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#1
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Nephi wrap-up
Seven days of soaring, over 46,000 km (28,000 miles or a little over going around the earth) of cross country flying, amazing views, interesting landings, outstanding hospitality, many new friends, and lots of smiles. That in one sentence sums up the Nephi, Utah OLC and Cross-Country camp. Utah has long been on the map for some fantastic soaring with Parowan to the South and Logan to the North. Nephi is in the middle between the two allowing access to flying terrain and conditions of both as well as the desert flying area of Ely, Nevada; all without having to worry about SLC airspace to the north.
Nephi is a city with a population of about 5,500 located about 80 miles south of Salt Lake City along I-15. It is nestled in a six mile wide valley between the southern end of the Wasatch mountains crowned by 11,600 foot Mt. Nebo towering 6,600 feet over the airport on the east side of the valley and the lower Long Ridge to the west. The terrain to the west is classic Great Basin high desert providing good heating early in the day. The airport is located at 5000 feet msl with a 6300 x 100 foot runway that provides the opportunity to launch heavy gliders. The area around the airport is mostly farm fields so there are many places to land if needed as we found out. Nephi has been on the radar of Utah pilots for many years with several local safaris organized by Lynn Alley (2KA) over the years. One motor glider has been based there for many years but the lack of local tows has limited the opportunity to explore all the potential. Bruno Vassel IV (B4) has been flying over the area for many years on flights out of Cedar Valley airport, forty miles to the North. He had noted that Nephi appeared to start earlier and was easier to get back to at the end of the day. To truly explore the potential we needed to hold a camp and invite a few friends to come fly with us. With that kernel of an idea Bruno was the spark that organized the event. The goal was to have fun flying speed tasks or OLC flight in a low pressure environment. It was not really a camp for new pilots but we had many pilots that had not flown really long flights set personal bests. Most of the flying during the 2013 camp was limited to south and west of Nephi due to weather. The camp was planned for early August with the hopes that the usual summer monsoons would have retreated to the south and east but still have enough heating and long days to truly stretch the legs of pilots. Most of the week the monsoon stayed just on the line east of Nephi, occasionally drifting to the west but only really effecting one day but it was still flyable. The area to the south overlaps with most of the flying area of Parowan so much of our flying was over familiar terrain with the milk runs down to Richfield, Beaver and beyond. The late summer weather in Utah allows more desert flying than contests in late June and we tried to take advantage of that as much as possible. The west desert is intimidating at first like the Caprock of NM or the Hill Country of TX, but after a few flights, pilots begin to relax and enjoy the amazing conditions as reports of 12 to 17 knot thermals trickled in during the camp. Flights to Wheeler Peak and Mt. Wilson VOR provided a chance to see turnpoints in Nevada and many pilots got the opportunity to fly great cloud streets along the ridges to the west of the Sevier dry lake. Nephi has the nice advantage that the winds are typically out of the southwest so 170 miles final legs were covered at over 113 mph and final glides often started at over 80 miles out along what appear to be infinite cloud streets. Lift worked until late in the evening with the latest landing at 8:30 pm! We did have some challenging conditions with strong east winds due to a pressure gradient and thunderstorms in the area or the airport. Fortunately there was a nice alfalfa field next to the airport that served as Nephi airport #2 on a few days. At one point we had eight gliders in the alfalfa field when direct cross winds set up at 18G28. Other pilots took the grass next to Runway 17/35 to provide a wider and softer area to touch down in the winds. Everyone landed safely and it was just an interesting way to end the day. We were told by local pilots and airport management that east cross winds are very rare but even still, the Nephi airport wants to be even more glider-friendly and is considering adding a cross section of grass inside the airport in the future to allow gliders a place to land if there are strong cross winds. Some highlights of the flights posted to OLC from Ron Gleason (not all the flights were posted): 104 flights 46,284 km 445 km average 809 km