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Hangola April 16 - 21, 2005

Flight Reports

Having read about several pilot's recent accidents while trying to land in midday turbulent conditions--I experienced a very bad situation today myself while trying to land at Fairfield--our "local" aerotow field.

The forecast was for moderate thermals being capped off by a low inversion and light SSW at 5 mph or less. Two pilots towed up before me and were in the process of returning to land when I decided to go--having ground crewed for their launches. My tow was fairly uneventful--but we transitioned through thermals strong enough that the tug pitched up and down pretty dramatically, but I was able to keep things pretty controlled and felt that it was an average strength day. A later look at my Compeo, though, had me surprised at just how strong some of the cores were.

OK, I'll skip the flight details and get to the juicy part that everyone wants to read--while setting up my approach all the wind indicators were showing a south flow. The airstrip runs east-west, and slopes off on either side, so the most reasonable option seemed to be approach to the west and split the difference low down to swing out into the wind after a short final. I use this technique with success very often at HR when its west cross. Just as I started to initiate the slight turn to the south, I was slammed by a violent gust/thermal from the west which not only pitched the glider up by 30 ft or so, but also rolled it into a left bank so that I was now in a quartering tail wind on the sinking back end of the gust/thermal.

The bar is stuffed and I pull over for all I was worth to the right, but the glider didn't seem to respond to my turn input (that was probably just a perception thing, it just seemed that way because I was in a tailwind component)--I was flying fast towards the ground. The feeling was about the same as when you encouter a strong thermal at altitude which initially rolls you away beacuse only part of the wing is in strong lift. Being fully proned, with the ground whizzing by at 30 to 40 mph very close to my face (and I fly without wheels) it became quickly apparent that the physics and geometry of the situation did not favor an inexpensive, pain-free outcome. Just before the control bar contacted the ground I used my patented control bar heave-ho technique and threw the control bar out for all I was worth--and amazingly the glider slowed down enough so that when the left corner bracket dug in the downtube took the force and bent , but no part of my body contacted anything--and the glider itself didn't ground loop or even nose over. I simply stood up and walked the glider off--though I was embarassed and well aware that I narrowly escaped a serious crash.

I'm not going to bother with the cathartic pilot-error prostrations or advise what to do to avoid this--I'll leave that to the more enlightened readership. But I think I was able to make some interesting conclusions about the conditions I was flying in.

Before I left late in the day I heard one pilot remark how nice it was to fly in such lite conditions, and I thought about what I had just experienced. I have come to the conclusion that, in a way, flying in light winds on unstable days can in fact be very dangerous. In my experience, any forecast of 5 to 7 mph or less simply means light and variable. And light and variable simply means that the odds are fairly good that the winds--and gusts or thermals--can come from any direction at any time. And by implication this means that the odds are pretty good that you might not get a consistent wind direction indication through the last phases of your approach--no matter how careful you are. Stronger winds generally tend to street up thermals and lift lines.

marc

It was NE most of the day at Bill's on Saturday. Switched to the ESE after 4:00pm. Mixed bag like last week with Juan Ortiz spanking everyone and Tom C. being the secondary spanker of the day... both in PGs. HG-wise-- Karen, Gardinator, Mark C., Joe Brauch and some of the Pittsburgh boys got up for a while in thermals mid-day. Karen had a great low saw at 350 agl. I did five flights in my PG. All were extendos except for one where I got a half an hour. Sparky also got up in his PG and top landed twice. Both Jaun and Tom top landed, with Juan doing a downwind toplanding into the slot one time. Carlos had the shortest flight of the day with one minute showing on his vario. (His second flight was better.) Some 2s and some new pilots also flew. They can tell their own stories.

There was also some major work done on the slot. It's the best I've ever seen!!!

Hope you get some West winds at the Pulpit tomorrow. Still looks a little South to me.

Matthew

Great group at Bills yesterday. Some fabulous flights by many pilots paragliders/hang gliders. Stellar weather. Launch site much improved due to the efforts of many clippers, weed wackers, chain saws....etc.

Many thanks to Matthew and Sparky for observing.

