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Hangola May 27 - June 1, 2004

Flight Reports

Gary Smith, Hank, Joe Schad, Daniel B. and I flew Woodstock today. The wind was almost calm when we arrived but picked up nicely to make up for the lack of sun. Eventually the sun came out also so I was able to work on my thermalling skills some although they were really small at first. After about 1 ½ hours I noticed Hank was considerably higher than I was but not far from me so I started thermal hunting again. Just on top of the ridge I found the nicest one I have ever been in. My vario was pegged and my glider was thrashing wildly. Here is where I did one of the stupidest things I've ever done. I was only 400' over the ridge when I hooked it and I drifted over the back with it. I fell out of the thermal into the massive sink surrounding it and started dropping like a rock. I knew I was too low now to make it back even if my glider could penetrate so I started looking for a safe place to land. To make a long story short, I landed between ridges where the National Forest was logged a couple of years ago. There was a very narrow road going down through there so I landed on it. I did hit a small tree on my final but it didn't hurt anything. I only thought I had flown in trashy air. I scared myself out of doing that again. I didn't get hurt but did take out a down tube. Everyone else landed quickly and came to make sure I was OK. They must have done 90 over the mountain to get there so quickly. I was still packing my glider up when they arrived. Thanks again guys.

Hank and Gary both warned me about penetration problems because the wind had picked up. Bull headed me didn't heed the warning when I was having the ride of my life in the thermal and had to learn this lesson the hard way.

Karma

Met up with Dave Fink and Glen Rohrback around 11A. Conditions were nice at launch, but we noticed that there were no cumies around the flying area. There were plenty of cumies to the east, where the SAC is. It will be interesting to see what the conditions were at the SAC today versus Raven's Haven. Anyway, I launched around 1P into what I thought was a good cycle, but after leaving the rocks I stepped in a pothole and dropped a little. Pulled in a little to trade airspeed for altitude over the trees at the bottom of the slot. Turned right and stair-stepped my way up over launch and over the ridge. Got a max of 800' over, but a flush cycle set in at 1:30P and it nailed me. Once again, S2F on the long glide out to the LZ. Visually frightening at times. Made the main and landed. Driver came and picked me up. Back at launch Dave stepped up to take off but backed off as it died to a trickle. The four of us hung around for another 3 hours, waiting for the glass off to commence. It picked up nicely at 5:30P, enabling Glen to execute a flawless launch and get up easy. Dave followed with another perfect launch and got up as well. Glen got stinking high, having to bail off of the elevator at 3100' over launch because he was too cold. Dave landed after a 1K' gain due to leg cramps. I set up again as it died to a trickle. After waiting a half hour, enough of a cycle came thru and I took it. This launch much better than the first. Tried to stair-step up again but conditions were cross from the WNW. After getting dumped by rotor from the rear, causing a near-miss with twin spires (dead fir tree tops jutting 10' above the tree canopy), I bailed off the ridge and enjoyed a buoyant glide out to the LZ w/o the bad visuals of the first glide out. Had a nice landing. Glen landed shortly after I did. When Glen bailed out of the thermal at 3100' over, he flew back out front and out into the valley and said he didn't lose any altitude at all. This enabled him to fly over to the Port Royal racetrack and back w/o significant altitude loss. Heckuva flight Glen!

Bacil

Yesterday was one of those beautiful sunny days at High Rock, where we even got to fly. I took 340 pictures, which are now available at: http://photos.sickinger.net/20040529_highrock

The winds were light, so many pilots sat on the rock for a while waiting for a cycle. This gave me time to snap shots of pilots as they buzzed the launch area, resulting in a more photos of pilots in the air than launching. One of the highlights for me was getting to take pictures of Kelvin Pierce, launching off the Rock in a tandem falcon, with his young daughter as a passenger (for her very first HG flight!) It was great to be a part of that!

