Ron Hess
NEW Hollister Altitude Record 14,097 flight from Hollister Forecast was for very warm (~100) and offshore flow, low to no marine inversion. This is not the normal type of day which we have learned works at Panoche, and the lift band that developed later in the day was not in the normal place. We have several data points to this effect. Started out with some work on my trailer while the first cu's started, Peter and Mike (2T and OZ) were setup and on the line before I could get tapped and preflight complete. The first small clouds were late getting started and well west of the normal Panoche-Hernandez line. Peter was off first and went to Panoche, Mike was second and started out that direction. I took off at 2:15, but was tempted by some haze and small CU on Fremont Pk. This didn't work out too well as I was down back on the ground at Hollister 35 min later. After a break on the ground I heard that there were 2 gliders on the ground at Panoche and decided to try the three-sisters area instead. A local flight where I could stay up was just fine with me. It was getting even hotter and I knew there must be some good lift somewhere.
Took off again at 3:26pm and towed to 4K in the east hills, here I contacted the north end of the lift band for the first time, felt like a medium thermal down low, became stronger ~4-6kts as I climbed and finally topped out at 10K, still no drift. Now I knew that it was a good day but the best was yet to come. As I flew south I saw OZ and then 2T as they were soaring their way back from a relight at Panoche. We worked up to 10K at the burn just east of Bickles, and split up. OZ going back S (and fast), 2T headed north and me just feeling out the lift, moving very slowly SSW towards the first clouds which I felt I could reach. I was as low as 7500 at this point before the climb and each later climb was going higher, I never got this low again.
Working S along the band of lift I stopped at 8500, worked to 10000, went south to a point between Panoche and Pinnacles, the lift was almost over the center of the Hwy 25 valley. This is unusual as the lift normally starts east of here and proceeds to Hernandez in a line. Today the lift line went from Henerita well west of Panoche and then back to Hernadez in a smooth curve. About here, over Hwy 25, I finaly got under my first cloud, climbed to 11K and felt good about heading farther south. The clouds were very high, I was still nowhere near the base and they were still building, this was 4:45pm. I cruised for a few more miles, almost to Hernandez but with the late hour I decided to try something else instead. I stopped in a normal core to see just how high I could pump up. I went up slowly, 20 min of circling in 3 different cores all within a mile of each other, but I still didn't quote get to cloud base.
As I went thru 12000 I reached for the Oxygen valve and
put on the mask which was left in the cockpit from the last mountain trip. This was very
handy as I was now above 12.5 and climbing. Lift was 4 to 6kts up but kept moving around
and I had to work to get above 13. Finally gave up at 13549 pressure alt and headed a few
more miles S before turning back for a nice looong final glide. I went down the
Pinnacles-Fremont Pk, ridge and got to the North end with 9000, so I went North onto the
Santa Cruz Mts, made my turn over Hecker Pass (Hwy 152) and back to Hollister to land at
6:22pm. 3 Hour, 10000 foot gain, lots of miles.
Notables : Highest I've ever been at out of Hollister, my first use of O2 at Hollister and
the farthest N. I've been in the Santa Cruz Mts.
Today I downloaded my flight logger trace and the GPS ALT MAX was !!! 14097 !!! at
00:22:46Zulu This would be a new Hollister ALT record, I have the trace to prove it.
All in all very notable flight for me.
hess
SHIP: Pegasus 3CA
Date: 09/03/01
Flight time: 2:56
Dist: 224 Km
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