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Hangola February 23 - 25, 2002

Launched @ 1220. Slight left cross aloft, STFI on launch. Easily self launchable. Semi demanding air but I found if I stayed in lift it was quite soarable. Gains 2000+ lows 150- landed after an hour due to a cold face and a prior commitment. Me & Glen Rohrbach. Jackie W, TR, jessie showed up as i was leaving. Looked still doable, probably was till late.....Bob.

When I was leaving RTown yesterday TR, Jessie, Jackie and Craig W. had just showed up. The wind was still lite and they were debating whether to set up or not. TR wanted to test fly his new Litespeed so they threw him off to an expected sled ride. Ole mother RTown was having none of that and kept him clapped to her ample bosom of lift for an hour until his cold hands forced a landing. The others, seeing his plight, rushed into the air for more of the same. The air was reported to be very pleasant with lite workable thermals to 700' until very late afternoon.

BTW, ole father Sac, obviously grumpy over burned toast or some other perceived slight, yielded a brief one thermal flight his son Joe. Everyone else got sent to the sled shed for a spanking.........Bob.

I was quite busy trying to keep my paraglider from blowing away at the burg as it gusted in at the top of the hill-- over 15. I got in 7 flights in the bag-- caught one thermal on second flight and made two short passes. I was going to crank it over into a 360 if I was still going up in the thid pass but I fell out of it. The wind turned North at about 3:30 and was blowin' 90 cross most of the the time after that. I got in one more flight when the wind speed eased and the cross abated. But I got dumped halfway down the hill as the cross kicked in and rotor from the houses kicked my ass. I dropped like a rock and just barely got the glider flying again as I womped down on my butt.

Both Richard and John were there with lots of students. Ellis had three flights in her bag and Karen and Christy kited their bags in the field at the bottom. I also did some kiting after my last flight, as did Ellis. David Z, George Tutor, Mark C., Sparky, Eddie Miller and Bob G. all flew. A few other bagwingers also showed up and kited.

Matthew ( Mike C. got in a half hour at the Pulpit, of Karen and Matthew)

I counted 13 hanggliders and 4 bags on Saturday..and there may have been a couple gliders in the set up area. Reminded me of how Oregon Ridge used to be... years ago. Bob Gillisie flew his new Ultra Sport, and maybe for the last time ever at Smithsburg. Connie Phillips from Pittsburg FINALLY got HER day in...and had numerous well flown, successful flights on her new little Falcon 140.( She continued her success on Sunday at Oregon Ridge too!! ). Sparky continued his history lesson of early aviation by flying an old Delta Wing Lazor several times, and I dusted off the cobbs on my Wills Wing XC.. and squeezed in 3 flights on it in between teaching. In addition; John Codd got a valuable lesson in glider handling. Our RC buddy also got a valuable lesson on why you should seek professional instruction vs. learning from buds on antiquated equipment. Pogo face is no fun. Those there know the story. 'Nuf said. Overall...what a fabulous day. Still waiting for us to be arrested though...if you know what I mean. :)

Matt, Mathew and I all flew for a while Saturday at Little Gap after having to wait for the wind to slow down a bit at launch. I got over an hour of airtime and so did Matt, however Mathew landed due to cold head syndrome. I was a bit premature in setting up for launch and had fun watching my wing (PG) flail in the wind for minutes with brakes full on before getting things under control. My first attempt at launch sent me into the bushes as the wind had gone NE suddenly. Matt jumped in and took off and then I followed with a good launch. A number of HG were airborne, we got to a max of 3-400 over launch with light periodic thermals. Matt and I went West past the power lines and flew until sunset. I was tempted to top-land on the bald hilltop west of the power lines but decided to wait for another day.

A few of us gave the Pulpit a try Saturday, figuring a forecast of NW 7-8 should be very friendly. As I was inbound on Lemar Road at noon I passed Christy going the other way. She had watched a strong North since 11:00 and was bailing to Smithsburg.

