August 3, 2008 - Soaring

I hadn't planned to fly this weekend.  I was down in the basement polishing one of the wings when Lynnette came down and said it was a really nice day outside.  I looked at the front door and, sure enough, it really was nice outside.  It looked perfect for soaring in fact.  So we drove out to the Flying Cow airfield and a couple of hours later I was at 4000 feet flying around in the Schleicher Ka-8.  

Everything was really green, especially for August.  The yellow arrow points to the Flying Cow grass field, which runs from lower left to upper right. 

 
The little town of Lovettsville, VA at center right.  Runway is just to the lower left of the town.
 
There were some pretty good thermals underneath these big, fat clouds with dark bottoms. 
 
Here are a line of clouds in a straight row.  I just went down the row and climbed without having to circle like you usually have to do to stay in a thermal. 
 

This is what we glider pilots like to see:  the Vertical Speed Indicator (VSI) showing over 850 feet per minute climb rate.  Not bad for a plane with no engine. 

I also have an audio VSI which chirps when the glider is climbing.  The faster the climb rate, the faster it chirps.  The birdie was really chirping at the time I took this picture.
 
North of the Potomac River.  That's route 340 below running east to west.
 
Over the Potomac River with Harpers Ferry in the upper left hand corner.  We tubed down this stretch a river a lot when the kids were younger. 
 
A better look at Harpers Ferry.  Visibility was excellent today.  The canopy, not haze, is what distorted the picture.  Gliders are not very good photo platforms.
 

Looking east at the valley where the Flying Cow is.  Beyond the valley to the southeast is Leesburg and Dulles International Airport.

I flew for a couple of hours, enough to get my flying fix.  Staying up was no problem on a day like today.  Lynnette read her book in the shade amidst the beautiful scenary.  Then drive home to get back to work on the RV.   Must ... keep .... building.
 
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