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Hangola March 19 - 21, 2005

Flight Reports

Jacks was good to us. Conditions started out a bit marginal but they evenetually improved.

I flew and soared three times in two different wings ... twice on the PG and an evening glass-off flight on the big Falcon. My favorite was the second PG flight during the best conditions of the day. I got about 800' over launch in big fat lift.

When I arrived, I had planned to work on improving the PG launch below the guardrail. I was pretty ticked off when I saw that someone had dumped a tree there and it was blocking the spot I normally lay out the canopy.

With the help of Mark and Cragin on the 1st time, and Danny and Linda on the second, I was able to reverse-inflate the PG from the parking area, step over the guardrail and launch. I learned that it takes at least a 10mph wind to get the wing up from back there.

I had a helmet cam on for all three flights ... I'm looking forward to reviewing the results.

'Spark

Yeah, it turned out to be worth the drive!

Good crowd: Dan, Craig, Spark, Linda, Danny, Daniel, Mark Dunn, Spoons, Rich Bloomfield, myself.

Conditions initially sunny and promising, but with shuttles and such, wasn't until about 1:30 that I was back up top and ready to go. And of course, the cirrus had moved in by then. So I resigned myself to a sled, and that's pretty much what I got, though with a thermal down low that was workable for 100' or so. Dan T had a nice extendo. Pretty soon the first wave was complete, and we were heading back up top with 5 pilots and 3 gliders crammed into Craig's truck.

Conditions in the LZ had been picking up during breakdown, so I had hopes that we might have enough wind for some ridge soaring, if not booming thermals. And that's exactly what happened : I launched 4th in the second wave and was immediately 200' over, heading nouth . Went past the power lines but didn't punch all the way to the gap : the winds were cross and the air was a bit turbulent down low. 450' over was the best I could do.

Headed back to launch and then went south, until I ran out of LZs. Had fun burning back to launch, zooming along Jack's Mtn road and then strafing launch Smile Put it down in the LZ after maybe 1:20 of airtime.

Was really cool watching 'Spark launch his PG from the overlook area, he made a technical launch look easy.

--mark

1st flight - after continuing to look for the lift band and getting much too far below launch, I set out for the LZ. It was touch and go altitude-wise, but with a few pops I was enough to clear the power lines with some room, but didn't have the clearance to DBF, so I stuffed the bar and landed straight in; strong flare and an an okay landing.

2nd launch - paying particular concern to my altitude relative to launch, I set out for the LZ after coming back down level with launch, but LO! didn't make it to the primary LZ. When I realized I wasn't going to clear the power lines I 450'd right down into the upper field below me and landed downwind, slightly downhill, and although I attempted a flare, going upright didn't bring me down as quickly as I needed to, and I was heading for the fenceline, so I went back down to the control bar, stuffed it, and rolled in safely in very short corn stubble.

Analysis:

A) too gung how and think I know what I'm doing.

B) first launch - didn't judge the angle to lauch well, everyone said it was very easy to get to LZ and instead of analysing my particular circumstances, I was flying on generalities.

C) Also, without realizing it during the flight, I was flying too slow (probably min sink rather than max glide). I had been too concerned with avoiding some of my earlier mistakes of flying too fast to stay up in lift, and ended up flying too slowly as a consequence. My observer, and those in the LZ who watched my flight informed me that I had been flying too slowly.

D) departed from right of launch to LZ, when, due to the left cross, I should have departed from the left so I wasn't so much into the headwind.

E) second launch - departed for LZ at appropriate altitude and from appropriate direction (it was crossing from the left). However, without realizing it, I was again flying mcuh too slowly. I was fairly surprised that it appeared I was not going to make the LZ this time, since I had set out with enough altitude - but I still did not realize I should make the correction to my flying speed.

F) Made the incorrect decision that the wind was blowing directly into the mountain when I decided which way to turn to land in the upper field and was thinking that it would be a 90 cross either way, instead of having processed the fact that everyone who'd been flying to that point was drifting to the right due to the left cross, and consequently I landed downwind.

