August 9th, Good weather for a holiday but not for triangle attempts. We spent the morning trying to de-bug a turn in Randy’s VS. Later, it was off to Summer Falls for some swimming and a big mess of BBQ chicken and potato salad. The kind of stuff the normal “folk” do on their day off….. On the way home we checked out some of the local L-Road population:
With all the hot weather, Wheat harvest is almost over… which means plenty of new LZ’s!
August 7th, XC Skies (GFS, NAM, RAP), NOAA Soaring Forecast, Washington State DOT… heck even my best guess…. every forecast was wrong (or I guess you could say each forecast had just a tiny bit right?).
The big deal was the winds aloft. Everybody was calling for SE through SW….. nobody suggested what we got….NE. Especially NE up to 30km’s !
With Mia running the rig, Randy and I where to test the air. On the ground we knew something was up, there where dust devils and hawks soaring so Randy and I set up a plan to do a triangle up on top (the area around Mansfield). Randy cut his way in front of me and was first into the air. Short north tows are always a challenge but after a bit of scratch and a save back at setup he was up and away (drifting with strong NE wind). I followed shortly after and found the air to be rough and broken. The lift was here, there and everywhere but always broken. You would start to settle into a climb just to have it quit.
Randy was struggling today (and apparently expanding his vocabulary?). We met up down near Saint Andrews where he thrashing around the sky trying to climb. I was having a little less trouble but probably more a mater of luck then skill, I soon topped out just over 9000ft asl at Saint Andrews. Randy pushed a little further east as I pushed down to Dry Falls (Overlooking “Park Lake”).
Plenty of high cloud kept interfering with the normal daytime heating so it was a bit of a challenge to break through 6000ft asl. Plenty of times I found great big dust devils that produced nothing of any significance. It seemed you had to work and re-work an area and wait for it to punch you up to the next level. After a couple of hours Randy said he had enough of the ratty air and was going to head back to Mansfield (he promptly found an easy climb up over 8000 but was resigned to heading back). With the 15-20km NE veering more to the East over Hwy2 I kept clawing and kicking the ratty climbs and started to establish a more consistent altitude over 8000ft asl so I continued West to Waterville. On the West side of Jameson Coulee, the peak altitudes started to creep over 9000ft asl and by the time I arrived south of Waterville over Badger Mtn, I had climbed over 10,000. Despite the good heights, it remained a very odd day with plenty of high cloud blocking out the sun and strong E NE winds (now getting over 30kmph above 10,000ft asl).
With Randy landing back in Mansfield I pushed North to Dyer hill. At the top of McNeil Canyon I was getting a bit desperate as I was down below 6000ft and not liking the prospect. A lone tractor gave some inspiration to go with my perspiration (getting warm at the lower altitudes), the save took me up over my high point of the day (11,800ft asl). From here it was short side trip to Dyer hill (here is a picture of the Dyer hill area that was burnt and the new Antoine fire to the west):
Next, followed by a couple low nasty saves north of Mansfield (real hang on keel bangers) I was onto L- Road to close a 151km FAI triangle. Landing was in a fresh cut wheat field with ground crew, wind sock and cold drinks waiting. Not sure why, but I’m guessing the nasty air had me pumped up and I had kind of heat induced snit while breaking down…. as usual my crew ignored me… laughed at me…. hard to find good crew. Off to Park lake for a wonderful cool off dip (for the dip-sh##) and cruise back, arriving back up on top to another classic Mansfield Nuclear Sunset:
Randys Saint Andrews, Return flight , My 151km FAI triangle.
August 8th, Strong west winds so we bagged the day. Little projects here and there with gear and later a trip to Chelan to go swimming at Blue Lagoon then up to Brewster to visit a great little Mexican restaurant that we like to visit… another hard day (not looking forward to heading back to work next week!).
I have been in search of the best option for wheels on my A.I.R. Carbon base-tube. Wheels are insurance for those days when things don’t go according to plan.. all alone on an XC flight, thermal at the wrong time and suddenly you find yourself paying for some expensive carbon parts (or worse). With that said, I still don’t fly with wheels. I have yet to find anything that looks right on the sculptured A.I.R. base-tube. Sure you can get wheels… that look like they belong on a Farm tractor! Big rubber tires that may be great for landing but not so great in the drag department.
Below is a set of wheel we got (Via, A.I.R.) for Mia’s VS:
Not a bad shape, aerodynamically clean. Very stable on the CB (stays put), can be completely removed to allow the CB to be stored in the D-Cell. Down side?… heavy and sadly jam up, stop turning with any sign of dust (the fine dust of the Columbia basin stops them dead). Better then nothing but….
