Chile 2012 Part 2

Day 10/11 - 5th and 6th Feb 2012

As a mark of respect for 2 members of the co-located civilian gliding club who died in an accident on 4 Feb, flying was suspended for 5^th and 6^th Feb. Various activities were arranged for team members including a visit to the National Museum of Aeronautics and Space -http://www.museoaeronautico.gob.cl/espanol/home.php - and to the Chilean Air Force Academy - http://apa.fach.cl/.

Visit to to the vineyard:

Visit the the Chilean Flying Academy:

Visit to the Chilean Air Museum:

Visit to the Chilean Airforce Museum:

Day 12 - 7th Feb 2012

Ted

Today’s forecast was poor – weak thermals, a strong inversion and no cloud. I was last off in the Nimbus 4DLM but this time without the benefit of the motor to assist the tug. Nevertheless, we established well on Manquhue with a solid climb and then flew out to a dust devil which marked another good climb, but not taking us very high. And that characterised the flight – relatively good but short-lived lift - until we were eventually able to break through the 2,600m inversion which we managed after about 2 hours of hard work making our way north. From there on, with the benefit of cumulus and excellent visibility above the inversion, it was relatively plain sailing to the point “Y” which is 140km north of Vitacura and then a decision to turn south, running ridges to the western side of the mountains until we got close to home and then working the hills to the east of Santiago if we had height and time –which we did. This was not a stunningly fast day, particularly for such an impressive glider, but nevertheless demanding flying and satisfying to make the most of a relatively poor day.

Roger

It was good to get back in the air today after our 2 day lay-off. Once again the weather forecast predicted poorish conditions which were not, in fact, borne out once we were flying. After getting to 1300m at Manquehue we managed to follow Los Espanoles to Las Lagunas to attempt to get ‘inside’ but could not get the height needed so we more or less followed our previous flight’s route around the outside gaining height where we could. In the end we made it to Square Lake again before turning back. On the way, we managed to arrange an RV with Phil and sauntered back down the ridges towards Vitacura. In the end a better day than had been predicted.

Olly

Poor forecast with strong inversions, minimal heating and no wind. Still a great day. Instead of going 'inside' into the larger mountains we spent the day on the outside on the smaller ridges and hills. Having initial struggled going north we altered our plan and headed south and use the mountains and ridges some 70kms south of the field. A good day dispute the initial frustration by being unable to climb above the 2700m inversion and into the higher mountains.

Phil

The forecast was for a very stable day, but you never write off a day in the mountains, and after a 1300M climb on Manquehue, I spotted a dust devil in Potreros, which gave a very tight 3M/sec climb to 1900M. Laboratorio offered anothe 300m in a thermal with a Condor, who decided to lead me towards Ted in the Nimbus 4 who was climbing nearby in a stronger thermal! This climb allowed a run along Espagnoles, across to Cathedrales and on to Lagunas. As conditions were not suiatble for the high mountains, we pushed north to Copin, and eventually to Guanacos and Morado before turning south for home.

Roger

A great day out today! It was all a bit doubtful because at the briefing, although the weather forecast was better than yesterday, there was a lot of smoke being blown from fires on the coastal plains that made visibility poor. However, all doubts were put aside as we climbed relatively easily up to Las Lagunas via Los Espanoles and into clear air and good climbs. After getting to 3500m amsl we set off east and in to the high stuff via Little Pyramid and, after getting over the Juncal Glacier turned south to follow the border. We had brilliant views of the steaming craters at Tupungatito Vocano and maintaining height at around 5000m amsl we continued as far as the Maipo Valley. The smoke was clearly encroaching into the valleys so we decided to turn for home while we still had height to stay above it and before the sun got so low as to make visibility difficult (Vitacura runway is on 250deg). Overall, it was a fun day out but it still takes a little getting used to clearing ridges by 100ft or so when you are flying at 18,000ft! The scale of everything is still something to behold.

Ted

We didn’t really need the met brief to tell us about local visibility – a number of large fires to the south of Santiago had reduced visibility to around 5km. But the met brief did show promising conditions tempered by the need to get high to avoid smoke filled valleys. Before launch, we made sure that radio calls would help separation close to the airfield – outbound and inbound. Last to be launched, the day was then running as fast as possible up to Lagunes in increasingly good climbs, then inside the mountains to hug the border down to the Tupungato mountain and the active Tupungatito volcano, then south west to Marmolejo and the San Jose volcano prior to returning in the increasing murk to Vitacura.