Mike Chevalier and Curtis & Natalie Kemerer were at launch, gliders safely stowed on racks. We socialized and watched the tell-tales tell a tale of North ~15. Natalie called FAA Weather Brief - all the stations were reporting NW 8, just like the forecast said. However, Hagerstown was reporting 340 degrees / 15 at 3000'. Obviously we were seeing that wind at altitude dipping down to meet us!

Since there had actually been a few launchable cycles, Mike and Curtis set up. New arrivals included Paul & Lauren Tjaden, Hugh McElrath, Holly Korzilius, and Ralph Sickinger. A few more halfway decent cycles and Mike bellied up to the bar. A little dip out as he launched and then he found bumpy lift as he worked south along the ridge. Within ten minutes he caught a nice thermal near the towers and shot up to 1,500 over. He then found the balancing down air and was back to ~200 over, struggling for any help staying up. Radio report: no ridge lift, ugly messy thermals, hard to find anything good, not Hang 2 air. Mike lost the good fight and made it into the main LZ with about 30 minutes.

Curtis thought a lot about the reports, and packed his glider back up. Paul & Lauren made their way to Smithsburg. The rest of us watched it blow until about 4:30 when Holly headed south as Ralph, Hugh and I wound along 16 to the parachute repack.

Well, we were out in the countryside, and the sky was pretty.

Cragin S

Sun morning. Woke up to a two year old that tore off his diaper and smeared shit all over his crib.

Got a wash rag caught in the garbage disposal... not an easy extraction. On to Embreeville. 1 perfect flight 1 less so. Broken down tube broken leading edge. while dropping off at Jeff Harpers house for repair , my wife calls... cars broke down and she is stranded with my son. (Remember to bring battens home to straighten). Rush home to get family ... rear view mirror shows a bag of battens launching thier way skyward at 65 MPH from the back of my pick up bed. ( tied down so I believed). all in all a good day of flying. Remember, I did have one good flight.

Ken- maintain thy airspeed lest the ground rise up and smite thee- Sutch

Bob Gillisse and Jeannie met me at Breezewood and showed me the new-primary-old-secondary LZ (need 4-wheel drive?). At the launch it was straight-in and light - 5-7 mph. Bob and I each sledded. Good landings five days too early for the contest. The LZ is nice and big - conversations at the meetings had spooked me some. Gorgeous day. Thanks, Bob and good luck in Michigan! - Hugh McElrath

Manquin was soarable today, but only a handful of pilots showed up to enjoy the day's offerings. Steve Wendt showed up late in the morning and proceded to dry out the gliders that got soaked on his vacation, but Tex was on hand and started pulling people as soon as the first guy was ready.

I launched third (after Jim Keller announced that the launch window was open). Tex pulled me through a boomer that was so rowdy that I just closed my eyes until we flew out the otherside! Just when I was beginning to think that I had a handle on things, Tex banked the tug around and came in for another crack at it. Darn! I hate thermalling with a tug! Tex drove the tug right into the heart and I was pushing out to keep up. I was trying to hang on long enough to see the tug go over the falls, but Tex plowed into another core and I pinned off with the tug way above me! 2200ft. .. it was a very quick climb! That thermal took me to the inversion at 3500ft before sputtering out. Much to my surprise, given the blue/stable looking conditions, I hooked several more thermals. They were lots of fun to work, starting out light and broken up, then becoming sharp and punchy. My vario read a constant 600fpm on several occasions, along with 1000fpm pops.

A few others soared too! Of course, Keller soared and scored two low saves. Roland pulled off a save when he was pretty close to his shadow! Claytor, on his third attempt to get airborn without breaking a winklink or pinning off at 300ft, finally hung on to 600ft! For John, 600 was enough and he was able to climb out.

Terry

Good looking thermal forecast based on the AM balloon flight from IAD segued into a good late winter soaring day at the park. Terry Spencer had the flight du jour with 60+ minutes and top 'o stack @ 3800'.

Takeoff wind was 'straight in' to 20° right cross. Tows in the dense air were rowdy, for one and all, such that several pilots pinned early, yet still soared. The quick drifting lift was strong (500-700 '/") and the cores compact, but workable.