Next set we had a look at where the “Radsystem” for the ATOS (Radsystem Link)
Nice and light, very clean profile, acceptable size. Unfortunately, same old problems with dust (even worse) plus I don’t believe they are good for the base-tube. They need to be mounted inboard of the carbon stock skid points and it leaves a pretty long lever that is likely to damage the base-tube on a hard landing (that and the fact the contact width of the hub is very narrow, not much area to distribute the load). Oh, and one other nagging issue. The hubs should be left on (because the little tiny screws that hold them in place are most likely to strip or lost. With the hubs left in place you can’t stow your base tube in the D-Cell….. translate : your going to end up with your glider at the flying site and your base tube someplace else? (or at least I would 
So, our most recent look at wheels.. the Whoosh! Wheels by Raven Sports
Below is a photo of the Whoosh! wheels mounted next to a set of Radsystem wheels:
The Whoosh Wheels are heavier then the Radsytem but they are stronger and more durable. They also have the ability to easily remove the hub (which btw, is much wider then the Radsystem hub and requires no tools). So far, they appear to have enough clearance to deal with dust but we have yet to establish if we can expect them to survive. The hubs have both a weak and strong points. They are wide and mount outside the stock skid points, leaving only a short lever and IMO better support for the base-tube. The weakness is they do not securely fasten to the base-tube. To keep them in place you are supplied some bicycle “inner tube” …. not a solid solution. Using some heavy duty shrink wrap over top of some 205 leach line (and some industrial double back tape under both the shrink wrap and leach line) I was able to make something a little cleaner (and so far, more secure):
Still, I find the hub to be the weak link on the Whoosh! Wheels (ATOS version). The special angle machined into each hub makes it necessary keep them where they belong, and they do have a pretty loose fit to the base-tube profile so that looks to be a difficult task. I think, in the end they need some sort of clamp or hardware to gip the hub to the base-tube in a more positive way (might make this one of my winter projects). For now, Whoosh! Wheels appear to be an ok option even with the issues that I have noted (Mia says she is going to continue to fly with them on her VQ)
BTW, I did leave out one of the other options. “Skids”. These are beautiful works of carbon “art” but for mishaps on rough real world conditions I’m doubtful. They come in two versions, with and without rollers (kind of caterpillar track, that I’m sure would die a rapid death in our desert dust) . (you can find the roller style skids listed at the bottom of the A.I.R. parts page)
(Update 13/08/2012). Thought I would add a few more comments about the Whoosh! Wheels.
After a few days of our Mansfield dirt, they simply stopped turning (to be honest, this is probably the harshest environment I could ask any product to perform). I’m a little disappointed as they did look as if they had enough clearance to maintain some moment but the “hinged hub” seems to bind or open with the friction of the dust. I think another issue is the hub can not maintain a good alignment (toe in or out), the twisting of the alignment causes the inner hub to open, acting as a brake.
One other observation, the version of wheels we are testing have the holes in them (to reduce weight). Rolling through our mood dust the holes pick up the dirt and sand and dump it onto the edges of the hub, effectively loading the bearing with dirt. If your going to try these wheels in a sandy or dusty environment, order the “solid” wheels (and yes they will weigh more). Last, the pin/dowels used to assemble the wheel half’s are pretty close tolerances making the process of pulling them apart a little challenging.. .I assume they will loosen up with use.
So for now, I do not recommend the Whoosh! Wheels if your going to be operating in harsh dirt/dusty conditions. Looks like skids will be the better choice…. or the farm tractor tires
Have I given up on the Whoosh! Wheels? Nope…. later this fall I might experiment with some form of hub latch to prevent spreading of the inner hub and maintain alignment. If I can’t get satisfactory roll I will continue my quest for a “better wheel”.
(August 5th) In harsh environments its funny how things work…. or not.
Today was going to very hot (over a 100F) and of course “Blue”. The north winds had laid down, the fire on Dyer hill was out or at least in mop up. In addition, winds where shifting from the south so any smoke from the Dyer hill fire would stay north. Randy had joined us and it was Mia’s turn to fly so I agreed to tow.
At 1pm, Mia was first up taking a very soft tow (hardly any lift) finally pinning off well south of the gravel quarry. Lift was broken and she had to work for it. It was soon pretty obvious she had a problem, she stopped receiving (or at least hearing anything). She did a few blind transmission but she soon figured out something was wrong. The “funny” part, we did several radio tests and everything seemed perfect on the ground. Of course Mia has a talent with electronics… they seem to simply die in her hands… now it would be up to her ground electrical support team to solve the “problem” (….. that would be me).
