FLY MINDEN

The Minden Standard Courses are a set of 17 pre-defined and well described courses for the use of soaring pilots who fly from Minden-Tahoe Airport.

Course distances range from 100 km to 1000 km and meet the FAI prescribed course definitions for triangle, out & return and 3 turn point badge and record attempts.

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Minden - Standard Course "F"

500km FAI Triangle

Course Design: Bob Semans

Waypoint / Turnpoint and Task Files

NOTE: All tasks & waypoints are in the SeeYou minden-courses-0916.cup

Download SeeYou file: minden-courses-0916.cup
Download SeeYou file without tasks: MindenSC.cup
Download standard dat file, also works in SeeYou: MindenSC.dat

	Name	Latitude	Longitude	Elevation
Start Pt.	Windmill Start Pt. (S06), NV	38º 56.150' N	119º 38.420' W	5140'
TP 1	Schulman Grove Int., CA	37º 23.030' N	118º 10.890' W	10016'
TP 2	Paradise Pk Mine (D40), NV West end of South Dam	38º 43.750' N	117º 58.330' W	5420'
Finish Pt.	Windmill Start Pt. (S06), NV	38º 56.150' N	119º 38.420' W	5140'

Leg	Km	Smi	Nmi	%	True Course
1	214.52	133.30	115.83	41.9	143º
2	150.45	93.49	81.24	29.4	007º
3	146.65	91.12	79.19	28.7	280º
Task Dist.	511.63	317.91	276.26

Task / Course Map from SeeYou

Click Map for larger image

Typical Flight Path:

The usual tactic on the first leg is to head for Boundary Peak on the north end of the White Mountains, a significant deviation to the east of course line. Leaving Bald Mtn. #1 (at the south end of the Pine Nut range) reach for East Sister Peak at the north end of the Sweetwater range, then to Bald Mtn. #2 (at the south end of the Pine Grove Hills). Then reach for the high ground south of Aurora Mine or the range south of Lucky Boy Pass, then across the flats to the low escarpment at the north end of the Owens Valley and on to Boundary Peak..

On the Whites, fly down the range to the first turn and back to Boundary Peak, significantly west of course on the second leg. Work to the Pilot Mtns. east of Mina and then north-east out over the plateau to the second turn. On the third leg, use the Gabbs Valley and Gillis ranges, north of the highway from Luning to Hawthorne, leaving with enough altitude to cross Walker Lake and achieve the west side of the Wassuk range north of Mt. Grant. The Wassuk can yield the final climb allowing for final glide through the gap on the Pine Nuts north of Mt. Siegel. Otherwise, use a southerly deviation to use high ground at the north end of the Pine Grove Hills and Desert Creek Peak to reach the gap south of Bald Mtn.. Note: Cloud patterns often dictate significant deviations from this "typical" flight path.

Airports along the course (keep at least one in reach):

Flyin' Mouse, Sweetwater Strip, Flying M (Hilton Strip), Bryant Field (Bridgeport), Hawthorne, Bishop, Circle L, Mina, Luning Dry Lake (not an airport), Hawthorne, Flying M, Yerington, Rosaschi Dusters.

Some possible weather peculiarities:

Convergence line around the east side of Mono Lake may be useful on first leg. This convergence often drifts east during the afternoon. The best lift band over the Whites may be displaced east or west of the ridgetop depending on the shoving match between air masses on the two sides of the range. Watch for Cu-nim blow-off from the Sierra and other high ground; cool, stable airflow at lower levels south of Walker Lake; strong south west wind at lower levels at Wellington and Smith Valley late in the day.

Traffic cautions:

High speed, head-on glider traffic in the lift band over the White and Inyo Mtns., any day ... but worst on Saturdays. Before flying in the "White Mountain Corridor," brief yourself on (and print out ) PROCEDURE ALPHA ver C. [ http://pacificsoaring.org/documents/ProcAlphaMap-and-card-Vers-C.pdf ] When not flying over the White or Inyo Mountains, and you hear position reports from pilots flying over these ranges, switch to another frequency or use 123.5 very sparingly!

Second turn point is in GABBS SOUTH MOA and essentially directly under Military Training Routes IR206-280 and IR264.

Course Design: Bob Semans