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Hangola April 22 - 27, 2004

Flight Reports

What a day. The sun cooked and the wind blew and Paul and I flew, at Ridgely, our favorite airport. Once, a vulture thermalled with me, closer to me than my oven is to my refrigerator. I could see the white on her head, and the tufts on her feathers. Her wing feathers stretched out like fingers in the air. I flew with a small falcon, too, who turned upside down and bared its claws and beak at me when I ventured too close. Talk about having someone flip you the bird! The meaning was identical to the one meant with the hand gesture.

I explored away from the airport, and Ginny and I made our own adventure. Once, we spiraled down to 700 feet, and I was sure I would be forced to land. The field was huge and green with new wheat, and a farm house was nestled in the middle of it. I had unzipped my harness when my vario began to sing. I struggled in weak lift for 10 minutes but finally gained 1000 feet -- enough altitude to follow my little thermal, over the massive powerlines and tower in Goldsboro, MD. The lift died for real another mile away, but I cleared the powerlines, and found another beautiful field, right by a little road called Jackson's Lane.

The wind was strong and I came almost straight down when I pulled in on my basetube. So strong I ballooned up when I began to flare. For a second a thought I had blown my landing, but the wind curled under my sail again and Ginny plunked me neatly on my feet.

Met some farmers, Butch and John, who touched Ginny on her leading edge and asked how I got there. Butch has a son who skydives and promised he would send him over to Ridgely for a tandem.

Very fun. Kristen and Paul picked me up before I had even finished breaking down. Not many miles for the comp, just under 8 and an hour in the air, but today was special enough remember for a long time. Next time I'll get the good miles, too.

Lauren Tjaden

Big day. 125 mile task. 30 or so made goal. Booming day with streets everywhere. Fun flying all day long.

Saw paratowing for the first time yesterday. Russel's got his dragonfly outfitted with LE slats. It flies insanely slow. I mean it's just sick. He makes it look like there's a strong wind at 100 ft. Who'd have thought that such a small change would make such a huge difference?

The whole thing's still for advanced PG pilots only, but Chris Muller's here and was itching to try it out. It's neat seing something as it emerges... they're getting it down. I was pretty shocked at how well it did work. They might still need to slow the dragonfly down a bit more, but the inside turning thing was more straightforward than I expected. Getting off the ground is the tricky part (obviously why it still needs work). If they don't make it though the first 1/4 turn then the weak link generally gives out or they release. If they make the turn, then they pretty much make it the whole way up. Chris put on a wild aerobatics show for the ride down.

Jim

Pulpit was great today ... before the stronger late afternoon weather kicked in. I suspect that flights past High Rock would have been possible.

I arrived about 9:40am , just in time for the fog to lift and burn away. Shawn Ray and his brother were already there enjoying the view. Winds were initially SW and so light that even Mr. Zagi couldn't even keep it up.

I kicked myself for forgetting my hacksaw, but Shawn's brother loaned me his. We removed the tower that has threatened several paraglider launches and placed it next to the pavillion.

After waiting around for awhile, Shawn and I headed down to walk the secondary LZ. By the time we returned, cycles were straighter and stronger, gradually become straight in and PG-able. I layed out my bag-wing, inflated, launched and worked a thermal out front, but decided to move out closer to the LZ in case conditions strengthened. I found two pretty nice thermals, but chose not to track them back too far. The air was getting sportier, so after awhile I decided to descend and land in the PG LZ directly below before it got *too* strong.

Back up top, winds were now 10-15 and occasionally higher. We discussed the current conditions, the potential for overdevelopment, and various flight options. Shawn made a great launch from the new ramp. After a pass down the ridge and back, he headed for the LZ, executed the aircraft approach he had suggested earlier for a landing to the south and completed it with a good flare and no-stepper.

Congratulations, Shawn!

http://community.webshots.com/album/136859237SrJVrg

'Spark

thank's sparky, i mean it man! great conditions, great company, GREAT DAY!

