Soaring over the Flint Hills
July 19th, 2013 was “The Day” of 2013. Several pilots flew at Sunflower on long flights and record or badge attempts. At that time the NG-1 was in its trailer at the Wichita Gliderport, so I decided to fly from there. I was grateful for Leah and Gavin Smith’s help rigging the night before. My task was going to be a 300km triangle aiming for a KSA speed trophy and a Wooden Wings claim. Turnpoints would be Emporia and Fredonia.
First cumulus showed about 10:00 AM and by the time I got to the gliderport the sky looked bombastic. I launched at 1:00 PM, immediately found a good climb, and was on course downwind toward Emporia.
Emporia and the Flint Hills
There were no real low points on the way to Emporia. I was usually running between 3500 and 4500 MSL with occasional climbs to cloudbase, just over 6000 feet. A 5-knot climb to cloudbase near the Matfield Green service station made me a happy glider pilot. I quickly reached Emporia and turned around the airport, headed for my second turnpoint at Fredonia.
This was only my second flight in the NG-1 for 2013. My course took me on a tour around the Flint Hills, where cattle grazing and pasture land dominate instead of the endless wheat fields west of Wichita. The only other time I had seen this area from the air was from a Cessna. There were enough landable fields that I was never nervous about finding a good place down if needed.
Sometime on the first leg, the yaw string decided it had had enough of my uncoordinated thermalling and departed the aircraft. In some ways I think this helped, forcing me to remember how the NG-1 likes to be flown.
A Low Save near Virgil
After the great run to Emporia I got a little too brave turning south toward Fredonia. With a quartering headwind instead of the direct tailwind, I found that my estimate of how fast to fly was way off. Down I came, skipping thermals I should have taken, hoping for something better ahead.
There were nice fields ahead north of the little town of Virgil and I had one picked out as a landing site. Luckily the wheat stubble field was not only a good place to land, it was also generating a thermal. I climbed away from 1000 AGL with a new respect for the day and a reminder to “get high and stay high.”
The rest of the run to Fredonia was good. After the low save I reached my high point for the flight, just over 8000 feet. I turned west toward Wichita and had 75 miles to go, it was 4:30 PM, and I was feeling good about the prospects.
Short of Home
After a few good climbs, the sky started to soften. Cumulus still marked the landscape but the climbs weren’t there. I crept lower near the Beaumont Hotel—a nice place to land if needed, with supper while waiting for the retrieve. But just north of the airport I found a couple of good climbs that got me back to cloudbase. Whew! About 35 or 40 miles left, and I really just needed one more good climb to get home.
Unfortunately that climb didn’t materialize and I arrived at El Dorado with about 2000 feet AGL. I set off toward likely thermal spots, analyzing the terrain and the locations of the now wimpy-looking clouds. A few miles past El Dorado and nothing inspired any optimism, so I landed.
The good news: my crew Jacob Frye lives only a few miles from the El Dorado airport. He drove over, we secured the glider, then he drove me to the Gliderport for the trailer. We were derigged by sunset.
All in all it was a great flight—5 hours 12 minutes, 176 miles covered, through new territory in the Flint Hills. It was nice to get comfortable in the NG-1 again on a genuinely good Kansas soaring day.