Ridge Soaring in Oklahoma

October 24, 2007 was the first known ridge flight, flown by a
sailplane, in the state of Oklahoma. We were flying out of the
Talihina, OK airport. This area has been used by hang glider
pilots for many years.
There are about 65+ miles of ridge line available when using
the north facing ridge.
The first flight lasted 1:33 and distant flown was 109 miles.
Since I borrowing a friends glider, I was flying very conservative
and the flying time was limited.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...tId=-717520068

Driving distance to Talihina, OK from:
Dallas, Texas 220 miles
Oklahoma City 180 miles
Tulsa, OK 165 miles
Memphis, TN 353 miles

There used to be a Wave Soaring Camp out of the Mena, Arkansas
area many years ago during the Thanksgiving week. Mena is at the
east end of these ridges.
I keep hearing rumors that flights to 17,000 feet have been achieved.
We did see lenticular clouds to the east of Talihina yesterday
morning.

I want to thank Gerry Kieffer, Bob Thrasher, Grant Cheadle for making
this flight possible! We will continue to watch the weather and we
will be
flying in this area again.

Randy
N304RS

On Oct 25, 1:26 pm, Randy wrote:
October 24, 2007 was the first known ridge flight, flown by a
sailplane, in the state of Oklahoma. We were flying out of the
Talihina, OK airport. This area has been used by hang glider
pilots for many years.
There are about 65+ miles of ridge line available when using
the north facing ridge.
The first flight lasted 1:33 and distant flown was 109 miles.
Since I borrowing a friends glider, I was flying very conservative
and the flying time was limited.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0....html?flightId...

Driving distance to Talihina, OK from:
Dallas, Texas 220 miles
Oklahoma City 180 miles
Tulsa, OK 165 miles
Memphis, TN 353 miles

There used to be a Wave Soaring Camp out of the Mena, Arkansas
area many years ago during the Thanksgiving week. Mena is at the
east end of these ridges.
I keep hearing rumors that flights to 17,000 feet have been achieved.
We did see lenticular clouds to the east of Talihina yesterday
morning.

I want to thank Gerry Kieffer, Bob Thrasher, Grant Cheadle for making
this flight possible! We will continue to watch the weather and we
will be
flying in this area again.

Randy
N304RS

Awesome - looks like you've got a great alternative to thermals there,
have fun with it!