CF took off from Crystal at 9:12am last Saturday. This is a view from his cockpit CF over Big Pine creek looking northwest. Keep reading below (Soaring is Learning), to hear about his best flight in years. Spoiler....he landed in Oregon!

Shortly after landing, Christmas Valley, Oregon

Peter Kovari after landing, Gabbs, Nevada

Mike Koerner's 630-mile flight to Christmas Valley, Oregon:

I landed at Christmas Valley, Oregon on Saturday, my lon- gest flight in years.

I launched at 9:07, released on the second ridge, climbed directly to 10,000’, moved back to Lewis, climbed to 13,700’ and departed at 9:42 with a nice tail wind. I was lucky to get off when I did as the lift cycled shortly thereafter.

My first problem was arriving atop Sisters before the lift had triggered. I struggled mightily to stay afloat until the Earth had rotated enough for the sun to warm the slopes above Cache Creek a bit more directly.

By a little after 11 am I was 14,000’ under a cu on the peak west of Kelso. Just 14 circles got me from there to Walt’s Point.

But then I got bogged down. There were a bunch of hang gliders in the area, but the ones I pulled up under didn’t seem to be marking lift. I was down to 11,000’ going in and out of the canyons as I moved north along the Sierra. I finally got back on top just past Mount Williamson (abeam Manzanar).

Porpoising under clouds along the Sierra crest was superfast. I circled over Mt. Tom a couple times to wave at the hikers before realizing there was lift there! Those 6 circles got me from Williamson to just short of Lee Vining. 12 more circles and I was in the mountains north of the Marine base.

But then I got bogged down again. Minden gliders were helpful markers in a couple cases... but in a couple others, they were not. East of Stead I pulled up under a circling paraglider – not helpful.

From there on the flight reverted to a “climb and glide” routine. The cloud streets ran off toward the west. I would pick a cloud in the next street and dive across the blue for it. But the clouds would cycle before I got them. And good- looking shadows over Honey Lake ended up being a collection of wisps. (Who tries to soar across the middle of a giant lake?)

By Cedarville I was focused on getting to Christmas Valley – slowing down, topping out weak lift and diverting toward the last clouds of the day, which were east of Valley Falls. I flew 15 miles beyond the airport but was still 60 miles short of Bend and 2,000’ under glide with only an hour left before sunset. Going on would be committing to landing off-field. I have recently surveyed the area from the air, from the ground and on Google Earth. I’ve identified several viable landing sites. They’re stepping stones to get across a volcanic no-man’s-land, not destinations.

I needed to get to Oregon half an hour earlier. That leaves me with a bunch of “What ifs”. What if I had run the Whites to Mt Grant, or Glass Mountain to Segal and the Pine Nuts instead of staying on the Sierra? What if I had followed the cloud streets out to the west of Susanville, as SkySight recommended? What if I didn’t chase other aviators - unless they’re raptures, or a sailplane on the same task during a glider contest? What if I had pushed a little deeper into the lift band, instead of accepting weak climbs when I got low; or slowed down a bit earlier, so I didn’t get low in the first place?

I had a great flight anyway, with great weather, an accurate SkySight forecast, a tow plane and pilot when and where I needed it, and Fran willing to crew for me one more time. Maybe next year...

On the same day, Peter Kovari and Richard Smolinski both flew diamond distance to Gabbs, NV.

Peter’s version:

August 31st was a promising day for a longer cross-country flight.

Mike (CF) launched before 9:30 am his estimation for an early departure was correct as he did a very long flight, probably dodged some of the weather as well that I encountered later, congratulations Mike!

I took off about 10:30 am as planned and quickly climbed to about 13000 feet and headed across the desert. I did have some issues with my flight computer which complicated things some, but pushed on. Arrived near Mojave at Hwy 58 just under 7000 feet and connected with a weak thermal which took me high enough to push forward to the Three Sisters, Cache Peak and under a nice-looking sheer line west of Kelso with good climbs to 14000 feet.

Running up the Sierras was fast, under plenty of cu’s with altitudes close

to 16000 feet. Just south of the Lone Pine area near Walt’s Point the clouds

started to close up with visible OD not far west. I crossed over to the Inyos

aiming for the Hay Stack. I usually like to approach the Inyos closer to Cerro

Gordo or Mazurca, so I should have known better, the Haystack did not work

out well, but I continued going north well below the crest now, down to 8000 feet before I was able to connect again south of Mazurca, and back in the game. By then the clouds started to close up over the Whites, and staying over the crest was difficult. I opted to head out toward the valley on the west side, under more broken clouds and this worked out well.

By the time I was near Boundary Peak my first choice of direction toward Hawthorne/Yerington was more or less blocked by Virga. The situation looked better toward the Mina/Gabbs route, so that is the direction I took. I had the best climb of the day just south of Mina over the flat desert to 17400 feet, with Gabbs well made.

Once near the town of Gabbs I could see a wall of virga again, blocking the way to Austin. I landed at Gabbs. My total flying time was 5 hours 9 minutes, fairly fast for me. Sean (PV) who crewed for me showed up shortly.

Here we met up with Richard (TW) who also landed at Gabbs, and his lovely wife Ana. We all had a great dinner with great company at the lovely town of Hawthorne.

Richard’s version:

The forecast was great compared to the last few weekends. We (Peter and I) assembled gliders the day before to avoid heat and rush of next day flying.

I arrived as planned around 10AM and met Peter already in glider and Mike (CF) on his way already. I took off after Peter and Carl and after a quick tow to 7500 quickly climbed to about 14000 feet and start voyage across the desert. The desert was flat and lifts there lead to the arrival at Silver queen fairly low but optimistic.

Continuing to push forward I found some lift above 58 and continued toward Kelso Valley. Cloud street provided smooth and fast ride till Independence where OD block the way north. I crossed valley and continued North toward Boundary Peak. At that time OD completely covered White mountains beyond Sheep Mountain, and I decided to go directly toward Mina over valley east of Whites.

I noticed lots of virga on my way and I decided to go through it avoiding the edge of clouds with high probability of significant sink. It pays of in glider to been wash and continuous lift of 15kt trough virga. That speed allows me to catch up with the time I lost crossing dessert at the beginning.

From this point it was a smooth ride to Mina and Gabs where I met Peter and Sean (PV). This time we will all meet for a nice steak dinner, not like last time when all we ate was a gas station burritos and water. All places in Hawthorne are closed after 10PM.

It was a nice day, and the lesson is I should take water and fly further.

"Best flight in years"