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Hangola March 21 - 24, 2002

Flight Reports

Paul and I rose before dawn, gulped coffee, and struggled around the beltway. But, when we arrived at Ridgely the windsock was stuck out as straight as an icicle and not pointing the right direction. We sure didn't see any signs of the glassy air we had anticipated. I'd hoped it would be smooth so I could figure out how to better fly and land my new Eagle. We set up anyhow and prepared for a day of hang-waiting.

But Paul got it right after all. I got four flights and didn't scare myself too bad and even landed on the runway. Like, every time. Not even almost in the ditch. Very fun.

Then the sun poked out and Paul thermaled for 45 minutes. Ric Niehaus showed up and stayed up too (duh -- if he goes up, he stays up). And we even got home around the beltway with only a few minor delays.

We're very sorry for you suckers -- I mean, you dedicated workers -- who couldn't make it. Maybe next time.

I managed to have the day off today and was hoping that a few others would too. Tom McGowan had hoped to fly this week, but I think he put his chips on Friday....too bad!

I had to twist Steve's arm, he thought it'd be too strong for HG at Dickey's and had planned to sailplane instead.

On launch, we flipped a coin, and I won..or lost..or something, either way, I was the first to launch. While waiting .... a cycle came through , Steve commented " the vultures out front launched in it" I watched them drift to the right and then it appeared that they were in danger of tumbling, then they bailed on what they had. When the wind straightened out.. I launched. Got good lift coming outa the slot.. I turned left. Got dumped over there... did a quick 180 and tried the right of the slot.... found out what was tumbling the vultures.. did another 180... the thermal was just to the left of launch. Up to this point, my glider was getting slammed around pretty good, but once centered in the lift, it took just a little nudging to keep it there. Sweet flat turns until I worked my way back to the road level. Banking up a little more as I climbed above launch (while Steve had his head down). Once above the Mtn, my vario began to scream and I let the bankangle get pretty steep! Things on the planet got small in a hurry and I turned into a speck!

Steve was launching just as I was leaving lift to stay out front. Hazedomes were booming in the valley and it looked like a good day.While Steve was scratching to getup, I flew way out front looking for better stuff. Soon, I was back on the deck with Steve bobbing for the top. I slipped below the road and got stuck there working bug farts for 10 or 15 minutes until something happened and I got turned into a speck again!

Steve saw me turning and came in at road level or below. He started turning, got pitched out, then chose to look for something else.. oops! All he would find was the LZ! A big ole cloud shaded in the whole valley right about then and Steve didn't have a chance. Undecided about which way the wind was blowing, He waited until the last possible moment... and dove in downwind!! Oops Sh!t!!

I got a little bit smaller before heading out to land. The Sun was back out and the lift was abundant! But the forecast was for increasing wind and the Dickey LZ will get ugly. The only good place to land in strong conditions is way out. Besides.. can't let Steve hike up for the car by himself.. that's half of the fun!

2200ft over.... twice (1to1 with the ridge) Had no trouble getting back, but the sink on the edges was fierce.

Terry

We had a nice window at Dickey Ridge but the threat of a rapid change in direction/increase in wind speeds was always in the back of our minds. Wasn't supposed to hit until much later but you never know. Everytime something started drifting to the SE I would think "uh -oh." It was gusting to 60 on the way home when I got to Manassas. All the lights in the Walmart/Target/Food Lion shopping center were out and traffic slowed because of decreased visibility from blowing debris..

So Ed Reno, how was it? Are you back yet?

Friday at the sailplane port was pretty much a bust. It was cold and windy. I got the Pilatus out but a 33knot gust broke the rules and I had to put it back. Got a couple of private ships rigged with difficulty. Then we had to make nice to the tug pilot because the last time he tried to fly in that kind of wind he had a prop strike. Then the tug wouldn't start from the cold and we had to jump it. One person finally got into the air and it seemed to have calmed down but I gave up, tired and cold.

That was a comedy of errors. In my own defense, I tried repeatedly to make radio contact, all to no avail.

The wind was slight west cross at 10-20, smoothing out at 500' over. Everyone figured I went North but thinking like a sailor, I went South against the cross figuring on a quicker return once I got tired.

I started to make good progress and decided to go take a look at the gap. I was 1000 over and as I approached Edinburgh I started getting lifted. I penetrated forward and, lo and behold, there I was 2500' over and even with Short. Legions of gap crossing stories filled my brain and I realized that I was in a good position to make the jump. I tried radioing Tom and got no answer.