Jim Hodges

I got there around 9:30. Pilots started arriving shortly after to clear the slot. The slot looks real good for now, may grow up again. It would be nice to be able to treat the weeds with something- weed killer, a fast mover with napalm etc.How about that, a work party at Bill's, and being rewarded by flying there all day! Thanks to all pilots wanting to improve our flying sites!!! Thanks also to Sparky for observing us hang 2's.The guy gives up alot to promote, and help our beloved sport. I got two flights in. One, a bit of an extendo at the end of the day. I had fun!!!!!!!! Shawn

Wills Wing Eagle: $3500
Z5 Harness: $800
Knocking over your observer's windsock on your first mountain flight: PRICELESS

So my first mountain flight was at Bill's Hill this Saturday. After spending the first couple hours helping the slot clearing effort, walking the LZ, and setting up my glider, I find myself at launch and ready to fly. Matthew went over the flight plan with me again, wind was coming straight in, and it was time to go. It sure is a lot more intimidating than the training hill! But the launch was pretty good and once I was flying, I felt right at home.

Did a left turn and went a couple hundred feet that way, checking the ridge to see if I was maintaining my altitude. I thought I was (really wasn't), so I turned back the other direction and took another look. At that point, it definitely looked questionable, so I turned out to head to the LZ.

Lesson number one - paying attention to the ridge does not preclude one from casting the occasional glance to the LZ ...you know, that place where you need to LAND. As I make my way to the LZ, I notice I'm a lot lower than I want to be at this point. Not good. Not to the point where I need to be worrying about tree landings, but still not good. So I remind myself to relax the death grip on the control bar - let the glider fly. It does, and I make the LZ ok, but promise myself not to make THAT mistake again. (Pucker Factor = BAD)

As I set up for my landing, the sock is hannging limply so I pick a line that gives me some relatively flat ground. I keep the speed up in the approach, into ground effect and flare for a decent stand-up landing. Lesson number two - when picking a line for your landing, make sure it has enough room for you AND your glider. Although the landing was ok, I clipped the windsock with my left wingtip, knocking it over and knocking off the bolt that holds the sock in place. Didn't really kill it completely, but I'm sure it was seeing stars. My apologies to the pilots that were trying to set up their landings after me, going "what the heck happened to the windsock?" <raises hand> Um...that would be me. Embarassed Sorry!

So at this point in time, my excitement at making my first mountain flight was somewhat tempered by the thoughts going through my head, which were pretty much along the lines of: "Great - I just gave my observer a cardiac arrest by being so low, AND I broke his windsock...now that's just fantastic. No one is ever going to throw me off a mountain again!" Many thanks to the pilot that landed after me, noted my story about knocking over the windsock, and replied "F*ck it - tell him you were aiming for it!" It made me feel a lot better.

So not exactly the way I really wanted to make my mountain flying debut, but I launched, I landed, I lived, and I learned. Matthew was kind enough to consent to throw me off again a little while later (after my performance the first time, he's a saint in my book for doing that). Second flight was MUCH better than the first (although the launch was a little lazy). Headed straight for the LZ and got there with plenty of altitude this time, so I did a few figure 8 turns and set up for landing. Flare was a hair early this time, so I popped up a couple feet, but still managed to stand it up. All in all, a heck of a day for me. The fact that I flew off a MOUNTAIN (twice, even) is still kinda sinking in...and I like it Very Happy Definitely a lot of room for improvement, but I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Don't worry...your windsocks will be safe from now on...I promise!

--Chris Donahue

Due to family commitments, I couldn't get to the hill before 3pm. By the time I arrived, the slot-cleaning work had been completed and a line was forming at launch. Winds became lighter and the line moved slowly.

After observing Shawn Ray and Rich Bloomfield and assisting student PG pilot Andy Harrah with his first mountain launch, I laid out my wing and waited next to MarkC through several light cycles and aborted inflation attempts.

Shortly after Mark prepared to launch, I decided to kite my paraglider and prepare to launch behind him ... bad decision ... The wind boosted a bit and I was picked up off my feet and launched involuntarily, spooking both me, Mark and his crew. Since I was climbing, I continued to work the lift in front of the slot, gradually climbing high enough to try my first top landing.

I kited the wing forward towards the edge, relaunching for a brief extended flight, landed below and caught a ride back up with Joe and Dan. Joe showed us the new route around the N end of the ridge. This route has much less gravel road.

