Oklahoma Diamond
Steve Michalik of the Oklahoma Soaring Association started the chain of events with a note on the Talihina Soaring Facebook Group. He said the wind for Thursday, November 17th looked excellent for wave above FL180. Looking at the winds aloft forecasts, I tended to agree. Wind direction was forecast to be SW with speeds about 40 knots, steady in direction and speed up to about 30,000 feet. This got my wheels turning.
I still had not returned Leo & Jen Benetti-Longhini’s Silent 2 Electro after flying it in Uvalde. They were happy to let me take it to Oklahoma to try my hand at the wave. The only snag was that the Electro did not have an oxygen bottle. KSA member Dave Paulysoon came to the rescue, loaning me his Kevlar bottle with Mountain High regulator. All the pieces were in place and I drove to Talihina on Wednesday night. The forecast still looked good.
This would be my fifth trip to Talihina for flying and my third time flying in the wave there—my entire wave flying experience, never getting higher than 8,000 feet. Randy Teel wrote a nice report to Soaring in May 2009 about the possibilities in this area. Dooley Rucker, from Dallas, flew up in his Cessna 170 with a towhook, which meant Randy Teel drove down from Tulsa with his HpH 304CZ.
Launch into the Secondary
I took off at 8:20 AM. As I turned toward Buffalo Mountain, I hit turbulent lift immediately. I turned the motor off at 2200 MSL (1500 AGL), right next to the airport. Soon I was up over 3000 and in smooth wave lift. I had launched right into the secondary!
It quickly became obvious that the wind was strong. Very small heading changes resulted in large crab angles working east and west. With no clouds to mark the lift, the GPS crumb trail was invaluable for seeing where the lift and sink were. In the secondary I topped out at about 5000 MSL, then pushed into the wind for the primary. It took 80 knots of airspeed to make 40 knots over the ground, confirming the forecast.
I hit the primary right next to Albion at 3500 MSL. The groundspeed on SW legs was almost zero—the LX Zeus does not read below 16 knots, so anything slower than that showed as 0. This wave took me to 11,000 feet in 1 hour and 5 minutes, an average climb rate of 115 feet per minute. By 11,000 I either lost the wave or it died, so I ran 15 miles ESE to find better conditions. I re-contacted the primary at 10,300 and found better climbs, often over 200 feet per minute.
The Clearance
I had arranged flight following with Fort Worth Center. To get Diamond Altitude I needed to be above 18,000 feet—19,000 to be sure. Randy had set the Oklahoma state altitude record in the same area at 17,700 feet in 2009.
As I climbed through 15,000 I started asking Fort Worth about going higher. The initial answer was a hard no. Not VFR, no sir. But about 30 seconds later the controller came back with a specific question: “Are you an Instrument Rated Pilot?” Why yes I am. He then arranged a clearance. I told him I would be staying in the same area and needed no higher than FL200. Shortly after climbing through 17,000: “Glider 8MB, you are cleared within a 10 mile radius, climb and maintain block FL180 to FL200.” Wahoo!
The climb slowed to about 100 feet per minute as I arrived at FL200. I snapped a picture and turned out of the wave. I had averaged 168 feet per minute for about an hour. Mission accomplished—I cancelled with Fort Worth and descended back to Talihina, landing about 11:40.
Randy Gets Higher
Randy launched shortly after I landed. He had a tougher time finding the wave but eventually also got a clearance—and made it to 21,900 feet. My record had not stood for long. We both went home with Diamond Altitude.