Cherokee II flies the Kowbell

as posted elswhere, the cherokee got back out tearing up the skies this
weekend. weather was better than forecast but a challenge with high
cirrus creating large shadows.

Launch was about 1:30 PM. the day was really humid at Sunflower. A couple
fiberglass ships had launched and were managing to hang in there, barely.
I knew that in order for me to maximize my distance I needed to maximize
my duration so I was the third to launch. Managed to find a decent thermal
above the airport, got to 2500 AGL and started heading west.

The forecast had indicated that the further south and west you went the
stronger and higher the thermals would get. They were right. Each of the
next four or five thermals that I took were stronger and higher.
eventually i was climbing 5-600 fpm up to 6800 MSL, about 4500 AGL at that
point.

I initially headed west but soon turned southwest toward Pratt, KS. There
was a fair amount of high cirrus that was creating large shadows and
causing all of us to change our strategies. I got to Pratt eventually,
although I was a little low when I got there, around 1500 AGL. Managed to
find good lift near the airport/cattle yard there and was back up to
6000ish in no time. From Pratt I could either head west or or a more
southish heading, to avoid the shadows. I could see a few clouds ahead to
the west and It seemed like a good idea. Also I would be following US 54
and there were a few airports along the way. Dodge City was the next big
town.

I ended up skirting the north edge of the shadow, and I realize now that I
was ending up working the fresh thermals that were forming after the sun
came back out in that area. i.e. not the best thermals. If I would've
stayed 4 or 5 miles more out in the sunlight i probably would've had a
better chance. But I managed to keep making some progress, taking all of
the altitude I could get.

Now big decisions to make. I was at about 3500 AGL with a decent 5 miles
of shadow in front of me. To the northwest was sunshine but not a lot of
clouds. I was encountering a lot of zero sink and there was some sunshine
around the Greensburg area with good light and a few clouds just west of
greensburg. I decided to run through the shadow and see if I could find
some lift on the sunny side. I did manage to find a fair amount of zero
sink which meant when I got to the light on the other side of the shadow I
still had about 1500 feet to work with. I just kept drifting west with the
wind trying to figure out which field was causing the lift that was making
the clouds. Occasionally I would find a little bump but I couldnt work any
of it. I had a couple of nice fields picked out to land in.

One was a cut wheat field that had been irrigated in a big circle. That's
where I ended up. I landed in the southeast corner of it, to the west. This
field just bordered US 54 and I was able to roll nearly up to the frontage
road as I landed. No fences or anything. I called Leah who was only about
2 miles behind me and told her to keep an eye on the north side of the
road. She was there in a few minutes.

My total distance was about 80.5 statue miles. I had a great flight, and
it was really the first time in a while that i've been able to put some
good mileage on in the glider.


-Tony Condon
Cherokee II N373Y