carry-out of glider
> from middle of field, etc...
>
> Bags of fun!
>

[[email protected]]

Jack wrote:
> wrote:
>
> > I managed to landout after a 5 minute flight in my 1:48 glide ratio LAK
> > 12 - two fields away from the airfield.
>
> Given that outline, it must be an amazing story.
>
>
> Jack

I winch launched with a wall of dust approaching the field. I did two
turns in a broken thermal that I lost, and then headed diagonally away
from the field towards the dust. I had such strong sink in front of the
dust wall that I dropped the undercarriage. I then hit the dust wall
and climbed about 500'. As I passed through the dust wall - it felt as
if the glider was in free fall. The only field that I could reach had
large furrows and the wind direction was across them. As I lined up to
land, the wind dropped and I could turn and land between the furrows
with no damage to the glider. My friend who took the cable just before
me climbed to 15 000'. Africa can be quite intimidating at times.

Clinton
LAK 12

[Maule Driver]

Yeah, but it was the wrong landout.

Beautiful spot though... flying out of Elmira I spotted a perfect field.
A flat, nicely mowed lawn on the top of a small hill. A clear
approach path, house, pool, and a guy sitting on his back step (before
cell phones, the fact that someone was home was significant).

An easy approach, perfect landing, a roll-up to the back of the house.
Oddly, the guy watches me land, stands up, and goes in the house. Hmmm,
this must happen here every day. I slowly get out, look out for dogs,
and keep waiting for the guy to re-emerge. Nothing happens so I walk up
to the door and knock. A husband and wife answer the door. I point out
the glider not 100 feet away and ask to use the phone. No problem.

After the usual pleasantries I take the guy out to the plane and he
confides that he was sitting outside hiding from his wife so he could
drink! I swear not to tell. The guy is pretty well fortified at this
point but when we return, he offers me a drink. By the time my crew
shows up, we're all 3 sitting around the pool, several drinks
downstream, watching the sunset. My brother had come along for his
first retrieve and thought he now understood why we liked soaring so
much. We were all invited to take a nude swim but we decided there was
nothing to be gained....do you guys have a pool KK?

Thanks for the memories!

Ken Kochanski (KK) wrote:
> 4I
>
> Didn't you get invited to go skinny dippin' on one of your landouts?
>
> KK
>

[Brian]

One of my favorites was in my 1-26 I touched down and came to a stop
just in a field just across the road from a convienence store. Got out
walked across the street and bought myselft a sandwich and a pop to
enjoy while I wanted for my trailer to show up. I had been parked in
the feild for about 45 minutes when an police car showed up. The office
got out and asked me if I was the pilot and if anyone was hurt. After
telling him I was the pilot and there were no injuries he went back to
his car and radioed to cancel the Fire engines and Ambulance, Which
showed up about 3 minutes later anyway because they wanted to see what
was going on. After explaining to them that I had just made a normal
landing and waiting for my crew they all went back to there vehicals to
figure out how to write their reports about responding to guy eating
lunch while sitting in a field with a glider

[[email protected]]

<< So, this gets me to wondering, "What's the worst (best?) landout
count for a single day." I'll admit to a two-bagger twice in my
career. Seems hard to believe that there could be more than two...>>

First prize should factor in # of landouts and total distance. I'll
have to check my old logbooks but I'm pretty sure I've got a two-bagger
with less than 20 total miles (possibly a lot less) from a rained-out
1-26 Nationals in Richmond, Indiana back in the '60s. Bonus points for
landing in the same field more than once in a day: I haven't done it
but I know it's not unprecedented.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

[Maule Driver]

I'm surprised they didn't ask for your driver's license - I found it to
be SOP for aircraft incidents.

Brian wrote:
> One of my favorites was in my 1-26 I touched down and came to a stop
> just in a field just across the road from a convienence store. Got out
> walked across the street and bought myselft a sandwich and a pop to
> enjoy while I wanted for my trailer to show up. I had been parked in
> the feild for about 45 minutes when an police car showed up. The office
> got out and asked me if I was the pilot and if anyone was hurt. After
> telling him I was the pilot and there were no injuries he went back to
> his car and radioed to cancel the Fire engines and Ambulance, Which
> showed up about 3 minutes later anyway because they wanted to see what
> was going on. After explaining to them that I had just made a normal
> landing and waiting for my crew they all went back to there vehicals to
> figure out how to write their reports about responding to guy eating
> lunch while sitting in a field with a glider
>

[Eric Greenwell]

Ramy Yanetz wrote:
> I heard of someone landed out AFTER going thru the finish gate...

