Back to Main Page Back to Archive 2004

Index to weather maps

Hangola December 26 - 31, 2004

Flight Reports

Well;

12/26 Just to make the Tjadens feel bad that they are in soggy, unflyable Florida right now, I went flying at OR in the crisp 26 degrees, winds north switching to NW and just.. switching.

Got in 3 flights on my falcon, all decent launches and okay landings - some turbulence in the LZ, but no beakers (just a wing lift and some run outs). Danny B. arrived and flew his harrier 3X and my falcon 1X, and of course made it all look so easy....

Heard that Ellis and Marc Fink were at High Rock, but haven't heard how that was, other than I know it must have been toe-cracking cold.

Saw an excellent film on the rebuilding of the High Rock launch after the ramp burned. Incredible how much work went into that concrete/gravel/boulder/CMU lump, and how so many pilots participated, and how the County insisted on their ridiculous requirement that the concrete/rebar footers be removed (pilots pounding away first with sledge hammers and ultimately in frustration as an acknowlegement of the reality of the situation - a jackhammer). What a great historical document for the memory banks of the HG community that uses the site. - Linda

Never made it to the 'Burg. I flew the Rock today with Ellis and Marc. Not too cold ... not much chill factor ... winds were light NNW - soarable only for the Zagi. We had sleds, but it was well worth it and good to be back at the Rock.

Marc and I were greedy and grabbed two sleds. Marc flew a new WW Sport 2 and I flew the tandem Falcon. Ellis drove for us then flew a Falcon then hiked up to get a vehicle.

We visited with Emma for awhile.

Last anyone flew there was 21Nov. What has happened to all the mountain flyers?

'Spark

We had a delightful day at Woodstock. (Dave Proctor, David Bodner, and me) Winds were pretty much straight in from 5 to 15. I had about 1.5 hours getting to maybe 2k over. Did the run up to Strausburg and back. My tangent reported 23 degrees at 3300 msl, quite a fun day. Too bad I have to work tomorrow, but good luck anyone that flies tomorrow.

Tom McGowan

Left town with overcast skies and an iffy forecast for winds. Arrived at launch about 12:00 and set up. Winds were a bit west cross at 8-12 or so. There were some gusts higher and I waited till one o'clock to launch. Lift was everywhere and occasionally strong. I did my best to stay low to avoid drifting over the ridge as the upper level clouds were moving rather quickly from the northwest. The first twenty minutes were choppy but as the skies cleared it became more smooth and I ended up flying for and hour twenty. Could have stayed longer but spend a bit of time with the bar stuffed to control altitude increases. No other gliders in the skies. I provided some entertainment for cars on skyline drive.

Overall a stellar day at Dickey's Ridge.

Joe

Tried to work from home, but the sunshine and warm weather just called to me too loudly...made it to Taylors about 2 pm today. Waited for half an hour with the streamers limp as cooked spaghetti, so Charlotte blew real hard and LO! a breeze kicked up just as we had decided to bail.

Hooray! It was quite westerly at first, 90 + cross and more, but soon settled into some nice strongish (10ish plus a gust or two? not sure)consistency straight up the hill, and I got in 5 launches, (learned a few things,) and 5 landings at least half decent. Not exactly on the spot material, but definately fun, and nice to be flying in no more than a Tshirt!

Charlotte had never seen footlaunching before, so she learned a few things too, was my water girl, played hide and seek/indians/streamer bearer in the tall weeds near the top and officially hollered "you okay MOM?!" at every landing.

The grass at the bottom was copius but was laying down. On the hill there were sections of tall weeds but sparse enough to maneuver thru, and the top was clear. Someone, probably John M., had mowed a clear strip up either side (known as the "Brazilian cut") recently enough for it to still serve as easy pathway back up.

No one else on the hill but us chickadees. What a fun day!

I FINALLY got to fly. It has been almost a month, arrgghhhh! Pinched my fingers setting up the Sport. My Eagle was second nature for me to set up but I still need to check the manual for the proper procedure for this glider. Jim (R) showed me a different way to put in my magic wands and I think it will prove immensely helpful.

