Marfa, Texas Words of Wisdom?

Would any of you Marfa Veterans have any words of wisdom
to pass along about flying at Marfa?

Has there been a book published about flying Marfa,
similar to Tom Knauff's book about flying the Appalachian
ridges?

I've gotten some info from Burt Compton, but was hoping
'visitors' to Marfa could pass along any lessons they
learned.

I might be going out for a few days in June, 2005,
and just want to know more.

Looks like about an 1,800 mile drive. Each way. With
trailer in tow. There may be two gliders or more.
Don't know if we will drive the whole trip within
sight of each other, or totally separate, arriving
on different days.

Thanks,
Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
(where we fly over flat tobacco, soybean, and cotton
fields; not over the desolate landscape of Mars)

not over the desolate landscape of Mars

Ray, Lots of folks seem to think this is the local scenery at Marfa. It's
not. We soar over a grassy plateau with cows grazing below. Our airport
elevation is almost 5,000' msl, so we're not that hot in the summer (compared
to lower Texas.) You will find some great (unlandable) scenery down by Big
Bend Nat'l. Park and the Rio Grande but not 'round Marfa! With such strong
conditions and high cloudbases, landing out isn't part of your mission.

The main problem of landing out at Marfa is the long distances between ranch
houses and the paved roads. An experienced XC soaring pilot will have no
problem, as Marfa is really a place to "do" XC, not to "learn" XC.

What trips up some pilots at Marfa is that they forget to bring an experienced
crew person, and think a handheld radio is good enough for the crew car. (Get
a "real" antenna for the crew car.)

In any case, we'll have a good time when you get here!

Burt Compton
Marfa Gliders, west Texas
www.flygliders.com
800-667-9464

Waaaaa! All the pilots fly so far that the radio can't reach them.
And the place is open and flat with tons of landouts but no
telephone wires and apartment complexes to crash into, so if
you landout (nobody ever does), do it near a road.

Oh, and the cloudbase is so high you won't get much experience
having to "chance" it. Waaa!

Wipes away his crocodile tears...

Hey Ray...look at the PICTURES on Burts site! My God, Cu all the way
across the freakin' state.
For Cripes sake, fly to Austin, get lunch, and then get a tow
up and fly home, ok? :P

P.S. And make sure you have comfy cushions and your pee tube works good...

In article ,
Burt Compton wrote:
not over the desolate landscape of Mars

Ray, Lots of folks seem to think this is the local scenery at Marfa. It's
not. We soar over a grassy plateau with cows grazing below. Our airport
elevation is almost 5,000' msl, so we're not that hot in the summer (compared
to lower Texas.) You will find some great (unlandable) scenery down by Big
Bend Nat'l. Park and the Rio Grande but not 'round Marfa! With such strong
conditions and high cloudbases, landing out isn't part of your mission.

The main problem of landing out at Marfa is the long distances between ranch
houses and the paved roads. An experienced XC soaring pilot will have no
problem, as Marfa is really a place to "do" XC, not to "learn" XC.

What trips up some pilots at Marfa is that they forget to bring an experienced
crew person, and think a handheld radio is good enough for the crew car. (Get
a "real" antenna for the crew car.)

In any case, we'll have a good time when you get here!

Burt Compton
Marfa Gliders, west Texas
www.flygliders.com
800-667-9464


--

------------+
Mark J. Boyd

Ray: I suggest you reread the last half of Gren Seibels' first book PILOT'S
CHOICE. It covers Marfa soaring from an amusing but insightful viewpoint.
Just as neat now as when he wrote it 35 years ago.
Best personal regards,
Ed Byars
"Ray Lovinggood" wrote in message
...
Would any of you Marfa Veterans have any words of wisdom
to pass along about flying at Marfa?

Has there been a book published about flying Marfa,
similar to Tom Knauff's book about flying the Appalachian
ridges?

I've gotten some info from Burt Compton, but was hoping
'visitors' to Marfa could pass along any lessons they
learned.

I might be going out for a few days in June, 2005,
and just want to know more.

Looks like about an 1,800 mile drive. Each way. With
trailer in tow. There may be two gliders or more.
Don't know if we will drive the whole trip within
sight of each other, or totally separate, arriving
on different days.

Thanks,
Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
(where we fly over flat tobacco, soybean, and cotton
fields; not over the desolate landscape of Mars)

Hi Ray,

Drive up to Washington State and fly the desert in Eastern
Washington.......then go over the mountains, about a 150 mile drive and
fly the west side and the Cascade mountains!
You could fly with your other LS-1 buddies over here.

Brad

"Ray Lovinggood" wrote in message
...
Would any of you Marfa Veterans have any words of wisdom
to pass along about flying at Marfa?

Ray,

I put together this web page about Marfa. The best thing are the PDF copies
of many of the old contest articles from Soaring. These articles plus the
Sunship Game made me really nervous. [For the world & national
championships they were flying cut-throat competition, taking chances and
apparently they knew nothing about the dangers of dehydration].

But it was less worrisome in person, you do need to be careful, but there is
good terrain in many areas. The main thing is to use good judgment. The
cross county possibilities are great from Marfa. The old contests all few
N, E, & NW of Marfa, but never South. We also found good lift and scenery
down South along the Rio Grande.

http://www.chilhowee.com/marfa.htm

cross country flights:
H6: 33hrs, 2709km/1683miles
TJ: 27hrs, 1861km/1157miles
OG: 31hrs, 2596km/1613miles

We wrote an article for Soaring, they might print it next spring. I had so
much fun I plan to go back in 2005. It was worth the drive from Atlanta.

regards,
Chris Ruf
H6