Memorable Soaring Stories

Friday, May 23, 2003 saw the rebirth of soaring at Mississippi State University. On that day MSU Soaring Club had it's first day of flying. Both the PW5 and the PW6, that were donated by Dick and Alice Johnson, took to the air. Thanks to the donation of these gliders and the efforts mainly of George Bennett and Tom Hannigan, soaring at MSU is back in business.

Visitors for the occasion included, Dick Johnson (Dallas, TX), Tom Hardy (Columbus, MS)with his Libelle 301 and me, Jim Hendrix (Oxford MS) with my Standard Cirrus. Our thanks go to tow pilot Tom Hannigan and the ground crew that included Bryan Gassaway, Mitch Farmer and his father Jamie Jones. Also assisting were Tom's daughter Andi and her friend Senina Fuentes.

The weather looked promising following the historic siege of storms that spawned record numbers of tornadoes throughout the Mid-West and Mid-South regions of the United States. Soft cu's began early, but retreated by the time launching began.

First up was George in the PW5 for a short hop. He then managed operations on the ground. Next Dick got seated in the PW5 and waited for the ground crew to make preparations. I was third to launch. After that Tom launched. Dick took a relight. This puzzled us since conditions weren't too bad for those who followed him. However, at the end of the day, after the longest duration flight of the day, Dick admitted that he just couldn't stay up the first time. As the afternoon wore on, the PW6 was put to good use. It saw five training flights, George flew it a couple of times solo and Tom flew with George once with Frank Ingels flying tow.

It wasn't a cross country day. Cu's were confined to the immediate vicinity of Starkville and there was a hard inversion that limited early altitudes to 3500 feet. By the end of the day Dick and I shared a thermal to just over 5000'. Afternoon temperatures rose to about 80 degrees on the ground, so we had a comfortable, lazy afternoon trying to find something interesting to do up there. At one point I decided to follow Dick around and learn something. He began making meandering tuirns and then I spotted two small, black birds that Dick was following through the sky.

The PW6 launched last, I believe, and it was third from last to land. I was next to last. Tom and I began to worry about Dick when it appeared that the lift had long since vanished. Then, just as we turned on the radio, here comes Dick, landing long near it's hanger. Dick's time was something over 5 hours, I believe.