So, keeping a weather eye on the bailout, I made myself small, stuffed the bar to 30mph and watched my ground speed crab along around 15mph. By the time I passed the first houses on the ridge I was still between 1:1 and 1:2 to the bailouts. By that time I was even with the top of Short.

But I figured: "Hey! I made it!" (first crossing). At that point I looked to starting down to Mt Jackson to see what I could see.

My victorious feelings were short lived however, because while I was musing on my success I was also getting hammered. The trees were suddenly too close. I realized that I had lost 800' and had not made much forward progress. I think the wind was veturieing around the north edge of Short. I cast a quick glance to the bailout and felt strong burning and tightening sensation in my chest when I saw it was about 15:1, a mile away, and over that little hummock of trees, upwind.

"This is not fun" I thought.

But with cool nerves of steel (steal?), our hero calmly evaluated his options: "Lessee. I can head back and spend the night in a shorter extraction from the trees closer to the road. Or I can turn toward the mountain and hope the thus far reliable wind would either scrape me back up the mountain, or I would spend the night (hopefully) hiking out and retrieving my glider from the trees the next day.

Is this what you guys go through every time you make that crossing? Jeese!.....

Well the wind held and I did scrape back up and spent half of my trip to Mt Jackson questioning my sanity.

Now, the land out was interesting from the viewpoint of the Perfect Landing Contest.

It was a snappy 15-20 when a did a parachute drop onto a small downhill slope. I landed neatly and lightly on two feet feeling good that I could count one for the contest. Then I remembered I had to hold it for 5 seconds to qualify. Try as I might, I couldn't keep my feet on the ground, and after a couple of seconds I lifted off again. I started drifting left and sort of tippy-toed along about 30 feet before finally falling over and grinding in on one wheel.

My questions is this: Is it a botched XC landing or can I count it as a good XC landing and botched Training Hill landing?

You may think this lengthy tale is now over and that I radioed my two flying buddies Joe and Terry who came and gleefully retrieved me. Full of congratulations and good cheer.

But, no.

As I said earlier, they thought I had gone north, not south. And that's where they went. So naturally I couldn't hit them on the 2 meter and I had forgotten my cel. (It's always something). I said hello to the horses and proceeded down the road. Got a ride to Edinburgh and tried the radio several times again. No luck.

Next ride was with a guy on his way to work at the Fort Valley Fire and Rescue. He related a story about how a couple of years ago he had helped pull a HG pilot out of the trees. Anyway he volunteered to take me up to the top! Great! That's where my car is. But he didn't like the front side road and went through the gap and up the back way. It took awhile and there was no possibility of radio contact. But it didn't matter. Right? Cause that's where my car is!

No....

I immediately pulled out my radio as my ride drove off back down the backside.

"KB3DOZ! Any Pilots? Any Pilots?"

"Ed! Where are you?" It was Joe.

"At Launch. Where's my Car?"

"In the LZ...... yadda"

"yadda......"

My good buddies had driven it to the LZ for me figuring I would hitch up 11 and hook up with them eventually.

He was on his way home, probably near Front Royal somewhere.

So there I was, on a none too popular road at 9:30pm. Fortunately, it was a very, very, very, very, (it took a lot of verys) nice night for a lengthy moonlight hike. I made it about halfway to the gate when an incredibly nice couple going the other way picked me up, turned around and brought me to the LZ (Unbelievable!)

Driving through Woodstock I saw Terrys' car out in front of an Italian Restaurant. Inside I found Terry and Katie. Apparently Terry couldn't rest until he had heard from me and he figured the best way to help me out was by ordering Pizza and listening to an extended live jam of "Who do you Love?"

Anyway, it was my first XC for the year and my first (harrowing) crossing of the gap.

I guess it was worth it.