I believe that was Pete Newgard, many years ago at Minden. We could ask
him (he lives in Washington state now), but what I remember is he was
distracted/delayed in the pattern by other finishers or something
happening on the runway, got too low, and landed in a nearby field.


--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

[Paul]

From New Zealand.
I was competing in a regional contest on a 300km task. Five of us ended up
landing in the same field on a dairy farm 2 hr drive from the airfield we
took off from. After landing the wife of the dairy farmer came walking down
the stock race to see us with her two young kids. One four and the other 6.
She said she was inside the house and the kids where in the front yard when
suddenly the youngest came runing into the house and starting shouting
excititly that there is a plane landing in their field. She looked out but
couldn't see what the fuss was about and as she hadn't heard any aeroplane
engine she thought the kid was playing a game. She sent the little one out
side again and a couple of minutes later she was back inside saying another
plane was landing. Same story again. She looked and didn't hear the engine.
All five of us where pretty low by the time we had made the decision to land
and all arrived one after the other into the field. We where visible while
approaching but disappeared behind some trees into the field so everytime
the Wife looked out she couldn't see anything. By the time I landed last,
the kid was just wandering into the house to annouce in a rather bored voice
that another plane had landed in their field.
The wife then decided to take a short walk to get a better view and was
rather surprised to find 5 gliders parked right where the child had been
pointing the whole time. We all got invited back to the house for a beer.
Which we all partook in. Then ended up having a barbecue dinner with the
family while waiting for the crews. The husband decided we needed more beers
as we had depleted his meagre supply, so jumped into his truck and shot of
into town to the local tavern to get more cans. The tavern he walked into
had one of our fellow competitors in it waiting for his crew. Seemily he was
standing at the bar with a beer in one hand and a local wench under the
other arm and a small crowd of locals listening to his prowess as a glider
pilot defying the odds and the elements to make it this far in his state of
the art weapon. He had landed on the other side of this little village from
us on his way to the final turnpoint. Our farmer said that a whole bunch of
guys had landed on his place. When our intrepid pilot asked where that was,
he laughed lustily and annouced to the listening throng that he would win
the day as he had gotten farther than us. When informed by the farmer that
we had all rounded the turnpoint and we where heading home he had to admit
he may have been a little hasty with the scoring. That gave us all a great
laugh when the farmer relayed all this on his return with the beers. So by
the time the crews showed up we where pretty tanked. My wife who was my crew
at the time took along time to forgive me after I had enjoyed a nice
barbecue dinner with dessert and drinks and the best we could get her on the
way home was a cold service station pie.

[Ian Johnston]

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 18:18:27 UTC, "Papa3" >
wrote:

> So, this gets me to wondering, "What's the worst (best?) landout count
> for a single day." I'll admit to a two-bagger twice in my career.
> Seems hard to believe that there could be more than two...

Borders GC in Northumberland started off winching T21's at the ex RAF
base in Milfield (approximately 12 feet above where the club is now!).
The trick , apparently, was to launch into a north westerly, then
immediately head downwind to Doddington crags three or four miles
away, arriving rather low. If they were working, you spent half an
hour climbing to get just sufficient height for a straight in return.
If not ... you landed at the bottom and the glider was derigged and
returned by road.

T21's have struts and wires and big heavy wings. I am told that the
record - a triumph of hope over experience - was derigging the same
glider, in the same field, six times in one day.

No wonder they embraced aerotowing.

Ian

[Tony Verhulst]

Mac, I'll call him Mac 'cause that's his name :-), had just gotten his
HP14 and wanted to get some landing practice by doing a couple of 2000
ft tows. I guess that there must have been some miscommunication with
the tow pilot who assumed a 3000 ft tow. Normally, the tow pilot will
deliver the glider to a point such that when the glider releases the
glider will be in gliding range of the airport. On a 3000 ft tow, the
tow plane may venture farther from the field, during the climb, and then
return to release at the proper point - and this is what happened here.
When Mac released at 2000 and turned away from the tow plane, he
realized where he was and how far away from the airport he was and knew
that if he didn't find any lift, he wouldn't make it back to the field.
He didn't and he didn't. Mac made a very nice off-field landing in a
plowed field next to a road.

