Six Minutes, Thirteen Seconds
“Once a record is set it will always be broken. No matter what you do, someone will always go farther, be faster or higher, but they can never be the first ever again.” I have no idea where the quote came from; did I hear it or make it up? Doesn’t matter because either way it speaks the truth. Who was the second person to fly faster than mach 1? Who was the second person to fly solo across the Atlantic, command the mission to walk on the moon or run the mile in under four minutes? Even with a great interest in these topics and I am unable to answer the questions without looking them up. An interest in racing and setting records developed early in my soaring career. In order to become successful at any competitive event the participant must have a deep understanding of the rules. The International Sporting Code, Section 3 is a horribly written conglomerate of contradicting ideas designed to guide sailplane pilots who intend to race or chase records. I dug into Section 3 and became more confused than enlightened. A ball of yarn hastily tossed onto the floor and wrestled in has fewer loopholes than the rules governing sailplane racing. Each time someone exploits a loophole, the FAI fix is to apply a patch in the wording that usually negates a patch placed somewhere else in the rules. If there is no loophole to patch, the FAI standard reply to denying a claim is similar to ”… we understand the record was set within the rules but are denying the claim because the attempt violated the spirit of the rules.” Wow! The goal of setting a record will be tougher than originally believed so I better be first; but how? By dumb luck the highest badge I’ve claimed was none but I did earn a Diamond climb. With World Records being hard to come by the goal was to be the first person to earn three Diamonds but have no badge to pin them onto. This would require never making a flight of more than five hours' duration while claiming a 300k goal and 500k free distance flight. As training for trying to set a world record I began setting state records in a variety of categories and in several states. My training was paying off and I was becoming fast so I decided to grab the 300 km. Diamond Goal leg. The task for the Diamond Goal flight was to start and finish at Post Mills, VT. Turn one - Stockbridge, VT; turn two – Mount Elmore, VT; turn three – Mt. Deception, NH. 187 miles in all and as long as I flew faster than 37.4 mph, a speed below the stall of the LS-4, the dream was still alive.
Previously, I’d landed out several times while attempting to set a Vermont 300km. Triangle speed record and decided to remove a bit of pressure for the Diamond and just fly for fun. I crossed the start line headed for Stockbridge and glanced at my watch but never wrote down the time. I found a bit of wave-like lift (odd for mid June) between thermals and pressed on for TP-1. At Stockbridge a booming thermal gave me a climb of better then 7 kts. and I was elated. The lift continued but soon smoothed out and as I looked towards the ground the sight was unbelievable. The beginning wisp of a cu was forming below me. I’d seen clouds form into huge puffballs while flying but this always happened above me. Had I entered the wave? Hell yes and I turned north towards Elmore at 8,500’ never stopping to circle and losing only 500’ while cruising at 75kts. The scene was spectacular as I cruised along the downwind side of the wave window. I was just above the cloud tops in warm sunshine eating my lunch and enjoying the scenery. My intention of remaining in wave and hopping downwind to Mt. Deception had one flaw. Elmore was beneath the clouds and I did not have enough altitude to stay on top, claim the TP and head east.
It was painful but I opened the gear, pulled the spoilers and lost 3,000’ to get below the clouds and claim TP-2. Flying on top for the past hour did nothing to prepare me for the thermal conditions below. They were good but I had become lazy with the easy flight of wave. 30 miles east of Elmore and the clouds began to get thin. The lift was good but unmarked so I pressed on. Bad decision. I spent the next hour between 500 and 1,500’ AGL staring at the same field anticipating a land out. I fought hard to stay in the air and did not want to fail again. Soon a 1 kt. thermal developed into 6 and I was off towards Deception. The altitude I had gained gave me a moment to examine the flight and I was convinced I had an hour to get home (almost 80 miles) and finish in less than 5 hours. I could have landed at Franconia, NH and tanked the flight and giving myself another shot. This felt like cheating so I pressed on, claimed Mt. Deception and hooked the best thermal of the day over Twin Mountain. From 8,500’ it was one long 45-mile glide home. The flight trace showed I was in the air five hours, six minutes and 17 seconds. 36.47 mph. 1.something mile per hour too slow. I claimed the Silver and Gold badge and the Diamond Goal but can’t say I’m proud of the accomplishment. While many see the awards as a triumph I see them as tangible proof of failure. Turns out, being first is hard too. In case you’re stumped: James Fitzgerald, Jr.; Clarence Chamberlain, Pete Conrad, John Landy.
By Kevin Brooker