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Hangola May 30 - June 2, 2001

Flight Reports

Pretty nice day at Ridgely. Joe Gregor flew to the beach. I had driver duty so had to hang around. Hanging around was a bit of a challenge for slower gliders as the lift was all off the east end of the field.

Flew the sailplane yesterday, 4 hours or so from Fairfiled (near HR). Day started a bit late (2:00) w/ CB rising from 3MSL to ~6.5 MSL as the day went on. Some overdevelopmnet in parts, very hazy with poor horizon and visibility(god bless GPS!) There were local T-storms in the Philly area (overheard radio calls from pilots there.) Notable thermals were 600 ft/min+ on the averager but mostly in the 200 to 300 ft/minute range. Winds started NW @ 10 to 15 from 2K through 6K MSL then shifted a bit more to the west. One guy did 190 miles, flying the McConneslburg ridge from one end to the other. HR would have been very good yesterday.

Danny Brotto

LAWS OF UNIVERSE TEMPORARILY REVERSE

Ridgely, MD - The Order of the Universe was temporarily inverted yesterday, permitting a middling hang glider pilot to outperform his more highly skilled compatriots, resulting in a 42 mile flight to the beach. "I basically did all the wrong stuff, like normal, only this time it worked," said Joe Gregor of Washington, DC. The temporary reversal in Physical Laws, not seen since Mr. Gregor last had a long flight on the Eastern Shore in the Summer of 2000, caused the heavily soaked and puddled Eastern Shore area to work like gangbusters in all the wrong spots. Those with the skills to know where they should go to find lift inevitable sank out. One other pilot, unanimously acknowledge to be the best in the local area, managed to partially overcome the effects of the physical anomloy, netting a 14 mile flight in a remarkable demonstration of skill and tenacity. All other fliers returned to the airfield from which they launched, dazed and confused by the situation. "Once I figured out what was going on, I just went with it, thinking I could finally make the Dogfish Head Brewery in Lewes, DE and have a microbrew while awaiting my ride," said Mr. Gregor, "but once I got close to the shore, which should have sent me to the upper stratosphere given the situation, things suddenly returned to normal and I sank out like a big-dog." Mr. Gregor had to satisfy himself with a walk along the beach in Lewes followed by a Dogfish Head Shelter Pale Ale - on draft - at a local beachfront restaurant. "The beer was good!" Exclaimed the happy pilot. The physical anomaly is blamed on month-long rains coupled with radiation carried by the jet stream from un-authorized nuclear tests in Korea. Scientist expect the physical laws of the universe to relax back to their normal state by Sunday.

Okay, the real report:

I landed about a half mile from the beach in Lewes, DE. 41.8 miles, 2+45 flying time, cloudbase at 4500 AGL (estimated with great precision), 400 fpm max climbs, 100-200 fpm average climb. Drift varied between 270 at 13 and 330 at 5, prevailing west (gps calculated).

I left at around 3 grand or so, as I recall; 1pm; early. Didn't really expect much, just figured that east was better for staying-up, and Steve said he would come get me if I landed out. Figured I was too early, really, but committed. First 10 miles or so was a struggle, then clouds started forming and I cut Northish towards a better looking area. Got back up from 1300 feet after that move and things started getting better and basically stayed above 2-3 grand or so the rest of the flight. Plenty of broken lift to mine for a decent core, which was almost always there somewheres. Probably should have cut south across a Blue area to a BIG cloud forming due south of me between Milford and Harrington, but I wasn't really that high at the time, so I just kept going east looking for the convergence - which I never found, or recognized - and following the clouds until I found myself heading straight for Lewes. When I tried to cut South my vario kept making unhappy sounds. It was working towards the beach, though.

It was truly a wierd day. The entire eastern shore is a huge collection of Olympic-sized mud pits and mini-lakes. I think I saw 3 fields that were completely free of water the entire trip. Don't know where all the thermals were coming from. I was so sure that it would be a sled when I towed up, I almost didn't wear a jacket, and had no smoke bombs with me. Spent a LOT of time trying to keep track of the winds on the ground as I proceeded east, so I would not downwind my brand new glider into a huge mud-pit on landing.

Coulda actually made the beach, I think, but maybe not with enough altitude to scope it out for crowds, obstructions, etc, and make it back across the swamps to a good field. Mighta been illegal, too. Just after I landed the State Police pulled up to ask me if I was alright. I mean, five minutes; maybe. Quick. So I landed by a good road for retrieval and got a half mile walk after breaking down, for exercise.