After landing, Mac had to hike a mile or so to the farm house where he
called for a crew to come with a trailer. When he returned to the glider
he found a bright orange parking ticket from the Hollis NH police
department stuck on his canopy. Now, Mac was not in a good mood.
Although off-field landings are expected and accepted during cross
country soaring, to land out during a local flight generally means that
you screwed up. Mac had screwed up and knew it, and he knew that his
peers would know it too. So when he saw the parking ticket, .....well,
it did not improve his mood.

In due time the crew and trailer arrived and while they were stowing the
glider a cruiser pulled up. Mac grabbed the ticket and threw it at the
officer with the message that the ticket was for a motor vehicle
violation and that the sailplane was not a motor vehicle and that he
would not accept the ticket. The cop smiled, took Macs name and address
and left.

When the glider was almost packed away, another car pulled up and a lady
got out and started asking questions. Only after Mac had completed the
story did he note that she was writing everything down.

"Say, are you by any chance a reporter?"

"Oh, yes, I'm with the Nashua Telegraph."

Great!

It must have been a slow news day because the story made page one. The
story was so offbeat that the wire services picked it up and now every
glider pilot in the country knew that Mac had screwed up. As a final
insult, at Macs EAA chapter annual awards banquet, a new category had
been established - the most parking tickets issued to an aircraft. Mac won.

Tony V.

[Bruce Hoult]

In article >,
Tony Verhulst > wrote:

> Mac, I'll call him Mac 'cause that's his name :-), had just gotten his
> HP14 and wanted to get some landing practice by doing a couple of 2000
> ft tows. I guess that there must have been some miscommunication with
> the tow pilot who assumed a 3000 ft tow. Normally, the tow pilot will
> deliver the glider to a point such that when the glider releases the
> glider will be in gliding range of the airport. On a 3000 ft tow, the
> tow plane may venture farther from the field, during the climb, and then
> return to release at the proper point - and this is what happened here.

Gosh. What was the tow plane?? Isn't the HP14 close to a 40:1 glider?

I'm used to a Pawnee climbing straight out from the airfield with a Grob
or Janus two-up behind and *always* being within gliding range of the
airfield. Normal climb is about 600 fpm at 65 knots, or about 11:1.
Back in the old days those gliders behind a 180 HP supercub would only
get maybe 300 fpm but that's still 22:1 while they glide at over 35:1.
I do recall the practise back then (with the lower-performance Blanik on
the back) was to do maybe a half or three-quarters orbit overhead the
field before heading out, but straight out was fine after that.

--
Bruce | 41.1670S | \ spoken | -+-
Hoult | 174.8263E | /\ here. | ----------O----------

[[email protected]]

Some years ago some buddies and I were reconoitering
for a really long flight passing through the Wurtsboro area.
I kinda forgot the map and kinda wasn't watching what time
it was (just follow the ridge, then turn around, but shoulda
turned around sooner). Bummer, its dark and the wind
stopped, made a nice landing on a gorgeous golf course,
and taxied off to the edge by some condos. Hadn't even
got out of the cockpit when I'm approached by a couple
toting their wine glasses and horse douvers.

"Hi !" they say.
"Hi ! Where am I ?" sez me.
"New Joisey" sez they.
"New Jersey ?!!" I exclaim.
"Whazza madda, youze got sompin against New Joisey !" exclaims the
large man menacingly !
"Why no, some of my best friends are from New Jersey ! But, I kinda
thought I was in a different state"...
And all was well and I got treated to nice wine and hourse douvers and
was in the bag by the time my crew arrived and took half an hour to
convince the gate-keeper to let him in...

See ya, Dave

[Steve Paavola]

This is the short version of this story - I won't tell you the sad story
of my stolen tow vehicle. One Labor Day I decided to do a cross-country
flight. My wife had her parents and aunt and uncle visiting, and at the
field to view the excitement. I managed to make perhaps 5 miles before I
landed.