Despite the radio “glitch” Mia decided to stick to the planned flight down to Dry Falls (same route that Randy was going to take) . After Randy got into the air a tow that was the complete opposite of Mia’s, with strong lift and a high tow position (and with working radio), we were able to “get a visual” on Mia frequently enough to keep track. Besides, Mia was also flying with her Spot GPS tracker so she was not going to go missing (as long as she did not put one of her electrical curses on it?). When I back tracked into Mansfield with the tow rig and picked up the air conditioned Suzuki I did a quick check of the Spot web page and yes, the Spot was tracking, putting Mia in Saint Andrews and heading south. Well doing the vehicle exchange, we did get a blind transmission from Mia indicating she was in Saint Andrews at 6000ft asl and climbing.
As I left Mansfield to head out on chase, I looked out to the West and sure enough we had another fire starting. At first it looked like a relight of the Dyer Hill fire but turns out it was north of Chelan Airport (and it looked pretty big!)
(Antoine 2 Fire, probably weeks worth of poking and prodding for the local fire fighting industry)
Caught up with Randy in Saint Andrews. He was heading south whining about the slow climbs and not getting high…. oh boo-hoo… life is hard.
It took a while but eventually I spotted both Mia and Randy in the air over Highway 2…. looked like Mia was turning around and heading for home. Randy was sticking with the plan and continued to the West to Farmer (so I followed Randy knowing Mia had enough altitude to get at least close to home). Randy made Farmer but landed short of Mansfield on the return leg. Mia made it back to the tow site then back to the house in Mansfield. After picking up Randy we arrived back in Mansfield to help Mia breakdown on the front lawn, then it was off to Park lake to cool everybody off. Hard scratchy day but both pilots where happy. (oh, and Mia’s Radio?… working perfectly when tested on the ground… minor fray in the headset wire so I guess I should replace it)
Mia's 3.4hr 71km OR and Randy's 3.1 hour 67km "almost" OR
(August 6th) A no fly day, thick cloud from the fire was hanging around to the west and some sort of upper disturbance threatening minor thunderstorms so its off to Summer Falls for some R+R. Was reading Nicole's Blog about the PG nats in Pemberton, Day 1: 4 pilots crashed in trees and 3 parachute deployments…. yikes, wonder how the PR department can spin that bit of news?
Various commitments has pushed us to break from flying over the next few days. On July the 31st, Mia could have flown but she had to be back for 3 days of work so Tuesday was a nice trip down to Park lake for some snorkelling and back to Mansfield where Mia headed back home.
August 1st, I had planned a trip up to Osoyoos to visit my brother from Rock Creek and deliver a solar panel hot water heater. At the end of the day I headed on back to Mansfield (with the mandatory “duty free” Scotch). Approaching the turnoff to Bridgeport I spotted a fire on the West side of Dyer hill (see previous post for Video showing Dyer Hill) above Brewster. By evening the fire had roared to 8000 acres and had crested the ridge on the plateau :
As the sun went down, this photo was taken from over 25km’s away. Still with a strong NW wind…. I went to sleep in Mansfield with a mental plan as to how I would evacuate, fortunately by morning they had held the line and we had no worries.
August, 2nd and 3rd. Further time off to address some work and side commitments…. the 2nd looked epic (through the smoke of the Dyer Hill fire).
I finally got around to getting some photo’s up on my Picasa site, two albums from this year, Some Photo's of the local Mansfield wildlife (lots of birds) and Mansfield flying and local photos…..
Looks like we will back in the air on Sunday…..
For a change Mia and I decided to start the second session of our “Mansfield Encampment” on our own. We snubbed our normal house guests and opted for a few private days crewing for each other.
July 28th. Mia volunteered to go first as “tow-chief”. The weather was hot and blue, light winds and a weak soaring forecast. As we headed out to the tow site there were the usual number of dust devils stalking the local fields so it looked like there would be some reasonable lift. With a bit of a late start (for me), I was up and away after 1pm. A single tow made for a light day at the tow site so Mia was quickly back into Mansfield with the tow rig, switched vehicles for chase (into the XL7) and was only a few km’s behind has I worked my way SE to Dry falls for my first turn point. Lift was weak and broken, at least there was not too much sink on glides. After I made Dry Falls, I got into a bit of trouble over highway 2. Heading west, back near L-Road I had unsuccessfully chased 2 or 3 dust devils with no luck and was hanging onto my last chance when I was finally able to re-establish some height to seek out some better climbs. As usual, a little bit of suffering down here pays off with some nice climbs….. only to wander into the same trap again?
