Index to weather maps

Hangola August 19-21, 2000

I lost the vote at dinner saturday night, so am saddled with the duty of writing up the work party report. Lots of details are sure to be left out as I am only writing the details which managed to stick in my mind. This is purely a personal viewpoint and I fully intend to gloss over any details which don't interest me while twisting and contorting what I do remember until it suits my prejudices. I of course bear absolutely no ill will towards the votees around the dinner table...

Warning: this is very long.

I arrived around 10 AM (after paying a visit to my favorite though much neglected Greencastle bakery) to find Carlos, Joe McMannus, and the Boylinators already at work with the scythes and weedeaters knocking the seedpods off defenseless grasses. Carlos tossed me a scythe and I joined in the carnage.

I soon discovered that carnage via scythe is arm numbing work, and slipped off to measure my machete against the shrubbery surrounding launch, which was already endowed with Dave Proctor's disembodied voice. Pilots waiting on deck at the steps to the new ramp can now actually see for themselves how their predecessors are faring without the need to rely on second-hand reports from the wire crew.

People kept arriving amid shouts of welcome, sometimes with as much acclaim for the tools they brought as for their own esteemed presence. Chevalier arrived with the one and only lawn mower of the day and made the first heroic swath from parking lot to firepit as maidens across the dell batted their eyes and swooned.

At some point during this period Ralph arrived and disappeared down the rockpile to cut smallish trees, and was promptly forgotten.

He was forgotten largely due to the stir caused by Bacil's decision to launch. The wind was crossing from the north, so he decided to launch from the left ramp. He had to wait a bit for his cycle, then swooped down so low into the airspeed hole below launch that we spectators resorted to sucking air in hopes of pulling him back up. Fortunately Ralph was there, so Bacil rebounded off him and headed on down the ridge to bounce and buck in search of airtime.

We immediately declared it suitable for launching II's, but found the whole lot of them had anticipated the manuever and bolted.

Eventually Gardner, Fink, and Krichten decided to launch, but in respect to some fluid dynamical argument from the Finkster which I find myself incompetent to reproduce, decided there wouldn't be a sinkhole below the new launch, and would brave the greater cross wind as a result. Gardner launched first, heading straight out to do his trademark series of 360's in front of launch. He went up (HOW does he KNOW?). Krichten headed right along the ridge into the cross, but sunk out to land in the secondary. Fink went left along the ridge and eventually worked his way up.

As the discussion over which ramp to use and the subsequent assembly of gliders was in progress we turned our attention to sealing the ramps. There was some debate about whether one day was long enough to dry out from the rains of friday, but with the wind and sun they looked bone dry. We sprinkled some water on them to find it was absorbed immediately, satisfying the directions on the containers, which by some miracle we actually decided to read. We were worred about damp inner layers, but decided that if we sealed the tops of the boards only, it could still evaporate through the bottom.

The new ramp was soon to be used for aviation purposes, so we started on the old ramp as a test vehicle. We used 3 rollers, 3 brushes, Dave Proctor's cake pan, and about 5 gallons of sealent. We left the new ramp for the evening in hopes of using it for more flying later in the day.

Doreen and I mounted an expedition to the mountaintop Bar to bring back their finest selection of fried appetizers for group consumption. Familiar with their style of service, I challenged her to a game of pool secure in the knowledge that the food wouldn't be ready before we were. We ignored my sinking of the 8-ball on the second shot and went on to enjoy a very fine game which even attracted the attention of a couple locals who had the impeccable timing to watch our lucky shots while pretending not to see the bloopers. They were a bit mystified by the absence of the 8-ball.

We came back and sat around to eat mozzarella sticks and jalapeno poppers and unseasoned wings. If you go there, you must request dipping sauce or they won't think to give it to you.

With most of the work done the inevitable rift occurred: most pilots planned to head for the Rock in deference to the North cross. Those of us with steadfast hearts declared our devotion to the site we had just cleared, and determined to wait it out. The Rockers packed up:

"So I guess this...this means goodbye" they said.

"Don't break our hearts" we replied woodenly. "Go on, you'll have a better flight out there: you weren't meant to stay around here forever. Go on then! Leave!" There were some backwards glances through the settling dust of their departure, but we knew we had done the right thing in cutting them loose to follow their own compass, and we wiped our away the tears which threatened and looked to our own flights.

