Accomplishments
From:
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
Soar Minnesota
Accomplishments
and Fun Flights
of Minnesota Soaring Pilots
2008
This Site Has been
Replaced
Chris Prince has created a new Soaring Accomplishments web page here:
http://sites.google.com/site/soaringaccomplishments. The new site makes
it possible for pilots to post their own flights to the site. That is
great because it sometimes takes me a while to post flights here.
Please do your best to post all new flights to his site from now on.
Feel free to include photos!
Overview
This page is for announcing the accomplishments and fun flights of
local soaring pilots. Items listed here include: first solos, new
ratings, badge flights, record flights, just-for-fun long flights, etc.
It's just fun to see how many great flights are done from Minnesota.
Accomplishments Submissions
If you have a flight or other accomplishment to add to this page please
copy the text below into an e-mail, enter your data and send it to me using
this link:
Click to email me
Copy the text below into your accomplishment e-mail to me.
Date of Flight:
Name of Pilot(s):
Sailplane Type:
Flying from Airport:
Description (how far, how fast, any badges or records):
Write-up (fun or interesting details - please feel free to give a lot of details or include funny stories):
Link (URL "web address") to OLC Flight Info page (if uploaded to OLC):
Accomplishments from other years: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998
| Accomplishments - 2007 | |||||||
| Date | Pilot | Glider | Flying From | Description (how far, how fast, any badges or records) | Write-up (fun or interesting details) | Flight Log |
Photo Click image to view larger version. |
| July 4, 2008 | Tom Kuhfeld | PW-5 | Stanton | Flight from Stanton to Osceola to claim the Delbert Prize |
That’s right, he did it again! Tom Kuhfeld
and his trusty PW5 snuck up to Osceola and stole the Delbert trophy from
RWSA on the 4th of July! In truth, Tom didn’t want to land he was having
too much fun flying. We managed to coax him down to terra firma so he
could collect his prize. Some weak lift encountered on his return flight
helped with his decision to land back at the friendly land of RWSA as
well!! Tom also has the distinct honor of now being enshrined 4 times on the plaques, and will be the last pilot listed on plaque number 2. It looks like RWSA will need to create plaque number 3 WHEN we get it back ;-) The Delbert tradition lives on…. thanks to you all!!!! Safe soaring, Paul Campobasso |
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|
| June 26, 2008 | J.D. Teter | Blanik L-13 and Pilatus B4 | Osceola, WI |
Completion of C Badge |
On June 26 JD Teter completed all the requirements for his SSA C Badge, and the badge was issued to him. | ||
| June 21, 2008 | Steve Kennedy | Blanik L-13 | Osceola, WI |
Completed
his B Badge |
solo pilot Steve Kennedy of RWSA did a one-hour thermal soaring flight on Saturday, June 21, to earn his B Badge. | ||
| June 17, 2008 | Kathleen Winters | Libelle 201 | Osceola, WI |
Osceola,
WI to Freeport-Dornink Airport, IL, 264.9 miles, duration 4:58, pending
WI record, OLC-Classic Pts: 433.83, |
A tough flight and I did not think I'd make my goal of Freeport. Weak lift and wet fields yet good lift, too. An unusual day! Thanks to Lee Bradshaw for the tow and to Jim Hard, crew chief. | OLC Details | |
| June 17, 2008 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola, WI |
I flew to Menominee-Marinette, MI (the shore of Green Bay) in 6.5 hours, a total of 292.63 miles (OLC Classic). |
Lee Bradshaw towed, and David Hallberg crewed. This was David's first time crewing and he was a very quick study. Even though we were we out of radio contact for nearly the entire flight due to technical problems with the car radio, he arrived at the landing airport about 1 hour after I landed! Amazing for a first crewing trip! I got my best altitude of the day (7,100' MSL) a few miles into Green Bay. This was the first time I'd soared directly over a great lake, and I found it disorienting. I had to make sure to keep my eyes focused on the horizon. | OLC Details | |
| June 15, 2008 | Steve Kennedy | Blanik L-13 | Osceola, WI |
First glider solo |
Steve's instructor, Lee Bradshaw, soloed Steve at OEO on June 15 with Mark Robotti piloting the tow plane. | ||
| June 7, 2008 | Tom Binger | Blanik L-13 | Osceola, WI |
First glider solo |
Tom, a power transition student, soloed under the supervision of Lee Bradshaw on June 7. | ||
