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Hangola February 11 - 19, 2004

Flight Reports

Cook and I had cabin fever and wanted to see Hyner in mid winter, we have never seen her in her full winter attire. There is about 12" on the ground in the field and about 18" on the mountain tops. The deep snow made features very visible that are not apparent otherwise such as old logging roads, thousands of rock outcroppings, frozen waterfalls, deer trails etc. The river, for the most part, is completely frozen over with fields of pressure ridges and drifts. It looks for all the world like a glacier.The field is drifted and absolutely impassable. The road to launch is packed by snowmobile and looks to be about 18" of packed snow, also impassable. I didn't bring a glider as that was about what I expected but we were still awed by the primal beauty of it all. It was good....Bob.

  We're baaackk! The weather often didn't cooperate on our trip to Florida. As a result, in the 2 weeks we stayed, I snagged only 4 hours of airtime. Still, I practiced approaches and landings on days that weren't soarable, and feel back in tune with Ginny -- my glider -- as a result.

       As usual, Quest was filled with top notch pilots, all helpful. Bob explained why my glider sometimes gets "pinned" in the cart (my tow point is very far forward on my lower performance glider, to reduce bar pressure, and Ginny's nose gets pulled down). Kurt Warren gave me lots of advice (he told me to lose Ginny's fin, he hates it, just like Pete and Larry and Danny, also explained in detail about how to relax in flight and feel the air, offered me a beautiful LiteSport to fly, though that didn't work out because it rained). Our good friend Larry Huffman showed up near the end of our trip and he helped me too, but it will get silly if I list everyone here, too many great people and pilots.

       Other amusements: Steve Kinsley, Paul and I visited a vertical wind tunnel one non-flyable day. You dress in skydiving suits and step into the 120 mph winds, and get to experience what a jump would feel like in a controlled situation. Experienced skydivers make up 70% of the business. It felt natural for me to "fly", and I was able to quickly soar high and dive at will. I really enjoyed it, and kicked Paul and Steve's and the other first-timer's butts.

       But Paul won the putt-putt golf tournament. Steve and Paul felt sorry for me and only gave me 5 strokes maximum a hole, even when I needed to whack the ball 20 times to get it in the hole. Once my ball flew through the fence and rolled down the hill and into the water. Golf's a stupid game anyhow, doesn't have a purpose like hang gliding and riding do.

       Steve wasn't as shameful at golf as I was, but where he excelled was in his hang glider, where he whipped everyone at the airpark for both time and distance on each and every flight.

       We visited with our wonderful old friends Lisa and Russell and Flavia and Bo, and Larry and Brenda plus many more. Made some great new ones, too, like Jamie and Rich. Woulda stayed longer but the forecast was for rain the whole next week. Not that we can work here, yet -- our arena is still frozen. But my kitty is really glad we're back.

Lauren

Dave,

Yes, that's soarable. The Pulpit faces just a tad north of due west. When I got there this morning at 9:45A it was honking. Parked the truck at the bar and walked down the access road. Unfortunately, the setup area and hillside are solid sheets of ice over 8 inches of snow below. Both ramps are clear, but hours of shoveling 3 paths (pilot/noseman plus wire crew) would have been required. I tried climbing up the ice hill but almost broke my ankle when one foot collapsed the ice cover and got snagged in the "boothole" while the other foot slid down the hill. Can you say "splitsville"? Matthew and Karen showed up later, and Matthew and I ice climbed thru the brush (branches make good ropes) up to the ramps. It was blowing straight in 15 to 20 MPH. Matthew skied down the ice squatted on his shoes and had a minor wipeout when he hit a strip of draggy snow. I elected to go down on my fanny after seeing that. They cruised to Smithsburg to do some paragliding, while I took a leisurely route towards Smithsburg thru the valley between Cove Mt. and Tuscarora Mt. When we got all that rain on Friday Feb. 6th, they got snow and ice west of Hagerstown, because there was a heckuva lot less snow at Smithsburg when I stopped there on the way home and what we saw from Greencastle westward.

