FREE FLIGHT  1984 #5 p17

A Nova Scotia Dream

Dick Vine
         
The Bluenose Soaring Club plods its way through 
another 2000 flight season. We have two more Silver 
badges to show for our 1984 season. The club 
aircraft have only rarely been able to unloose 
their reins and escape the old corral.
         
XGU, the Cirrus, has been slinking about the 
province on an occasional 500 km attempt, but 
so far has been outside time limits at some 
point and has come back to Stanley
         
Now what would really ruffle the local hen house? 
A 300 km flight in a K8 now there’s a project 
which would attract na-tional notice! Lacking 
10 hour thermal days it’s just not on or is it? 
The real problem is that you can’t make progress 
upwinc in a K8. But wt~y bother, choose a day 
when the wind is strong enough to help, (but not 
enough to break up the ther-mals), pick a point 
300 km away down-wind and go for it. Hold on now 
just a minute! This is Nova Scotia, not the 
prairies that you’re looking at, with east-coast 
humps and bumps, postage stamp fields hacked out 
of the woods, river valleys and forested hills. 
But what better glider can you use than a KB for 
small fields along with a reliable side-slip, 
good for any aver-age school yard, truck-stop 
parking lot or what have you. Let’s look at the 
maps a 1 250,000 shows some open country Stanley 
to New Glasgow is okay, several of our members 
have done that already New Glasgow to Port Hawkesbury 
is also okay, with small but plentiful fields all 
along the coast. Across the Canso Cause-way to 
Port Hawkesbury airport, and we’re on Cape Breton 
Island. Now this is truly ‘furrin” parts; General 
John Cabot Trail territory, with rebels in skirts 
— male and female — ready with caber and haggis to 
defend the Highlands against incursion by the 
Stanley Stukas, i.e. BSC K8s. They doubtless pave 
their landables with in-stant forest, or hay-rolls 
or resting regi-ments of rebels if nothing else 
comes to hand. But seriously, the highlands to the 
northwest should give good lift and there are a 
few clear areas shown on the topo. By now, the 
distance out is getting to be around 200 km and 
another problem comes into view beyond. Sydney 
airport is 360 km from Stanley, but it is also 25 
miles from the cus above the Cape Breton High-lands 
and across the wind which might conceivably get a 
K8 this far. At 25:1,less a few for had luck and 
old age, one might limp over the fence from 5000 
feet late one summer afternoon. Should one not 
make it though, Sydney is not noted for agriculture, 
but for steel making and coal mining (who wants to 
end up on a mine tip). So let’s look further on 
down the highlands, not much grazing land here 
except there’s always the Margaree River Valley 
lush meadows and salmon anglers but measuring it 
out it’s not far enough. How about Cheticamp? Real 
alligator country now; rocks, steep valleys, and not 
a farmer for miles en route, also still not quite 
far enough. So Sydney it has to be. The wind situation 
isn’t hopeless, there might be a bit of tailwind in 
it. If there isn’t, well, we’ll have to do a power 
flight to prepare a map with recognizable landable 
spots; it wouldn’t be fair to fake off in one of the 
BSC single place treasurers without a re-connaissance; 
also one should do a car trip to check out surfaces 
and to view the natives (potential rebels) from a 
safe dis-tance. Well, with the power flying and the 
driving done and a well-marked map ready for the trip, 
range rings in place and heights to leave landable 
areas noted, what else needs to be thought over?
         
We all have a good handle on the micro-climate around 
Stanley (we ought to, goodness knows we’ve explored 
it enough) but how about the effects of the Canso 
Causeway and all that cold water and so little land. 
Should we go along the high ground on the north-west 
of Cape Breton and risk a long glide across the Bras 
d’Or Lakes in zero sink while Sydney climbs higher 
and higher up the canopy? Imagine coming within 5 miles 
of ground zero Only to land in the murky waters of 
Sydney Harbour and get swept out to sea. Even if one 
got rescued, how would the Official Observer feel 
about the land-ing certificate from an inshore 
fisherman who was lost in the fog anyway? And how 
about that soggy barograph chart, all salty and 
limp as a piece of Glace Bay ciulse.
         
We Bluenosers only dream like this when our candidates 
at the instructors’ school come back telling of 400 km 
flights in 4 hours. Kestrels flashing over the field 
with nothing on the clock. One day maybe we’ll throw 
caution and one of our K8s to the winds and face the 
deadly perils of the Cape Breton Haggis Bashers and 
their misty glens.   
         
[I have a suggestion, Dick. Why not try going upwind 
about 60 km into the Annapolis Valley on a day with 
10 kt winds from the SW, then dogleg straight back 
downwind over a/I the familiar territory for 250 km 
to land at Port Hawkesbury. You avoid the ‘deadly 
perils” for the price of a slow, but short, first 
leg. (Tony)]