crspybits wrote:
On Aug 10, 8:44 am, John Cochrane
wrote:
On Aug 9, 10:45 pm, Chris Prince wrote:

I fly cross country here
in the meaty middle (cheesy middle? ) part of the US-- mostly Wisconsin,
often Minnesota, sometimes Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota, Michigan. I often
land off-field (in 50 cross country flights, or attempts, I've landed
off-field on 26 flights).
Something is wrong here. I and those in my club also fly in the soggy
corn-evaporation infested middle of the country, cross country on
every flight. We don't land out half the time. One or two landouts per
year, almost always at airports, is the norm. Unless you're planning
straight-out flights, or trying for absolute longest distance possible
triangles so you're landing out at 7 pm, something is very wrong
here. Wildly excessive aggressiveness? Inefficient thermaling? I
would advise fly with some other people, fly with an instructor, go to
a contest to see what everyone else is doing and get back to a more
normal landout ratio! Buying a newer glider is a great idea too, but
accepting this landout ratio and orienting the new glider purchase
around that doesn't seem like such a good plan

John Cochrane BB

Thanks for your thoughts, John. I sometimes fly straight-outs, down-
wind, so that does account for some of these landouts. My main thought
though, is to make full use of the soaring day. If this is best called
wildly excessive aggressiveness, I'm not sure. A flight that
characterizes the way I like to fly was one I made a couple of years
back where I made a couple of hundred mile near-closed course flight,
and landed 10 miles away from my home field (at a private strip, it
turns out; Thanks to JC Cunningham for the retrieve on that one!). I
felt fully satisfied that I'd made the best use of the soaring day.
There are many different kinds of values and preferences we place on
flying and soaring. Some people like to stick around the airfield.
Some people like to fly contests. Some people like to fly down wind.
Some people like to fly shorter, speed courses. Some people like the
milk the absolute most out of the day, and of their skills, and
aircraft.

Flying out West were you need oxygen presents very different landing
options compared to relatively flat farm states you list. Generally,
there are fewer, and access to them is more difficult. Even if you land
at an airport that is only 20 miles from where you launch, the mountains
in the way can make it an 80 mile car trip to get to you. Dry lakes
might provide a safe landing but can take a day to reach you. Cell phone
coverage can be very spotty or totally absent - ditto for a farmer. It's
a different ball game in the desert.

Before going there, I suggest you spend a few months of practicing
cross-country flying at home where you land only at airports, and at a
10% or less rate. Since you are accustomed to a glider with landing
flaps and a relatively low wind loading, you will need practice (maybe a
lot) with your new glider if it's spoiler equipped and has a
significantly higher wing loading, as typical of the $20K fiberglass
gliders. Not only will it land faster and longer because of those
differences, but the high density altitude out west will make the
situation more difficult.

And if you really want to continue the 50% landout rate, you better
bring your good buddy, a satellite phone, and a 4 wheel drive vehicle
with you!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* Sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org