The wind ebbed and flowed around 10 mph, with the direction shimmying from somewhat cross to somewhat straight in, and Mike Balk decided to launch. As soon as he crested the steps the wind began blasting in around 25, and he waited it out for about 10 minutes before taking off. Judy followed in the quickly slackening winds, then Sheila. Fink, Krichten and Gardner arrived soon after Mike's launch, and quickly assumed wire crew duties for the rest. We could hear them arguing vociferously after each launch about who had let go late or was pulling down a wire too much, etc. I'm telling you, it was a regular three stooges act before they turned around and started shouting for the next victim. Very encouraging, especially for all the II's about to go off. It was probably the best wire crew I've ever had.

It had quickly mellowed out to zen-like conditions, where you had to push out just so in lift, and pull in just so in sink to work your way above launch. No-one made it more than a few hundred feet above launch, but Louis, Carlos, Jose, and Joe Brauch all had soaring flights to join me, Judy, Sheila and Mike in the air. We may not have gone at all without Judy's encouragement, and the other's wouldn't have gone without Gardner's duty as observer.

We all landed safely and rushed back up top to seal the new ramp in the failing light. Donated sealent means different colors, so it may look a bit splotchy, but it's sealed. We ran out before we reached the bottom half of the steps, but wouldn't have made it even that far without Mark's newly discovered talents as drill seargent:

"Come-on! Step lively! One more step!" He'd shout.

"But sir, the light's failing, we can't see!" we'd snivel.

"Back to work, Pilot! That's an order!"

One of us would slap at a mosquito: "Sir! I've been hit!"

"Stay on target!"

"We're running out of sealent!"

"Stay on target!"

And so we wrung the last drops out of our brushes and finally headed to Mercersburg to eat in what must've been some biker joint; with the locals eying us as we walked in: "Hey Spike, whaddya think of these citified hippy folk who just walked in?" "I say we let them live". There was a dartboard at one end of the table, and a sliding glass door refrigerator filled with purely domestic beers on the other end. But the waitress was friendly, and late at night it might just be the best place to go.

Thanks to Bruce and Barb, Fred and Rae for donated sealent, thanks to the myriads who showed up and I never mentioned who came with tools and dedication to get the job done. Several even drove all the way up, spent some time working, and drove all the way back without even flying. You folks are the ones who make the world go round.

Brian.

MANQUIN, VA -- For the fifth time in the past seven weeks, Canadian HIGH pressure spilled into the Middle Atlantic region just in time for the weekend. The combination of warm surface temperatures, low dew points, and chilly temperatures aloft conspired to create another round of stellar, soaring conditions at the Manquin Flight Park.

The first cumulus shards popped around 10 a.m. and pilots began to queue up shortly before noon. Since the wind was north, Manquin Aerotow graciously ferried our dolly-mounted gliders to the far end of the field with their golf cart. Without this great service, pilots would have to push their dollies over a half mile to reach the launch area.

By the time I launched @ 12:15, the cumulus had steadily developed into magnificent works of art with broad, dark bottoms and crisp, brilliant tops. The morning sounding data from IAD indicated top of lift @ 7700', the -3 TI Height @ 5800' and cloudbase @ 5300', all of which strongly suggested the potential for getting to cloudbase and beyond in cloud suck. The vertical wind profile showed little shear indicating the likelihood for the lift to align into streets.

The first hour of lift was a bit turbulent as the convection continued to organize. Average lift rates @ 200 '/" and occasional ratty cores @ 400'/" were common under every cloud. With clouds like these, there was no need for the scout the usual thermal markers, such as birds, airborne trash, or swirls-in-the-grass. Crossing between the streets was easy with the worse sink coming just before getting popped by the lift under the new street. Reaching the 4K' cloudbase was just as easy as was flying upwind.

During the second hour, the average lift improved to 300'/" with small, hard-to-center 500'/" cores as the streets kept on coming. The wind at altitude was around 10 mph so I was able to easily fly my SPAM 167 about three miles upwind of the LZ.

