PG world record - Andrew Smith's story
Mr Richard Grant
On 31 December 1992, Alex Louw and Andrew Smith broke the world
paragliding distance record. Here is Andrew Smith's story.
This article appeared in the latest SAHPA newsletter, the official
newsletter of the South African Hang Gliding and Paragliding
Association.
ONE DAY, TWO ASTRAS, 560 KM
The other half of the duo who broke the World Distance record,
Andrew Smith, took obvious enjoyment in the whole episode. Here
is his view of the record effort.
Back at work after ten days in Kuruman, it was almost a pleasure
- at least the airconditioning worked. And we had something to
reflect on. Over the last 8 days, Alex and I had flown 1160 km
between us, with our best flights measuring 283 and 278 km!
Alex Louw and I teamed up in October to do some distance flying.
The competition between us was limited to a bet of R100 per day
for the longest flight, keeping the main objective as the
distance record for one or (even better) both of us.
Distance flying in South Africa does not rate highly in the
glamour stakes - hot, windy, dusty, dry and five hours' drive
away. Yet stupidity seems to drive us, and every weekend saw the
APCO team winching, grovelling and sinking out. These weekend
pilots had plans to break the 300 km mark in the hot, windy
months before the rains, and then relax when Captain Nick's
foreign visitors arrived. However, by December the rains had
arrived, it was over-developing daily, and all we had managed
were a 150 and a couple of 120's.
To make matters more depressing, the weekends were the worst, and
Captain Nick had a full itinerary of top pilots ready to pounce
on any good weather during the week. The results were beginning
to show:
Urs Haari - 118km tandem flight, plus 3400 m tandem height
gain.
Michi Kobler - solo height gain of 3200 m.
Judy Leden - 128 km record flight (women).
We moved base to Kuruman with Captain Nick's Japanese crew. On
the 28th we didn't get away, and were contemplating re-launching
at 1.30 pm. Deciding that it was too late for a record flight,
we elected to assist Minegishi's take-off, and headed for the
swimming pool. He ended up flying 265 km! Imagine our
motivation during the following days!
By the 30th we were in Kuruman for six days, and our best flights
were only 145 and 105 km. We were getting away virtually on
every launch, and knew that at least 2000 m above ground is
necessary to fly through the ferocious +8 m/s sink.
New Year's eve 1992 turned out to be our day. We launched from
the airfield at 12h15 and 12h45, both of us getting up with the
first winch. Perfect medium-sized cu's were already formed with
cloudbase at 4400 - 4500 m ASL (about 3000 m AGL). The day was
almost a carbon copy of the perfect day exactly one year and one
month previously when I managed to fly 231 km - good development
to the east, and clear sky westwards. Alex stayed in the blue
thermals while I opted for a more direct line in the developed
sky.
We followed parallel routes about 20 or 30 km apart for the best
possible opportunity. Our two ground crews were feeding us with
info and encouraging us the whole way. At one stage Alex was led
from thermal to thermal by a saviour eagle who flies parallel to
us and seems to be on a similar mission.
Alex kept saying that he was topping out at 3700 m AGL, but no
matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get that high. Even by
thermalling into the cu's and flying out the sides, the maximum I
could manage was 3650 m AGL (5100 m ASL). Only after we had
landed did we realise that it was actually hypoxia talking and
that he was misreading his vario! As the hypoxia got worse, he
was having difficulty concentrating on his map; so he fastened it
to his arm, flying with one hand and holding the map in front of
his eyes. Finally the rest of the team realised what was
happening, and convinced him to fly a little lower, and sanity
returned.
As the day progressed, tiredness started taking its toll. We
constantly encouraged one another by targeting first one town -
"that's 185 km - then the next, - "that's 200 km" - and so on.
Conditions were strong, and as we got too lazy to respond
promptly to big turbulence we both had wake-up calls - gliders
below the feet!
At +4500 m ASL I had to reduce my bladder pressure. It was
probably 2 degrees below freezing, and rather rough. After much
fumbling, the mind cleared, and I wondered if this is a record of
sorts - more than 3000 m AGL?
As we got closer to Minegishi's record, we started to plan
carefully, debating the extent of the Kimberley and Bloemfontein
TMA's with the ground crews, and guiding each other around them.
We discussed the huge cu-nimb to our east and how close we should
get. The gust fronts were getting stronger, so we climbed to get
over the obvious lines of dust. Using the GPS to calculate best
glide, we were getting ground speeds of over 85 kph. The crew
warned us that the gusts on the ground were exceeding 45 kph.
Being certain that we had beaten 265 km and knowing that the
controlled airspace ahead would prevent us from attaining 300 km
we decided to land together for a double, but the howling wind
and dust storms made it impossible to find each other, and each
headed off for safe, witnessed landings.
At 9.30 pm that evening, the APCO team was keeping the hotel in
the one-horse town open, gratefully plying the weary ground crew
with alcohol! They had an 1100 km round trip in 38~C with many
gates to open. Thanks, Bridget, Heiner, Renier!
Summary:
Pilot Alex Louw Andrew Smith
Distance 283.0 km 278.0 km
Glider APCO Astra 30C APCO Astra 30C
Harness Von Blon APCO Secura
Vario/Baro Flytec 3030 Flytec 3030
Max Climb Rate 12,0 m/s 7,4 m/s
Max Climb Gain 3475 m 3640 m
Max Height ASL 4900 m 5060 m
--
Richard Grant - Physics Department - Rhodes University
Grahamstown, South Africa. Internet: ph...@hippo.ru.ac.za