Back to Main Page Back to Archive 2004

Index to weather maps

Hangola April 14 - 21, 2004

Flight Reports

Pulled into Quest Monday at 6am after a soaking wet marathon road-trip down. Fortunately it was windy/rainy and all kinds of non-flable for us so we crashed out in hopes of better weather by the time we woke up. Well, it's a couple days later now and we're still waiting. It's been blowing like stink since we got here. Forecasts are saying it should mellow after today and we should be in good shape for the comp. Ye haw!

It was quiet early this morning, so Me and Jason snuck in a flight early this morning.... hrm... towing backwards is... well, interesting.

If nothing else, it's sunny and warm.
Here's hoping

Jim

Things don't get going till tomorrow, but we had some practice flying for today. The winds finally died down and things got rolling. Holy god, you should see the lines and lines and lines of gliders parked outside. And then they started slinging them all into the sky. Truly a sight to behold.

Towed up late day after crewing for a bit and found big juicy marshmellow lift as far as the eye could see. It was a blue day, but there were plenty of gaggles to point out the lift. Drove all over the sky, did some aero and generally just goofed around. Flew till it hurt.

4+k, 3+hours
Life is good.

Jim

Things got going in the AM with a pilot meeting and then a crew meeting. Then the fun began. Hahahahahaha, even though it didn't matter where you got setup in the staging area, everyone ran over with their gliders. Guess they just can't let go of that competition thing ;) Made for a really funny sight.

Man oh man, talk about slinging some wings. We sat around for a while till Campbell bowen kicked things off... then came the lemmings. Hook 'em and sling 'em. Glider after glider after glider. Countless tugs buzzing around, landing six at a time on two active runways. GW was there with his ever present video camera. It's funny to see it all happen from the other side of the lens.

Pilots are now just starting to filter in. I'm sure they'll have stats on the oz report. It was a booming day with a sky full of cummies and a good wind. Things started off light, so some pilots got skunked. Not too many relaunches though.

By the time the crew got to fly, conditions were bulletproof. Just get under a cloud and push out. Base I hear was around 5k (I'm only using a helmet vario).

Hope all is well back up North.
See ya'll in a bit.

Jim

The flying was good today on course. Not nearly as good on the west half of the state. A few clouds showed up on parts of the course but were not consistant. Overall it was a great mix of blue and cloud flying. Lift was more broken once in view of the gulf. Being gimpy I'm trying to be casual about the competition anxiety. That way I can play it safer and leave bigger margins. That said I still found myself pinning off at only 500. I couldn't help it, the vario was in an extended scream. Didn't notice the alt till I had yanked the release and had started spinning up. Goal was a medium sized airport at the end of a dogleg course. 3 changes later goal radius had been changed to the final 5 miles out. That made calculating final glide harder for anyone not slick enough to make a new waypoint.

I flew conservatively keeping it between 2,500 and 6k all day and hit goal maybe mid pack. Landed on 2 feet for the first time. Felt good to do that. Real good. My first two test flights weren't as smooth. The fat boy glider just floats too light even when in the flare window. The wuss in me was so afraid of being early that I couldn't bring myself to hit it on time.

It was pretty amazing to see the organization behind slinging up those gliders so fast. The boys in Oz could learn a thing or two from the Quest crew.

Kev C

Got my GPS programmed to "fly to" various places (at Kevin's suggestion), so I will know how to use it for TTT. Technology is amazing. This cheap little $200 machine will look up any town I want, draw a line showing me how to get there, and then has an arrow that points the way I should fly! Very fun.

Not that the lift was adequate to fly anywhere yesterday. I gained a 1000 feet once and snagged 25 minutes, which was about all anyone managed. Hard to complain, though, with the sun out and the peepers singing and so many of our great friends there.

And one of these days, preparation will meet opportunity, and I may get to test the GPS for real. Until then, enjoying life.

Lauren Tjaden

...

I hung around launch until 6:45pm and almost set up but then every time I thought it was done gusting it would howl again. Hope you all have good flights this weekend.

