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

204 MILES OUT-AND-RETURNNEW ZEALANDby S. H. GeorgesonIN(This IQ/iqut: flight in both directions along a slandiflg wave in tht lee of the Southern Alps,carried out above 20,fYiX)leet all the w,ay, was mentiolU!d in our Aprilissue andis here describedin full detail by the pilot.)AKE-oFF ftom Harewood Aerodrome inT the Skylark 3b was at 10.30 a.m., witha ground wind of020°. The wind backed to33'0° approximately and from the Met. ,thisdirection was held to around 3,000 feet.The tow behind the Tiger was uneventful,and no downcurrent was met until justprior to crossing the first range of hills intoLees Valley, when we struck a reasonabledowndraught ofabout 5·10 feet ,a second onthe vario. Turbulence fol1Qwed this, andafter crossing into Lees Valley I noticedsmall ,roll-type cloud in the lee of the hillsto the west of the valley. At this altiiude wepassed through heavy rain and cloud, withmarked tllrbulence, and I was frightenedthat the tow pilot would wish to turn back.However, he stuck to his gunsaod I releasedin the first lift I ,encountered of any con.sequence, at a little over 8,000 ft. Werocketed up to 10,000, where I promptlylost the lift and spent some time looking forit. The next two hours were spent in findingpatches oflift and losing them again. However,the ove,r-all picture was a steady gainof height,At I1.00 I had achieved my aim ofreaching 20,000 ft., which, under theconditions, I considered the right altitudeto set off for Burkes Pass. For the next tenmiles We encountered lift and reached aheight ,of about 22,,000 ft. ln the lee ofMount HUll a heavy downdraught wasencountered which caused quite 'a lot ofconcern, as the usual teclrnique for gettingout of this situation did not seem to apply.However, by sticking to my guns and facinginto wind, I eventually got back into lifta;gajn. We were able to keep a steady gainof height of between 20-22,fYiX) ft. goingsouthward until we 'reached the TwoThumbs FaJtge after crossing the RangitataRiver. Mount Cook was completelyobscured by cloud and most of theMcKenzie basin was also covered by cloud.-116-A very big downdrallght was encounteredhere, and once again I was able to get outof it by diving at maximum speed ofapproximately 108 knots. Lift then becamevery vigorous and we sailed blissfully up to25,000 ft., when I decided I had gon~ highenough for the next leg, which was thefifteen mile run down to Burkes Pass andback out to the same position.We arrived at Burkes Pass one and a halfhours after leaving Lees Valley. I was ableto photograph my turning-points, and wasabout to take further photographs of themagnificent view, when Il)oticed that I hadonly one 'film lett in the camera. It waslucky that I woke up to this fact, as I wouldnot have been able to pho:ograph my lastturning-point.The trip back was considerably slower, asthere was a head wind component and I wasflying at over 100 knots in order to makeheadway. The downdraughts were ex~,5. H.GEORliESON~ WAVr.. FLIGHT. 26.1,57-• 204 hilUS OUT &. ~TU"'NJII/ OC£ANI sc.-t..£ ~. M:L[S:I;'lt!SlJ"