May 1987 with probably 50 hours TT in gliders. Club had brought one glider to Blairstown for "away operations" and it looked like a good day to cut class and fly instead. Brought my girlfriend along on the drive for company. Took the club 1-26 up with a weak NW flow. Caught the first thermal and drifted downwind. Caught the second one and drifted further downwind. Struggled with the third one and realized that I might not make it back. Pushed into the wind and found myself over the last big field before a stretch of trees. CFIs had hammered into us to "put it in a field if you're not sure you can make it", so in I went. Ended up landing downhill (luckily it's a 1-26) and used about 98% of the field. Heart rate up to 130 by the time I was done and the dust settled.

Walked to the farmhouse and chatted with the farmer. Turns out his son was the soccer coach at my rival high school. He offered to drive me down the hill to the airport (all of 2 miles). I come sauntering over to the office where the towpilot on duty and my girlfriend are talking and I tap on the back door. She's obviously confused since the glider wasn't anywhere obvious on the airport. Gregg Abbey (towpilot) says "oh yeah, this happens all the time" and off we go with his pickup to retrieve the glider.

Another 50 or so since, none of them downhill.

P3



On Thursday, May 30, 2019 at 8:11:19 PM UTC+5:30, Dan Marotta wrote:
Describe your first land out and tell us if you had any specific prior
training for cross country flying or for landing in an unusual place.

--
Dan, 5J