I run outside to check the view to the west around the mountains. The first rotor clouds were there. No wave bar formed yet. It was still early morning.
Taking out the glider from the trailer, the assembly ritual began. With the forecast to give winds that exceed 90 kts at 15000ft, we had to make sure that everything functioned properly and the bird is 100% ready to fly.
It took about one hour to get the Taurus ready. A long checklist was followed for this flight as some systems of the aircraft were rewired . Both ship’s batteries were charged with a digital charger to make sure they are 100% charged, then placed in their pouch, attached the main wires as well as the solar cell wires coming from the controller. Unfortunately a wiring problem prevented the PDA (running Seeyou mobile) to communicate with the LX1600. Though the PDA was receiving GPS data from the Colibri flight recorder. The Mountain High EDS oxygen system was double checked to make sure it performs flawlessly.
The O2 bottle, an aluminum one with 4 liter capacity, was fresh from recharge at 200 bars. Potable water was loaded in a Camelback and placed between the outer skin of the aircraft and the landing gear bay behind the right side. Energy bars with chocolate taste were loaded. A handheld radio (a must for glider flights in my opinion) was placed at an easy access point in the pouch of the right side. Last item to be loaded was the camera to record the success... or the failure of the flight.
The Pipistrel Taurus was fully ready for the mountain wave flight. Now it was our turn to get ready. Thin layer of clothing (fleece), warm shoes, woolen hats and gloves, sunglasses a must.
I love filling flight plans with fuel endurance of 1 hour and flight time of 6! It puzzles the controllers for a while until they understand that we are a glider.
Around 11 am the surface wind has picked up significantly. There was a cloud layer, a thick wave line starting from 2500m. Perfect!
It took a while to sit properly inside the Taurus and arrange all the technology around our human sensors. Everything had to be fitted tested and tried before departure.
The 2 stroke Rotax 503 fired with the second attempt. Surprisingly smooth and quickly after 1 month in storage. We taxied to Rwy 27 facing the mountains. The clouds were moving fast. Take off was quick and uneventful.
The Taurus was climbing with 2.5m/s. At 2000m the vario pegged to 5m/s. We retracted the engine after few seconds of cooling. With the engine retracted the vario was still pegged at 5m/s +.
The next thing to do with this GOOD climb rate was to call Air Traffic Control of the area. We requested the highest altitude they could give us. The first clearance came: ‘Cleared to climb to Flight Level 130’. FL 130 came surprising quick. We came back with a request for FL 270 adding that this is a non powered flight in a glider. The controller in disbelief of the request placed us on hold to coordinate with Athens approach.
Waiting for the reply we prepared for the BIG climb. The oxygen system was checked and placed to bust slightly the O2 supply as we were using cannulas and not full face masks. Added a Flight Level Nav box in See you mobile, adjusted the ventilation etc.
‘Athens Clears you to climb max altitude FL230. Clearance is valid for 20 min, then leave altitude and descent below FL200.’
Thinking positive that we got a climb, but also disappointed that we could have gone higher, we checked the Flaps are in negative, positioned the Taurus on a good spot of the wave bar and off we went!
Riding the wave in super smooth conditions and climbing occasionally with 7m/s the altitude granted was reached very quick! All the climb was conducted with flaps in negative. True airspeed was increasing rapidly as well as the wind at altitude. At 18,700 the wind was 250 deg and at 180 km/hr. We were in the Jetstream.
FL22,500!
The blue shade of the sky is now darker. The atmosphere clear. We could feel the air was much thinner. The aerodynamic noise despite the 200km/hr True Airspeed, was quieter. The Taurus flew sleek and efficient.
Kostas commented: "Wow, this is my first time that high in a glider. The plane flies and flies like a Jet."
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