I launched first (of the midday pilots) and my old friend Lisa towed me into GREAT lift. 500 up a minute and I swam in the wispy fog forming at about 4000 feet mere minutes after release. The pilots on the ground got excited and joined me then, but the sky became progressively more overcast and the lift died. My next thermal -- which I felt grateful to snag at 2000 feet -- only took me to 3 K, and the lift became lighter and more broken every second.

I nabbed 50 minutes, probably the FOTD. Lucky timing!

My approaches are rusty. I came in high but Quest's landing field is so big it didn't matter. The glider lands itself so that was no problem either. I will be tuned in a couple of days again, just gotta fly fly fly.

I bought a new GPS from Steve at Flytec so I can compete. It has colors so the water is blue and you can easily see and avoid the swamps (heeheehee). My old Emap laid down too many cookies and the track log would fill after a couple of hours. Steve thinks I should compete at FL Ridge instead of Flytec. He says he does indeed want flight crew for the Flytec comp, but he thinks it would help my understand the competition better before I was thrown in ass first here if I had flown FL Ridge.

We will see; I will try and be smart and get the most out of my time here, whatever that proves to mean.

Tomorrow will be great. Ron, a rigid wing comp pilot, is helping me. He gave Paul a zillion comp waypoints to download today, too. Gotta clean up, we plan on dinner with our friends at an Italian place down by Clermont.

Lauren

Now this is more like it! Instead of buying furniture and moving stuff, I stripped down to a tank top this morning, to prepare for the 75 degree weather. Took a shower and packed the cooler. Then, I screwed off. Dropped Ginny Eagle and Paul off at Quest early -- I loaned Ginny to a visiting pilot, and Paul wanted to practice golfing -- then drove the truck out and enjoyed a jump school on my fabulous horse, Vince.

Arrived back at Quest where my Griffin was already set up from my flight yesterday, resting in the shade. Preflighted quickly but was late launching by the time I ate, changed, and figured out how to get the stupid map page to show on my new GPS that I have no clue how to operate.

I finally dragged Griffin over to launch. I felt extremely "busy" coming out of the slot that faces the East (this translates as oh sh#@ oh shi*! arrghhh!). Everyone I flew with yesterday made sure they beat me into the air today (since early was better yesterday, and I was first in line then). Lisa tried to work her usual magic on tow, but even though we usually make good juju, the best she could manage was to drop me in air that was less sinking.

I had an even better time than yesterday, though. I found some lifting air (in the overcast sky, complete with 15 mph winds at altitude) but thought it might be too weak to turn into ... so I just boated along, back and forth, with zero sink (or a little better or worse). It was GREAT fun and I stayed up for about 40 minutes. I might have had the best flight again. Not sure but it is fun to think so. I even landed well (but with the glider being so easy and the big time wind, I woulda felt kinda silly to screw up). Everybody started clapping though, when I landed and it was fun because, well, why wouldn't it be?

Paul flew well (33 minutes) but I beat him and I stood on the table after my flight and reminded him I was the Goddessa. It is so fun to beat him because he usually beats me but maybe not now that I have MS Griffin. Actually I am happy SO to share the air with him again. Hopefully he will teach me lots this year.

Darien (from Ridgely) soloed the other day and took his hang 2 written yesterday. He doesn't know the results yet but I am sure that he passed. And Mike from Canada soloed aerotowing, too, though he has mountain experience. They both flew wonderfully. Jim Rooney thrilled JD's girlfriend with a tandem, and she thinks she may learn to fly. Ron decked it early today but is going to fly a sailplane tomorrow, before he comes back to kick our butts in the next couple of days.

OT: People are amazing. We dined at Salvatore's Italian restaurant last night with Lisa frrom Quest, Joe from Richmond, Mike from Canada and Mark from Minnesota. We laughed that they had a wine called "Pete Lehman's juice" or something like that (we know a talented pilot by that name, though the names are spelled differently). The wine was red, and tasty, but very pricey. Actually we just assumed it was tasty since it was too expensive to buy.

Turns out I met this woman Smoky (I think she owns the restaurant) who owns an upper level dressage horse that she says I can ride and learn piaffe and passage on, and I met her even more amazing friend Kathy, who just returned from the paraolympics in Rome. Kathy -- adventure girl extraordinaire -- was rear ended in her 240 Z nine years ago. One arm was pulled off and she was burned over 60 percent of her body. Against all odds, she survived. I guess she stood up at the wreck and said she was going to leave and drive home, didn't want to fill out the forms and answer questions.

