Independence Day Flying or how far will some one drive just to fly?



4 July 2006

Eric Tucker, John Lowery, Christian, Dave Snyder and I, drove to Sierra Vista. We spotted westerly winds at the I 10 turn off. The winds were westerly in Mustang corners and at Sierra Vista as well. We elected to have breakfast in town. By 10 am the conditions had not improved so we drove, to Greaterville. The wind was very northerly there, at 5 to 9 mph. We got up to Box canyon launch by 11:15 and conditions look light but favorable. Eric Tucker set up and Dave Snyder as well, I set up after them and launched Dave. Dave had a long wait in a jacket, he got baked! He unhooked and got rid of the jacket, it was plenty warm on launch. The clouds were building and Christian had hiked to the PG launch area. He reported too much wind to launch into, and we were suffering under light to no wind conditions. Dave picked up his glider several times and set it back down as the cycles’ were either too crossed to hold the glider and launch safely or to light.
Around 1:30 Dave got a good cycle and off he went. I think his parting words after clear were, no, no! Box had scored another one! Dave fell victim to ramp suck, a combination of the rotor under the wing tips and the vertical air coming up the face, “sucked him off” before he was ready to go! He recovered nicely and climbed easily above launch. After getting up behind launch he headed for the northwest PG ridge and soared there. Next thing I knew he was scratching above the PG lower launch area. He picked up a good one and took it to above the top and eventually over the back in the next one to the meadow.
Eric Tucker was up next, the conditions had picked up since Dave’s launch and they stayed strong for quite a while. Eric T. took a lull and had a nice smooth launch. He did not encounter much lift until he was on approach to land! He had a good landing right on the spot in spite of the thermals breaking off of the lz.
It was 2pm by now and the sky was getting pretty dark. I launched in the first available cycle and sunk like a stone. I glided to the PG lower launch, got there below the top of the last hill! There was a good thermal there and I rode it up over the top of the peak. Christian was hanging out and we spoke on the radio, he had decided to hike down. The sky to the west was solid overcast at the mines and raining and the clouds over head were developing quickly. I could not seem to get above 6700 msl. I sunk down to 6300msl and made a run for the hang glider launch area. Not much lift at launch, I continued north to the far ridge line. I found abundant lift there and climbed out to 8500 at the east spine behind launch. I went over the back with this one and climbed to 10K half way to the meadows. I flew around over Greaterville looking for Dave? The sky was a mixture of high stratus clouds and lower cumulus clouds. The cummies were at 10K. There were a couple of large thunder storms on the horizon, one to the west 20 miles away and one over the Whetstones and one behind the Huachuca’s. I drifted south from the meadows LZ in a small thermal and climbed back to 7K, it felt like commitment time. I could glide back to the meadows and land or keep going? My radio call to Dave was finally answered; he was in the bar at Sonotia. Ok the challenge was on; I kept working my thermal and drifting that way myself. I spoke with John, and let him know where Dave was. They were still driving down the mountain. I ended up drifting one third of the way to Sonotia in that thermal. I hit some sink and scratching for a while and glided to town to circle the Steak out 1500 feet over! On the glide in I spotted Dave’s glider laying along side of the road, it’s amazing how easy you can spot a broken down glider in the grass from above! He had flown to with in .6 of a mile of Town and walked the rest of the way. Conditions by now were pretty dynamic. The storm to the south behind the Huachuca’s had grown to biblical proportions, black clouds, lighting, and streamers to the ground. The rodeo grounds to the west were being ravaged by gusty winds, soil lifting from the open area in brown sweeping lines. I spiraled down, still took a minute to get on the ground. I was broken down in about 15 minutes, the clouds dissolved and the sky turned blue. Ok, that’s from a song, however the wind let up and the storms did not close in on us like it appeared they might. John drove up while I was breaking down, we loaded up and drove north to find Dave’s Falcon, that’s right xc in a Falcon I ! We drove back thru Greaterville and down front to pick up Eric Tucker. John drove like hell just like always. The overcast had come in and Tucker was spared from some of the heat. Neither Dave nor I apologized to Tucker for going XC while he was out front. I could say things like, I only followed him, John was going to have to drive to Sonotia even if I landed in the meadows.( That’s my story and I am sticking to it!) The truth is we took the opportunity to max it out a little and go for it. Thanks for your patience. Christian was surprised that it did not rain! So were we!

Eric