Most amusing land out

[Alistair Wright]

Following on from Cherokee's funny thread (which I'm afraid I turned into a
discussion on the Silver badge - sorry chaps!) perhaps people would like to
share their most amusing moments after landing out off the airfield. Here's
a few of mine:

The time I set off on a Silver attempt and made about 10miles before landing
in a very small paddock behind a rather smart house. I had just completed
the essential pee when a very attractive lady in a bikini leaned over the
fence and asked if I would like cup of tea? Turned out to be the wife of a
local boss of a big firm making excavators.

Then there was the time (again on a failed Silver - I think I had six
attempts) when I landed in a very nice freshly cut hay field in North
Yorkshire on a lovely sunny afternnon, once more behind a house. There was a
very alcoholic twenty first birthday party going on in the garden to which I
was invited (I think they thought I was glidergram). I got some of them to
help me derig the glider, climbed over the fence, and by the time my
retrieve crew reached me I was feeling no pain at all.

Or the time a syndicate partner flew our Oly 2b all of two miles to the
local public park. He couldn't find a phone (no mobiles in those days) so he
just caught the local bus back to the club. The bus conductor not
surprisingly refused to go anywhere near this small chap wearing a flying
suit and carrying a parachute and a barograph who had just got on to his
bus! The park keeper was still checking the notice board with the bye laws
to see if 'landing a glider' broke any of his rules when we arrived with the
trailer. Two small boys had been bribed to look after the glider. Something
you couldn't do today I think.

Alistair Wright
Melrose
Scotland

[Jim Vincent]

"Alistair Wright" > wrote in message
...
> Following on from Cherokee's funny thread (which I'm afraid I turned into
> a discussion on the Silver badge - sorry chaps!) perhaps people would like
> to share their most amusing moments after landing out off the airfield.
> Here's a few of mine:
>
> The time I set off on a Silver attempt and made about 10miles before
> landing in a very small paddock behind a rather smart house. I had just
> completed the essential pee when a very attractive lady in a bikini leaned
> over the fence and asked if I would like cup of tea? Turned out to be the
> wife of a local boss of a big firm making excavators.
>
> Then there was the time (again on a failed Silver - I think I had six
> attempts) when I landed in a very nice freshly cut hay field in North
> Yorkshire on a lovely sunny afternnon, once more behind a house. There was
> a very alcoholic twenty first birthday party going on in the garden to
> which I was invited (I think they thought I was glidergram). I got some of
> them to help me derig the glider, climbed over the fence, and by the time
> my retrieve crew reached me I was feeling no pain at all.
>
> Or the time a syndicate partner flew our Oly 2b all of two miles to the
> local public park. He couldn't find a phone (no mobiles in those days) so
> he just caught the local bus back to the club. The bus conductor not
> surprisingly refused to go anywhere near this small chap wearing a flying
> suit and carrying a parachute and a barograph who had just got on to his
> bus! The park keeper was still checking the notice board with the bye
> laws to see if 'landing a glider' broke any of his rules when we arrived
> with the trailer. Two small boys had been bribed to look after the
> glider. Something you couldn't do today I think.
>
> Alistair Wright
> Melrose
> Scotland
>
One time I was flying a PW-2 Gapa locally, got low, picked a field, and
landed. Turns out it was right next to a private airport...their runway was
the driveway. We pulled the Gapa over to the runway and towed out.

[Martin Gregorie[_1_]]

Alistair Wright wrote:
> Following on from Cherokee's funny thread (which I'm afraid I turned into a
> discussion on the Silver badge - sorry chaps!) perhaps people would like to
> share their most amusing moments after landing out off the airfield. Here's
> a few of mine:
>
My first land out was in the club Discus at the end of a a 50 km out and
return - probably my 2nd or 3rd XC. I put it down on set-aside behind a
village 5 miles from home and got offered a ride back to the field. A
club mate and I hooked up the trailer and handled the retrieve ourselves.