The third hour saw average lift rates improve to 400 '/" with frequent 500 '/" along with the occasional pocket of 700 '/". As peak heating was reached at the surface, cloudbase was still with easy reach @ 5K' AGL, although it was a very chilly 50 degrees.

Cold and tired after almost three solid hours of crankin-n-bankin', I found a sinkhole, cored it to the ground, and smartly flared for a no-step landing.

Cast: Aero Joe, Billy, Terry, and Ray

Jim Keller
Petersburg, VA

MANQUIN, VA - As good as Saturday was, the soaring indices for Sunday looked even better with a forecast for higher tops and bases, and stronger lift rates more typical of late spring than late summer. However, as is so often the case with weather forecasts in general, the atmosphere doesn/t always read from nor follow the script.

Dawn broke with a thick deck of cirrus and cirrocumulus spewing into the region from the west. They were debris clouds from deep moist convection that fired over the mid-western states Saturday evening. They threaten to put the kibosh on riding thermals away from the Earth/s surface on Sunday. Friday afternoon/s numerical weather prediction models had forecast this feature, suggesting the clouds would persist until mid-afternoon, then advect away from the area on the NW flow aloft. This optimistic scenario was a hard sell to the gloom-stricken pilots that greeted me on my late morning return to the field.

"What happened? You said it was going to be another great day to fly!"

"Debris clouds from overnight thunderstorms in the mid-West. I expect the high clouds to clear after 2 o/clock."

"Those clouds look pretty dark. Do you think it will rain?"

"Nope. I expect the high clouds to clear after 2 o/clock."

"It/s 2 o/clock and the clouds are still here! Where/s that weatherman?"

"I expect the high clouds to clear **after** 2 o/clock."

"Where/s that weatherman?"

The situation in the set-up area was beginning to take a decidedly ugly turn as a few people began furtively searching for a stout stake and some dry kindling. An odd sense of impending doom came over me as I turned and out of the corner of my eye, I saw them, all of them, coming at me full bore. They were relentless in their single minded and dogged pursuit as if driven by some maniacal, unseen force. Before I knew it or could do anything about it, they were literally all around and then on top of me - those tall, white cauliflower tops of fresh cumulus looming over the tree line beneath the suddenly blue splashed skies above. It was time to launch!

It was well worth the wait. Although the 3800' cloudbase wasn/t very high, it was easy to reach and the lift was a solid 300'/" with nice 500'/" cores. Upwind, downwind, crosswind -- it didn/t matter. Go where you wanna go, when you wanna go. Two hours of this lonely nonsense was all I could take, so like the day before, I found a sinkhole and cored it to the ground. As I carried my glider out of the field, I couldn/t help but wonder if anyone had asked while I was aloft, 'Where/s that weatherman?'

Cast: Aero Joe, Terry, Ray, Dan, Joe the Airline Pilot, Zelda (tandem), and Steve Valdez.

Jim Keller
Petersburg, VA

Being on the training hill still sucks. Karen and I made it out to WV late on Saturday after llama trekking to take some more PG lessons.

Even though it was forecast for NW turning North, it was blowing SW. We chased winds from one hill to another, I got in a couple of flights and Karen kited around her new glider. Winds then switched so we went back to the North hill only to find it dead calm.

Sunday morning the forecast was for North turning NE. At the North-NE hill it was blowing L&V and mostly SE. We kited around a bit and then each got in a flight from the top before it switched to the SW. Off to the SW hill where it's blowing East. Back to the NE hill where it's dead calm. It's 3:00 and we were planning to leave at about that time. Just then it starts blowing in. So we each 'finally' got in a few flights from the top of the 100 foot hill and practiced some more kiting and reverse launches. It wasn't as much fun as flying from the 800' hill (as we did the last time we were there) but we did learn a lot more.

Matthew (sorry we had to miss the Pulpit work party, of the biwingwal Karen and Matthew)

I got there about 11:30 and nobody flying yet. High cirrus probably preventing much thermal activity. I finally set up a couple hours later when it started looking better. Found very light thermals and light drift from the north. Finally got to cloudbase around 4000. After an hour things improved rapidly eventually reaching pooh dah pooh dah you know what. I got to cloudbase several more times and shared a very strong thermal with 2 sailplane close by. I got cold hands and had to fly away from the lift for a while and sunk out, shortly after the lift turned off like a switch and everybody sunk out. An hour later it was blue skies and cummies popping everywhere but it was time to go.