longest 132 km/hour fastest Many badges, records, and personal best flights. Bruno did an outstanding job of organizing the event and working with the City of Nephi to prepare the airport for the camp. The city of Nephi was very welcoming and worked to make our visit enjoyable. Beth Ann and Paul Schneider watched over us and manned the retrieve desk and Parker Zentner ran a smooth line. The local Utah Soaring Club helped and supported the camp as well as bringing three of their Grob Twins for the members to experience cross-country flying. We were able to get support from Utah Tow Pilots with John Templeton from Parowan as chief, Kim Hall from Logan, Dave Robinson from Heber, and Michael Alley and Stan McGrew from Morgan. Overall we had a great time, flew fast and long flights, had a wonderful time with old and new friends, and look forward to coming back to Nephi next year. |
#2
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Nephi wrap-up
On Wednesday, August 14, 2013 11:54:22 AM UTC-6, Tim Taylor wrote:
Seven days of soaring, over 46,000 km (28,000 miles or a little over going around the earth) of cross country flying, amazing views, interesting landings, outstanding hospitality, many new friends, and lots of smiles. That in one sentence sums up the Nephi, Utah OLC and Cross-Country camp. Utah has long been on the map for some fantastic soaring with Parowan to the South and Logan to the North. Nephi is in the middle between the two allowing access to flying terrain and conditions of both as well as the desert flying area of Ely, Nevada; all without having to worry about SLC airspace to the north. Nephi is a city with a population of about 5,500 located about 80 miles south of Salt Lake City along I-15. It is nestled in a six mile wide valley between the southern end of the Wasatch mountains crowned by 11,600 foot Mt. Nebo towering 6,600 feet over the airport on the east side of the valley and the lower Long Ridge to the west. The terrain to the west is classic Great Basin high desert providing good heating early in the day. The airport is located at 5000 feet msl with a 6300 x 100 foot runway that provides the opportunity to launch heavy gliders. The area around the airport is mostly farm fields so there are many places to land if needed as we found out. |
#3
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Nephi wrap-up
It was great flying and the community was very supporting. The Mayor of Nephi thanked us too many times for coming. Again great community support. Usually the county officials come to the pilots meetings and tell you what you can't do, these officials came and asked what they could do to help. The airport was NOTEMED out from 11:00 to 3:00 for launches. Thanks Nephi Richard www.craggyaero.com |
#4
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Nephi wrap-up
While looking at my flights on OLC for the Nephi Camp I decided to look at everyone's flights and their comments and put together some statistics (based on flights logged into OLC) and my own comments on the great flights and fun times we all had at Nephi. Number of pilots: 30 Total flights flown: 104 Total distance flown: 46,284 km Average distance flown: 445 km Number of flights over 500 km: 39 Number of flights over 750 km: 7 Even though from the beginning there was only to be daily awards for OLC points and task speeds I thought it would be interesting to see the cumulative OLC distances for the top pilots just to show the potential of flying at Nephi. Just remember that the total distances flown are affected by the number of days each pilot flew. Average flight distance (over 500 km) 629 km Tim Taylor 607 km Bruno Vassel 579 km Joerg Stieber 569 km York Zentner 566 km Nicholas Kennedy 562 km Dan Wrobel 538 km Eric Greenwell 517 km Andy Blackburn 511 km Tom Bjork Total distance flown during the camp (over 2000 km) 3939 km Dan Wrobel 3472 km Joerg Stieber 3145 km Tim Taylor 3034 km Bruno Vassel 2996 km Bob Farris 2828 km Nicholas Kennedy 2278 km York Zentner 2068 km Andy Blackburn 2043 km Tom Bjork Wow, that is a lot of flying!! For those that think that you have to have high performance glider to fly long distances, here are three notable flights: 530 km Blake Seese Laister Nugget LP-15 521 km Adam Kite Jantar Standard 498 km Johann Posch Grob 103 - Nice going Johann!! Here are the flights over 750 km: 809 km Bruno Vassel 804 km Tim Taylor 776 km Nicholas Kennedy 765 km Bruno Vassel 763 km Dan Wrobel 758 km Joerg Stieber 753 km Bruno Vassel Way to go guys!! There were several pilots that flew badge flights and a couple that flew Utah state record flights: Shawn Eggleston Gold distance Charles Gillespie Diamond goal Dan Wrobel Diamond distance Bob Farris 100 km speed triangle Bob Farris 200 km speed triangle Bob Farris Distance