Diamond Distance/Kowbell

On Tuesday, July 9, 2013 12:30:04 PM UTC-5, Dan Wrobel wrote:
Nice flight Tony!! Hope you can come out to Utah and fly with us sometime - Nephi Cross Country camp is next month.

Despite my nearly daily protests, Leah has still not allowed me to retire. I'm already being spoiled this season though as I plan to fly two contests (Region 9 and 13.5 meter in August) and just finished CD'ing our local contest so I can't complain too much. I would like to fly with you guys sometime though. I'm sure it will happen.

On Tuesday, July 9, 2013 10:57:44 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
Excellent story! This is what I'd truly love to see in the pages of "Soaring". "Tony" wrote in message ... RAS, Since many of you have been long-time followers of my free distance attempts (that's you, Gapa Geezer), I felt compelled to report on last weekends Kansas Kowbell Klassic. Saturday was the day and there were 4 of us at the field to vie for the Kowbell. Me in Kate the Cirrus, Jerry in his Zuni, Bob in the ASG-29, and Keith in his PW-5. The forecast seemed to indicate that downwind was NOT the way to go for distance today. As is often the case on Kowbell, a crosswind or even into the wind flight would probably yield more distance. Cloud possibilities to the south, even to the south west, while they looked very good to the west and northwest. The only challenge would be bucking across a ~15 knot north wind. In the past with a north wind Kowbell, the best route has been to roughly follow US Highway 54 across Kansas, gradually drifting south into the Texas Panhandle and maybe as far as New Mexico. With this in mind I declared Clayton, NM as my goal. On course it was obvious pretty soon that going much further south than due west from Sunflower would lead to the blue. So west I continued, following the general path of US Highway 50 out of Hutchinson and out towards Garden City. Garden City was the last time I had radio contact with my trusty crew Leah. Climbs were pretty good and the low points weren't too low. There were lots of dust devils the further west I went and once or twice I was actually able to find one close enough to be able to use it. I noticed that the wind had started to swing around from NW to more of a NE heading. By now I was at the Kansas/Colorado border and further out to the west I could see a North/South line of thunderstorms and I was rapidly approaching its shadow. I turned to a more northerly heading over eastern Colorado to stay out in the sunlight. Once or twice I actually had to cut back east a bit to stay out of the shade as I tracked north towards I-70. I was able to get a few texts out to Leah to let her know about the change in course. She was glad to hear it as the emergency alert had sounded over FM Radio warning of strong winds and hail from the thunderstorms that I was going around. Past the 5 hour mark I started to wonder how much longer I would be able to fly. I was already past my personal longest duration flight in the Cirrus and my all time personal best has been 6.5 hrs. My speed wasn't really great, averaging about 40 mph, but while the day had started to soften a bit, it really didn't seem like it was dying anytime soon. I kept pushing north and eventually arrived over I-70, right as it was possible to turn west again as I had cleared the storms to the north and had endless sunshine to the west. Now was decision time. This area of Colorado features endless landable terrain, dirt fields as far as the eye can see, relatively flat, and almost no paved roads or towns of any kind once you are away from the interstate. The wind was still out of the NE and I had flown about 280 miles. I was pretty confident in getting the Kowbell and my only real goal was to find a way to get over 310 miles, Diamond Distance. To the NW the flight would be crosswind in dying conditions, but with a relatively constant ground elevation. To the west I could follow I-70 but have to fly uphill, potentially shortening my distance flown. I initially started to head NW but then found a very smooth 1-2 knot thermal. By now I had been in the cockpit a LONG time, over 7 hours, and I knew that it was time to excercise some real patience and take every climb as high as it would go. We ground away as we drifted west and the airport at Limon, CO started to seem like a real possibility. I was slowly drifting west and decided that I would probably have enough altitude to make it over 500km even with the uphill run and if I could just find one more weak thermal I might even make the airport at Limon. I hadn't actually communicated with Leah for hours and had every reason to believe that she was hours behind me. The idea of a real airport with a town, hotels, restaurants, etc, seemed really attractive. Off we went on a best L/D glide in smooth evening air. I decided to stick with interstate and as I came upon Genoa, CO I had not found a bump. I had a few thousand feet, enough to make it halfway or so from Genoa to Limon, but decided enough was enough. I had cleared the magical 500km line and figured a landing next to a town on the Interstate would leave me with the most enjoyable possible retreive. I landed on the north edge of town in a field which I believe had freshly sprouted Milo in it, only a few inches tall. The locals were really friendly and helpful, offering beer, water, calling the sheriff to assure them that a plane hadn't crashed, and contacting the owner of the land. Master chase crew Leah was a mere 40 miles behind me on the Interstate and was there within the hour. We had Kate in the trailer before sunset and were headed towards home. Spent the night in Goodland, KS and made it back to Sunflower by 1 PM after watching excellent cu form over much of Kansas starting at 10:30 AM. Diamond Distance has been my goal for a long time and I never imagined it would happen this way. Uphill, Upwind, and in a Std. Cirrus. It was always supposed to be a downwind dash in the Cherokee so I'll have to keep working on that. I won the Kowbell on my 5th attempt which I am pretty proud of and am looking forward to getting the paperwork submitted for the distance, then I'll only need altitude. The total flight time was 8 hrs 10 minutes, by far my best to date. It was proof that you can either fly slow for a long time or fast for a short time.