I walked over to the farm house, where they were having a family brunch.
I was invited to eat, said no thanks since I'd already had a huge
breakfast, but was convinced to join anyway. Meanwhile, my wife borrowed
a vehicle from the airport owner, and had to figure out how to hook the
trailer up. Her father ended up on the ground changing the ball, while
my wife started fuming. She was even happier when she got into the car -
typical airport car that's barely street legal. Finally, everything was
set up, everybody loaded in the car, and they set off.

I was having a fine time, and was asked if I could help out getting the
pies from the house for dessert. As I was coming out the front door with
the farmer's daughter, my wife drove up the drive way. She was still
steaming - had no sense of humor about this. Her family was having a
great adventure. And I'm still embaresed about my 2nd shortest
cross-country flight.

Steve

[Doug LS4]

OK, I'll bite.

If 5 miles was your second shortest, what was the shortest ?

Rope break on a ground launch ? That doesn't count!

Doug



> And I'm still embaresed about my 2nd shortest
> cross-country flight.
>
> Steve

[Wayne Paul]

Tony,

Is Mac's HP-14 still flying?
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/HP-14/hp-14.htm
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/HP-14/HP-14_Links.html

Wayne
HP-14 N990 "6F"
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder


"Tony Verhulst" > wrote in message
...
> Mac, I'll call him Mac 'cause that's his name :-), had just gotten his
> HP14 and wanted to get some landing practice by doing a couple of 2000
> ft tows. I guess that there must have been some miscommunication with
> the tow pilot who assumed a 3000 ft tow. Normally, the tow pilot will
> deliver the glider to a point such that when the glider releases the
> glider will be in gliding range of the airport. On a 3000 ft tow, the
> tow plane may venture farther from the field, during the climb, and then
> return to release at the proper point - and this is what happened here.
> When Mac released at 2000 and turned away from the tow plane, he
> realized where he was and how far away from the airport he was and knew
> that if he didn't find any lift, he wouldn't make it back to the field.
> He didn't and he didn't. Mac made a very nice off-field landing in a
> plowed field next to a road.
>
> After landing, Mac had to hike a mile or so to the farm house where he
> called for a crew to come with a trailer. When he returned to the glider
> he found a bright orange parking ticket from the Hollis NH police
> department stuck on his canopy. Now, Mac was not in a good mood.
> Although off-field landings are expected and accepted during cross
> country soaring, to land out during a local flight generally means that
> you screwed up. Mac had screwed up and knew it, and he knew that his
> peers would know it too. So when he saw the parking ticket, .....well,
> it did not improve his mood.
>
> In due time the crew and trailer arrived and while they were stowing the
> glider a cruiser pulled up. Mac grabbed the ticket and threw it at the
> officer with the message that the ticket was for a motor vehicle
> violation and that the sailplane was not a motor vehicle and that he
> would not accept the ticket. The cop smiled, took Macs name and address
> and left.
>
> When the glider was almost packed away, another car pulled up and a lady
> got out and started asking questions. Only after Mac had completed the
> story did he note that she was writing everything down.
>
> "Say, are you by any chance a reporter?"
>
> "Oh, yes, I'm with the Nashua Telegraph."
>
> Great!
>
> It must have been a slow news day because the story made page one. The
> story was so offbeat that the wire services picked it up and now every
> glider pilot in the country knew that Mac had screwed up. As a final
> insult, at Macs EAA chapter annual awards banquet, a new category had
> been established - the most parking tickets issued to an aircraft. Mac
won.
>
> Tony V.

[Jancsika]

The best thread so far!;) Please keep on sending your stories!

/Jancsika (who managed to make the first outlanding next to a nuclear
power station...)

[[email protected]]

Dutch junior championships, thunderstorm between course and field.
Within 20 minutes everyone landed out. So did I. I found a nice field,
close to a huge road. Anyway, final, touchdown, all went fine. At about
60 km/h, my wheel collapsed and I came to a stop... at least that was
what I thougt. Getting out of the glider resulted in sinking about 15
centimeters (7 inch) in the mud; probaly the result of the
thunderstorm. Also my wheel wasn`t collapsed , but just completely into
the mud.

