Alby's Voyage: Alby flight No. 18 and pin No. 11

latest news

11/1/09 - WINTER ACTIVITY - This the season of limited flying activity for a glider pilot, of savoring past accomplisments and preparing for new ones. So in place of reporting about flights, we will report on what's going on in the organization of Alby's future path and adventures. More plans and more e-mails will be shown in this column.

Sergio to Robert Hey, October 31:
Hi Bob (Hey). So here is the answer from Bob (Herndon). The two of you can agree which week you want to try first.

Now a word about the reservations: The Rules are applied literally if there is no different agreement between you two (or more) guys: so one pilot has one week to do the flight, after which the other pilot may try. But the Rules are very flexible depending on you: If Bob (Herndon) finds that he cannot fly in the week he has reserved, the other Bob (Hey) can fly instead. If Bob (Herndon) finds that he cannot fly for three days in the week he has reserved, the other Bob (Hey) can fly for those three days instead. Etcetera. Provided you two (or more) agree, any arrangement is good.

It is always recommendable to tell the Albymaster, who will update the calendar, so everything is clear for everybody. Remember that this includes the people at home following the adventures of Alby. So when you answer an e-mail, push the "Reply All" button and the information will go to everybody interested including the Albymaster.

Thank you Bob (Herndon) for your hospitable move to Bob (Hey)! Sergio

E-mail from Robert Herndon, MS, October 31:
I can arrange a tow at Pisgah if Bob Hey wants to take the leg when Alby gets here. If he can't do it, I may give it a try. Bob Herndon

Sergio to Eric Hey, October 31 :
OK now the first thing you want to do is to read the Rules in the website at http://www.blogger.com/. We have established these rules just to try and accommodate everybody. The Rules have been purposely kept short and simple to adequate to this age of fast an essential information.

Yes, you may want to contact the people at the glider site of your choice to make arrangements for a tow, to tell them that you want to fly that particular leg etc., and in general as a courtesy call to introduce yourselves to your fellow glider pilots.

According to the Rules, one pilot or one team reserves one week and has that week to try and make the flight. If they do not make it, next week somebody else can try etc. In the Calendar (at the bottom of the website) is shown who is the pilot or team that has that particular week reserved.

You can reserve any week right now, but only one week in a particular gliding site. If you cannot make the flight in that week, wait when it is your turn. As a courtesy to that glider site, please give them the first choice. After they do it, or if they renounce to do it, go ahead and ask to reserve your desired week. You can do the reservation at any time, either now or next spring. In Pisgah, the contact is Robert Herndon.

Always cc: to albymaster@pacificsoaring.org so we know what is going on. Go for it! Sergio

E-mail from Eric Hey, AL, October 31:
Sergio, we would like to offer to fly two legs of the Alby Voyage flight. My father, Bob Hey, is game to handle the Harrell Field (Piscah, MS) to Starkville, MS leg. I will fly the Starkville, MS to Sylacauga, AL leg. Do we need to contact the two respective glider clubs to make arrangements for tows? Eric Hey

Sergio to Robert Hey, October 27:
Hi Robert. Ok we'll try our best to let you fly a leg. Now the leg from Sylacauga to Huntsville has been claimed by your friend Bill Elliott and he will be the first to try. However, you can try to fly other legs. For example, the leg from Mississippi State University (Starkville) to Sylacauga. That is not that hard to do. Or, the leg form Pisgah to Starkville. That is a little more "harder" but remember that it can be done in more than one flight, landing somewhere along the track and then taking off again, having one week to complete the task. Read the rules at http://albysvoyage.blogspot.com/.

Anybody can ask to fly with Alby. You can also fly the leg from Sylacauga to Huntsville if your friend Bill does not make it in one week. When the time comes, follow the adventures of Alby in the website, and be ready to ask to fly a leg. Got it? There is fun for everybody if a body is just ready for it! Sergio

E-mail from Bob Hey, AL, October 27:
Sergio, my name is Bob Hey. I have an interest in being a player in the "Alby Flight". My son Eric owns a LS4a and I have a LP-15 Nugget - based in Sylacauga, Alabama. We are active members with the Sylacauga Soaring Society.
Each of us is willing to help bring "Alby" on it's way to Kitty Hawk. If there is any leg in Alabama that we can help with please let us know. Perhaps we can handle a leg or two on this journey. Thanks in advance, Bob Hey.