Hi Dan, I did have an article in Soaring, Feb 2012 I think, titled "Too Much Fun" which I co-wrote with RAS regular Bob Whelan about our adventure on a free distance flight from Dalhart, TX to Goodland, KS that I made in the Cherokee.

Free Distance flying has never been dead but it seems to be really alive and well this season. Gordon and Hugh's amazing flight from Minden to Colorado early this year followed by the duo from Caesar Creek who made it to Blairstown really set the tone for the season. Kowbell was a general success with 3/4 of us making it over 200 miles. We can only hope that the Dust Devil Dash is as much of a success as it was last year when Kevin Wayt won the Barringer Trophy.

Nothing beats the feeling of leaving the airport and saying "self, i don't know where i'm going but i'm not going back there!"

Tony wrote, On 7/9/2013 11:06 AM:

Free Distance flying has never been dead but it seems to be really
alive and well this season. Gordon and Hugh's amazing flight from
Minden to Colorado early this year followed by the duo from Caesar
Creek who made it to Blairstown really set the tone for the season.
Kowbell was a general success with 3/4 of us making it over 200
miles. We can only hope that the Dust Devil Dash is as much of a
success as it was last year when Kevin Wayt won the Barringer
Trophy.

Nothing beats the feeling of leaving the airport and saying "self, i
don't know where i'm going but i'm not going back there!"

And maybe you can get Mitsubishi to sponsor the next Kowbell by
providing the appropriate crew cars to each entrant, with the winner
keeping the car:

http://tinyurl.com/kowbell

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

On Tuesday, July 9, 2013 5:04:14 PM UTC-6, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Tony wrote, On 7/9/2013 11:06 AM:



Free Distance flying has never been dead but it seems to be really

alive and well this season. Gordon and Hugh's amazing flight from

Minden to Colorado early this year followed by the duo from Caesar

Creek who made it to Blairstown really set the tone for the season.

Kowbell was a general success with 3/4 of us making it over 200

miles. We can only hope that the Dust Devil Dash is as much of a

success as it was last year when Kevin Wayt won the Barringer

Trophy.



Nothing beats the feeling of leaving the airport and saying "self, i

don't know where i'm going but i'm not going back there!"



And maybe you can get Mitsubishi to sponsor the next Kowbell by

providing the appropriate crew cars to each entrant, with the winner

keeping the car:



http://tinyurl.com/kowbell

The Kia Kowbell Klassic might be more alliterative though;^)

Frank Whiteley

I for one would welcome that. I could use some sponsorship and a new tow vehicle

We wouldn't be allowed to keep the name of the contest the same. They wouldn't like that many "K"s in a row.