Yesterday was SICK! Any time I am flying I get all jazzed when I link up with the top pilots on course. Yesterday I experienced a different buzz thermalling up with a fellow pilot. Way the hell out on course I found myself climbing with Jason and in an instant I knew at that point he had already double or tripled his longest flight ever! By the time that dude was done smoking to georgia he had covered 122 freakin miles!! I think his longest XC before this meet was around 5 or 10 miles! Can I get an WHOOOP WHOOP for J? How about an AMEN to that.

Today was a tough task. Fast conditions on course but the last legs to Quest got real tough. Lots of pilots went down in the last 20-30 miles. I took the second start and played leap frog with the lead gaggle. (Basically I got bad position as they left the start circle and got smoked before the first turn). Somewhere though I took a better line and got aways ahead. Not to last though. One quick mistake and I was behind again. I caught them again on the weak headwind leg but blew my chance when I passed up solid lift for the crap they had on the other side of the cloud. Looking back I watched all the pimps I was dragging sky out in what I had marked but left behind. I returned with my tail between my legs and caught up on glide. The last leg had us scrapping in 20 up praying for just a little more altitude to glide into goal. My fat wing kept me on top (minus Brett H). It was a real test of nerves seeing the field just 8 miles or so away from only 1600'. The route north up 33 runs along swamps to the west. Those suckers release bouyant air late in the day like that which was feeding our sucker thermal. The pilots below me were slowly loosing ground in the weak lift while I was barely gaining/maintaing. I hedged my bets that keeping the wing flat and dolphin flying over the marshes would work better. It was pretty sweet gliding all that way with so little altitude to work with. By the time we reached the field Brett and I were diving over the trees at around 70. SAHWEET!

Kev C

Decided to try out the windsurfer for the first time this year. Nothing happening on the C-bay (Kent Island). Less than 10. Gusts to 10. I board sailed. Never got it up. Very discouraging. IWindsurf (a windsurfing weather survice) is usually good. They said 15.. Tom McG called as I was putting it away - he got 43 miles from the Sac. 5k over. Not that I would have driven to the Sac. Still. Paul T (who went to Ridgely) doesn't answer his cell. He's still in the air! Bastard! Maybe Prozac would help me.

Dave Proctor and I had a nice day at the Sac. Skies only had a few cummies when we arrived at noon with winds a little on the strong side and nw. By 1:00 the winds had dropped to maybe 10, were straight in, but the clouds were dying. Launched at 1:30 when I was finally ready, and went over the back on my first thermal. Topped out maybe 6500 msl. Skies were mostly blue, but seemed to find a few clouds when I needed them. I made 42.5 miles to few miles NE of Lancaster (sunk out going around the airport) and Dave maybe 20 miles. Had a nice afternoon hanging out in Amish country waiting to get picked up. Last, but not least, Bruce Engen drove for us. Without his help, we would have missed a good day. Thanks again Bruce!

Tom McGowan

Has Paul landed yet?

Though not a comp day (for the regionals), Saturday's forecast looked more promising than Sunday's, so Paul and I swapped our day off and aimed to go out and have some fun. Finally bet that Ridgely would have the best conditions. The Pulpit looked cross from the right, and besides, the Temporary Flight Restrictions are in place for High Rock, so cross country of any length would be impossible.

First time I towed, I struggled to stay up 15 minutes, and no-one else excelled, either. But the 2nd time I found a line of lift. Very odd working it. Turbulent, impossible to core. I was about to give up when it occurred to me that it might be the edge of the thermal that was so rough, that the thermal might just be huge. I flew in a straight line -- gaining altitude -- for a couple of minutes. To my surprise, I was right. I reached a smooth core and then it all became easy.