10/17/09 - SOME MORE POOR WEATHER - Well at this time of the year, it is more reasonable to have poor weather. However, still some cold front may produce usable conditions.

10/08/09 - TEXAS WEATHER: THUNDERSTORMY! - E-mail from Dean Forney:

Sergio, I’m sure you and everyone else is wondering what’s going on with Alby! As you have seen, the weather has been terrible for soaring attempts for the past month or more. As I write this, the forecast in this part of the world is for possible tornados and severe thunderstorms with flash floods likely for the next 48 hours. We continue to watch for the possibility of another attempt to move Alby on to Louisiana, but it looks bleak for the near future. Presently Alby is safe and warm, sitting in my study here in Gainesville, TX. Will keep you posted of any developments.

I was crewing for Steve on Sept 7, and Elizabeth & Glenn Maynard, as well as Steve were crewing for me on Sept 27. Bless their hearts, they sat on the ground all day at TSA and cheered my futile attempt on! Thanks to all of them for the effort.

By the way, on the last flight, Spot worked perfectly as shown on the website for a few days.

10/03/09 - AWFUL WEATHER IN TEXAS - The worst weekend weather as of today. But as they say, if you don't like Texas weather, wait for tomorrow because it will change dramatically.

9/26/09 - TEXAS WEATHER STILL UNCOOPERATIVE - Not much to hope for this weekend too.

9/18/09 - AWFUL WEATHER FOR DECATUR PILOTS - Weather is absolutely poor east of Dallas this weekend - not much to do but wait.

9/12/09 - BAD WEATHER FOR DECATUR PILOTS - The weather for this weekend is very poor in Dallas. Improvement is needed before a flight can be attempted.

Email from Dean Forney today: We will be watching the weather closely and will give it another try at the first opportunity. Take care, Dean.

9/08/09 - MONDAY ATTEMPT BY DECATUR - E-mail from Dean Forney this morning:

Sergio, Monday was as good as it was forecasted to be and Steve took off from Midlothian with Alby on-board. Unfortunately, we did not properly activate Spot, so no signals were sent. I'm sure that Steve will be posting a detailed account here and in logbook. Steve ran into rain showers and had to land in a field. Field is not big enough to tow out of, so it's back to Midlothian. Terry at TSA has passed their next turn to us, so next try will be again by Steve. More Later, Dean.

From Sergio: It is great to see some action! Anybody is good at flying at great speed under a line of well developed clouds. But it takes commitment, organization and enterprising spirit to set oneself for a goal and work at reaching it. Good Job!

9/07/09 - MONDAY IS FIRST TRY FOR DECATUR - E-mail from Dean Forney yesterday:

Soaring forecast for Saturday was poor. Sunday is better. Monday looks very good, therefore Alby and Steve are scheduled for take off out of Midlothian Monday. Dean

Sergio's answer: Is Monday night , and I see no messages on the SPOT page. How did it go?

9/02/09 - SATURDAY IS FIRST TRY FOR DECATUR - E-mail from Dean Forney today:

Hi Sergio, I just finished talking with Steve Altman and he would like to reserve Sat 5th til Friday 11th, then if needed he would like to continue the reservation for Sat 12th til Fri 18th. We need to make arrangements with TSA for tow(s) and when and where to pick up Alby. We also need to know who to contact at Shreveport club for how to make delivery of Alby, especially if it is during the week. Thanks, Dean.

Sergio's response:

OK and I will place the Sat 5th till Friday 11th reservation in the calendar. For the following week, Sat 12th till Fri 18th, according to the rules it is the turn of Midlothian to try the flight. However, if they agree to let you fly instead, you can reserve for another week. Midlothian has time until Thursday Sept 10 at 6:00 PM (local time) to reserve for the following week, after which you can make your reservation.