:)

Ed Reno

Dan T. and I converged at McDonalds off of the I-66/Rt. 340 exit at 12 noon to eat some grub and plan our strategy. Dan had already been to the Front Royal Airport, and ran into Steve Kinsley there, who was planning a sailplane tow. Dan was XC determined and hungry, so he wanted to drop a vehicle off in Strasburg. When we got to Strasburg, I wasn't too excited by the idea (and the conditions), and told Dan I'd just chase him rather than leave my vehicle in some parking lot in Strasburg. As we drove to Woodstock, seeing all the flags pointed parallel to Rt. 11 told me it's time to go to Daniels. We stopped for gas at the Texaco, and I convinced Dan to alter our course for Daniels. We stopped by Edith's Gap on the way. I don't know how anybody could fly that site for the first time, with no visible LZ within sight of the launch. Quite intimidating. We arrived at the "west" LZ of Daniels around 3P, and put in the streamer pole that was located under the stairs. Quite breezy in the field. Driving up the road to launch was real exciting. The road is in piss poor shape, rutty and very rocky in spots, and I was lucky that my 2WD high clearance pickup was able to make it. At launch conditions were straight in, with nice thermal cycles right up the slot. Dan made some comment about flying to Taylor's Farm from Daniels with the westerly winds aloft. I scoffed at his observation, saying yeah right Dan, you're crazy. I assisted Dan in launching around 4:30P. He had a fine launch and elevatored right up in the west cross aloft. I launched unassisted a good while later (watched Dan get smaller and out of sight), and spent 10 minutes struggling to get up in the cross conditions. Stepped into a pothole and was toast. Headed out and landed in breezy SW conditions and cows in the west field. After parking the glider I searched the skies for Dan. He was nowhere to be found. I squawked on the radio. No response. I squawked here and there for a few minutes while breaking down my glider. Still no response. He had gone XC towards Taylor of all things. Some paraglider pilot driving to Daniels from the east came across him in a nice big field, and Dan was happy to see him. Dan arrived with the paraglider pilot around sunset with a big grin on his face. We all three hiked the mountain to retrieve the vehicles in the twilight, with the paraglider pilot wanting to check out the launch. Not bad for a day for one labelled "no mountain flying".

Bacil

I had a nice XC at Daniels yesterday. While I didn't quite make Taylor Field, it was nonetheless one for the book with the westerlies aloft contributing to most of the distance over the ground. Bacil wrote it up pretty good, so I won't bore you with any further details here.

Dan T.

The XC flight at Daniels was a record for me, my shortest XC ever! 17 minutes, 500' over and 1.0 mile. The one mile was because the strong westerlies blew me off the approach to the primary. The 17 minutes was because I got tired of rotor surfing.

A good look at the bailout field from about 600 feet showed me that it was bisected by a telephone wire ALA Fisher Rd, so the "huge" bailout was only a "big" bailout. Generally difficult flying conditions reinforced the local wisdom that you don't fly Daniels in anything west of straight in. Good launch and respectable landing. I'll pass next time I see any cross from the right at Daniels.

Glad to see everyone had a pleasant weekend.

:-)

Dan T.

Greetings:

I often speak of Quest and don't mean to slight the 3 other flight parks but I'm storing my glider and enjoy camping at the lake at Quest. Also I remember a Harperism which I think is wise "One new thing at a time" and since I'm always trying new stuff with my flying (no loops .. yet) it is comforting to know the routine.

The downside is no armadillo sightings yet. The Ranch and Quest are hopping with more and more pilots flying in. Ranch enlarged runways look really good. I have yet to visit Graybird but understand they are a pretty reliable club on weekends with a huge ex-airbase. FLA Ridge had a grand opening at the LaBelle FL field, just a hangar so far but in time they might take a run at the big two.

Last Sat.: Conditions better each weekend which I'm sure is the case everywhere as Spring springs. 4,200' stronger thermals solid 6-800fpm I went searching N then S and came back from 5 miles out with a whimpering 500' but hung out for 5 minutes between 325' and 450' for 5 honest minutes what a hoot, a better pilot might have gotten up but it was late in the day and though buoyant not much punch.

Davis was just a few hundred above me demoing a Shadow from Seedwings which I'm told is much like the Sportster and seemed to fly in that class. Brad Greider from Foothills Flight Park NC was down with the first Axxcess which is a tricked out Ghostbuster with radial tips higher aspect ratio pre cambered leading edge and retractable flaps, it had those rigid pilots well, excited, shall we say. Time will tell if it is state of the art but it is a clear improvement on GB.

Sun. : Light winds turn stiff 10 E, later, we hope forecast to go SE so early start to try N. Earlier start 12:30 still almost an hour behind the early pilots but waiting for a bit more clouds. Hopping broken streets up to 4k but roller coaster down to 1,200' between really quickly, not much room to screw up. Ratty punchy and even a few shots of 1,200' up on the avg. if it was smoother I'll be having fun now.