I went over and talked to the sailplane guys to see if I got too close for comfort. They said to wave once in a while to let them know you see them, I had. Otherwise a friendly bunch, they share the same interests and seem to like having us around.

MC

The Manquin local weatherman pilot (I don't know his name) got 2 1/2 hrs or more off of aerotow. Terry Spencer had more than 30 minutes.

I had three sleds off truck tow trying to dial into the new US. I'm getting the hang of it.

dan t

Jim, I bailed Saturday as it looked sooooooo good at Ridgely and the prospect of the drive to NY was more daunting than I figured.

Saturday though was a fools lift kind of day, only a few got up I think Dennis Monteiro being one, Raean went 13xc, Rich Green went to Denton, most everyone got sleds or extended.

Dale Robinson determined to go, went, xc 2 miles, Fred tried to go then squeaked back to the field from 3 miles out, kissing silos along the way, not quite getting to the manicured lz.

I got a sled and grandstand view by following Dale and Fred off tow W to the same great looking cloud. The idea being to fly together perhaps. We all got drilled under the best cloud in the sky, most unusual. Weather feels like October but the lift is not the same.

Bob Buchanan, Lewis Truitt and Bruce Satatis joined the fun for multiple flights.

Sunday, high cirrus delayed the start of the day so no xc. Tom McGowan got 30 minutes as wind dummy then Fred, Mike, Steve Vogel and Geoff worked hard for about 25 minutes to maintain then slowly gain to cb for a great effort.

I got to cb 3,635' after half an hour scratching and working up from 850' too far away to get back, I went with the drift on purpose but it was harder than I thought 50 up, 0, lose it, 100up for 1/2 a turn that kind of thing, finally it hit a tree line and got more organized, neat thing was I saw it coming together in my minds eye. A few black vultures helped when I was higher, above 18,00'. Very satisfying save.

Got to cb only to find Mike Chevalier in his Stealth 300' above me, his silhouette anyway, he went N (we were talking on the radio) I went SW to Ridgely getting 200fpm up, (maybe instead of spreading out I should just follow my betters around!) but he eventually hooked up with Dennis and Paul in their sailplanes and as it was evident that he had something good, I started over when he said he had solid 500fpm up.

Got really strong lift (compared to the usual that day of 200' up) 1 mile downwind of their core and put it on a tip still going up at 500fpm, I'd level out and sometimes get over 1,000 up, best bit of climb was 1,300fpm up on the 20 second averager (honest steady 700 up) when I finally joined up with them all in the same core. As Dennis in his high aspect ratio Lak sailplane was slicing through the wispys, Mike radioed cloud suck and all 3 sped away, since I was at that moment lower (having a tougher time than last time getting consistently above the sailplanes due I'm guessing to the larger stronger core) I stayed for another 360 moving more towards the edge, then stuffed the bar still going up at 500fpm. Whew. Never got to the wispys before I got to the edge of the cloud, but close enough for me as it was very dark.

Geoff later said in profile it was a really impressive beast but it was dark and the whole sky seemed to darken with more dark cummies and thicker cirrus with shafts of light stabbing through. Quite a sureal scene actually. cb was about 3,600'+ and without the sun I started getting cold even with gloves and thermal shirt and wind breaker and light gloves.

Followed the sailplanes back again to the same cloud but at a more respectful altitude then hooked up with Daryl in his SX South of the airport for some time working light lift and later John Middleton but the day was done with no prospect of sunlight (it later cycled back on but no one flew except the tandems).

1:19 good fun. Mike C. got 2 hours which may have been the longest, Fred and Geoff and Steve also had satisfying flights. Scott Hooper did his patent bar stuffing final in his Pulse over the office and had folks running out to see the "jet" and Ayisha flew (btw winning landing honors from her honey), others committing aviation were Wayne Boulden, Steve Turner et. al.

Monday Ric Niehaus dummys and finds it light and slow going, Karen, his wife, sees him from the air for the first time courtesy of a plane ride with a friend of Ric's, pretty cool, I hear them but never see them.

