Fountain Run, Kentucky

Tennessee Tree Toppers

It never hit me to write about my flight but Ollie and several others
mentioned that I should post it here. While in the air at Lookout on
Monday I decided to go to Whitwell on Tuesday and couldn't get anyone
in the LZ to commit to go except for Marc. I told him I would go if
there were clouds. I called Ollie and the forecast for top of lift
was 9000 MSL . So I decided to go with or without clouds and packed
my harness with rope, water, food and lots of cash to secure a ride
back to Whitwell. I studied the maps for going over the back and it
looked like there were fields along Hwy 111 on top but in a south
wind it was 35 miles to get to the back side of the mountain and Hwy
111 is more to the north.

I decided to leave work at noon and called Marc that we would meet at
the church at 12:30 est. Eric Donaldson called me about 11 am and
told me the tug crew at Lookout reported south at 20 mph on the tows
and it was about 10 mph on the ground. Not good news but I didn't see
any ground winds at work.

I was about 5 minutes from the church when Marc called and reported
that the ground winds at the church were NE and that was good to
hear, since I knew that higher winds on a south cross would make it
harder to get up. We arrived at launch and the wind was very light
from the south. The sky was blue so I was not very excited and took
my time in getting ready. Marc sees some cummies over the back and I
get very excited and take the glider out to launch. The valley is
still blue but cycles are starting to come in, so I get dressed and
decide to go. Then some mist forms to the north and it looks super
high! I then decide to wait to see if anything forms near launch. It
only takes about 15 minutes and mist starts to form about 1-2 miles
north and then some more near launch so I decide to go. I don't feel
very confident with no birds in sight but my truck is in the LZ so I
take off and turn left.

Oh no…..no lift at all along the ridge and I lose about 200 feet and
turn out to the LZ and hit light lift. There is not much drift and
after about 20 turns with not much gain I widen my turns. Luckily
there is no sink so I turn even wider and hit a core. I'm thankful
for the chance to get up so I yell at myself to concentrate. This
gets me above ridge and after about 200' over its 200-400 fpm and the
thermal tops at 8000 MSL. The wind has picked up with altitude and
I'm about 5 miles north of launch and about 3 miles over the back. I
fly straight back to the valley but my GPS indicates 10 mph ground
speed, this is not good! So I decide to fly at a 45º angle north to
the valley but I don't see any clouds in the valley or along the
ridge.

Visibility is about 12 miles and I can see the fields along Hwy 111
on top but that is north of my track. I can see whispies on my track
so I go for it knowing that if I get low I can turn cross wind and
make the fields along Hwy 111. At the moment I take off downwind I
see a large flume of smoke on top of the mountain that is blowing
flat along the ground. There wasn't much wind at launch, but now I
don't want to land on top with that much wind in the middle of the
day with thermal activity.

Heading for the next mist I decide to turn in all lift no matter how
light and stay as high as possible. With no clouds in sight but lots
of mist along my path I get to 9200 MSL and head for the next mist.
There are lots of thermals along my path and I can see the back side
of the mountain now and it's great to see farmland everywhere. I pass
McMinnville and stay high working every thermal I find. About 5 miles
into the valley I can see a vast wilderness area ahead and at this
moment I realize I didn't study the maps far enough north. The
farmlands only last 15 miles.

Well this is the point I would ALWAYS chicken out but I was staying
high and now was topping out at 10700 MSL. Something told me to go
for it so it's off downwind under a very nice cloud street with well
formed flat clouds. After 5 miles into this area (Center Hill Lake
Area) I was getting to the point where if I continued straight ahead
I would commit to landing in this area. I decided to cross cloud
streets and headed NE along the edge of the wilderness area so I
could bail out to the farmlands and study this wilderness area better
for fields. This was the first time I hit major sink and lost 3000'
crossing streets but got back to cloudbase.

Now I can see the Cumberland River in the middle of this wilderness
area and there are fields along the river but the entire area is very
hilly but I don't see much wind on the lakes. So I commit this time
to just go for it no matter what and I can land along the river. So
it's off downwind to the next cloud which is about 10 miles away. I
loose 4900' and arrive at the next cloud but it's just some scattered
mist. I don't see any good LZs but off to the NE I see some very
large fields along the river. With not much ground wind I feel OK
about being here.

I search under this mist area, this is my only chance as the next
cloud is too far, I hit some very light lift and gain 500' in about
20 minutes. I'm looking overhead and I finally see an area to the SW
starting to form so I leave my lift and head SW and I run into a very
nice 400 fpm thermal that gets me to cloud base. Now I can see the
end of the wilderness area and lots of farmland. I measured this area
on my path and its 40 miles across. It's very hilly but has lots of
fields with some big fields along the river. I would not want to land
anywhere in this area in high ground winds though.

I get to the beginning of the farmlands at 10300 MSL (9100 AGL) and
it's perfect now with flat lands and large fields as far as I can
see……all of 12 miles! Too bad it's now all blue sky ahead. I see some
clouds off to the west but they don't look that great and knowing
that I must be close to Kentucky, I take off on glide downwind to the
north. The air is super smooth and the sink is 100-300 down. No more
lift and I'm getting low over the ground but with large fields
everywhere I just keep on gliding.

I see a small town ahead with a nice LZ in the middle of town. Not
knowing where the Kentucky border was I just keep on gliding with
large fields everywhere. I see some smoke and it shows south at 1-2
mph on the ground. I go the end of my field and I don't think I can
make it safety over the tree line so I make a 180 and glide into the
super smooth air with a very nice no step landing.

I call Eric Donaldson to pick me up and then call Ollie with my
coordinates so he can give directions to Eric. Just as Eric calls and
says he heading my way a pickup truck stops and asks if I need a
ride. I say Chattanooga and they say for gas and beer money they will
take me. So now I don't have to wait 3-4 hours for Eric. "We'll be
right back", I break down quickly. They come back with a very nice
and very large Dodge pickup with 6 people who are ready for a road
trip.

The glider fits nicely of top and I use my rope to secure the glider.
They were very excited about the road trip and called about 20 people
on the way to tell them what was up. Besides the gas and beer money
(the driver didn't drink!) I gave them some cash also.

The air was super smooth the entire flight. The lift was not very
strong but lots of it. The flight was so easy and just so very
pleasant. I dressed perfect for the 42º temps. I was so happy that I
did not take a sled run on such a great day!!!!!!

10,700 MSL
109 miles
4 hours 50 minutes (2-6:50 est)
90º on the ground
42º at cloud base
Fountain Run, Kentucky

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