Boettger-Bennett 2,200 KM record flight from Minden
At 05:05 26 April 2011, Grider Pirate wrote:
On Apr 25, 3:05=A0pm, bildan wrote:
On Apr 25, 2:48=A0pm, Mitch Polinsky
wrote:
Last Wednesday Gordon Boettger and Hugh Bennett flew a Duo Discus
for
2=
,200
KM as measured by the OLC, making their flight the highest ranked
OLC
flight in world, beating even Klaus Ohlmann's and John Williams'
flight=
s
in the Andes. =A0Here's a description of the flight prepared by
Doug
Armstrong, who provided wonderful meteorlogical support to them for
the
flight:
"Gordon Boettger and Hugh Bennett on April 20th established a new
recor=
d
distance for sailplane flight in the northern hemisphere and their
endeavor catapulted them to the best flight in the world for the
sport
=
of
soaring in 2011. =A0Their flight in a Duo-Discus covered 2200 km or
136=
7
miles in 13 hours and 20 minutes with an average speed of 103 mph.
The flight's journey began at Minden, NV's airport using
meteorological
lift of the Sierra wave (well known
to general aviation interests). =A0The first turnpoint was Inyokern,
CA=
in
the Owens valley in the lee of the southern Sierra and then
retracing
their path to the next turnpoint at Susanville, CA near the northern
en=
d
of the Sierra with a favorable tailwind component and ground speeds
of
=
160
mph. =A0The next leg of their flight was along the full length of
the
S=
ierra
back to near Inyokern and the last leg headed north again and
finished
=
at
dusk in Winnemucca, NV. =A0Soaring, NV launched them with an aerotow
ju=
st
after sunrise while the FAA's Air Traffic Control in Oakland
graciously
handled the safety of the flight's airspace for the entire
flight."
Without doubt Boettger and Bennett's flight is a great achievement
and
they are due our congratulations, but how does it beat Klaus
Ohlmann's
3008 Km flight?- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
I like to download and replay those big flights. Mention of a 3008
kilometer flight sent me looking. I can't find it. Do you have a
link? I did see Klaus has two flights in excess of 2,200 kilo, in
previous years. I just can't find a 3008K.
TIA
Ordinarily one can see world record flights by going to the SSA web site
and putting the cursor on the "Soaring Achievement" tab and then the
cursor on the "World Records" tab. But when I just tried this I got a
"page not found" response.
Mitch Polinsky
|