G) Although I didn't mind rolling in because my knee hanger had snapped loose immediately as I launched and I wasn't sure how that would affect my flare so I'd already considered that I would use rolling in as an option, I should have stayed on the downtubes rather than attempting to flare because of the proximity of the fenceline at the end of the field, and because of the downwind, downhill landing direction I'd ended up selecting.

My thanks to all who politely handled my imbecility and offered insights into what the various poor decisions I had made were.

Nice day at Redwing. Myself, Rodney, Eddie Messina, Gurpreet Bal, Jim S, and Lloyd Wilcox who showed uo late just as the sea breeze kicked in. I went first at noon had 1hr 8 minutes. Max altitude 3450. All soared in textured air cold aloft warm on the ground.

Saturday we said god bye to 'Ol Man Winter and peeked over the fence into what will hopefully, with all the correct offerings to the wind gods, be a fruitful and plentiful spring flying season. The forecast was for ground temps in the 50's and winds L&V, just enough over my personal minimum parameters for "cool" to entice me to throw the kite on the truck and heed 'Judge' Pendry's notification of being served a subpeona to appear behind the tug with fresh wink links. Norm Price was winddummy and confirmed what we had come for. After a moderately rowdy tow with Jim Spadafora in the tug, Norm dusted off the cob webs and showed us gains of 2000'+ with tops to [3.5k.] 'Judge' Pendry , after a practice roll in the cart,joined Norm for a playful game of 'look I'm higher than you,oh wait now you're higher than me, no wait aminute I'm higher than you'. Both had nice flights,and greeted the groud gracefully w/ BIG smiles.

Jim Spadafora was next and had alittle less good fortune finding the lift,but on his next yank was rewarded with some smooth climbs. My self, I enjoyed being back off the ground after a long winter of gazing longingly skyward watching the Gappers fly @ little gap while I was snowboarding. I enjoyed a 1hr+ flight with 2k+ gains to [3.5k] where I found that I had not put in my order correctly for the temps to meet my minimum standards, or had I just not dressed for the occasion. Any way there was abundant lift and I found myself making long glides into the sun to get down to 2k agl where it was a little warmer. Gupreet(hope I didn't hackthe spelling of your name too bad) was out w/ his new sport2 and after working out a few kinks was off to enjoy a very smooth & bouyant late afternoon flight. Loyd showed up in time to catch a late ride in the SE seabreeze that can sometimes proove to be "the ride of your life" never-the-less,the 'Judge' yanked Loyd to a late day extendo. Gary'I'm on call I have to stay on the ground'Cargen showed up for lunch and helped out w/ ground handling(thanks Gary). Tom 'I'm out for a saturday afternoon drive' Curbishly showed up to make sure we were doing something, good to see ya Tom.

All in all a good day was had by all where the hell were the rest of you all.

Blue Skies and Fair Winds

Ed

I have been laid flat on the couch for the last week with a cold. Funny, I am such a snob, I thought it was impossible I would get sick; I am sooo healthy. NOT.

Today I resisted the urge to go back to sleep after breakfast and ate vitamins and Advil instead. I then visited my horse. This is off topic, but I have to say, that this athletic animal -- with opinions and wishes that have nothing to do with mine -- subjects himself to my will, that he does my bidding as if he was one of my arms or legs, is amazing. Good times.

I called Paul on the way home from the barn. He was at Quest. He said the soaring wasn't great (and his new glider has not yet arrived) but Mitch had lent him his new Target and he was going to have a fun flight anyhow. I felt pretty sick when I got home but got bored laying around and eventually threw my harness and camelback in the car.

Lots of gliders rained from the sky when I got to Quest -- but one or two stayed up, and I am such an air slut, I eventually dragged out my Griffin for a flight, even though I had meant to stay grounded. I have to say Mitch spanked me worse than I have ever been spanked. I was right over him and couldn't get the thermal. Turns out it was just little bubbles, and if you hit one, you had to shove out quick and get in a turn. We got far enough downwind -- Mitch rising from way below me to way above me, just unbelievable -- that I finally ran home. I mean, this is in NOTHING lift. This is really something to look forward to; that I have so much to learn. Keeps it interesting.