Doug.

The flying was good again today. Interesting weather notes. Further north on course there seemed to be a pronounced wind sheer. Throughout the day there was some freakiness in the air around 4k I think. Really torn up. Late on course there was a major tail when decending from cloudbase. From 6k down to 4(?)ish I was getting a mad GR. That thing was bouncing from 20-1 to 40-1! Talk about fast ground track !!! Lower down the cross wind took over and glide ratios were below average.

Overall the day was very good. The lead gaggle took a bad line and a small group of us got ahead for awhile. Flew great with the leaders till a few small mistakes and some major navigational challenges slowed me down. It was frustrating seeing a good glide to goal but not being able to risk taking it without instrument numbers. Dennis P and I held back for another climb and about 8 gliders caught up to us higher. I get torn between going hard versus taking it easy. I like gliding in with a few grand to contemplate landing options but the racer in me wants to dash ahead and beat the pack.

What a great day. Fun and challenging without being too frustrating. I don't think as many pilots made goal today. Bo landed 5 miles short :(

This morning I swapped out the side wires on my glider with the shorter ones for a more aggressive tune. Holy crap this glider kicks ass! 15m big and it still glides with the best. The handling is much lighter but being light I have to high side a touch with no VG. Suprisingly it is easier to glide now. Go figure. Straight as an arrow and easy to correct in turbulence. Sunny, I hope you read this....your new glider is going to be so hot it will blow you away!

Jason had a kick ass flight today fighting his way north with some slick gaggles.

Kev C

Met up with John Dullahan at Daniels launch around 12:30P. On the way up saw a few cumies at a seriously high altitude. Ellis Kim and a couple of other paraglider pilots were at launch. Conditions at launch were 6 to 12 MPH in the slot with a distinct cross from the right. Paraglider pilot Tom took off and provided some scary moments for John, me, and the driver that I brought along. Tom went up, got pushed left by the cross, was going backwards at times, and was precariously barely above the trees at the left side of the slot. He disappeared after drifting to the east in the cross barely above the ridge. Ellis Kim waited a while for a safer cycle and got off cleanly. Upon landing after an extendo, she radioed the other paraglider pilots to nix their flight plans for a while and come pick her up.

Meanwhile John and I leisurely set up, since we had the mountain to ourselves. By 2P it was blowing real good, 12 to 20 MPH strong cycles. Still noticed a cross from the right in a lot of the cycles. I finally launched in a lull around 2:45P and turned right into the expected cross. Got up relatively quickly, but the rotor off of the higher spine to the right of launch was pretty turbulent. Never had a wire slap, but had plenty of uncommanded pitch and roll movements. There was at least a 20 knot WSW wind at altitude at times. Made coring the lift difficult, since the downwind turns dropped you out of the narrow lift. John launched with the driver's assistance shortly after I did. We both climbed to 2K+ over. We had planned to attempt to run the foothills to the NE with the decent tailwind, but with the cloudbase looking at least 6K+ MSL, I wanted to get close to base before heading out on course. Then the atmosphere changed radically. The headwind aloft from the WSW picked up dramatically, the lift disappeared, and John and I found ourselves losing all the altitude we had gained. I got out in front of the ridge, lost all the altitude, and flew past launch low. Got pitched over the falls towards the trees in front of launch and said that's enough of that, time to land. Over the turbulent LZ almost pulled off a low save. Climbed in a gnarly thermal back to 1700' MSL, even with the ridge, but it stopped, and I descended in the turbulent chop to a decent landing at 4:15P. Cranking on the ground, making it easy to ground fly the glider to the breakdown area. Saw John out in front of the launch slot even with it. He got dumped and made it into the field with some altitude to spare for a decent approach and landing in the strong conditions. Listened to the 4P conditions on the NOAA weather radio, and Charlottesville was west at 12 MPH, gusting to 17 MPH.

