I decided, fairly last minute, to attend the Wave Camp at
SoaringNV up in Minden. I haven't flown Sierra Wave before and figured that
it would be a good opportunity to learn about the setup and area. Thankfully
I had friends to stay with just up the road in Carson City, which kept costs
down. I took the Duo up and installed a new Mode S transponder at Williams
the weekend before the camp. By Sunday before the Tuesday Camp Started on,
the weather was looking pretty questionable. Snow, rain, nasty wind, cold
temps, cloud cover... The list of variables and questionable issues grew long
rather quickly. I had several people respond as being interested in possibly
coming up for a day of flying. I was unfortunately fairly pessimistic about
the weather and kept you all at bay although you'd have needed to cross the
Sierra in a fairly solid winter storm to get over to Minden. Hopefully you
aren't too disappointed in staying home.
I departed Williams on Monday morning after 3 long hard days of
work on Julie's plane. I managed to get up and over the Sierra before the
weather started to really blow or get too nasty. There were strong white caps
on Lake Tahoe, but the winds were manageable. I got the trailer dropped off
at the airport and got signed in for the camp as the winds really started to
howl. Numerous people had got Diamond altitude gains on Sunday and Monday,
unfortunately SoaringNV had their Pawnee get tipped on it's nose by and
powerful 50knot gust as it came around a building. That shut flying down for
Monday afternoon.
Tuesday morning the camp started with speakers from the Reno
ATC, Fred Lasor and Gordy Boetger talking about Big XC in wave. Good sessions
and a good rework of the schedule as it was blowing and snowing outside. By
evening, the winds were still ripping and the snow was still falling quite
heavily in fact. Wednesday looked like it was going to be a good day for
skiing at least.
Wednesday held more talks. Hypoxia and O2 usage by a Reno
anesthesiologist/glider pilot. Harlow showed up for an FAA safety briefing on
transponder usage and working with ATC. Thankfully, Wednesday also held
clearing conditions. Despite it being darn cold, the trigger temperature for
decent thermals was only about 40. With Harlow and another camp attendee
helping, I set up the Duo for an afternoon flight. Harlow refused the
opportunity to go up with me given that he was on the clock and burning
taxpayer dollars. I told him that I probably needed some transponder usage
coaching and help with the radio talking to ATC, but he still let me go off
without him. I took up the guy that helped me assemble the glider.
Interesting choice... He was a transitioning power pilot. We got off tow
into pretty strong thermal lift a few miles from the airport. Overhead were
nice marker clouds and we had winds less than 10knots from the west. Once
above 10,000 I called Reno and checked in and made sure I was squawking 1201
as requested. From there I took us on a tour of the valley. First off deep
into the Pine Nuts, then south and then back to the Sierra from a bit south of
Gardnerville. Beautiful marker clouds and solid 6knot lift was easily found.
Back over on the Sierra, we didn't find much other than my passengers Phobia.
Apparently he forgot to mention before we took off that he was afraid of
heights. Specifically, when we got close enough to terrain for him to realize
how high we were. So 3 miles out from the Sierra, he was getting quite
nervous and uncomfortable as the trees and rocks were giving him some
perspective on our height. Let's see, 11,500 and several miles from the
mountains and now you're nervous and tell me about it? I kept my distance so
that he could relax a bit, but I guess I'll add "Do you have any phobias I
should know about" to my preflight passenger checklist. He also informed me
that he needed to be back on the ground sooner rather than later to meet his
wife. Also something good to bring up if you're going up as a passenger with
someone in their glider, on their dime... I worked along the Sierra looking
for wavelets or something from the light west winds. Nothing. So we did
another lap around the valley on thermals before calling it a day to attend
the evening BBQ. Harlow, you missed a fun flight and I would have appreciated
your company. Next time...
Thursday we had great talks from Pete Alexander and Rick
Walters on flying wave and climbing into the wave from the rotor. That
afternoon I had the pleasure of flying with Pete. That's one good thing about
bringing your own High Performance glider, it's not too hard to fill a seat on
short notice. Pete gave me some great tips and instruction as we climbed up
in rotor over 395. Having spent the last several months focused on working
the ultra-weak winter lift, I was banking way too shallow and not flying
aggressively enough in the rotor. Picking up the speed 10knots and carving
legitimate 60 degree banked turns was what it took to really effectively work
the rotor. If you haven't put a glider up on a 60degree bank before or in a
while, it's really, really steep. Pressed into the seat at 2g while trying to
keep up on a tip, coordinated and dealing with 15knot gust differentials is a
whole different kind of flying than I'm practiced at. The difference between
my mellower 45 degree technique and an aggressive 60 degree bank in the strong
gusts worked out to going from a 3.5knot average to nearly 6knot average.