Bacil

The sunny skies were overcast. The STFI @ 30 was slight left X @ 5-8. But we did find a cheap dirty bar nearby. The Gorries, Jim R, Lenko, Gary, Doug, and myself flew. Some sledders, some extendos, some soaring, and one BIG EYED top landing. You all know who you are....Bob.

A pleasant day at Taylor yesterday. John had 4 students, Carlos and I made six. Winds were light to moderate and usually crossing from the West. I had five flights on the US. I think everybody else had at least that many. No incidents.

We have a relatively new John Middleton H2 in the club, Ken Swingle. I've seen him on two separate occassions now. He's solid and ready for the big hill.

dan t

So much for Sunny and Windy!

Showed up to STFI@15 overcast. Turned SW and lightened up as the day went on. The road to launch is iced up pretty good. Doug and Bob said it was ok with 4X4. As for 2wd, it was easy with chains but impossible without. 1st 1/2 up is 50% ice with 50% dry, doable in 2wd. The top (after that fist big climb) is ice and very packed snow.

A healthy crew showed up for itchy-scratchy conditions. It was soarable, but marginally so. Joe Gorrie showed us the way of the wind dummy, and clawed his way over launch. Karin did the same and I, well I just clawed. There were thermals out there, but they were tight shots and didn't go much over launch. Doug and Bob seemed to have no trouble maintaining 100ft over. It was great to see Joe and Karin out for some flying again! Lenko showed up with Gary Cargin. Lenko wasn't feeling great but came out anyway to enjoy the weather and company. Garry came for his first flight at Lizzyville (and did a fine job at it).

All in all, it was a good day. Good people and warmer weather. Slow food at a new bar and laughter all around.

Jim

not exactly what the forcast called for but a great day for my 1st time at lizy. What a sled ride !! The trees zipin past only feet away the ice and snow going by at 30 kts. turning thisway then that way hanging on for dear life!!! What a great ride to the top !! thanks Jim!!

Did a couple of turns in front but couldn't find any lift so I headed down the ridge to the north and had plenty of alt for my setup to land! Good flyin good people and cheap food . What else could I ask for?? Thanks to Joe and Karen, Jim, Bob, Lenko for all the help and advice and thanks to Doug for observing.

Hope you guys get some good air today at the Sac

Gary ( picked the wrong day to fly) Cargen

A beautiful day at the Sac, not as cold as expected. Bright,sunny and blowing 15. Five of us(J Rooney, D. Rogers, D. Fink, J. Gorrie and K. Gorrie.)bundled up for some winter fun.The first thousand feet were challenging, but if you were lucky you could go as high as your freezometer would allow. D.Fink got the blue balls award topping out at 3K. A good time was had by most. Wish you were here,

Karen.

Today was the finest flight for the year so far. Launched around 1:00....

Scratched for what seemed forever to the right of launch. sometimes gaining a few feet sometimes loosing a few. Was a lot of work to get to 6-700 over launch. I decided to move west to the left of launch. Got over there and Boom..!!! Nice big thermal... to me to 2450" over launch. Drifted back pretty far and lost 1000' coming back out front. Boom...!!! Caught another in the same vicinity that took to 3100' over launch. It was going straight up.

I flew out over the valley just boating around and freezing my a#$ off. It took a while to get down but I finally did.

Those present, Doug (he was done flying when I arrived but got high and said temp at 2400' was 0) Jim Rooney, the Gorries, and myself.

Gettin' real tired of the snow...... praying for an early Spring...

Dave

Hey Karen welcome to the list!! Great flights to everyone. YOu all had nice launches. Karen I tried to get a picture of you when you were out front but me fingers were not working too well. Thanks for launching me early Jim. Nice climb Dave, I was watching from the time you caught it out front till you topped out over the back, it twas beeeauutiful, glad you made it out. Can't remember the last time I saw such clear blue skies.

Doug.