When we returned to the top, conditions had improved considerably and PG pilots Juan and Tom were easily maintaining 500' over. I helped Andy on his second luanch, then quickly worked to join Juan and Tom. I was able to get almost as high, flying for about 20 minutes until I began to lose altitude. I top-landed and was soon joined by Tom and Juan.

Andy returned to the top and made his third mountain launch.

I waited for awhile and observed Jim, Shawn and Rich on their second flights, then inflated my wing and made my fourth and final flight into the now smooth and bouyant, but-not-quite-soarable, evening air.

All in all, it was a good day for the twos, and great conditions for the PG crowd. It was cool to watch the various top-landing techniques, including Juan's downwind landing in the slot just below launch. I don't think I will ever try that one Wink

Congratulations to Andy Harrah (prospective new P2) and Chris on their first mountain flights.

Major apologies to Mark Cavanaugh for 'bogarting' his launch window.

'Spark

Don't know how it was elsewhere but Dickey Ridge was really sweet. In fact, I think it was probably the best day I have ever had there. Lift everywhere. Not real strong -- 250 was a typical reading-- but huge big fat stuff. My skills at lift avoidance, honed over the years, were useless as I was wafted helplessly into the cold and cloudless blue..

5800 msl over the junkyard at Bentonville (7 - 8 miles SW of launch -- nominally upwind but there was no wind). Realized that I could easily make Woodstock and considered it.. But then I would be in Woodstock and my car is on the Skyline Drive. Hmm. Think think. And my Usual Saviour, St. Schad, is in Manquin. And my Backup Saviour, St. Lauren, moved to Florida. So, it ended up as an out and back to a junkyard. Hey. We do what we can. .

Arrived at 11:15A. Straight in at 6 to 10 MPH. Blew that way for around 15 minutes, then went light. High cirrus moved in from the west. Other pilots who arrived were Mark Cavanaugh, Kelvin Pierce, John Dullahan, Cragin, Dan, BVH, and a paraglider pilot named Marcel, originally from Switzerland. Marcel took off around 1P and extendoed to the secondary, briefly getting above the ridge. The hang glider pilots waited and waited for it to turn on. During the wait there were plenty of launchable cycles, but it would go light for long periods. John Dullahan stepped up to the plate around 3:45P. Some good cycles were coming in, but the valley flow was from the south. John briefly got above the ridge by launching into a good cycle, but as he headed towards the primary, he rotor surfed all the way to the main LZ. I went down to retrieve John, and lo and behold, around 4:30P BVH launched and got up. It had turned on big time. John and I picked up Marcel from his second flight, another extendo before it turned on, and beelined it to launch. We did notice the flags in the valley were now pointing directly at the mountain. Mark C. launched and got up easily. John, Marcel, and I crewed for Dan, Kelvin, and Cragin. Conditions were 12 to 18 MPH with some slow gusts. They all had good launches and got up easily. John and Marcel helped me launch. Got up easily, and spent the next 45 minutes soaring in light thermals and ridge lift. Got 800' over. Gains to 1200'+ over were reported. Landed at 6P to get packed up before dark. Marcel launched while all of us were in the LZ, and he got a nice soaring flight in his bagwing. Back at launch BVH put his Falcon together in record time and had a twanger launch just before sunset. He boated around for some time in smooth ridge lift before putting it down before sunset. The patience paid off today at the Pulpit.

Bacil

The Pulpit also turned out to be very pleasant in the late afternoon.

Near magic lift in what I consider to be pretty mild conditions especially for this time of the year. It was a long wait until it got good not turning on until nearly 5:00 PM, but then it was prett easy to fly about as long as you wanted.

No hang 2s there, and an ideal day for it.

1hour 20 minutes for me, which is the longest soaring flight I've had in months. Nearly everybody else did about as well.

Dan T.

Pretty good day, ending up even better. Conditions were punchy and got that way pretty quick, even with the early morning start. By mid day we all had to wait for things to calm down. Although the direction was pretty much straight in, it was STRONG...and borderline for flying there.

My guys were solid H-1's and were coping well, as were Johns' students. And...although I missed it, John specked out on one of his flights, getting above treetop level and as one could imagine got busy linking turns back and forth just to get down in the lower parking lot LZ. John claimed it was the highest he's ever gotten there....and he's been there alot. LOL. Don't underestimate either Falcons' or Oregon Ridge in the right conditions.