Above 10k we cleared with ATC out of Reno and kept working the rotor out to
the edge of the clouds and then above them. We got above the clouds and as
high as a little over 14,000. There just wasn't much in the wave of workable
wave unfortunately. Despite not connecting with the wave, or probably because
of not connecting, I got a lot of good practice trying to work rotor lift and
punch into wave. Very fun stuff.
If you consider attending a wave camp or are just interested
and capable of going to Minden to fly, I would high encourage taking some time
to fly with one of their instructors dual. The rotor and techniques are
different enough from our typical fat thermals in low wind at Avenal that you
really get what you pay for in having someone with experience give you the
guided tour. I was fortunate in being able to fly with Pete in my own plane,
but I'd definitely spend the money to fly with Fred or Jeff from SoaringNV in
order to leverage their experience in what to do and what to look for.
Friday was a classic wave day. Lenticular clouds visible first
thing in the morning. After the morning briefings, I readied the Duo for my
friend Katie. She'd never been in a glider before. Tandem Hang Glider yes,
but never a sailplane. We had a long wait to launch. We were third in line,
tows were long and high and then right when I thought we were good to go, wind
switch and refueling time...
We towed through the rotor. Wild stuff, how is your slack line
recover? It was a reasonable handful to keep in decent position and keep the
slack and shocks to a minimum. Definitely more work than a typically
turbulent thermal day. I think in part because of the high wind velocity you
don't always hit the same air the tow plane did. Usually out of Avenal you
watch the tow plane hit a thermal or a hole and a few seconds later you do the
same thing. In the rotor it wasn't as predictable. The tow plane would get
popped left and I'd get knocked right. Very dynamic flying required. Towing
through the rotor was the part I was probably most apprehensive about since it
was new and unfamiliar to me. It was a challenge, but not too bad. Since
this was Katie's first flight, I opted to tow into the laminar flow rather
than try to core up in the rotor. This meant a few more dollars, but kept me
from putting her straight into wild and crazy cranking and banking. When we
released at around 9k the lift was just starting to smooth out. One turn back
into the wind and we were in the glass smooth lift you hear about climbing at
10knots. Quickly we were into the realm of being able to reach Reno on the
radio. I checked in and confirmed my squawk code on the transponder and we
continued to climb. By 12,000 we were on O2 using the cannulas connected to
the EDS system. I brought our face masks, but decided against starting off
with them even though it is recommended if you're going to go above 18k.
Since I wasn't sure how Katie was going to feel about going high, I thought
I'd stick to cannulas at first and see how she felt, how conditions were and
make it easy to communicate. She was all for going higher and we had reports
of people exceeding 25k in the wave window so while we were still relatively
"low" we switched over to the facemask. It wasn't something I wanted to be
doing at 18k while climbing at 10knots.
The climb through 18k and into the 20s was smooth and fast.
Around 22k the climb rate slowed down to 3-4knots. I probably was a bit too
far downwind of the strongest lift, but it's hard to say for sure. At 24k we
were only climbing at around 3 knots. We passed through 25k (single lennie
pin height) and were still climbing smoothly. I wasn't going to go higher
than 26k, the climb rates weren't fast enough and without a backup O2 system
and pulse oximeter for checking O2 blood saturation I didn't want to do
anything more risky than we already were. Useful consciousness at 25k is only
about 90 seconds. After that you get really stupid, really fast. If your
Oxygen system fails you need to get down NOW. Thankfully by pushing forward
into the sinking part of the wave with the spoilers out you can obtain 2knot
plus sink rates without exceeding VNE. I will say that the EDS is probably
the only way I would go this high. Even though the constant flow system I
have in GD is capable of 25k, the EDS does a couple of things. First it has
an apnea alarm so that if you aren't breathing or oxygen isn't flowing it
beeps to remind you to breathe. Second, there is an audible pulse of oxygen
when you inhale. With the facemask, you can't feel the oxygen flowing so the
audio feedback is reassuring. With the constant flow, I'd definitely want the
pulse oximeter ($40) to make sure I was staying oxygenated and alert.