Paul joined me, and at 3500 we decided to leave the airport. I have never flown XC with anyone before. Turned out with the light lift (no more than 400 up per minute, at best) we made a good team. Paul hollered at me from above when I veered off course, which I found easy to do in the blue conditions (and being a left-handed dyslexic). However, with my slow speeds and light feel, I often found lift Paul missed. I was extremely pleased to be able to contribute to the flight and get us up a couple of times, instead of just slowing Paul down.

I was afraid to cross the Choptank River, but Paul laughed and pointed out that with our 4500 feet of altitude, we could glide for miles. This flight as much fun as I've ever had. We spiraled together for an hour, helped each other, shouted encouragement, located lift.

Somewhere between 15 and 20 miles out we lost the lift big time and began to plummet towards the earth. I couldn't believe when a thermal bubbled up under my wings at only 1000 feet, over a field I had choosen to land in. Paul tried to join me but he was 500 feet lower and didn't have a chance. I watched him land as I nursed the little bubble to 1700.

Paul beaked on landing, but then his glider didn't move. I radioed but heard nothing. I began to scream for Paul and started down but still heard nothing. Finally the glider moved a foot or two, and Paul came on the radio. He said he was badly hurt and I needed to land.

Good old adrenilin; I landed 10 feet from Paul perfectly -- never hit a spot like that in my life before. Paul was really scared. He couldn't feel his arm at all when he touched it and it hung behind him at a weird angle. I was trying to unhook and turn around my glider so it wouldn't blow away, and rush to Paul, all at the same time.

Called 911 but the GPS -- for the first time ever -- had wrong mapping info and the ambulance couldn't find us. I finally bolted across the field and found a farmer who gave me the real address. In the meantime, the emergency folks sent out a helicopter to look for us. The helicopter landed about the same moment that the police and the ambulance arrived. What a circus. Cindy and George and John Muldoon and PK all drove over with our truck and helped me pack up (oh, I owe you guys forever). Paul got packed into the ambulance and driven to Seaport hospital.

Long story made shorter. Bad spiral fracture of the upper arm. Paul's probably out of riding and flying for 6 months. No immediate surgery, but the docs had to knock him out to get the cast on, so we hung out until really late. Arrived home at 300 AM. We'll see what our Orthopedic doc says.

So, I'm sorry to have lost my flying buddy when we just started to have so much fun together, but I am grateful he will be better and fine and everything can be fixed. Paul is tough, already making jokes about how he had to go break his arm just to keep me from outflying him. Good attitude. He will be fine soon. He is sleeping, is very drugged. Will have to sleep sitting up for 3 months, apparently. Interesting day, huh?

I am so tired I am hallucinating, but better get some work done here. Speck out today, fly safe.

Lauren

Yesterday decided to fly a site I'd never flown before. Convinced Doug Rogers and Shawn MacDuff to chaperone me to Raven's Haven. Convinced John Dullahan to come as well. Arrived at the top of Tuscarora Mt. at 11:30A. Found Shawn and Doug unloading their gliders. The sky looked great, with small cumies arranged in nice streets. Checked out the launch. Not for the faint of heart. Narrow slot, not very deep, limited runway length, and the trees are high at the bottom. Definitely a less forgiving launch than normal. Launch conditions were light, with some 6 to 12 MPH cycles blowing through. John Hope and Ken Church showed up out of the blue. Ken had never flown Raven's Haven, and John last flew it in 1982. "Spoons" showed up to round out the pilot contingent.

I had drawn up a grandiose plan of flying XC from Raven's Haven to the SAC, or to Elizabethville, convincing Shawn, Doug, and John that it was doable and today might be a golden opportunity to try it. Big challenge would be crossing the Susquehanna over to the "big kahunas" section of Mahantango Mt. at the river's edge. Lesser challenge would be crossing the river running downwind to Berry Mt. and on to the Elizabethville LZ.