My group took a break and returned around 4pm. Things had mellowed nicely and we flew till dark with some of the best conditons of the day. Really sweet !! Students progressing rapidly with the back to back weekends of flying lately. Hope it lasts. LOL.

Rich

Spent the day at Blue Sky yesterday with Holly and my daughter Kate. We had Mexican for dinner Saturday with Linda Baskerville, then hung around the much-welcomed campfire and slept in the bunkhouse Saturday night...it was cold! But warmed up fast Sunday morning. I wrote Steve a check for my new Eagle, got a briefing on setup, maintenance, and breakdown, then set up to do some truck towing.

Pretty good crowd present Sunday, with several pilots from North Carolina (didn't know most of them except Jason), Joe Schad from CHGPA, and several Blue Sky regulars (Jim Kingsley, Billy Vaughan, Bill Priday, Daniel Shapiro, etc.) Clear skies, bone-dry conditions, and good ground heating had everyone busy. No epic flights, but many soared for up to an hour.

I truck-towed the Eagle several times, and got very high (for me)...up to 1100'. I was pretty pleased (for a rookie) with one 15-minute flight in which I released at 800' and thermaled up to 1700'...then got flushed bigtime! (It's possible I just lost the lift, but I think it disappeared---it was doing that to lots of other folks too.)

I'm really enjoying the Eagle 180. Being my first double-surface wing, I haven't noticed anything dramatically different in the handling between it and my Falcon...except the glide and sink rate! I was averaging around 300-325 on my Falcon in calm air...and am now averaging 230-250 on the Eagle. I really notice the improved glide too! I seem to go a lot farther with noticeably less altitude loss. I'm sure this is even more true of higher-performance wings...and I'm beginning to see why people like them! Smile

Every time I manage to get a thermaling flight, I learn much more. Forced myself yesterday to thermal in both directions when I noticed myself always turning clockwise. (Good to be ambidextrous!)

--- The real highlight of the day was a tandem flight for my daughter Kate. I was hoping like crazy to do my aerotow tandems and solos...but I really wanted Kate to fly, and there was no time for both. Kate had been a great sport waiting around all day, so there was no question that she deserved to fly. As always, Tex did a fantastic job of prepping Kate for the flight. He was surprised that she already knew her control positions (not knowing Holly had given her a lesson from the hang-bar!). They had a great flight in glass-smooth air, and I was proud when Tex reported that Kate was utterly fearless! Smile Yes, she wants to take lessons now...which might have to wait as my budget is busted. Confused

Scott

After John Dullahan had a short yo-yo flight in the early afternoon, the rest of us sat around and waited. For about an hour things didn't look any different. Dan and Bacil went to the bar to get food, Bacil came back quickly complaining about too many bikers crowding out the bar, but Dan was in his element and returned about 20 minutes later with tales of a cute biker chick. We didn't believe him.

About half an hour later lo and behold, a couple of guys show up with an absolutely gorgeous biker-blonde in tow, and they wanted to see some flying. Suddenly I decided conditions looked good and suited up. Now I've been through this before: it does no damn good to show off to a woman by launching because then you're out there and she's still back where you left her. Whatever. But it turns out she brought us luck because I went right up (the glider, I mean). Then I came down, and went back up, and there was alot of sinking and close to the ridge puckering involved. Well my flight skills are a little rusty and recurring sink in a low performance glider exacts a psychological toll, so after about half an hour I decided there must be other people on launch who needed wire crew so maybe if I landed they would come pick me up. So I landed and nobody came to pick me up because they all managed to get launched.

Well damn. They didn't look like they were coming down any time soon either. But I had a nice talk with Lee Glaser, the land owner, who finds us fascinating, and is perfectly happy with us. nice to know.

Marcel had hiked up the power lines earlier in the day and looked pretty pleased with the result, so I thought I'd do the same. The main problem came gaining access to the power line slot: by the road it's guarded by a couple deep trenches. I thought I'd save myself some sticker bushes by skirting somebody's backyard, only to discover that they were emptying raw sewage straight into the trenches. I don't recommend that route. Partly up I saw the secondary powerlines that come up from the big grassy paragliding only field. Next time.

