Tony Deleo (El Diablo)
Saturday, 7/16/05
Blackhawk to Hinkley
~ 45 miles ~ 4 hours 45 minutes airtime

After speculating on which location, exclusive of Walt's Point, would have the best potential for max distance I opted for Black Hawk.  The forecast for upper level south was right on the money.  The lower level southwest, if it did materialize, happened too late.  One of the "knocks" on Black Hawk is that it can be difficult to get out of The Lucerne Valley.  There are times when every direction you fly feels like it is up wind.

Taking off at 11:45 it was clear that we were on the wrong side of the convergence.  Once established, the upper level wind was out of the northeast.  In the flush mode on the north side of the road and on final I was able to climb out from 3,700 in a thermal drifting me back across the road towards takeoff.  I was finally able to connect in the northwest-southeast running convergence over The Ord Mountains.

At 3:00 PM I opted to throw in the towel near cloudbase at 16,500, running northwest with 60-70 mph ground speed.  I have made 30 miles in just over 3 hours.  The shear line was dropping me off north of 58 into Fort Irwin.  Instead with 3 people in the car and no real prospects of a long flight, I turned and went on long final glide, landing west of Barstow near Hinkley . Touchdown at the 45 mile mark into wind from due south at 4:00 o'clock.  The surface temperature is 115 degrees.

I heard that pilots flying the White Mountains were getting near 20k.