Ed Dumas in the groove, cruising down the course.
By Mike Bergerson
No rain! 100-degree heat index. Thermals are kicking off, but it's hard to get above 800 feet. It’s very strange, but still better than a good day at work! Let's go flying!
Day one of Cross Country Soaring was a combination of winch-launch and electrics, with several runs down the north course. The best flight was 2.2 miles, just short of the 2.4 miles needed, and we were just across the street in full view of the landing area!
Winds, if you want to call the light breeze out of the west “winds,” were helpful for getting wonderfully steep launches off the winch. Ed Dumas, your extraordinary contest director, flew his Explorer for timed flights, but not on the course. Wayne Wimbish flew his newly refurbished Explorer for its first XC runs. He hasn't been on a XC run for 40 years!
Anatol Polillo flew his Supra Pro and I flew my Supra Pro as well. Wayne was first out around noon, going for his LSF 2K fly-and-return, but only made it out .5 miles. There was a lot of sink surrounding light, spotty lift.
Anatol had a great launch with his well-campaigned Supra Pro. He thermaled out to about 800-1000 feet, but hit a sink cycle before we got very far down the road. Unable to find any significant air, he landed in the beans after .4 miles.
Anatol was also flying his recently acquired Nostalgia-legal Challenger off the winch for the first time and managed a flight of around 30 minutes. The lift was great at times, but it seemed to dissipate rather quickly. Although I managed to get mine to launch extremely well, I lost a flap servo before I had my opportunity to ease down the road. It was not ideal, but surely better than the alternative!
Electrics were represented in equal numbers as well. Ron Smith brought his Edge F5J sailplane to try his hand at XC and make his first attempts on the course. After several support missions assisting the course pilots, he resigned himself to trying tomorrow. He flew his Edge numerous times during the day, managing quite a few successful thermal flights.
Mike Wade flew his Challenger electric-powered sailplane for several flights on the day. Now there's a plane with plenty of power after his motor upgrade. It literally pulled Ron off his feet on launch! It's a fantastic thermaling machine purpose-built for Cross Country Soaring.
Ed Dumas had his old standby Ultima 2 F5J sailplane to make a few of his electric level flights. He made it down the course and got within .2 miles of his goal. On all the course flights, there were numerous stops to search out the lift needed to move farther down the course. Buoyant air, small spotty thermals and harsh sink cycles were the norm today.
After deciding not to waste the gorgeous weather doing on field repairs, I broke out my nostalgia-legal electric Foxbat and made a few adjustments since its motor upgrade. I managed to shed 4 ounces from the airframe with the installation of a more-modern Tenshock motor. The initial flights were a bit squirrelly, but the addition of 1.25 ounces to the nose produced a fine flying 12-foot-span glider that gave up a nice 20-minute thermal in the early evening. I had to bring it down because the high school football team began practice.
We packed it all up and several of us met at Amazing Joe’s Grill, a must-partake Muncie fixture for great food and drink. They've moved to the Muncie airport now, making it a great destination for a good $100 hamburger!
A big thanks to Ed, Wayne, Anatol, Ron and Mike for all the help and assistance making this opening day one for the books and future rainy-day stories. Come on down to the high school and have some fun.
Blue Skies!!!
