Accomplishments
and Fun Flights
of Minnesota Soaring Pilots
2006
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 - 2005 | |||||||
| Date | Pilot | Glider | Flying From | Description (how far, how fast, any badges or records) | Write-up (fun or interesting details) | Flight Log | Photo |
| Nov. 11, '06 | Tom Rent | Owl | Stanton | Passed CFI-G check ride with Designated Pilot Examiner Judy Ruprecht (the Badge Lady) in the MSC Owl. 5.5 hour Oral and then 2 flights. |
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| Aug. 26, '06 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola | 72.2 miles in 2 hrs 15 minutes, landing in a hayfield near Alma, WI |
A late start (3pm) and somewhat low ceilings
(5000 MSL) gave a short but fun flight. Crew chief Walt Johnson arrived
shortly after I landed. (More details at: http://www.d.umn.edu/~cprince/soaring/ CrossCountryFlights/Alma2006.html). |
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| Aug. 20, '06 | Dick Andrews & Paul Remde | DG-1000 | Faribault | 148.02 mile (237.89 km) FAI
triangle OLC Classic: 216.27 points FAI OLC: 208.18 points Duration: 3:46 |
I thought this was a beautiful, but tough day! We declared a 335 km triangle and headed out on course at around 1 PM (later than we should have). The clouds looked fantastic, but the lift was pretty weak and many nice looking clouds didn't work. When we arrived at Austin we decided to turn West in an attempt to complete a shorter FAI triangle for FAI OLC points. We got very low over Wells airport but eventually made it back to Faribault. Looking at the flight trace it appears that we didn't circle much on the last leg, but that was mainly because we never found any thermals that were strong enough to circle in. Dick and I both felt satisfied that we had made the most of the day. As always, it was a pleasure flying with Dick! | OLC Details |
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| Aug. 20, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | 190.38 mi (500.38 OLC pts), Faribault to south of Merrill WI, light tailwind, 6:20 | Cu started forming at 10:20 am so an early start before noon was called for. High point of flight about 6300 MSL. Landed in friendly farmer's hay field just south of Merrill WI at 6:00 pm CDT. Super glider retriever Roger Payne arrived at landing site a few minutes later. Farm family helped trailer the ship. It was a good day!! | OLC Details | |
| July 9, '06 | Don DePree | Libelle | Osceola | Flew with Chris Prince to Hinckley, MN and back from OEO. Straight line return distance: 100.1 statute miles. | |||
| July 9, '06 | Chris Prince | Schweizer 1-35 | Osceola | Don DePree and I flew together to Hinckley, MN and back from OEO. Straight line return distance: 100.1 statute miles. My duration was 4 hrs 20 minutes. | The Princeton soaring forecast was dismal at 9:30am, but the front had not yet pushed through. By 1pm when we launched, the cu's were awesome. Thanks to both Walt Johnson and JC Cunningham for standing by as crew in case we landed out. | ||
| June 29, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | Zig-zag flight from FBL to Red Wing to New Richmond to Amery to Cable. Took 6:05. 197.47 miles | This flight completed my 15-year effort to earn the World Distance Award for accumulating cross-country flight distance of 40,000 km, beginning in 1992. This is believed to be the first WDA in the Upper Midwest and the first by a Schweizer 1-26 anywhere. As with many of my flights made toward this goal, Roger Payne acted as Crew Chief. | OLC Details | |
| June 26, '06 | Mike Schumann | Schleicher Ka-8 | Stanton | Silver Altitude Gain (1000
m) Stanton Short Task - 1 hour, 8 minutes raw speed: 30.62 mph handicapped speed: 44.52 mph |
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| June 22, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | Faribault to bean field near Manchester IA, 168.78 OLC miles, 444.64 OLC points (fifth in the world for that date), 6 hours | Another weak day with 200 fpm thermals (sometimes) with cloud base around 5000 MSL, but with a good following wind of 15-20 mph. Crew Chief Mike Schumann stayed with the glider all day and was at the Manchester Airport, about 8 miles away from the landing site, at the time of landing. | OLC Details | |
| June 19, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | Straight vulgar downwind dash from FBL to Freeport IL, 243.76 OLC miles, 642.00 OLC points, 5:55 | Another grueling retrieve by Crew Chief Roger Payne. We got trailered before sunset and home by about 4:00 am. | OLC Details | |
| June 12, '06 | Chris Prince | Schweizer 1-35 | Osceola | My intent was to fly to Princeton, then Chetek & finally to return to OEO. I aborted my Princeton leg after struggling to the West of OEO, and headed East to Chetek and returned to OEO. 207.66 OLC points and 128.43 OLC miles. | Thanks to Kathleen Winters for the loan of her Colibri flight recorder. I may be starting to learn that returning to one's launching site can be OK! | OLC Details | |
| June 12, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Osceola | Out and return from OEO to Cub Acres in just over 4 hours. 78.67 OLC miles. 205.90 OLC points. | Blue day with light northerly wind. Thermals not well organized and hard to center. Low speed resulted. | OLC Details | |
| June 7, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | Straight line flight to Independence IA, 4:50, 160.86 OLC miles, 421.77 OLC points | Very late start for a x-country flight, 1:00pm. Nearly had to land within the first hour, about 15 miles out. Almost no Cu, essentially a dry day. Very lucky to have gotten that far. Crew chief Walter Johnson arrived at the Independence Airport within a few minutes of the landing. | OLC Details | |
