DIAMOND HEIGHT FLIGHT
On his last day of the season Kerry Eggers managed to cross two of his soaring goals off his list. He flew his Standard Cirrus out of the Nelson Lakes Gliding Club and landed in Motueka having achieved his Diamond Height.
Although this flight was not outstanding when compared to pointing generally in the right direction and then I flew into some those of more experienced pilots, I am a relative newcomer to the very smooth strong wave. The mechanical vario was pegged off sport of gliding and for me it was pretty amazing. the stops and the averager was sitting steady on 14.5 knots up. The glider was going in for its annual and I was going to the This is what wave flying is all about. States for a couple of months, so it was our last Saturday of the I got to 13,000 feet very quickly and had to pull out the air season. The weather was unsure with a front coming up the island brakes while I talked to the guys on the ground to get the height but I finally got the word Saturday morning that it was all on. limit raised. They got it raised to 17,000 feet so off I went again, After to-ing and fro-ing to get the winch at the right end of quickly reaching that. At this stage I was getting quite a bit of the strip for the wind direction, Frank was cockpit icing and hoping it would not get the first to head off, closely followed by much worse. I talked to the guys on the One of my goals for a while Max. I had been tied up with the winch so ground about getting it raised higher but was the last to get my glider to the launch was told I would need to call Christchurch had been to get my Gold point. When I looked up I could only see direct and would need my transponder on height gain and this looked one glider and he was high. That was a as well. I turned my transponder on (which good sign. I had never had the call to use to date) and like a good day to try for it. The launch was rough but manageanothing happened. Great. I was in strong ble. I talked to Frank on the radio and told wave, which we hardly ever see to this him Miles had gotten to 13,000 feet over extent here and I could not use it because Mount Robert. Frank said he was heading north as you could not my transponder was not working! I had a close look at it; in fact it go anywhere from Mount Robert with the frontal cloud closing in was going but in the strong light it was hard to read the numbers. from the east. I said to Frank, “You can always go up.” I then tried to unfold my full-sized aviation map to check One of my goals for a while had been to get my Gold height the frequency for Christchurch control. If you have ever tried to gain and this looked like a good day to try for it. I headed towards unfold and refold a full sized map in a cramped glider cockpit Mount Robert and was climbing slowly in some extremely rough you will know it is not an easy task, especially as the Cirrus has air. I kept my straps cinched up very tightly so I did not hit my a fully flying elevator and I had to try and keep the stick trapped head on the canopy and wondered which way I was going to get between my knees as I was doing this. I finally got it all sorted out smacked next. I managed to keep the glider the right way up and but by this time I was back down to 10,000 feet as I had not been
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24
August 2009
