Single Place Category
Distance -
Straight "Free"
SCD - LGC (72 Statute Miles) - Bob Hey - August 7th, 2004
ASW-15
Distance - Out and
Return
SCD - McCalla - SCD (100 Statute Miles) - Bryan Doey - May 17th,
2005
ASW-15
Altitude
Youth Record
Pending State Record
August 15, 2007
- LP-15
Laister Nugget
Eric Hey- Absolute
Altitude 10,100, Altitude Gain 6800 ft
News Clip from Daily Home
News by Chris Norwood about Eric's flight:
Eric Hey of Wilsonville is focused on soaring to new
heights. Literally. Last Wednesday at about
2:30 p.m., Hey’s father towed him in a glider from Merkel Field in
Sylacauga.
"I released at about 3,000 feet,” Hey said. “Then I caught a thermal, and
after about 45 minutes I had gotten up to 9,500 feet. By the time I got to
the Shelby County airport, about 30 nautical miles away, I was over 10,000
feet.”
Hey’s record has not been certified by the Soaring
Association of America, “so it’s not 100 percent official yet,” but his
flight to 10,100 feet easily bests the previous standard class altitude
record for pilots 25 and under. The old record, 7,108 feet, set by Ira
Phillips, has stood since February 1998.
Hey, 21, started flying gliders at 13 and soloed for the first time on his
fourteenth birthday. He said he believes he had actually topped Phillips’
record on two other occasions, first when he was 15 years old and again last
week. Neither record could be verified, however. “The week before, I got up
to 8,500 feet,” he said. But Wednesday’s flight was definitely the one for
the record books. Hey was aloft for some two and a half hours, and covered a
total distance of 170 miles, both of which are personal records for him.
The verification of the new record will involve sending the
glider’s barograph to the SSA, to be opened by an official observer. The
barograph is an extremely sensitive instrument that traces a glider’s ascent
onto a piece of graph paper. John Mansfield has the barograph from
Wednesday’s flight and will be sending it off for verification next week,
according to Hey. The recent hot, dry weather almost certainly contributed
to Hey’s record, he said. The heat definitely helped,” he explained. “You
don’t typically get thermals that high up.”
Hey works at the Sylacauga and Shelby County airports and also flies powered
planes from time to time.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of people who fly powered, and most of them
haven’t gotten that high. Most powered fliers have never gotten over 8,000.
Adult
Altitude Record
8700' MSL - Steve Bair - March 26th, 2005
ASW-24B
Duration after
release
5.2 Hours - Bob Hey and Russ Ferrell are both tied for this one, best
I can tell - 2006
Two
Place Category
Distance
(Triangular Course)
1.9 hours and traveled 54 nautical miles or 62 statue
miles. SCD - Chelsea - EET - SCD
August 19, 2007
Russ Ferrel & Bryan Doxey
Blanik L-13
Altitude
9100' MSL with a 3000' tow for a 6100' gain- Bob Wallace, March
25th 2006
L-13
Duration after
Release
What's a Buzzard?? Well to qualify you have to first
like beer, second hang around the hangar too much, and third have an opinion
about everything and it helps if you are a sky god as well.