Wanted to watch a veteran launch, so Shawn obliged and executed a perfect launch, waiting for the right time during a cycle to go. He stair-stepped his way up to above the launch. I went next, did the same stair-stepping up, and got up relatively easy. Got to 3K' over in a nice thermal and enjoyed the view. Could see Buffalo Mt. easily, a waypoint along the proposed trek. Spent over an hour between 1K' to 2K' over in the general vicinity of launch, waiting for John to launch. Saw Doug Rogers doing speed runs out into the valley from behind the mountain. I was west of launch about a mile or so when I heard radio chatter complaining about the lack of lift. Looked back and saw gliders on the deck. I still had a thousand or so, and then I didn't have it as well. 4 or 5 of us were scratching for dear life out in front of launch for 15 minutes or so. One of them was John D. Everybody in the air now. Shawn MacDuff still had a couple hundred over, but decided to land. He didn't find anything on the way out, and landed. I got below the ridge and decided to land. Headed out to the LZ. All of a sudden I didn't seem to be penetrating, and it's a long glide out to the LZ. Pushed out in each bump as I slowly headed out to the LZ. Found some light lift and gained a few hundred, but still below ridge level. Decided to loiter in the area, since I had the LZ made by now. Found another thermal and climbed from 300' below to 4K' over, sharing the last 3K' with Ken Church. Tried to get an XC partner with this altitude, but no bites on the radio. Decided to run to the east and join John Dullahan, who had landed at Thompsontown across the Juniata river 12 miles from launch to the east. Got halfway there and decided to turn around. Made it back to the LZ with a few hundred feet to spare. Shared the pattern with Spoons. Doug Rogers the last to land. Doug had made it 10 miles upwind to Blacklog Mt., only to be greeted by a raspy thermal that convinced him to turn around. Doug got 5K' over.

Doug was kind enough to drive John's car to him where he landed, just east of Thompsontown in a huge field. John said he didn't get above 1100' over on his ridge run down the Tusc to the east.

Bacil

I got to the park ~1 and went to get setup. Billy Vaughn and Kim Carrigan had been up for a while. Both came down as I was getting ready to move to the launch area. Billy cursed me by saying it was bullet proof. (A sure sign that I'll end of with sled runs. :-/) Jim reported max alt of 4700 and came down with a frostbitten finger.

Since it was a north day I tossed my glider on a cart and staged at the south end of the field. Tex towed up Charlie and then I hooked up and off we went. Tow was a bit of rock'n roll right from the get go and during our 2nd turn (over the NW corner of the field) the tug got smacked hard with thermal. A few seconds later I got smacked hard and got way out of whack. I pinned off at ~400 ft. My vario never stopped beeping so I never stopped turning and up I went to 3800'. After that it was fairly smooth sailing. The thermals low (below 2K') were small and kinda difficult to work. Above that they got bigger and more consistent although they did seem to snake all over the sky making it hard to stay centered.

I only got low (1300') once, lift was abundant and easy to find.

My max alt was 4100 since conditions were very good and while it wasn't freezing, it was pretty chilly. I would leave lift and go find more where it wasn't soo cold. :)

Most lift was in the 200-600' range. My 10 second averager showed max lift of 1040'. Flight time: 2hrs

After things calmed down a bit Bill went up for some late days flights and his first taste of textured air. Then Daniel got to make his first truck tows. Both did v well, so congrats to them.

Paul: I hope your arm heals quickly.

Chris

I talked to Joe last night to see what he thought of his new U2 160. He raved about. Said it is hands down the best glider he has ever flown. Said he wants to burn his old X/C. Good to hear a pilot that happy with a new wing.