A lot of photos come out dark because I shoot in sequence mode, and the camera settings are determined before the first shot. As pilots launch off the edge of the platform, the angle to the sun changes, becoming significantly darker. I can improve the coloring electronically, but generally didn't because of the large number of photos. (However, I went ahead and did it for Kelvin's pictures, so you can see the result.)

As always, I will be happy to e-mail you original images (which are 2.5x resolution of the web versions), if you tell me which image numbers you want. If you want me to brighten a photo for you, I can do that too. Over-exposed pictures are [unfortunately] usually a lost cause.

~R2 (unofficial CHGPA photographer)

I got there about 12:45 to see Hank, Jason, Ken, Bob, Josh, and others already set up. Chris C. arrived a little later. My glider chauffer arrived precisely on time at 1:00 with my glider (Thanks again Tim). I proceded to set up but took my time since my main focus was to stay later for my aero-tow tandems in prep. for my solo.

I took my first truck tow only to find patchy lift a couple hundred over release. On the second tow however, I was able to get almost 1k over release as well as do some synchronized thermalling with two others. Steve enjoyed watching that. I find myself able to consistently find and work smaller and smaller areas of lift. I'm no where near a pro but I find the process a great challenge.

When things calmed down in the evening, Tex and I suited up for our two tandems. He took the controls on the first one and off we went. At first, it sure seemed like a lot of work staying "in the box" but it soon mellowed out. He showed me the limits of where I should stay and we were soon back down.

The second time I took the controls and gave it my best. Down low it was slightly textured but was managable. Turning the tandem sure took lots more effort since I was shifting the weight of two people. That there is enough to not want to get my Tandem instructor rating, ever.

Next flight was by myself on the Steve's Falcon 2. I had forgotten how much FUN flying a Falcon was. Coming off the cart was smooth and tracking was much easier. I had a little more bar pressure than I liked but managed to stay "in the box" without too much effort. It's more of a mental game, you can't ignore altitude when correcting your direction (and vis versa). All went well and I'm ready to try it again but this time with the Pulse. I understand that'll be much trickier.

This new option sure is going to come in handy when going to Florida, Texas, or "wherever", or maybe to just get above an occasional inversion layer.

Rance (Having more FUN down south-vale)

Saturday I was first to set up and last...not to fly...lazy ninny. Left the glider set up and headed home around 9:00. Made it back by about 11:00 the next morning.

Probably would not have made the trip if I hadn't been set up in the field. Glad I was. Sat around again under high overcast and low cummies...if you can call them that - ugly soft/gray cotton balls. Looked like low calorie cotton candy - no lift. The sun threatened to show through around 12:30-1:00, but didn't.

Gave it the college try at 1:30. Got off tow and and didn't hear a beep 'till 1100 feet. Managed 30 minutes on the nose mostly between 1100 and 1800 under complete overcast skies - satisfying if not glorious. Good landing.

Ate a sandwich and figured I'd pack it up 'till Carlos launched and climbed out. Got back on my horse and was lucky enough to hang on for 30+ min. This time I got as high as 2850. Another good landing.

All in all a surprising and fun day.

Karen I was sorry to hear about your arm. Good luck with a speedy recovery.

John Muldoon

Holly and I had a fun weekend at Blue Sky with the rest of the gang---including Hank and Karma, Danny Brotto, Joe Schad and Zelda, Mike Wimmer from Charlottesville, Dave and Mary Holzschneider (sp?) and Jason from North Carolina, Chris Cioffi from Richmond, Rance and Tim, Linda Baskerville, Mike and Julia Balk, Jim Kingsley and several others.

A few of us set up for a scooter tow lesson Saturday morning, but it was blowing around 7-10, so I bailed on the lesson as I'd been there, done that, and needed a calmer day to work on prone flying, turns, etc. Linda towed like crazy in the textured conditions and had wild ride after wild ride...but hung in there and did great.