Daryl Shiles after flying in with Steve Turner in Daryl's 152, goes N to a good looking cloud but doesn't sustain, later getting an hour on what turns out to be a really challenging day. Sunny and Chad test fly a 148 Airwave Sportster each getting about an hour. Richard Hays was flying a Falcon as was John Wiseman but I don't know how they fared.

I find nothing much post tow and can't get to the few clouds around anyway so decide quickly my best chance is to cover real estate or deck it and so I race S following Ric getting to down to 1,100' over Ridgely then get a bump which turns to 50 then 200fpm up then 600 and I'm expecting a cloud that never comes, at 3,615' lift slows noticeably and there is a cloud N of Denton that Ric has gone back to calling me over so that we can fly together.

Mighty nice of him, since by the time I'm getting there it is dying and he is in 0 sink. I climb up to 2,800' after getting drilled down to 1,800' on the journey over there and never get comfortable. Very small cores and even though I was aggressive in turning sharply into it, some things might be too small to work or my technique was not up to the task. Steve Turner later said he also was getting thrown out of the lift at times.

I drift working light bubbles but find nothing workable and decided to try for something more solid as I was losing altitude in my struggle as the lift weakened, now I'm at 1,200' then 900' a backyard view of downtown Denton but still within easy massive sink glide to 2 good lz's and the HS track. I'm figuring the Industrial Park and shopping centers might throw off some heat. Guess wrong... almost.

Landed :55 minutes 8 gps miles in the Denton Industrial Park, no stepper on a flat, grassy, 1 acre building pad. No worries.

As Karen helped me pack, Steve Turner flies over, working ever so gingerly the lift I must have kicked off for him. :) (at least my intuition was ok if not my timing) Thanks Karen for driving!

Steve got low but then got up over Ridgely and later was low over a few fields working light lift (feathers flying past him from the birds fighting below) and I pointed out even more tv's in a field just S where he found more lift. I was hoping to wait for him but it was not to be. He landed near a farm market for 18.5 gps miles.

The lift was so light unfortunately we did not have the luxury of all flying together as we were forced to move or deck it, I think I may have stayed too long trying to gain over Denton. Hard lesson to cut loose and go low. Of course I had to eventually do that anyway. I also had the knowledge of Ric's path S ahead of me finding little usable lift till he was out of range which influenced my decision to stand pat.

Ric was able to catch the clouds to the South (it was drying up early) but did not find great lift. He did get to 4,400' and landed on a farm S of Bridgeville closer to Seaford for 22 gps miles. The occupants suitably enchanted by the prospect of seeing someone "drop in".
Much in contrast to the 2 guys building a well in the industrial park who were taking bets to see which building I'd crash into. I gotta pick my lz's with more care to the hospitality aspect....

One of these days on the right day 5 or 6 pilots will pack fly out of there, it will really help improve the odds if it would someday come together, hope I'm there to see it.

Robert

O.K. ... I was holding back out of shame for missing the pulpit work party.

Work was done at the HR LZ courtesy of Bob G, with my minor assistance, including weed whackage, firewood cutting, rock removal, fire-pit reconfiguration, center-post cut on the Pavillion (after consultation with Fred), and gravel-spreading (whoops - without plastic - and not by me). My shovel and two rakes remain there for future activities. I'll do my penance next time at the Pulpit.

I won't try to recount all the flights 'cause I'll goof and miss somebody. According to Emma's book, 16 pilots flew. Most notable were Rob Millman and Brian Hardwick, who specked out and appeared to be at or above cloudbase. Later, Danny Brotto launched and reported 2500 over.

My flights weren't spectacular: a tree-skimming launch extendo, and a 1-hour evening flight in marginal conditions - managed 650' over for a bit. No more launch-swoops for me, henceforth.

Others there included Juan S., Bob G., Pete S. Richard Hays, Cragin S., Dan T. on his maiden U.S. flight , Tom M., Dave P., Mark C, and Eddie M. I missed three.

'Spark

p.s. Also went home with a stray cat, courtesy of Emma ( jet-black, named 'Lucky')

I waited until about 3:00 when the winds aloft calmed down. After watching Ric, I decided that there was too much drift before that for the trusty Falcon to make it back to the field without a fight. The best I could do was a 900 ft gain, flying about a 1/4 mile away from Daryl for quite a bit after he was towed up next to me. I got about 45 minutes on that single flight. Lift was broken, with no clouds to go by.