She apparently always wanted to have kids, too, but it was out of the question after the accident. Smoky told me, crying, that Kathy's son was now 8 years old. The mind boggles at what people can accomplish. I really liked both Kathy and Smoky.

Hopefully I do useful things with my life. Miss you all, and happy flying

Lauren

Thursday was great considering that the sun never broke through the overcast. Six pilots showed up and flew including Jim and Norm who were gracious enough to bear the chill and tow us. In addition Gary Cargen stopped by on his way home from work and helped launch me but didn't fly. I think that everyone got at least 2 or 3 flights. The Dragonfly ran fine and started fine via the pull start.

Our thanks to Norm and Jim for the tows.

Saturday is supposed to be partly sunny & warm with winds west at 5-10 then northwest at 10-15. Sunday mostly cloudy with winds southeast at 10-15 -- not good.

Wayne

For the record, the six were Jim S., Norm, Wayne, Tom, John W., and Doug.

'Twas yet another great day at the point.

Winds were initially quite strong - gusting to 25mph. The construction dudes were operating heavy equipment on top and had made quite a mess - lots of mud and fresh dirt .... also, they cut a road diagonally across the slope of the hill - kinda changed the lift band a bit. There is about 40' of grass on the top of the hill.

I flew a small PG early in winds gusting over 20 and was eventually blown back, dragged through the mud and up over a dirt pile (in shame). Eddie soared the hill numerous times throughout the day and top landed a few times. Marc flew his Sport2. and he and Eddie shared the hill for awhile.

Linda Baskerville flew her Falcon numerous times and nailed many spot landings. I flew the Falcon 225 once and soared for a few passes. Karen flew her Sport2. Matthew flew the big Falcon. Danny Brotto soared Linda's Falcon for a few flights. Brian Vant Hull flew a double surface wing (WW US?) a couple of times. Jimmy Long stopped by to help and watch the fun. Andy Harrah spent some time kiting in the LZ.

Eventually, winds abated into the 14-18mph range. I launched my PG and managed to stay aloft for awhile. Marc and Matthew flew their paragliders and soared a few flights.

As the sun sank slowly into the western sky, a bottle of champagne was uncorked in celebration of Linda Baskerville's long overdue and well-deserved H2 rating.

Congratulations to Linda, and a Happy New Year to all!

'Spark

Spent the day at Millpoint and had a wonderful time! 10 flights into delightful conditions with HG and PG and RC going on all around. Sparky, Marc F., Eddie M., Danny B., and Matthew G, were soaring the hill; Karen C., Matthew G., Marc F., Brian V-H., and I were all having fun with the ride to LZ; Sparky, Marc F. and Matthew G. then switched to PG, and Andy H., a new PG artist, joined in; Jimmy L. assisted all around and cheered us on. Eddie brought out his RC and zoomed around to add to the general bubbly atmosphere of sunshine, warmth, and wind! There was a lot of cock-a-doodle-doing, BooWaaaah-ing, and whooping.

Of my 10 flights, the last 6 were consistently ON the spot, nice and easy landings, upright, gentle setdowns, right where I belonged. The first 4 were generally okay (one wing dip) with the exception of a gentle landing on both knees when I hit some unanticipated sink. The first flight, I landed between the blue stakes, right on the bald spot, at the wrong set of blue stakes! Eventually, Sparky decided I was doing okay for my H2, and he either canvassed the group or they all weighed in with their opinions anyway (more likely knowing this group) and most, if not all the HG pilots, seemed to think I was doing H2 work in nice style. So Sparky put it down in writing, and all I have to do is send in the paperwork! HOORAY! and FINALLY! And thank you Sparky!

After Sparky declared he would sign me off for an H2, Brian V-H, with incredible prescience and kindness (he is a most considerate gent), whipped out a bottle of champange & cups, and we christened a happy end to 2004, and beckoned to 2005 to come and let us fly some more!

Happy New Year All! - Linda (time to hit the bubbly!)

	previous page	back to top	next page

This page last updated December 31, 2004