Accomplishments
and Fun Flights
of Minnesota Soaring Pilots
2007
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 - 2007 | |||||||
| Date | Pilot | Glider | Flying From | Description (how far, how fast, any badges or records) | Write-up (fun or interesting details) | Flight Log | Photo |
| Sept. 14, '07 | Kathleen Winters | Libelle 201 | Faribault | Faribault A/P to Monmouth Airport, IL, 309.92 sm, or 498.75 km (507.97 olc pts), Duration: 5:41 | A fun distance flight that started slowly under low cloud bases but a tailwind helped my progress. I focused on staying high, though there were patches of weak lift. Later, bases rose to 6,300 MSL, which I appreciated after looking down at acres and acres of tall corn crops in Iowa! I was determined to land in Illinois so I limped across the Mississippi River to land at an airport there. Special thanks to crew Jim and tow pilot Chris. | OLC Details | |
| July 29, '07 | Tom Kuhfeld | PW-5 | Stanton | Delbert Flight from Stanton to Osceola, WI | Delbert-2007-07-29.pdf | ||
| July 29, '07 | Dick Andrews & Fred Hewitt | DG-1000 | Stanton | Delbert Flight from Stanton to Osceola, WI | Delbert-2007-07-29.txt | ||
| July 28, '07 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola | Mark Robotti towed, and JC Cunningham crewed. I made a personal-best nearly closed-course flight, some 231.9 OLC Classic miles in 6 hours. The trip consisted of flying to Moose Lake, to Mora, back to OEO, to Baldwin, WI, and landing 10 miles SE of OEO at an unmapped very nice private grass strip (N 45 13' 56", W 092 31' 25"; see also image and description in writeup). This flight qualifies for 3 Wisconsin state distance records. You can see them here: Records |
Write-up |
OLC Details | |
| July 20, '07 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Osceola | Straight line flight of 127.79 OLC miles from Osceola to Clarissa MN. This resulted in 335.16 OLC points. | Lee Bradshaw towed. Roger Payne crewed and stayed with me all the way. After four hours we agreed that this was far enough for the day so put in at the private strip southeast of Clarissa. | OLC Details | |
| July 20, '07 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola | Lee Bradshaw towed, and Andy Power was my "in air" crew. It was mostly a blue day that got better, only after about 3pm. I made 143 miles (OLC Classic) in 4.9 hours on a flight from OEO to Mora, to New Richmond, and back to OEO. |
Write-up |
OLC Details | |
| July 11, '07 | Kathleen Winters | Libelle 201 | Faribault | Faribault, Mn to Maquoketa, IA airport, 231 OLC miles, Duration: 5:15 | Tough flight began in weak lift and windy, Thanks to Chris for the tow and to Jim H. for crewing | OLC Details | |
| July 9, '07 | Kathleen Winters | Libelle 201 | Osceola | Osceola, WI to Viroqua, WI airport, 166 OLC miles straight line, Duration: 3:55 | Arrived late at airport, started at 1:30 p., thanks to Lee Bradshaw for the tow and to Jim Hard for crewing | OLC Details | |
| July 6, '07 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola | OEO, Chetek, Princeton, and back to OEO for 214 miles (OLC Classic), in 5.9 hours. | Andy Power acted as in-air crew for me while he was off on his own cross-country flight. This is my personal-best distance on a closed-course flight. | OLC Details | |
| June 30, '07 | Paul Esser | Pilatus B4 | Osceola | Silver Duration leg flight of 5 hours out of Osceola. Confirmed by The Badge Lady, Judy Ruprecht, on July 30th. | Summerboost.pdf | ||
| June 29, '07 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Osceola | Straight line flight from OEO to Field of Dreams airport, Hinckley MN | Flight was short, only 60.15 miles which resulted in 156.2 OLC points. Crew chief Kathleen Winters beat the pilot to the Hinckley airport. This was the first glider flight to the Grand Casino Hinckley, according to the airport manager. | ||
| June 19, '07 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Osceola | Downwind dash on a windy day. Went 205.65 OLC miles in 3:20. You figure the average speed. OLC points are 542.09. | Lee Bradshaw came out to tow and the tow was rock and roll cuz of the gusty wind to over 20 kts and the thermal activity. Release about 12:30. Headed toward Waupaca with Andy Power in close pursuit. Deviated to Clintonville WI where there would be help to trailer the ship in the windy conditions. Landed about 3:45 and called local pilot who had helped before. He, Lowell Stephani, showed up in about half and hour which then allowed the pilot to safely get out of the aircraft without worries of it blowing over in the wind. Andy got there shortly thereafter and we got home well before midnight. | OLC Details | |
| June 8, '07 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola | Lee Bradshaw came out to tow, and with Jim Hard crewing, I flew to Freeport, IL in 5.25 hours. The flight was 269.3 miles (OLC Classic) | The day was mostly blue, and I had a tailwind of around 20 mph. This was my longest distance flight to date. I landed in a farmer's field just North of Freeport, and the farmer was very helpful, even allowing us to store the glider trailer at his farm over night while we got a meal and stayed at a local hotel for the trip back the next day. A more complete write-up is here: Details | OLC Details | |
| May 27, '07 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola | I flew from OEO to the shore of Green Bay, landing at Oconto airport. The flight was 256.6 miles (OLC Classic) and took 5 hours, flying downwind. | This was my first flight of at least 400km, and my second Gold Distance flight. This was also my first time soaring on the shore of a great lake. Dick Beggs crewed on this flight. | OLC Details | |
| May 17, '07 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Faribault | Details are available here: Write-up | OLC Details | ||
| May 10, '07 | Fred Hewitt & Marilyn Meline | DG-1000S | Stanton | 504 km triangle from
Stanton to Church, IA (CJJ) to Algona, IA (AXA) and return. 504KM in
approximately 6:40. First dual 500km ever in MN. Should set
several state records.