As for us we flew Raven Haven with John Hope, Ken Church, Bacil, John Dullahan, Spoons and Shawn M. We had gains up to 5000' over launch and flight times of 2.5hrs. Shawn took off first around 1:30 totally proving our latest ramp construction works, followed by Bacil, myself, Ken, John H, John D, and Spoons. Conditions early before the cirrus moved in were strong. Our first climb the average was in the 6 to 8oofpm with shots of 1200fpm, Shawn went right to 4200' pulling Bacil and I to 3600' but the bastard let go of the rope before we got close enough to grab his basetube. Shortly after that the cirrus kinda shut things down a little but it also smoothed things out. It seemed like it was about an hour of flying until the valley heated up slowly and then it released with a great big Boo Waa!!! Lift was really turned on and wide spread, but the cirrus never left us which might have been a blessing in disguise.. We had very few Q's as they seemed to have evaporated before we could get to them, but they looked like they were atleast 6k above launch. It was Ken, Bacil and John D's first flights at the Haven and John Hope's first in let's just say a few years. John H had a nice reunion with Garth who always comes out and joins us in the festivities, great to see you again Garth!

Most of us stuck around and enjoyed the views, it truly is a beautiful site. John did fly to the end of the ridge and landed near Thomsonville? I headed upwind about 8 miles. As I past the Port Royal dirt track I had to stop for awhile and watch them groom the track. Dave Fink I couldn't help but to think about you, wish you could have been there, but then again you might have dropped a bomb ; ). Hitting the best thermal of my flight I climbed back out and continued on to the second valley up wind. After that I pretty much wussed out, I started to feel the effects from the larger ridges ahead and with little landing options I drifted back over the valleys and made it back to the tusk with 2k to spare. Everyone had good launches and landings and stellar flights. Bacil and Ken took a low save out of the l/z to 4700' over launch, it was great to watch. Spoons and John also climbed out in the same cycle. Just some of the Highlights, I'm sure other pilots have stories to tell.

Doug.

Thbbbbttth. Ptui. Scruulch. Ptui. Hachppt. Ptui. 'Scuze me. . . hairball. Well I ain't no Joe Gorrie, but TR et moi had a good time at Jonestown. Didn't get real high, but we didn't launch 'til late---about 5:00 and 6:00 due to work commitments, but it was nice and fun air w/ woikable termoils. Probably woulda been better earlier but. . . Did "talk" a bit w/ Joe (sounds like he'll be lovin' that U-2, unless it starts to Rattle & Hum in strong t-mals--HA! These are the jokes, Willie!) and also heard Karen talking w/ Joe (guess I need a new antenna set-up). Also "talked " w/ the Shawn-ster at what I thot was Raven's Haven. Dees raydeeohs ar wunna-ful, wunnaful. ANYway I launched around 5:00 as TR was just getting there and played in near-launch t-mals 'til he set up and launched. We played in the t-mals around launch and then headed down the ridge. By this time the high spooge was in and the t-mals were subdued, but workable. Landed in the upper field where a guy TR knows was there watching us next to his restored Jag XKE. The guy then gave TR a ride back to launch to get his van (and beer). Rooney's rite, life IS good! Ciao!

Well here's the poop.....
Arrived at Sac around 3:15 and didn't expect anyone to be there and struggled to find a place to park. J.Gorrie was on launch. Tom McGowan and Dave Proctor had already left on their XC to the southlands which explained why I had seen a SUV w/ hang gliding racks going south on Rt 501 on my way up.

Winds were 5-10 (can you believe it?) and switching between NE and NW occasionally coming straight in. Other than a thin layer of cirrus skies were clear.

Joe launched and slowly worked a very light thermals and topped out at 4600' AGL. He is kicking some A## on the new U2 of his. Says he loves the wing.

I launched next into a very small, light thermal. Worked it at launch level for several minutes and then got flushed. I raced to get back up top to try again only to get a late day 5-10 magic air extended sledder.

Everyone else pretty much got the same---- extended sledders while Joe remained specked out. What a great marketing tool for Wills Wing. He landed just before I was ready to go home and he looked like Moses coming down off the moutain.

Those present:

Christian
Lloyd Wilcox (can you believe it? Welcome back!!!! )
Lenko
Pat F. (now a H3.... Congrats!!!)
Karen and Joe
Gary Smith and Joe Schad (from VA... good to them again)

All had great launches and landings...