As I climbed higher the breeze freshened things up and I started to appreciate life again. 2/3 of the way up there's a rock outcropping, nice place to sit and look over the valley, and since it's blocked from above you have perfect privacy. A majestic, lofty throne from which to survey your dominion. It would be a sublime place to take a dump. I was supplied with neither tp or ballast, so I'll save the experience for later.

Drove down to pick up glider and passengers, and upon arriving back up top, found it blowing in beautifully with about a half hour of daylight left. Slapped together the glider and marched up to give it a go. blowing a little stronger than expected, but my wire crew provided a perfectly coordinated release. I expected to run and gave a hoot of surprise when I lifted straight up. but conditions were sbb and I had a beautiful flight. Coming down to land I had remembered that the grass strip was at the top of the hill, but the contour plowing showed the crest came a little earlier. I opted for the grass because I preferred that to corn stalks, which is a little like searching for your lost watch under the street light because the light's better. Came in to discover that old Lee Glaser did know what he was doing and the grass strip at that location is something of a ditch right beyond the crest of the hill. but I did hit my spot and I have the grass stains to prove it.

Thanks to Dan for driving my car down, and to Cragin for driving down to pick up Dan. I went back up top to find Cavanaugh there thinking about camping out. Decided to join him and we had a nice fire and some cold ones. Mark played some guitar and I went to bed happy. Next morning when I finally arrived home I was sweaty and smoky and never more in need of a hot shower followed by a nap. That's when I discovered they were working on the pipes and hot water was out. The cold water matched the outdoor temperature of a few hours ago: around 60 degrees. I didn't need a nap afterwards.

Brian Vant-Hull

As Rich indicated it turned out to be pretty good at Oregon Ridge on Saturday and my 3 students (1 first timer) all had nice flights. Also, I got some major lift in 1 flight where I got tree top level at the end of the slot and had to do number of turns to set up a landing approach. Highest flight at Oregon Ridge for me ever!

Sunday, turned out to be a good day at Taylors and my 3 students (different than above) getting their fill of flights with two working on their Hang 2 skills and one working on Hang 1 skills. I also got 5 or 6 flights. Wind varied a lot in direction but co-operated enough.

john middleton

Ole mother Hyner came out of her hibernation her usual self. She favored some and spanked some others. Launches began at 1400 and continued till 1700. Some sleds, some extendos, some low saves, and some personal bests. Times to 2 hours and gains to 6900' ( 8900' MSL). Supplicants were Me, T Bone, Shawn, Jess, TR, Jerry, Will, and Mark, in no particular order..........Bob.

Leaving my responsibities behind and heading out to Highland yesterday was the smartest thing I've done in a long time. I was nervous about my first flights of the season, plus, the spring air is always something to take seriously.

So, I almost didn't make the trip, but once I was on the highway all the good feelings about flying started coming back. The accident reports started fading to the background and I found myself smiling involuntarily.

Waited til 5pm for some relatively calm air. Of course, my vario was dead as a doornail from lack of use. The air was not completely smooth but it was bouyant enough to provide a slightly extended sled. The approach was confidence building and the landing better than usual. Whoops, forgot to take the vg off.

Was so fun I had to do it again, and landed even better this time!

In attendance enjoying the sky were Carlos, Charles, Tad, Pat F, Lenko, John W., Christian, Bill B & Joan, Ric, John Simon, Geoff, lots of tandems, the Highland crew, mom and dad Elchin, and others I'm sure I missed. There was lots of soaring, but I forget the numbers.

Can't wait til next time!!!

Judy

Yesterday I had my first footlaunch in longer than I care to remember at Avonmore (western PA). The conditions were perfect and the site fantastic. It's only about 380' with a launch like Fisher Road and an LZ about the size of Highland (since the crops weren't planted yet). Decided to go for it and screamed out of launch (okay, a little nervous so I flew too fast). I flew when conditions were benign so it was straight to the LZ where I did figure 8's (a little too low on my last turn onto final) but came in with nice speed and landed with a couple steps. I didn't even nose over my UltraSport which I ALWAYS do! GREAT day and felt great to be out again. I can't wait to fly again!! Sheila

I left work a few hours early today and headed to Smithsburg to meet Hugh McElrath, who was working on his PG kiting and launch skills. After Hugh made a few more flights, we headed to the Pulpit. On the way, I called Shawn Ray, who had just finished his work day in Chambersburg. It wasn't difficult to talk him into joining us.

