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Hangola February 9-11, 2001

Well,

Where was everyone. Shawn and I had our best flights of the year.

Jim

Can't neglect mentioning that the temps stayed above freezing, some warmth and even persperation in flight, and the opening of the Woodstock road bring an end to the polar bear season. Looks like spring to me!!!

Ed

The 'Woodstock effect' was happenin' today. Kinda mystical...

I arrived early and walked the LZ with Doug Henderson (his first time there). Greg DeWolf, Terry Spencer and Ed Reno were already at launch when we arrived at 1:30pm. Bacil showed up just in time to help Greg launch. It looked strong but ... do-able. Terry was next - it looked even better! Ed joined 'em at around 4pm - better still. It had backed off quite a bit, so Doug went at 4:15 and I swooped off shortly after.

After a few turns I realized there was more lift out over the LZ than over the ridge, so I flew upwind and my vario rarely stopped beeping ... until I was 3200' over! Greg and Terry seemed to be doing repeated out-and-back flights between Route 11 and the ridge. Ed was somewhere N. on an XC mission. Nearly every time I saw Doug he was 5oo' higher and further upwind. That Eagle seems to have a pretty good sink rate ;)

I landed after 40 minutes, aimed for a quick vehicle retrieve before dark.

Doug made a very repectable landing after nearly an hour of airtime and more than 3k above launch - first soaring flight in 15 years!

Thanks a million to Bacil for choosing to help everyone launch instead of flying!

'Spark

The Woodstock Gradient Effect was validated again today when 5 pilots enjoyed plentiful soaring time despite howling winds being reported at many weather stations nearby. I arrived around 2:45P to find Greg DeWolf already aloft and Allen Sparks, Doug Henderson, Terry Spencer, and Ed Reno setting up. Conditions on launch at that time were 12 - 18 MPH, with a max of maybe 20 MPH. Greg reported a 22 to 25 MPH headwind aloft at his altitude (maybe 1K' over?). Terry Spencer launched in a nice smooth cycle, maybe 10 MPH. Ed Reno was off next in another smooth cycle. Allen and I launched Doug next, who had a nice launch. Then Allen was the last to take off. From the time that Greg launched, to the time Allen took off, the launch winds slowly abated with time. Greg also reported winds aloft had slowly abated as well, with about an 18 MPH headwind at altitude around 4:30P. Woodstock is a peculiar site, with a distinct reduction in wind that is related possibly to the raised topography directly upwind over in WV? Interesting phenomenon to try to figure out.

Bacil

Thanks. It was pretty easy. Greg and Terry were flying all around the valley so I just had to follow them. The nicest part of the flight was being able to use my glider. Little jumps off Smithsburg don't allow for much practice. The glider was very predictable and I was very comfortable. Got to slow the glider down and speed it up. Lots of 360's in both directions. Zip and unzip harness. All in all very productive. Like to thank Sparky and Bacil for helping me at launch and Greg for a few landing tips. Al was very conservative in his observer position. Probably came in a little low and slow. Still getting use to how far the glider will go and its sink rate. Landing and launch were both respectable. Missed all the meadow muffins so that has to count for something. Since I don't have any instruments yet I was kind of surprised when everyone said how high we got. Really is a beautiful place to fly.

brianvh wrote:

Congratulations Doug!

Brian.

Bill probably isn't in a rush to post this story himself, but rumors will get out, and as his observer (and about halfway responsible for what happened) I'll post it first.

Quick synopsis: When another glider was heading his way on the ridge, Bill turned TOWARDS the ridge to avoid it, and couldn't make his way back. Ended up swinging between two trees for an hour 30 feet in the air to the left of launch. Easy retreival location, very thoughtful. Damage to aluminum but none to cytoplasm.

It boils down to my error in judgement as an observer launching him into conditions which precipitated his own error in judgement. I think there's a lesson to be learned here, so I'll go into more detail:

A) It was the first time Bill flew with more than one glider on the ridge, and so we worked to get the rules of the ridge ingrained.

B) The conditions were a step higher in complexity than when he had flown and soared for half an hour last week at HR.

Having two new items at once likely overloaded him. I think he would have been fine in the mildly thermally air if no glider came at him. Bill claims he's not sure why he turned towards the ridge, but maybe he was just trying to turn to the right?