Holly and I went for a nice 18-mile bike ride around Hanover County while others set up to fly. It was a beautiful day, crystal-clear with cool breezes. Around 1:30 or so people started towing up. Joe Schad truck-towed up on a Falcon and got one of the better flights of the day with 39 minutes. Jason (last name?) aero-towed and almost got an hour, while Danny Brotto scored flight of the day with (I think?) over an hour. Holly had a few disappointing sleds, as did several others who came rocketing back down. Others had extendos or slightly better. It was a mixed-up day, not as good overall as everyone had hoped.

It was fun to see Falcons ruling the day---it was one of those days where to get up, you needed to fly over the pond, stop and sit there, and wait for the air to rise. <grin>

Holly and I took off again to mix up our activities with some whitewater kayaking on the James River in Richmond, then headed back to the flight park where I was scheduled for my first tandem flight with Tex. Arrived just in time to see Rance doing awesome on his aerotow training flights. (Tex was enthusiastic about how well he did!) Linda Baskerville was next up on the tandem flights, and then my turn. At 220lbs, I joked with Tex about whether the glider would fold up on us. He laughed and said no, pointing out he'd flown with Tim and Mike and others who were bigger than I am.

It was a beautiful evening for my first tandem---crystal clear, dry, the sun low on the horizon. You could see for 50 miles at altitude. The flight was awesome...all the cliches about "whole new worlds" and "suspended in an ocean of air between earth and sky," etc. are true. Everyone told me handling the tandem wing was like driving a truck, but I didn't mind it one bit. Tex handed the bar over to me after our long climb to 2k and we did some turns, stalls, etc. It was fantastic, and though I couldn't have known beforehand, I was happy not to find myself at all freaked out by the altitude. It was just a very serene feeling instead. Of course it all ended way too soon (with all our weight we sunk out fast). But it definitely gave me serious flight fever and I can't wait to get up again!

That night was a blast hanging around the campfire eating, drinking, cracking lewd jokes, etc.

Next morning was overcast but calm, so I was psyched to get in a good scooter tow lesson. There were 5 of us in the lesson. I did my first flight, went prone, high, and landed well in the smooth air. Linda did well, still sorting out hand positions, bump correction technique, etc. Julia Balk did well also on her (I think) second lesson. With the day not looking good for more advanced pilots, we had a large peanut gallery of folks standing around watching the scooter tows.

The lesson hit a sad note when [name removed], a new student, ground looped in hard without letting go and suffered a clean break of his lower radius (above the wrist). He got first-rate emergency care from everyone, especially Dave and Mary from North Carolina---Mary being a nurse and both being former EMTs. Holly drove him to the nearest hospital where he was drugged up and splinted, and they were back in a couple hours.

Meanwhile, the lesson went on and we all did many more flights. I was concentrating on being consistent, flying prone every flight, practicing turns, and nailing my landings. I felt pretty good when Steve said "I've run out of things to say to you!" He threw me for a loop on a later flight when he removed the top-tow-point line (the one going to the keel) and towed me from the hips only. Without the top line to pull the nose down I had to work harder to keep the proper AOA. My launch sucked, but I wrestled it under control, went prone, and did okay after that. Steve explained towing like this was a bit closer to what truck towing feels like.

We all got a kick out of watching Danny Brotto do his first scooter tow. Steve put him on the Falcon 195 saying he'd get higher that way. After a quick explanation, Steve revved the scooter, and Danny launched and proceeded to push out and rocket straight about a hundred feet! Steve was half-laughing, half-horrified, explaining that with so much pressure he was surprised Danny didn't suffer a weak-link break. But all was fine, Danny did a snappy 180, cruised back behind us and floated in for a neat landing right where we started. (Should we expect less from an H5?) Linda said "Are we supposed to do that?" to which Steve replied "NO!" Danny was enthusiastic about the experience, saying it was a blast. (He also commented that once in the air you didn't even feel like you were on tow.)

