100 Kilometers in a Ka-8

We're lucky to have a modern, high performance club fleet at the YGC - and those of us not yet fortunate enough to have our own glider, or a share in one are spoilt with a choice of either Discus or  DG-303 to go and have an adventure in.

As you would correctly imagine, this system doesn't work so well on the good days.

I arrived on the airfield at 8:30am intending claim the Discus for later in the day. Normally, nobody is around at that time - but this was going to be a good day (we have a had a few quite recently). To my shock, the hangar doors were already open (and thus, so was the flying list) and to my disappointment, both aircraft had been claimed for cross countries - even the Astir had names next to it. 

With one two-seater out of action due to a split tail wheel, and another away at a competition, the very idea of taking the DG-500 and flying it solo was also a non-starter.

What to do on a fine Saturday then. Wait in the clubhouse to see whether any of the people claiming the single seaters had a change of mind? Unlikely, I thought. Go home? No way, I was there to fly.

There was one aircraft that nobody had yet staked a claim on. Yes, the Ka-8, the club's own vintage machine (the first model of which flew in 1957, I have no idea how old ours is) was available and so I could be sure of being able to fly that.

I've only really flown the aircraft a couple of times, it's into-wind penetration is such that it can only really come out on calm days in case the unlucky pilot gets too far downwind to make it home - and it's best glide ratio of 27:1 (compared to the 40+:1 offered by more modern machines) and cruising speed of around 38 knots generally persuades people that they either don't want to go, or simply can't get far. That, and it is a noisy aircraft that lacks a GPS and comfy seat.

But this was a cross country day - I was in the mood - and all of these problems were easily surmountable. 

I taped up the wings to reduce the noise and just maybe gain a little performance (hah!) - this aircraft doesn't normally fly with wing tape because you'd have to remove and reapply it just get the battery in or out, so people usually just leave it. I rigged a mount for my phone to use as a moving map and glide computer. I packed sweets, water, a paper map, and a bottle for.. you know, should it have been needed.

My decision was that I would do the club 100km; a triangle whose other two points are the gliding clubs at Rufforth and Pocklington. The idea is that with an airfield on each point, and a few along the way, pilots starting out in their cross country careers should, more often than not, find themselves on a landable runway rather than in a farmers field. In the Ka-8 however, the latter was a real possibility due to its lack of performance in the glide. On the up side though, it's speed is such that at least only a small field would be required and so there were more likely to be good options, even at the height of the growing season.

I checked the trailer for serviceability, and asked around for (and found) people who would be willing to help out, should I need it. The duty instructor for the day approved the plan (and later revealed that he was convinced I was not going to make it). I mentioned my plan to one of the pundits on the airfield who suggested a 50km triangle was more than enough for the aircraft, but that only made me more determined.

Spoiler alert - I made it! Here's how it went.

The tow out indicated some good thermal presence. The Ka-8 is extremely light, and on at least one occasion, I had to use full deflection to avoid being rolled over when the combination went unevenly through some lift or sink. I came off tow at around 2000' QFE (2800' QNH) and immediately climbed to cloudbase, which was just below 5000'. Normal procedure then is to orientate, dip the nose and speed off into the distance, but this is an aircraft where everything happens in slow motion. The 10 knot wind had already pushed me 2km behind the clubhouse, so I had a way to go just to be able to log a start!

Start I eventually did, electing to go to Rufforth on the first leg - straight into wind. It would be slow, but at any point before I got too far away, I would be able to turn back and come home 'fast' with the wind behind me.

My ground speed on the first leg was between 20 and 30 knots and progress was indeed slow. Later on, someone would tell me that "We watched you start, and when we looked again half an hour later, we could still see you!". It may not have been an exaggeration. When I took my first thermal after what had seemed like a long glide out from height, I was a little dismayed about just how far I hadn't gone - only about 4km.

The next glide was around 9km to Easingwold where I topped up and pressed on, then another 10km. The Ka-8 actually goes quite well, albeit slowly, if you can follow the energy - it might not penetrate forward but neither does it sink as quickly as its heavier counterparts, so it seems to balance out a little.

It depends on the day of course, but what worked for me was sampling every thermal, rather than skip ahead and risk getting low. I didn't let myself go below 3000' and I got out of thermals that were hard to work or not going up well enough, if there were other options nearby.

I stopped for serious thermals four times just to get to Rufforth at around 3,200', picked up some lift that might have been generated by the activity there, and climbed back to 5,000' which was both enough to be able to cross directly over York rather than having to go around it, and to have time to roughly point a camera out of the DV panel, managing to snap both the racecourse and the famous Minster.

Pocklington felt much easier; for one thing, it was more or less downwind, so groundspeed was 40-50 knots and only a couple of small climbs were needed. I don't mind arriving in the vicinity of a friendly airfield a bit lower, since I have an option to drop in for a cup of tea and an no doubt an expensive aerotow home.

Thankfully, rescue was not needed and I could top up. The best climbs were out over the hills, so a slight detour was needed, rather than turning direct for Sutton Bank. I would end up working against the wind again though, if I went too far. The hills had taken the clouds up a little and I was able to get 5,500' and some longer glides. 10km first, and then 14km.

I was over 5,000' still with less than 30km to go. Confidence was high, in the Discus this would have easily been a final glide with room to spare. I pressed on. Another 13km covered and down to 3,000'. I had been monitoring my glide computer and it was suggesting arrival at around 600' which seemed a little too fine of a margin, I could see where I wanted to be and it felt like chances of reaching it were around 50:50. I decided that I would need to top up.

Where is the next booming thermal when you need it, as I'd had on the way home from Market Weighton when I finished my silver distance? 

I found a climb and added a couple of hundred feet and carried on, dropping down to 2,000' with 7km to go - it was somewhere here that I decided to switch back to QFE; so that was now 1,100' with 7km to go and that was marginal. More height needed, and found.

1,000' (QFE) and 4.5km to go. Should be OK now, but that hill looks a bit high in the canopy and it's hard to tell whether its going up or down when you're going so slowly, with a ground speed of only around 35kt. I found another climb and added another 500' to make sure. It was a good call, I crossed the line at 1,100' - just about circuit height.

Mission accomplished! I was jubilant, I couldn't wait to get down, have a cuppa and record my highest points scoring flight yet.

So, just under 3 hours later and 100km flown at 39.3kph (145.2km / 57.0kph handicapped).

What have I learnt?

I'm no longer too worried about being blown away if I fly the Ka-8 again, so I will definitely take it for another adventure on the right day, and nor will I regard it as 'the last glider left' as many do, but as a valid option for a good flight. The fact that my flight is the single entry this year, by anyone, on the clubs 'vintage ladder' says a lot - although Slingsby week is coming, so that may change.