Yesterday I set a new world endurance record of 2 hours 20 minutes for 100kg
51 year old pilots with less than 20 hours solo, flying the PW5 at 1630 on a
Wednesday afternoon.
It was a totally blue day in Benalla and no appreciable lift had been
reported during the day. I had to single handedly (mostly) move four other
gliders out of the hangar to get at the PeeWee and then put them all back
again. By the time I got out to the field I was wondering whether it was
going to be worth it just for one or two circuits.
Takeoff at 1630. On tow we seemed to be going up faster than usual so I took
a high one to 5300' QNH thinking that to get one longish flight and not pay
for two tows. I released into lift for the first time ever (another record!)
and climbed slowly to 6200'. I tried practising thermal centring techniques
but the lift was wide and gentle and I couldn't find anything that seemed to
be a core.
Although I'm only cleared for local soaring, after about an hour and a half
of just stooging around the airfield between 3000' and 5000 ' I set myself a
task to go around Winton racecourse and back (about 10km round trip). Piece
of cake! So I extended the task to take in the Hume Highway turnoff south
west of town (another 10km).
I kept encountering wide areas of 2-5kt lift and only packed it in at 1850
because I was thirsty, my bum hurt and I needed a leak.
On the day, I passed several milestones:
* longest flight
* furthest flight
* more solo time than dual
* most economical aerotow
* most hard physical work just before a flight
I finally got out of Benalla at 2000 and home to Geelong at 2315. A long,
satisfying and far from BORING day.
Patrick
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