--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

[Frank Whiteley]

On May 1, 11:59 am, Martin Gregorie >
wrote:
> Alistair Wright wrote:
> > Following on from Cherokee's funny thread (which I'm afraid I turned into a
> > discussion on the Silver badge - sorry chaps!) perhaps people would like to
> > share their most amusing moments after landing out off the airfield. Here's
> > a few of mine:
>
> My first land out was in the club Discus at the end of a a 50 km out and
> return - probably my 2nd or 3rd XC. I put it down on set-aside behind a
> village 5 miles from home and got offered a ride back to the field. A
> club mate and I hooked up the trailer and handled the retrieve ourselves.
>
> --
> martin@ | Martin Gregorie
> gregorie. | Essex, UK
> org |

Several years ago, I launched in my SHK with the Cambridge Club when
they were flying from RAF Duxford. I declared a long flight, but
weakening lift meant I couldn't fly over the RAF Alconbury MATZ to the
better lift and I gradually accepted that I'd have to land in a field
behind some houses in Rushden after orbiting for 20-25 minutes. I
notified the farmer and a local couple gave me a ride into Alconbury
town. I called an Air Force friend to see if I could get a ride back
to Duxford, but he had to report to work within the hour, so I rode
the local bus from Alconbury to Duxford. The bus dropped me on the
east side of RAF Duxford and I was faced with a long walk around the
perimeter to the gate though my car and trailer were only just over
the fence a bit. As I had my parachute pack with me, I used it to
cover the barbed wire strands atop the fence and climbed on over. I
drove back to Rushden, arriving about 9pm. Thank goodness for English
summer evenings, as the light was still good. I hiked over to the
nearest pub and found two large lads to help de-rig for the prospect
of free ale. That done, I had to return to RAF Mildenhall to work at
11:30pm. In those days, petrol stations closed early, but I arrived
on time, running on fumes and sweat and went through the rear security
gate as a slightly dozy guard waved me through, then saw the 37.5ft
trailer flash by. A few minutes later a pickup with an armed security
detail arrived asking what was in the box. After my standard cruise
missile response, I showed them the glider.

Frank Whiteley

[JS]

On May 1, 11:59 am, Frank Whiteley > wrote:
> On May 1, 11:59 am, Martin Gregorie >
> wrote:
>
> > Alistair Wright wrote:
> > > Following on from Cherokee's funny thread (which I'm afraid I turned into a
> > > discussion on the Silver badge - sorry chaps!) perhaps people would like to
> > > share their most amusing moments after landing out off the airfield.

Southeast ridge day out of Blairstown. It started raining, and the
wind direction changed. Turn around, land in a field which I could no
longer see but knew was there. Turned out to be a pig farm. Not one
nice field but several electric fences I hadn't spotted from the
ridge.
Uneventful short field landing, nobody home at any house for miles.
The pig farmer returned later, but hadn't done well at the market and
didn't want to turn the fence off. Said to the soaked glider pilot:
"Perhaps if we leave it there overnight small ones will grow around it
like mushrooms, and I can sell them at the market".
He let us take down the fence when Captain Curt showed up.
You meet some interesting people on landouts.
Jim

[Go]

I was making a 500K O&R north from Parowan, Utah with some pretty
strong SW winds. Thought I might not make it all the way back but my
wonderful crew (wife) was eager to pratice retrieves so we went for
it. On the return I got stuck on the lee of a large mountain (12,500')
and was in urgent need of a landing place. After a very short sled
ride I spotted and landed in a small alfalfa field amongst sageland
with significant numbers of cattle.

After the landing (whew!) a gentleman with three small children, about
4, 6, & 8 years old approached me over the fence. 'We were watching
you all the way down,' he said. 'You landed in the right place, the
last guy didn't and hit a steer.' The kids giggled. Within minutes
three men arrived and we walked to the glider while I directed my
wonderfully efficient crew onto the field with hand signals. Comments
were made about the owner of the field who was not present and I got a
phone number. But I have to say things weren''t very warm and cozy
yet.

When we got to the glider I got down on my knees next to the cockpit,
faced the children, and said: "Who is going to be the first one to sit
in a real glider!" Smiles all around, mysteriously a camera appeared,
and we bagan to sit them into the cockpit. I asked the kids if they
would tell their class about this in 'show and tell' in school the
next day. "No, we are home schooled." Thinking fast, and being just a
bit familliar with the Mormon religion, I quiickly added: "Well, then
I am sure you can share this with your friends at the Sunday School
and Sacrament Meeting on Sunday." To which I recieved happy smiles,
not just from the kids, but from the men standing protectively
around.

