Back to Main Page Back to Archive 2004

Index to weather maps

Hangola April 3, 2004

Flight Reports

Weather turned out much better than expected. In fact, sky cleared and there was lots of blue to be had. I launched 3rd in line and beamed up. Headed to the first finger to the North and was already at 1500 over. I considered making the run to Stausburg, but got bored about halfway there and turned back. Spent the rest of the flight between 900 and 1300 over boating back and forth between the North and South finger. It was a typical spring day, but it wasn't TOO awfully turbulent. One PG got blown over the back (not sure of his name, he isn't one of our locals) and landed safely, but all other PG'ers held off flying. All of the H2's got off and had great soaring flights and Sparky got a extendo in his PG late in the day. First mountain flight of 2004 for me, peak alt: 1556 1:24 hours.

BATMAN

Crowd: Craig, Sparky, Ellis, Ken, Wesley, Dan?, Carlos, Nelson, and one other that I cannot now remember the name. Also the paraglider folks who enjoyed the day watching the hang gliders fly.

I thought it would be rather light and took the falcon, and found I was wishing I had my Lite Sport. Had a nice flight with a few moment of why won't this glider penetrate like my lite sport. Overall the air was good with some nice thermals. Decided I did not need my coat to fly; bad decision.

Had a nice dinner with the paraglider folks in Strasburg.

Is Monday really going to be good? Thought the best day would be Tuesday.

As it turned out we did not need to go to Spain today.

Joe

As everyone else has posted, it turned out to be a great day at Woodstock for HG pilots. I launched after most of the others and immediately gained altitude. Once I relaxed and let the bar out a bit more I gained even more altitude. I'm not sure how high I got but I'm sure it was more than a couple hundred feet over. After about an hour of cruising above and in front of the ridge I decided I'd had enough for the day so I headed out and landed.

Thanks to Cragin and Sparky for observing and to the other pilots for their advice.

Ken Swingle

http://community.webshots.com/album/130977970OBHvOf (45 photos - currently loading)

Good day once the rain stopped ... winds started out light, but picked up quickly ... a bit strong for PG. Tom's 'over the back' flight convinced us not to launch.

Five H2s soared!

After a sucker lull, I squeeked a PG flight off, but it picked up and went very cross from the west. I'm pleased to have made it to the LZ.

Thanks to PG-ers Eliis, Juergen and Dave Tymms for helping launch the HGs. and shuttle cars down.

'Spark

Thanks for launching me Allen. Also, entertaining Zach, he said he had fun and can't wait to fly. I had a good day - 3 hours. Plenty of elevator rides up and birds to soar with. Gene

Woodstock on Saturday:

http://community.webshots.com/album/130990405FYoaAt

Sparky,

Thanks again for waiting, helping me set up, and observing me. I really appreciate it. Hope I can return the favor in the future. Thanks also for all of the feedback. It wasn't a long flight but it was great to get back to the mountains.

Rance

Well I'm back after a 17 hour drive home yesterday.

Wednesday:
Blown out. Started drinking beer mid-afternoon and hung out at Quest the rest of the day. Everyone had a great time even though we didn't get to fly.

Thursday:
Blown out. Went to St. Petersburg to kite board in the surf in the Gulf with Willie and several others that were interested. Ate great seafood at Treasure Island afterward.

Friday:
Blown out. Everybody piled into a car and a van and went to Universal Studios. Got the nachos at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Restaurant. It's a pile I couldn't finish.

Saturday:
Blown out. I left @ 9:00 and arrived home at 1:00 am.

Talked to Willie today and it blew all day Sat. No one flew.

Looks like it's going to keep blowing until mid week next week.Locals say it's unusual.

Had a great time down there and can't wait to go back....!!!!!

Everyday was sunny and mid 80's.

Dave

If you ask John Middleton how conditions look, you're likely to hear back something like, "I know one thing, you won't fly if you don't set up." Conditions at Woodstock were good yesterday, sorry more people didn't even SHOW UP. Most everyone in attendance flew as long as they wanted. For me that was to 1812 over and for 47 minutes, when my sore back requested that I land.

I was boating around north of launch at about 500 over and noticed that Cragin's Ultrasport was still turned tail to the wind. I flew over launch to see if he was short a wire crew. Saw a bunch of potential wire folks PG-waiting. I learned later that after throwing off three H2's, Cragin was burning daylight waiting for another who was on the road. Yesterday was Cragin's first high flight of the year and he cut short his airtime to help us four newbies soar. Cragin is a born teacher who clearly enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for flying. Yesterday, he went way beyond the call of duty. Thanks again!

By over flying launch I stumbled into good lift just south of launch, found a thermal, got as high as the more experienced pilots for the first time. I liked the view!

Sparky threw Gene off and was there with good advice for us all. Other PG'ers (Ellis, David, etc.) wired and ran shuttles. I also really appreciate the photos that Spark and Ellis take and post. I shared some of them today with my date from last night to help justify why I was 50 minutes late! It can be difficult to balance this hobby with the other demands and joys of life, but it's definitely worth the effort.

Hope to see everyone again soon.

I just checked my logbook. Darn, my Woodstock flight yesterday was my first high flight since the day before Thanksgiving! That is just WAAAY too long between flights. It was also my first UltraSport flight since January. I just gotta get out more. (In January I had a Taylor day with 6 Falcon flights and one US flight.)

Sorry so many folks went pessimistic on forecasts. If you'd have come out, you'd have had a great day. At least, if you flew plumbing, you'd have had a great day.

I had the pleasure of throwing three H2's off, each of them displaying good solid launch runs and clean escape from the slot into the abundant lift. Ken Swingle, Wesley Comerer, and Daniel Broxterman all got well over an hour of flying, a couple of them reaching 1800' over launch. Of the three, I only saw Ken's landing, which was very good, with good approach pattern, properly adjusted for the WSW wind direction, and pretty darn close to the spot that Sparky had set out for Gene.

I launched at 4:00, and succeeded in having a nice 62 minutes, working both ridge lift and the occasional tight FAST thermal that came ripping through. By 4:30 we even had blue sky with lightly scattered clouds. What a beautiful day! I maxed out at 1300 over launch, and kept looking up at Joe Schad in his Falcon, and a couple of other pilots. I set up my approach too low, so my last turn was much too close to the ground. And then I missed the flare window by 1 second! Darn.

Sparky gets major credit for arriving early to launch Gene Towns, and then staying on the hill late to push Rance Rupp into the sky. What a dedicated Observer!

Nelson Lewis was the first to launch yesterday. He turned right and I never saw him again. Wonder how far he got?

Final comment - it was good of the H2s to have beer. However, just how respectful is it to fly longer, get higher, and have better landings than your Observer???

Good work, guys!

Cragin

I also was in Florida from the 19th to the 30th. Many blown out days. Also some good flying. 14 hrs and a 50 and 54 mile xc. I really like Florida as it is geared towards outdoor activities. Real nice Wills Wing party one night.

	previous page	back to top	next page

This page last updated April 4, 2004