Conditions looked okay from launch, but Matthew was on radio, and I didn't take advantage of the fact to ask for a conditions report. He says he would have advised against a new H2 launch. When I launched after Bill, I had the same thought, but Bill seemed to be doing very well, so stopped worrying about him and set about trying to untangle my harness pullstring, which resulted me losing the ridge and landing early. A few minutes later Matthew landed with the news about the tree landing, and we went up to help.

Marc Fink had a 100 foot rope and was directing operations with admirable skill. We also had the use of my ladder, and a wire cutter from I think Kelvin. All were indespensible, and I'd recommend we all try to carry some of the same equipment so we can pool resources as needed.

For me as an observer, I'll be very careful to get reports from the air in the future, and be damned sure only one thing is being added at a time.

BrianVH

Well, the rest of us (except maybe Chevalier) had a good day. I got 3300 over and 1:45. Kelvin, Terry Spencer, Ellis, Karen and Brian all soared. Mark C. had an extendo early in the day and a 1:45 flight with the ridge to himself at the end of the day. Mike C. launched just before it turned back on and sledded. And Marc, first off for the day, fought valiently for 20 minutes.

As to Bill, both Ellis and I saw him circling low (50-100') above the trees behind launch on several occasions. I was to the North and climbing when he went in on the South side of launch.

Matthew (the biwingwal bunch then went to Smithsburg to play with our bags, of Karen and Matthew)

The Polar Bear chapter of the Wind Riders assembled at the Sac today (after checking in at Ringtown (strong and gusty)). The air was on the gusty side, crossing from the West, but up and away from the ridge the air was remarkably smooth (but ratty down low). Jim Carroll, Keith Olena, and Bill Buffam stayed up for over an hour. We could stay up as long as we wanted, but at 20 degrees ....... Altitude gains were up to +2k, with some thermal rides of sustained 600fpm, peaking to 860.

Karen, Rich Green, and Lenko took shorter flights. Wayne made a scenic tour of Ringtown, Elizabethville, and the Sac, but the glider never made it out of the bag (it's a long story).

Bill

We got to Ringtown about 12:30. It was straight in, with 18 mph gusting to 33. We might have waited it out, but for

(1) radio conversation with Jim Carroll, saying that everyone else was going to the Sac
(2) Lenko needing an observer (Joe Gorrie)
(3) forecast of wind moving towards the N
(4) 300' lower altitude at the Sac leading us to think the winds might be calmer there.

In the event, the wind at the Sac stayed stubbornly crossed from the West. My vario (which I have observed does a pretty good job of telling me the wind speed and direction) told me 270 degrees a lot of the time, 330 a lot of the time, around 14 mph. That's a pretty wicked cross, yet the ridge lift was quite enough to stay up. (I know 270 degrees is a 90 degree cross. Therefore no ridge lift. I have to conclude that the wind was more West up high. My vario can (of course) only calculate wind speed and direction while circling, and I'm sure not going to be circling anywhere down low.)

I was the last soaring pilot to land, at around 4pm. I could have stayed up longer, but the thermals were starting to weaken and I was starting to get cold. (My barograph is at http://www.bigfoot.com/~buffam/barograph.jpg (Man, I love flight toys!)) Others took flights after me, but didn't stay up long for various reasons. The wind did back down a bit. (We need an eyewitness account from launch here - I'd be guessing.)

Bill

ToweringQs@aol.com wrote:

Glad to hear about the fine, Sacro-soarable conditions last Sunday. I'm curious about what time you got to Ringtown and observed strong and gusty conditions; what time you launched at The SAC!; whether the wind subsided and veered more northerly during the afternoon; and what time the lasting soaring pilot landed?

JK

Apologies & Thanks:

My first and foremost thought here is to vainly try to thank everyone who helped me out in this situation. I'm bad with names, but with help from Brian on that part, I send out sempiternal thanks to Marc Fink, Mike Chevalier, Terry Spencer, Kelvin Pierce, Matthew Graham, and Brian Vant-Hull for their rescue attempt. Frankly, if everyone got disgusted and left me there I would have not faulted anyone. I really wish people got paid for wire crew and rescue, so I could send out a big check to everyone to ease my guilt. But unfortunately, the only way I can even begin to repay this (other than spending 2 years volunteering for the CHGA board :)) is to try and sort it out and learn a lesson from it.