At the end of my lesson, Steve said "I don't want to see you here anymore for 8am lessons---the next time you show up is at 6pm." ALRIGHT!!! I graduated from scooter towing!!! After one year, 8 lessons with John Middleton and 9 lessons with Steve Wendt, my next flight would be a thousand-foot truck tow! The realization took a while to sink in. Though I know I've still got lots to learn, the enormity of knowing I'm about to fly high was/is really emotional.

As I said to Holly, it's really satisfying to know that---when it had been 15-20 years since I last learned a major new sport---I've succeeded in doing it again. (It's never too late.) Many thanks to both John M. and Steve for getting me this far!

Now I'm just counting the hours and minutes 'til a nice evening when I do my first solo off the truck...

Scott

Accident Report- High Rock, May 29, 2004, approx 4:30pm.

Landing in 3-4' high tall grass is challenging enough. Landing in tall grass with a tail wind, that's a tricky one. Landing in tall grass with a tail wind going downhill, well, there's really no good possible outcome. And there wasn't.

Karen had been working a thermal at about 400 AGL at the South end of the High Rock LZ, which had waist to chest high grass. After the thermal petered out, she set up her approach to land. While on final, Daniel Broxterman reported that the wind switched direction 180 degress, probably due to thermal activity. Karen realized she was flying with a much higer ground speed than normal. As she came close to the grass, she flared hard. She reported that she thought she had executed a good flare. The tail wind, however, had sent her farther on final than she had anticipated and put her at the gully about 2/3 down the length of the field. The gully is about 4-5 feet deep. The high grass masked the gully, otherwise known as the whack-dip. Due to either the tail wind, the high grass grabbing Karen and/or her base tube, improper flare timing and/or not holding the flare long enough, the glider nosed over and dropped approximately 7-9 feet downhill into the very bottom of the dip.

As the glider impacted into terra firma, Karen let go of the downtubes and tried to tuck her arms into her chest. But she wasn't quick enough. She broke the humerus of her left arm. There was, however, no damage to the glider. Karen was face down in her glider and we decided to call an ambulance because it would be too difficult to move her or splint her in place. Emma Jane didn't want the ambulance to drive out into the middle of the field and smash her hay. So the EMT's brought out a stretcher to move her after cutting away her jacket and harness and securing a splint. The EMTs did a great job. Karen was taken by ambulance to Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown. They X-rayed her arm, gave her some Percocet, put her arm in a splint and a sling and sent her home.

Karen wants to thank everyone for their help: Daniel, Judy-Judy, Carlos, Kelvin and Susan, Ralph and Maria, Carlos, David, Mark, Craig and Dan. Karen will file an accident report with more details later, including how she initially thought her arm had fallen off. She will be going to an orthopedic surgeon, hopefully, on Tuesday (June 1) for further treatment.

She hopes to recover before Paul Tjaden as he is a big wimp :)
Matthew (Karen can't type yet, of Karen and Matthew)

Thanks Rance and congratulations on your aerotow. I watched your launch and the first few hundred feet and it looked like you'd done it lots of times before.

I was a bit nervous before the first one since I'd never towed before (except for a few tandem aero-tows) and I hadn't flown in a few weeks. Steve explained the procedures to me and then we drove to the other end of the field. After another quick review of the procedures, it was "go to cruise" and in a very short time the horn was blowing and I was about instantly about 75 feet up. That first quick altitude gain is quite a rush. Although I flew too fast the first couple of tows, in general I followed Steve's instructions and got some decent altitude. Once the first tow was over my nerves settled down and it was just plain fun. Overall I got in five flights and by the last two I was starting to get better at paying out more line in the beginning then climbing at the end. I'm sure I didn't get anywhere near as high as someone who'd done it more could get, but, I was definitely getting higher than my earlier tows. Since it was late in the day, the air was pretty much still so all five flights were sled rides but still fun nonetheless. My landings were good but my approaches were less than optimal so Steve gave me some helpful advice on improving them. Hopefully next time I'll get to aerotow.

