Outlanding stories

OK, I'll bite.

If 5 miles was your second shortest, what was the shortest ?

Rope break on a ground launch ? That doesn't count!

Doug



And I'm still embaresed about my 2nd shortest
cross-country flight.

Steve

The best thread so far! Please keep on sending your stories!

/Jancsika (who managed to make the first outlanding next to a nuclear
power station...)

Dutch junior championships, thunderstorm between course and field.
Within 20 minutes everyone landed out. So did I. I found a nice field,
close to a huge road. Anyway, final, touchdown, all went fine. At about
60 km/h, my wheel collapsed and I came to a stop... at least that was
what I thougt. Getting out of the glider resulted in sinking about 15
centimeters (7 inch) in the mud; probaly the result of the
thunderstorm. Also my wheel wasn`t collapsed , but just completely into
the mud.

Walking to the road I saw a huge ditch, covered with duck-weed. The
only way out was the other direction, about 200 meters of f**** mud.
After finding the farmer it took about half an hour to convince the
farmer that his 4X4 was able to tow the glider out of the field and
wouldn`t get stuck in it. Towing worked fine but the last 50 meters of
the field were just too muddy. So we decided to bear all the parts
apart. About 3 hours after arrival of my crew we were on oure way home,
the glider and myself being brown instead of white...

Though I have landed out quite a many times - too many - nothing
extraordinary comes to my mind.

But fellows have been through some exceptional ones.

One my favourite is from competition, where I was scoring. One pilot entered
the tower to give me the GPS. Nothing special apart from that he landed out
and walked the remaining 1 km to get the car and bring the logger.

Last Summer, when I was scoring in EGC Rayskala I visited home, and when
driving back there was a glider landing out by the road. Unfortunately it
wasn't one of the competitiors, as I would have loved to see his expression,
when I would have asked for the logger to make scoring faster

One guy managed to land out in 10 minutes from 3000 m. He has also some
other quite great stories. Like landing out on a very small backyard of a
house without breaking the glider. Quite an achievement, especially when
there was a 2 km long field next to the house. On another occasion he landed
out and when going to call the air field ended in the local restaurant and
offered himself some drinks (as it's his habit) . Meanwhile his retrieval
group happened to find the glider on the field. In a moment it was inside
the closed trailer and by experience they guessed where to find the pilot.
Now became the fun part as they asked the directions to the field. Our pilot
gave the instructions but of course there was no glider. He became quite
uncertain and asked to drive a bit here and there - with no avail (as is
easily deduced). After a while the group gave up and disclosed the gag.

My "personal best" was a landout in my early days. I was landing out on a
field next to quite a big hill (Finland is quite flat, so my big hill is
next to nothing to most hills elsewhere). On the end of the downwind I
looked down to the tree tops and decided to make a turn to base leg. Only
then I saw the field quite a lot lower than me. Fortunately Ka-6 has quite
capable brakes and touchdown to the soft dark field was quite a thrill: from
90 to 0 in 17 meters!. Well, that is anything very spectacular but the best
(or worst) comes later. I called to the airfield and asked the guys to come
and get me. I also asked them to check all the things are inside the closed
trailer. Well... after a wait they came and we started derigging. Everything
went smoothly until we started to put the fuselage into the trailer. The
fuselage dolly wasn't there! After an election I lost by 3-1 ("Who flew the
glider in the first place") there was a human fuselage dolly. Quite a nice
experience, standing there in the dark in the towed trailer and holding the
glider in the right position. Now afterwards it feels even more dangerous
than then (me having only 17 years) but as the god saves the fools,
everything went quite smoothly .. err at least safe

Another a bit interesting (for both of you still reading until this ... good
sleep for the others) landout was something I was forced to do. We have an
annual vintage event in Jamijarvi and as we had one trailer less than
gliders it was decided that I (with generous 45 minutes on Ka-2b before the
flight) was tow transferred a Ka-2b behind a (bit underpowered) Rallye tow
plane. It was not fun, as though the day was quite early, there were some
forming cumulus and some heavy turbulence. The tow pilot took off and went
directly to the course to our final destination-to-be. For some 15-20
minutes we were unconfortably low, as there was just forest and forest
below. I flew all the time with two hands and was sweating in no time. The
only radio was a handheld, but I couldn't get any discussion when needed
both hands. Ka-2b is not silent on those speed either. And then, just as we
were over a quite a big lake near Tampere there loomed the last cumulus
before big blue. And of course the tow pilot flew through the turbulence. We
made through the turbulence and the flying went smoother. Well, yes and no.
The flying went smoother, true, but it wasn't US anymore. The rope had
somehow disengaged itself. How it happened is still unknown to me, the rope
was OK, the Tost was OK, but somehow it happened. Of course I had quite a
hefty headwind and fast mental calculation gave me 150 m on the other shore
with no secure landing place visible. I had to turn back and though there
was turbulence, I couldn't find any decent (ot otherwise) lift and even
finding a good field was quite a job to do. Below 400 meters I found quite a
good one, though the conditions forced me to make a tailwind landing. Down
it went and nothing special in the landing. I had my cellular, but where was
I (I knew it approximately, though there was a circle of uncertainty about
10 km large). I guessed one direction and after a walk of 2 km I found a
roadcrossing, so I could give the basic instruction where to come. I turned
back and took the other road and after a walk of 3 km came to the yard of a
house. But no one there, though it didn't seem like abandoned. I waited for
some half an hour but as nobody was coming I decided to get back to the
glider. It was hot and I was very thirsty, with nothing to drink with me (I
should have been in Jämijärvi at that time). Just as I was going to go, the
house people came home. From their expressions and suits it was quite clear
they were coming just from funeral. I was granted one glass of water,
though. From then on it wasn't too bad (considering derigging Ka-2b isn't
that bad - a big consideration).

I think I have made even both of the readers left snore, so it's no point
going on...

Best regards

hannu

hannu wrote:
I was granted one glass of water,
though. From then on it wasn't too bad (considering derigging Ka-2b isn't
that bad - a big consideration).

I think I have made even both of the readers left snore, so it's no point
going on...

More, more!!! Why only one glass of water?

Best regards,

Jer/ "Flight instruction/mountain flying are my vocation!" Eberhard

--
Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO
CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jeratfrii.com http://users.frii.com/jer/
C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor
CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot BM218 HAM N0FZD 235 Young Eagles!