to goal Dan Wrobel 500 km out and return Here are some of my observations about the event: Scenery is spectacular!! Conditions were outstanding (not counting the funnel cloud, thunder, lightning,rain, snow and 20 kt crosswind Thermal strength was great - I heard up to 17kt but the best I saw was 12kt.. Flying area had lots of airports and farmer's fields al long as you don't venture too far out into the desert. The many field around the airport made crosswind landings a cinch even if it is a short retrieve. Lots of cold toes - need to bring warmer shoes if you are going to spend all day at 15k to 18k. I had a lot of fun flying with York Zentner's 17.6m "Mega" winglets - really nice having that extra L/D when coming back from way out and the paint job is beautiful - may have caused some "winglet envy" Great support from the local community- City Mayor, County Commissioner and local businesses - free T-shirts, coupons, prizes, water, hangar, wifi, photographer, etc. The food prepared by the Lion's Club was outstanding. Although I was out flying at the time, the way everyone came together to help out during the funnel cloud episode was commendable. I really was amazed by the newspaper and TV coverage that brought out hundreds of spectators that maybe will result in getting some new people involved in the fantastic sport of soaring. It was great that we had three of the club's Grobs down for the event and I think that they were all flown each day with two people aboard. Great support by the Club. Great service by the tow pilots. Great support by the volunteers - CD. ground crew, weather, etc. The comments on OLC and in person were virtually all positive towards the event. I think everyone had a great time. I want to especially thank Bruno for spending the untold hours and dollars putting together this event. Without him, it wouldn't have happened. I had more fun at this event than any of the contests I have been to (not to say that I don't have fun at contests) and if a similar event occurs again I will be sure to go. Dan Wrobel - DW |
#5
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Nephi wrap-up
Hey Dan,
Great flights and just a teeny bit better than flying off the dry lake, eh? Dan "Dan Wrobel" wrote in message ... While looking at my flights on OLC for the Nephi Camp I decided to look at everyone's flights and their comments and put together some statistics (based on flights logged into OLC) and my own comments on the great flights and fun times we all had at Nephi. Number of pilots: 30 Total flights flown: 104 Total distance flown: 46,284 km Average distance flown: 445 km Number of flights over 500 km: 39 Number of flights over 750 km: 7 Even though from the beginning there was only to be daily awards for OLC points and task speeds I thought it would be interesting to see the cumulative OLC distances for the top pilots just to show the potential of flying at Nephi. Just remember that the total distances flown are affected by the number of days each pilot flew. Average flight distance (over 500 km) 629 km Tim Taylor 607 km Bruno Vassel 579 km Joerg Stieber 569 km York Zentner 566 km Nicholas Kennedy 562 km Dan Wrobel 538 km Eric Greenwell 517 km Andy Blackburn 511 km Tom Bjork Total distance flown during the camp (over 2000 km) 3939 km Dan Wrobel 3472 km Joerg Stieber 3145 km Tim Taylor 3034 km Bruno Vassel 2996 km Bob Farris 2828 km Nicholas Kennedy 2278 km York Zentner 2068 km Andy Blackburn 2043 km Tom Bjork Wow, that is a lot of flying!! For those that think that you have to have high performance glider to fly long distances, here are three notable flights: 530 km Blake Seese Laister Nugget LP-15 521 km Adam Kite Jantar Standard 498 km Johann Posch Grob 103 - Nice going Johann!! Here are the flights over 750 km: 809 km Bruno Vassel 804 km Tim Taylor 776 km Nicholas Kennedy 765 km Bruno Vassel 763 km Dan Wrobel 758 km Joerg Stieber 753 km Bruno Vassel Way to go guys!! There were several pilots that flew badge flights and a couple that flew Utah state record flights: Shawn Eggleston Gold distance Charles Gillespie Diamond goal Dan Wrobel Diamond distance Bob Farris 100 km speed triangle Bob Farris 200 km speed triangle Bob Farris Distance to goal Dan Wrobel 500 km out and return Here are some of my observations about the event: Scenery is spectacular!! Conditions were outstanding (not counting the funnel cloud, thunder, lightning,rain, snow and 20 kt crosswind Thermal strength was great - I heard up to 17kt but the best I saw was 12kt. Flying area had lots of airports and farmer's fields al long as you don't venture too far out into the desert. The many field around the airport made crosswind landings a cinch even if it is a short retrieve. Lots of cold toes - need to bring warmer shoes if you are going to