2001 got me back into gliding in a big way and after a long break. Pestering my friends resulted in a lot of conflicting advice – all it well-meant but half of it completely wrong, but of course, you never know which half is correct or helpful. People I had known for years told me “Want to buy a Nimbus? How many friends have you got, George?” Finally, my heart set on a 30 year old Slingsby Kestrel – a licence-built version of a German design with a slightly bigger 19 metre wingspan. The freedom to fly when I wanted without having to take pot luck in the morning lottery for club gliders was liberating. Two months after 9/11 and after having flown the kestrel in the August Regional competition, I decided to go follow some other Lasham members to Minden and do some wave flying.

Looking down at the ice floes in the north Atlantic on the flight over was a bit chilling and snow covered much of the American landscape. Arriving at Reno in Nevada late at night, I went to the Avis car rental office and hired a 4×4. Ten minutes after setting off, a young guy in an even bigger Silverado 4×4 ran into the back of me. Fortunately, I was able to drive back to the rental office and get a replacement but it was too late too drive to Minden, so I spent the night in a large hotel there. Filing an accident report with the Police was optional but I thought I would be a good citizen and after 2 hours with a lady police offcer, I left the local police station with a yellow form. The local FAA office was closed but when I explained I had come from England, they unlocked the door and stamped my gliding logbook. After a 35 mile drive, I booked into the motel at Minden which was clean and warm but the anonymity of it made it depressing.

Minden with its Douglas County Airport lies to the east of the Sierra Nevada in a valley. The first day’s flying involved a check flight with a local pilot and an explanation of the areas where gliders are allowed to fly and where they are not and the airways into and out of Reno. We had a 3 hour flight north and then back south trying avoid going above 18,000 feet – the height at which Controlled Airspace starts in the US.
As most of our flight was above 12, 000 feet, we were both breathing oxygen and it was very cold. Ice was forming on the inside of the canopy so I thought I would scrape some it off, but the guy in the back shouted telling me not to do this as such action actually increases the growth of ice – too late! The flight was gorgeous, looking down on the ski slopes in the Sierra Nevada and what looked liked a big puddle next to it – Lake Tahoe. After about 2 hours, the same voice from the back told me that the oxygen was down to about 1/4 tank so we had better turn round. My feet were numb with cold by this time so I was inwardly pleased but thought it better not to say so. Good time for a drink I thought, but the small water bottle that was in my pocket was nearly all ice. I was glad to land about an hour later.

A later check of barograph trace showed that the maximum height in the special wave flying area was 50 feet short of 25,000 feet (above sea level). This would have given me a single Lennie Pin, an American gliding badge. You get the second pin for reaching 35,000 feet and the third one for 40,000 feet.

Next morning, the weather looked grey and dull so I went back to bed and read a book. At 12 noon, I got a call from the Tony Sabino manager of my hosts Soar Minden, who said the wave was working asking me if I would like to fly?? I said I would be there in 20 minutes. As I stepped out of the motel room, I noticed a huge long wave cloud up the the sky looking like a huge white snake roughly aligned with the Sierra Nevada mountains which generated it.

Soar Minden is a commercial operation so one is pampered and many of the chores associated with club gliding are done by other people.
By contrast in a club, everyone has to muck in and help each other. I cannot rig or derig my glider without someone else’s help and vice versa - it is part of the ethos of gliding and adds a community spirit to it which does not really exist at a power flying club for example. Rigging and derigging my Kestrel used to take me an hour and I have heard of two hours rigging and preparation for more sophisticated gliders.

I arrived at the club and after changing into a thick corduroy jump suit and wrapping myself up like a Michelin man, was driven in a golf cart to my glider which was already prepped and lined up for take off. After the basic control and cockpit checks, I waggled the rudder and we were taking off taking care to keep straight and avoid the wingtips touching the mounds of snow piled up along the sides of the runway. The take off went fine but at 200 above the air got rough and we were in the rotor. While wave lift is silky smooth, under the crests of the wave clouds, you get what can best be described as a tunnel or cylinder of turbulent air which is known as a “rotor”. They can be very rough but today was quite manageable so I counted my blessings. About 4,000 feet above launch height, I released and pulled up off to one side while the tug dived way the to the other side. I then dived a couple of hundred feet to make a notch on the barograph trace from which any gain of height would be calculated.