| June 3, '06 | Chris Prince | Schweizer 1-35 | Osceola, WI | Landed between the rows of a young corn crop just SW of Wausau, WI. 6 hours 5 minutes flight (personal best); distance: 148 statute miles. | Many thanks to Don De Pree and Natasha Vizcarra for crewing for me! This was my first cross-country flight in my 'new' 1-35 (previously owned by Roger Harris flying out of Air Sailing). | ||
| June 3, '06 | Fred Hewitt & Paul Remde | DG-1000 | Stanton | 199.2 mile (300 km+) free
triangle distance flight. It should be a state record in the
Multiplace and Sports categories for free FAI triangle distance. OLC Classic: 296.10 points FAI-OLC: 291.22 points OLC League Speed: 64.07 km/hr |
What a fun flight! The 3rd leg was in very weak lift. We barely made it home. | OLC Details | |
| June 2, '06 | Kathleen Winters | Libelle | Faribault | I might have a soaring record, fem. altitude gain, 15 meter, 10,092 ft. Just filed OLC points. Took off from FBL, limped to Owatonna, from there I scooted along under a band of strong lift that ended around Newton, IA, the day ending quickly, as if a switch were pulled. Landed Newton airport. Total time, 3:30, about 202 miles olc. | Dynamite day. Jim crewed. | OLC Details | |
| May 22, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | Straight line flight from FBL to Litchfield MN, 4:10, 89.11 miles, 234.27 OLC points | Crew Chief Tom Kuhfeld stayed with the glider for the entire flight and observed the landing. | OLC Details | |
| May 21, '06 | Richard Weil | Completed the requirements
for his Phase X FAA Wings Details on the Wings program are available here: http://www.faa.gov/safety/awards/wings/ |
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| May 16, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | Flight from FBL to Ames IA in 4:25. Zig-zag flight to avoid the storms. OLC distance 177.67 mi, 485.22 OLC points. | Lost contact with crew chief Kathleen Winters about midway in flight, but got together again in early evening at the Ames airport. Matt Michael of Ames assisted in moving to a tiedown spot and, the next day, in trailering the ship. | OLC Details | |
| May 6, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | Downwind dash to Menominee WI, 87.72 mi, 230.73 OLC points. 2:35 | Pickup of wind in mid-afternoon made the thermals unusable. Crew Chief Roger Payne observed the landing at the Menominee airport. | OLC Details | |
| Apr. 26, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Stanton | Straight-out distance flight to Monroe WI, 220.58 OLC miles, in 5:50. OLC points, 580.73. Currently this is the best flight in the world on the OLC Daily Score for that date. | Blue day with no Cu. Strong thermals (500fpm) to 7500 MSL. Crew chief Roger Payne was 25 miles away from Monroe at the time of landing even though we had not communicated all day!! Home by 3:00AM, Roger by 3:30. | OLC Details | |
| Apr. 25, '06 | Richard Andrews & Paul Remde | DG-1000 | Stanton | 231.1 km (143.6 mile)
triangular flight from Stanton to Eagle's Nest to Hayfield City and home
to Stanton. Speed: 40.44 mph (not fast enough for a state record). OLC Classic: 245.03 km, 222.00 points FAI-OLC: 237.10 km, 215.55 points |
What a fun flight! It is such a treat: - to fly in such a hot ship as Dick and Fred's DG-1000 - to share the flight with someone in a 2-seater, it is nice to e able to hand off the piloting for a while and enjoy the scenery - to fly with such a great pilot as Dick Andrews. We got low (1000 ft AGL) several times which is the reason our speed was not much faster. We were low on final glide and used a fire from a burning field to get up to glideslope about 10 miles from home. |
OLC Details | |
| Apr. 23, '06 | Scott Elhardt | Mosquito | Stanton | 133 km (82.6 mile)
triangular flight to Owatonna and Dodge Center. He then flew to
Faribault and landed out on the way back to Stanton. 117.68 OLC miles, 171.26 points |
This was Scott's first off-field landing. The retrieve crew included Tim Mattsson and Marilyn Meline and ???. On the way to Faribault there was lift all the way. On the way back their was sink all the way. | OLC Details | |
| Apr. 23, '06 | Dan Shallbetter | ASW-28 | Stanton | 173 km (107.5 mile)
triangular flight from Stanton to Waseca, Dodge Center and back to
Stanton. OLC Classic: 213.92 km, 190.87 points FAI-OLC: 182.45 km, 168.93 points (3rd place for the day in the USA!) |
OLC Details | ||
| Apr. 22, '06 | Dan Shallbetter | ASW-28 | Stanton | 133 km (82.6 mile)
triangular flight to Owatonna and Dodge Center. OLC Classic: 176.4 km, 156.48 points, 63.22 km/h FAI-OLC: 127.54 km, 118.09 points, 45.71 km/hr |
OLC Details | ||
| Apr. 17, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Osceola | Good wind, about 20 mph from the ESE at the start, coming around to more southerly as I flew NW. Launch at 1:45 and land about 5:50 at Staples MN airport. Distance was 135.81 OLC miles. | Lee Bradshaw provided the tow with his Husky. Roger Payne, retrieve crew, stayed close to the pilot all day. At Staples the pilot was able to guide Roger to the airport so he was there alongside the runway to observe the landing. Home by 11:00 pm. | OLC Details | |
| Apr. 12, '06 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Faribault | About 160 sm from north of FBL to Manchester Iowa in 5 hours. OLC points to be determined. | A real struggle at the start and at several points during the day. "Sancho" Cunningham, who had figured out where the pilot was going to land before the pilot had, arrived at the Manchester airport within five minutes. | OLC Details | |