After many poses and pictures we had the glider disassembled and into
the trailer in record time. The only problem being that I didn't have
enough work to satisfy all of the men. Those left out were even a bit
grumpy at being left out.

After their promises of pictures in the local weekly we were on our
way with waves and smiles all around.

Footnote: I was finally able to contact via phone the owner of the
land a while later, he was riding in his air conditioned hay baler at
the time. After I explained how grateful I was that his field had been
there when and where I needed it and giving him my insurance company
name and number he said: "Well, I'm pretty busy right now. I'm glad my
alfalfa saved your bacon. You couldn't have hurt much so don't worry
about it. Besides everyone at the Ward thought the pictures in the
paper were really neat."

Gotta love it.

[Brian[_1_]]

Landing in an empty truck parking lot once. I mis-read the wind and
ended up landing downwind. As a result I was fast an unable to stop in
the lot and ended up crossing the road along the side of the parking
lot (Checked both ways for traffic before crossing, not that I could
have done anything about it if a car had been coming) and stopped in a
Farm Implement lot behind a house on the other side of the road.

Shortly after stopping a lady with a walker came out of the house and
told me that she had flew with the WAC's in WWII and thought having a
glider in her back yard was very cool. My wife had been following
along with the trailer and arrived about 10 minutes later. Had to be
one of the easiest and fastest retrieves I have ever done.

Brian

[Brian[_1_]]

One day about 4 of us launched and after climbing to cloud base headed
out on a cloud street. We got about 25miles out and the cloud street
ended. I was flying my 1-26, the other planes were an ASW20, LS-6,
and a Pegasus. When we turned around we discovered the cloud street
disipating and struggled to find any lift at all. Being the lowest
performance glider I landed out 1st. I picked a field along side a
highway. As I rolled to a stop I noticed a convenience store across
the street. Talking to the other glider pilots they were struggling to
get back to the airport. They would arrange to come get me as soon as
they made it back to the airport. In the mean time I went across the
street and bought a sandwich, snacks and pop and went back to the
glider to eat lunch.

About every 10 minutes or so someone would stop and ask if everything
was all right, If needed any help, etc. I just told them I was waiting
for my trailer to show up. After about 45 minutes a Green Chevy
Pickup pulled up with the Blue and White light flashing in the
windsheild. An officer got out and asked me if I was the pilot. Then
he asked if any one was hurt. When I told him I was the pilot and no
one was hurt he went back to his pickup and picked up the radio and
called "You can cancel the firetruck and ambulance."

He then came back and told me that someone driving by had reported an
ultralight crashed in a feild. I guess I should have taken the wings
off and scattered them away from the fuselage. About that time the
firetruck and the ambulance arrived. They were almost there when the
call was canceled and they wanted to see what was going on. After
explaining to them that I had just done a normal landing and was just
waiting for my trailer to arrive all that was happening was me
finshing my lunch with Police, Fireman and Paramedics watching me. The
got bored and left after a bit.

Turned out that 2 of the other 3 glider landed out at well with only
one glider making it back. After retrieving the closest glider (he was
only about mile from the airport) the other 2 pilots came to get the
other pilot and myself.

Brian

[[email protected]]

these are all great!

Matt and I got visited by the State Police when we landed out last
spring in the Lark. He didnt stick around to help derig, said
something about a lot of towns in the area having prom that night,
sounded like a likely excuse...

My last landout in the Cherokee last year was 103 nautical miles
downwind in a beautiful fresh mowed hay field. On short final I
noticed a large group of about 30 people standing outside the house
watching me land. All were dressed in blue with straw hats and I knew
that I had arrived in Amish Paradise. Probably the friendliest folks
Ive met on a landout. Matt arrived with the trailer soon after.
Derig was very slow as the men really wanted to help, but were also
full of questions. The kids soaked it all in but didnt speak. Also
got a good picture and an article in the county newspaper.

Keep em coming!