We arrived at about 4pm to perfect STFI winds and headed to the LZ to drop a car. By the time we returned to launch, cloud shadow covered the area and winds were 90 degree cross from the N at about 5mph : ( Shawn arrived and I encouraged him to assemble his wing. Occasionally, a thermal would come through and the wind would blow straight in at 5-8mph. I was betting that it would glass off.

Shawn launched first at about 5pm from the new ramp (sans vario) and made it easily out to the primary LZ, where he worked thermal lift for over 15 minutes, staying nearly at launch level.

Hugh waited patiently and after a few inflation attempts, he made a nice launch into a straight cycle and headed to the PG LZ (HG secondary).

In the meantime, James Coblenz had arrived. He launched third and I followed last, managing a few passes in front of launch before heading out to land. No glass-off ... yet.

After retrieving Shawn from the HG primary, we returned to launch and it was perfect - straight in at about 12mph. Hugh launched first into the smooth wind and gained altitude all the way out over route 16. James launched next and I quickly followed him. James and I were able to stay between 250' and 400' over, flying as long as we wanted. The lift extended nearly out to the LZ. I flew hands off for a long time, snapping photos. I'll post the photos in the next day or so.

All in all, a nice afternoon. Congrats to Hugh for his first mountain PG flights, and to Shawn for the vario-less thermalling.

'Spark
Photos at http://community.webshots.com/album/325885019NGulvO

I did not plan on flying after I got off work monday afternoon, but I got a call from Sparky telling me to come on up to the pulpit.Wow , what a beautiful afternoon/evening!The wind was crossing from the north, but could get straight in for a window. I heard Sparky yell that I popped my nose a bit, but all felt good.I turned left down the ridge, and stayed level. I then turned back to launch, but Hugh was in the middle of his pg launch.I turned again towards the primary, which I have yet to land in ,and was getting closer!! The primary is big, and luxurios! I was circling over the plowed field, and was getting beat around. The left wing up, the right wing up , the nose up! I thought I would like to turn in it. So I DID! up, up , up,and kept my eye on ridge level- no vario/ dammit! I had to kind of fight to get down to do my dbf on top of the corn stocks, but landed on my feet! It was FUN!!!!!!! Shawn.

After 2 blown out days for starters, everyone was shall we say a LITTLE anxious to start flying. Since then we've had two days of 60mile+ tasks with Quest as goal yesterday. Forecasts for the rest of the week look good (so far). The weather is generally 80s with 10mph out of the East, base is 4-6k. There's a bunch of blogs on the Oz Report for more info.

The drama at the moment is Paris Williams and Johnny Durand running neck and neck. We'll see how task 3 shapes up. Paris took day one, but Johnny took day two with a dramatic finishline crossing... full VG, hauling ass, just over the trees into the field down to 10 feet off the deck... then he snapps off his vg and instantly shoots up to 50 feet, stuffs the bar diving down for the grab bag crossing the goal line (which he gets). This was topped only by Muhler's loop-onto-final approach. An other dramatic finish was the first rigid to goal (Primoz)... bets were being taken as he glided for the field from a few miles out. As he got closer, the odds seemed against him... some thought he may still make the slot (airfield overrun). We lost sight of him behind some trees as he looked like he was going for the slot and possibly going to make it. Then, like the fin from Jaws, his wingtip glided vertially behind the slot as he bailed to a nearby field. Since the goal was a virtual GPS, he may still have technically made it. We'll find out at the pilot's meeting.

Anyway, that's the view from the ground. As always, it's a big party here. Tons of gliders, lots of flying, bands and beer at night. Gotta love a comp ;)

Jim

Jim Rowan on his Sport 2 "Utility Glider", Will Jenkins on a Talon, and I on my Falcon showed up to take a shot at a good forecast that had me chomping at the bit. It was blue in Pittsburgh, but Jim told me on the phone that the clouds were already popping in the mountains at 10:30.

