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Hangola July 9-13, 2001

Went to woodstock hoping the winds would be good but it did not happen. Spent some time with a weedeater trying to clean up some of the setup and launch area. The trees and shrubs down in the slot have grown to 4 to 15 feet in height. I suspect if we cleared the slot as it exists now of all the grass bushes and trees to ground level we might get a little more consistent wind flow on launch. Next time you go to woodstock bring tools to clear a portion of the launch.

Joe

Terry Spencer, Bruce Engle and I drove to High Rock to fly around noon. Wind was a blowing and we opted to drive to Woodstock rather than wait for the wind to calm down. We all got off Woodstock around 5pm. Bruce and Terry ran the ridge and got 3600 over launch. Both got between 2 hrs 30 min and 3 hrs flying. Air was mostly smooth. This was my first launch with the Formula. Launch went well. I stayed close, caught a couple thermals and got my best gain at woodstock with 4600 over launch. Gary Smith joined us late for a thirty minute evening flight.

Joe

Given that we're trying to be a bit more safety conscious....

Yesterday's conditions at HR were stronger than expected. Averaging 15 at 7:20pm, with gusts to 20 and lulls around 12.

With plenty of pilots present for a full crew, I decided to give it a go; 15 is about my upper limit, but the wind was straight in and smooth. Unfortunately, I did _not_ have any ropes for my crew to tie in with, so I couldn't get the glider really close to the edge.

I went in a lull, wings felt balanced, but of course as I cleared the lip I got a major pop from the right side. Dove it out to get speed, corrected to the right, and when I looked to my left wingtip it was pretty close to the treetops. Not a heart-stopping launch, but defnitely ugly.

Moral of the story: Be fully prepared for the conditions you are willing to fly in. Mentally, physically, and.... oh, how about your _equipment_ too??? Duh!

Once aloft, the flight was lots of fun. Flew for about an hour, 1800' over. Fairly strong, but smooth as could be. Unfortunately no-one else flew, probably because of the aforementioned ugliness :(

The High Rock launch forgives many mistakes. But a good pilot shouldn't have to make use of that fact.

--mark c.

Many pilots showed up including John Wiseman, John Hope, Bob Buchanan and Doug Rodgers. Bob soared first well before noon. I launched at noon and landed out after yet again failing to get away or get back. Rick Niehuas and Ken Church flew together at about 2:30 and I followed them at 3:15. Rick got decked early for a dissappointing ride but Ken hung on and the lift improved. Ken and I both got 41.7 miles, landing in the same field near Milburg or Milfield, somplace next to the bay. I never saw Ken in the air but kept in touch by radio. It was fun to hear him talk about confronting a huge blue hole and then hit the same hole at the end of the same street a half hour later. Ken had already proved the southern route worked so I followed him around the hole. Later we both got decked trying to cross the same alley in the same spot, a half hour apart.

Someone from the field shuttled Ken's van out to Rick and he drove for us, arriving just before I landed. Thank you Rick. That retrieve insured the entire day was an unbroken pleasant memory for us.

Got back to a picnic party by the Women Fly team and their families. These are the girls that fly the stunt planes together. At dusk Sonny towed Chad to 15000 ft and he practiced loops the whole way down. Now it's definite that he's toying with a record attempt and I don't think he's too far off. The whole crowd laid on the ground and watched. I'll ask today how many he got but it was definitely 50+ that were visible, and probably many more while he was too high to see.

Bob Gillisse and I flew the Rock on Monday the 9th of July.

Bob launched first, got low, then sky'd out after a low save from the rail road tracks. I launched as he came by, but missed the thermal. I managed to squeak out about 15 minutes. Bob got 3000 over and flew for over an hour.

I flew High Rock after work on Friday the 13th.

Several folks were in the air when I arrived and several had already landed. I launched around 6pm and got about an hour in nice ridge lift. I forgot an altimeter, but I was even with the tower for awhile. The north end of the ridge was working really well.

Others there (who I remember) were:

Bob Gillisse
Steve Kinsley
Brian Hardwick - flew earlier and went to cloudbase
Doug Henderson
Mark Cavenaugh
Bruce Engen
Dave Green
Jose Thellache
Dave Proctor
Susan and Kelvin Pierce (both flew)

Friday - four truck tows. One, 15 minute soaring flight to 4.2K' following weak link break/release @ 500'. Qbase @ 6.5K' in streets. Ave LR: 100-200 '/" Max LR: 300-400 '/"

Saturday - two soaring flights of 50 and 55 minutes launching from truck. Max gain 5K'. Qbase @ 6.5K' in streets. Ave LR: 200 '/" Max LR: 400-500 '/"

Sunday - one 170 min soaring flight launching from truck. Max gain 7K'. Qbase @ 7K' in streets. T @ Qbase: 47&#deg;F. Ave LR: 350- 500 '/" Max LR: 800-1000 '/"

Fun meter pegged.