Walking to the road I saw a huge ditch, covered with duck-weed. The
only way out was the other direction, about 200 meters of f**** mud.
After finding the farmer it took about half an hour to convince the
farmer that his 4X4 was able to tow the glider out of the field and
wouldn`t get stuck in it. Towing worked fine but the last 50 meters of
the field were just too muddy. So we decided to bear all the parts
apart. About 3 hours after arrival of my crew we were on oure way home,
the glider and myself being brown instead of white...

[hannu]

Though I have landed out quite a many times - too many ;) - nothing
extraordinary comes to my mind.

But fellows have been through some exceptional ones.

One my favourite is from competition, where I was scoring. One pilot entered
the tower to give me the GPS. Nothing special apart from that he landed out
and walked the remaining 1 km to get the car and bring the logger. :)

Last Summer, when I was scoring in EGC Rayskala I visited home, and when
driving back there was a glider landing out by the road. Unfortunately it
wasn't one of the competitiors, as I would have loved to see his expression,
when I would have asked for the logger to make scoring faster :)

One guy managed to land out in 10 minutes from 3000 m. He has also some
other quite great stories. Like landing out on a very small backyard of a
house without breaking the glider. Quite an achievement, especially when
there was a 2 km long field next to the house. On another occasion he landed
out and when going to call the air field ended in the local restaurant and
offered himself some drinks (as it's his habit) . Meanwhile his retrieval
group happened to find the glider on the field. In a moment it was inside
the closed trailer and by experience they guessed where to find the pilot.
Now became the fun part as they asked the directions to the field. Our pilot
gave the instructions but of course there was no glider. He became quite
uncertain and asked to drive a bit here and there - with no avail (as is
easily deduced). After a while the group gave up and disclosed the gag.

My "personal best" was a landout in my early days. I was landing out on a
field next to quite a big hill (Finland is quite flat, so my big hill is
next to nothing to most hills elsewhere). On the end of the downwind I
looked down to the tree tops and decided to make a turn to base leg. Only
then I saw the field quite a lot lower than me. Fortunately Ka-6 has quite
capable brakes and touchdown to the soft dark field was quite a thrill: from
90 to 0 in 17 meters!. Well, that is anything very spectacular but the best
(or worst) comes later. I called to the airfield and asked the guys to come
and get me. I also asked them to check all the things are inside the closed
trailer. Well... after a wait they came and we started derigging. Everything
went smoothly until we started to put the fuselage into the trailer. The
fuselage dolly wasn't there! After an election I lost by 3-1 ("Who flew the
glider in the first place") there was a human fuselage dolly. Quite a nice
experience, standing there in the dark in the towed trailer and holding the
glider in the right position. Now afterwards it feels even more dangerous
than then (me having only 17 years) but as the god saves the fools,
everything went quite smoothly .. err at least safe :)

Another a bit interesting (for both of you still reading until this ... good
sleep for the others) landout was something I was forced to do. We have an
annual vintage event in Jamijarvi and as we had one trailer less than
gliders it was decided that I (with generous 45 minutes on Ka-2b before the
flight) was tow transferred a Ka-2b behind a (bit underpowered) Rallye tow
plane. It was not fun, as though the day was quite early, there were some
forming cumulus and some heavy turbulence. The tow pilot took off and went
directly to the course to our final destination-to-be. For some 15-20
minutes we were unconfortably low, as there was just forest and forest
below. I flew all the time with two hands and was sweating in no time. The
only radio was a handheld, but I couldn't get any discussion when needed
both hands. Ka-2b is not silent on those speed either. And then, just as we
were over a quite a big lake near Tampere there loomed the last cumulus
before big blue. And of course the tow pilot flew through the turbulence. We
made through the turbulence and the flying went smoother. Well, yes and no.
The flying went smoother, true, but it wasn't US anymore. The rope had
somehow disengaged itself. How it happened is still unknown to me, the rope
was OK, the Tost was OK, but somehow it happened. Of course I had quite a
hefty headwind and fast mental calculation gave me 150 m on the other shore
with no secure landing place visible. I had to turn back and though there
was turbulence, I couldn't find any decent (ot otherwise) lift and even
finding a good field was quite a job to do. Below 400 meters I found quite a
good one, though the conditions forced me to make a tailwind landing. Down
it went and nothing special in the landing. I had my cellular, but where was
I (I knew it approximately, though there was a circle of uncertainty about
10 km large). I guessed one direction and after a walk of 2 km I found a
roadcrossing, so I could give the basic instruction where to come. I turned
back and took the other road and after a walk of 3 km came to the yard of a
house. But no one there, though it didn't seem like abandoned. I waited for
some half an hour but as nobody was coming I decided to get back to the
glider. It was hot and I was very thirsty, with nothing to drink with me (I
should have been in Jämijärvi at that time). Just as I was going to go, the
house people came home. From their expressions and suits it was quite clear
they were coming just from funeral. I was granted one glass of water,
though. From then on it wasn't too bad (considering derigging Ka-2b isn't
that bad - a big consideration).