I flew twice, 35 and 20 minutes, climbs to 2800 and 3100'. While topped out during the second flight, I observed what seemed to have been at least 300 Canada geese, rise in unison over a field next to the Pamunkey, then to settle into the flood plain. At first I thought today/s motherlode thermal had just been triggered, but since I didn/t see a tractor anywhere near by, I just flew on.

Air Bandits: John Claytor, Roland, and Joe Schad

Flight Line Crew: Chris and Zelda

JK

Arrived at launch at 1:00PM to find STFI @15. I launched 1st at 2:00 followed by Bob, Dave Brown, Dave Fink and finally Dougie. Winds were strong for most of the flight and a little X from the East. Sky was hazy but we surprisingly found some thermals to 1300' over. Flew for over 2 hours and landed next to Ron's house. Lenko showed up and to help launch and gave us a ride to the top...thanks Lenko. Sure was nice to be in the air with Dave Brown again...been a long time. No rust was visible on that boy.

Terry, Joe Schad and I went to Daniel Mtn today. CVHGAers Rich Lawrence, Claude and a new recruit whose name I forget (Mark?) showed later. It was coming in light and there was some hazy sunshine. Threw Joe off first. Duty Honor Glory and all that. He ultimately went down but he also went up a bunch in the process. It was a valient effort and close enough to success that Terry decided to give it a try. But Terry went down too. Damn! My turn. Abandon Hope!! But I went up. Imagine that! Not a lot up but up. Worked my butt off for over an hour getting maybe 650 over max and spending most of the time in the 250 to 350 area. Watched Claude and Mark sink out. Watched Terry and Joe pile their gliders on the truck and race back up for another try. It was getting better. I wasn't going any higher but it was more consistent. Anyway, Rich went up. Terry went up. In fact, Terry got up without a vario. His Ball conked out. Pretty impressive job. Bad day for Ball varios. Joe had his mounted upside down so it read backwards. Something like that. Well, not really. He was messing with it and got the tones reversed so it made happy chirping noises when he was sinking and doleful dirge noises when he was going up. Joe went down. But a nice warm Feb day. Everybody got in the air. No busted aluminium

Hi!

Christie wasn't entirely correct about Woodstock. Yes, Terry launched in a weak cycle, and quickly landed. And yes, for the next half hour it looked like he had been the lucky one, who had nabbed the lat puff of wind. However, Paul finally managed a run, too, though he joined Terry in the LZ faster than a bunny can jump. My turn was next, but at 4:30 the streamers were still hanging as limply as overcooked spaghetti. I hung out for twenty minutes without seeing a flag move. I finally told Mike Balk (my observer, who was generously waiting for me) that if he wanted to launch to go for it, but that I didn't feel confident enough to try in the conditions.

But then, the leaves rustled, the streamers streamed, and I knew my six-second window had come. The wind was pathetic, but it was wind. I sprinted; Ms. Target grabbed her chance and leapt into the air. I turned along the ridge, focused on struggling into my cocoon. After I got my feet in, I noticed my vario happily singing. I wasn't flying up, but I wasn't flying down, either. Actually, I was doing both, but it kind of equaled out. When Ms. Target and I reached the North finger, we pivoted around -- and stayed at the same altitude. Although once we actually pushed to 30 feet over launch, mostly we trucked around a bit below.

So okay, it wasn't nearly a record, and I didn't soar with any eagles or anything cool like that, but I stayed up for twenty minutes and missed the cow sh** when I landed. Barely. BTW, the field looks lots smaller when you're screaming towards the trees and the cows refuse to move.

I think the wind changed the instant I launched. For once, a good deed did go unpunished, because Mike had a flight comparable to mine, though he soared lots higher and certainly landed better.

We all had dinner at the Strausburg Inn later. Big Philly steak sandwich and grilled onions. Funny how much hungrier I am after I fly. I have to say, I love this sport. I love the air, but the people are great, too. I owe so many folks so much for all the information, help, and support they've given to a dependent, pain-in-the-rear newbie like me. Thanks. This is so much fun.

Lauren Tjaden

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This page last updated March 8, 2002