Try to move NNE but if one knows FLA as you move N of Quest the lakes really come into play, tried to skirt around a blue hole and got trapped next to Lake Pannasoffkee pushed to the West. I had plenty of lz's but could not get up to the thousands needed to get over, so, happy with the flight (except I should have perhaps retreated S for and hour till the sky developed more, I'll have to remember that option) 23.66 mi. I boated over I-75 and landed next to a village or so I thought.

Then it got strange; no one lived there. I walked out 2 miles past ruins of some of the worst rural poverty one can imagine, a small and dwindling enclave literally on the other side of the tracks, could have been Mississippi and a gut check that not everyone in FLA is a wealthy retiree visiting Mickey. Very helpful and sociable folks all the same.

My retrieve came smartly but did not know how to drive a standard transmission, who knew? He never found 5th gear which still works by the way.

Got back and Bo called having flown 85 from FLA Ridge (50 miles short of Quest) I said I'd get him but his truck was gone on retrieve, and found him at the rendezvous sans glider which he then told me was in the mine.

Pardon?

FL is the world leader in phosphate production fully 75% of the nation and 30% of world supply comes from the spine of FL south of I-4. These places are really a moonscape of strip mines and this helps you bring that springtime freshness to your laundry and goes into fertilizer and other needful things. Actually BO got past them but bumped Tampa airspace and in a gambit to get around it went back S over the mines and decked it after several low saves.

Night, 20,000 acres, roads to no where, pits, drag lines, giant tonka trucks and buildings that would be at home on Mars, cliffs and such and here we are tooling in the SAAB, doo dah only getting stuck once while you all were popping corks and watching the Oscar's.

Why the GPS is wonderful or ya can't get there from here (with a Mainer's accent); only 4.5 miles .... we found a live body then 3 trucks show up and they decide not to arrest us :) but they want to see the wing they were skeptical so we follow they choking dust trail after the good ole boys in their proper 4x4's and they almost run over it going offroad with their spots. On the way out our escort plays chicken with the freight train and jumps the tracks, I demur, no doubt my manhood severely in question. Cept for that we made their night.

Eventually home after chatting about our flights, sleep, maybe it was a dream, but then as I awake and driving to work at 5 am my clutch starts slipping, oh well...

Wonder what I'll do for airtime next weekend.

We are surely blessed to do what we do.

Robert

As I drove to Standardsville, I left the high overcast behind and was enjoying brillant sunshine. The area around, and upwind of Daniel's was heating nicely. From Lynchburg to DC, over a dozen pilots converged on Daniel's today.

Two PGers were first to launch. They had hiked up with their gliders. One launch was pretty exciting. Both pilots flew through lift and recieved sled rides for their trouble. I think that neither pilot had very much experience.

Greg Dewolf was the first HGer to launch and not surprisingly, after a little work, was above launch. Billy Vaughn (hang10 with a millon hours) was next. Billy knows the site very well and can outsoar the local hawks. Billy turned right and got severely hammered. He came by launch again ( a couple hundred below) and tried to work on the left. It didn't look good. Billy can get up in a bugfart on a rainy day.The rest of us stood on launch with dumbfounded looks on our faces. Billy finally got over launch after struggling for quite a while.

Billy and Greg had the ridgelift all to themselves while the next few guys who were ready waited a few more minutes. Three to five guys scratching at Daniel's is a recipe for disaster.

I was next and got up by doing S-turns in the slot.The lift topped out at only a couple hunderd over. Light thermals with very little horsepower. The key was to stay airborn long enough for it to turn on and not get into traffic problems scratching. I slid down below launch a number of times, but was able to hang on.

Greg and Billy had hooked a thermal to the west and were getting pretty high. I found one to the west also and was beginning to climb out when Tom McGowan launched. I was getting a pretty good climbrate in a comfortable thermal and was able to watch Tom trying to get up. Meanwhile. Billy and Greg, succeeded at turning themselves into itty bitty specks!

Early in the day, getting above launch proved to be difficult and some would not succeed. There were a couple extendoes and a couple dirty sleds too! As the day worn on, it got easier to get up and it got better once you did. I worked my way to the west to find what had been working for Greg. The Mtns are rugged there and many spines converge. The wind direction was difficult to determine. The thermals that I had been in were drifting from the SE. As I approached the Western spine (a little low) it seemed that the wind was between 90 and 120 degress different in direction. That would put me in the "rotorzone". Wind on the ground was fairly strong and I was more than a little concerned, but I pressed on. Once I arrived, I hit a massive liftband! Going up! It was a relief not to have to go back the way I came, only lower.

