Flight Articles for Saturday 8/710  [Bob Anderson]  [Tony DeGroot]  [Jim Zender]

Tony De Groot
Saturday, 8/7/10
Pine to Quail Lake
Broke Elbow and guillotined finger

Personal longest distance from Pine

I got up as well initially to 9600 but, as we waited for everyone to get together it got worse.  I left first at 8400 as I didn't see anyone circling or climbing.  Clouds were in the badlands a ways in and I cut the corner rather than following the road and found some pleasant rising lift and started slowly climbing.  I reported my lift but maybe I was keying as no radio worked on this day.   Aaron came to join me and later Bob and it was really fun and consistent beautiful flying with clouds (an unexpected bonus).  I let Aaron and Bob lead and I pimped through the badlands.

At Lockwood Valley the convergence made a semicircle to the left and I saw Aaron, and later Bob take the straight line to Frasier while I took the long way following the clouds.  Later Bob got to the clouds and followed the southern edge of them and eventually I lost track of him.  It took me awhile as I was bucking a headwind.  After three thermals I hit a real strong leeside one, put my cowboy hat on white knuckled my way to cloudbase and ran the clouds to the northern edge of Frasier and low and behold their was Bob and Aaron just a bit north of me.  Bob took off at about 10200 but Aaron found lift and was topping out while I found the lift that was feeding the last cloud in my vicinity.  I watched Aaron go on glide and I topped out at as well and after some roughness enjoyed a very smooth glide with a four mph tailwind.

I looked and looked but I never saw Bob land.  Arriving at Quail lake I didn't think I would make it to the far side and so set up over the road, nice and high.  As I dropped a bit lower the wind speed picked up dramatically.  I was kind of thinking, oh man, does it have to strong winds,....it would get much worse.  Soon I was somewhat parked and it started to get rough and then I started hitting lift.  I tried moving a bit but couldn't get away from it, then I thought maybe I could climb in it and look for a friendlier LZ.  Then the windspeed increased stronger without the lift and I saw the road come into view, the telephone wires and soon the LAKE!!!  I was being backed up and I realized my primary landing field was gone, but it wouldn't be the last field I missed.  I started looking behind me and to the sides for a quick alternative and choose another area to my right.  Even though it was smaller their was a large hill to the right and if I had to I could do a fly on the wall there.

As I set up over the new landing area the wind was ferocious and turbulent and I was doing figure eights trying to hold my position as any turn downwind was, ugh, bad.  I finally got close enough and slipped it in but the ground was falling away and I couldn't get that ffffinng glider on the ground and soon a six foot fence approached and telephone wires and the 138.  The strength of the wind changed my mind on tuning to the right so I banked hard left and ate up the LZ going in the other direction.  Now some bob wire fencing appeared and I didn't see what was on the other side until I cleared it.  An asphalt road, a three foot high road and the fffiinng Quail lake ITSELF!!  Water is death, I was already at stall anyway, there's no way I was going into the lake, so leveled the glider, no flare.  I remembered to let go with my right hand, the impact was sharp, very hard, and my left arm, that tried to ease the glider in was instantly broke at the elbow.  The right hand that I did let go of was thrust forward and my middle finger was guillotined by my noseplate whacking in. I was now pinned on my broken elbow with blood straining out my right glove.  As I looked out of the corner of my helmet unable to move two rough looking illegal fisherman approached me. "Oh god" I thought, "They are going to finish me off and rob me."  They didn't. Broken elbow and finger.  It was my longest flight at Pine though.

TigerTony de Groot

 [Top of Page]  [Home]