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Sierra weather not something to be trifled with... |
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Written by Kurt Hilldebrand - Record Courier
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
Lee Vining Airport | Soaring record-setter Gordon Boettger had a scare when weather forced his glider down on April 29. Gordon’s a Minden resident who hit the hat trick in 2005 by knocking down three distance records. An airline pilot and former Navy carrier pilot, he’s seen his share of tricky landings, but this one took the cake.
He and retired meteorologist Doug Armstrong in Reno had spotted the big wind that was coming down the pike.
“We converse a lot about the weather and are always looking for mountain wave conditions,” the pilot said. “We knew there was going to be a big wind event and that it was going to get stronger.” With the help of tow pilot Mike Moore and Soar Minden owner Tony Sabino, Gordon launched at 6:15 a.m. and climbed to 18,000 feet headed south.
“Usually there are mountain wave lenticular clouds to mark the wave and rotor clouds, which look like torn-up cumulus clouds, that mark extreme turbulence,” he said. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 May 2008 )
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Written by Leo Montejo
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Tuesday, 29 April 2008 |
 | I spoke with Gordon Boettger on his cell phone today. It was 05:48 (am), and the adrenaline was on. "I'm ready in 2 minutes," I heard him say to Tony Sabino. "It's a blue wave day - a few wisps over Minden, but I am going to give it a try..." Gordon was flying today with SPOT, the technology that will allow the rest of the world to track him on another attempt to break his previous record. Click on this SPOT to see the progress of his flight in real time. Good luck Gordo! (click below to see the outcome of the flight) |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 April 2008 )
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OLC - 1400 km wave flight |
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Written by Gordon Boettger
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Thursday, 27 March 2008 |
 Approaching Mono Lake - southbound...
| On March 24, I spoke with friend and meteorologist Doug Armstrong about the next days wave event. By seeing the charts, it was a given that we'd have wave. the question was, how best to utilize it. The following morning I woke and looked out the bedroom window. Since I had no goals of record flying, a sunrise launch wasn't in the cards. A nice fat rotor sat above the house, as expected. I launched at 0900 with the intent of of scouting out wave into Oregon and my intent was not so much for banging out the miles. Plus, since I had skipped last season with any wave flying and had only flown my Kestrel twice in the last year, I wanted to check out the systems on the sailplane. I released in solid lift after a 2300' tow and immediately proceeded north in wave lift. Winds aloft to the north were giving me a west/northwesterly flow of about 50 kts. As I reached Susanville, it looked very weak to the north.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 27 March 2008 )
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