Today a 91km task was called to the west into Alabama. The day promised to be nearly as good as yesterday. The heat was just as oppressive, but the gnats weren't as bad. Not having to rig my glider gave me time to tweak my tips to tune out a nagging right turn. We staged in the grass along the main runway at Jimmy Carter Regional Airport. Making goal yesterday didn't help my scoring that much (because almost everyone made goal), so I was near the back of the line. I was just hooking in to my glider when I heard a thud and saw a Dragonfly go by without a glider in tow. I looked and saw a glider laying flat on the ground with the control frame collapsed. Julia was the pilot underneath the sail. She had come out of the cart early and skidded into the ground. She was banged up pretty bad, but sustained no major injuries. She was helicoptered to the trauma center as a precautionary measure.
It was getting late in the day and after much discussion it was decided to cancel the task, but allow people to free fly if they wanted to. Aerotowing is a perfectly safe and established way to get in the air, but it is a relatively new technique for me. I was a little spooked by the whole situation and decided I needed to fly so it wasn't a distraction tomorrow. I mounted the Go Pro and towed up late in the afternoon. I pinned off in a beautiful juicy thermal and took 500-600fpm almost all the way to cloud base, which was around 6800 feet. From there I flew around and check my glider for turns at different speeds. The turn was gone and the cool air was refreshing. I'm not acclimated to the heat so any break is bliss. After pressing out about 10km to the west I turned back and boated down in the smooth evening air. The flight was perfect except for I'm in a bit of a landing rut lately.
Deciding What to Do
Enjoying the Cool Air at 6000'
Downtown Americus
Raw Helmet Cam Footage of a Climb to 6000'
On the ground Nick, Ricker and I checked out a crop-duster airplane graveyard at the airport. The planes all had German registries and cockpit instruments labeled in German. It was pretty cool to see the big radial engine powered planes up close. With raw mechanical components hanging out in the wind like honeycomb oil coolers, huge oil tanks, and air driven turbines that power the spray pumps. Sitting in the cockpit was stark difference to the glass screens I sit in front of at work.
The Crop-Duster Airplane Graveyard
Nick and I met up with John, Sonny, Paul, and Lauren and finished the day with a dip in the pool and a steak dinner. I read tonight that Julia was released from the hospital and will spend the night with Davis and Belinda.
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