-- Joe

I arrived around 4pm to see that Doug Rogers and Shawn MacDuff had already arrived, Upon walking into the setup area I saw Doug walking towards me on his way to pick up his Harness in his truck. As I walked out to the setup area I noticed something very different from the last time I was there, ( snow was about 6 inches deep on Feb 9th). Upon reaching the setup area I noticed the grass was about 2 feet deep and both gliders were together and wind was steady but switchy. I told the two of them if no one else showed there face I would bring one of there vehicles to the landing area for a easy ride back to launch. Doug launched first with getting used to the uneven cycles coming up the slot. After he launched he went right up and up and topped out about 1000 over. Soon after Doug launched Shawn stepped into the sunlight and he also went up and up and up. With all this rain we have had I noticed that the launch area is quite Deep about 2 feet with the slope in launch about 1 ft. ( I wonder how the field is to land in) considering I came up the back way from Lykens? I laid down in the grass to watch the two fly circles around each other and would you believe I saw the two flyers actually turn a complete 360 in unison, where is that damn vidoe camera when you need it? Both flyers went towards the landing area and I ushered myself off to get the vehicle and meet them in the landing field. Upon arriving at the primary field I noticed right away a problem ! The Grass Is Not Short is WAY Deep, so deep that if you are shorter then 5 ft tall you will have trouble seeing over the tall grass. Since Shawn was already down I assited him in disassembling his glider in the high grass, looking for wheels in the tall grass you can lose stuff real easy. We waited around for Doug who had not got flushed and he stayed up a bit longer when he did finally come in to land Both Shawn and I thought we lost Doug as when he flaired he became completely submerged in the deep grass. He stood up and only his neck and head were above the grass, The grass is about 5 feet deep, be very cautious in your approach and check the landing field to see if it is cut and alternatives before you fly!

Clint

Yes Clint is correct, if you decide to fly a Elizabethville do yourself a favor and check the l/z first. I stopped by on my way to launch to put up some streamers and am glad I did. I saw the tall grass from the edge of the field, it looked to be around 3' high. So when I came out to land I made sure to treat the top of the grass as the ground and flared hard. I was surprised to say the least when I kept falling and falling down thru the grass till it was above my balls, (eye balls :). If you decide to fly, or I should say land in the primary field you gotta hit your flare perfect because there is no way to run it out, be careful. On the other hand Shawn and I did have nice flights, topping out around 1k and times up to 1.5hrs.

Doug.

Joseph,

I confess I have never been to Taylor's Farm. Smithsburg is good in the off season, but it's closed for crops now. The best way to find out where people are going is to subscribe to the list-serv (either message-by-message or daily digest - see copy-to address) and see the consensus forming. Brian Vant-Hull and I were out at Kirchner's Knob yesterday - landing area was waterlogged in places, but it was reasonably cool in the evening and there aren't any mosquitoes yet - just wait a couple of days. Kirchner's is up 522 from McConnellsburg a few miles - you come around a sweeping curve and the hill is quite conspicuous - across from a big old house. Takes a slightly north of west wind. Anyway, I satisfied myself that I can safely foot-launch my new Eagle in no-wind conditions, but my landings are not yet stylish - I come in on belly or knees or else land standing and have the glider continue in front of me and land on its wheels - all signs of a weak flare. (Maybe some wind would help, too...) I think I'll work on it at a towpark - less exhausting than hauling the rig up the hill repeatedly...

Hugh

Spring finally sprang!!!!!! Took John's cue and skipped work, as did many, and headed down to Ridgely. Good call John!

The "mostly cloudy, high clouds" forecast turned into big blue and cummie. You could watch the full lifecycle of the cummies as they were building and dissapearing quite fast. John clocked the winds aloft at 20mph. George decided to fly out to the beach and enjoy a cold one on the sand. Bunches of pilots basked in the springtime glory. 3-4k seemed to be the top.

Yesterday was windy and rainy.
Today's blowin like stink.
Tomorrow looks like postfrontal goodness.

Jim

Showed up at 4:30 to meet Bacil. When running a shuttle to the LZ ran into Randy Weber who also came out. Bacil launched about 6:45 or so in a lull. He reported a west cross and then decided to land. He then came back up to help wire Randy and I off. About 7:30 Randy launched and got turned a little in the slot and headed out low and to the right but had good air speed and pulled it off. I launched about 10 min later in a nice cycle and started to go right up. About 700 feet over launch I ran into the back side of the wave. I went from 400fpm up to 1200fpm down. I pulled on full VG and stuffed the bar but could not slow my desent. And to top it all off when I looked down I noticed I was also going backwards as I dropped like a rock. I finally managed to punch through and started to climb again. Before I knew it I was 1700 over. It was getting kind of late so I decided to stuff the bar and head out. By the time I reached the bottom of the LZ I was at 3000 over. The sun was setting fast and all I could do was climb. I pulled the VG off and started diving turns in alternating directions. I even opened my harness and spread my legs and put my pitch line full up to get as dirty in the air stream as possible and I was still doing 200fpm up. I was finally able to get out infront of the wave and core some good sink. The whole hair raising flight lasted 40 min with a gain of 3100 feet over launch. Next time I hope I can find the wave at the beginning of a long day not 50 min before sunset :-} The landing was a nice two stepper on the top of the crown. At least it all ended well.

