Robin Hamilton Attempts World Records In His Swift:

Robin Hamilton came out early Friday afternoon (Aug. 30) and declared a Class 2, speed over a triangular course of 100 km goal. After filling out the declaration form (click here for photo), Robin launched his Swift at 3 pm from Hearne (click here for photo). He completed the course in 1 hr. and 55 min. His speed over the course was just over 30 mph, beating Davis Straub's record speed of 22 mph (see his barograph trace and track log below).

Robin's Account of the World Record Flight:

Friday, Aug. 30, I attempted the 100K speed triangle again and made sure I got the Declaration paperwork done right this time (see story in Item#4). It was a different day to the previous attempt with more abundant but less strong lift. The drift was a bit more also - probably 15kph (~10mph) ENE at altitude. The visibility was pretty bad and you almost had to fly on instruments when you got high. I was more patient and waited till I got high over the airport this time, going through the start gate at 3.35pm at around 6,000' agl. I glided and climbed on a course west of the course line, following the clouds and getting my best climb to base just before the TP. I then had a long quiet glide upwind before connecting with any reasonable lift and even that was a miserable time-wasting 300-400 fpm just S of Bremond. The lift line I was trying to work towards Easterly was getting drifted to the SW and it kept taking me off the course line. I finally got a reasonable thermal to base just before the Silos and that would probably have got me in - after the TP I was managing a 20:1 glide with 100km/hr ground speed in the tail wind under some thin clouds. In the end I ran into the best thermal (@ 700-800fpm) and air that I'd been in all day at about 16km out and it's always difficult to justify passing up this kind of climb. Difficult to justify, except when you want to dive off any excess altitude and start hitting more strong lift and you're also in a Swift. I glided in at 120-140km/hr (75-85mph) with stick forward, negative flaps and me hanging onto the cage with the cinch strap tight. It's a rough ride, as the wing doesn't have much flex so a lot of the turbulence get passed straight to the pilot. I hit good thermic air the whole way in and came over the finish line at just under 2,000' with elapsed time of 1hr 54mins (55km/hr). Better is for sure possible - there's a need to optimize final glide, the slow climb after TP1 hurt and the wind didn't really help either. It was a fun flight though and I would recommend the route and TPs to anyone contemplating that distance.

Robin gives the following account:

On Sunday 1st September, I planned out a Class 2 record 300km triangle starting in Hearne, running SW to McDade a small town just off Hwy 290, then east to Hempstead and back NW up to Hearne. It looked a bit ambitious this late in the season but doable if the conditions would stay reasonable around the course for the required six-hour stretch (300km@~50km/hr). I planned the first leg to be downwind as I expected weaker conditions with lower cloud base early on. I wanted to do the main upwind leg during the best part of the day and I was hoping the wind might swing from NE to SE by the end of the day to give a tailwind going home to Hearne. The leg distances on the McDade-Hempstead-Hearne triangle are 88+120+93 = 301km.

I got started at 12.10 and worked quite conservatively through the early clouds that were forming on the way down to McDade. Although conditions were fairly weak (200-300fpm climbs) the lift was quite abundant and, together with the tailwind, progress was good. This is the first time I'd flown over this area and I can say the terrain looked pretty favourable - a lot of sandy soil (? well-drained), slight undulating topography, good mix of fields vs. treed areas and even some scattered rock outcrop. I got to the first McDade turnpoint on Hwy 290 in around 1 - 1/2hrs with no real dramas and found a good climb to base just over the turnpoint. This set me up well to start the upwind leg and the clouds were now higher and lining up well to make for better inter-thermal glides. I worked these short streets effectively in an altitude band between 4,500-6,000' till I got to around halfway toward the next Hempstead turnpoint.

By now the sky looked pretty good with generally great clouds. However, a few of the cells were going a bit bananas causing some large blue holes around them due to shading from the outflow. I flew under the first cu-nimb around the halfway mark and managed to get back up in the sun on the other side. I was now SW of Lake Somerville and had the choice of a long glide towards a quickly overdeveloping cell lying along the S side of the lake or continuing more along the highway route that was fast bluing out as the Lakeside cell was cranking up. I chose the northerly route and got down to 1,600' agl before climbing under the edge of the cell. Topped out at 5,000' in the rain and then headed off E on a hopeful glide under the blue. This was a long quiet glide that unfortunately gave a lot of time to contemplate all the lush green Texas pasture below - there wasn't a single pond in any one these fields that wasn't filled to spill. I landed N of Brenham in a brisk SE flow, cursing the cu-nimb.

