The Fabulous XC Seminar

by Brian Vant-Hull

When Boy Wonder, Ric Niehaus, pitched the idea of an XC seminar to pass on what he had learned, everyone sat up and took notice. Then we found out Larry Huffman and Pete Lehmann would be presenting as well, and there was a mad scramble to enlist. 27 pilots signed up, equal numbers cursed in-laws, bosses, and plain bad luck for not being able to attend, while Chris McKee was abandoned in his hour of need: left all alone to move a lifetime's accumulation of junk to a new home; doubtless shaking his fist at the sky and cursing end-of-the-month leases. A chance not only to garner advice, but to actually be guided through the air by the big boys? I woulda left Sheryl Crow at the alter.

It lived up to expectations...but I'm getting ahead of myself. Start with the weather. Saturday was a howler. Pete was the main presenter (as he'd done this before for the clubs down at REI - I've read the full transcript - things sort of devolved to him) with Larry and occasionally Ric pitching in, but after about an hour of talking he was getting hoarse shouting against the wind. So we picked up, picnic tables and all, and moved into the large hanger. Of course some jigamathing had to show solidarity and start squeaking in the wind, but it was better.

The wind was a blessing in disguise. With no possibility of flying, the seminar could expand to fit its natural time scale: 5 hours. Mind you, it started at 9am, which meant most people had rushed in without breakfast, and we didn't take a break for lunch. I was looking up at Pete, Larry, and Ric wondering how they could stand it. They talked of clouds and all I could imagine was an ice cream float. I was getting faint. Then it hit me: these were FRICKIN' XC PILOTS! A few hours concentration without food or rest were commonplace. Cold, starvation, sleep deprivation - they spit on those words and laughed.

Afterwords a group of us took Pete to lunch, and he admitted he was about to keel over. Sure didn't show it on stage.

But enough of this chit-chat. Let's get on to the goods. The information part of the seminar divided into four parts: XC preparation before you even leave the house; checking the weather; broad flying considerations for deciding when to launch and what to look for as soon as you reach altitude; and Pete's XC guidelines once you actually start to head cross country.

Advance Preparation for XC

Get a Moyes mapholder - better than all the rest.

Fly with a radio antenna extender in the harness, for after you land if it doesn't work out for flying.

Fly with a road map, not a DeLorme, which doesn't cover enough area. Give a copy to the driver: EXACTLY the same map. Michelin maps have topography.

Make a repeater map, and carry it with you for when you land or even learn the repeaters along your prospective route.

ALWAYS calculate the temperature at cloud base and dress accordingly: (5° F)x(1000 ft) + windchill.

Checking Weather
(Larry's specialty)

Airport flight forecasts give the most useful information

Look at the thermal index profile versus altitude: booming down low doesn't help much if it peters out up high.

The forecast sounding is better than actual soundings, which are done early in the day at scattered locations.

Learn to read a skew-T. The 2 pm forecast sounding is the best indicator of good lift up to cloudbase. (FSL storm machine)

Flying Conditions

Launch early and try to top out the first thermals before starting on your route. This is more important for flying over the back of a mountain than flatland flying.

Lift is almost always in streets: find them! While in the air it may be easier to pick out streets by looking for cloud ground shadows.

Stay on the street unless forced to move out of it (airspace, etc.)

Pete's XC Guidelines

Go to lift: do NOT get distracted by other considerations. Most people end up cutting an XC short because they think too much about the retrieve and end up following a road instead of a cloud street. Clouds are the best indicator of lift, so plan your course by looking up, not down.

Turbulent sink usually implies approaching lift. Do NOT turn around!

Don't waste time looking for lift in one particular area. If you've lost 200 feet of altitude circling in one area without hitting a thermal, it's time to leave.
Always search for lift downwind. The glide angle falls off atrociously if you head upwind, so you can search a lot more sky downwind.

Stay with lift. Persistance makes all the difference. Typically if you can gain 100 ft, staying with it will eventually let you top out.

Don't leave your own thermal to chase friends from below or behind. Thermals dissipate quickly, so even if someone seems to be circling nicely, you may miss the ride. Read your own environment.

Always carry a book, because retrieve may take a while.

If flying with groups, have a separate retrieve frequency. Call your driver on your air frequency at about 1000 agl to let him know where and when you expect to land.

So did it work? You betcha. The next morning Pete briefed his own little flock of newbies, letting us in on a great secret. He took out a map, oriented it, and drew a light line from our position straight downwind. Then since it overflew Easton, he drew a thick line slightly skew to it and decided that would be our course. Looking at the map, the landmarks fixed themselves to it; with that burned into memory, I was able to fly my course with only a mental map.

I followed the rules, and even as a neophyte ended up having one of the better XC's of the day (16 miles with 3500 cloud base and 5 mph wind at altitude). It worked. Sure wish my radio did, because with Pete's advice from the air I probably would have made it all the way to Cambridge.