The wave lift was smooth but only about 2 knots = I was going up at about 200 feet a minute which is OK for the UK but not very good for this place. I tried flying forward into wind – away from the airport and west towards the mountains where I hoped the lift would be stronger. After nearly an hour, I got to 15,000 above sea level which gave me the Gold Badge which you get for a gain of height of 3,000 metres. But one of my goals was to get the Diamond Badge which is only given for 5,000 metres or around 16,000 feet gain of height. I wandered around the sky for bit and then decided to head back with the Gold Height as my reward for the day. Navigation was easy since the most notable landmarks visible from the air were 4 square sewage ponds to the south west of Minden and I had plenty of height to get back.

After a few minutes, I told myself that I had not come to Minden for a consolation prize – I wanted the real one, so I turned round and flew west – upwind. For several minutes I lost height and there was no lift – I was digging into my height reserves but if I had to land out, then so be it. Eventually, the variometer needle showed neither sink nor lift – zero sink as glider pilots call it. The needle slowly crept up and was soon showing 4 knots or 400 feet a minute lift. I continued in the same direction and the lift started to weaken so I turned round and got back into the stronger lift. The higher I got the stronger the lift got. Around this point, I noticed a tornado-like feature about 40 miles away in the direction of Reno. The funnel was very well defined which seemed to start at the lowest layer of wave cloud and curve away at an angle into upper layers.

By this time, I was flying along the west side of the lenticular wave cloud formation which had several layers with clear gaps in between but the lowest layer was much wider than the others and as I gained height, this cut off sight of my landmark – the sewage ponds. I had a rough idea where I was as Lake Tahoe was always visible but would have liked a more precise fix on my position. As I got higher, the lift got stronger and the variometer needle was on its peg showing 1,000 feet a minute lift. The altimeter needle was moving continuously rather than sticking before jumping to a new height and ice was starting to form on the inside of the canopy. After missing my Lennie Pin the day before, I had radioed that I wanted to be able to climb to 25,000 feet above sea level and I was given clearance to 27,000. The altimeter was winding itself up and we passed quickly through 20,000 feet. In no time at all I had gone above 25,000 and opened the airbrakes. I was nowhere near the top of the wave system which seemed to go up beyond 40,000 feet. However, opening the airbrakes only reduced the rate of climb to 800 feet a minute, so I had to do something.

The wave cloud was roughly aligned north-south and I was flying north in strong lift so there was no point in flying north or south.
To the east, was the wave cloud formation but cloud flying is illegal in the US so east was out too. Cloud flying would also have meant the near certainty of picking up ice which would have ruined the performance of the glider and if the canopy had iced up, would have meant I was flying blind.
The only alternative was to fly west into wind but I could not find my map and I was really worried about going outside the permitted area for wave flying. I was between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, I could be run down by an airliner while on the other hand, an airspace violation could have put the gliding operation out of business, since they operated on a simple waiver. In addition, there could be legal penalties which would cost me a lot of money and maybe stop me from flying.

With the airbrakes fully open and still climbing at 800 feet a minute, I decided that going west was the safest thing to do and after a couple of minutes the lift decreased and I was descending. I flew back south along the wave system pushing the stick forward, flying as fast as was safe in the thin air. Eventually the sewage ponds became visible below the wide base layer of the wave system and I now knew exactly where I was. Nearer the airport I burned off some more height with some chandelles and tight turns and radioed when I was in the circuit, landing after 2 hours. The golf cart picked me up and I left the glider on the runway to be put away while I was whisked back to the clubhouse.

The barograph trace showed my maximum altitude was 25,450 feet – I had my first Lennie Pin and my Diamond Height. No one else was around so I drove back to my lonely motel room and since there was a cinema complex two minutes walk away, went to see what was on. I picked the first Harry Potter film as the reviews of the game of quidditch were raving. The film was good but the flight in my own broomstick was much better and still is the flight of my life.

If you have not tried gliding yet have a look at: www.gliding.co.uk
The place I visited: http://soarminden.com/

George Emsden – george@in2consulting.co.uk