After breaking down, we heard from some of the paraglider pilots that Tom went XC 25+ miles to Woodville on Rt. 522, between Sperryville and Round Hill. Darn, shoulda gotten there earlier and followed him. :-)

Bacil

A little strong and gusty. Lift was inconsistent. Pete and Steve scratched for a while but did get up and then down a number of times. Gary and I waited almost an hour after Pete and Steve launched because the winds picked up. I stepped into a sink hole at the south point and had to go out to land. Hank had the ugly situation. He found that he was missing a tip wand after having carried in and did not fly. Hank and Bruce did fly zagis for a while. Overall it was a good time.

Joe

Had a fun day at Manquin Saturday---a good turnout with lots of pilots on hand. Morning conditions were almost perfect for high scooter tows with winds from the south at 5-7mph and very smooth. Had my first tows up to 150'. Great fun! David Churchhill came down for some scooter towing and did well, and Alek Beynenson came hoping to truck tow but hadn't made it up by the time Holly and I left around 4pm. (Did you ever get up Alek?)

Holly was a practice tandem passenger for a couple flights with Greg DeWolf, who will be flying tandems this summer at Blue Sky.

A team of pilots and friends led by Tex, Rance Rupp and others continued construction work on the new pavilion. When it started getting hot, Doug set up a collapsable awning and ZOOM! Everyone rushed for the shade. (It'll be great when the 20x30' pavilion is finished.)

By noon winds really picked up and shifted to the west-southwest at around 15mph. There was a bit of excitement as people truck- and aero-towed in the solid wind with weak link breaks, crazy yawing on tow, and low penetration. Still, lots of people got extendos without any real soaring. Juan, the new PG instructor, entertained everyone by doing a PG truck tow. His speedbar broke, and in the high winds, he basically stayed in place and took an elevator ride straight up 1,000' as Steve drove away, paying out line. Everyone watched as he worked his way straight back down without getting blown back into the treeline.

At some point a young snapping turtle wandered out into the field in front of the hanger and attracted a big crowd. There was much laughter as various people tried to pick it up and got snapped at ferociously (the thing even slashed Josh Criss's fingers with its claws!) Eventually he was deposited in a plastic bin and returned to the swamp where he promptly dug himself into the muck.

It was a good afternoon with lots of people hanging out, folks playing guitar and singing, munching on homemade cookies, and everyone being the peanut gallery for each flight.

Blue Sky now has a new 2-seater trike to be flown by Steve and Jim Carrigan (recently certified to fly trikes). The trike will be used for aerotowing and (from what I heard) has a better climb rate than the primary tug.

---Scott W.

Oh boy, I'm losing track. Busy busy busy. I think all this sun's baking my brain a bit.

Thanks JK (ToweringQs) for the excellent weather info. Much appreciated.

Light lift, lots of relaunches today. Big blue hole setup over Quest again. Those that climbed high enough to the South were able to cross to the North. Those that didn't make it sunk out and tried again. I'm getting used to seeing 20-30 gliders in a gaggle. 15 or so topped out in one and went on glide at the same time. What a sight... looked like an invasion force. Settling into a routine of wake up, go to the pilot meeting, the bell rings after that and everyone runs onto the field, wait around for a 1/2 hour or so till Cambell and Bo launch, then everyone and their brother launches at the same time. Pass out for a while, then crew gets to fly. Suck up the airtime. Land, eat dinner, pass out again and wait for tomorrow. Man, life is good.
Jim

Score: Bethel 1 Bob 0

I watched Joe float off in a nice cycle. I was right behind him and hurried up to launch to take advantage of the cycle (rookie error). So, while mentally thermaling I hurried my launch, ran out crooked, right into the back side of the thermal. Quite predictably the glider got turned sideways while dropping like a rock. Mercifully I ended up in the soft brush on the right. Damage to glider, minor bend in down tube. Damage to me, minor cut on knee. Damage to pride, major dent. Isn't it wonderful how the glider gods know just the right medicine for hubris and over confidence. But it still tastes like shit.............Bob.

pss

many well wishers offer their best

gary writes:

Would a strong straight launch keep you out of the bushes? Or would launching into the back side of the thermal dropped you too much anyway?

nice to hear it wasn't to costly to you or the glider!

bob responds:

I wasn't straight going out but I was correcting when I encountered air that exceeded my control authority. My FU was not waiting for the beginning of a smooth cycle instead of getting greedy and hurrying launch.

