2017 Dust Devil Dash - Mountain Valley Airport (L94) California

On Friday, February 24, 2017 at 11:57:05 AM UTC-8, Rob M wrote:
September 9th, 2017. Annual Dust Devil Dash. Mountain Valley Airport (L94), Tehachapi, California. This is a one day straight out handicapped distance event. All sailplanes and sailplane pilots welcome. 2 place sailplane.........no problem. Pilots are responsible for paying for their own tow, flight, and bringing their own crew. Camping facilities, and tows available through Skylark North. Hotels and other amenities available nearby. Potluck BBQ on the Friday evening (9-8-17) prior the Dust Devil Dash. Bring your own meat to grill, your own beverage, and a dish to share. Grill, plates, utensils and other necessities provided. For more information contact Rob Morgan 858-442-6194

On Friday, February 24, 2017 at 11:57:05 AM UTC-8, Rob M wrote:
September 9th, 2017. Annual Dust Devil Dash. Mountain Valley Airport (L94), Tehachapi, California. This is a one day straight out handicapped distance event. All sailplanes and sailplane pilots welcome. 2 place sailplane.........no problem. Pilots are responsible for paying for their own tow, flight, and bringing their own crew. Camping facilities, and tows available through Skylark North. Hotels and other amenities available nearby. Potluck BBQ on the Friday evening (9-8-17) prior the Dust Devil Dash. Bring your own meat to grill, your own beverage, and a dish to share. Grill, plates, utensils and other necessities provided. For more information contact Rob Morgan 858-442-6194

Chris, give me a call at the number above to discuss your motor glider inquiry. Rob

Just curious, is the Dash distance scored from the furthest distance flown from L94 or to where you land? Say you fly 10 miles past and airport and then return to land.

Outlook for Dust Devil Dash (DDD) - Sat Sep 9th - UPDATE Thur night

Still on track for very good DDD soaring on a route north... then NE near Tonopah to Elko to JackPot ... and beyond? Shower deviation in Central and NE Nevada.

XCSkies NAM is showing MVA max thermals 11am 11-12k msl... but Skysight only 9.5-10.5k msl. SE-E low level winds favor starting near Tehachapi Mtn or perhaps a little further west.

Probably blue conditions until Sacatar or Olancha Pk. Covergence zone will be west of normal near W edge Kern River Canyon. Max cu bases/thermal height Kernville to Olancha Pk probably 12-13k msl. I would not recommend staying west & flying up Kern River J(safety factor) then crossing over. Best route is the usual... Paiute to Plateau to Olancha Pk. Cross at switchbacks to Inyos ... Whites then NE toward or north of Tonopah.

XCSkies and Skysight are showing complications with shower activity and lots of cu or low top CB from near Tonopah to Elko... perhaps all the way into extreme NE Neavada. Cloud bases Central Nevada 14-15k msl from XCSkies but I think this may be optimistic given the scattered showers and cloud cover..

Enough detail in my analysis... I can't make the flight for you

My weather board is in a Dropbox folder:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l6zvltqvu...S7IjxvEwa?dl=0

Check the Thursday night folder for XCSkies and Skysight graphics.

Walt Rogers WX

Current TFR files in CUB and TXT formats and a CUPX waypoint file are available at:
http://tinyurl.com/gwv75jt
Jim

Kathy (4P) and Tom Serkowski (5Z) still flying with less than an hour to sunset! Thrilling! I'm guessing 5Z headed for Air Sailing. If Kathy can float the Libelle to Silver Springs she will win! Nail biting...

Oh! Tom passed Air Sailing, maybe going for Herlong?

Tom landed Herlong for the win and Kathy should be second with a landing at Yerington. Congrats to all!

On Saturday, September 9, 2017 at 7:04:13 PM UTC-7, Tony wrote:
Tom landed Herlong for the win and Kathy should be second with a landing at Yerington. Congrats to all!

And in case anyone's interested, Herlong now has a freshly paved and painted runway. Still only 40' or so wide, but nicely graded edges and plenty of room to move to one side and drop a wing on the pavement.

There are a few homes attached to the airport, but none have any hangar or aircraft. The "ramp" is just a midfield taxiway with a graded dirt area next to it.

5Z

The top scores..

1. Tom Serkowski, ASW27B "5Z". Herlong NV, 359.95 SM = 316.04 Handicapped.
2. Kathy Fosha, H201 "4P". Yerington NV, 272.55 SM = 278.00 Handicapped.
3. Paul Robinson, 304CZ "AZ2". Carson City NV, 290.95SM = 272.62 Handicapped.
4. Tom Riley and 5. Don Buman also made Carson City in ASW27 and LS6C.

Jim