I'd like to say thanks to Steve and Tex for the towing instruction and advice. Also, congratulations Scott on graduating from the scooter and I think you'll like truck towing.

Ken Swingle

I got my first taste of 'big-air' paragliding in Southern Utah this weekend. I flew the Cedar City and Hurricane sites in both PG and HG. A bunch of folks from Vegas and S. Cal were there.

On Saturday at Cedar City I had lotsa fun on the WW Sport with a few rides to cloudbase and a modest XC southward on I-15 to a larger LZ. Cloudbase was between 11 and 12k, kinda low for Utah. Flew the Sport at Hurricane later in the evening glass-off.

Sunday was a PG day, starting at Cedar City. I launched early and decided to land after an hour before the thermals kicked my *ss. Landing mid-mountain was my only option, and was a challenge with all the thermals breaking off. Afterwards, it was back to Hurricane cliffs for a PG flight in lighter (12-18mph) winds.

I might fly the Jean Ridge near Las Vegas later this evening, then I'm headed back East on Tuesday.

Pics just posted at: http://community.webshots.com/album/148016564zIDtXu

'Spark

Friday. Vacillated between Ridgely and Woodstock. Decided that it would be most relaxing to be in one place for a few days and that my prospects for a decent XC would be better at Ridgely. Set up the tent and Ginny but the wind was strong enough to blow the ears off a tick and the sky was totally overcast. Flying was impossible. Had fun anyhow, dined at Harry's with Cindy and Geo.

Saturday. Fabulous forecast. Talented XC pilots arrived, like Tom and Dave and Christian and Joe. PK said he figured he had a 60% chance of soaring to the beach. But hey, when did the forecast ever mean much? The wind gusted all day, and the one time I towed I found zero lift. Not fun. Tom found a bubble of lift to ride for 22 miles, but that was by far the flight of the day and I am sure he cheasted somehow. It felt comfortable camping in the cool conditions, though, and we enjoyed the company of our many friends -- Aisha, Scott, Laura, Ed, NY Ken, many more.

Sunday. Last day of the regionals for me since we had to be home Monday for appointments. Ha, so much for my big dreams. Total overcast but at least the wind was worn out from so much blowing and only reached from 5 to 10 mph. I towed Ginny sans fin for 3 pattern tows and worked on my landings. She is a different animal without the fin, and I think flying her like that will improve me. I need to be smooooth. Really never had a problem, though, and the fin is still under the truck seat where I put it Sunday morning.

Around noon I towed to altitude and snagged around half an hour, which amazed me since the sun hadn't hinted at coming out. I love the challenge of finding lift when it is so sparse and light. Bolted into town to grab a bite of lunch. Got stuck in a parade and was tortured as I watched the slowest sandwich-making girl in the world play with my hamburger for half an hour. Arrggg! Another lesson, be prepared, never put yourself at the mercy of another person's efficiency during possible flying time.

Swallowed my burger in two bites, rushed back to Ridgely and flew again. I think I found the last thermal of the day. At 2700 it died. A quarter mile downwind of the airport, I struggled for a few minutes to penetrate back home and find another thermal. The sky looked particularly grim upwind, though, and Ginny has the alarming tendency to fly like a rock with wings upwind. A few dirty cumulous clouds formed downwind. Ah, screw it, I was going to have one more XC for the contest, even if it was just one long glide. I turned downwind.

Quickly arrived at the last decent area to land for a bit, spotted many trees and scary tall wheat fields ahead. I lose more fields every week, which has been an interesting increased challenge each time. But I had 1700 feet still. Saw some more fields within reasonable glide. Also saw Scott in his topless, full VG on, desperately trying to return to the airport. He said I flew over him the opposite way faster than a jet. Wondered what the heck I was thinking! We got hysterical laughing about it later.