Billy was in the area, and so was Tom. Both were above me. I flew up the spine towards a large rock outcropping where I hit a very strong thermal. kinda like a rollercoaster, but I got centered and started a really good climb! Tom and Billy were climbing out too. DeWolf was way out in front (like five miles) going on an out and back. I wanted to follow and I knew that the other guys had the same intentions. The thermals edges were very turbulant and downright unpleasant. Approaching 3000ft over and drifting back towards the spine of the Blueridge, the air was begining to get really rowdy! On the downwind side of a 360, I looked up and back to see Billy. He was 300ft higher than me and back about 11/2 to 1. I could see that he was leaving the thermal and headed upwind. Just then, I saw his glider flash white! I could see his entire upper surface! Unbelievable! he said later that his legs hit both rearwires at the thighs, and it was the worst turbulance that he'd been in! Whew! I did a few more turns trying to get higher and hoped that I didn't find want Billy had. I got kick out of the backside of the thermal and found 1000fpm down and lost several hundred before I could get turned around, but nothing like Billy!

Billy did well on his glide on in front, but nowhere near Greg. Tom did okay too.... but I plumetted! I don't know why, with Billy ahead of me and Tom behind and I got hammered. Go Figure!

Greg flew everywhere! I didn't think to ask, but I suspect that he went up wind ten miles or more! Tom got a couple hours and so did I. Billy was a little discombobulated and just flew into the valley and boated around until he sank out. Others who had soared did well and it was still soarable when I left!

Terry

oops..subject line shoulda read D. Sunday...sorry

Started off the day with light and switchy winds... W to SW around 10mph. After noon it started cycling between almost do-able to too gusty and straight west. It started looking very not good (blowing gliders over). People started packing up and heading elsewhere. I wasn't sure if my brother would get to fly :(

We did what we could with what was available (ya have to do groundschool stuff anyway) and hoped. The gusts died back down and settled on west for a while. John (my brother) got a few hops on the west side of the hill.

Well the wind gods took pity on us and around 3pm or so started blowing a consistent SW :) YE HAW! Much fun was had the rest of the day. Anyone with a wing was unpacking and hopping off the hill. John worked his way steadily up the hill. As the day was coming to an end, the wind died out and a touch of magic air topped it off.

My brother is now hooked ;)

Jim

Training up in Baltimore was excellent on Sunday. Started at the Herring Run Site ( small SW site and quirky ) which was surprisingly good due to the overcast conditions and lack of vegetation which allowed the stronger 5-10mph airflow to "flow" vs. rotor/shadow. All first day students had a blast.NOTE; since the removal of the old baseball backstop..this site has improved. Don't overlook it for overcast SW days if you live up this way. Anyone can fly there...no restrictions. Works better in the fall, winter and spring due to the denser air mass. However; hot summer days kinda suck there. Watch out for the doggie doo and dumbass dog owners! We had a stand-off with a Pit Bull mix. No kidding! Literally had to pull my knife on the bastard.

We then moved to Long Green Hill for the more developing South flow of air to test fly John Codds' new Eagle. Joining us was Brian V. who enjoyed bumming flights on Johns new baby. Conditions at Long Green were excellent there as well. Very bouyant air coming in at about 5-7mph. All of us enjoyed Johns new bride ( right Brian? ) and he went home a happy new glider owner.

Until yesterday I had not seen my new Wills Wing Eagle.

I had been trying to pick her up for the past three weeks, but other things got in the way. Like I did not have a rack. So yesterday I did the Home Depot trip and bought the equipment so I could bring my new baby home.

George was kind enough to give me his ladder, saving me some cash.

So I arrived to Longgreen to see five guys surrounding my baby. When I figured out who they were I was not surprised to see them drooling over my Eagle. Like Rich said, they all tested her out to see if she treated them well. She did. Then it was my turn. Beautiful maiden sled with a gentle no step landing on soft plowed ground.

Thanks Rich for the fun, professional instruction.

I finally got my glider.

Thanks Brian VH and George for putting my rack together while I was going over breakdown with Rich.

