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Hangola March 3, 2001

Excellent day at the Pulpit today!!! Got there at 10:45A. Next to arrive was Dave Proctor, Tom McGowan, and Marc Fink. Set up and launched at 11:30 right into a thermal off the ramp. Flew for a good while, getting a max of 1200' over, before Marc, Tom, and Dave joined me in the air. Got low, was underdressed and fatigued, so decided to land after 1:15 in the air. While in the LZ the sky started opening up, and things seemed to turn on a little better (of course). Everybody started skying out.

Congrats to Matthew Graham on his first OTB XC from the Pulpit. He and Mike Chevalier flew together to just west of New Franklin for 16.7 miles? Tom McGowan also went OTB and landed in Shady Grove for 17+ miles. I imagine some others may have gone OTB as well.

Today's results show that the forecasts from different sources may differ, but ya gotta believe the ones that have been reliable over the years and trust your instinct.

Bacil

I test-flew a vintage 1986 Moyes GTR 210 Glider at the 'burg Saturday in 5-10mph NW. It is enormous ... a full double surface, 210 sq. ft., curved tip glider with VG. Downtubes are 6', basetube is 5'. I'd wanted more, but three flights was my limit and it would have been fewer without Doug Henderson's help. She flew true in pitch and roll " took forever to descend and land, using most of the lz.

Afterward, we headed for High Rock. Laura! appeared to help crew. Conditions were marginally soarable. Doug flew first and experienced his first HR soaring flight. I retrieved Doug and returned to fly my K3. A brief episode of sun exposure provided thermals - I was able to gain 650' above launch, but lost it in a flush cycle, bobbed about over the RR tracks and landed with 25 minutes.

Back up again to launch Bob Gillisse, who also gained in thermals and soared for awhile.

Winds dropped significantly, Laura arrived (launch crew!), allowing me to fly the GTR 210. Roll authority was less of a problem (in light air) that I anticipated. I gained 400' immediately and boated about for a bit. Lack of proper clothing soon sent me toward the LZ, where I surprised to see a SW indication in the LZ. Ironically, it snapped back around to NW as I dove the big bird over the trees on a south-bound final aproach. It wasn't pretty, but no damage was done.

Note: 'Big Mama' will be making future appearances on light days.

'Spark

p.s. Does anyone have any big wheels for sale (or loan)?

Who woulda knowed???!!!

I was very dubious about the forecast for the day, given the positions of the nearby fronts and the almost virtual certainty that the overcast was bound to worsen. I figured on just a sled and then hopefully getting back home without the glider getting soaked. Man, did I ever figure it wrong, I've never seen a day turn out so completely different in all my years of flying. Needless to say, it was an absolutely brilliant day with some of the most fun flying I've experienced in almost a year! A testimony to the occassional positive juju effect from a mass chga lemming migration. Since I'm not sure what everyone else did I'll have to leave their reports to them, but I do know several went over the back.

I pulled the MR2000 out of her home for the first time this winter after enjoying a season of flying lower performing gliders. It's nice to be back in the driver's seat of a racing machine. The most shocking feeling about being back on the blade wing was the revelation that in many cases the wing is easier to handle than the other older intermediate and up pig-stickers I had been flying.

I was second to go after Bacil and at first it was pretty light, though easily boatable, under the complete overcast. I started half-heartedly circling in the 90 fpm bumps under the somewhat threatening looking complete overcast and superprisingly climbed to 1000 over. Did this for an hour as the thermals got progressively stronger and the base lifted higher. Eventually Tom and Mark and Dave joined me, and things just kept getting better. Later, I paid several visits to the white/grey room at the Condensation Inn.

After almost three hours of flying I was pretty wasted and decided to land, and while setting up over the lz I hit yet another one, so fully unzipped and set to land, I thought, ah, what the heck...and started to turn. This turned out to be the best ride of the day taking me to 5,200 msl, my highest gain of the day. What a beautiful moment, I saw many gliders on the ridge below come streaming in to hitch a ride, I think even Joe in his plane was caught up in excitment and tried to enter the thermal himself ; ) Although I was tempted to finally dump over the back I decided I was just too wasted to do battle over the back and eventually landed in the primary.

