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Hangola January 4 - 7, 2003

Flight Reports

Got to launch about 11:30 or so Jim was already there. He was shoveling the fresh snow that had fallen last night. We had already cleaned it off last week but there was about 4 to 5" of fresh. I helped shovel till we got everything clear, I even did some of the setup area.

Had time to kill so I got the Zagi out and threw it off of launch right up, and down, then side ways until I got up higher then it got smoother. It was turning a little West not much. The Zagi is a great tool for real wind direction.

Bob Beck showed up around 1pm. Jim and I ran a car to the LZ even though Cookie was the DD. Soon Jesse arrived (sorry I did not get a last name). Jim and I threw Bob off. To the right not much there, to the left a little lift but not much. He got about 150' over I think I forgot to ask. Saw sink that I did not like. He landed after an extended sled. Jesse, Jim and myself decided to tear down up top and meet Bob and Cookie for a bite to eat down the road from the LZ.

No flying but it is always nice to get out and see other pilots.

Lloyd (bummed out but safe)Wilcox

Jeeze, there were alot of us there today. Hank, Bruce and I got to the back gate, Tom and Pete beat us there and were unloading gear. Bacil, Kevin, Nelson, and John Harper's vehicle's were there, but the boys were outa sight. The mission was clear.. get to the top and into the air before the winds diminished as the forecast suggested it would.

Bacil launched while we were humping stuff up, proving that it was soarable. (Flags in the valley out front were SW and light).

Just as we were finishing setting up, Doug Rogers and Dave Fink arrived from Pa. with Gary. Dave, thought he was in for a 100yd. hike was a little breathless after the mile. It would turn out to be worth it for him,.... it was a good day at Woodstock!

Everybody that flew soared. Bacil went XC. Kevin got high and saw a couple eagles. John went down the ridge and landed at Mt Jackson, but not before he found some wave and got much higher than anybody else. He had an incredible flight. He's been hanging out with Nelson and it shows.

I got to 4500msl , just shy of base and easily made it out to Rt.11. My hands were suffering but the lift was so much fun it was difficult to make myself land.

It was still soarable at Sunset when Nelson landed near Rt 11. A good day for all! Terry

Arrived at 9:30A at the gate w/ driver in tow. Made it up to launch and light conditions prevailed. Nelson Lewis, John Harper, and Kevin Carter showed. Started to hear some wind in the trees and decided to give it a go. Launched around 11:15A and struggled for a few minutes to get above the ridge. Once up, very strong west cross. After a while it started turning on (wave) and I got to 1K' over and told my driver to head out up to Rt. 55. Planned to try to make it to Front Royal Airport. Got in wave and chickened out at 1600' over. Fled the wave and ran up towards the reservoir. By the time I reached the reservoir I was on the deck. No lift to be found, and clouded over above. Landed out by Rt. 601. Driver found me, no problem. Wave clouds all day.

Bacil

Arrived at Smithsburg to see Eddie soaring Smithsburg. What a great sight! I met Lauren and she took a few flights. It was too strong for me since I hadn't flown in 3 and a half years. So, I watched the Zagis and Sparky's entertaining flights on his paraglider.

Finally, around 4:00pm it lightened up nicely and I set up and took my first flight from a quarter of the way up the hill. It was a short flight, but plenty of exciting for me! I took another from half way up and then a third from near the top. All flights were good, but lugging the glider up the hill just about KO'd my back. I won't be going back to the training hill without help next time.

Hope everyone had fun at HR.

Mike Buckley

Hustled over to Woodstock early on Saturday only to find John, Nelson, and Bacil setting up ahead of me. Wind up the slot was very light but Bacil assured me it was soarable. He was right and I watched him surf back and forth just over launch while I finished setting up. Good news came over the radio when Bacil called his driver from launch. I packed up and hit the air as the flow of pilots streamed up the road. Just out of the slot lift was very generous. I worked the ridge and some good thermals. I must have thermalled into wave because the ground got much further away and the head wind picked up quite a bit. At 5000msl I encountered some visual obstructions and immediately headed down. It took effort, froze up the finger under the PTT loop, and my eyes were watering like a bust pipe. I retreated to 3000-4000msl to play. I was hungry for a good solid day like yesterday to explore the ridge for the first time. I headed up north towards Strausburg but turned around one finger short of the reservoir. Then I headed south to a finger or so short of the gap. Cruising around the tower I heard reports of Baldies heading north. I looked down just in time to see the pair fly a few hundred feet under me. My body finally started to let me down as my head filled with cobwebs. My noVG turns on approach were all sloppy. (Bad form young grasshopper...bad form) I cleaned it up on final for a solid touchdown in one of the few CFZ's (Cowpie Free Zones).

