Quinter
The forecasts were showing it to be a very good soaring day on June 11th — so good I could not pass it up. Jerry and I both managed to arrange to skip work and Bob was able to tow us. The forecasts all showed an unusually early start would be possible, and it was. I was in the air by 10:45 AM! Cloudbase was not high but the lift was there and consistent, so off I went to the northwest.
My first turnpoint declared was at Quinter, KS. I had decided that with the good conditions forecast and such an incredibly long soaring day possible, I would go big and attempt to break Steve Leonard’s state triangle distance record. That flight was done in the Nimbus full of water on a very good day, so I knew it would have to be really awesome to pull it off in the Standard Cirrus. I at least had duration on my side.
The flight was a little slow but steady, and things were starting to pick up as I got past Hays with a climb or two up to around 8000 ft. However, Quinter was in a hole. I had crossed a few blue patches before, so the fact that it was blue wasn’t too concerning. I had been seeing thin wisps forming in the previous blue areas. It was barely 2 PM and the day was cooking. As I got out into the hole and rounded the turnpoint I realized that the ground up there was really WET — standing water in the fields! Yikes! By now all I could do was turn south (into the wind) towards the nearest clouds and work everything I could along the way. I did, but it was not quite enough. At 2:20, I was on the ground about 15 miles south of Quinter. The field was nice. The adventure was about to start.
Farmer Bart Briggs was super friendly. His daughter was the one tilling the field I had landed in. Conversation fairly quickly shifted to how I was going to get home and what I was going to do with the glider. It was a 4.5 hour drive back to Sunflower, and of course this was a weekday and I had not arranged for a standby crew. I had to be at work by 7 AM the next morning. My thought process pretty quickly shifted to leaving the glider there and just getting myself home. Bart didn’t mind if I left the glider at his place and even offered that we could squeeze it in his machine shed.
The nearest car rental was in Hays, about 1.5 hours drive from there. Then Bart came to my complete rescue by mentioning that his brother Joss was a pilot and always looking for a reason to go flying. Maybe he’d be interested in flying me back? A quick phone call and sure enough he was happy to do so. Amazing!
Turns out Joss has a Cessna 303 Crusader based at the brand-new Gove County Airport. The airport had just opened a few weeks prior and wasn’t even on the sectional chart yet. The flight was fast and comfortable — but also torture, as cumulus were everywhere and cloudbase on takeoff was at about 10,000 feet! We landed at Hutchinson where I was happy to treat my new best friend with dinner before he headed home. Wilder Parks gave me a ride to Sunflower, where Jerry had just landed from his 500 km flight.
The following weekend, Leah and I retrieved the glider from Bart’s shed and then went up to Atwood, where I attempted to fly back to Sunflower. 25 miles west of Bart’s on gravel is Monument Rocks, which I highly recommend you all visit if you have the chance. It was a cool side trip.
We got to Atwood a little after sunset and were welcomed by Brian Bird and his boss Gary Worthy. They were both excited to finally have some glider activity at the airport after they got the towhook installed on the AgWagon this summer.
The inaugural tow was with quite a bit of fanfare. There must’ve been 10 people watching from mid-field as Brian and I went by. The goal of the flight was to make it back to Sunflower. The soaring day looked to be a good one although there was a definite risk of storms blowing up. I declared Garden City as the first turnpoint and then Great Bend.
The flight to Garden City went pretty well with good clouds, consistent climbs, and steadily rising bases. Turning east from Garden City I could see a really sweet line of clouds going southeast, and to the east and northeast towards Sunflower and Great Bend, slightly lower bases. I really should’ve just followed that line, but I was goal oriented and there were lots of clouds anyway so off I went. Unfortunately, after a climb about 10 miles east of Garden City, I became unable to find lift and about 3:30 I was in another field, west of Jetmore.
The farmer, Davey Ross, was a super cool guy and a former car racer. Leah had been aiming more towards Sunflower (at my direction) and had to backtrack so it was a couple hours before she arrived. With perfect timing there was a rain shower right overhead as we derigged in the now slightly muddy field. We were home by sunset.