I did not fly much this fall. Between being sick and mourning the loss of my father to cancer, I did not have energy or desire to write or work on pictures either. But interspersed with the periods of dark and gloom, were a few memorable moments that got stored in my memory and on my camera and were waiting for me to recover and write about them. Thanksgiving had couple of those moments.


It did not take me long to find a strong core that catapulted me back up to the cloud base. As i was thermalling up, i decided to try and do one acro figure couple of times and then climb back up. Thermals were widely spaced and well marked by the clouds, so after climbing, i would fly out on a side in the quieter air, do a lookout then my desired figure and go right back to the same thermal. I did a few hammerheads that way, then half snap rolls, then a few full snap rolls and then I noticed something that was not there before.
The wind afloat was strong and clouds started forming the cloud streets. I needed a break from aerobatics, so I decided to follow a cloud street and see if I could gain height while flying straight and level. I followed that street for a while until I had to turn back to club to make sure I stayed within gliding distance. On a way back, flying under the same street, i rolled inverted and flew under the cloud street upside down. I did not climb in that configuration, but i did not loose much height either, so i repeated that for a while - climb away from club following the cloud street right side up turn around, roll upside down and go back towards the club.
I did this for a while and then took a note of total elapsed time - over 2 hrs! I was glad it was the end of the season as my aerobatic stamina was at its seasonal highest level. Even then, i was starting to feel queasy and hungry as it was way past my usual lunch time. I followed the cloud streets right side up to a bit more to figure out if lift was on one side or the middle and then reluctantly made my way down. I rolled to a stop on a side of the runway thinking that i just had the best flight on my life.
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