Bruce E gave me that crucial ride around back with Hank (Hey, sure beats running back!) Hank invited us in for drinks and chili. When you're talking food, you only have to ask me once! His place is a guy's heaven. Right below the tower road to launch, great wife, cool dog, and lots of toys.

It was great flying with so many pilots on a solid day. Hope everyone had a blast!

Kevin C

Back in the saddle (cart)
Ahhhhhhh... so nice. Showed up at Redwing around 9:30am to blue skies and clouds off in the distance. As predicted, the weather was going to go from sunny to all clouds and flurries later on. The early bird was getting the worm today for sure. Twas going to be a sledding day, but hey, In the dead of winter I'll take whatever I can get... good to keep them skills sharp!

Jim Spadafora showed up with a new "Sky Cycle" ready for a test run. He can pack it on a bike rack on the back of his car. Ye-Haw, gonna have to get me one of those!

He took a break and gave me a tow up in baby butt smooth air. After having to pack up on top yesterday, ooooooooooh it was so good to get some air! I was really looking forward to towing again too... been a little too long since I've been in the cart. Thanks a million Jim :)

Conditions deteriorated as the day progressed. Jim still got plenty of air in his new toy and Lloyd and Bill Umstattd showed up. Lloyd was wanting to get some pattern tows in, so things worked out well for him.

Not too bad for freakin January.

Jim

Made my first hike up the back to fly at Woodstock Sat. My shoulders are still sore from the effort. It was well worth it though. Not much to add to what has already been reported. Clean launch out of the slot in a good cycle. Found ridge lift to be prevalent everywhere. Once I crossed 3000 MSL I pulled on full VG and flew that way for about an hour just pushing out in lift and pulling in in sink. Also did some high sped flying practice by running from the peak of the ridge to the LZ with the bar stuffed past my waist. Too cold to do that for very long. All in all it was a good day 3900 MSL and 1:24 in the air.

Hank (wishing Karma was there to enjoy it also. She should get back in the air in three weeks.)

Had a great time at WS yesterday and enjoyed hanging out and flying with all of the "anti couch potatoes" willing to hike up the back. Thought I had frostbite on some fingertips when I landed. I was using a pair of grippy vinyl gloves purchased from REI for their superior grip which is great for glider handling but very poor for insulation; even with bar mitts. The boyz from Pa. (Doug Rogers and Dave Fink) had a great day as well despite the hike in. At least they got to see WS from all of the angles. Was doing some editing on the latest version of my HG video today and looking through some footage from 1.5 months back at WS. I was circling the tower waiting for Tom McGowan to launch and just happened to film a head on crash of a van and a car just below Tom on the road up to launch. I had no idea I had filmed the actual crash because I was watching for Tom's launch run. It was way cool to watch the crash on video from about 500' over the tower. Americas funniest videos here we come. The road was blocked to traffic in both directions and it took about an hour and some change for a wrecker to clear the damaged vehicles. The gang in the LZ thoght we would be driving "round back" one more time this season.

Gary

Much better thank you. 45 mins or so. Could have stayed up if I had stayed with the gaggle. Light lift but with huge areas of sink over the swampy areas -- and there is a lot of swamp. Place is as wet as I have ever seen it. Beautiful toasty warm day.

This is a little late but Terry mentioned that I got into wave Saturday and got high for those who are interested here is what happened. I went to Woodstock with Nelson Lewis looking for wave lift this was about my 5th trip to Woodstock wave hunting. The conditions at launch were good a steady 10 mph wind gusting to 15. The sky was almost completely cloudy with a few small holes which lined up parallel to the mountain. There was one hole NW of 81, one over the mountain and there was another back near the Blue Ridge. These holes would open and close from time to time but were consistent in there location, a good indication that the wave has set up. I launched at 1:00 (I was the third off) with my vario set at 1800msl (all my altitudes will be msl). I turned right after launch got in my harness then proceeded to work some lift over the first finger right of launch. After a little while I got in an nice thermal which carried me well over the back and to cloud base 4500 I had to do several steep turns to avoid getting sucked into the cloud.I got back down to about 4300. From there I proceeded upwind, climbing the whole way to the opening in the clouds over the mountain. When I got to the edge of the cloud I slowed down and continued to climb. The lift was very smooth so I figured I was in wave so I pull about 3/4 vg. For nearly a minute I climbed at 1000 ft per minute still going up wind. At about 5500 I was at the top of the clouds and still going forward and up. The lift stopped at 6000. I was a little nervous about the position I was in because if the hole would have started to close I would of been in trouble since I haven't gotten my instrument licenses yet. At the same time I was amazed here I was with blue sky all above me and a looking down and out at a white desert below me, with the exception of the hole I got through. I could look out and see the sky and the clouds coming together, the same way the ocean meets the sky at the beach. To top it all off there were ice crystals flying through the air above the clouds sparkling in the sun. > From this point I continued upwind where I encountered some turbulence. After getting beat around for a little while it got smooth again and I started getting into sink which eventually got me back down to about 4000. I flew for another hour or so.The rest of my flight was uneventful I ended up landing out, in Mount Jackson and hitching a ride back to Woodstock. After discussing my flight with Nelson I think I flew out the front of the wave, which is why the lift stopped. By continuing to fly upwind I flew through the trough of the wave where I encountered some rotor, then farther foreword into the downward portion of the wave, which eventually got me down. I would have liked to have gotten really high and gone XC but with the clouds the way they were that could have been very dangerous. I hope this all made since and was worded and spelled correctly (I'm not a writer) if any one has any questions let me know. Glider 150 Talon

