Two windy days at the end of April

2025. május 05. - Glidingirl

Right after Easter, 25th April was again a day off in Italy (Liberation Day) - so no surprise where I spent this day again. :) The preparation for this flight was not smooth: after rigging the glider, I found out that the security pin with its spring does not work well so it was very unsure if the problem can be fixed in time... finally, we've done it but I missed the morning weather forecast and that was a pity as I knew that it will be a complicated day because of the ~20 km/h N wind.

The weather indeed was very strange, thermals did not work perfectly - but I need to say I spent some nice moments in the smooth air at Mt. Nudo doing the ridges without losing any altitude. I was warned that the wind will arrive also to lower levels so I decided to land quite early this day - and it was already a bit complicated with 5-6 knots of NE wind (the orientation of the runway is east - west). The wind continued to change all day so I landed in the direction 10 left circuit, but I have seen every type of possible landing at Calcinate this day! (10 right circuit, 28 left circuit)

I did not de-rig the glider in the evening because I knew that I will fly also the next day. I was much more optimistic about the weather but it did not go like I imagined... the strategy was not bad, but the results seemed to be catastrophic: I gained altitude at Campo dei Fiori first, then I entered to Lugano CTR and did the "classic way" (Mt. Martica, Mt. Piambello). I left the CTR and tried Mt. Orsa: NOTHING! I got low and I needed to suffer above the city of Varese for the next two hours to be able to reach 1676 m. What a shame: there is this beautiful day to fly and I can't even arrive to the next mountain! Needless to say how desperate I was, especially because I was convinced that this day will be much better than yesterday.

Finally I did it and I went rather to the north-west where the mountains did not make me disappointed. 2200 m at Mt. Nudo, 2300 m at Sette Termini, nearly 2400 m at Mt. Tamaro in Switzerland. I crossed Lago Maggiore and went to Albergone where I arrived even to 2700 m! At Mt. Limidario I found it a bit difficult to circle well in the thermals and I was already very tired after the disastrous beginning of this flight. I still regret that I did not continue from here in the direction of the airfield of Masera...

I returned to the east and this time Mt. Orsa gave me some lift with some really important S wind (hey, why there is wind every day to make my life more difficult?! :)). When I arrived to Mt. Generoso, the sky was already quite covered and it seemed that there might be a storm near Varese in the evening. But I had fun in the air - made some nice photos, compared the glide performance with a Lak17a at different speeds, tested my new battery and I completed my longest flight ever, 6 hours 40 mins!

Though at the end of the day I was exhausted, these 2 days reminded me again of the most important message: you need to RESIST even when it is hard as hell, and you need to BELIEVE even after a lot of struggling. And I did not know yet how this message will be important even during the next week...

Because if you want to become a good pilot, you must see challenges as opportunities to grow, not reasons to stop.