Practice Day 1

Practice Day 1
I was actually able to wake up to my alarm today, and following a good nights sleep I was quickly ready to go. Richard met us at San Pastore at about 8am, and we headed out to the airport expecting to fly.

Mike's glider was quickly ready to go (I swear he's got fairies running around fixing everything for him) but mine still needed some work. We hadn't tested the backup logger/nav system the LX5000 yesterday, and turned it on today, only to find that it didn't work. The wiring had come loose and Richard had to quicly rewire the glider. Meanwhile I was cleaning the glider, and getting the tape goo off of the wings. Richard and Giorgio did an awesome job rewiring the LX5000.

Finally we were ready to fill the glider. The first wing filled really quickly, not the 1 hr that Chip had reported when he flew this glider 2 weeks ago, but the right wing went much slower. We will be checking the vent lines this afternoon. I'm carrying 170L of water to increase the total weight of the glider, moving the most efficient fight conditions to higher speeds -- good for racing. We towed out to the line, and have been waiting for the first launch at 1pm. We're towards the end of the grid, so we've got some more time to wait.

I'm kind of nervous about flying today, but just slightly. My biggest concerns are with the fact that this is a new aircraft to me, I'll need to make sure I know where all of the levers and handles are, so that I'm not retracting and extending the landing gear, when I want to be using the dive brakes.

Also, the local procedures here are to take off to the north, which means that it's usually a downwind take off. This is a concern, as it takes more speed to get aileron control authority (eg, the ability to pick up a wing), and since my wings are full of water and very heavy, I'll have to be very careful to keep the wings level.

We'll be flying with Giorgio, our crew, who has been flying here for 30+ years. It's a really good feeling to have someone who will be taking us around on a lead and follow type flight. We're getting ready to head out now. More updates soon.

Kathy
PS -- I have other blogs from the previous days that I haven't posted -- I'll put them up this afternoon...