Tony

[Kilo Charlie]

Flying my Pegasus out of Mid-Atlantic Soaring in Fairfield, PA I found
myself low over some very hilly territory in Virginia at the base of the
ridge. I managed to make it into a small uphill field noting on final that
there was a large resort looking type of house on the property.

After securing the glider from rolling back down the hill I walked over to
the house which had a very large front door. My knock was answered by a man
in long robes. At that point I was sure I had entered the Twilight
Zone.....I mean it was Virginia afterall. Turns out it was a Franciscan
Monastery. They fortuntely had a phone (no cells in that day) so I called
the wife to come get me. One of the monks was fascinated with the idea of
flying gliders and while I derigged he asked my glider pilot wife many
questions. They became good friends and still exchange mail often. It was
good for yearly fruitcakes as well! He even snuck out one day so that my
wife could give take him for a glider flight. It was like watching a kid on
their first ride.

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

[[email protected]]

On May 1, 5:08 pm, wrote:
> these are all great!
>
> Matt and I got visited by the State Police when we landed out last
> spring in the Lark. He didnt stick around to help derig, said
> something about a lot of towns in the area having prom that night,
> sounded like a likely excuse...
>
> My last landout in the Cherokee last year was 103 nautical miles
> downwind in a beautiful fresh mowed hay field. On short final I
> noticed a large group of about 30 people standing outside the house
> watching me land. All were dressed in blue with straw hats and I knew
> that I had arrived in Amish Paradise. Probably the friendliest folks
> Ive met on a landout. Matt arrived with the trailer soon after.
> Derig was very slow as the men really wanted to help, but were also
> full of questions. The kids soaked it all in but didnt speak. Also
> got a good picture and an article in the county newspaper.
>
> Keep em coming!
>
> Tony

Hmm. The thought occurs to me, and I truly mean no offense to anyone,
but,
Would the Amish fly a glider? It doesn't have a motor, after all?

[[email protected]]

> Hmm. The thought occurs to me, and I truly mean no offense to anyone,
> but,
> Would the Amish fly a glider? It doesn't have a motor, after all?

We told the group I met that if they ever made it to ames to come on
out and take a flight with the club. They didnt say that they
wouldn't. They would probably only be willing to use a bungee
launch. maybe a winch run by clydesdales??

And if they do fly a glider, itll be the Cherokee. Go Wood!

[Jim Vincent]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>
>> Hmm. The thought occurs to me, and I truly mean no offense to anyone,
>> but,
>> Would the Amish fly a glider? It doesn't have a motor, after all?
>
> We told the group I met that if they ever made it to ames to come on
> out and take a flight with the club. They didnt say that they
> wouldn't. They would probably only be willing to use a bungee
> launch. maybe a winch run by clydesdales??
>
> And if they do fly a glider, itll be the Cherokee. Go Wood!

There is a wonderful flying field called Grimes that is home to the Golden
Air Age Museum ( http://www.goldenageair.org/) a few hours west of
Philadelphia, in the middle of Amish country. They have a few airshows every
year and quite a few Amish people show up to watch. I don't know if any
have ever gone up. A buddy and I often take a Hutter 17 there to demo
vintage gliders. I can't say whether the Amish are more intrigued by the
Hutter, since most everyone always gives it a special look over anyway.

[Roger Worden]

Maybe the Hutterites would go up in it?

"Jim Vincent" > wrote in message
...
>
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>>
>>> Hmm. The thought occurs to me, and I truly mean no offense to anyone,
>>> but,
>>> Would the Amish fly a glider? It doesn't have a motor, after all?
>>
>> We told the group I met that if they ever made it to ames to come on
>> out and take a flight with the club. They didnt say that they
>> wouldn't. They would probably only be willing to use a bungee
>> launch. maybe a winch run by clydesdales??
>>
>> And if they do fly a glider, itll be the Cherokee. Go Wood!
>
> There is a wonderful flying field called Grimes that is home to the Golden
> Air Age Museum ( http://www.goldenageair.org/) a few hours west of
> Philadelphia, in the middle of Amish country. They have a few airshows
> every year and quite a few Amish people show up to watch. I don't know if
> any have ever gone up. A buddy and I often take a Hutter 17 there to demo
> vintage gliders. I can't say whether the Amish are more intrigued by the
> Hutter, since most everyone always gives it a special look over anyway.
>