-
Speed around a triangular course of 500 km
- Open Multi-Place
- Sports
- Distance to a Goal
- Open Multi-Place
- Free
3-turnpoint Distance
- Open Multi-Place
-
Triangular Distance
- Open Multi-Place
- Free
Triangular Distance
- Open Multi-Place
- Sports Class
|
Lift to 9000', and mostly blue. Landed about 7pm. | ||
| May 9, '07 | Brian Utley | DG800B | Stanton | 317 km triangle with turn points at Grand Meadows and Budde private air strip followed by a mini triangle almost to Red Wing and Goodhue. This sets a motorglider 300km record at 57 mph. Total distance was 388km. | Cu's were visible at about 7,000' early on but the lift dropped off significantly before reaching cloud base. As the flight progressed the lift got stronger and the bases went up and eventually reached 9000'. Cu's disappeared within 25 miles of the second turn point and lift became sparse due to the wet ground around Mankato. The last leg was uneventful after reaching the clouds. | OLC Details | |
| May 9, '07 | Tom Kuhfeld | PW-5 | Stanton | I completed the 300 K
flight from Stanton to Blue Earth to Austin to Stanton. Since there
haven't been any World Class records in Minnesota yet, I should qualify
for a few. It seems that the following apply: - Speed around a triangular course - Triangle distance - Absolute altitude - Altitude gain - Free 3-turnpoint distance - Free Out and Return Distance |
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| May 3, '07 | Jim Hard | Schweizer SGS 1-26A | Osceola | Flight from near OEO to Wadena MN, 161.49 OLC miles, 424.75 OLC points | First X-country of the year. Thermal soaring flight on windy day. Tow pilot Mark Robotti came out just to make the tow. Crew chief Roger Payne stayed near the pilot all day. Landed about 4:20 CDT and got help trailering from the airport manager, Stanley, and a local pilot, Rory. | OLC Details | |
| Apr. 29, '07 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola | 65 miles (OLC classic). Launched from OEO, flew to Taylors Falls, then to Amery, WI, then back to OEO. | Link to Details | OLC Details | |
| Apr. 28, '07 | Fred Hewitt and Dale Johnson | DG-1000S | Stanton | 72.2 miles free out & return | Attempted out & return to Olivia, Minnesota, Strong headwinds and deteriorating conditions truncated the try. | ||
| Apr. 28, '07 | Chris Prince | SGS 1-35 | Osceola | 95.1 miles (OLC classic). Launched from OEO, flew to Cambridge, MN, then to Hinckley, MN and landed in a sandy, farmers field in Grantsburg, WI. | Link to Details | OLC Details | |
| Apr. 28, '07 | Brian Utley | DG800B | Stanton | I declared the 200km triangle again as the cu's began to pop. The wind was really blowing from the NW so it was clear that the second leg was going to be the problem. That forecast proved to be true but, slowly I made my way there with an occasional boost to over 9000'. The last leg was a breeze finishing at 4500'. Again, conditions looked good to the south and pilot reports were talking about over 10000' bases so I flew down past Kenyon almost to Hwy 14 getting up to 10449'. Totals: 187.5 miles, speed for the triangle 54.62 mph. | OLC Details | ||
| Apr. 28, '07 | Don DePree | Libelle 201 | Faribault | 191 mile Diamond Goal flight from Faribault to St. James to Hutchinson and back to Faribault. | Congratulations go to Don De Pree. On Saturday April 28 Don flew a Diamond Goal Flight. Diamond Goal is a closed coarse, out and return or triangle of at least 186 miles, with the turn points declared prior to launch. Don, launched at about 11:30, flying his Libelle 201, went just over 191 miles from Faribault to St. James, to Hutchinson and return to Faribault at about 4:30. This was also Don's first Gold Distance flight (a flight of 186 miles). - Jim Cunningham | OLC Details | |
| Apr. 28, '07 | Scott Elhardt | Mosquito | Stanton | 300 km Gold Distance and Diamond Goal flight from from Stanton to Blue Earth, Austin and back to Stanton. | OLC Details | ||
| Apr. 27, '07 | Brian Utley | DG800B | Stanton | I declared a 200km triangle - Hayfield, Janesville and return because there is no 200km record on the books for Minnesota in the MG class. | The first leg was great. No turns all the way to Hayfield but it was a different story going into the wind. It was tough slogging past Owatonna and by the time Waseca showed up it looked like nothing ahead so I aborted the task and flew back to Stanton. Conditions still looked good to the South so a quick leg almost to Dodge center and over by Medford and back. 174 miles and 99 kmh. | OLC Details | |
| Apr. 27, '07 | Mike Schumann | Ka-8 | Stanton | Silver Distance and Altitude gain flight from Stanton to Waseca and back to Stanton. | OLC Details | ||
| Apr. 14, '07 | Brian Utley | DG800B | Stanton | This flight started out as a nice easy 100km triangle. Zumbrota, Medford and return. The leg to Zumbrota was a quick glide with no turns until after the turnpoint. Heading toward Medford one could see nothing but dark clouds and they were moving to the East. I lost all sunlight just West of Kenyon but kept on going toward Medford. There was nothing under the clouds and turning Medford the closest sunlight was south of Kenyon. A quick dash to the remaining sunlight and luck was with me. A nice thermal to 6200 and a straight glide back. Final tally: 95 miles and 94 kmh. Spring is now here! | OLC Details | ||