I had intended to go to Waterville but the slow climbs where starting to take their toll remaining soaring time for the day so I turned early (a few km’s east of Douglas) and headed north. Of course, having given up on the planned task, things improved. Heading north I watch a sailplane lower but climbing fast just west of Withrow. By the time I got there he had topped out and was heading east but I was thank full he had marked such a great thermal. I soon climbed to 9500ft asl in a nice smooth 1000 up and was inspired to try and salvage some of todays task. By now Mia had joined up with the chase vehicle and was directly below as I headed for my Dyer hill turn point. Staying high was easy with the air on the rim being very buoyant. I peaked over 10,000ft on several occasions so it was an easy trip up to Dyer hill then back to the tow site at L+13.
When I landed in 1 foot deep moon dust at our highway LZ, Mia was waiting with some cool refreshments (bottled water….. really 
My 138 km FAI triangle flight.
July 29th. Still blue and hot, today with some high thin cloud and some minor haze. Mia’s turn to tackle what looked like lighter air then the day before. Mia is flying her new ATOS VQ with its amazing sink rate…. something she was going to need today. Starting with her tow, Mia found the lift weak and broken. In the beginning, reaching 8000ft asl was high. To top it off, she had to contend with a 10-15 mph SW wind…. in light air made for a very hard day. It was a very hard slog to get all the way down to the gravel pits west of Farmer (with only one climb taking her near 10,000ft asl) when she decided that it was time to head back to the tow site (about the only time of day that I was not able to keep up with her as the tail wind made it easy for her to pass me in the chase vehicle heading back to Mansfield).
SE of Mansfield Mia staged her final battle to get back to the tow site. 3 times she dug out from less then 4000ft asl (ground is 2300) only to hit a late day wall between 5000 and 6000 ft. After loosing the third battle to get the altitude need to get back to the tow site, Mia decided that the freshly cut wheat field that I had found her and the thought of a cool dip in Park lake was enough to call it quits and land. On the ground, despite the lack of lift there was plenty of activity (winds gusting 5-20kms). As I called out wind conditions on the radio Mia set up her approach. She had lined up a perfect final when the bottom dropped out (a thermal passing through?), amazingly, she pulled off a perfect nose up, no step landing in what turned out to be next to no wind!
Again, as a team we had the glider in the bag and off to the lake in less then 30 minutes… tough day but I was proud of Mia’s effort on what was a very challenging day. Mia's hard fought 76km FAI triangle.
July 30th. Strange brew today. Early, 3-4 am in the morning some strange weather moved through. We woke up to blue skies with a band of upper Q’s. Often a sign that some instability had found its way into the stable air mass (and often the kind of weather that would lead to thunderstorms).
Mia crewed and and I flew. This time there was lots of activity at the tow site. So much, that I considered not flying (especially given that winds aloft where forecast to be over 15 mph). It calmed down enough at the tow site I decided to give it a try. The tow was STRONG, several times while under tow I was showing 1400ftpm up… thing is, normally you would pin off in that kind of air but every time I hit the strong lift I was in a poor position to release. One thing you don’t want to do to your tow operator, is release your towline with a bad recovery chute over rough terrain! Dragging 4000ft of towline out 4ft high sage in 90degree “F’n” heat, is not going to make you popular…. not recommended if the tow operator is the one cooking your next meal…. or worse….
Finally the combination of a clean drop zone, strong lift inspired me to release, “pop”….. out comes a good clean chute and the towline was on its way back to the truck and I was heading for the sky at 500ftpm. At first the air seemed smooth but for sure there was a strong south wind that I was going to need to deal with. Fortunately a plan presented itself. Good Q’s where forming up over the tow site and a good solid street was forming to the West running from Pearl hill (near Chief Joseph Dam) all the way down to Waterville. I left the tow site heading straight north to Pearl hill (25-30kms) and joined up under this beautiful cloud street. Mind you, it was a beautiful cloud street with an attitude! The air was rough, strong lift that was broken and unpredictable. Base was near 11,000 and I regularly pulled out of lift at 10,000 choosing to press on to Waterville staying well clear of the clouds.
