March 4,2001 Sonora, Texas to Lockhart, Texas

Steve Thomas/Proficiency and Training flights across America

This morning we got an early start. It rained and thunderstormed throughout the night but this morning I could see stars and no clouds before sunrise. I took off around 8:00 from Sonora. The winds on the ground were about 6-8 mph from the northwest.

As I rolled out on runway 35 my chute felt the winds and rocked a little as I lifted off. I climbed like a bat and then turned downwind. My speed over ground was over 60 mph at only a few hundred feet above ground! The airport was protected on all sides by hills and the winds above the hills were a lot stronger than on the ground.

Turning to the east I made good time to Junction, Texas. The winds were from the west on the ground at Junction and about 5-10 mph. They had a grass strip that went east and west, but the airport manager recommended that I just make a short landing on a connecting taxiway in front of the hangar! He and Chuck stood in the parking lot while I came in low and cleared a fence as I dropped the wheels down on the runway as I crossed it on the connector and taxied into the parking area before cutting the engine and dropping the chute behind the cart. It was a beautiful landing if I do say so myself! :}

Before I could pack up my chute a bunch of nasty looking black clouds moved in and the winds shifted to the north at 10-15 mph. Fearing the storms and winds from those clouds Chuck and I sat around the airport office chatting with the manager and a local Pilot for at least an hour. Finally they rolled in more broken up and lighter in color, but the winds were still 10-15 from the NW.

I taxied to the beginning of runway 36 and sat up for takeoff. Three times my chute got blown around beyond feeling comfortable for takeoff, and I had to reset it, twice after I was buckled in! The third time I was ready to pack it back up and wait a while longer, when the winds just steadied up at about 10 mph right down the runway. I buckled up again and made a speedy takeoff.

The ground was at about 1,800' msl and the clouds were at around 4, 000' msl. The lower to the ground that I flew, the more thermals I hit and some of them were real doozies! If I got too close to the bottom of the clouds I got great lift in cool air, but the winds were gusty and I didn't like the thought of another plane descending through the clouds and not being able to see me until it was too late.

I flew on eastward to Fredericksburg and got in the pattern to land. This airport was quite busy and three planes landed on the runway beside of me while I packed up my chute. The winds on the ground here were 8 mph gusting to 14 mph when I landed. Chuck was already there and I parked next to the truck.

While I rested we watched the pick up even more and I measured the gusts at over 16 mph. We ended up waiting for over two hours. Finally the winds were a more steady 15 mph down the runway. I taxied to the beginning of the runway and had to set the chute twice due to the wind, but in the end it went perfectly on takeoff and I only rolled about 10' before lifting off like a helicopter!

I climbed right up and throttled back as I slowly flew down the runway into the wind at 20 mph. The Pilots on the ground jokingly told Chuck to tell me to slow down! :} They thought that it was cool though. When I turned to the east again I was making over 40 mph and headed for a longer 80 mile flight to Lockhart, Texas.

On the way to Lockhart the clouds thinned out and finally were gone. The sky was hazy and the winds on the ground were down to 8-10 mph from the north. As usual there was no one around when I was approaching the airport, but as soon as I was on final there were two planes in the pattern. I announced to them that I was aborting landing on the runway and would slip over to the taxiway beside the runway and land there to keep the runway clear. They thought that was pretty cool.

I landed on the taxiway and rolled into the grass to drop the chute. I had flown 197 miles today, even with all of the wasted time waiting for the clouds and winds to behave. That is a personal record for one day.

We quit for the day and tomorrow promises to be a good flying day with lighter 5-10 mph north winds. With good luck I can land on the Galveston Beach tomorrow evening!

Have a good one,
Steve

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