Welcome aboard Karen and Joe...!!! Great to see you in here. I heard a rumor that Jim R. got you on the group list. I think you will enjoy it and we will certainly enjoy having the two of you with us.

It was extremely cold at 3K today. In fact I left the thermal at 3K because it was so cold and still gained 100 until I flew out the front of it. Haven't checked to see if I am worthy of that reward. (I'm afraid to look--- maybe you are right)

As is always, I had a great time seeing and flying with you guys again.

Spring is just around the corner.

Dave

What a day. Woke up to a sky full of lennies, a plate full of pancakes and the company of two of the nicest people on the planet (Joe and Karen, you guys are absolutely the best!). How could a day that starts like that be anything but spectacular?

Met up with Doug on launch. Doug was set up already (and I was a bit late) so he launched first. It took some waiting for the right cycle, it was crossing a bit much from the NE, but eventually a good cycle came and Doug stepped off and skied the hell out. The early bird got the worm, but I got a good flight too. As would be the story for the rest of the day, the first grand was the trick.

After landing, we hiked back up to launch arriving just as Dave showed up. Karen and Joe rolled up shortly after. By now things had turned to STFI@15. Oh yeah, you could feel it in the air :) Dave was ready and launched first. He seemed to scratch around the whole time the rest of us were setting up. But by the time we were ready to go he had not only got up, but had specked the hell out. Things had returned to NNE cross. I went next and found out why Dave had scratched so long... it was a real fight to get up. But like earlier, if you could stay afloat till you found a core, they were strong and would pop you up. I think we all had a good time.

Two days of decent flying and good freinds, without having to drive all over kingdom come. I feel like I'm on vacation.

What a weekend.
Jim

Hi Guys,

I managed to come down with the cold from Hell the day we returned from Florida and today is the first day I've even felt up to sitting at my computer, so I'm bored and thought I'd bore all the rest of you with a brief recap of our trip.

We arrived on Friday the 30th to heavy cloud cover and the very popular hang gliding refrain, "You guys should have been here yesterday, It was awesome!" Saturday and Sunday were spent watching it rain and hanging out and renewing friendships with some of our friends while Lauren and I did some minor glider and radio maintenance. The next three days were flyable but only soarable for brief moments if you timed it just right. Lauren, Rich, and I took turns with each of us managing to stay up for half hour soaring flights (one of us each day) while the rest did sleds.

Finally, on Thursday the 5th, the sky really turned on with incredible streets going all the way to Georgia. Unfortunately, the winds were cranking too hard and around 1:00 we gave up and took off to do some sight seeing. Returning around 3:30, we were greeted by lighter winds and Rich gloating about his trip to CB at 5,200. We grabbed our harnesses and launched but it had shut down and we only got brief extendos. GRRRRR!

Wind conditions were strong again the next day with the sky looking good but perhaps not as good as the day before. I was hoping for the winds to decrease and continued to monitor conditions closely. Around 2:00 winds were fairly laminar at 12 to 15 out of the SSW with an occasional gust to 20. Perhaps a bit stronger than I liked but I felt it was within my abilities. I was a little surprised that Lauren was going to fly also but felt that her Eagle was very stable on tow and that she certainly had significant towing experience and would be fine. Rick C. took the tug up to check things out and reported it rowdy but doable. As expected, I had a rodeo tow but arrived at altitude without too much excitement. Biggest problem was staying down with the tug right after clearing the cart because I quickly got into a stronger head wind due to low level wind shear. I still thought Lauren might not love the conditions so I tried to radio down and give her a PIREP but my radio was acting up. Apparently, the wind ramped up after I launched and her flight was a bit more exciting than she liked but I think she already told that story. Anyway, I quickly found lift and got to near CB at 3,500. Upper level winds made it hard to stay over the field and I was itching for a XC so I headed down wind. Found a street working well enough to almost maintain altitude at trim speed and headed out in search of better lift. Unfortunately, none was found and due to the strong winds I didn't want to push it and end up trying to fight turbulence in a tight LZ . I picked out a huge, flat field behind a door factory and hovered more or less straight down for 15.3 miles. Not much distance but lots of fun anyway. Only took a little over 30 minutes even after hanging around the field for a while. GPS showed ground speed at around 60 mph at trim. Too bad I couldn't stay up. Would have made Georgia in about two hours!