My intended turn point was Waterville. Unfortunately, the street fizzled out well short and diving into the blue is often risky on a day where clouds are present….. today proved no different. Before long I was below 5000ft asl and hanging onto to every bug fart I could find . The only positive thing was the fact near Waterville the winds had shifted west and I was able to push my southerly distance enough that I was able to allow myself to drift toward my next turn point (Dry Falls). As I mentioned earlier, this place seems to reward your efforts…. my struggle soon allowed me some freedom to do a little more searching and soon It was back up over 9000ft asl for an easy crossing of Jameson Coulee (under the still intact cloud street). From here it was back into the blue (yikes)…. and just like before the lift took a holiday. By now I had enough of the rough air and turned short of Dry Falls and headed back north to the tow site just east of Saint Andrews. Here, the winds were back to a southerly heading and with a few short climbs I was able to drift my way home to the tow site in rough trashy air. Mia was waiting with a wind sock, weather information on the radio, cooler full of beverages and a chuffer driven ride to Park lake to sooth some nerves frazzled by the days challenging air. Life is good (and my ground crew even better!) My 140km FAI triangle.
Best to get this “Session 1” out of the way since session "2” is now underway ….
July 8th, Blue with good potential for altitude. Mike had an interesting day, he had to re-launch (rare this season) but somewhere during his first landing he damaged his sail on the left wing. (later on some video we could see that it lightly touched the ground).
The damage went un-noticed until he was up on his second flight. He could see a small section of 3” x 2” cloth hanging down out near the leading edge. After a bit of discussion over the radio it was decided to head back into to Mansfield and land. After inspection we figured there must have been a rock in the field that cut the cloth. Later that evening I helped him pull the sail and by next morning with the help of Jeff the sail was repaired and ready to go.
Other flights from the 8th…
Jorge's drunken meandering 45km triangle ....
My 140km triangle had some interesting moments, out near the western rim (Waterville) I was suddenly able to crack through the lower air and climb up to 12,000+ ft asl so I started a leg across Farnham and McNeil canyon up to Dyer hill. Crossed over a familiar PG pilot that turned out to be Alex Raymond… doing his version of a Chelan “Sammy”, very low on the rim, heading south from Wells dam. I was surprised to find out he made it back. At least he had the option to walk home (and it would have been a very long walk). From Dyer it was back to the tow site and home to Mansfield for cool Becks (and to help Mike pull his sail on his VR).
Nic Voss, a pilot from the “good old days” arrived and in exchange for room, meals and Scotch joined us to run the rig for a few days. Sadly, Jorge and Michele ended their stay… and as usual where late leaving to be where ever they had to go
July 9th, weather, wind with potential overdevelopment in the forecast so it was a trip to summer falls for a day off (Mike was getting his sail repaired) and Randy had to head back to work.
July 10th
Today I managed to put together my own personal best for FAI triangles (making it home). It was inspirational as I did not feel it was a very good day. The early first leg was very slow and hard work. Not the kind of day I was expecting to go well. Once turned at my southern turn point I pushed north to join up with Mike (who had turned near Wilson Creek). Things improved dramatically on this second leg , for a change I had clouds to chase and someone out ahead that was indicating good lift.
My objective was a turn point near the Columbia river north of Wilbur but a big blue hole forced me to cut short the leg (still 70+ km’s) and head for home. Just north of Highland I stumbled across Mike where we set up a crossing for Banks lake, timing some nicely spaced cloud for a good arrival on the west side of the lake. Here Mike and split up, he pushed home, I hung out in some nice smooth air, peaking over 12,000 near the tow road so I went on a big long glide out toward Wells dam and the Columbia river to the west. About 20km’s past Mansfield I turn and ran for home to end the day.
My 235km FAI triangle (personal best)
July, 11th. Day off for me. Mia and Mike did and excellent job running out into the blue. Nick and I ran chase in what we called the cemetery tour, waiting at all the cool shady rest stops of Wilbur, Almira, Hartline and Mold cemetery's.
Mikes 178km FAI triangle (his personal best!) Nice Job Mike!
July 12th. Odd high cloud, good soaring numbers but a strange looking day. Not to inspired but I took a tow. Found the air to be pretty nasty so suggested to Mia to bag the day (she did). I poked around, heading west in strong ratty air to meet up with a PG gaggle over Farnham canyon (full of Ice Peak comp wings). I stayed above the mess peaking out well over 12,000 ft but did not like feel of the day so I pushed south to Farmer. There everything went soft and I only managed to cross back over to the east side of Jamason coulee and pull a few k’s north. There Mia and Mike caught up and helped me pick out an LZ. Wind sock and a breeze and I still duffed my landing! Dirt tasting (nobodies perfect):
My 80km flight… Session “2” coming soon… Cheers