[Mark Rushton]

Two stories from the UK

My first landout was in my Astir, when the lift died
at 6.30 and I ended up in a field 10 miles from home.
Whilst picking the field I noticed a golf club next
to 'my' field and thought no more of it. Meanwhile
on the ground, my 10 year old son was having a golf
lesson (which I'd forgotten about) when his tutor spotted
me scratching away in my death throes at 800 feet and
idly said to my lad 'is that your dad up there'. Well
the tail markings on my old Astir were very distinctive,
and Andrew knew straight away who it was. Put hin
right off his tee shot on the 8th, I'm told. But I
was allowed to go gliding (and take our only car) on
condition that I was back in time to pick Andrew up
from his golf lesson, so there followed a hurried taxi
ride back to the field before I picked Andrew up from
the golf club with a 30 foot trailer on the back of
the car, to a round of applause from the golfers....

Meanwhile, a good friend hit power lines going into
a field a few years ago. His SF27 was left dangling
from the cables, and after he'd been extricated from
the wreckage he was taken to a nearby cafe to recover.
The waitresses in the cafe were, by all accounts,
splendid, but were unable to comply with the request
for a cup of tea. 'Sorry love, the power's gone off'
was the excuse.....

[Bernd W. Hennig]

G`Day,

I have a small contest every year on WWW.Segelflug.DE called
"Grüne Wiese" (green meadow) - because thats the most liked place
to outland an glider on (with some cows ! on the meadow)

The contest runs every year since 2001:
http://www.segelflug.de/events/wiese2001/gruenewiese.html

and theire are 2 categories:

1.) Most outlandings in one year
2.) Best story

The contest is NOT limited to germany or germans, so please (!)
feel free to send your storys to me and the "Grüne Wiese 2007".

The winner with the "most outlandings" last year was Jörg Weidemann
with 12 outlandings, theire is a nice challange cup:

http://www.segelflug.de/events/wiese2002/images/pokal.jpg

(With cows and a soaring plane on the meadow)


The 2007-version "Grüne Wiese 2007" is just starting (means: I
have a lot of work to create the HTML-Pages etc.) and I think it
could be great fun if not only pilots from Germany, Switzerland,
Austria, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Belgium start in this
"contest".


(And excuse my bad english pse)



Alistair Wright > wrote:

> Following on from Cherokee's funny thread (which I'm afraid I turned into a
> discussion on the Silver badge - sorry chaps!) perhaps people would like to
> share their most amusing moments after landing out off the airfield. Here's
> a few of mine:
>
> The time I set off on a Silver attempt and made about 10miles before landing
> in a very small paddock behind a rather smart house. I had just completed
> the essential pee when a very attractive lady in a bikini leaned over the
> fence and asked if I would like cup of tea? Turned out to be the wife of a
> local boss of a big firm making excavators.
>
> Then there was the time (again on a failed Silver - I think I had six
> attempts) when I landed in a very nice freshly cut hay field in North
> Yorkshire on a lovely sunny afternnon, once more behind a house. There was a
> very alcoholic twenty first birthday party going on in the garden to which I
> was invited (I think they thought I was glidergram). I got some of them to
> help me derig the glider, climbed over the fence, and by the time my
> retrieve crew reached me I was feeling no pain at all.
>
> Or the time a syndicate partner flew our Oly 2b all of two miles to the
> local public park. He couldn't find a phone (no mobiles in those days) so he
> just caught the local bus back to the club. The bus conductor not
> surprisingly refused to go anywhere near this small chap wearing a flying
> suit and carrying a parachute and a barograph who had just got on to his
> bus! The park keeper was still checking the notice board with the bye laws
> to see if 'landing a glider' broke any of his rules when we arrived with the
> trailer. Two small boys had been bribed to look after the glider. Something
> you couldn't do today I think.
>
> Alistair Wright
> Melrose
> Scotland

[Sally W]

