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SSS Club Record

UNOFFICIAL

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
 

 

All records submitted are subject to verification and Buzzard's Beer Rules.  (1) If you're caught cheating, you owe the Buzzards a case of beer.  (2) A couple of pre-emptive cases will most likely get you in the record book un-challenged. 

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.

Members - If you have a flight that tops one of the above please email the details to swallace500@aol.com.

Trivia:

Did you know that name Sylacauga translates to mean - Buzzard's Roost