Max Altitude 6000

flight time 2Hr 15min

See you in the air,

John Harper

Paul and trekked to S'burg on Saturday for some practice. Paul elected not to fly, but I set up. The wind was gusting to over 30 and more variable than the moods of a teenager. I launched 7 times and was quite proud to live to see dinner. The only other pilot, Ed Miller, had to show me up, though. He made at least 7 passes his last flight, top landed for a few steps, WAY down the ridge, and then flew down the hill to land. Absolutely amazing. Spark and Hugh and Paul and Mike B all helped carry my glider -- thanks! To thank Mike, we left him and drove up to HR, instead of helping him.

I was drenched with sweat and freezing at HR, and the conditions looked too strong for me, so I didn't even set up. I'll let the folk who flew there tell their own stories about the day. Today Paul and I drove back to S'burg for some more abuse. We dragged our friend John along, too. The wind trickled over the back for hours, and then the snow came. It coated our gliders until we could barely lift them. Mine is drying in the barn right now! Ha! Better luck next time.

Lauren Tjaden

I flew at Smithsburg on Saturday too (PG and Zagi). On flight #6, it was obviously too windy for the PG. Getting blown back is even worse when there is fresh manure ;-)

'Spark (the manure is behind launch, not on the hill or below).

Kevin was so anxious to fly today that he offered to carry my glider up the back and promised spectacular blue sky, wave conditions, ridge runs, mild temperatures and long XC's. Well, at least the sky was blue. Actually, thank you very much, Kevin, for being so generous. Lauren and I arrived around 9:20, just behind Hank, to find Kevin and his sister Kelly jogging down the hill after already having carried Kevin's equipment up. Taking no break, he grabbed my glider and started back up. Lauren and I took her equipment, Kelly picked up my harness, Hank got his and we all started up. Before we had made it half way, Kevin returned, talked Hank out of his glider and once again disappeared up the hill. This continued one more time as he finished the morning with Lauren's glider. Amazing!!! Unfortunately, the flying was much less amazing. Forecast was for the wind to go from NW to W around mid afternoon, but the change had happened by the time Kevin launched around 11:00. Conditions in the slot were pretty good with all launches smooth and straight, but the cross was very obvious as soon as you cleared the trees. Conditions were trashy with bullet thermals mixed with strong sink. Penetrating south along the ridge was painfully slow even with full VG. Terry said he would make it by 12:00 to launch Lauren but after she heard me whining about the conditions, she wisely opted to stay on the ground. Terry ended up helping her carry her gear back down instead. (Thanks a bunch Terry, you're the best). Meanwhile, Kevin andHank had landed and Hank reported conditions so roudy at the LZ that he had broken a spacer bar on his hang loop after briefly going negative. He suggested that if I could get high, I should pull on VG and try to make it to an LZ further up the hill near Woodstock. Unfortunately, I was only was able to make it to 800 over in a tight thermal before it went over the back and I was afraid to follow. That altitude was quickly lost in one of the many sink holes that abounded so I had no choice but to stay up in the rough, 28 degree air with my frozen camel back or take my chances with the main LZ. Guess I got lucky cause it had smoothed out down there and approach and landing were! uneventful. Shortly after I landed, Terry showed up at launch but decided not to fly after learning of the wonderful conditions and because he couldn't talk any of us into coming back up to fly with him. Ah, winter flying can be so interesting. Guess I got the FOD with a whopping 45 minutes and 800 over. Beginning to think I'll head down to join Steve real soon.

