Thursday, October 15, 1998
8 mile flight launching from  Mag At 1:49 PM and landing 1 Hours and  41 Minutes later (3:30 PM) in Mr. Goodner's LZ flying  my Ramair. Highest altitude was 3200 Ft. AGL

I was hoping to land either in the big field west of Havana (Where Mark Poustinchian had landed) or the slanty field north of there but ended up landing about 1 mile west of the NW most Havana LZ. From the air it looked like it would be difficult to land in because there were a lot of trees dotting the field but after I decided on a direction it was a piece of cake. John (from Wisconsin) was planning on landing in the field SW of Mrs. Albright's house but arrived too high and decided to land in the field SE of her house instead (The one with a pond). Dan (also from Wisconsin) did successfully land on the Albright SW field. We left our car in the SE field because a fence had been erected to prevent parking in the normal spot at Mrs. Albright's.

2:00 PM (0 hr 11 min) 2600 Ft. East of launch
I came a lot further east than normal to try to get up. I got down as low as about 1500 Ft at the second ravine east of launch before I started getting up. I wasn't losing altitude very fast but but I believe that I was too low to make it to the Albright LZ. I don't even think that I had a very good chance of making it to the fields south of Snake Knob. The two pilots from Wisconsin (John and Dan) are being more conservative than I am and are heading out to the LZ. Mark Poustinchian is still zipping around the valley with his Exxtacy but apparently didn't find a good thermal out there because he has come back here for a minute or two to gain some altitude before heading out again.

2:23 PM (0 hr 34 min) 2500 Ft North of snake knob
I am in a thermal but it has a lot of drift to it. Mark P. says that he has Big Field made but will try to go further if possible. Dan landed in Albright's SW Field and John landed in the SE Field.

2:39 PM (0 hr 50 min) 2470 Ft. at the west end of the mountain
I didn't quite go all the way to the towers because I was afraid of sinking out. This is a good altitude for ridge lift but the terrain seems a lot higher here so I look lower. There seems to be a thermal here but every time that I try turning I drift out of the lift. The two Wisconsin pilots have decided not to fly Mag again. They want to go to Nebo to meet the other Arkansas pilots. Mark P. will be flying tandem with Mike Chisman's daughter too and that should be fun to watch.

2:56 PM (1 hr 7 min) 2150 Ft North of snake knob
There is a cloud NE of me. I would like to get up in it and head back to the ridge lift if possible.

3:19 PM (1 hr 30 min) 2200 Ft over Snake knob
I didn't get up in the cloud I hoped to and was a little worried about making it to any landing field but now that I have caught a thermal it looks like I might even be able to make it to the Havana landing fields. I would prefer to land in the slanty field so that I can get a fix on it but the grass in the big field is a lot shorter. It certainly was a pleasant surprise getting back up. The Wisconsin pilots have gone up top to get the car so it looks like I won't have to drive up the mountain again today!

3:30 PM (1 hr 41 min) In Goodner's LZ
It was very satisfying and exciting landing in this field. It turned out to be large enough for an easy south final but there were enough trees in the field that I thought I would have trouble. If it wasn't for the walk to the gate, I think I would land here more often.

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