At 25,800 we weren't climbing much if at all and I didn't want
to loiter too long in this zone. We'd exceeded a Diamond altitude gain of
over 5000m and got some great views of the area. In a matter of a few minutes
we were approaching the 19k top of Reno airspace so I let them know we'd be
dropping back in on their party. Below 18k we flew up towards Carson City and
then down to Gardnerville with Katie getting a chance to handle the controls a
bit. The winds down low were really starting to pick up and snow was blowing
down into the Carson Valley. I was keeping a vigil eye on the weather below
us and decided it was prudent to continue our descent being careful not to
come down too fast and thermal shock the wings. Then again, the gel coat is
pretty cracked on 5H already so maybe most of that internal stress is already
relieved. We eased our way down playing with the lift and sink within a few
miles of the airport. Feeling out where the lift had moved to. With the
rising velocities the lift had migrated several miles downwind from where it
was in the morning. This put the airport right in the heart of sinky
rotorville. Below 8000 (airport elevation 4720) it started to get rough.
Jets approaching Reno had been reporting moderate to severe turbulence below
10k, they were right. 30+ degree uncommanded rolls were a distinct
possibility as we punched through the rotor. I put it up on a tip a few times
to show Katie what climbing out in the rotor is like. We could have
reconnected with the wave had we wanted, but the precipitation was edging ever
closer to the airport so it was our time to get down. At about 1500ft we were
showing 40+ knots of wind from the SW. A BASA Grob came in and landed below
us as we got tossed around. SoaringNV asked us to "wait" so they could clear
the Grob off the runway. Hah! In 40knot winds and air that was tossing
around 12knot vertical gust differentials the loitering was an interesting
challenge. We punched upwind until we hit lift and then rolled it onto a tip
to core the lift while ripping downwind. This did at least give me a chance
to really eyeball the windsock. On the ground winds weren't as bad, probably
20knot gusting to 35+, but crossing all the runways. Left cross on 30, right
cross on runway "west" (it's a closed runway, but one that is available for
nasty winds out of the west.) I decided 30 with a left cross was my best bet.
It was going to be a 30 degree crosswind or so according to the windsock, but
there is a huge staging apron that was empty. By utilizing that, I figured
I'd have almost no crosswind to deal with and safety was my number one
priority given the rough conditions. I radioed my intentions to Minden
traffic, looking for a right downwind to runway 30. Undercarriage down and
locked, speed trimmed at 70knots for authority and gradient, airbrakes half,
traffic clear and downwind we went. As we crossed over runway 16 on our
downwind leg, a golf cart came to a stop on the apron that I was going to
utilize to decrease the crosswind. No big deal, he was well clear of where
I'd need to be. But his flags and the now visible windsock at that end of the
runway were showing more like 90 cross. Yikes! Given this new info, runway
west was a much more appealing option. I radioed my new intentions to Minden
traffic and altered my pattern for a left downwind to runway West. The Grob
was cleared of the runway and despite some rock and roll on final, the
approach and landing was fairly uneventful as we touched down and rolled
through the runway intersections and onto a taxiway. As we slowed and my
rudder authority went away we did start to weathervane a bit, but we were off
the runway and on the taxiway at that point so I just stopped us and flew the
plane on the ground while waiting for ground support. With the help of
several people we got the glider towed into position to tie it down in the
shelter of the buildings. Shortly thereafter we started seeing a bit of rain.
It never rained much and the airport remained in the clear all afternoon, but
it was good to get down just to be safe.
Overall the camp was very informative. We saw one wave day is
all, but experienced several different types of flying. All of the presenters
were great and the staff at SoaringNV did a great job supporting all of the
attendees, readying ships and helping those of us with private ships. If
you're interested in flying in the Sierra Wave, SoaringNV is a great operation
to consider. They have top notch equipment available and great instructors.
Tows and equipment rentals aren't cheap, but you're getting a chance to fly
great equipment in awesome air so in the long run it is a very good deal.
Much cheaper than buying a Duo Discus for example. The camp itself was
really cheap with only $100 to cover the camp, a binder with great info and
some nice laminated reference cards.
I think they are going to offer a couple of thermal and XC
camps this summer and hopefully wave camps next spring as well. Gavin Wills
is going to be coming up from New Zealand to help put those on I believe. If
you're interested in flying out of Minden I would strongly encourage you to
sign up for one of their camps. The experience of getting to know the area
and the communication procedures with ATC is really valuable and leaves me
much more confident about showing up and flying there ad-hoc.
I'll give SoaringNV (pronounced Soaring Envy, not Soaring
Nevada) one more plug, you can check them out online at
www.soaringnv.com for their calendar of events.
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