I think I have made even both of the readers left snore, so it's no point
going on...

Best regards

hannu

[Tony Verhulst]

Wayne Paul wrote:
> Tony,
>
> Is Mac's HP-14 still flying?

Although semi-retired from soaring he still has the HP-14. I'll send you
the N number in private email.

Tony

[Kelly Teagle]

I have one to add.

Earlier this year, I landed in a very big field next
to a council-owned housing estate in South Yorkshire,
UK.
After landing safely, I noticed that the field contained
young pea plants. No problem, I thought. I'll just
be careful as I walk out of the field. They were so
small that they'd recover from any damage I'd done.
As soon as I got out of the cockpit, two of the 'locals'
ran to me asking if I was OK. I assured them that I
was, as I removed my valuables from the cockpit, and
asked who owned the field.
'The farmer in the house over there,' they said, pointing
at a house about a mile away. I thanked them for their
concern and they walked away in the directione of the
housing estate, cans of beer in hand.
I set off to find the farmer, picking my way carefully
between young pea plants. The farmer and his wife were
getting ready to go out for the afternoon, so I sat
in their garden and called my crew.
I'd just finished the call to my husband when I heard
a helicopter, very close by. I looked toward my field,
and sure enough, a police helicopter was landing next
to my glider!
I ran the whole mile back to my glider. By this time,
not only was there a helicopter, but also 4 police
officers, 6 firemen, the helicopter crew, and the entire
population of the local housing estate! The farmer's
crop of young peas was being trampled to death!
Breathlessly, I told them I was OK and that they should
leave the field. As I stood there, they called the
local air ambulance and told it not to bother coming,
as I was OK.
It was the usual situation; someone from the housing
estate had seen me 'crash' and had called the emergency
services.

Two very nice police officers stayed with me until
my trailer arrived - apparently they thought that a
young female glider pilot needed protection from the
locals! I wish I'd known that when I picked the field!

[Kelly Teagle]

I have one to add.

Earlier this year, I landed in a very big field next
to a council-owned housing estate in South Yorkshire,
UK.
After landing safely, I noticed that the field contained
young pea plants. No problem, I thought. I'll just
be careful as I walk out of the field. They were so
small that they'd recover from any damage I'd done.
As soon as I got out of the cockpit, two of the 'locals'
ran to me asking if I was OK. I assured them that I
was, as I removed my valuables from the cockpit, and
asked who owned the field.
'The farmer in the house over there,' they said, pointing
at a house about a mile away. I thanked them for their
concern and they walked away in the directione of the
housing estate, cans of beer in hand.
I set off to find the farmer, picking my way carefully
between young pea plants. The farmer and his wife were
getting ready to go out for the afternoon, so I sat
in their garden and called my crew.
I'd just finished the call to my husband when I heard
a helicopter, very close by. I looked toward my field,
and sure enough, a police helicopter was landing next
to my glider!
I ran the whole mile back to my glider. By this time,
not only was there a helicopter, but also 4 police
officers, 6 firemen, the helicopter crew, and the entire
population of the local housing estate! The farmer's
crop of young peas was being trampled to death!
Breathlessly, I told them I was OK and that they should
leave the field. As I stood there, they called the
local air ambulance and told it not to bother coming,
as I was OK.
It was the usual situation; someone from the housing
estate had seen me 'crash' and had called the emergency
services.

Two very nice police officers stayed with me until
my trailer arrived - apparently they thought that a
young female glider pilot needed protection from the
locals! I wish I'd known that when I picked the field!

