Kicked Out of the Nest: A Gold Badge Flight to Hays and Back

Tony asked me to write about last weekend’s soaring adventure (accomplishments), so here is my attempt. Sorry it is so long, but I want to get every bit of this adventure in my record!

My story actually picks up last summer when I purchased a partnership in EY (a Standard Cirrus) from Mike Davis. Before this, I was afraid to venture outside of gliding distance from Sunflower. I did my Silver Badge flights in the club’s Libelle (under Tony’s close supervision), but other than that, I didn’t feel like I dared to venture very far from Sunflower.

Now that I had my own glider, I felt a little more daring and actually flew the Sunflower triangle several times. Then I foolishly entered the regional championship, in an effort to spread my wings. The contest didn’t go as planned, with the electronic computer and variometer dying on day 2 of the competition. I landed out 3 times, which was actually a good thing and an excellent addition to my soaring education. (Pick a field, make a plan, and don’t mess up!) On two of the contest days, I actually made it back to Sunflower, which was highly satisfying. In retrospect, every one of these flights was an adventure and another lesson in my soaring education, and I don’t regret it one bit!

Over the winter I made a trip to Talihina to soar on the ridge, further reinforcing my courage and my desire to spread my wings. I also made a pledge to get EY’s systems up to modern standards and remove all excuses to becoming a real glider pilot! It took more than 3 months of talking to people, studying, budgeting, and planning, but the new LX-Nav Vario and ADI arrived. Then Mike’s health took a real bad turn for the worse, and we all know the unfortunate outcome. During one of our visits at the hospital, I regrettably bought Mike’s share of EY. Rest in Peace brother and thanks again for trusting me with your glider.

I installed the new electronics and on April 5th excitingly went flying, just to discover that the ADI didn’t work! (The ADI gives me a very accurate electronic airspeed, altitude, vertical speed, and various warnings.) Then Tony took her up for a couple of hours and dialed in the settings on the vario, but no joy with the ADI. A few phone calls to the dealer, some tinkering, and the problem was hopefully corrected. Now I was ready for test flight number 2…

Now What You Came Here For

Saturday the 18th was flight number 2. (No time for a 2nd test-flight!) Tony messaged me earlier in the week that Saturday looked like a possible good soaring day, especially north and west. He suggested that I plan my 300-kilometer flight. So, using Sky Sight, XC-Skies, Windy, & ForeFlight, I planned several 300+km triangles using airports like Jetmore, Anthony, Dodge City, Larned, Great Bend, Hays, etc., always trying to figure out how to go 300km without getting too far from home, too much into the wind, or too far from an alternate airport!

When I arrived at Sunflower on Saturday morning, Tony suggested an out and back to Hays—over 100 miles each way over a lot of open ground. Looking at the weather and the forecast this seemed ok, except it was straight into the wind going north and it was forecast over 30 knots at higher altitudes, where I hoped to be. This was scary! Not a lot of room for error. I told Tony I felt like a little bird getting kicked out of the nest! (I also still didn’t know if my electronics were going to work or be at all accurate!)

Tony helped me rig & tape EY, set up the oxygen system (just in case) and make sure all of the declarations were properly in my Nano, Odie, & S-100, then I set to work making sure there was nothing with the glider that could complicate my attempt. I pre-flighted like my life depended on it, taped every opening, polished every inch, and removed every bug—no excuses.

Kirk launched first, and I followed shortly afterwards. Lift was as expected and the new equipment seemed to be working great, so I hit 5,800’ MSL and crossed the start line heading west. I got to Mills Field, then Hutchinson, kind of slow and not very high. Finally got to Ellenwood where I spent way too much time (almost 20 minutes) but found a climb to 9,400’ MSL, knowing Great Bend was within reach, even upwind, and I pressed on. I was occasionally talking to Kirk and he was doing about the same, but he stayed further east, which turned out to be the correct choice.

I got about 10 miles NW of Great Bend (25 miles to Hays) and was finding nothing. I found myself down to 5,000’ MSL and starting to sweat. I spent 20 minutes thrashing around until I finally hooked up with my best climb of the day—5–8 kts all the way to 12,400’ MSL where I reached the cloud base and a temperature of just 7 degrees Fahrenheit! Just short of the altitude I needed for my gold badge, and now my feet were numb! At the same time, Kirk was over Hays where the clouds were just a bit higher and he got to 13,000 for his gold altitude… (I used the oxygen system anytime I was above 10,000’, which was great!)

From over 12,000’, I pushed on to Hays in a continual downhill sled ride, straight into the wind. I reached Hays at 5,000’ (just 3,000’ AGL) and the thermal Kirk used was gone! I spent 25 minutes in a 0–1 kt climb back to 9,000’ drifting south with the strong wind. I figured as long as I was climbing, or at least not sinking, and the wind was blowing me toward home, I should keep going. Thanks to the tailwind this got me halfway back to Lyons with very little good happening, except for great groundspeed, under a rapidly blueing-out sky! I heard Kirk on his huge final glide and landing at Sunflower, cussing that I could not get to an altitude to do the same. My plan now was to land at Lyons and have an easy retrieve.

I found my last real climb about 5 miles north of Lyons where I got to 7,700’ MSL. The flight computer said I could make the final 30 miles to Sunflower and Tony backed it up over the radio, so max L/D for the next 27 minutes actually got me home, where I crossed my start/finish line at 2,400’ MSL, entered the pattern, and made a soft uneventful arrival, where I was greeted by Tony, my very relieved wife, and one overly excited Goldendoodle!

If you have made it this far, and understand badge flying, you may have caught that I started at 5,800’ and finished at 2,400’—a 3,400’ difference—which invalidated my distance attempt by about 300 feet!!!! Luckily, Steve was there and reminded us of the loss of height penalty adjustment. The penalty took away a few of my miles in exchange for gaining a few feet of leeway on the ending. (A 100-to-1 penalty!) Tony sharpened his pencil and luckily, after applying the penalty, I still exceeded my Gold Badge and Diamond Declared Distance requirement by just a few miles!!! Mission accomplished!

This flight took 5 hours and 50 minutes, 4 hours of that going north and an hour 50 gliding home. The flight was challenging, fun, frightening, freezing, long, educational, and an absolute BLAST! On the way north I decided to land at Great Bend, but pressed on. Almost called it a day at Hays, then pressed on. Prayed to make it to Lyons, then pressed on. Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY, but not until May first, when the forecast looks promising again! I still need that 3,000 meter altitude gain for my Gold Badge and a 500km flight (almost 315 miles) for my diamond distance!

THANKS TONY for kicking me out of the nest! By challenging myself, pushing my comfort zone, and overcoming the fear of landing out, I am now much more confident of my ability to venture away from Sunflower. I strongly recommend every pilot keep pushing your limits and challenging yourself to go a little farther, a little faster, a little higher. It is so worth it!

Doug Dutton
Standard Cirrus EY