| May 18, 2008 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | flight of 6:54 from near Faribault MN to Pontiac IL, 350.87 OLC miles, highest point reached about 8,200 MSL. | On Sunday, May 18, Cross Country Soaring's towpilot Chad took me to exactly where I wanted to release; namely, straight upwind of the airport and under developing Cu which were already about 5,000 MSL at 11:45 AM. Wind direction was a little north of NW at the start of the flight and a little west of NW at the end. Since the way for me to get maximum distance is to keep the wind on my tail, the course had a curve to it as it often does. Crew chief Kathleen Winters (making her second significant retrieve in a 3-day period) stayed close to the glider for the first few hours, but as cloud bases increased to 8,000 with resulting increase in thermal strength and therefore average speed, she got several hours behind even though stopping only when necessary. At 6:30 PM, after soaring for 350 OLC miles, landing was made at the municipal airport in Pontiac IL. The glider was tied down for the night, and the pilot and crew spent the night at the best motel in Pontiac, trailering the ship the next day and returning home by Monday evening. In the OLC international standings, at the time of writing, both this flight and the previous one on May 16 were at the top of the international lists for those two days. | OLC Details | |
| May 16, 2008 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Stanton | Thermal soaring flight of 3hrs53mins from Stanton to Plattevile WI. 193.13 OLC miles. | A strong wind out of the west complicated a flight attempt to get to Freeport IL to meet the members of the Polish glider club that operates out of Freeport. Though the thermals were strong and cloud bases at 9,000, retrieve crew Kathleen Winters was able to stay close enough for radio communications most of the time. South of Prairie Du Chien WI, I turned east toward Freeport and hoped to use the weak lift of a dying day plus the strong tail wind to make it to goal. However, running out of altitude and ideas a short time later I put into the Platteville WI municipal airport at about 4:30 PM. Crew chief Kathleen arrived within the half hour and helpful hands at the airport assisted in trailering the ship. After a pizza dinner at Steve's Pizza in Cuba City, we headed back, arriving home before midnight. | OLC Details | |
| May 11, 2008 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola, WI | With a tow from Roger Lee
and with Walt Johnson crewing, flew to Muscatine, IA, declared as goal. Set new straight distance to goal WI state records in the Sports Class (287.22 mi) and 15m Class (283.53 mi). Link to image of record page on the SSA Web site. Flight was 297.12 miles (478.18 km; OLC classic) in 4.75 hours. |
I had a tailwind of about 25 mph all of the
way. At Muscatine, I decided to land to have a shot at the record, and because both Walt and I had to work the next day. Many thanks to Walt for his superhuman Crew Chief Skills!! |
OLC Details | |
| May 9, 2008 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Osceola, WI | 103.33
mile OLC flight from Osceola to New Richmond to Amery to Osceola to
Frederic, to Osceola. |
Richard Weil and Paul Esser helped assemble the 1-26 and Roger Lee provided the tow at about 2:00PM. Cu were well-developed at that time and the small triangle I had laid out was achieved in about 1:20. With lots of good day left and the cloud base now at 8,000 MSL, I flew straight north for just over 25 miles and returned to Osceola by 4:50. The resulting average speed of 35 mph was good for this ship on a day when there were significant northerly winds. | OLC Details | |
| May 4, 2008 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola, WI | With Walt Johnson crewing,
and a tow from Mark Robotti, I flew to Ashland, WI. The distance
was 133.3 miles (OLC Classic), and my average ground speed was 61.2 mph. |
I have now soared by two great lakes: Lake
Superior and (last season) Lake Michigan. Driving down from Duluth to OEO at 6am that day, this was seriously the hard way to get to Ashland!! |
OLC Details | |
| April 27, 2008 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola, WI | 95.6 OLC Classic miles |
Bob Lee towed, and with Walt Johnson crewing, we retrieved the Delbert trophy. Or 1/2 of it! We only came away with one of the two plaques. Could it be that the Stanton club was reluctant to part with the trophy? :). A storm front forced me to land at Stanton, my original plan had been a combo of Triple Crown and Delbert. Photographic evidence of the flight was provided by Marilyn Meline. |
OLC Details |
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