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Hail damage on Minimoa.
Chris,
I was browsing the Georgia state records and the 19,434' absolute
altitude set in 1943 in an open single really stood out. I was
wondering if you knew any more about that record.
Steve Mason
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Steve,
Yes, I have heard the lore behind this feat. This man took a wooden
and fabric glider [Minimoa] into a thunderstorm over a little airport
south of Atlanta. This airport is now known as Hartsfield International,
the busiest airport in the world and a similar attempt could cost you
your license and possibly more. For the foreseeable future the FAA will
continue to prohibit cloud flying for gliders, so I expect this record to
outlive this generation of pilots since a record cannot be approved
that breaks the regulations. Bravery (and maybe a slice of crazy)
57 years ago looks like it will stand for many years to come, and that
is part of the charm of records [actually a lot of easy ones remain
unclaimed or unbeaten too]Barring some extraordinary wave conditions,
which are rare in this state, this is the only record that looks
"unbeatable".
regards
Chris Ruf
former Georgia State record keeper
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In January 2019 I happened to run to run into Richard Charles at
Stockmar airport. Richard goes by the name of "Buz" and is the
son of Shelly. He and I chatted for a while and I did get him to
confirm what I suspected, his father's altitude record should be
1000 ft higher because it is recorded as the height above release
instead of total height.
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