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Morning Glory PDF Print E-mail
Written by Colin Collyer   
Monday, 05 October 2009

G'day All,
 
We as glider pilots have got no hope when there's people out there like Jonny Durand Jnr stealing all the lime-light!  This is seriously impressive footage, and what a sensational experience it must've been..
 
This is why gliding looses...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMdyT-rIXao
 
I'm looking forward to bringing you all race footage of my adventures @ the LK CCN, JG and the Waik MCN - though sadly it wont be as impressive as this..
 

"UN F..... BELIEVABLE" Story 2
Well after having my dream come true yesterday I woke up this morning and looked straight on my computer for the weather.

I saw the biggest line of Morning Glory on it's way towards us. I knew we had to be fast as it was close and with it's size it was moving fast. We raced out to the salt flats and on the way we drove into fog.

This is the best sign you can have for a Morning Glory. All the big ones they have ever seen start with fog and lots of humidity. Leeroy was unable to takeoff for sometime even after first light as the fog was to much at the airport.

It cleared up on the salt flats and then soon Leeroy was on his way out to pick me up. He landed hooked the rope on and then when I put my visor down I could not see. I quickly had to take off my visor as it was all fogged up.

We were now almost on the abort stage as the Glory was nealry overhead. I said go go go as leeroy was keen to go right then and there. As soon as we started towing the fog came out of knowhere again and soon I was barely able to see the end of the tow rope.

I just followed the tow rope and soon we had clear vision again and when I looked to the right I saw the biggest wave of cloud I have ever imagined. It was some of the most heart beating moments I have ever spent in my harness.
 
I was now towing against this cloud bank that looked like a 3,000ft high ski jump. The ground in front of us now was completly fogged over and I was starting to get a little scared. I knew there was a forest coming up so I just flew as fast as I could to the south to ensure when the fogged cleared that I had landings below me.

I rode the cloud for 68kms and flew the cloud for 1hr and 40 mins. I had the time of my life and to experience it with my whole crew was just amazing. There was leeroy in the Dragonfly, Kieran in his Lancair and big Jon was up with Billo in the trike.

I landed out in the middle of knowhere on a small dirt road where Leeroy was able to land the Dragonfly. The helicopter landed soon after to get some footage of us soaking up the glory moments on the ground.

I then packed up and tied the glider to the helicopter skids and flew back to the Burketown. It was so awesome I had the best flight of my life followed by a helicopter retrive.
 
 
 
"Morning Glory..."  Story 1
Well how do I start.. I woke up this morning with a good feeling the weather was feeling humid and and different from other days.

We arrived at the salt flats at
5am and was set up and ready by 5:30am. Once the first light appeared we could see a huge cloud coming for us.. I was so excited and we had to wait for about 45-1hr before we towed up.
 
Once I started towing towards the coast line to get the cloud it was breath taking. I was speachless in the air and once I released I had the flight of my life.
 
I got comfortable with the cloud for 5 minutes then I could not resist and started doing some loops just to see what it looked like upside down.

I rode the wave cloud for 45kms before landing safely next to the main dirt road that heads SW out of town. Leeroy was soaring the Dragonfly two up for at least 60kms before returning to the airport in Burketown.

Their was big smile all around the camp and the whole crew said they had never experienced anything like a Morning Glory..

Last Updated ( Monday, 05 October 2009 )
 
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