....In your opinion did you adequately assess the conditions once in the air, and make an acceptable decision to continue early on?....
One thing you don't see or hear about in the video is the dozens of other flight paths that I chose not to take during this flight. All you see is what I did do but you don't see what I consciously avoided doing.
I'm not sure this logic works in this case, as continuing on wasn't forced upon you. If it were, then you could say this was the best way to go... but it wasn't. I'm obviously no XC-pro... but the best XC pilots I know recognize when a day just isn't right for XC... or at least when to keep an LZ much closer than they normally do... But you know what they say about hindsight- which is I think what was being asked... now that you've been back in there low and narrowly made it out, will you think twice about doing it again on a similar day?
NMERider wrote:
Nobody advocates this to others. It's not 'cool' or 'bad-ass' in any way. It's just something just we naturally gravitate toward. I have been doing this since the 70's and at some point, I won't be able to pursue it and will become a fishbowl pilot like many former XC pilots I know.
As I'm sure you know- there is a big difference between this flight, where you pressed onward into tiger-country knowing the lift wasn't great and it wasn't a high day, and being a fishbowl pilot. Those are opposite ends of the spectrum, with a multitude of options in between. As someone who ALSO enjoys pursing the more extreme side of flight, I can understand that not pushing as hard just isn't in you, and it's all or nothing for you. Others, though... don't have to push as hard as we do, in order to do 80 or 90% of what we do.
Oh, and very, VERY nice landing. Probably the safest part of the flight _________________ Ryan Voight
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...Oh, and very, VERY nice landing. Probably the safest part of the flight
Garth,
Thanks and valid comments for readers and learning pilots to mull over before exposing themselves to the risks and perils of XC. I have many peers in my mid-50s age group who, over the past 30 years have had all sorts of calamities. At some point, most have backed away from even moderate risks and I don't blame them.
Interestingly, one of the most satisfying XC flights that I've done recently was flying my Falcon 3 195 XC from Crestline to Hangar 24 Brewery at Redlands Muni Airport. It's 15 miles straight and a 20-mile dogleg, by the route I needed to follow. In order to complete that flight I needed to immediately leave any area that might have a flush long before the flush even started.
A friend of mine who is a much better pilot than me and flying a T2C w/ Covert harness got flushed 3 times and the last one brought him down in a bailout, 5 miles from goal. Another pilot on a DS glider was flushed onto the backside of Arrowhead Peak and had to hike out.
The Falcon makes me painfully aware of sink cycles before they even start and I am a big advocate of using Falcons to learn XC flying skills. You can land them in tighter places and at much lower speeds which improves safety and even opens up routes that I'd shy away from on my heavy, fast and expensive topless.
Jonathon has progressed into a pretty good X/C er as his videos have witnessed.
Even the best get into situations that turn on the Pucker Factor. I happen to fly regularly with a National Champion, he has many a story and fails to qualify for the safe pilot award. Flying X/C isn't for everyone, but it opens up huge opportunities for increasing ones enjoyment of flight. I just had a friend who has been flying for several years make a 52 mi flight. Says it was the best experience/flight of his flying. Some days you fly one mountain too far and
you have to make the best of it. Decision making and coolness usually saves the day. Johnathon pulled it off nicely. Those of us that partake do so at different levels (Fish Bowl Level). He continues to develop his expertise through his experiences. Not all will be totally safe or even fun. X/C is not totally safe for anyone. There are surfers and then there are Big Wave Surfers. _________________ H4 (1979) Lake Elsinore. Ca. U2 160 (Sweet)
Even the best get into situations that turn on the Pucker Factor.
Maybe- maybe not. I've known a bunch of (kick-ass) comp pilots: amongst them, the safety ethos varies immensely. Some are dead now. Some are broken. So what is a "best pilot"?
Alive... and healthy.
I put off XC for the longest time- despite hearing its call pounding in my head. Why? Because I'm susceptible to the allure of calculated risk- there's just some weird draw to pulling the best possibility out of the moment. Maybe it's dopamine. Maybe it's what a card player is after- and some win almost every time.
Mostly I can say that I've seen all the trouble coming- the trouble is, what we do is all about the reward of choosing a better path- and the more that path narrows and meanders and we stay on it, the greater the confirmation of our acumen, heroic stature. For me, there's nothing like the feeling of being a sky god.
I've landed in a cu-du-sac trying to cross forest after passing nice big fields. I was at a comp where things turned off and the last field before goal gathered many pilots- yet one flew over a kilometer of forest at less than a few wing spans to barely clear the last tree and land prone on the goal line. At another comp, less than an hour after the start window, everyone was flushed between mountain and foot hills; the task committee and meteorologists were all highly experienced- and nobody saw it coming. Pilots landed based on what was down slope at that moment- with one in the hospital. Sometimes there's no choice.
When the path is suddenly narrowed, but choices remain, is when wisdom is at a premium.
I don't know what I would have done in this circumstance. I can hope that I would take the first-best LZ with road access and be resigned to a long, difficult, extraction. The possibility of mishap in isolation would loom in my brain though- that, and the promise of staying on the path. Likely, I would have found myself anxiously flying low over canyons, berating myself for not choosing the bird-in-hand, while imploring the sky-god's for safe passage in exchange for empty promises to never do it again.
That's me. I try to keep that image of self in mind when making critical decisions- to rob the hero of such choices. If I'm not attentive, that bastard will choose the path of adventure every time.
....If I'm not attentive, that bastard will choose the path of adventure every time.
“If a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with. A man sits as many risks as he runs.” Henry David Thoreau
“Remember, you can't steal second if you don't take your foot off first.” Mike Todd
“With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.” Keshavan Nair
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure." Helen Keller
“If a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with. A man sits as many risks as he runs.” Henry David Thoreau
“Remember, you can't steal second if you don't take your foot off first.” Mike Todd
“With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.” Keshavan Nair
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure." Helen Keller
“If a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with. A man sits as many risks as he runs.” Henry David Thoreau
“Remember, you can't steal second if you don't take your foot off first.” Mike Todd
“With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.” Keshavan Nair
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure." Helen Keller
You forgot one...
"It's the way of the road, Bubbles." ~ Noman
AND " I built an empire on denial." ~ Noman _________________ Always a student.
"The mountain doesn't care what that card in your wallet says." - Bruce Stobbe
glad you got out of this
that is why i like the plains (and having a drag chute...)
near the last big white tank looked a good option...
We all know the rule: always a LZ within glide (somehow you respected that, only just!)
good narration;
glad you got out of this. that is why i like the plains (and having a drag chute...) near the last big white tank looked a good option...
We all know the rule: always a LZ within glide (somehow you respected that, only just!)
good narration;
Hi Pascal, I'm glad you liked the narration. It's easier for me to narrate than write captions. The bad parts of this glide were when I was out of easy reach of the fire roads. It would have been more prudent for me to follow the ridges that had fire roads even if it meant having to land on the hillside and need a long retrieve rather than squeaking out by that water tank. I'm not proud of the glide but I do like the scenery in the video. I am looking forward to flying my Falcon and just relaxing the next chance I get.
Cheers, Jonathan
It is SeeYou from Naviter. The evaluation download is fully functional for two weeks then parts stop working. It's expensive but I use it for flight analysis to help my XC. I use Fraps for the screen capture.
Ya, I worry about getting flushed out all the time. We have it hard where we fly.
I hit heavy sink once on an XC and only had about 100 square miles of sea level flatland to land on.
It was a tough decision weather to land by the road near a cottage and see if I could cadge a cup of tea, or to stretch it out a bit and find a village pub.
These are the tough choices us flatlanders have to make sometimes!
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