Views from above the top!

[Jason Berard]

I hope this is still mountain related enough....if not, mods, please feel free to delete it. I just thought people might appreciate a different view of the mountains.

A friend of mine, Kevin, asked me if I wanted to play hookie today and go soaring in one of his soaring club's planes. I said " Are you kidding!? Of course!" This is the plane we went up in, a Blanik, which was a Soviet military training plane in a former life.

This is the club's tow plane...a "bird dog"

Protocol is to take the tow plane up first, to get it warmed up before towing the glider up. This is a view across Lake Fairlee with Sunday Mountain and Mount Cube in the distance.

Looking down on Tug Mtn....easy bushwackin' through those trees!

Here we are getting towed through a hole in the clouds.

Cube and Smarts ( l to r)

The Ct. River, with Moosilauke in the clouds on the far left. The far mountains are Carrigain, Osceolas, Tri's, Passaconaway, and Whiteface, among others.

my house.

Moosilauke, the Kinsmen, and Franconia Ridge in the clouds.

Another glider about 300 feet below us in the same thermal.

looking west, we saw Camel's Hump and Mansfield

Almost back on the ground!

Thanks a ton, Kevin! This was a blast! Also thanks to Rick for giving us the tow!

 

[Toe Cozy]

Fun! I've always wanted to do that. Very cool that you got the opportunity. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Very cool; nice views! I got a glider flight in a twin-seater with a pilot friend out of the airstrip in Franconia a few years ago, where his club goes every Labor Day weekend. He has soloed across the Whites to the Northern Presi's and back, which prompted me to ask if he ever worries about the Air National Guard low-level training flights to which he replied that they are usually but not always warned in advance.

 

[prino]

Very Nice! Sure gave a different view of the mountains. Interesting for me to see Camels Hump to the left of Mansfield, I'm used to seeing them the other way around looking from the daks.

 

[Jason Berard]

It was really neat to be in this mechanical bird, and just ride thermals for three hours! At one point, we saw a Bald Eagle below us, and hoped it would join us in the thermal we were in, but we never saw it again. Later in the same thermal, at 4700 feet (4,000 feet above the ground!), we saw an oak leaf float by!

Sometime, I hope to have the chance to go wave flying over Mt. Washington!
http://www.flypmsc.org/documents/MtWashBrief.pdf

 

[Jason Berard]

For a cool description of wave flying over Mt. Washington, check out this piece by Kevin:
http://www.soaringmuseum.org/landmark/nls14/localsite/Documents/SoaringOct01p28.pdf

 

[Paradox]

Very interesting.

 

[Jay H]

Nice pictures Jason, sounds like fun.. There is a place in NJ down by the delaware water gap that I see gliders flying out of all the time. A railtrail goes by the airport so when I'm usually riding it, I'll stop there for lunch and watch the gliders getting towed... Alway looked like fun.

Jay

 

[Tom Rankin]

A few years ago, I went on a small plane ride around Baxter. Awesome!

 

[1HappyHiker]

Thanks for sharing! Love the photos, and love the very appropriate title of your report!

 

[Jason Berard]

Thanks, all. I found being in a glider very different that being in a powered plane. The closest thing I can think of as far as feeling is that it was like being in a kayak as opposed to being in a motorboat.

 

[TrishandAlex]

What a great perspective -- thanks for posting the photos!

 

[audrey]

Wow, a glider must be exciting. A long time ago, I took a tour of Moosehead Lake in a 4-seater sea plane. It was a bit windy and that was very exciting.

 

[Dave Bear]

Nice report Jason! I found the articles very interesting as well. Kevin and the other wave-riding crowd he hung with for years sound like an fun loving and adventurous bunch, not much unlike our fun hiking family! Like the comment about how Conway was "once a wave rider camp, now a shopping mecca". Sounds like playing over George could be everything from thrilling to downright scary!

My uncle's 53 Cessna gives a nice perspective of the mountains and great views of where some interesting whacks would be. Must really be sweet to harness the energy of the thermals and the wind for a ride like that! Thanks!