But yeesh. I thought I flew better than that. At least I land well. I guess it's all the practice!!!

So my flight was only 25 minutes or so, but then I got to have really big fun. Russell had lent Mike from Canada his motorcycle, and I learned to ride it! I just got a ride at first, but then I learned to shift it and got to whiz around the field. Like, for a really long time, until somebody else wanted to try the toy. I hope Russell will not notice the dents in it (this is a joke). I want a red one.

Lauren

Like Lauren said, due to the fact that I am currently without wings, I managed to bum a ride on Mitch Shipley's Target today (thanks, Mitch) and got briefly airborne for the first time in a couple of weeks. I have been increasingly jealous of all the flying posts from the Mid Atlantic recently. Since March came in like a Lion, we have had an incredibly bad run of flying conditions while you guys are skying out on a regular basis. I have always heard how spectacular flying can be here in early spring but so far, I'm unimpressed. Hopefully it will turn around soon. Got about 30 minutes today. Huge inversion around 2200 and pretty weak lift below that.

Haven't said much about my new wing but now that delivery this week is imminent.......After Wednesday, I will join the ranks of "the dark side" or be flying an "old man glider"depending on which way you want to look at it. I have purchased Jim Lamb's demo ATOS VX and I'm REALLY EXCITED to fly it again. This is the same rigid wing I told you about in an earlier post and has performance that is nearly unbelievable. For instance, sink rate with a 220 pound hook in weight is 118 fpm. At 50 mph it will achieve a sink rate less than my Litespeed has at 30 mph. With this thing, even I will be able to "lounge" in the sky for hours!

I'll post a pilot report after I've put a couple of hours on it. Hopefully, that will happen later this week.

Glad you guys are getting in some good flying.

Paul

Gary called and said he was going to try Woodstock. This was a little after 1pm. He picked me up and we went to launch to find Randy Weber waiting. Winds were 11-19, a bit stronger than I had anticipated, but figured I could make a go of it with the Falcon. I launched first followed by randy and Gary. Tom, Mark C, and Hugh arrived a little later. Max altitude was 2700 over. The approach to landing had a significant amount of sink on downwind and base. Managed a decent landing to cap an hour fifty..

Gary is in need of a new truck. He is making water stops about every ten miles and carrying gallons of water with him.

Joe

It had been a great day for me.

Rodney: The GPS has been helpful eventually. It shows that I had a 40 minute flight in zero sink. My longest flight ever -- Yippee.

Thanks to Norm, Rodney and Jim for making it possible.

Gurpreet,

You did a great job on that last flight! Congratulations! And I am glad you could see that GPS after dragging it through the dirt all day. We got to find you a vario boy! Until next time......

Rodney

It was hard to imagine it could be so nice at Woodstock when it was still grey and drizzly in DC. As Joe said it was stronger than we had expected, with wave clouds early (Tom said he saw them oriented east-west). Mark helped me pick a lull to launch in - was able to navigate upwind against the somewhat left cross towards Edinburg with 3/4 VG on. Max 1300 over. Quite pleasant at altitude, but after about an hour I started to notice the cold (it had dropped from 50 to 44) and it got real gnarly on the way out to the LZ. Might have been going catabatic at about 5:50. Landed cleanly despite the somewhat rowdy conditions over the LZ. Mark and I dined at the Strasburg Inn. Unexpectedly getting to fly was icing on the cake of a fine weekend (spent Saturday getting oriented to the sailboat and crew I'm joining for a trip to Bermuda and back in June). - Hugh

Given the late timing of the frontal passage (raindrops on the windshield at 2:30pm), the strong west-cross conditions, and the late launch times (about 3:30 for the first-wave pilots), I'd hazard a guess that today wasn't the best candidate for an Hburg ridge run.... But maybe someone in a Talon woulda/shoulda/coulda? Smile

Once past Skyline Drive, the formerly lackluster due south winds started rockin' the truck, and I started thinking that the day's gamble might pay off! Met up with Tom and Hugh in the LZ so that we could drop a couple vehicles, then headed up top where Gary and Randy were ready to go. We'd seen Joe in the air on the way; always nice to see pilots soaring as you're heading up the mtn!

