DESCRIPTION OF 100 km FLIGHT

MAY 6, 2000

On Friday, May 5 it was windy so I checked the weather and noted that it looked good for that afternoon, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday. Driving home from work I was greeted with lennies to the north. In anticipation of good wave, Jackie and I rigged Al Baker's Discus A which is housed in our hangar at Rosamond Skypark, California.

On March 6 we awoke to light breezes and generally blue skies. However, the forecast still looked good with improving wave conditions throughout the day so every once in a while I checked the Internet satellite photos. At 10 AM there were good looking wave clouds north of Bishop. By 2 PM they had moved to Lone Pine. We rolled the Discus out of the hangar and watered it.

Just after 3 PM we heard Chuck Griswald (7X) report good lift so we pushed out to the runway and launched behind Jackie's Cessna 182 at 15:33:51 PDT (Pacific Daylight Time).

I towed to Cache Creek (NW of Mojave) where I released in less than stellar conditions. In the local area the winds aloft were relatively light and the wave length was unusually short.

After a relatively slow climb, I headed north toward my start point near Little Lake, California. In this area, the lift was better organized and stronger. The sky was locally blue with an occasional rotor cu to provide a hint of where the best lift might be.

I started my first run at 16:52 PDT. I ran north along the wave to my first turn on the south edge of Owens Lake. My second turn was in the Sierra Nevada. I finished the run in 28 minutes for a speed of 219 kph (136 mph). As in the past, the first run was conservative to figure where the lift was best and to determine whether there was turbulence.

The second run started at 17:30:21 PDT at 14,598 feet MSL. The first leg of 43.97 km took just over 10 minutes (258 kph). The second leg of 28.5 km into the wind took 9 minutes (190 kph). The last leg of 28.5 km took 6.5 minutes (263 kph). I finished at 11,785 feet MSL. The run around the 100.97 km 28% FAI triangle took 25 minutes and 47 seconds. The GPS shows speed of 234.85 kph (145.93 mph) which betters the World 15-Meter 100 km Triangle Record by 53 kph (29%) and raises my Open Class World Record by 17 kph.. It is within a few seconds of the US National 100 km Triangle Speed Record I set in 1996 on a triangle that used the (now retired) rule that allowed the start and finish to be 10 km apart.

Download the Cambridge flight log 056C1681.CAI.

Download the IGC flight log 056C1681.IGC.

Charlie Thaeler has done his magic on the flight log and has posted 3-D renderings at http://www.soar-high.com/soaring/3d/Flights/JPayne/index.html. Thanks, Charlie.

I would like to thank Al Baker for letting me fly his Discus, Bill Francis for towing, and Jackie for crewing and observing. They made this record possible.

Think wave,
-- JIM PAYNE --