Safe and fun flying,

John

I ended up heading for Taylor on Saturday with my LiteSpeed, Edel Quantum, and Zagi. The only one that made it off/out of the truck was the Zagi. Maiden flight was a bust but a little superglue put it right. I got several flights including one that Rich's son Ian got on film. It was the best of the bunch (whew). On the next one the servo came loose so I was threw with the Zagi for the day. I got one flight on Rich's Falcon. The wind had been switching and off and on strong during the day. I launched in a lull and flew out no problem until reaching the rotor from the trees in front. I pulled in and got on the ground fast by choice before it put me on the ground. As I walked back up I thought about telling John that Rich deserved his Hang 1 (he'd taken 2 successful flights from the top; his first landing was great and his second landing was as good as mine, but not good enough for John) after flying in that nasty rotor. Marc Fink took a flight on Rich's glider and had a very exciting flight. Luckily there wasn't a cow patty on the ground where he touched down. And too bad John didn't see that flight. Rich mighta been up for his Hang 2.

Gary and I went to Spark's house yesterday and flew Zagis. Spark taught us a whole bunch. How to hit trees gently and low down and how to get them out with the apple picker and how to do quick repairs, etc. Lotta fun. I'm ordering my second Zagi so I can have a spare one when I bust beyond repair the first one. It's addictive.

Christy

I have always had as one of my ultimate fantasies a dream of getting up and going xc from a small training hill like Taylor's (85 ft. I think).

Ellis came extremely close to realizing that dream yesterday with an astounding flight on her paraglider. On an otherwise ho-hum swithchy/gusty day she managed to launch and turn into exactly the right thermal at the right time and managed to climb out away from the hill totally independent of any ridge lift. At one point she was at least 100 over and drifting back towards the back hill and entrance road--but she made the fateful decision to come back out front which eventually put her on the deck. She was up for at least 5 minutes, probably the first true soaring flight ever at Taylor's.

My day wasn't nearly as good--my one over-the-back attempt came when a gust snatched me and my glider off the ground and dragged me back into the bowl to the right of launch. Yuck.

Marc

-------

I guess I've tortured Christy long enough and must spill the beans on my flight on Saturday.

I borrowed Rich's Falcon for the last flight of the day while it was still deceptively strong and gusty, though with seemingly calm cycles in between.

Upon launching I hit a good piece of turbulence which bucked me up to 20 or more feet over the hill--about 100 agl from the flats out front. Just as I was starting to feel pretty relaxed and cool I flew out the back end of the apparent rotor and went weightless as the Falcon slipped off to the left and plummented. I eventually hit a patch of stable/up air and regained momentary control, only to be blasted by another rotor/drop two more times--the last of which I realized with horror that I was going to crash into the ground from 30 feet if I couldn't regain control. I only just barely had time to get her level to roll it in--no damage to myself or the glider but too close for comfort all the same. A very good lesson on how to never be complacent now matter how easy a glider or site may seem to be--and that nasty conditions can still nail you.

Marc

Returned recently from Vegas where I had a nice PG flight. Met up with advanced PG instructor, Kevin Biernacki. We met up with about 8 other people in the LZ near Good Springs Nevada. The LZ was just a dirt road with Joshua trees in all directions as far as you can see. A Joshua tree has long sharp needles all over it. Kevin told me that if you have to land into a Joshua tree, shoot for the smallest one,put your legs straight out because they are brittle and you can snap them off instead of becoming a pin cushion. We arrived at launch at about 10 AM local time with someone already in the air and STFI@ 5-10 mph. The windsock was, some of the time up at a 45 degree angle up so conditions looked good. Kevin said it could get fairly strong and suggested that some of us less experinced mountain pilots get in the air. I was about 3rd in the air and got up to about 500 over and mainly stayed there for about the first 1/2 hour. A couple others launched after me but they soon sunk out. I eventually worked my way up to 2000 over launch (8500' MSL). Kevin took off last and soon him and another pilot worked up to cloudbase at 10000' MSL. At this point, Kevin and the other local pilot at 10 grand said they were going to go XC. Everyone else had sunk out and the LZ only had one car left. Not knowing anyone in the area,10 miles from the closest town, and getting cold, I decided to land. Landing midday in the desert can be tricky. As I found out, the wind direction can be 180 different in just 100' as I made my approach at 50 off the deck, the wind shifted for a downwind landing. However, the road was gravel and allowed me slide in till I slowed down. Other flying near Vegas is sailplane rides in Jean NV. Also, thrill seekers can check out the vertical wind tunnel near the convention center. If you are in Las Vegas, check out the flying. It is good.

Brian Stoltzfus

Reading PA

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This page last updated April 2, 2002