My 4 hour ride with Matt in the DG-1000

I had no commercial rides scheduled for the day and Matt said, "I've got an empty rear seat, do you want to go?".  I've had some great flights with him and of course I said yes!

Here is the GPS trace of our 4 hour 200 mile flight:

12:45 off tow 6K looking at cloud street marking the path south:

30 min of porpoise flying gets us over the Panoche airstrip:

600 fpm climb to 8K and we're heading southeast again:

at cloudbase, cruising @70-80 Knots 2pm:

45 min later at 2:45 we're at 6.8K and decide to turn back:

Matt likes the pics of the interesting cloud formations at 3pm:

  
checking the GPS:

Looking out from under the clouds toward the San Joaquin Valley:

At 3:25 we're back over Panoche on our return to Hollister:

Such crazy clouds, San Luis Reservoir to the north:

We picked up bugs on the leading edges:

Low over the Quien Sabe Valley looking at Fremont Peak in the distance:

The air, as Matt likes to say, was "Buoyant" and we lazed around the airport landing half an hour later.  I'd like to be able to give others rides like this.  All that is required is more skill and the use of this great glider!