We missed two days after that due to poor conditions but finally had nice soaring conditions on the 9th. Steve K had shown up and I was looking forward to going XC with him. Lisa deposited me in light lift and I worked that to 3,900 while trying to see Steve who launched a little behind me. I wasn't near CB yet so I went upwind to a likely looking cloud and quickly reached CB at 5,200 but still couldn't find Steve. Gave up and headed downwind for a repeat of my earlier XC flight. Followed a buzzard to some zero sink at 500 feet and hung on for several minutes but I wasn't good enough to get back up and landed with only 10 plus miles and 50 minutes. Phoned back to Quest and got a British guy named Philip to come after me. Hadn't been back for two minutes when Steve called for a pick up. He had flown right over me shortly after I landed and had spanked me with 25 miles. Always happy to pick up Steve but he really shouldn't kick my ass before asking me for a ride. He did buy me Guinness and Cheese nips so I eventually forgave him.

The next day we were joined by Larry & Brenda Huffman, John (Homer), and Adam and all had a great time soaring in light lift with a very low CB that kept all of us home. I took two flights for 40 and 22 minutes but I think Steve had the FOD at around an hour. The way he flies you'd think maybe he's been doing this a couple years.

The next day was flyable but with no lift due to cloud cover. Several pilots kept the tug busy with sled rides but I only did one flight after I had given up on the day. Lauren took 4 flights working on her approach and landing skills and seems to be getting really solid, landing where she wants and on her feet virtually all of the time.

Thursdays forecast looked great for soaring but very windy with the next several days looking really sucko so we decided to leave after doing a couple of hours of hang waiting. I was still having second thoughts that the wind might back down but Lauren was really getting tired of that game so we headed for home around 1:30. I told Steve that I didn't want to read a post about what a great day he'd had after we left so he generously offered to "not post it." Still don't know if he eventually flew and maybe that's best.

So, it wasn't terrible but I think my expectations of soaring for hours and miles got the best of me. At least it was warm for a couple of weeks and we sure didn't miss much up here. It's nice to sleep in my own bed and maybe the worst of winter is over now.

See you guys at the mountain soon,

Paul

Delayed by scout event, I arrived around 2:30 on the 14th with wife and kids. Took about three minutes to kick steps into the crusty snow that would have worked for access to ramps. Blowing straight in to right ramp at measured 10-15. After playing on the ice with the boys for awhile, wandered over to High Rock to find Mark Cavanaugh and Karen Carra setting up and Matthew and Lauren crewing. Slight west cross but smooth moderate wind - needed/had good wire crew. But I was essentially parked into the wind with the Eagle. No problem making it to the LZ with 1000 feet. Mark got an hour and a half, Karen sledded, I got 25 minutes and 500 over. Landing on same crusty snow was uneventful - I dropped the glider on its wheels as usual after weak flare and landing on feet. Gorgeous sunset. First time Sallie and Jasper have witnessed me mountain launch. Mark gave my glider a ride on his truck out to Emma Jane's house, where Sallie had parked our 2WD vehicle - Randy said not to try the drive to the LZ. It was especially sweet as I had given up on flying by the time we left the Pulpit... - Hugh

Gorgeous warm day. Straight in at 15. John MacAllister, Adam Artfelt and I flew. Not a booming day or anything -- got maybe 700 over in really light stuff... Hiked back up thru the snow to get a vehicle. LZ parking lot cum breakdown area is starting to look a little soupy so go easy.

Joe Schad is down in Florida and had a 2hr flight after pinning off at 550.

Geezers Rule.

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This page last updated February 22, 2004