Arrived at the field I had chosen with nary a beep from my vario, oh well, at least I tried and I would do it again. Like my Dad always said, the only thing you know is if you don't try you won't make it. I spied a suspicious looking pole in my field, and I wasn't high. Spent a second trying to figure out where the power lines were located and then decided I should just land in the corn on the other side of the road instead of risk it.

I forgot and took my feet out of my harness on approach. Paul told me that Pete said I didn't have as much control that way, but I was turning low over a kennel of dogs that had me in mind for a chew toy by then and I couldn't get them back in. Next time I'll remember! I forgot to fly slower than best glide with a tail wind, too.

Also forgot to keep my feet behind me on final (Paul spotted this flaw, gotta fix it) and landed a bit cross wind but Ginny is such a great glider she put me on my feet anyhow, didn't drop the frame or anything. Still, it wasn't my prettiest landing. I killed some corn, too, oh well, better than me fried on the powerline.

This is the first time I have arrived at a landing field with limited time to change my mind and look the situation over, and the first time my original field has not been the best choice. I have been very careful checking the wind, too, in the past, but I didn't make a last second check this time because I was very busy. I will remember this lesson and not repeat this lack of attention to detail. I think if we have flaws it is only a matter of time before they will jump up and bite us.

So I made it 3.5 miles, though, a new distance record for me, shortest ever. Met Ms. Smith and Mr. Stanley, and I met a whole crowd of kids, too. Sarah rides Coffee, Ms. Liz's horse, and said she would ride with me if I moved there. Met DJ and Ryan and they told me there wasn't any crime except for mailbox bashing and drag racing. DJ's Dad offered me a lift but Paul was already on the way. What a fun adventure.

Other highlights: Kevin Carter visited and that was a great surprise. A whole bunch of women pilots are flying Ridgely, too. Aisha is looking good, and Erica is nailing her landings. Laura is well on her way to flying solo. Got such good flying tips from so many different sources, from Kevin who told me stuff he had learned from flying with Oleg, to Adam who explained what to do to recover in unusual glider attitudes, to Paul, who helps me constantly, the list goes on.

Congratulations to all of you who had such great flights this last weekend, too, and for those of you who accomplished new skills. I wish I could have been all the places at once.

Lauren Tjaden

HYNER
Marney and I went to Hyner arriving Friday early afternoon. Only Karen Gory had flown around 10:00 AM soaring for a while then winds picked up and she landed. Probably blowing 10+ to 25 crossing from the North so no one else flew for the rest of the day.

Saturday turned out to be pretty nice though crossing again from the North at times and almost everyone flew getting soaring flights or sleds and quite a few doing multiple flights. A few of us (myself, John Hope, T-Bones) got some pretty good altitude mid-afternoon getting to about 5,000 above launch. Also, Leo had quite a nice flight cruising up the river and back and all over the place. Lot's of people had good flights during the day. In the evening it went magic for a while and a group of pilots and one PG floated around for a while.

Sunday, it was light and variable but mostly crossing from the South. Some pilots were launching when it straightened out or got light. We left around 2:30 heading home via Jacks (which was very light). Maybe Brian can write what flying happened after we left.

Over-all it was one of the nicest weather-wise times that we have experience there with pleasant temps, low-humidity, and beautiful blue color sky.

KIRSHNERS
Stopped by there on the way home finding the most of the hill and the right side of the landing area is cut. Is usable at this point but hopefully the rest of the landing area will get cut soon. I sent a donation to the land owner for cutting. If anyone else wants to donate, contact me for the address or send it to me and I will forward.

HIGH ROCK
Saddened to hear about Karen's accident. I question all of you that flew, considering the height of the grass, whether it was wise to fly. Knowing the grass was high I wouldn't have flown. With high grass I feel you increase your risk factor tremendously and anyone could have the wind switch on them in their landing approach and put you in dangerous situation. I am glad that no one else had a rough landing. You know, there will always be other days to fly.

