Your First Land Out

At 14:41 30 May 2019, 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.


May 29, 1966. I was 15 years old. Our club had taken our #003
1-26 to Salem Depot, NH for a small Memorial Day glider meet
hosted by Roy McMaster and crew. We had heavy rain in the
morning and watched as a cold front blew through. As soon as the
sun came out, low Cu's started popping, so they decided to launch
the fleet immediately. I was selected by our other club members
to fly that day. It turned out that the Cu's were very low due to the
wet ground, and the wind was quite strong. I found myself
thermalling with Roy below me in his 1-23 at low altitude about 10
miles from the launch point. There were a number of good looking
larger type fields around, but I decided to wait and see which field
Roy would pick, as he was a CFIG and all, and he was below me.
So, as I watched, Roy rolls out and heads into this small (~300'
long?) baseball field (with a good clear approach though). I couldn't
believe he was passing on all of the other bigger good looking fields.
So, Roy lands and rolls out around the baseball backstop and stops
on a driveway between two buildings. His wings stopped about 5'
short of each one. Well, I figured that Roy must have known
something that I didn't about all of those other good looking fields
because he was a local, so I decided to follow him in. The approach
area was an uphill clearing where the trees had all been knocked
down, so the only obstacle was a 3' high stone wall on the field's
perimeter. After seeing how long Roy had rolled, I decided that I
would watch my speed and land a little slower and shorter than he
did. I guess Roy knew that I was behind him because I never saw
anyone ground egress a glider quicker, as he jumped out and ran
to the middle of the field. My approach worked out pretty well with
my tail wheel just lightly grazing the top stone on that stone wall. I
touched down and stopped before mid-field where Roy was waiting
to grab a wingtip and groundloop me so that I wouldn't hit his 1-23.
As soon as I opened the canopy, I asked Roy why he had landed
there as opposed to all of those other good fields. His answer? He
was the principal of that school, so he knew his schoolyard! Except,
he couldn't remember if there was a power line going across the
approach, so he had flown faster than normal. Afterwards, we both
agreed that maybe the nice bigger fields would have been the better
choice. My father wasn't along for that contest, and Roy promised
me that he wouldn't tell him how small it was.... Later, though, Dad
had other opportunities to tell me to "pick a bigger field the next
time..." Luckily, they have all worked out OK....

RO