E-mail from a fan: Just a quick note to let all of the Albypilots and crew know that your fan club is watching! I'm in northern cal not far from the start of Alby's voyage and am the sister of pilot Dean Forney who just completed the most recent leg to Decatur, TX. I am and will be one of the many fans following the trip and want to send kudos to all of the participants, especially for the Tales of the Flights. May the soaring gods shine upon you all! Diana Ingram

The flight of the Albatross across our Country caught the attention and the fantasy of a newsmaker, Adam Breen, who published a well written and inspired article in Hollister's "The Pinnacle" newspaper: http://www.pinnaclenews.com/news/contentview.asp?c=255106

Alby flight No. 18 and pin No. 11 - Ted Wagner 6/25/09

All:

Three and 1/2 weeks after his outstanding near-700 km flight from El Tiro, AZ to El Paso, TX, Ted Wagner returned to El Paso by car, with his father, Roy, as crew, and today successfully flew with Alby "180 miles east, to land in the next state west of Texas" in Hobbs, NM.

See his flight report below.

Ed.

Alby’s Log: Leg #11, El Paso to Hobbs

Thursday. 25 June, El Paso
7 AM
The day begins at my Tia Loca’s house, 5 miles from the airport, with a breakfast of fresh (and I mean fresh) eggs, toast and bacon, followed by a quick check of the weather. It looks promising, with cloud base above 13k the first half of the flight, dropping to around 12k on the second half. An east wind is expected.

The flight plan consists simply of staying high enough to always reach one of the four points on course – Horizon Airport, Dell City, Carlsbad, and Hobbs Industrial, each about 65 miles apart. If I can get to 12k at the right times, there should be no problems. The “nail biter” legs are the last two, which feature absolutely nothing but lunar landscape in between. To up the chances, I had decided to fly with 18M wings when we rigged Wednesday afternoon.

At 8:30am we arrive at the airport to fill the glider with water, wipe her down and finish all preparations. Lunch at 11am. My father Roy is crewing and he hits the road to Carlsbad at 11:20.

Alby and I see CUs to the east, and wait for them to get closer…

12:10 PM
After watching the CUs 10 or so miles to the northeast develop but not get closer, we decide to launch and go for it. The EPSS Pawnee, 68V, clears the end of the runway at 12:15. We release at 6500’ (2500 AGL) in 6 knots up directly over the airport and that takes us to 9200’ before topping out. Good enough to head on course!

Ten miles later at 7300’ we get to the CUs. They’re not working great, but they’re working, good enough for 11,500’ and we continue on course ENE in the direction of Dell City. The sky north and east looks good (actually, great!), about 20% cloud cover with some patches of blue here and there. The wind is stronger than the forecast and out of the ESE, making for a 12-14 mph nose wind.

1 PM – 1:45 PM
On course to Dell City features lots of good looking clouds but few of them working very well. At one point, down to 9200’, I divert north to a good looking cloud where excellent lift takes us to 12k. (The first half of the flight has lots of diversions like this, not all of them as successful.) We get to Dell City around 1:40pm at 10.5k, with a desolate looking landscape, punctuated by the Guadalupe Mountains, to the ENE.

At this point I’m finally able to make my first contact with Roy after several tries, who reports passing through Carlsbad at the time, a good 60 miles ahead of me.

We continue across a blue hole toward the mountains at zero MC, slowing or stopping for every indicated lift, to make sure we make it to the next clouds in good shape. One thing I absolutely want to avoid is having to divert back to Dell City!

But the clouds over the mountains don’t work very well and we find ourselves nursing a marginal glide to Cavern City, the next waypoint, while constantly checking the glide back to Dell.

2:15 PM
Below 10,000’ and still 26 miles from Cavern City, still conserving a 1500’ over 0 MC glide there, we decide to divert southeast to a very good looking cloud over the high ground west of Whites City. Green fields are visible there, should the worst things happen (and since they can, that’s what we prepare for). The cloud works great and we’re back to 12k, now with Hobbs dialed in.