Olly

A smokey day in the valley today, however the met looked promising - provided we could climb above the smog. We launched in the Janus from Vitacura and made good progress to Lagunas via Espanyol. From here we turned south parallel to the Olivaries Valley using the high ground to achieve good climbs and tried to stay as high as we could, hopefully we might contact some wave. Unable to find any wave, although we did find lots of sink! we decided to turn for home. In the end the day was nice with good climbs and due to good heating the smog had lifted sufficiently at Vitacura to enable an pleasant return and landing.

We had the honour to meet Alejo Williamson Davila today, who in 1964 crossed the Andeans from Santiago Chile to Argentina in a Let L-13 Blanik. For this flight he was awarded the FAI Lilienthal Medal.

Today AM Sturley, in his role as president of the RAF Association, presented Alejo an official certificate to complement the set of RAF Association wings he received in 2011 in recognition of this amazing achievement.

Day 14 - 9th Feb 2012

The was a trip of 2 halves where my skill, technique, confidence and patience were thoroughly tested (again). The forecast not stunning but appeared to be OK with the plan to get to Las Lagunas and then push south. Fernando and I were last off and although I got to 1300m on Manquehue, we were completely frustrated for the next 2 hours as we just could not get above 1800m which would allow us to progress. Consequently, we went to and fro between Maraco and Portreros desperately looking for some sort of climb. I was working hard just to find anything to centre in and felt a little comforted when Fernando had the same trouble. But his experience and local knowledge pulled us out of the mire and we eventually got to the minimum height need to get on top of Las Lagunas 40 km from Vitacura and feeling like a sweaty heap. The last hour was much more enjoyable and less strenuous as we pressed south down Los Espanoles and across to the ski resorts 25km east of the field. By now we were down to 1900m and with insufficient height to progress anywhere else so we headed back to Vitacura via the area where Fernando’s daughter and family lived to see if she had got back from their holiday on the coast – she had!! Another ‘educational’ day!

Ted

Just for once, today’s initial plan was not ”50km north and work out what to do” because the forecast was really not good – in relative Chilean terms. Instead, the plan was very much to see what happened. We had a low run up to the north initially but then climbed well at the cement works and so proceeded to the east. The trace is pretty much classic as we gradually worked up the slopes and we topped out at with enough height to run north up Altos los Leones with the plan for “going large”. But from there on, just as yesterday, it was mile after mile of sink. We sneaked over the ridge to make it into the valley of the Rio Colorado but then had to exit hastily making best use of available ridges until we re-established at Lagunes. From there, we ran past a huge copper mine and then over the ski resorts (snow in May!), down to the Maipo river and back into Vitacura.

Picture - Teds trace showing how close to the rocks we spend on a day.

Olly

For most getting into the high mountains was a non starter today. Instead, having tried in vein for a few hours, we decided to run the ridges south to Farellones, Blanco and Gloria. It as nice also to see a plan which did not involve us going to Lagunas and then making the plan for there, mainly as getting there was very tricky! We ended up going via "low" route and scratching around to try and get high enough to push further into the mountains. Actually a great fun day.

Carl

After a forecast that suggested it would be difficult, we had a strong and easy climb off Manquhue immmediately off tow. We moved staight to Portreous and caught Olly and Phil who had launched 10-15 earlier. At the northern end of Laboratrie it was easy to stay airborne but difficult to climb to gain enough hieght to enter the Espanoles. when we did make the jump, the ridge only really allowed us to maintain our altitude and without enough hieght to cross a high col we had to fall back to the lower ridges further to the west. Once at Lagunas we climbed to 2300m and made our way to around 7-8km north of Decocoen. Nothing in this area worked so we gradually dropped back to Lagunas. We listened to everyone else struggling around Sandera and decided that it wasn't worth pressing inside the Andes so we ran south back to the Espanoles and then further east to the ski resorts to the west of Santiago. This was a different type of flying again and we flew low over relatively flat ground, always with safe escapes, for 20km south. It was interestering to explore the east side of St Ramon before continuing south to Blanco and eventually to about 7-8km south of 'Gloria' before turning north for home with around 70km to run. When we started our glide we were almost 2000ft below glide but with the sun-baked ridges on our righthand side we soon made this up and arrived back at Vitacura with over 2000ft in hand. I wish all my final glides ended this way!

Pictures - Ski Resort near Vitacura.

Day 15 - 11 Feb 2012

RAFGSA	Chilean Pilot	Glider	Time	Height	Distance
Ted	Philipe Jarpa	Nimbus 3DT	4:00	3200m	270km
Olly	Arturo Diez	Janus V18	4:15	2300m	295km
Phil	Solo	Ventus bt	5:00	3000m	285km
Carl	Helmut Peterson	Janus 16	4:00	3000m	275km

Ted