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#41
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Outlanding stories
It wasn't a particularly long flight, and the landing wasn't in some weed patch, but it's a good story anyway.... A few years ago, I was on a cross-country flight in East Tennessee near the end of the Clinch Ridge about 40 miles from home when the weather behind me started closing in, blocking my planned return to the field. The weather in front of me looked pretty good though, so what's a glider pilot to do but keep going! An hour later I'm another 30 miles further away circling 6000' above a nice looking airport (Green County) and I get on the radio to call home to see about a retrieve. Fortunately, one ship is still in the air and the message is delivered, but I'll have to wait a couple hours before they can reach me. No problem. After another hour of local sightseeing I'm tired and have shed my altitude, so it's time to land. The landing is quite uneventful and I push the ship off the runway and take a walk over to the FBO. They're not too used to seeing gliders land there, so the usual crowd of GA pilots start asking questions. I get myself a cold Coca-Cola from the drink machine and head back to the ship to wait. Taking a nap under the shade of the wing seemed reasonable, so that's what I set about doing. A few minutes later a couple of older gentlemen walk up and start asking about the glider. We talked for awhile and out of the blue one of the guys asks, "Would you like a steak dinner?". Is the sky blue? Of COURSE I'd like a steak dinner. It turns out they were throwing a big party down in one of the hangars and were absolutely wearing it out. Dinner was great. Just as I was finishing dessert I heard the towplane starting to make incoming radio calls, so I headed back for the glider to get ready to leave. Most of my newfound friends had never seen an aerotow before, so several of them jumped in their planes and immediately took off ahead of us so they could see the whole thing from the air. Many of the others got in their trucks and drove out so they could see from the ground. After launching, there were lots of radio calls to the effect of, "good luck", "come again any time", "glad to meet you". Fortunately, the ride home was pretty uneventful with a landing just before sunset. I won't forget that day for a long time. Mark Lenox, E15 |
#42
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Outlanding stories
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#43
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Outlanding stories
'got another one:
must have been in '87 or '88, I flew in a regional contest in Lawrenceville, IL. My trusty old H301 was actually registered in Germany at the time, showing the D- number plus the black, red and gold flag on the tail. The day died and I landed in Brazil, IN (not SouthAmerica!). The field seemed pretty deserted and by the time I got out of the cockpit, a mechanic in a grease covered overall came strolling out from one of the hangars, hands burried in his pockets, spitting tobaco. He looks at the glider and lets off a 'what the f#!$@! - man, no engine? and where's that f@#!ing tail number from?' At that point, I decided to have some fun with old green-tooth and I greet him in German while pointing to an old German ICAO-Hannover sectional I had burried in the side pocket. At first he didn't understand but when he realized that the map covered part of Germany and the Netherlands, he got really excited and called his buddy over telling him that a glider had just come in straight from Europe! Uli Neumann |
#44
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Outlanding stories
That's a good one, Uli!
Larry "GM" wrote in message oups.com: 'got another one: must have been in '87 or '88, I flew in a regional contest in Lawrenceville, IL. My trusty old H301 was actually registered in Germany at the time, showing the D- number plus the black, red and gold flag on the tail. The day died and I landed in Brazil, IN (not SouthAmerica!). The field seemed pretty deserted and by the time I got out of the cockpit, a mechanic in a grease covered overall came strolling out from one of the hangars, hands burried in his pockets, spitting tobaco. He looks at the glider and lets off a 'what the f#!$@! - man, no engine? and where's that f@#!ing tail number from?' At that point, I decided to have some fun with old green-tooth and I greet him in German while pointing to an old German ICAO-Hannover sectional I had burried in the side pocket. At first he didn't understand but when he realized that the map covered part of Germany and the Netherlands, he got really excited and called his buddy over telling him that a glider had just come in straight from Europe! Uli Neumann |
#45
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Outlanding stories
That reminds me of a 1-26 story I read once about a father son team
that were doing a cross country in a 1-26. The son was flying the 1-26 and the father was following along with the trailer. The son got low near an airport and ended up landing there. He announced that he was going to land on the taxiway. As he turned final the unicom operator came on an told him that landing on the taxiway was not authorized. He told them it was to late since he was on short final. As he came to a stop a sheriff's car pulled up and and asked him for his drivers license. The boy explained that he was not old enough to have a driver license and that all he had was his pilots license. Brian |
#46
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Outlanding stories
Bruce Hoult wrote:
Gosh. What was the tow plane?? Isn't the HP14 close to a 40:1 glider? I'm used to a Pawnee climbing straight out from the airfield with a Grob or Janus two-up behind and *always* being within gliding range of the airfield. Normal climb is about 600 fpm at 65 knots, or about 11:1. Obviously you have the luxury of operating at or near sea level. At Owl Canyon Gliderport (4CO2), at 5,500 MSL, towing behind a 250hp Pawnee-D, I see 3-400 FPM. I am functional at both ends of the rope, tow pilot and CFI-Glider. In a no-wind situation, a straight out tow will usually result in being beyond gliding distance of a NORMAL, SAFE PATTERN. Allowing ones self to be towed out of gliding range of the PATTERN is looking for trouble. Towing out of gliding range of the gliderport must mean we are headed for the wave, and trouble. :-) Best regards, Jer/ "Flight instruction/mountain flying are my vocation!" Eberhard -- Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jeratfrii.com http://users.frii.com/jer/ C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot BM218 HAM N0FZD 235 Young Eagles! |
#47
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Outlanding stories
hannu wrote:
I was granted one glass of water, though. From then on it wasn't too bad (considering derigging Ka-2b isn't that bad - a big consideration). I think I have made even both of the readers left snore, so it's no point going on... More, more!!! Why only one glass of water? Best regards, Jer/ "Flight instruction/mountain flying are my vocation!" Eberhard -- Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jeratfrii.com http://users.frii.com/jer/ C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot BM218 HAM N0FZD 235 Young Eagles! |
#48
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Outlanding stories
Uli Neumann
Uli, that was GREAT! Lets have you fly a non-N registered into Oshkosh in 2006! See you there for brats and Beer! Hi from Colorado! Best regards, Jer/ "Flight instruction/mountain flying are my vocation!" Eberhard -- Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jeratfrii.com http://users.frii.com/jer/ C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot BM218 HAM N0FZD 235 Young Eagles! |
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