- john middleton

Hyner Report: Awesome. This is such a friggin' thermal site. On Saturday people would wait 10 minutes for a straight in cycle, then beam right up. I could partake, thanks to Johm Middleton graciously offering to lend me his falcon 170. I can't even find it in me to badmouth him about getting so high he was dodging space debris. I didn't have a vario (has anyone seen my flytec 3005? Sparky may have passed it off to someone), which of course is the ONLY possible reason I missed everything and ended up in the LZ after my first launch. But it was my first mountain flight since my own little accident and I was delighted, especially after pulling off a no-stepper.

The second flight of the day was when everyone had to wait for a cycle due to thermals, then beamed up. Bunkhouse Bob lent me his vario after having an amazing flight already. The dratted thing buzzed instead of beeped. Thought it was the sink alarm at first. Jumped from thermal to thermal at ridge level for awhile, watching shaun McDuff do this amazing climb from halfway below ridge level to up above me. Finally came in to land and found that one of the advantages of wearing shorts is you can wipe the incriminating grass stains off your knees.

That night I was sitting around the campfire with bob, Krichton, and significant others when Dennis Pagan stopped and asked if this was the music fire. Out came instruments and we spent the night jammin'. A truly great experience.

The next day was very cross, and people had to wait even longer for the flag to die and get merely a light cross at launch. I opted not to fly. Dennis went ahead, expecting a sled, and we all watched as he started to do just that, then his nose popped up. He swung into about a 87 degree bank and rocketed up. Never seen anyone in a thermal that strong. Any unfortunate spectators in the path to launch were quickly trampelled in the stampede that followed. Shaun was right after Dennis, and he was complaining bitterly that this was when he hated this sport most: Dennis was at cloudbase, and shaun was sure he wouldn't even make the LZ. But shaun rocketed up quite nicely. But after that it became pretty hit and miss.

That night we had dinner at the sportsman's hotel. Crude and riotous. The family in the table next to us left with the food half eaten on their plates. But this real cutie-pie of a watress seemed to like us and we invited her to the campfire (last fire on the right, and straight on till morning). Never expected to see her again. But around 10 pm, in the middle of a string of filthy jokes, a car pulls up, and out steps Jennifer. Tells you something about the pickings for nightlife in Renovo. A good night. I spent most of it under a tree.

A couple notes on Hyner: unlike the two clubs in our area, the Hyner club has no reserve of funds, so unless you send in your dues early in the year, the bills have already been paid, possibly by an officer floating a dept on a credit card until dues come in. I'm very guilty of being a late payer, and we all need to think about changing this habit. But even if you're late, send them in...next year is hyner's 30th anniversary of the day Dennis Pagen took the first flight from a picnic table shoved up against the wall of the overlook. Please consider joining, or sending in the dues late, or whatever will help the club build up enough reserve to create the big bash this occasion deserves. They plan to ressurect all the old traditions as well as perhaps starting some new ones. Next year 4th of July: be there!

Brian Vant-Hull

I arrived at Hyner about 1530 on Wed and managed to get set up just before a torrential down pour rent by jagged lightning bolts. Oh Oh, I thought, Ole lady Hyner is either really pissed or in the throes of a serious case of PMS. How wrong I was.

She offered up a potpourri of sun and mild temperatures with air time that went from serious to sublime. Individual flights ranged from sled rides to 7000' msl, 5 minutes to 2.5 hours, and try to get down.

The foam fronts washed over us every night and the laughter around the camp fires left us with sore ribs. The choice of fires ranged from 2 Town drive in movie night, to Maryland hoe down, to Blue Ridge...... well, you really had to be there.....rite John. I don't think there was an unsmiling face anywhere to be seen.

Life is good, but Hyner is better.

It calmed down nicely in the evening, did 2 tandems.

Bill U.

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This page last updated June 6, 2004