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Hangola December 26 - 31, 2003

Flight Reports

WS was fun. Not too cold. Many pilots. I flew the TRX for the second time ... I really like the way it flys but I didn't like my approach and landing ... flared too late. 1700' over, about an hour.

I may fly the Rock in the morning before the wind dies.

'Spark

Fun with a capital F :)
Bunches of pilots, warmish weather, plenty 'O lift.
Good times
Jim

First, huge thanks to Gary Smith, for helping me wind my way through the trees, bushes and rocks on the way to launch. He is such a nice guy he actually asked if I needed help, while everyone else rushed to hook in. Thankfully he still had time to nab a good flight afterwards.

Had a strong launch in weak conditions, and very fun flight. Fabulous thermals for the winter -- some of them made my vario go berserk. The lift was so prevalent that if one thermal got crowded, I'd just wander a few feet down the ridge and find another. It felt like the kind of day when you wonder how long you should fly, as in, say, two hours or three. Got 1700 over easily.

Then a flush cycle hit and I was amazed how quickly I was below the mountain top with everyone else except a lucky (or skilled) few. Four of us arrived at the LZ about the same time. Someone whizzed in quickly and beat us all down. I followed Carlos, making a wide approach to try and let him get down first. My path looked clear on final, one of those wonderful, long approaches where you have time to relax and you know you won't overshoot the field. At least, I had time to relax until about 40 feet off the ground, when I saw a glider immediately to my left. I tried to roll right but everything happened so quickly I couldn't tell you exactly what happened but we missed. The other glider ended up crossing under me, I think. I nearly forgot all about landing but after the excitement I remembered to punch a weak flare. Ginny is so sweet she set me gently on my feet in spite of me being late.

I thought it was Hank in the other glider, since he commented in the breakdown area that he never saw me until the last second. I commented I sure the hell never saw him either, but last night I found out Hank was the guy who landed first, not the person I nearly tangled with at all.

My approach was really big, angled across the field uphill and to the South, where the wind was coming from. I think the other glider must have been following me and flown straight up the hill on thier final, assuming I would fly straight up the hill where I was when I started my final, instead of angling across it. I really don't know that I would have done anything differently, since I never saw the other glider. I guess I should look around more but on final I tend to be focused straight ahead. Anyhow, all ended well. Suggestions?

Huge thanks to Hank, who picked up Paul after he got flushed a ways down the ridge. I woulda been wandering around Woodstock very late after fetching our truck, breaking down and then picking up Paul (does he ALWAYS have to go XC???).

What a treat to get to enjoy such a great sport and visit with our friends.

Lauren Tjaden

Great turnout at WS yesterday...!!!

The Tjadens, Carlos, Kelvin, Gary Smith, Marc Fink, Jim Rooney, Nelson Lewis, Hank Hengst, Sparky, Dave Proctor, Bob 'Bunkhouse' Buchanan, Doug Rogers ...... hope I didn't miss anyone.

Doug and I arrived at launch around 10:30 to find it light and slightly cross from the left with lenticular clouds everywhere.

We quickly set up.

Launching started around 11:30 and everyone got up, soared and had a great time. Altitude gains 1500-1700 over.

It was pretty much a thermal soaring day but it seems everyone found the service elevators just off of the fingers, one just west of launch and one about a mile to the east. The one just west of launch had a column going on all day. Every time I would get low I could go to it and count on the lift it was constantly providing.

Flew for a little over an hour and decided to head out to land. Lots of trash layers on the way down had me a little concerned on just how this landing was going to go. Looking down at the wind sock in the middle of the field I noticed that it was switching in all directions including straight from the mountain. It was a tricky landing but I and everyone else pulled off nice landings.

Paul Tjaden flew the ridge all the way down to Strasburg, got low and had to land out. It turned out that he landed at one of Hank's friends house. He was all smiles when he returned. Great job Paul..!!!

The weather was fantastic for this time of year. Everyone took there time breaking down and loading up in the LZ soaking up the warm sunshine. Lots of the usual buzz that goes along with a fun day of flying was going on.

I was talking to Nelson Lewis about flying Tobacco Row and some of his adventures down that way. Sure would like to go down to fly some of those sites with that bunch one of these days.

Jim Rooney was yeehaa' ing the rest of the day. I think he really enjoyed his first flight at WS.

Great time ...!!!! even had a few good laughs w/ Doug on our 3 hour drive home.

Life is good....

Dave

Nice day at the Rock today. I did three tandems with the first one being a nice long soaring flight. Thanks to Daniel, David and Wesley for flying with me. Also many thanks to Sparky and Carlos for hauling me and my gear back up the mountain so I could do a quick turn around and to Judy for sticking around to help launch everyone. Many other pilots in attendance with fun had by all.

Kelvin

First I have to thank the Tjadens for letting me stay at their place and just being the great people that they are. Thanks guys. It's always a blast hanging out with ya.

Conditions were light and got lighter as the day progressed, but if ya liked scratch-n-sniff flying, it was your day. You weren't getting too high over launch, but it was soarable till sunset. It was great to see so many pilots out enjoying this sunny warm spell. Diving off the rock was a real hoot. After taking my first sled, Bob was kind enough to gimme a ride back up and we both got soaring flights for the effort. It's funny how the challenging days can be so fun :)

Cheers,
Jim

Yea I showed up and upon arrival I noticed Doug Rogers in the air already, time a little after 11am or was it 11:30am. Shawn is on launch about to go and there are a few more pilots setting up. All Pilots that flew were Gary Cargen who would not come down for several chilling hours, Shawn, Bob Beck, TR, Jesse, Christian, Karen and Joe. 9 pilots total everyone was up for a long time Doug flew early and got the highest ( I have no idea he was kind a small when I looked skyward). I helped launch about half and afterwards I went home quick due to numbness that has not healed since the Christmas Day excursion with Jim Rooney.