At 09:42 02 May 2007, Bernd W. Hennig wrote:
>G`Day,
>
>I have a small contest every year on WWW.Segelflug.DE
>called
>'Grüne Wiese' (green meadow) - because thats the most
>liked place
>to outland an glider on (with some cows ! on the meadow)
>
>The contest runs every year since 2001:
>http://www.segelflug.de/events/wiese2001/gruenewiese.html
>
>and theire are 2 categories:
>
>1.) Most outlandings in one year
>2.) Best story

How about a 3rd category, the Golden Towbar for the
longest retrieve, to be awarded to the driver (along
with a bottle of something or other). I mean not the
land-out furthest from the airfield, but the longest
distance that has to be driven to the retrieve. Here
in Scotland a land-out not that many miles away can
entail a much, much longer drive!

[jb92563]

Landouts:

When I was a member of SOSA gliding club in Rockton, Ontario, Canada I
was told the story of one interesting Landout.
About a mile from the end of the runways at SOSA there is one of those
Drive through African Safari type Animal Parks.

Well, I think you know where this is going......

One of the club members landed a 1-26 in this animal park as the final
glide encountered to much sink.
He landed in the pen that had the lions, tigers and other assorted
wild life.
Needless to say he was very nervous while watching some tigers came
over to see what had arrived for dinner.

The big cats came right up to the canopy and were smelling
everything.....I'm sure they could smell his fear as well!

He stayed motionless in the aircraft while the park rangers ushured
the big cats into another pen so he could derig, but once the cats
were out the monkies sat on his 1-26 looking for handouts.....a very
memorable landout for sure!


On another occasion I was at SOSA and the early morning pilots had
emptied the hanger and were preping gliders for the day.
When I came around the other side of the Blanik I was prepping there
was an Emu(Osterich) watching me carefully.....I was startled and was
not sure whether this thing was hostile or not.....another pilot
decided to run to the club house and call the nearby Park rangers to
pick up this escapee, but the moment he started to run the Emu raced
after him and scared the crap out of him.......running as fast as he
could the Emu simply ran parallel to him and seemed to just want to go
for a run with him.......it was hilarious as the rest of us were
yelling for him to run faster and laughing hard....fortunately nobody
was attacked by this huge bird and it all ended well....definately
memorable.

Ray

[[email protected]]

> One of the club members landed a 1-26 in this animal park as the final
> glide encountered to much sink.
> He landed in the pen that had the lions, tigers and other assorted
> wild life.

yipes!

[BG[_2_]]

One of our newly minted instructors was in the back of the Blanik L13 on one of
those circuit days. concentrating hard on his patter and checking the pupil's
circuit.

He was blissfully unaware that they had flown into the curl over from the local
hill. When he noticed the ground from said hill rising above shoulder level it
was of course a bit late to make the runway. In his haste to take control, turn
base and assess his options he flew straight past the tar runway the power guys
use. So there ensued a hasty landout about 200m short of the threshold of our
runway from the base leg.

This is a never tilled bit of Africa, with large boulders and anthills of over a
metre high. Miraculously not a scratch on the glider. Then came the fun. There
is a little river between the landout area and the runway - so we had to take a
7km road trip through town and shackland township to get the trailer to the
glider. Then a lengthy derig with multiple little kids watching from the local
township.

Of course we did not have the Blanik trailer available, as someone had borrowed
it to move another Blanik, so we had to field modify a Zugfogel III trailer.

One of the longer afternoons - all the while having the other club gliders
landing overhead, to remind us what we should have been doing.

[Paul Hanson]

I had a mildly amusing landout yesterday after a nice
day of soaring at Avenal Ca. I spent most of my 3.7
hour flight over 10,000', and some of it up to 12,500.
Shearline was working great! There was wave, and repectable
thermals. The whole time I had the field in glideslope,
as I was not quite equipped for a landout (no radio,
no phone, no phone humbers, etc) so I just enjoyed
the view locally soaring a 70 mile triangle in my Sisu
1a. Upon returning, being rather pleased with my flight,
I made a high speed pass. The wind had shifted since
last looking at the sock a few minutes back, and my
pass was rather high at it's lowpoint, around 400',
so I decided to do another pass downwind and land into
the wind since I had suficient altitude after pulling
out from the first one. My second pass was nice and
low, but I did not initiate the pullout early enough
nor aggressively enough. Wind gradient was also underestimated,
as well as the wind itself. When I finished my teardrop,
I hit a nice patch of sink to boot and that was it.
Now the fence before the runway was looming in on my
canopy so I pulled the brakes and dumped it into the
field next door. A 200 yard retrieve cost me 2 extra
dinners.