Dang! Just realized that nobody flew the Konsolation! That was the 6th this year, because second place in the Kowbell went over 200 miles.

Steve Leonard
(Kowbell contestant since 1988)

On Wednesday, July 10, 2013 10:19:05 AM UTC-5, Steve Leonard wrote:
We wouldn't be allowed to keep the name of the contest the same. They wouldn't like that many "K"s in a row. Dang! Just realized that nobody flew the Konsolation! That was the 6th this year, because second place in the Kowbell went over 200 miles. Steve Leonard (Kowbell contestant since 1988)

yea unfortunately the weather for Konsolation was really Krummy. I had hoped to call a large circle TAT or a MAT or something for the low performance contest to allow some flexibility for Konsolation pilots. It was rainy until noon, then high clouds, and eventually windy when the sun came out. Temps were more than 10 degrees below forecast high.

Well, Tony, I'm behind in reading "Soaring". Guess I spend too much time
reading RAS - it's certainly more entertaining!

I've flown 3 safaris and am constantly trying to get folks interested in
giving it a try. It's similar to your long flight, but you do it every day
for a week or so and try to end up back home.


"Tony" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, July 9, 2013 10:57:44 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
Excellent story! This is what I'd truly love to see in the pages of
"Soaring". "Tony" wrote in message
... RAS, Since
many of you have been long-time followers of my free distance attempts
(that's you, Gapa Geezer), I felt compelled to report on last weekends
Kansas Kowbell Klassic. Saturday was the day and there were 4 of us at the
field to vie for the Kowbell. Me in Kate the Cirrus, Jerry in his Zuni,
Bob in the ASG-29, and Keith in his PW-5. The forecast seemed to indicate
that downwind was NOT the way to go for distance today. As is often the
case on Kowbell, a crosswind or even into the wind flight would probably
yield more distance. Cloud possibilities to the south, even to the south
west, while they looked very good to the west and northwest. The only
challenge would be bucking across a ~15 knot north wind. In the past with
a north wind Kowbell, the best route has been to roughly follow US Highway
54 across Kansas, gradually drifting south into the Texas Panhandle and
maybe as far as New Mexico. With this in mind I declared Clayton, NM as my
goal. On course it was obvious pretty soon that going much further south
than due west from Sunflower would lead to the blue. So west I continued,
following the general path of US Highway 50 out of Hutchinson and out
towards Garden City. Garden City was the last time I had radio contact
with my trusty crew Leah. Climbs were pretty good and the low points
weren't too low. There were lots of dust devils the further west I went
and once or twice I was actually able to find one close enough to be able
to use it. I noticed that the wind had started to swing around from NW to
more of a NE heading. By now I was at the Kansas/Colorado border and
further out to the west I could see a North/South line of thunderstorms
and I was rapidly approaching its shadow. I turned to a more northerly
heading over eastern Colorado to stay out in the sunlight. Once or twice I
actually had to cut back east a bit to stay out of the shade as I tracked
north towards I-70. I was able to get a few texts out to Leah to let her
know about the change in course. She was glad to hear it as the emergency
alert had sounded over FM Radio warning of strong winds and hail from the
thunderstorms that I was going around. Past the 5 hour mark I started to
wonder how much longer I would be able to fly. I was already past my
personal longest duration flight in the Cirrus and my all time personal
best has been 6.5 hrs. My speed wasn't really great, averaging about 40
mph, but while the day had started to soften a bit, it really didn't seem
like it was dying anytime soon. I kept pushing north and eventually
arrived over I-70, right as it was possible to turn west again as I had
cleared the storms to the north and had endless sunshine to the west. Now
was decision time. This area of Colorado features endless landable
terrain, dirt fields as far as the eye can see, relatively flat, and
almost no paved roads or towns of any kind once you are away from the
interstate. The wind was still out of the NE and I had flown about 280
miles. I was pretty confident in getting the Kowbell and my only real goal
was to find a way to get over 310 miles, Diamond Distance. To the NW the
flight would be crosswind in dying conditions, but with a relatively
constant ground elevation. To the west I could follow I-70 but have to fly
uphill, potentially shortening my distance flown. I initially started to
head NW but then found a very smooth 1-2 knot thermal. By now I had been
in the cockpit a LONG time, over 7 hours, and I knew that it was time to
excercise some real patience and take every climb as high as it would go.
We ground away as we drifted west and the airport at Limon, CO started to
seem like a real possibility. I was slowly drifting west and decided that
I would probably have enough altitude to make it over 500km even with the
uphill run and if I could just find one more weak thermal I might even
make the airport at Limon. I hadn't actually communicated with Leah for
hours and had every reason to believe that she was hours behind me. The
idea of a real airport with a town, hotels, restaurants, etc, seemed
really attractive. Off we went on a best L/D glide in smooth evening air.
I decided to stick with interstate and as I came upon Genoa, CO I had not
found a bump. I had a few thousand feet, enough to make it halfway or so
from Genoa to Limon, but decided enough was enough. I had cleared the
magical 500km line and figured a landing next to a town on the Interstate
would leave me with the most enjoyable possible retreive. I landed on the
north edge of town in a field which I believe had freshly sprouted Milo in
it, only a few inches tall. The locals were really friendly and helpful,
offering beer, water, calling the sheriff to assure them that a plane
hadn't crashed, and contacting the owner of the land. Master chase crew
Leah was a mere 40 miles behind me on the Interstate and was there within
the hour. We had Kate in the trailer before sunset and were headed towards
home. Spent the night in Goodland, KS and made it back to Sunflower by 1
PM after watching excellent cu form over much of Kansas starting at 10:30
AM. Diamond Distance has been my goal for a long time and I never imagined
it would happen this way. Uphill, Upwind, and in a Std. Cirrus. It was
always supposed to be a downwind dash in the Cherokee so I'll have to keep
working on that. I won the Kowbell on my 5th attempt which I am pretty
proud of and am looking forward to getting the paperwork submitted for the
distance, then I'll only need altitude. The total flight time was 8 hrs 10
minutes, by far my best to date. It was proof that you can either fly slow
for a long time or fast for a short time.