JK
PTB, VA

Was fun to watch some launches and flights.
Learned some things to do and not to do.
Bruce (I believe) had an amazing evening, into the sunset landing.
Spectacular to watch from the Rock.
Thanks Doug for yelling around for a cell phone. Thanks Brian H (I believe) for the phone and ride to the bar.
A few drinks and about 45 minutes later I was back up at High Rock watching the last pilots launch, car keys in hand.

Flew High Rock Thursday, Friday and Saturday for three nice soaring flights. Thursday was a late evening after work flight. Steve K. launched just as I arrived approx. 5:30 and was still in the air when I was next to launch at 6:25. Danny B. and Eddie M. were the only other pilots there. Danny graciously offered to help me get into the air even though he was there and set up before me. Thanks Danny. Had a nice flight for 1.25 hours up to 1400' over. Danny did get into the air around 8:00 for some glass off time. Eddie ended up breaking down on launch due to lack of wire crew.

Friday was another evening after work flight. This time Susan came along and got her flirst flight from the Rock since last year. Also there was Dave P., Dave Green, Bruce E., Brian Hardwick, Mark C, Bob G., Jose and Sparky. Sorry if I missed anyone. Brian had the flight of the day (early flight) for 4600 over. I launched at 6:15 and flew in OK but somewhat difficult air for 1.25 hours up to 800' over. Susan launched about 8:15 and flew for 35 minutes. Her launch was real scarey with her left wing tip coming pretty close to the left pylon.

Saturday went to the Pulpit but decided to try the Rock instead because of the North cross. Arrived at the Rock about 4:00 to a cast of thousands (too many to list). Again Brian H. had the flight of the day for three times at cloud base for 4100' over. I launched at 5:30 and flew in spring like air for 1 hour 20 min. Spent most of flight at between 800-2000' over but did get one very strong thermal up to 2700' over. It was pretty crowded air at times but everyone seemed to do a great job of clearing turns, etc. Susan had another 8:00 flight and had a perfect launch this time and flew for about 20-25 minutes.

A short xc-hop can be better than no hop at all.

I got off tow at Ridgely at 1:10 Friday, left the field at 1400 drifted low in scratch mode for an hour never getting above 2000 - learned patience, then around 2:15 it turned on, got to cloudbase at 5600, was drifting toward Dover, (thought I was a lot closer than I was - gps batteries died) saw a C-5 disappear below the horizon as it made a u-turn for its northbound final into Dover. While I knew it wasn't coming directly at me, I'd been watching it for several minutes, and seeing it completely disappear gave me the willies - it vanished while slightly banked showing me everything. Decided to call it a day, landed in Felton. Hitched back.

Sunday, got off tow at 12:25, went right to 3700, and stayed with it - only to Denton, hitched back.

John Muldoon ---

Richard Green wrote:
"Many pilots showed up including John Wiseman, John Hope, Bob Buchanan and Doug Rogers. "

Once it turned on, the 4 of us non-XC field huggers got good flights. I got great views of Doug's orange and John's bright lime green gliders thermalling away next to me. I ended up with an hour- long flight, but the highlight was actually thermalling with a couple of hawks. What a fantastic experience! I have passed near birds before, but never anything like this. I saw them coming straight towards me, about 100 feet down, just as I started turning into a thermal at about 2800 feet. They joined me in circling, the closest one directly opposite my left wingtip, only about 25 feet away! The other one was more behind and below me, but still close enough to watch well. They were close enough that I could plainly see their individual feathers and their eyeballs - really beautiful birds, and extremely graceful when banked over in the turn. What a beautiful sight it was to have them whirling around with me, with the ground far below. I must have been doing something right, because the "leader" just stayed at my inside wingtip for 2-3 minutes, circling perfectly in step with what I was doing, but of course since he was on the opposite side of the thermal, he appeared to just be sitting there, facing backwards! Hopefully I looked as smooth to him as he looked to me. When I was watching them, they all of a sudden went straight, as if somebody had cut their invisible string holding them opposite of me. My vario was still chirping, so my thought was, what are you guys doing? We're still going up! But they were obviously smarter than that, as the lift abruptly ended. They went straight towards Ridgely, away from where I wanted to go, so I mentally thanked them for the company and I turned back to go the other direction.

I certainly consider myself a very lucky person that I got to experience something like that. Somehow, walking through the aviary at the zoo just isn't going to cut it for me anymore...

john

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This page last updated July 16, 2001