On Sunday, Dan T. and I had a nice talk with Katie [sp?] Taylor and Laura Stewart-Taylor. According to Katie, the electric fences were constructed under a program that is sponsored by the federal government and the Nature Conservancy. The fences create a system that manages the cattle such that the farming operation is less environmentally impactive to the local river system.

Laura (mother) stated that when pilots first started flying there, her family was very nervous about allowing our use of the land, but that they all came to, and still, very much enjoy their participation in our flying community. She specifically stated that she enjoys reading our newsletter, and she applauded the writing talent that is exhibited therein. She also related her distress upon reading in the local newspaper the story of a woman--a Fredericksburg dental hygienist--who was killed years ago at a mountain site. She inferred that although she likes that we fly on the property, she prefers not to enter into personal friendships with pilots. We repeatedly informed them how much we all appreciate the use of their land.

John well assessed the potential flight implications. Flying a Falcon off the top and into 7-10, I could turned 60-90 degrees right and then straight out and come nowhere close. The fence did, however, initially mess with my head.

--Wesley

Got out the Falcon for a light day. Launched a little after Tom McGowan showed up. Cycles were light but I did expect to be able to stay up. I let myself get a little to far out with no lift and sunk out after about fifteen minutes. Watched Tom launch half an hour later and beam right up to 3,000 over and stay up all afternoon. Hiked back to get my car and picked Tom up at the Front Royal Airport.

Another great day. Life is good.

Joe

The fence will definately come into play if you fly straight off the top of the hill. It's no longer a turns optional site for HG pilots. I don't think paragliders will have any trouble.

Mrs Taylor said she would love to have a gift of a scrapbook displaying some of the articles written over the years. She also said she didn't understand very much of the hang gliding jargon but enjoyed reading about it anyway. I believe her exact words were "hint hint."

A scrapbook describing days at taylor and a photo or two of the hill would make a wonderful gift. Any historians out there up to the task?

I hope your weekend was a wonderful one.

Dan T.

Ellis Kim waited a while for a safer cycle and got off cleanly. Upon landing after an extendo, she radioed the other paraglider pilots to nix their flight plans for a while and come pick her up.

Eh, Bacil? I don't remember doing anything of that sort! I did radio up and say that a) i was okay and b) I didn't think it was a good idea to fly

a) was necessary, because after landing, my wing ended up in a tree. I thought ppl might see the wing in the tree and be worried. (btw, lesson learned: if it's gusting in the LZ and you want to collapse your wing, you should pull the As and do a frontal, not do your usual thing of pulling your brakes)

b) it was nasty in the air and I was glad to get on the ground didn't think any other PG pilots would enjoy the air either.

Thanks for the ride up Joe. I maxed out at 6k msl, but base was much higher. Landed at the airport due to the increase in winds which would made the main LZ very turbelent. Spoke with the airport manager (an ex-chga member). He rightfully pointed out that landing there without being in radio contact with other planes is not a safe practice. He said that if we want to land there routinely, we should get an aviation radio, but that we can land there if an emergency. Didn't see any traffic when approaching and 3 planes, including a sail plane landed during the 45 minutes that I was there. The sail plane pilot got to 8K msl over the Blue Ridge.

Tom McGowan

Light winds. Lots of sun, but high cirrus set into suppress the heating, which I deemed a good thing, cause it was all of a sudden summer out there.

Nothing spectacular, but fun nevertheless. Got 45 mins on one flight bobing up and down between 1300 ft and 3k. Steve K. performed similarly. Many others had short soaring flights. Sink alarm pretty much remained quiet the whole day, which is grounds enough for a hearty cheer right there.

Beat the heck out of painting the stairs.

