Valley Landings

Harris Hill is located on plateau with valleys on all sides. This affords the pilot with some very nice options in case the glider drops below final glide to the Hill coming from certain directions. It is important that everyone become aware the pitfalls of this hilltop location. It creates the visual illusion of being 700 ft higher than actual when gliding home.

Safe returning glides begin with arrival height and early recognition that adequate margin over the glider pattern at Harris Hill is or isn’t happening. This early heads-up of being low should easily happen on glide by 1500 ft above airport elevation and that should leave plenty of range to reach one of the valley options with adequate height.

For a complete explanation of the dos and don’ts of off field landings read Kai Gertsen’s Off-Airport Landings available on the club website.

When faced with a valley landing, each pilot in command must say to themselves, “No matter what, I will land this glider right-side up!” So that means arriving with adequate height to maneuver to a 200 ft AGL final approach to a well-chosen landing zone. Avoiding wires, slopes, and fences is key. Some preplanning for the most common valley is time well spent.

The town of Big Flats offers many landable options in the valley north of the Hill. The ELM airport and the Aux Field will be shown in detail but should not be fixated upon if altitude does not allow a safe approach. There are other farm fields available, and it is better to land upright on top of tall corn than to cartwheel into the airport or snag power lines near the Aux Field as a result of a poorly planned approach.
 
The Route 352 valley west of Harris Hill may come into play when low. There are few landing options south of the drive-in movie theater. North of the drive-in there are a few options that get bigger and flatter further north. If the glider can get some ridge lift from the west side of the plateau the Aux Field may once again become available.

The valleys on the south side of the plateau through east of Harris Hill offer scant landing possibilities because they contain West Elmira, the City of Elmira, and Elmira Heights. Glides returning to Harris Hill from these directions should be treated very seriously. Over the high ground of the Harris Hill plateau in this direction a low pilot can get caught on top. Unlike truly mountainous terrain, which falls away, there are no escape routes. This only leaves fields that are small with lots of wires and fences and terrain that is rolling. Essentially unlandable!

When gliding too low from the east the Elmira-Corning region airport (Class D, tower 121.1 MHz) is your best bet.

If over the Harris Hill plateau east of the gliderport, the smart pilot wiggles toward the ridge as the glide begins to look scant. This preserves the ability to land in the valley, at ELM, maybe at the Aux field, maybe a left base and final to land south at Harris Hill. A low glider may need to make a traffic pattern on the east side of the field. Although this is normally reserved for towplane traffic, gliders in need should never be discouraged.

Sink and/or poor planning can result in patterns beyond saving with normal maneuvers at Harris Hill. Take advantage of the Aux Field or one of the other farm fields in the valley. The diagrams below show some of the possible escape routes.

Landing at the Aux Field is an off-airport landing and should be treated as such. Set up a proper pattern and land well into the field. The grass can get tall enough to cause a ground loop if not careful. Keep the wings level and use max effort braking.