Soaring sailplanes in the Tehachapi Valley (part 2)

Mark LaCiura.

My standard Jantar 72 A S when the poppies are in full bloom.

This is a continuation of the article in the July 6 issue of The Loop newspaper.

My longest flight was straight out up the Southern Sierra Nevada range to Olancha Peak near Lone Pine California. I was ultra conservative with all my sailplane flying, learning from all my great flight instructors during my 35 years of flying. Some higher mileage treks were 200 to 400 miles in an eight hour flight by the sailplane community back then. Olancha Peak is at an elevation of 12,132 feet on the Tulare-Inyo-Kern county line in South Sierra wilderness. It takes its name from the nearby town of Olancha, California, also known as the gateway to Death Valley and Father Crowley's overlook.

I got to look down at Olancha Peak from about 17,000 feet with great respect for what I was doing while breathing my aviation oxygen. On this longer flight to Olancha Peak, returning to Tehachapi the lift was great but I also found spots of great sinking air. I ended up working at a lift near Inyokern Airport. Remember I said I almost landed there, well this was the flight.

I got down to about 1,200 feet above ground and prepared to do a landing pattern, landing checklist and call out on the radio. But at the right time I hit the strongest lift I have ever experienced. It was kinda like hitting a brick wall in the sky with a different mass of air. The G forces were high, pressing me into the seat. My rate of climb indicators were off the scale. A right hand turned 45 degrees of bank pulling back on the control stick to stay in this monster thermal lift because I did not want to land. I could hear and see dust, bits of sand and tumbleweeds that the thermal sucked up from the desert floor hitting the side of my Jantar. It was hot down there and late in the day and I wasn't sure if I could have gotten a tow.

Climbing out to about 17,000 feet again where it's way cooler, I headed back to Tehachapi in final glide mode at about 90-100 Knots on my air speed indicator. The best part of this flight, one I will never forget, was the climb out in that monster thermal and the final glide to home.

Have you ever had the feeling you are not alone? I am flying there in this single place sailplane at about 16,000 feet, happy as I can be. I had this feeling on my final glide home that day. A sailplane at 90-100 knots flying makes a fair amount of wind noise and I opened my air vent on the left side of the aircraft to cool off. With it being very late in the day, my eyes got tired and I couldn't believe what I was seeing in my peripheral vision: on the left side of my Jantar was two Edwards Air Force Base F-16s, flying in formation with me. "My, God," I was thinking. "What did I do?" I know I did not go above 18,000 feet; you need permission to do that.

Two F-16s in formation are called a section. I knew I was on the edge of the restricted area but not in it. I knew not to cross over on the other side of Highway 395. That highway was a great reference point for the restricted area. But, the F-16s were there and I could see their helmet visors were up and one pilot was wearing sunglasses. That's how close the F-16s were to my Jantar. The distance was within 100 feet at times. Like one of my flight instructors said, if you could see their Ray Bans glasses, you are too close.

I found out later talking with air force fighter pilots at the glider-port these F-16s were practicing intercepts with general aviation aircraft, and that Edwards AFB test pilots train in the same aircraft that I did all my commercial rides in.

Air force test pilots fly every kind of aircraft from jets to gliders. A side note: every pilot that flew the space shuttle piloted those Tehachapi-based gliders as a part of their training.

The F-16s stayed with me for about 2-3 minutes. The F-16s can fly at a minimum speed of 110 knots in level flight, but can fly under 95 knots in a climb. I was flying about 100 knots when the F-16s contacted me. One question that pilots ask me about the F-16 encounter is, did they try to contact me by radio? Well, I was monitoring the Tehachapi airport frequency on 123.000 and only could hear the normal local traffic.

An experience of a lifetime for me. I made it back to the glider port at 500 feet (AGL) to pull up to start a normal landing pattern at 1,200 feet (AGL). The flight timed out about 7.5 hrs. I was taking my time, being safe, eating, drinking water, working thermal lift and sightseeing the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountain Range at high altitudes.

It was a day I will never forget soaring in our Tehachapi valley.