Hi Dan, I did have an article in Soaring, Feb 2012 I think, titled "Too Much
Fun" which I co-wrote with RAS regular Bob Whelan about our adventure on a
free distance flight from Dalhart, TX to Goodland, KS that I made in the
Cherokee.

Free Distance flying has never been dead but it seems to be really alive and
well this season. Gordon and Hugh's amazing flight from Minden to Colorado
early this year followed by the duo from Caesar Creek who made it to
Blairstown really set the tone for the season. Kowbell was a general success
with 3/4 of us making it over 200 miles. We can only hope that the Dust
Devil Dash is as much of a success as it was last year when Kevin Wayt won
the Barringer Trophy.

Nothing beats the feeling of leaving the airport and saying "self, i don't
know where i'm going but i'm not going back there!"

On Monday, July 8, 2013 12:57:55 PM UTC-5, Tony wrote:
RAS,



Since many of you have been long-time followers of my free distance attempts (that's you, Gapa Geezer), I felt compelled to report on last weekends Kansas Kowbell Klassic. Saturday was the day and there were 4 of us at the field to vie for the Kowbell. Me in Kate the Cirrus, Jerry in his Zuni, Bob in the ASG-29, and Keith in his PW-5.



The forecast seemed to indicate that downwind was NOT the way to go for distance today. As is often the case on Kowbell, a crosswind or even into the wind flight would probably yield more distance. Cloud possibilities to the south, even to the south west, while they looked very good to the west and northwest. The only challenge would be bucking across a ~15 knot north wind. In the past with a north wind Kowbell, the best route has been to roughly follow US Highway 54 across Kansas, gradually drifting south into the Texas Panhandle and maybe as far as New Mexico. With this in mind I declared Clayton, NM as my goal.