[Wayne Paul]

Tony,

Thank you for the email. I tried to reply; however, just
doesn't hack it.

If Mac has an email address, please ask him to contact me.

Thank you,

Wayne
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/HP-14/N990/N990.html
"Tony Verhulst" > wrote in message
...
> Wayne Paul wrote:
> > Tony,
> >
> > Is Mac's HP-14 still flying?
>
> Although semi-retired from soaring he still has the HP-14. I'll send you
> the N number in private email.
>
> Tony

[Papa3]

wrote:
>
> "Hi !" they say.
> "Hi ! Where am I ?" sez me.
> "New Joisey" sez they.
> "New Jersey ?!!" I exclaim.
> "Whazza madda, youze got sompin against New Joisey !" exclaims the
> large man menacingly !
> "Why no, some of my best friends are from New Jersey ! But, I kinda
> thought I was in a different state"...
>
> See ya, Dave

What Exit? (see: http://www.jerseyhistory.org/what_exit/)

Erik Mann
LS8-18 (P3)
SSA State Governor, New Joisey

[[email protected]]

One time I landed in a field in a howling wind, and
rolled to a stop right next to a guy gardening in a plot
by the edge of the field. The guy was facing away
from me, but his dog was a few feet further and
looking in my direction. The dog started howling,
and the guy starts throwing stuff at the dog and
cursing it mightly. The poor dog kept right on
howling until I tapped the guy on the shoulder,
at which point the guy near had a heart attack,
having never heard my arrival over the wind noise...

See ya, Dave

[Mark Lenox]

It wasn't a particularly long flight, and the landing wasn't in some weed
patch, but it's a good story anyway....

A few years ago, I was on a cross-country flight in East Tennessee near the
end of the Clinch Ridge about 40 miles from home when the weather behind me
started closing in, blocking my planned return to the field. The weather
in front of me looked pretty good though, so what's a glider pilot to do but
keep going! An hour later I'm another 30 miles further away circling
6000' above a nice looking airport (Green County) and I get on the radio to
call home to see about a retrieve. Fortunately, one ship is still in the
air and the message is delivered, but I'll have to wait a couple hours
before they can reach me. No problem. After another hour of local
sightseeing I'm tired and have shed my altitude, so it's time to land. The
landing is quite uneventful and I push the ship off the runway and take a
walk over to the FBO. They're not too used to seeing gliders land there,
so the usual crowd of GA pilots start asking questions. I get myself a
cold Coca-Cola from the drink machine and head back to the ship to wait.
Taking a nap under the shade of the wing seemed reasonable, so that's what I
set about doing. A few minutes later a couple of older gentlemen walk up
and start asking about the glider. We talked for awhile and out of the
blue one of the guys asks, "Would you like a steak dinner?". Is the sky
blue? Of COURSE I'd like a steak dinner. It turns out they were throwing
a big party down in one of the hangars and were absolutely wearing it out.
Dinner was great. Just as I was finishing dessert I heard the towplane
starting to make incoming radio calls, so I headed back for the glider to
get ready to leave. Most of my newfound friends had never seen an aerotow
before, so several of them jumped in their planes and immediately took off
ahead of us so they could see the whole thing from the air. Many of the
others got in their trucks and drove out so they could see from the ground.
After launching, there were lots of radio calls to the effect of, "good
luck", "come again any time", "glad to meet you". Fortunately, the ride
home was pretty uneventful with a landing just before sunset. I won't
forget that day for a long time.


Mark Lenox, E15

[Andy Blackburn]

At 00:42 26 October 2005, wrote:
>One of my favorites from JJ, try this link:
>
>http://www.valleysoaring.net/story/jj/jj-torch.html
>

Very funny! I noticed the story starts with JJ in a
DG-300, then somehow turns into and ASW-20.

Getting forgetful JJ?

[GM]

'got another one:

must have been in '87 or '88, I flew in a regional contest in
Lawrenceville, IL. My trusty old H301 was actually registered in
Germany at the time, showing the D- number plus the black, red and gold
flag on the tail.
The day died and I landed in Brazil, IN (not SouthAmerica!). The field
seemed pretty deserted and by the time I got out of the cockpit, a
mechanic in a grease covered overall came strolling out from one of the
hangars, hands burried in his pockets, spitting tobaco. He looks at the
glider and lets off a 'what the f#!$@! - man, no engine? and where's
that f@#!ing tail number from?' At that point, I decided to have some
fun with old green-tooth and I greet him in German while pointing to an
old German ICAO-Hannover sectional I had burried in the side pocket. At
first he didn't understand but when he realized that the map covered
part of Germany and the Netherlands, he got really excited and called
his buddy over telling him that a glider had just come in straight from
Europe!