Paul Hanson
"Do the usual, unusually well"--Len Niemi

[Philip Plane]

I observed an amusing landout last season. Fortunately was only
involved in laughing and making 'helpful' suggestions.

Visiting pilot had the use of a local clubs Grob 103. On his last day
he went along the Hawkdun range, got low, and had to land. He picked
the only large, flattish, green paddock around. This paddock should
have notches on a fencepost or something for the number of gliders
it's killed. It's very rocky and a Duo was wrecked there when the pilot
misjudged the wind earlier in the season. Lucky for the Grob the only
damage was to the wheel fairing.

Naturally with a couple of mountain ranges between the Grob and Omarama
he doesn't have radio contact. Some broken messages get relayed and
a retrieve is organised.

There are a few problems. It's a club glider, and from an out of
town club. No-one knows where the trailer is. A quick ring round
finds that the trailer is in Timaru. Probably not registered etc.

Although the paddock is only 50km or so from Omarama there are a few
mountains in the way, so it is at least a four hour drive. The last part
requires a four wheel drive too. And it's going to be dark before the
retrieve gets there.

Gavin has landed the Cub in the paddock before, so if the Cub was
available he could go down and tow the glider out. But the Cub is
in Timaru for maintenance. Another ring round finds the South
Canterbury club towplane (it's their glider) is also not available.

I suggest sending a towplane over and dropping a sleeping bag and a note
to let him know we're not coming today.

About now we find out that the pilot has to be in Christchurch to
catch his flight home at midday the next day.

Getting the glider is looking to hard, so now we're just looking to
get the pilot out tonight so he can catch his flight tomorrow. The
car thing is discussed, but it's not going to get there before dark
so there may be issues finding the glider. And the road isn't great
so there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm for a road trip. Gavin
rings around some of the locals and finds a farmer with a helicopter
who's prepared to help.

The end of day one has the helicopter taking some pickets down to
the field and bringing back the pilot. All happy so far.

Except maybe the gliding club whos glider is now picketed in a remote
paddock, abandoned by the pilot who has left the country.

Day two. Gavin calls a friend in Queenstown who has a towhook on the back
of his 185. He comes over to Omarama and picks up two people to get the
glider. One to fly and one to run the wing. Naturally it's a busy day
at Omarama and the two who are left on the ground in the afternoon are
the towpilots. So Jules takes off with our two tow pilots for the
retrieve.

The retrieve goes well, but takes a little while. Jules gets a bit
of a thump from a big rock, but had been warned and let some air out
of his tyres. No harm done. They get the glider airborne and fly home.

While they're having a good time down south, the entire Glide Omarama
course fleet land out up north. First time the whole fleet has landed out.
Five gliders. All on airfields. But no towplane to come get them because
the towpilots are all away getting yesterdays landout back.

So, the towpilots get back and immediately take off the get the fleet.
Jules goes to Lillybank up north of Lake Tekapo to get a Duo. The other
four made it to Pukaki, so Annie goes to get them in the Dakota. The
Dakota has been giving some trouble with the nosewheel shimmying,
and on the seal at Pukaki it feels pretty bad, so after two tows Annie
comes home leaving two glider behind. She doesn't want to break the
towplane.

By now Jules is on his way back from Lillybank, so he stops in at
Pukaki on his way past after dropping the Duo and gets the last
two home.

We get everyone on the ground before dark. Well, before you need lights
to land anyway.

Jules has to spend the night though. No way to get back to Queenstown.
Lucky for him most of the pilots owe him beer for rescuing them.

--
Philip Plane _____
|
---------------( )---------------
Glider pilots have no visible means of support

[[email protected]]

On May 1, 9:12 pm, wrote:

> We told the group I met that if they ever made it to ames to come on
> out and take a flight with the club. They didnt say that they
> wouldn't. They would probably only be willing to use a bungee
> launch. maybe a winch run by clydesdales??