-- Joe

Good summary Scott. I'd like to thank Eric and Bill for their help on the pavillion, both this weekend and last. Actually, they were the ones that were really in charge, They did all the precision work, I was happy to just play go-for. And when Tex does such precision work on the posts, following behind is just that much easier. I'd say it'll be complete by next weekend.

PS: Holly, the cookies made ALL the difference in the world. Thanks.

I joined the other lemmings trying to make something out of nothing. I should of followed Steve K who hooked a good one, but I thought I could make something work over the other end of the field. I finally heard my vario chirping when I was about 600' over the LZ, hooked a very weak thermal and rode it for about 6 360's, but only gained about 50'. Finally it was drifting over the runway and I figured if I lost it I would be screwed and have to break the hard deck of 500' over so I bailed and headed back to land. About a 20 minute flight with a perfect landing so all in all it was a good day. Good sun, good company.

Yeah, the Toms did well this weekend! Tom Ceunen went 28 miles on Saturday on his PG from Daniel's to approximately Sperryville and again 25(I'm guessing) on Sunday on his PG from Daniel's, again to Sperryville.

Beat the Daniel's PG record by twice the distance twice in a weekend.

Congrats Tom McGowan!

-- ellis

Fabulous day at Long Green on Saturday. Winds blew SSE and SSW all day making for great flights. Ralph Sikinger joined us and took pics of the students. Old timer Mike McPhearson also showed up to survey the site for paragliding. He thought the hill was fantastic!

Long Green ( unfortunately ) will probably be closed soon, due to crops. "If" the immediate bottom is put in hay again this year, we may be able to access the site later in the summer and/or paragliders could fly there easily. Please note that due to the agreement with the landowner, I have to be present to monitor flying activities.

Rich Hays

Those pictures are up at http://photos.sickinger.net

I had a great time flying, but the hill climbing left me pretty sore on Sunday. (I'm getting to old for this s---!)

R2

Sucked. No wind, hot as Hades, humid. Everyone miserable. When the wind did blow in, it blew at about 1-2 mph. Gliders' could barely get airborne from the small hill. Then, to add insult to injury, a dog came along and wizzed on my new Falcon. Owner was mentally challenged ( no joke ) and couldn't understand why I was upset that his dog pissed on my new sail. Ugh. Made him wash it off though with a bucket of sudsy water. LOL. Packed up and went sailing later. Wonderful winds out on the bay though.......

Rich Hays

Both Saturday and Sunday were quite good for flying at Taylors. Mrs. Taylor and daughter visited on Sunday. Pretty much all of the students had fun and some got over 10 flights.

- john middleton

Welcome to the all boo-wah channel. Sunny, 80's and cores to 5-6k all day long. All the other times I've come down here it's been blown out. Well I guess this is payback. The first couple days were crap, but just as the comp got going it's been crackin and continues to be fly-till-it-hurts weather. I'm used to high pressure systems equaling sled rides. Appearently down here they turn into crazy good flying. Go figure. When there aren't clouds, you can sit up on top of the haze dome and just float around. There's enough people flying that you can find lift without the coulds pretty readily.

Goal was quest yesterday so we got to watch as everyone came screaming accross the finish line. Very cool stuff. Watched some from the air and some from the ground. Looked like a speedgliding meet. The cool thing about seing it from the air is you could see them thermalling off in the distance till they had enough alt for the glide. Then one by one they'd shoot out of the thermal and haul ass for goal.

Fcast is looking like an other crackin light winder today.
Here's hoping they're right.

Life is good ;)
Jim

...
On another topic, last Sunday calmed down nicely around 6PM. I towed Bob S. at 6:30 into uneventful air, unlike the rodeo air Jim S. towed in earlier.

Note: It's very important for new H2's to be available either extremely early AM and/or late PM if they want the best (steadiest) conditions. There's not much point in being there from noon to 4 on a sunny afternoon, and then leaving because it's too gusty. It's never a guarantee that it'll calm down near sunset, but that's the likeliest bet.

Bill U.

	previous page	back to top	next page

This page last updated April 22, 2004