It seemed like very slow going up to this point, with generally weak clouds and that pesky nose wind, but the computer says we only need another 5000’ to make it to Hobbs.

But from the cloud southwest of Whites City for the next 40 miles, it’s more of the same Cumulus Suckerus. I think the lift in the blue is better than the clouds! During this portion of the flight we are still in reach of Cavern City, but below 9000’ with the caprock a few thousand feet below, I’m really hoping to find a payday thermal. Ten miles northeast of Loving we see another great looking cloud and after a few minutes finding nothing, we try the much smaller cloud to the south and that one works great!

3 PM
Back up to 12,200’, and the LX7007 says we have glide to Hobbs if we don’t fly too fast.

And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as glide to the destination is achieved, the going gets easy! All the way to Hobbs, every cloud works, some of them fabulously. At 3:15 we start a 50 mile glide that puts us over Hobbs Industrial at 11,700’. Onward to Denver City, another 26 miles northeast.

This part of the flight isn’t necessary of course, but I can do it while keeping plenty of altitude to still make Hobbs. I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to visit the resting place of my mother Rose, who we recently laid to rest in the city where she grew up and met my Dad in 1956. I pick up the cemetery just before 4 PM and do a wide loop around it with the dump valves open, a ceremonious watering of the grass, and I thank Alby for indulging me.

Still lots of altitude at this point so we race back to Hobbs and arrive there with 1500’ to spare. After landing, we can declare that we flew 200 miles almost due east and landed in the next state to the west.

A wonderful day! I hope the next pilots to escort Alby across the country enjoy doing so as much as I have.

-Ted/2NO
Alby pins #10 and #11

View Flight on OLC

DISCLAIMER

Pilots who participate in Alby’s voyage acknowledge that it is a voluntary effort, and that the timing, route selection, weather decisions, and all other aspects of the flight are the sole responsibility of the pilot in command of the aircraft in which Alby is transported. The Organizers of Alby’s voyage, retain all rights to the concept, images, logbook, Alby trophy, and eventual chronicle of the journey, but neither they nor volunteers involved in the project nor the Pacific Soaring Council (PASCO) nor the Soaring Society of America (SSA) are in any way responsible for the decisions of the pilots that carry Alby in their aircraft. When pilots propose to carry Alby on part of his journey, they warrant that they have sufficient experience and will exercise all due caution to ensure the safety of their flights. By allowing pilots to carry Alby, the Organizers of the Alby project are merely keeping track of and attempting to facilitate the continued progress of Alby’s voyage.

WAIVER AND ASSUMPTION OF LIABILITY

Please accept me as a participant in the Alby voyage. In consideration of acceptance of this entry, for myself, my heirs, executors, administrators, personal representatives, successors or assigns I hereby release and discharge the Organizers, The Pacific Soaring Council (PASCO) THE SOARING SOCIETY OF AMERICA, INC., and their agents, representatives, employees, successors or assigns from any and all claims for damages or injuries suffered by me or by any member of my crew during the aforementioned soaring venture.
I further agree to assume full responsibility for and to indemnify, defend and hold the aforementioned entities and persons harmless from any and all legal obligations for damages to personal property owned by, or injuries suffered by, any spectator or contestant or personnel of the aforementioned entities, or by any other person or entity, which may be caused directly or indirectly by my participation in the venture. I further certify that I have read, understand, and agree to abide by the rules and regulations of the aforementioned endeavor.
I fully understand and agree that I am waiving any claim for damages that I may suffer by virtue of any act of negligence arising in the future by any act or omission of any of the aforementioned entities or persons or their agents, representatives or employees, and that the consideration for this waiver is the permission by the sponsoring or presenting bodies of the aforementioned venture allowing me to participate in the said venture and that such permission is being granted me in the reliance upon this waiver as set forth in this entry form.

Tracking the flights with SPOT

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