Good to be in the mountains in such fine weather...!!!

Dave

Man, what a show. Appearently this was the best weather the Flytec comp has ever had. Everyone was breaking personal records left and right. I believe some non-personal records were also broke. The big 125 mile goal day was definately the kicker. 9 solid days of flying! The comp is over now, but the weather's still going strong.

Yesterday was absolutely fantastic. Booming early and lasting all day long. That's been kinda every day here, but yesterday was outta sight. Tall qummies that built fast. Get under a whispy and by the time you hit base it was a tower. Not the usual cottenball sky, it was stacked up high towering Qs. Make mine a double please!

Today's weather looks a tad weaker but still strong. Tomorrow looks like a return to the usual FL "possible T-storms" weather pattern.

Obviously I'd encourage anyone who hasn't been to a meet to check one out. It's a huge party and a ton of fun. Everyone's great and with all the different planes buzzing around having fun, there's something of an airshow every night. When the task brings goal back to Quest, the dive to final speedgliding finish is something not to be missed. Consider voulenteering too... in addition to getting to fly and eat for free, it was actually a lot of fun. (Disclaimer: I'm not sure what the perks are at each comp, so call and find out) And remember to bring sunscreen. Seriously.

I'll be outta here soon, so you won't have to hear my "OH MY GOD IT WAS AWESUME TODAY!" posts anymore. OK, for a little while anyway. I'll be back up at Highland in a bit. I look forward to seeing ya'll again. I'll see if I can't drag some of this weather home with me.

(clicking my sandles together...)
There's no place like cloudbase,
There's no place like cloudbase

Jim

Turned out to be a pretty good day at Smithsburg on Saturday. Wind varied from straight in to a bit cross from the right to severe cross from the right at different times during the day. Most students got between 7 - 10 flights. Possibly could have been flyable at the Pulpit. Did anyone try it there?

- john middleton

Hi everyone,

Hope all of you don't mind receiving a group mailing thanking you for your kind thoughts regarding my recent misfortune. It's a bit uncomfortable sitting at the keyboard for too long and typing with one hand is even slower than my usual snail's pace.

Thought I'd try to explain why this happened. As Lauren, wrote in her earlier post, we were having a ball working the light lift as we flew downwind together. Lauren had more than held up her end on several occasions and we were doing quite well with gains to just under 4,800 msl. I't's hard to explain how much joy there is in flying and working the sky together thousands of feet in the air with your Honey and life partner. Definitely the high point of my flying career. Anyway, we were just past 15 miles out and getting quite low for the first time. With my faster glider, I had taken the lead looking for lift and Lauren was following a couple hundred yards to my right when she radioed she had something she thought was workable. I immediately turned back towards her but hit outrageous sink as I attempted to reach her location. I managed to make it to her but had lost too much altitude and at 400 feet was unable to get back up.

There was a friendly field just below me but I could see the grass and small weeds blowing dramatically as the thermal Lauren was climbing in pulled air in from nearby. I chose the side of the field away from this disturbance and started an uneventful approach to an obvious upwind landing. Everything seemed quite normal until just before I started my round out. At that time I felt a sudden acceleration and drop and my groundspeed increased dramatically. Can't be certain, but I think it may have been the rush of air going outward from the sink usually found on the outer edge of thermals. At any rate, I suddenly found myself in a strong downwind situation. Never really had time to flare, just found myself being pounded in to the ground at fairly high speed. The soil was too soft and sandy for my wheels to roll and I whacked hard. The glider never went over on top and I didn't break or bend any aluminum so it must have not been that extreme but apparently I was thrown through the control frame violently enough to cause a spiral fracture of my left humerous.

