Dennis Wright - Cross Country Pilot

50 KM in a TG-3 is pretty notable too. I thought I was the only one dumb
enough try XC in that heavy pile of lumber. I got about 70 km and landed on
an unopened stretch of Interstate 80 in Wyoming.

Bill Daniels

"Nyal Williams" wrote in message
...
I did all my silver in a TG-3, about 40 years ago.
I tried the Gold Distance downwind in a Ka-8 about
5 years later and got about 170 miles downwind, all
in North Carolina while I was in grad school. Last
month I tried again, in a Discus in Moriarty, with
flight computer, moving map GPS, etc., and finally
did a 300k declared triangle. I consider the Ka-8
flight much more noteworthy - just a compass, watch,
and a sectional.

At 13:56 28 July 2005, Alistair Wright wrote:

'Bill Daniels' wrote in message
news:kdSdncLVZoeII3rfRVn-

I seem to remember a story about a pilot who, after
getting thoroughly
lost,
landed 300km away after failing to identify his 50km
goal.

Bill Daniels

Ha, ha. One of my syndicate partners (Oly2b) went C/C
on a very windy day
from Meir (S-o-T) and managed to tear his map badly
en route. He flew on
for a bit and thought he recognised a building below
him. He took out his
packet of ciggies (we were always trying to stop him
smoking in the glider)
and saw that the packet (Capstan) had a picture of
this building on the
back. It was Nottingham Castle! Plenty far enough
for Silver, so he landed
in a public park nearby. When we arrived with the
trailer he was still
arguing with the park keeper as to whether or not any
byelaws had been
broken! This guy became a 'park' landing specialist
and did it again in
Stoke. He left the glider in the care of the parkie
and carrying his 'chute
and barograph returned to the Club by bus! It was
quicker than phoning the
clubhouse.

I have to admit to my shame that I generally had no
exact idea of where I
was when I landed out. the question 'Am I near.....'
always allowed me to
say 'Of course! I thought that was where I was....'
when my actual location
was revealed.

Alistair Wright

It was a bit risky, Bill. We had no trailer. I went
64 miles to another airport and waited for a tow retrieve.

At 02:30 29 July 2005, Bill Daniels wrote:
50 KM in a TG-3 is pretty notable too. I thought I
was the only one dumb
enough try XC in that heavy pile of lumber. I got
about 70 km and landed on
an unopened stretch of Interstate 80 in Wyoming.

Bill Daniels

'Nyal Williams' wrote in message
...
I did all my silver in a TG-3, about 40 years ago.
I tried the Gold Distance downwind in a Ka-8 about
5 years later and got about 170 miles downwind, all
in North Carolina while I was in grad school. Last
month I tried again, in a Discus in Moriarty, with
flight computer, moving map GPS, etc., and finally
did a 300k declared triangle. I consider the Ka-8
flight much more noteworthy - just a compass, watch,
and a sectional.

At 13:56 28 July 2005, Alistair Wright wrote:

'Bill Daniels' wrote in message
news:kdSdncLVZoeII3rfRVn-

I seem to remember a story about a pilot who, after
getting thoroughly
lost,
landed 300km away after failing to identify his 50km
goal.

Bill Daniels

Ha, ha. One of my syndicate partners (Oly2b) went
C/C
on a very windy day
from Meir (S-o-T) and managed to tear his map badly
en route. He flew on
for a bit and thought he recognised a building below
him. He took out his
packet of ciggies (we were always trying to stop him
smoking in the glider)
and saw that the packet (Capstan) had a picture of
this building on the
back. It was Nottingham Castle! Plenty far enough
for Silver, so he landed
in a public park nearby. When we arrived with the
trailer he was still
arguing with the park keeper as to whether or not
any
byelaws had been
broken! This guy became a 'park' landing specialist
and did it again in
Stoke. He left the glider in the care of the parkie
and carrying his 'chute
and barograph returned to the Club by bus! It was
quicker than phoning the
clubhouse.

I have to admit to my shame that I generally had no
exact idea of where I
was when I landed out. the question 'Am I near.....'
always allowed me to
say 'Of course! I thought that was where I was....'
when my actual location
was revealed.

Alistair Wright

Congratulations to Dennis!

I find it refreshing that our (US) Executive Director not only sees to the
office but does grunt work at contests, drives the launch car for the local
club and gets a big kick out of flying a 1-26.

He is also willing and able to assist with retrieves. During the World
Class Nationals last year Dennis volunteered to assist my wife Pat on
her first retrieve (it was Dennis' first too). This when he was wearing
four or five hats at the contest and running SSA at the same time. It
IS refreshing.

John Downing

Well put Kevin.

It is a difficult challenge within our sport to encourage people to
attempt XC.

No matter what the ship or the technology we should applaud each and
every pilot who takes the first step with Silver Distance. Then offer
praise and advice on how he/she can continue their progression.

My club trains a lot of people through solo and for some a pilot
rating. But it is sad to see so few retained past these thresholds.
Encouraging and appreciating XC can help improve this retention rate.

John

With all this talk about Silver Distance the "old" vs. "new" way and
wether we should revise the requirements, it seems to me that folks
have neglected to discuss HOW Dennis started his flight.

Kudos to Dennis for doing it the manly way: from an AUTO tow. Yeah,
yeah, I can hear the old(er) timers starting to whine like jet engines
about how that was the ONLY way, way way back in the day... Yup, I've
flown away from a winch launch: ONCE. It was a thrill and an event
I'll never forget -- and I was down to 300 feet on final when I found
"lift." I never turned my back on the field until I was above 1000
feet AGL and noticed that the guys on the ground were madly scrambling
to fetch the other 2-33 (implying permission for me to take the student
pilot in the back for more ride than he'd ever had for six bucks).

I digress; We all owe Dennis a great deal of respect for adding to his
personal challenge in opting for a sligtly more difficult handicap,
both in the ship and launch method chosen!

-Pete
#309