Paul

Paul, Lauren, Hank, Sister Kelley, and I met on the back side to try and get in some air time before the winds shifted. Didn't time that little move right and the air was rather sporty. It was fun flying but all the sink took away the potential. Hank and I had some rowdy but well executed trips into the LZ and Paul pulled off a beautiful approach with a nice landing. Terry made it out later but opted not to fly, as did Lauren. I'm in the doghouse because it was my bad call on the weather. It was still a gorgeous day and we all got a good workout.

Kev C

Dave Fink and I traveled to Woodstock last weekend. We dropped of a vehicle in the L/Z and made the drive through the Edinburg gap and up the back side of the mountain to the lower gate. The ride through the gap was pretty cool. I've seen it from the air many times but never from the ground looking up. It also gave me a chance to check out some of the potential l/z's that I've heard about. The hike in. Its close to a mile but it is a smoothly graded gravel road on the back side so you are out of the cool wind and warmed by the sunshine, not to mention the cardiovascular work out. Its really not that bad, but I would suggest getting there early so you are not rushed and definitely take a change of underlying clothes so when it come time to launch you are nice and dry on the inside. Dave ("how F----n far can it be!?!?!?!?") Fink loves to hike his glider just ask him sometime. Dave,my gut still hurts from laughin!!. The flyin. Wait for a smooth straight in cycle, clear the slot and fly into a lift ban that sweeps you away and gives you the first couple hundred feet free without battle. Well actually I guess you could say the first couple thousand feet without a battle. You could thermal on a wing tip or just do nice lazy 360's it really didn't matter the lift wasn't arguing today. 2500' over was nice with cloudbase waiting around 3k. One of the Virginia pilots, John H, actually found a big blue hole then some wave action and climbed up to 4k above launch, 1k above cloudbase. He said it was an unforgettable view and the wave lift was over 1000fpm and smooth just flying straight into the wind, Wow!!!!! Lotsa pilots showed up and skied. There were plenty of frozen fingers and noses in the l/z but fortunately none fell off. Can't wait to go back, Virginia flyin kicks ass!

Doug.

On Saturday 1/4/03 I arrived after 12:30. Winds were 20 with 30mph gusts, too strong for my taste, or everyone else for that matter. The forecast was to diminish some later. We decided to wait, I did not set-up.

Later others arrived and helped clean the ice from the rock, just in case. An hour later, the winds subsided to 15 with gusts 20 so I decided to set-up, willing to break down if necessary. The wind direction was consistently straight in since my arrival. During some gusts, it would deviate below 20 degrees on the side posts streamers.

My next concern was how safe would it be for launch crew on the rock, but it seemed most ice was clear. While I was setting-up, I heard the wind getting stronger, 20 with 25 gusts, decided to complete setting up and check conditions then. I added a streamer on the front to monitor direction. At around that time it calmed down to 10 with 15 gusts but didn't last long. I thought that was an indication of diminishing winds and decided to get ready.

My last 3 flights at the rock the previous week were light, 10mph, and 2mph. On my last flight had a sled on Sunday while most people had decent flights, that day I launched on the weakest conditions, so that was on the back of my mind. When I walked to the rock, someone got a reading of 20mph. The direction was straight the front streamer was less than 15 degrees off. It seemed to go down to about 15, two wingmen on the sides tied with ropes, and third on the keel just in case. I launched and went straight up. While in the air, it was strong but not turbulent, but I waited to get one hand free to use the radio. After that noticed that penetration would be a concern and I wanted to broadcast but the radio started singing when I pressed the PTT. I did a radio check before launch the low battery was not on. Just in case, I checked launch regularly. While in the air I limit the gain to about 700 over, for the temperature mostly and to avoid stronger winds. Lift was strong.

Later, I saw a glider getting in position, I was 600 over and conditions seemed smooth where I was. From my position, I saw the nose glider pop some and turn right almost in a 180 hitting a tree and going down some. I feared the worst, unable to help, I decided to land. It took a while to go from launch to the LZ.

What I learned:

1) Make sure the radio battery will last for the duration of the flight.

2) If there is an elevator launch make sure is not a surprise to anyone. I should make sure that the wire crew is safe and comfortable with conditions.

3) On similar marginal conditions I will stay on the ground. Agree with Joe G, Matthew, and Dave Proctor on guidelines for HR.

4) Overall, following all the discusions I feel grateful for pilots willing to share their experiences good or bad so many can learn.

Carlos (Still learning)

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This page last updated January 26, 2003