Volume 8 No 3 Jun 1957.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

By th.is time I was down to 5,000 ft., 25miles from Harewood, but I was able tokeep aloft ~n very patchy lift until Iencountered good wave lift at 3,600 ft. overthe aerodrome. It took me an hour to reach18,000 ft. although at times the lift ex·ceeded 15 ft./sec. I had the feeling that thewaVes were arranged as peaks of liftdistributed at random rather thac as ridgesof lift, though later on and clQser to themountains the ridge type of formation wasmost pronounced.I dropped 5,000 ft. by going upwind a fewmiles and then spent nearly an hour and ahalf climbing to 28,000 ft., dodging aboutamong these imaginary peaks, sometimeslosing height, often finding lift at 15 ft./sec.and always keeping 20-25 miles downwindfrom the mountains. There was 'a layer of 600'scud cloud at about 10,000 ft. and the bestlift seemed (0 be found above these little 900cotton-woolly clouds. The great nor'·west I'll.arch was the ~nly other cloud and thisformed a sheet at perhaps 40,000 ft. with itsleading edge over the mountains and itstrailing edge miles out to sea. It obscuredthe sun throughout the·flJ'ght.The final lift from 24,000 to 28,000 wasdone in II minutes and this rate of climbHMlEWQOD,N£WZ&t\LAND, 3.40 P.M LOCAL TIME, 252.57.WtNDSTR[WG"rH & DIRECTION) TtMP£AATV_'E, ~IELATIvr. HUMIOITYO-..--r----.--,--..--r----.--,--~M~.300 .30,4llOZ4,OfJO'~ 1ll,OOO'600100 10.000'$,Of)IJ'.i't',~SVr.hc.4-+:.-+----I--+-+~+_f~-"b 10 ZO W -40Tl:Mp'1 I I I I·C."oo -SO -40 -JO -20WII~D DIIIECTlQW:Orf\UE Z8050 60 70 80: 1 I I-10 q +10 +20300 J20 340 Nhrs. with cold feet completed a thoroughlycould probably have been maintained for a enjoyable flight.long way, but I had doubts about the ••••oxygen equipment,. so decided to lose [Mr. Hamilton's last three words throwheight by going upwind. I passed through some light on his. outlook on !ife. It isat least one more good wave but did not reported that in the violent accelerationspause until reaching the mountains at encountered, his ·shins were cut when they21,000 ft. Here I turned across wind and h dflew north-east for 25 miles, keeping about it the instrument panel, an as each time20,000-22,000 ft. in the first wave upWind this occurred the .edge of the panel hit theof the foothills.same spOt, in olden days this woulli havebeen called torture, and not thoroughlyAt 16.00 hrs. I turned back, feeling cold, enjoyable at all. This turbulence shook offas I only had nylon socks on under thin all surplus glue and wood-chips etc., leftshoes. The cloud below had by this time inside the wing and possibly stuck on withformed itself into ridges with clear air in dope. During the flight Mr. Hamilton also'between, and there was no difficulty in in error allowed the speed at one moment tochanging to the wave just downwind at the exceed ma"imum placard speed, possiblyfoothills. In this wave I flew south-west for reaching 140 kts. This happened when he50 miles then explored upwind for a short had no horizon. The aircraft flies sotime before turning and cliving towards effortlessly at high speeds that he onlyHarewood. noticed it when he saw the win~-tipsHowever, the second wave downwind bending down.from the foothills seemed particularly Subsequent careful examination hasstrong,. and I could not resist zooming up revealed no damage except that the loose2,500 ft. in an incredibly short time in it chips inside the wing rattle when they areand then. pulling the brakes out Once mOre shaken.and heading for the aerodrome, which was Mr. Hamilton is obviously a pilot tostili over 30 miles away to the east. A T.V. watch, so we hope his hand will be a littledive, a loop, and then a landing at 17.15 more ready to the brake-lever next time!]-143-