Polar Bear Club is thriving.

Clint

I'd like to report on interesting meteorological conditions on Saturday in the HR area. Winds at HR launch were light, well in the sub-10 mph range. The inversion at launch level was pronounced. I topped out at 460 ft over launch, which was just above the inversion. In the inversion, air was typical "mixing" with workable light bumps. All in all, rather pleasant soaring. The light ridge lift contributed to the mix making soaring flight possible but it was not bullet-proof by any means. The bottom line... very marginal ridge soarable, scratching in the bumps flying.

I stopped by the gliderport on the ride home (Fairfield, W73, about 10 miles to the east of HR launch.) As it turned out, winds on the ground were reported to be 10 to 15+ with wave at starting at ~3000 MSL with pilots getting to ~5500+ MSL (HR launch is at 1800 MSL.) Winds at altitude were in the 20 to 25 MPH+ range and northerly.

On the ride home, flags were standing out in the 10 to 15 mph+ range from the NW all the way to Baltimore.

Danny Brotto

Sacramento was working good saturday. 8 pilots made the journey and all were rewarded for their efforts. Flights of 2+ hours and altitudes just a little shy of 2k above launched were reached. Here's just a few of the highlights. It was nice to see Gary C come out from New Jersey and bag another mountain flight on his way to his hang III. His flight of 1.5 hours puts him over the 10 hour mark, congratulations Gary! Shawn took his first flight since he had a recent surgey on his arm, it was good to see you back in the air Shawn!! T. R. is finally a free man, well free from work anyway, congratulations T.R. Tell Kathy I won't forget about the weekend rules, she made it very clear not to call before 9am. Jesse came down from up north to fly with us. Cook came along with Bob as did Lori with Shawn. Christian was present and so were Joe and Karen. Joe and Karen drove back from New Jersey that morning and right up to launch.

Doug.

Arrived at 10am with 2 students. Winds varied from SW to NW at about 10 but straightened out and blew up the hill all day from the NW. By the end of the day it turned slightly N but was still do-able. Excellent flights were had by all. Shawn Ray showed up and copped a ride on my Falcon and the RC gang ( Eddie and company ) were in attendence but not another pilot was to be seen anywhere. However; we could see folks flying at HR.

Stopped by HR on the way home but missed the action. Just missed the last sledder off the top.

NOTE: Smithsburg was moderately "mudsburg" but not too bad. But...there are some Big rolls of corn husks/silage scattered about the top and some busted up ones at the bottom. Minimal collision risk but they are there and somewhat in the way. Also...the dreaded liquid pig-poop is all across the bottom LZ area. Yuk.

Happy New Year to Everyone!!! :)

Rich Hays

Beautiful day. STFI. Launched into a nice smooth cycle at mid day and floated rite above. Flew till I had a belly full and floated out to the landing field in near zero sink. Was really nice breaking down in a tee shirt. Joe and Shawn flew a little later in smooth bouyant air. That's my story, nothing but the facts, and I'm sticking to it, too...................Bob.

Hank mentioned today that anybody can fly and that the real fun was in setting up and then breaking down your glider. It becomes particularly challenging when it's a heavy bastard topless that you get to carry in and then back out of launch.

Hank, Karma, Bacil and I met at about 1:00 at the top today with somewhat low expectations only to find conditions looking really nice. We even climbed to the top of the tower to make certain that the winds weren't too cross. Hank and I then raced down the hill to leave a vehicle and then raced back up to find Bacil nearly set up. Conditions were somewhat stronger than before but still well within the range of safe. Started setting up and then took time out to help Bacil with a clean and straight launch. He gave no immediate reports via radio but appeared to be soaring comfortably so we continued to set up while conditions continued to strengthen. By the time we finished, it was howling pretty good and Bacil reported strong turbulence and headed out to land. Took a while to get down but he landed safely.

The rest of us cursed the forecasters (It was supposed to be strong at 1:00 then back down instead of the opposite), waited till 4:00 and then broke down in the screaming winds. Another great day of hang waiting accomplished. Those of you who chose not to go (such as my wife) can all congratulate yourself on your forethought and intelligence and can feel superior. Enjoy!!

Paul

I'll just add a few notes to Paul's report on Woodstock today. I took off in moderate conditions around 2:45P and was hit by strong lift out of the slot. Turned left and met a distinct west cross. The air was very unstable; strong shots of lift followed by big potholes of sink. I headed towards the Edinburg Gap very slowly, getting "upwind" of the main LZ. Made it down a few river bends and gained to 1K' over in a friendly thermal. Turned back towards the launch, anticipating a quick trip with a quartering tailwind. Near the finger to the left of launch I met a strong north cross. Decided to land to maybe assist the other pilots launching, since it was getting late. Over the LZ it took a good while to get down; lift was pumping out of the whole area. On final the bottom dropped out and I bellied in. Very difficult carrying over to the breakdown area. Plenty of lift ripping off of the local ground.

On a side note, I'm looking for Pulpiteers on New Year's Day. Should be soarable.

Bacil

The forecast was for some strong winds at 3,000ft switching west late and picking up speed. Figured an early launch and landing with an easy time soaring. Turned out to be much more south than forecast and not much lift to work. Steve pulled off a soaring flight albeit short and I managed an extendo. Landings were adequate, Day beautiful. Carry in exercise good. What more can you ask for?

Joe

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This page last updated December 31, 2003