Finally a longer flight, I was already doubting myself!
Planing: The classic was planned, first going east to the Piave river and then west to the Fiume Astico river and back to Bassano
Driving up: The 2nd shuttle went up at 9:00 a.m.. I met some people from the Bodenlosen e.V. ones at the take off. When they got ready for the start shortly before 11:00 a.m., I thought it could be time for me too
10:59: Unfortunately it took me 2 launch attempts to get out as conditions were actually easy, moderate southwesterly wind
11:01: It went straight up, so I decided relatively quickly to fly east
11:18: I could never really gain altitude, so I continued with low level flight to the east
12:04: Shortly after 12 I had reached my easternmost turning point. I saw some pilots flying further east, but that was too risky for me, I didn’t want to land prematurely in the Italian pampas
12:37: In between, I saw some pilots take off from the higher toke off Penettone. I flew further west, always in the altitude range between 1000 and 1400 m
13:00: The crossing over the Brenta went smoothly. Further west was a huge crowd with pilots, must be the competition Trofeo Montegrappa. I’ve never seen so many pilots in a group, and to be honest I don’t want to be in the middle of it
13:08: Here I was on the same north-south axis with the crowd moving further east, I flew further into the direction west
13:26: I thought the flight would end here, but I was able to dig myself out with another flying colleague
13:42: This is where I got myself into trouble by flying into the lee of a southeastern located mountain. At this point the wind was south-easterly, but I was able to dig myself out again
14:05: For the first time in flight, I break the 1500 m altitude mark. No idea what I’m doing wrong, during the whole flight I saw pilots much higher than me 🙁
14:11: Reached the westernmost turning point on the Fiume Astico river, let’s go home 🙂
14:54: My bladder was so squeezing that I finally managed to pee, I hadn’t been able to before
15:01: Caught a super gentle thermal in the middle of the river Brenta, I would have wished for something like that for the whole flight
15:12: Since the flight home went very well, I flew a few kilometers east again
15:37: In order to reduce altitude and because everything was still going damn well everywhere, I flew out onto the flat. Saw some pilots further south there at a much higher altitude. Today would certainly have been a good day for lowland flying
15:55: Happily landed after almost 5 hours, my longest flight so far
Lessons learned: I should crank out the thermals more to gain altitude. Ground handling would also be necessary to make the start work better
Conclusion: Nice flight, it was fun. The trip to Bassano has already paid off
Flight details: Check out XContest for flight details