Oh, and buying lots of beer.

The Gruesome Tale:

The story begins with a reasonable launch, on a Falcon 170, into some roudy conditions. Roudy is relative, but it was roudy for me. I was reminded not to get too close to the ridge - better lift, but lots of rotors due to the north cross, and I would be more likely to run into the ridge. Basic rules of ridge soaring. Launch was okay, but as soon as I was in the air I was fumbling around - balancing flying with getting onto my base tube and into my bar mitts. I managed both of these and was still about launch level, so after a few moments I decided to test out the ridge. My difficulty during the first minute was a good indication that I needed to use caution and keep a good margin for safety.

I quickly found that the lift was around, but a little tough to find, and Brian's reminder about the ridge was ever so accurate. I kept making passes and any time I got lift I started to get pushed into the ridge. My first real mistake was not quitting while I was ahead. I kept "accidentally" getting turned toward instead the ridge of away. After a few close passes over the trees I decided to head to the other side of the ridge and make some wider passes. This met with reasonable success, but in the desire for more lift, I wound up in the same situation of turning into the ridge and going over it. After a dozen times of this I almost thought I was okay with it. Each time, I let my margin of safety slide a little...this was the next big mistake.

On one of my passes I managed to run into a thermal - which was a new experience for me. I gained altitude quickly, got turned and decided to stick with it to see what happened. It worked out well, swifty gaining altitude. Once I lost the thermal, I realized I drifted waaay over the ridge. I thought I had some room to go look for it (mistake number 3 and counting...) I managed to find it again, but the 3rd time I didn't and I just...barely...made it back to the ridge. Waay to close for comfort. So I decided to give up and stay further out. Finally, a reasonable decision, but way to late.

I was passing along the ridge and saw another glider in front of me. Plenty of room to move, and they (correctly) turned away from the ridge out of my way. Out of courtesy, I turned the opposite to provide room. Unfortunately, it was unnecssary, and it was room I didn't have. Being close to the ridge, I got turned again and did a 360 with <50 ft over the trees.

As I was told afterwards, I actually did two 360s. If so, then I've lost count of my mistakes. The first 360 was unintentional, but the second one was too much. I almost cleared the trees back to the ridge, but almost wasn't good enough when I heard my wing catch a limb. A few seconds later I was propped up in a tree. ( And I didn't even make a good flare! )

Drive-in totals: (not in order of importance)
1 broken leading edge
2 broken downtubes
1 foot long tear in the sail
4 cut wires
2 cut hang straps
1 mangled ego
0 broken bones
many frustrated pilots

Conclusions:

Brian gave a good short synopsis of what happenend. I turned into the ridge. Bad idea. Since that instant, I've spent much time mulling over why I did it. I noted several mistakes I made above. Since starting my analysis, I realized these were not mistakes. Too bad, because then I could say I was naive, or made an error in judgement. Not so simple. I knew I was too close to the ridge. I knew I shouldn't have followed a thermal over the ridge with <300feet above. I knew that even at 1000 feet above a new H-2 shouldn't try thermalling. In looking back, I made more than mistakes. I was foolishly stupidly idiotically arrogant.

And that part is what hurts. Each time I survived a circle over the ridge I thought I could do more. My margin for error got smaller and smaller each time I survived. Funny thing I even knew that when I was flying! I got scared a few times when I passed the trees so close, but I kept trying. How could I be some stupid as to know what I was doing was dangerous and keep doing it! I'm not an arrogant person. I have good decision making skills, I can look, plan, and execute. But apparently something about cold mountain air and a lot of fun just makes those things go away for a short while. The "mistake" wasn't turning into the ridge for the 100th time and finally letting it catch up to me. The real "mistake" was not being brave enough to say "Whoa! This is roudy. I better go land."

I can only be glad that this happened now. I didn't break any bones, I didn't wreck a $5000 glider, and I had plenty of people to help me out. I'll never face that ridge again without remembering this sobering event, and maybe that is good. And I probably have many more lessons to read from this incident, so I'll share my thoughts over the next few months as I rebuild my glider and my ego.

Lastly, I cannot post this message without laughing at the random tagline my computer picked for me today. :)
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Moby Disk AKA William Garrison-"When life gets tough, we just fly."
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This page last updated February 13, 2001