Heehee. Thanks for the image!

[[email protected]]

On May 2, 2:22 pm, Philip Plane > wrote:

>>>>>A complicated series of landouts

Sounds like the plot of a potentially hilarious movie!!

[[email protected]]

> Sounds like the plot of a potentially hilarious movie!!

Roger that! what a couple days!

[Matt Keast]

From the 95' Canadian Nationals:

'Scale Landing':
I was crewing in the Nationals that year and my pilot
landed at an R/C airfield a short distance from the
gliding club, no big deal you say except the runway
was only 350ft. long with a 4ft. deep ditch at one
end! The windsock, hanger (which turned out to be
a sunshade) and runway were all 1/3 scale! and looked
like a normal airfield from the air. By the time he
realized the illusion it was to late and he was commited
to land. It was an interesting sight as I drove up
for the retreive (full scale R/C glider?!) and generated
alot of amusement for the locals.

Matt

[Northern Man]

Found this on Wikepedia...

http://www.aircross.co.uk/sisteron/2006/June30.htm

NM

[Tony Verhulst]

Rural New England (north east US)is a sea of tall trees. I'm flying
along, not low, and I see this 'runway' cut into the forest, about
3000ft/1000m long - and normal width. The problem was that it wasn't on
my chart. Now, I knew where I was, I thought, but now I'm starting to
have doubts. About 2 minutes later I'm over the source of my confusion
and then I see the grandstands. My runway was a drag strip in Epping,
New Hampshire.

Tony V, "6N"

[Berry]

In article >,
Matt Keast > wrote:

> From the 95' Canadian Nationals:
>
> 'Scale Landing':
> I was crewing in the Nationals that year and my pilot
> landed at an R/C airfield a short distance from the
> gliding club, no big deal you say except the runway
> was only 350ft. long with a 4ft. deep ditch at one
> end! The windsock, hanger (which turned out to be
> a sunshade) and runway were all 1/3 scale! and looked
> like a normal airfield from the air. By the time he
> realized the illusion it was to late and he was commited
> to land. It was an interesting sight as I drove up
> for the retreive (full scale R/C glider?!) and generated
> alot of amusement for the locals.
>
> Matt

We have a local "RC" strip here right on the banks of the Chattahoochee
river (Georgia, USA). It's actually a closed municipal airport that is
used for RC flying and has a walking/biking path around it. The local RC
club keeps part of it mowed for their operations, and we use it for the
occasional outlanding. Because it's right in a bend in the river, the
water, mist, reeds, and lush vegetation give the area around the strip a
Jurassic aspect.

Passing rain showers cut me off from home on a late summer afternoon and
I had to put the Libelle down at the RC field. It had only been a small
amount of rain, but the sun was low and pockets of mist were collecting
in the creek beds and river valley, including all around the RC field.
Now, the RC guys only mow about 50 yards of the old runway near the
northwest end, but it being a short strip and wanting to land upwind, I
elected to land midfield in what I thought was normal pasture grass. It
turned out to be VERY tall grass. Like 4 feet tall, with lots of seed
heads. Of course, I forgot to close the air vent. Upon touching down, I
was completely submerged in this green sea of grass. Falling into that
green depth and being pelted by seed to boot, I was lucky not to have
ground looped.The torrent of grass seed that came rushing out of the air
vent right into my face would have been funny on it's own. The glider
picked up a fair load of grass stains on the wings and nose and was
dragging quite a lot of grass stalks with it. The really amusing part
though, was when I emerged from the grass onto the mowed part of the
runway. An older local fellow was biking around the perimeter track. His
back was to me and he had not seen me touch down. He rounded the corner
just as the ship, still at some speed, emerged from the tall grass. The
sudden appearance of the glider startled him and he actually fell/jumped
off the bicycle letting it fall. Later, he told me that it had nearly
scared him out of skin when the glider, in his words, "...lunged out of
the grass like some kind of giant bug". He said his first thought was
that some horrible thing had him.


WB
H301 #19

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If you ever meet him, ask Oscar Boesch about the time he landed out at
the Four Seasons Nudist Camp!!!