Dang, what a day, served to remind why I love this sport!

Marc

Ellis wrote:
Marc is, as I write, approaching Hagerstown. He is reporting 100% cloud cover, with clouds being lower and thicker than in the DC area. Just thought some of you might like this additional piece of data.

As Marc Fink reported, a fair to middling forecast turned into a super flying day. Lots of folks with stories to tell, and I encourage them tell their own. The cast of characters as best I recall: Bacil Dickert, Marc Fink, Tom McGowan, Dave Proctor, Brian Vant-Hull, Joe Brauch, Joe Schad, Mark Cavanaugh, Dan Tomlinson, Kevin Jones, Paul Donahue, Mike Chevalier, Ed Reno, Matthew Graham, Karen Carra, and of course, me. (If I missed a name, I apologize.) Also present were Joe Schad's friend Zelda, and Kevin Jones' wife (sorry, I never got her name).

As for my own experience, Dan T and I arrived shortly after Bacil's launch, just before noon. We wired Marc off, set up, and then got Tom and Dave into the air. While the forecast was for 10 mph, we were seeing averages of 18 with gusts over 25. Most launches were during lulls near 15, with lots of lift on launch.

Note to club: we need to look for a non-slip coating for the new ramp. That recent application of brown paint makes it fairly slick, and was a minor problem for a couple of pilots as they moved down the ramp.

About 1:45, Dan launched from the new ramp with some N cross, into ~15 mph. I was in line for the next turn, and saw him elevator right off the ramp and have to turn into the cross. I moved to the old ramp, and waited out a new gust cycle. Mike C used the new ramp to go ahead of me, easier for him in his Stealth in the higher wind conditions. Finally at 2:00 I stood on the ramp, ready for a lull. The two Hang 2's present, Joe Schad and Joe Brauch, wired for me. Do you know how confusing it is to give instruction to your crew when you say, "Joe, pull back your side," and both wings pull back? Thanks for some good help, guys, and to Brian on nose/keel. I launched into about 15 with a wonderful smooth lift gaining 50 feet as I moved out from the ramp.

I worked down the ridge, with lots of thermal lift along the way. A little bumpy, but not bad. There were several gliders above me near launch, so I went toward the house on 16 for the dependable lift there. It wasn't. Came back up to the bend in 16 just to the north. Found a very nice thermal there, working up to 900 over. Explored a little, and lost it all, getting back to launch level. found it again, and got to 1,000 over launch. Had a lot of fun working some of the best thermals I have had in a year.

Got spooked when a single-engine bug smasher drove right through our gaggle at glider altitude, right on the ridge, only a few hundred feet away. Really scared me that on his first pass I did not see him until he had passed me... and I spent the day in swivel-neck flight because of all the gliders. On his return trip to the south he was farther out over the valley, but was still troublesome to Tom over the LZ and another glider out over 7th street. Some folks thought it was Joe G - I thought he was mixing it up too close to all of us on the ridge to be Joe. In any event, I was very unhappy with his proximity, no matter who was driving.

Best thermals I found were in the valley out front. I got into a boomer between 16 and the LZ that took me from 1,000 over to 2,200 over in one jump! That is my largest single gain ever, and gave me my highest flight at the Pulpit! It was wonderful. I think that Tom grabbed same thermal for his last few hundred feet before jumping over the back.

About 2:45 everything shut down, and I flew graceful descent from 1600 over out to land - could find nothing to stay up. Mark C, used that same air for another hour low over the ridge. I came in fast and set down with one of my best landings in months, a graceful light drop onto a no-stepper.

Stats: 50 minutes, 2 saves from launch altitude, max alt 2,200 over launch, grade A launch & landing. Best flight in a year, best flight ever at the Pulpit. I am loving life.