Uli Neumann

[01-- Zero One]

That's a good one, Uli!



Larry

"GM" > wrote in message
oups.com:

> 'got another one:
>
> must have been in '87 or '88, I flew in a regional contest in
> Lawrenceville, IL. My trusty old H301 was actually registered in
> Germany at the time, showing the D- number plus the black, red and gold
> flag on the tail.
> The day died and I landed in Brazil, IN (not SouthAmerica!). The field
> seemed pretty deserted and by the time I got out of the cockpit, a
> mechanic in a grease covered overall came strolling out from one of the
> hangars, hands burried in his pockets, spitting tobaco. He looks at the
> glider and lets off a 'what the f#!$@! - man, no engine? and where's
> that f@#!ing tail number from?' At that point, I decided to have some
> fun with old green-tooth and I greet him in German while pointing to an
> old German ICAO-Hannover sectional I had burried in the side pocket. At
> first he didn't understand but when he realized that the map covered
> part of Germany and the Netherlands, he got really excited and called
> his buddy over telling him that a glider had just come in straight from
> Europe!
>
> Uli Neumann

[Brian]

That reminds me of a 1-26 story I read once about a father son team
that were doing a cross country in a 1-26. The son was flying the 1-26
and the father was following along with the trailer. The son got low
near an airport and ended up landing there. He announced that he was
going to land on the taxiway. As he turned final the unicom operator
came on an told him that landing on the taxiway was not authorized. He
told them it was to late since he was on short final. As he came to a
stop a sheriff's car pulled up and and asked him for his drivers
license. The boy explained that he was not old enough to have a driver
license and that all he had was his pilots license.

Brian

[[email protected]]

Bruce Hoult > wrote:

> Gosh. What was the tow plane?? Isn't the HP14 close to a 40:1 glider?

> I'm used to a Pawnee climbing straight out from the airfield with a Grob
> or Janus two-up behind and *always* being within gliding range of the
> airfield. Normal climb is about 600 fpm at 65 knots, or about 11:1.

Obviously you have the luxury of operating at or near sea level. At
Owl Canyon Gliderport (4CO2), at 5,500 MSL, towing behind a 250hp
Pawnee-D, I see 3-400 FPM. I am functional at both ends of the
rope, tow pilot and CFI-Glider. In a no-wind situation, a straight
out tow will usually result in being beyond gliding distance of a
NORMAL, SAFE PATTERN.

Allowing ones self to be towed out of gliding range of the PATTERN
is looking for trouble. Towing out of gliding range of the
gliderport must mean we are headed for the wave, and trouble. :-)


Best regards,

Jer/ "Flight instruction/mountain flying are my vocation!" Eberhard

--
Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO
CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jer<at>frii.com http://users.frii.com/jer/
C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor
CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot BM218 HAM N0FZD 235 Young Eagles!

[[email protected]]

hannu > wrote:
> I was granted one glass of water,
> though. From then on it wasn't too bad (considering derigging Ka-2b isn't
> that bad - a big consideration).

> I think I have made even both of the readers left snore, so it's no point
> going on...

More, more!!! Why only one glass of water?

Best regards,

Jer/ "Flight instruction/mountain flying are my vocation!" Eberhard

--
Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO
CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jer<at>frii.com http://users.frii.com/jer/
C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor
CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot BM218 HAM N0FZD 235 Young Eagles!

[[email protected]]

> Uli Neumann

Uli, that was GREAT!

Lets have you fly a non-N registered into Oshkosh in 2006!
See you there for brats and Beer!

Hi from Colorado!

Best regards,

Jer/ "Flight instruction/mountain flying are my vocation!" Eberhard

--
Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO
CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jer<at>frii.com http://users.frii.com/jer/
C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor
CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot BM218 HAM N0FZD 235 Young Eagles!