Being
both a cyclist and a glider pilot, I set myself a goal several years ago of a possible
world first sporting double by completing a five hour bike ride in the morning
followed by a five hour glider flight in the afternoon. This required planning
and the right weather conditions. The forecast for Sunday 22 November 2015 looked
promising for good soaring conditions with wave lift likely.
Arising
early, I was on the road on my bike before 6am and headed out around the Tuki
Valley and then headed out west to the end of the hilly Salisbury Road and back
before heading out and back to Aorangi Road into a blustery westerly. While
riding, I was constantly looking skyward and assessing the likely gliding
conditions. These changed constantly from not good at 6am, to promising, to
very promising and then back to marginal to poor during the ride. While the
bike ride was not a race and was done at a gentle pace, it included over 1,000
metres of vertical climbing and the westerly wind made a strong head wind on
the outward journey. By the time I completed my five hours on the bike, the sky
was mostly blue with just the odd sign of wave which was not promising.
After
eating and drinking, loading my car with the required equipment for a five hour
glider flight in wave – flight computer, food, water, oxygen system etc, I
headed out to the airfield to find no one was flying due to strong winds on
the ground. However, these abated a little and the tow pilot was happy to tow
me.
After
preparing the glider for flight, I launched from Hastings Airfield at Bridge Pa
in a single seat LS4 glider. Asking the tow pilot to take me to the wave seemed
a little presumptuous under a virtually clear blue sky. At around 4,500ft, a
line of wave seemed to be there so I released from tow. Once off tow, I had to
use the energy in the sky to stay aloft. This was provided by upper level winds
and suitable atmospheric conditions causing wave lift. As a secondary goal, I hoped
to climb to over 20,000ft to claim an FAI diamond badge leg.
Finding
strong lift initially, I quickly reached 15,000ft near Hastings airfield.
However, with no clouds marking the lift, large areas of sink in excess of
2,500ft per minute and the wave lift randomly moving, it took skill,
determination and a little luck just to stay aloft and I rapidly reached a low
point of 2,200ft. The maths at being 20km from the airfield, crossing the
ground at 4 kilometres a minute, being at 6,000ft and losing 2,500ft per minute
did not give an appealing answer and I was looking at paddocks to potentially
land in if required. The areas of sink were so pronounced that the air traffic
controller noted that a commercial airplane was affected by it. After some
struggle, further lift was found I managed to regain sufficient altitude to
comfortably continue the flight.
After
inching my way south to Waipukurau, a further struggle was endured as I sank to
5,000ft and again the maths to make the 45km back to Hastings did not work with
over 2,000ft per minute sink all around. Reaching Waipukurau Airfield just a
few kilometres away was also no certainty. Eventually, scrambling back up to
9,500ft, the only consistent lift of the day was found and I raced back abeam
of Hastings Airfield in about 10 minutes.
With
my five hours almost up, to finish off my flight, I completed the gliding
club’s local 33km speed triangle from Bridge Pa to Maraekakaho to Paki Paki and
back to the airfield in 12 minutes 43 seconds at an average speed of 157km/h.
Landing
after 6pm, my total flight time was 5 hours 34 minutes and ended up covering
from north of Patoka to Waipukurau with almost 600km traversed over Hawkes Bay.
It
is these type of gliding adventures that await new gliding club members like
recently first solo pilots 13 year old Alexandra Thompson and 14 year old Ryan
Maney.
While
a five hour bike ride in itself is nothing special, combining this with an over
five hour glider flight on the same day, which was achieved under extremely
challenging conditions, it was a unique achievement.
While
my diamond badge claim will have to wait for another time, it was a day to be remembered.
 |
| Blue sky above Hawkes Bay with no clear signs of wave |
 |
| LS4 glider and pilot Jason Kelly (file photo) |