The flying was great and the task is certainly doable on even a slightly better day. I could maybe have gotten off an hour earlier and that would probably have helped me get round further before having to deal with the cu-nimbs.

Many thanks to Steve and Gaye for the tows and to Michael Williams who came with the Swift box and retrieved me on Sunday.

There are a bunch of official FAI triangle flights of 25km, 50km, 100km, 200km and 300km that can be done in the Hearne-Hempstead area. I would recommend these to any Texas pilots that are looking to make record attempts or simply some interesting doable XC tasks that won't have you landing too far away. If anybody is interested I can send you a copy of the route maps and coordinates for these courses. Email Robin Hamilton

Robin made it clear that he was not drunk on these flights as the track logs might suggest. On the first day he was being drifted a ways by the wind in thermals and on the second flight he was simply following cloud streets. Conditions in central Texas are finally beginning to get back to normal (after a summer of rains and flooding) and Robin has plenty of time to accomplish several world record attempts.

Hearne, As We Know It And Love It:

Labor Day Weekend brought many long (and desperately needed) flights to several local pilots...and a visitor from NY. The conditions were light NE winds, with a more easterly direction at times. We started out Saturday towing Curtis Graczyk around 1 pm. His flight ended up being the longest of the day at 2.5 hrs., topping out at about 5000'. Curtis experienced many tall clouds that were "scary" at times. He landed with a smile though. Tre Groeschel was the next one to tow up, giving us quite a show. His oscillating brought lots of "whoas" and "oohhhs" and "o.k., he's going to release now...o.k., now....o.k., NOW"! But Tre hung on through it all and finally settled in behind the tug. Way to hang on Tre....and it was worth it, giving him over an hour of flight. Doug, who was visiting from NY with friends Tre, Duane McCune and Pete Hammer flew our Falcon 195 and had a couple of nice flights before heading off to Austin for the UT game. Pete Hammer towed up and pinned off in the "motherload" of the day...almost 800 fpm up! Pete flew for 2 hrs. on his Litespeed. Chris "The US Open Champ" Zimmerman borrowed John the Bomb's Fusion, flying for about 2 hrs. and landing because he got bored. CZ likes to race, but he was happy with his local flight. Dan Bereczki towed up in his Laminar and ended up with the highest altitude for the day at 6100'. Dan flew for 1.5 hrs. RR Rodriguez flew for over an hour in his Sensor, reaching 5800' several times, experiencing a few drops of rain once....and o.k., since it was witnessed by several, RR had the worst landing of the day, rolling in on his wheels. Kenneth Cobb towed up later in the afternoon and experienced some development which "forced" him to do a small triangle while being chased by dark clouds. Actually, it was a very fortunate situation where an outflow from some local overdevelopment south of Hearne produced a wave of instability that slowly moved north. Kenneth and Burnzie (in the D-fly) frolicked in marvelous lift up to 5000', flying in and out of light virga and rain. When conditions got too strong, Kenneth flew up to Calvert, then over to the Brazos River and then back to Hearne after seeing the sky had cleared a bit. What a flight! A 15 mile triangle at 6.00 pm! Sometimes we need a little help from Mother Nature. Good flying Kenneth! The pilots reported that there was good, strong lift and it was abundant with an average of 600 to 1000 fpm up!

