This summer, we held the first of what we hope is a long series of events loosely based off of recreating the experience of a junior world championship in the US. With this in mind, we aimed to fund ten pilots for a week of flying. For some, it would be their first contest, others came to fly with mentors in the two-seat class.
July 9, Practice day 1.
The soaring day was relatively good with single-seat pilots doing practice flights and the beginning of the mentored two-seat flights in the TSA duo. The soaring was great and the atmosphere was plenty un-stable!
After everyone was back, things got wet…. fast. We got most of the gliders apart but had to wait out a few minutes of the rain.
Once the storm passed, we headed out to pick up JT McMaster who had landed a few miles away.
The weather was weird, but everyone had a great time and we headed over to Waxahachie for dinner and to check-in to the hotel.
July 10, Practice day 2.
We knew the ground would be wet in places, but set a small task that would have everyone trying to make multiple practice starts and finishes. The idea was to practice good starts, turn point hits, and finishes all while avoiding (practice) penalties.
While it wasn’t 10 kts to 10,000 ft, we launched the fleet and everyone stuck! Most pilots completed the mini-task and several flew “real” XC tasks.
July 11, Contest day 1.
Today… things get real. For the pilots in single seat class, this event was a sports class regional and that meant that there would be a ranking at the end of the event.
We set a task that would accommodate the range of performance, experience, and weather and gridded for launch.
The winds and moisture kept ground temps cool and we couldn’t get above the 3,000 AGL minimum for a fair task. Everyone flew 2+ hours and the thermalling practice was incredible.
After flying, the group got together for dinner under the pavilion and got shirts from JWGC 2015 Team USA.
After dinner, the flying continued with some lessons on flying two-line stunt kites and just generally hanging out.
July 12, Contest day 2.
Well, sort-of. After the Dallas shootings, President Obama came to the Dallas area, to speak. The presidential TFR just barely encloses TSA but it shut down ops for the day. After some half-joking searches for other airports to move operations to, we called the day off and everyone went off to visit the local area. At the end of the day, we set a new task – knock the most pins over.
July 13, Contest day 3.
With the TFR expired and the airspace free, we got back to business and set a nice triangle.
It’s important to remember that all gliders are welcome here!
So, we gridded and launched!
While it was weak for the first half of the flight and few re-lights were involved across the board, the sky seemed to “switch on” later in the afternoon and off we went! Everyone who went on course completed the task and had a good finish. We saw good climbs to ~5000 AGL and zipped around the task before the day ended.
July 14, Contest day 4.
Day 4 seemed to have a pretty similar airmass to the previous day and resulted in most everyone sticking and getting some good flights in.
July 15, Contest day 5.
Well… this is it… the end of our contest. We started the day with a grid squat while we waited for temperatures to rise…
Once hints of lift started, we launched the fleet!
After a few hours of good flying, I (X8) decided to keep going as the lift softened and see how much I could get out of the day. Well… I found the edge and headed for a nice private grass airport. Someone was cutting the grass on the edge and after I stopped, came over with a bottle of cold water and a ride back to the main barn.
While the field owner doesn’t do much flying anymore, he keeps the field nicely cut and shared stories of the AN-2 (among other things) that he used to fly there.
It was an easy/quick retrieve from TSA and after dropping the glider, we headed for a group dinner to celebrate a safe week with good flying.
Oh…. and the sky on the way home the next morning was pretty nice…
The weather wasn’t quite what we had hoped for this year but we flew most of the scheduled days (I flew ~15 hrs over the week) and even managed to get some XC tasks. In the free time, we had discussions on XC flying and debriefed the flights from the day. The two-seat pilots were able to learn the basics of stretching their legs and the single seat pilots got some amazing thermalling practice and a lesson in the value of persistence. We had a good, safe, fun week and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone (and more!) at the 2017 Contest: http://www.ssa.org/Contests?cid=2374.
Of course, this event could not have happened without some incredible support from the Rick Walters Scholarship and Soaring Society of America. For those who don’t know, Rick Walters was a talented member of the sailplane racing community and US Team Committee member who was dedicated to soaring. He was involved in a tragic bicycle accident but his memory will continue to live on thanks to his many friends in the soaring community.