When the dust settled, I found it difficult to get the glider off of me and to get on my feet. It was then I realized I couldn't use or feel my left arm. Looking over my left shoulder, I saw it hanging behind me at a ridiculous angle. I reached over with my right hand and grabbed my left wrist to pull it forward and, to my horror, it honestly felt like a limp peace of meat. Now don't laugh here but for a while I thought I had mangled it so badly that it was only being held on by my jacket and some sinew. It really scared the hell out of me. Apparently, the main nerve runs along the broken bone and was so traumatized that it shut down for a while. I was not completely convinced it was still attached until the feeling started returning and Lauren was able to help me out of my jacket.

About this time, I heard Lauren frantically calling to see if I was OK. I told her I was hurt badly and needed her help. She flew out of her lift at 1,700 feet and dropped in for a perfect landing not 20 feet away. Don't know what I'd have done without her. I guess I eventually would have gotten my phone out and called for help but it sure was nice having her to care for me and arrange help. Something to think about when we fly XC alone.

Guess you know the rest from Lauren's post. Looks like I'll be out of commission for some time and back to my old job as retrieve driver.

Regarding how this could have been avoided, I'm not sure what to say. When Lauren landed, the winds had returned to normal, and she touched down with a nice, steady head wind. Perhaps I kept fighting too long and should have given up at a higher altitude but that would not have changed my choice of a landing location and would have probably changed my time of landing by only a few seconds. My approach was not hurried and I felt completely organized until the final seconds. It's always exciting to land where a thermal is kicking off but we've all done it before with much better outcomes than this. Perhaps I'll have to put it down to s--t happens but considering the results, I'd sure like to think I could control this situation better should it occur again. Maybe some of you have ideas. I'd love to hear them.

Thanks again for all your posts. Yawl be careful out there and....'I'll be back''.

Paul

more...

[chga] latest news from my orthopedic surgeon
PaulTjaden
Tue, 27 Apr 2004 16:42:54 EDT

Hey everyone,

Just returned from a visit with my OS with pretty good news! Surgery won't be necessary, the heavy cast comes off in one week to be replaced with a light weight plastic splint which is worn over the upper arm only and a sling is not used. The splint can be removed for showers, etc., so my personal hygiene will get a boost!

I should be able to use my arm for basic, mundane chores in as little as 3 or 4 weeks and can fly or ride in 3 to 4 months instead of 6 as originally thought. Of course, this is dependent on Dr. Kavanagh's final approval.

Woo Hoo.... Now Lauren won't get too far ahead of me!

Paul

I am flying again after 1 1/2 years of not flying due to health and back issues 2 weeks ago I went for a tandam ride at ridgly with Adam He was there for back up I was pilot. then went to florida and had 2 extended sleds 15 min. and on friday got a half hour flight 1500 ft. gain from 2000ft before the sea breeze shut things down. I'm back.

Craig Williamson

more...

I will be at Ridgely or Massey when I can. Increadable how comfortable I felt towing again after so long landing on wheels is neat because you can skim so low for so long. Though watching piolots comming into goal at Quest at 70 mph 2 ft off the ground is incredible you'll have to see the video but in person with the sound and right in front of you is the way to see it. My wife enjoyed watching that and when the launch got busy.

I was able to try out my Spectrum for the first time yesterday. Air was pretty active and probably could have stayed up. For the second flight I was really able to see how the wing handled rough air as the wind had picked up making the landing conditions pretty turbulent. Glad I was able to fly before the rains. A thanks goes out to Bill Umstattd for providing the tows.

Chris W.

I was at the pulpit at 10AM30 and the wind was blowing 10-13 mph NNW. Nice clouds popped up everywhere. Thermals pushed the wind more NW once and a while. At 12PM it got stronger (15mph). For me PG it got just a bit too strong. I would try such conditions only if I could land in the back in case of you know....

We enjoyed the day hiking along the ridge and in the evening we camped at the other site at the huge hidden lake. A great day with both feet on the ground.

Tom Ceunen

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This page last updated April 28, 2004