We helped the three 'locals' off, then started slamming gliders together. I think it was about 4:20 when Tom launched. We recruited a couple wuffos as Hugh was getting ready to go, then I jumped off last.

Conditions strengthened after the first-wave launches, with some 15-pushing-20 in the slot at times. But there were also frequent lulls, and all the launches were clean. I had to wait a while through some significant west cross, charged off, and had one of those major elevator rides once airborne: 300' over in, like, 10 seconds? Phew!

It was yet-another strong day. Lots of wave clouds upwind. Huge sink on the rotor-side of fingers and knolls. But surprisingly, given the wind speeds and the time of day, I hooked three bonafide spring-like thermals, woo-hoo! Solid lift for multiple turns, the kind where things get real quiet once cored.... It's been months and months since I've felt that! Spring flying seems to be getting a bit of a late start, but we're really close.

I headed toward the gap, but not with any serious thoughts of jumping. Played around at that last big river bend for a while, topping out at maybe 1500' over. The lift sometimes seemed more like little snatches of wave than thermals, but not really smooth or large-scale.

Definitely a challenging day. Conditions picked up towards sunset, and things were getting turbulent even in the area around launch. I tried heading out along both the N & S fingers, but was getting trashed. So finally headed straight out, 3/4 VG, bucking a significant headwind. Bled off altitude over the field, hoping that things would get a bit easier... But geez, major wire-slap just a few hundred over the ground. One of those days where you take a deep breath before heading on your downwind leg, lemme tell ya!

I landed shortly before sunset, for maybe 1:50 of airtime. I'd guess most everybody got 2 hours or so. Cold but not arctic-ly so, what a nice change!

--mark c.

Sweet day. Blowin 10 more or less straight in (went way North late). Adam and John Mac went to the end of Short and back. 4300 over. John Mid went down to the gap. I just hung around . I am such an old fart I can't believe it. Hang 2 Jim H did good. Had a harness problem but dealt with it.

Steve,

Thank you for assisting me today at Woodstock. Next time I'll get the harness right. What a beautiful place to soar!

Jim Hodges

later writes:

Scott,

Thanks for the encouragment. I was away on spring break. Woodstock was a dream come true. I have stood on that mtn. side many times and wondered if I would ever fly off. The conditions were good for a launch. It went like any practice launch with air moving straight in. I would have soared longer if it wasn't for the fact that a line on my harness was on the wrong side of my leg. It took up tension and caused me to be way too high over my control bar. I had never attempted to get my feet in on training hills and of course on a aerotow that was not a consideration. It worked on the first try, much to my chagrin. Not only was the harness uncomfortable but it made me concerned about performing a decent landing. I landed on my feet but it was not a good approach with speed. I ended up too low on final. As it was at one point I could have gained lots of altitude during the soar, but I pulled in as far as I could with the harness problem to avoid that. It was truly an amazing experience.

I look forward to meeting you and more of the pilots.

Neersville, VA near Harpers Ferry WV
Jim Hodges

Congratulations to Glen Hardy for receiving his H-1 rating on "No Name Hill" on Saturday. Glens' been working really hard to get his rating and it finally paid off.

Winds were SSE to SE all day with an occaisional shift to SW. No-Name hill faces predominately South so...we had to wait for cycles. But the hill is wide open as is the LZ and we were able to get some good flying in.

This was the first outing on this site and it seemed to work very well. So far we seemed to impress one of the neighbors ( former airplane pilot ) and he invited us to park in his driveway to prevent having to walk some distance to the setup area. So far so good there. To promote good will, I walked around during breaks and picked up road related trash that had found its' way into the field.

This site rivals some of the best training hills I've ever had access to. With proper care, it could be a big plus for Baltimore area pilots and my school, as it is only 30 minutes from my shop. As usual....we have to limit access until relations are established.

Rich Hays

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This page last updated April 5, 2005