Sunday's conditions were similar to Saturday, with winds NE switching to SE. We decided to tow from the main runway to give everyone plenty of options for landing if necessary (click here for photo). It was a good call and worked well for everyone. Curtis decided not to fly today and helped Gaye with the ground crew efforts (a big thanks to Curtis!). After launching Robin at 12 noon for his 300 km triangle attempt, Dan Bereczki was the first one ready to go at 12:30 pm. Dan flew for 2.5 hrs., during which time he attempted an out-and-return to Franklin and back. Dan made it to Franklin and about 1/2 way back, landing on Hwy. 79 (see his story about the weekend below). RR towed up at about 1 pm, flying for 1.5 hrs. reaching 6000' and finally made himself come back to land because of air sickness from all the turning. Martin Mitter launched at 1:15 pm, and after being told by Burnzie that "lift was everywhere" decided to pin off at 1600' in nothing. He was following the tug back to the airport, but must have heard us on the ground giving him grief for pinning off in nothing, because as he set up to land he felt a little bubble in which he began turning, and as we cheered him on he was able to get high enough to get away for the day. Martin had the longest flight of 26 miles, flying just west of Cameron, landing near FM 485 and Hwy. 77. Martin is getting really good at low saves! Duane McCune launched around 1:30, feeling a little apprehensive since his last AT in Hearne produced a broken down tube (last summer). Duane's launch was very smooth and he was able to get a good 1/2 hr. in before landing. Richard Bodine's first flight only produced a sled run since he was still experiencing apprehension about not flying near the airport. After Burnzie "gently" informed the remaining pilots that they should not follow him back to the airport some incredible flights took place. Kenneth Cobb flew for 1.5 hrs. reaching 6000', Michael Williams flew for almost 2 hrs, reaching 6225' (while trying to keep in mind that he was in a hang glider and not a trike with a rope and pilot attached to it), Dennis Dornfest flew at cloudbase for 2 hrs. reaching 6225'. Pete Hammer flew for 2.5 hrs. reaching 6500', Tre Groeschel flew for just over an hour reaching 6000', and Richard Bodine's second tow was west of the airport, waved off in lift and he was bound and determined to not fly back to the airport...no matter what, remembering what Burnzie had gently said...he flew to the Brazos River and back, flying for 1.5 hrs., reaching 5500' and after landing asked Gaye to give Steve a kiss (on the cheek of course). Lots of smiles and some good laughs were experienced by all. The day ended with a group of 6 UT students taking some trike discovery flights (click here for photo). It was a good day.

Dan Bereczki gives the following account for his flying weekend:

Finally, Labor Day weekend, usually when the season is starting to wind down, things were back to 'normal'. Smooth, plentiful thermals that were plenty big enough to work, fat, puffy cummies marking the way and superb tows by Steve and AAS.

Barb and I got out to Hearne a little on the late side - 2 pm Saturday. Pilots were just starting to launch, so I didn't feel like I missed much. It turns out, I didn't - I hit cloudbase at 6K a couple of times and boated around the airport for 1.5 hours - just what I needed after a summer of sledrides and less than impressive flights.

We stayed over at the airport and awoke to the sounds of shotguns - dove season has started in Robertson Co. and every bubba and his brother were blasting anything that moved in the field around Hearne Airport. Duane from Dallas got chased out of his tent after hearing .22 fire whizzing close overhead. Sunday started sooner with Robin Hamilton dragging the Swift out before noon to try for a 300K triangle speed record. The day was already looking good by 11, so he had no problems getting away launching a little past noon.

After Steve came down from yanking Robin up, I was ready to go. I took off at 12:30 and got a very smooth tow to 2K, right to a thermal that took me to 4.5K. The drift wasn't that strong so I decided to head upwind, thinking about my own triangle. I headed up 79 to Franklin, making very slow progress, but consistently getting back to cloudbase lessened the airport separation anxiety. 2 hours later, I'm finally over Franklin - no speed records for me! By the time I got to Franklin, I wasn't climbing as high - usually losing lift just above 3K. This didn't give me the confidence to try for the Calvert triangle, so I headed down wind back to Hearne. A couple of miles of sink put me down to 1000 and the big field next to the RV park with the huge pool was looking good, shortly after unzipping the vario starts chirping and I was back up to 3.5K. That was the last workable thermal I got as I drifted downwind a few more miles. I ended up in Eliot, about halfway between Franklin and Hearne. 2.5 hours, 20 miles and my first successful upwind flight from Hearne. Barb was right there with the retrieve and then we were off to pick up Martin - he went 30 miles downwind, next time we'll have to get our acts together for some team flying .

Hopefully the weather trend will continue into the fall. We'll be back out next weekend for Saturday's downwind day, hope to see y'all there.

Monday's crowd was small, but conditions were just as "large" as the weekend. Tre flew for 1.5 hrs. reaching 5000', Duane flew for just over an hour topping out at 3600', Duane had one climb that showed 1,100 fpm on his averager with peaks of 1,400 fpm. Tom Rheman flew for almost an hour on his second flight, reaching altitudes of 5600'. It is good to see Tom getting some good flights on his Falcon. He has worked really hard and continues to improve his skills. Kenneth Cobb had 2 flights, the second lasting 1.5 hrs. He won the weekend for time aloft logging over 6 hrs. Chris Z. flew our Klassic for over an hour reaching 6000'. It was another good day, with good lift and light drift.

Looking forward to another fun weekend, and hopefully a good Fall of flying