The Joe Patton Milestone

Fred Hermanspann

Seven years ago Evergreen Soaring established the Joe Patton Milestone, not an award but rather a recognition of joining the illustrious ranks of west side XC soaring pilots. This milestone is based on any west side soaring flight that includes a minimum distance of 50 km (32 miles) between any two points.  It was (and is) meant to promote west side XC soaring in the spirit of Joe Patton who left us tragically so early.  The pilots who have since achieved this mark are on the following list.

There are now 22 pilots on this list.  It is remarkable that only two pilots (Bruce Bullock and Travis Brown) qualified in club sailplanes, all others using private types.  And none of the pilots on this list was a CFI, which may be one reason why this list has not grown any faster.  Now with an accomplished XC pilot as our new chief CFI (congratulations Paul!) we may see some more interest in west side XC soaring.  And having added the DG-300 and the G103 to our fleet we should see increasing the interest of our club members to expand their flying envelope and to explore the wonderful scenery accessible from Arlington, Darrington and other airfields used by Evergreen.  Our latest batch of students seems to be particularly eager to make use of the opportunities at our door steps.

There is no formal documentation required for qualifying flights; as long as the achievement is credible it is accepted.  But if such a flight is part of a badge flight or of a WBC entry, so much the better.

So let’s see the list grow!