I bought a tiny new Icom general coverage receiver that has a built-in LCD video screen, that happens to receive the amateur TV bands. As such, I flew with my TV transmitter so that my son could follow the flight. I recorded the video from my car and placed a sample on my webpage if you're interested. Nice shot of the Ridgely airport - http://members.aol.com/johnw39038/webpage.htm Click on "hobbies". The video will take a while to load if you are using a slow modem connection. More to come in the future...

john

Saturday (Aug. 19th) Mark and I spent the day at the Pulpit first for the work party weed whacking and staining then for flying. It was so cross I wasn't planning on flying but Judy talked me into it later in the day as conditions improved. Had a good launch then a 40 minute light rotor-ey flight where I never got more than a couple hundred over (flew the Pulse since my downtubes didn't come in time for the weekend.) Landed in the primary, stained the new ramp with the gang then headed out for a great dinner in Mercersburg.

Sunday, (Aug. 20th) Mark, Judy and I decided to head to High Rock. Conditions were light with folks sledding although Mark Cavanaugh made the most of the day by having an awesome low-save over the LZ.

I decided to take my sled and got up on launch and waited for a good cycle. Since conditions were so light I decided to launch a couple steps back from the edge with my glider turned slightly to compensate for the North cross. I waited it out awhile with Judy and Joe on my wires (thank you both!). Finally the trees at the bottom of the slot were tickling and there was a nice 5-8 (?) mph breeze coming in - perfect. Neutral on both sides so I yelled "clear" which within a half step was quickly followed by "SHIT!!" Immediately a lot was wrong. My left wing came up within my first step and I was in a steep turning dive off of launch. Jumped onto my left wing hoping for the best. By the grace of God (thank You!) - pulled out of it and proceeded to sled to the LZ.

After thinking about it and talking with Joe and Judy, here's where I went wrong. They both said that my wings felt fine (neutral) when I yelled clear. Joe (on my right wing) said that right after I yelled clear he was bonked in the head by my glider - fortunately he was thinking quickly and stood up (lifting the wing with his head) which negated some of the effect of my wing dipping. Then my glider hit the end of the block on the way out.

The wind when I launched was stronger (only 5-8 but still stronger than 1-2) than I anticipated it would be when I decided to start my launch back a couple steps. With my glider being slightly turned for the North cross and starting my launch back a couple steps - the result was my left wing flying while my right wing was not - it was still in dead air.

What I would do differently:
With the launch conditions of 5-8 mph I should have been at the edge of the ramp. If I felt the need to run it out if conditions were lighter (1-2 mph) then I would not have had the glider slightly turned into the North cross. Probably totally unnecessary anyway since it was so light.

Those who flew on Sunday were Mark(c)-cubed . . . Marc Fink, Mark Cavanaugh and Mark Gardner. Deciding not to fly were Keith Ford, Judy and Joe Gregor.

After packing up, Joe decided to head to Hagerstown to fly his plane. Mark (G.) and I joined him along with Keith Ford who wanted to show us the plane he's helping to build. While Joe prepped the plane we enjoyed getting a tour of Keith's plane - sorry don't remember the details - then Mark and I headed up with Joe where we had an awesome flight! We retraced the second half of Mark's 42 mile flight earlier this year and tracked down the field he landed in - cool! Then I really enjoyed an aerial "tour" of what an XC flight from the Pulpit to High Rock would be like with Joe and Mark pointing out Route 16 and the buildings and roads that delineate the Hagerstown airspace - excellent learning experience for me since I haven't even been over the back of the Pulpit yet (head hanging down in shame).

Oh! The two-tone sealant we put on the ramp is very interesting! Definitely did the job :-)

After Joe put the plane to bed we begged our way into a restaurant that was closing and had a nice dinner that included Keith and Tammy Ford and the kids. On our way back we stopped by their house then headed home.

Well, all that's my story and I'm sticking to it . . . .

Sheila

p.s. yes, yes, Ralph - the report's on the way . . . .

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This page last updated August 29, 2000