Cragin

Despite the phone call from Marc Fink saying "I'm on 270 and its really cloudy, it's going to suck everywhere. Bring your snowblades and paragliders." it was a great day at the Pulpit. I launched at about 1:00 and got right up. I've always planned on going over the back once I could get 2000 over. I climbed up to 2500 over and was up with Tom and Mark C. But they were flying out in the valley. My radio PTT wasn't working. So I could only hear but not transmit. I figured they were waiting for something better. So I joined them out in the valley and was able to fly past the road to the LZ. After about 20 minutes, it started to shut down and we were all down at 4-500 over. I cursed myself for blowing it.

But then it kicked on again and I was back out in the valley at 2500 over. I could see Mike Chevalier going for it over the back. So I drifted over with him. I could hear him telling Karen that we were both going XC together. Since it was kinda hazy (Yeah, hazy) at that altitude, I lost my visual of Mike. I dove downwind to avoid him. Even pulled in, I maintained altitude. When I emerged from the haze, I was well past the ridge. I immediately dove towards a nice white puffy cum and started to climb again. While circling I examined the terrain and determined that the road below me and just to the North was route 16. As I continued to climb, I was surprised to see Mike come into the thermal below me. We worked it until it dissipated and then dove downwind again. The next thermal wasn't as consistent. I'd be in the core for a while. I'd climb above Mike. He'd climb above me. We kept swapping positions and hunting around for the core. As we crossed over I-81 and passed what I assumed to be Greencastle, the lift started drifting to the South. Since we were South of what I thought was route 16, I started to worry about encroaching on the Hagerstown Airport airspace. Just then I saw a smile plane about a mile to the Southwest. Hence, I dove cross wind to the North to stay safe. I headed towards a quarry in hopes of finding another thermal there.

Reaching the quarry, I was again surprised to see Mike beside me. We both worked some bubbles-- but he eventually succumbed to gravity just as I started to climb again. At 250 agl, I worked back up to 700 agl. But the lift slowly dissipated and I was headed low over trees and houses. I decided to land with Mike.

On the ground, I asked Mike about how close we had gotten to the Hagerstown Airport controlled airspace and he just stared back at me. I mentioned Greencastle and route 16. Again, the blank look. It wasn't 16 we had been tracking, he explained, it was route 30. And we flew past Chambersburg, not Greencastle. Duh! I had my GPS with the moving map display on it and I had never bothered to look at it while flying. I had just assumed I knew where I was. We could have tracked South in the patchy lift and maybe eeked out a couple of more miles.

As it was, we ended up with 16.7 miles. Still it was a great flight and it was fun to have Mike fly with me. Max altitude was 2700 over with 90 minutes duration. Tom flew 17.6 miles. And Ed had his first over the back with 5 miles to Buchanon Middle School in Merecersburg. Big thanks to Dave Proctor for retrieving Tom, Mike and I. And thanks to Bacil for helping to find us since none of the locals, not even the Postal delivery lady, knew the names of the roads near where we landed.

Craig, BVH, Kevin Jones, Joe Brauch, Karen, Paul Donahue and Dan also flew.

Matthew (how'd it go at Ridgely? Of Karen and Matthew)

It had been five months since my last flight at High Rock, so I decided for the conservative route last Saturday and went to Ridgely. P>Called Chad in the morning: "light winds but 20-25 knots at 1000 feet". I said: "I don't care, even if I have to fly 500 ft patterns I'll come and fly."

Once there high elevation winds had calmed down and thermals where popping, 6 pilots out there and Chad and Sunny with their new all-red tug. They have been working on it all winter, strong engine, 5 blade propeller and an incredible climb-rate. Try it!

So, willing to make 500 ft patterns I ended up with a 45 minute (longest soaring flight so far) flight, twice reaching 3850 agl.

So sweet for the first flight in five months...

Rolf

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This page last updated March 4, 2001