| Attempting Soaring Records |
by Steve Koerner July 13, 2011
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I've been at the game of record flying for quite a long time having set several
15m national records in my Ventus B in the 1980s in California and Nevada. None
of those earlier records have survived though. One of my earlier records was
speed on a 500 km triangle at 85 mph. Interestingly, that record was later
topped by Alan Reeter here in Arizona; then reclaimed by me a couple years ago
with a 90 mph flight out of Sampley.
I particularly like working on big triangles. The two in my target radar now are
the 750 and 1000 km triangle speed records. The current US 750 km triangle
record is 93.0 mph and the current 1000 km record is 89.9 mph. During peak
season when the days are long enough to go 1000 km, I'll shoot for that one.
There is an interesting situation on the 15m 1000 km record. The current world
record of 90.1 mph is only a little greater than the current US record of 89.9
mph. The rules require that to establish a new record one must beat the old
record by an increment. For US records, the increment is 2 km/h but for world
records the increment is 1 km/h. Strangely, the result is that it is easier to
break the current world record than the US record. I can reasonably say that I'm
working on a world record. I find that's great for impressing the neighbors and
in-laws. Invariably I'm asked if that means I will be in Guinness Book of World
Records. My answer: yes, of course.
But clearly, there's no impressing glider pilots with the mere fact of working
on a record. What matters is getting it done. Foremost it takes phenomenal
weather to set a significant record. Setting records is about being at the right
place at the right time with the right plan. We do have good soaring weather in
Arizona but there are surprisingly few days which are good enough to bother
making an attempt on a speed record. Over the last several years, I've typically
made only two or three attempts per soaring season. Often the attempts are
quickly aborted when the super weather I need is not materializing.
Doing a big triangle of course requires a big area of strong conditions. When
super soaring exist in the forecast, usually it's not forecast over a large
enough region for my purposes. The weather attributes that I look for are
straightforward: greater than 7 knot thermal strengths, widespread Cumulus
clouds based above 16,000 and low thunderstorm potential. The thunderstorm issue
is often the bogeyman. If the forecast CAPE value is greater than about 300 over
any significant portion of the task area then all bets are off. Flying a
declared triangle is different than flying OLC in this respect. When flying OLC,
one can steer around the storms; not so on a declared task. If there are storms
in the area, there will invariably be one that blocks a leg of the flight.
Since there are so few record days that roll into Arizona each season, this year
I've decided to widen my net in order to get more opportunities. I'm monitoring
Moriarty, Parowan and Ely in addition to Turf and El Tiro. I made two attempts
at Moriarty so far. These trips are logistically challenging because, by
necessity, they're last minute decisions. I need to decide to fly or not fly
based on the forecast less than one day before the prospective flight -- further
out forecast aren't worth diddly. If I decide around noon that I'm going to fly
out of state the next day, then there is a lot that has to be done in short
order. I have to undo my normal life plans for the next couple days, get
database files together, select turnpoints optimized to the weather forecast and
coerce a family member or two into crewing for me and helping with the overnight
drive. On that score I'm particularly fortunate; this year I have a couple of
grown daughters around whose husbands are off playing Army right now. On the
last Moriarty trip, Lancette stayed home with grandbabies while my daughters
tanked up on coffee and drove my butt to Moriarty as I slept in the car. I'm
grateful for their dedication. We arrived at dawn, assembled the glider and then
went into town to get an early check-in at the Best Western where we had
breakfast twice on one night's stay.
I'm appreciative of Paul Cordell's help on the project too. Paul has served as
my senior observer as well as helping me on task planning. I may never make
another record, but it's fun trying.
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