Hazy Flying in Hearne

We had been experiencing this "haze" over the area for several days and it continued on into the weekend. Local Houston pilot Carl Boddie informed us that it was due to the farmers in Louisiana burning their sugarcane fields before they go in for the harvest. Because of the recent rains from Tropical Storm Fay and the smoke from Louisiana we decided to re-schedule, once again, our "Downwind FlyIn" for another weekend (early Oct.). However, Saturday's forecast looked descent and eight local pilots came out for some flying. Curtis Graczyk, Kent Robinson, Dan Bereczki, Mike Degtoff, Chris Zimmerman, Mick Peters, Kenneth Cobb and RR Rodriguez all took to the hazy skies in search of lift. The winds were very light with a S-SW direction. Clouds finally began forming around noon. The hazy smoke was so bad it was difficult to see the clouds, much less distinguish between where the haze stopped and the base of the clouds began. It was easier to see above 5000'. Chris, Mike, Dan and Kent decided to attempt a 50 mile triangle - Bremond, Franklin, Hearne. I'll let Dan Bereczki tell about the triangle task.

Dan Bereczki's "Hazy" Account of the 50-Mile Triangle Task:

I wasn't sure about heading out to Hearne yesterday; the soaring forecasts
were mixed. Kevin Ford's soarcast said it wouldn't be soarable, the unisys models weren't that promising and Dr. Jack's blipmaps said it would be decent - not great, and in the end Dr. Jack was pretty close. His models predicted 300-600 fpm climbs to 6K. That's pretty much what we found. We decided on Bremond-Franklin-Hearne for a 50-mile triangle. Degtoff was leading the way to help us XC newbies around the task. I had pinned off in what seemed to be good lift at 1500' and proceeded to grovel downwind for what seemed like forever bouncing between 1200'-1700' until finally hitting workable lift that took me past 4K. Team flying helped out as Mike guided to me to stronger lift that took me past 5K. After hanging around long enough, CZ and Kent went on coarse, Mike was up to 6K and headed out - disappearing into the haze. I made a few more turns, not wanting to chase from below and followed. That was the last I'd see of anyone 'til Bremond. The lift was decent and I was able to stay above 4K most of the way, but it was slow going. CZ ended up chasing clouds way east of the course line and Mike and Kent were running into trouble as they were rounding the Bremond turnpoint. I was hoping things would develop a little better by the time I got there, but that wasn't to be. I hit Bremond at 3K and saw CZ sliding in at about 1500'. Great, I thought, one of us will find the lift to get us high enough to head on down to Franklin. CZ's Talon was getting closer and I thought we were in luck until I realized I was slowly sinking out. He made a dash for the turnpoint and headed down the road to Franklin as the lift we were floundering in was dying. We only made a couple miles and turned in 1 last bubble before I had to commit to a cow filled field. The field was tight, but it looked like the bigger field next to it housed a bull, so I slipped a turn and pulled it up short to miss the now moving cows, nothing graceful, but no beef or aluminum was hurt. Kent made it closer to Franklin and Mike made it all the way around - not bad for an old fisherman! Barb came through with another skillful retrieve - avoiding the mule train (trucks towing covered wagon type trailers that had easy chairs bolted to the beds?? - only in Texas...) 2 hours and 22 miles, not too bad for a late in the season hazy day.

Curtis was the first off around 2pm, and was quickly followed by Kent, Degtoff, Dan, CZ, Mick, R.R. and Kenneth. Curtis had decided to stay local and was able to stay aloft for 2 hrs. reaching 6200' and experiencing 800fpm at times. RR stayed local as well, flying his Sensor for 1.5 hrs. topping out at 5000', and Kenneth had a couple of flights that produced 1/2 hr. on the first and 45 min. on the second. He also was reaching altitudes of 5000'. Mick Peters wrote the following about his day.

Mick Peters Reaches "PB" Altitude:

It was a fun day, even though I stayed at "mother". Myself and RR towed up last, and we both also spent a long time around the 1600' mark, by which time the 50-milers were gone (smart move!). Anyway, with a little help from RR I did get up to about 5000', and thought about following the triangle group, but by that time they sounded like they were starting to struggle, and they had about an hour start on me! Plus the haze to the north looked like what, in England, we'd call "pea soup". Anyway, enough excuses - I had about a 1:15 flight (my longest at Hearne) and got to 5K AGL, my highest AGL, so was very pleased. I even managed to stay on my feet in the zero wind landing (it's the fastest I've run for a while though!) I guess, since I was wearing my "RR uniform", sticking with him was the appropriate thing to do. Bet you never thought you'd be a fashion trendsetter, eh RR? As always, it was a blast to fly with y'all - even if from a distance. Let's hope for a good fall!

Steve also provided trike instruction to Jon Stieben from the Dallas area. Jon flew dual with Steve Fri. evening and again on Sat. morning and also set up a Sabre trike wing as part of some ground school. Jon stayed for awhile watching the launches of the HG pilots. It was a good day. Sunday a front moved in causing heavy cloud cover and occasional rain showers. It will be interesting to see what type of fall conditions we get....hope their good.