On course it was obvious pretty soon that going much further south than due west from Sunflower would lead to the blue. So west I continued, following the general path of US Highway 50 out of Hutchinson and out towards Garden City. Garden City was the last time I had radio contact with my trusty crew Leah. Climbs were pretty good and the low points weren't too low. There were lots of dust devils the further west I went and once or twice I was actually able to find one close enough to be able to use it.



I noticed that the wind had started to swing around from NW to more of a NE heading. By now I was at the Kansas/Colorado border and further out to the west I could see a North/South line of thunderstorms and I was rapidly approaching its shadow. I turned to a more northerly heading over eastern Colorado to stay out in the sunlight. Once or twice I actually had to cut back east a bit to stay out of the shade as I tracked north towards I-70.



I was able to get a few texts out to Leah to let her know about the change in course. She was glad to hear it as the emergency alert had sounded over FM Radio warning of strong winds and hail from the thunderstorms that I was going around.



Past the 5 hour mark I started to wonder how much longer I would be able to fly. I was already past my personal longest duration flight in the Cirrus and my all time personal best has been 6.5 hrs. My speed wasn't really great, averaging about 40 mph, but while the day had started to soften a bit, it really didn't seem like it was dying anytime soon. I kept pushing north and eventually arrived over I-70, right as it was possible to turn west again as I had cleared the storms to the north and had endless sunshine to the west.



Now was decision time. This area of Colorado features endless landable terrain, dirt fields as far as the eye can see, relatively flat, and almost no paved roads or towns of any kind once you are away from the interstate. The wind was still out of the NE and I had flown about 280 miles. I was pretty confident in getting the Kowbell and my only real goal was to find a way to get over 310 miles, Diamond Distance. To the NW the flight would be crosswind in dying conditions, but with a relatively constant ground elevation.. To the west I could follow I-70 but have to fly uphill, potentially shortening my distance flown.



I initially started to head NW but then found a very smooth 1-2 knot thermal. By now I had been in the cockpit a LONG time, over 7 hours, and I knew that it was time to excercise some real patience and take every climb as high as it would go. We ground away as we drifted west and the airport at Limon, CO started to seem like a real possibility. I was slowly drifting west and decided that I would probably have enough altitude to make it over 500km even with the uphill run and if I could just find one more weak thermal I might even make the airport at Limon.



I hadn't actually communicated with Leah for hours and had every reason to believe that she was hours behind me. The idea of a real airport with a town, hotels, restaurants, etc, seemed really attractive. Off we went on a best L/D glide in smooth evening air. I decided to stick with interstate and as I came upon Genoa, CO I had not found a bump. I had a few thousand feet, enough to make it halfway or so from Genoa to Limon, but decided enough was enough. I had cleared the magical 500km line and figured a landing next to a town on the Interstate would leave me with the most enjoyable possible retreive. I landed on the north edge of town in a field which I believe had freshly sprouted Milo in it, only a few inches tall.



The locals were really friendly and helpful, offering beer, water, calling the sheriff to assure them that a plane hadn't crashed, and contacting the owner of the land. Master chase crew Leah was a mere 40 miles behind me on the Interstate and was there within the hour. We had Kate in the trailer before sunset and were headed towards home. Spent the night in Goodland, KS and made it back to Sunflower by 1 PM after watching excellent cu form over much of Kansas starting at 10:30 AM.



Diamond Distance has been my goal for a long time and I never imagined it would happen this way. Uphill, Upwind, and in a Std. Cirrus. It was always supposed to be a downwind dash in the Cherokee so I'll have to keep working on that. I won the Kowbell on my 5th attempt which I am pretty proud of and am looking forward to getting the paperwork submitted for the distance, then I'll only need altitude. The total flight time was 8 hrs 10 minutes, by far my best to date. It was proof that you can either fly slow for a long time or fast for a short time.

Not only did I fly the flight but all i's were dotted, t's were crossed, and the Badge Dude just informed that my Diamond Distance claim has been approved. woohoo!

Not only did I fly the flight but all i's were dotted, t's were crossed, and the Badge Dude just informed that my Diamond Distance claim has been approved. woohoo!


GREAT!!! Congratulations!!!

Kevin
192