Hank

With next weekend's outlook less than stellar, and most of May's weekends rained out, sometimes you just have to say WTF. Today was one of those days to gamble on the forecast showing winds abating at Woodstock in the late PM. Met the Hankster in the parking lot around 4:30P. Passed Randy Weber on the shuttle run. Back at launch conditions were 12 to 18 MPH, and mild, slow gusts to 20. Gave it a go and was hit by strong lift once exiting the slot. Actually struggled a little to get up, even though the trees were showing wind up the mountain. Got to 500' over and met a west cross. Decided to head SW and get "upwind". Noticed that now no west cross. Turned around. Now north cross. Slowly made my way back to launch not much above the ridge and out a bit. Had had enough of computing glide slope with the eyes and having to apply S2F. Headed out to land, and slow going there as well. Later Randy and Hank reported that not 5 minutes after I launched it picked up a good bit. Landing was good (the grass is knee to waist high but not thick). Followed an unknown HG vehicle back up the mountain. Turned out to be Jim Hodges, a pilot in training down at KHK (foot launch and aerotow) from Purcellville, VA. It was still too strong for Randy and Hank to launch when I got back around 7:10P. After a half hour, it backed down to 12 to 18 MPH, enabling Randy and Hank to launch with Jim and I assisting, and have "educational" flights in wave conditions. They both got down safely, with Randy landing first and Hank having to struggle a little to find the down elevator and hitch a ride on it before the sun disappeared behind the WV ridges.

Bacil

The river was so high we were off it an hour early and rarin' to go to the pulpit. Stopped off in Greencastle to sample both the bakery and the coffee store. The coffee store doesn't sell ready to drink coffee, and is a bit pricy, but the smell is truly unbelievable, as is the selection of beans. Lots of interesting snack food too.

But I digress. Got to the pulpit around 6:30, found it blowing straight in and smooth at 10-15, but no-one else was there. There was a haze layer which probably had shut down all thermal activity by that time, though the ridge soaring would have been quite relaxing. Hugh was all up for hauling some people out of the bar to throw me off and then he'd head for the training hill, but I didn't feel it was worth it.

Went to Kirchner's and found it puffing cross. Spent 10 minute hunting around for the dry patches in the LZ, and by the time we hauled the gliders up to the top it had gone dead. It's been about two years since I've done a dead wind launch, and I gotta tell you, it was a truly humbling experience. I ended up bellying into the hint of a shoulder halfway up the hill more than once. In a falcon. I am truly chastened. But we both managed to land in the dry spot we picked out with impeccable precision.

Hugh had great launches the whole time, never brushing the shoulder. Think it was the better glide ratio on his eagle. Yeah, that's it....and he could haul the glider up and launch before I caught my breath because the Eagle's about 20 pounds lighter than a falcon. Yeah, that's it.

Brian Vant-Hull

Pretty nice day and a good sized crowd. PK went to the beach. Ric N made it to Millsboro. Blue day but there was clearly a street stretching SE from the field. Bubbled along in it at 5k or so for a while but then bombed out at Harrington after trying a X wind glide. Dan T ended up past Denton. Clear enough that you could see the ocean and the bay.

BOOMIN :)
Blue skies and roudy tows. Oh happy day.
Played around between 3-5k, others got higher. Cores were pretty organised and the drift was strong enough for XC, but you could keep it in the park if ya felt like it. Doug came out to join in the fun too and (naturally) skied out. Late day found mellow conditions allowing the students to fly. It seemed like everyone had their fill. If I didn't know better, I'd say it actually looked like spring.

A note about the Discus....
Sunny tuned up my Discus an other notch earlier in the day for some quicker handling and better glide. I've gotten pretty comfortable with it so it seemed like a good time to try it out. We could just tone it back down if it didn't work out. Well, no need for that.... Mikey likes it! What a fantastic wing.

Good weather, good flying and good friends.
Jim

At the behest of a close friend and fellow hang glider pilot who has rightfully admonished me for not reporting on our experience last Monday at Ridgely I hereby offer this brief synopsis. (Taking my somewhat verbose writing cues from Don Quixote)

Monday morning dawned bright and blue, with a golden orb in the sky that hadn't been seen in these parts in well nigh 40 days and 40 nights. I arrived at Ridgely, greeted by NW winds at about 10 mph and blue nearly cloudless skies. I met Steve Kinsley, Ric, PK (?) and others.

It took me three attempts to get a tow to 2500 feet. The first two resulted in a broken string attaching the minibiner I use for towing to the keel, and a broken weak link, both high enough to climb out, but I didn't. The third attempt was a full toe to a fat if mild thermal. I gained something on the order of 1500 feet and left downwind. Unfortunately with no clouds and no other visible sources of lift I was unable stay in the lift zone. Just under 7 miles later I was on the ground, after having given it a rare best effort the whole way. Steve got about twice as far as I did, and Ric got about twice as far as Steve. PK made it to the beach!

It was a fun day for all, and particularly nice to see my friends, fellow pilots and the sun for a change.

Dan T.

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This page last updated June 6, 2001