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I had a wonderful glider flight on Sunday. my mentor launched just before me in his homebuilt glider, model name "Woodstock". It was built in the early 80s but is a vintage design. I had to take 2 tows to get one that would stick, but about 2 PM we left our thermal over the airport, headed north and never looked back. we have been talking for years about flying cross countries side by side and it was a lot of fun to actually do it. thermals were spaced widely but were pretty strong when we found them. eventually i made a fateful decision to press on hoping for lift instead of backtracking into the wind to get to a thermal that matt was working. i was already semi low at that point. never did find another updraft so landed in a beautiful cut soybean field. Matt flew around for another hour or so but was kind enough to land next to me. we had a great time visiting with the locals while waiting for our crew. derig was done by 7:30 and we were drinking beer and eating supper by 9. the great thing about this flight was how incredibly late in the season it took place. usually there is no thermals to be had by this time of the year.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cherokee373 ... berSoaring

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Everyone must believe in something, I believe that I will go flying.

Thanks Tony for the pictures...it sounds perfect.
It also reminds me how us power pilots should envision off field landings more often - even better do some in a glider - to prepare ourselves in the event. When you say "and landed in a beautiful cut soy bean field", it sounds a little different than if I had said it

yes i counted it up and i have landed away from my home airport 12 times now. 1 was at grinell, iowa which was a nice paved runway and full service airport. another was at a grass strip that is pretty much unused and basically a hay field now. a third was at a neighboring airport on their grass runway, although it technically was closed. all the others were in fields or pastures that were relative unknowns before taking off. 2 of them were dual with my instructor, which was a huge help. so i guess my cherokee has 7 genuine off airport landings under its belt.

_________________
Everyone must believe in something, I believe that I will go flying.

here is the video of Matt landing his glider in the field. awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAFYVPjG3Ck

_________________
Everyone must believe in something, I believe that I will go flying.

If my Cherokee ever has to land in an off-airport situation I hope I will walk away from it with the same degree of satisfaction!



http://gallery.mac.com/moski#100046

one guy who stopped by driving past on the road was a smooth talking salesman who owned a 182 with a 300 hp conversion on it. he offered to fly over and pull us out. course he didnt have a tow hook and had never towed anything but that field was perfect enough that he probably easily couldve landed there and flew out again.

_________________
Everyone must believe in something, I believe that I will go flying.