spend all day at 15k to 18k. I had a lot of fun flying with York Zentner's 17.6m "Mega" winglets - really nice having that extra L/D when coming back from way out and the paint job is beautiful - may have caused some "winglet envy" Great support from the local community- City Mayor, County Commissioner and local businesses - free T-shirts, coupons, prizes, water, hangar, wifi, photographer, etc. The food prepared by the Lion's Club was outstanding. Although I was out flying at the time, the way everyone came together to help out during the funnel cloud episode was commendable. I really was amazed by the newspaper and TV coverage that brought out hundreds of spectators that maybe will result in getting some new people involved in the fantastic sport of soaring. It was great that we had three of the club's Grobs down for the event and I think that they were all flown each day with two people aboard. Great support by the Club. Great service by the tow pilots. Great support by the volunteers - CD. ground crew, weather, etc. The comments on OLC and in person were virtually all positive towards the event. I think everyone had a great time. I want to especially thank Bruno for spending the untold hours and dollars putting together this event. Without him, it wouldn't have happened. I had more fun at this event than any of the contests I have been to (not to say that I don't have fun at contests) and if a similar event occurs again I will be sure to go. Dan Wrobel - DW |
#6
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Nephi wrap-up
I have never seen a more outgoing and supportive group of local citizens and officials. A lot of credit is due to Bruno for his broad and comprehensive outreach efforts. Nephi has a lot going for it as a soaring site and it looks as though there is a desire to make it even better.
I had a fantastic time. I look forward to future developments. 9B |
#7
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Nephi wrap-up
On Friday, August 16, 2013 1:10:19 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I have never seen a more outgoing and supportive group of local citizens and officials. A lot of credit is due to Bruno for his broad and comprehensive outreach efforts. Nephi has a lot going for it as a soaring site and it looks as though there is a desire to make it even better. I had a fantastic time. I look forward to future developments. 9B Does this mean the airport is no longer "NOTAMed" closed and I can drop in and get fuel? Skywagon 64Z |
#8
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Nephi wrap-up
NOTAM was over after Sunday, and even during the camp you could have landed by contacting us on the radio.
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#9
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Nephi wrap-up
On Wednesday, August 14, 2013 11:54:22 AM UTC-6, Tim Taylor wrote:
Seven days of soaring, over 46,000 km (28,000 miles or a little over going around the earth) of cross country flying, amazing views, interesting landings, outstanding hospitality, many new friends, and lots of smiles. That in one sentence sums up the Nephi, Utah OLC and Cross-Country camp. Utah has long been on the map for some fantastic soaring with Parowan to the South and Logan to the North. Nephi is in the middle between the two allowing access to flying terrain and conditions of both as well as the desert flying area of Ely, Nevada; all without having to worry about SLC airspace to the north. Nephi is a city with a population of about 5,500 located about 80 miles south of Salt Lake City along I-15. It is nestled in a six mile wide valley between the southern end of the Wasatch mountains crowned by 11,600 foot Mt. Nebo towering 6,600 feet over the airport on the east side of the valley and the lower Long Ridge to the west. The terrain to the west is classic Great Basin high desert providing good heating early in the day. The airport is located at 5000 feet msl with a 6300 x 100 foot runway that provides the opportunity to launch heavy gliders. The area around the airport is mostly farm fields so there are many places to land if needed as we found out. |
#10
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Nephi wrap-up
I agree with every good thing that has already been said here about Nephi
and the Soaring Safari. Thanks to Bruno and Tim and ALL the volunteers who made this event happen. It was a gathering of some of the finest human beings you would ever want to meet. Diana and I enjoyed it immensely. The flying conditions were outstanding and I was able to do a personal best. I am pretty happy with that. http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...l?dsId=3281998 I can’t wait till next year! Steve Rathbun –R5 |
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