By the time we got to launch after one o'clock the clouds were fabulous looking, with a light wind blowing in, regularly augmented by strong thermals. With the knowledge from Will that Cumberland airport's automated weather was reporting the clouds to be at 8,500agl, I was going nuts to get off the hill. I launched first and within minutes I was climbing off the ridge at 600fpm. Jim followed shortly after me and Will was last off about half an hour behind him.

My first climb petered pretty quickly at about four grand which was literally over a mile below cloudbase. I slowly worked a series of weakish thermals up to about six grand where things again improved and got me to 9957msl, a personal record flying in the east. What frosted me was that I still wasn't at cloudbase and I really wanted to see 10,000 on the altimeter. Oh well, masking my immense disappointment, I started on course towards Massanutten Mountain, my goal for the day. I wanted to get to the Woodstock lz from High Point.

In the meantime Jim was finally getting high off the ridge at 800fpm after getting stuck for a bit. He didn't get quite as high as I had before heading on course, but we were in business. Will, the last launcher, got seriously stuck on the ridge, in fact he briefly wound up below the northwest rock cliffs which were already 300ft below launch. However, he made it up the delay by beaming out and immediately getting to 10,000msl, the first time I have heard a fellow pilot call that altitude in an eastern thermal (it's been done elsewhere, and, of course, Nelson Lewis has gotten to 12,200msl in a Wooodstock wave).

The wind aloft was only 8-10mph, but it was not downwind to our desired waypoint of Strasburg, the north end of the Woodstock ridge, so Jim and I continually worked our way south by jumping streets. Despite the incredible altitudes we were seeing, that wasn't easy for me on the Falcon. When cloudbase is that high the thermal spacing is also much wider. In addition, the clouds were not terribly long-lived which made getting to them before they died was tough flying at the Falcon's glacial best glide speeds.

Past Springfield, about fifteen miles out, Jim caught up to me and found what turned into the mother of all thermals. After an ordinary beginning the thermal eventually went to a steady, smooth 900-1,000fpm. It didn't last very long, perhaps 1,500ft, but it was a fabulous thermal and in the end it got JR to base at 10,019 msl. Friggin' amazing!

Perhaps that excellent climb and the extraordinary altitudes made me too damn cocky, and I now made a grievous decision error, chasing a cloud into bad terrain where I was going to be in trouble if I didn't find any lift. And the cloud dissolved as I committed into the trees up against a wide mountain. I was too low to cross the mountain, and too low to venture away from my one safe lz, a little golf course in the foothills of the mountain. So, that's where I landed, picking a crosswind fairway to avoid the long sharply downhill ones into the wind. Thirty six miles for me, but I was kicking myself for being such an idiot.

In the meantime Jim had climbed back to 8,500msl and was off into the Shenandoah Valley, headed for the north end of Woodstock's Massanutten Mountain.

Will, who'd not been working his way south as Jim and I had, was on a track some ten miles north of ours. However, with his Talon he was making good time, and when he needed to he began a sharp southeasterly jog to head for Strasburg as well.

Jim got onto the ridge first and began working his way southward towards the Woodstock lz. Unfortunately, he found the lift sporadic and the ridge itself wasn't soarable so that in the end he had to land one spine short of the proper lz for 52.2 miles. But the best part of his chosen lz is that moments after landing a four-wheeler came racing up with Hubbel French, the local pilot with whom Jim had recently been to Costa Rica. Jim's lz was in fact Hubble's family farm.

Finally, Will showed up to land with Jim at Hubbel Airport. Our driver Darrell had picked me up just as I finished breaking down, and we were at the lz minutes after Will landed. After a quick break-down, and a stop enroute for the requisite debriefing refreshments we headed back to Cumberland.

What a helluva day...and today Martinsburg's TAF forecast predicts 9,000agl clouds.

Lordy, but I had this sport. But my Momma makes me do it.

Pete Lehmann

From the Pittsburgh club's newsletter.
Pete

APRIL 19 HIGH POINT
After the previous day's flying anything was going to be a disappointment, but it was still a good day. Pat Halfhill drove down to join Pete Lehmann who'd stayed overnight in Cumberland. Pat and Pete were accompanied by Darrell, the Cumberland driver-for-hire, and arrived at launch to be greeted by a rapidly overdeveloping sky. After a hurried set-up and launch, Pat and Pete flailed around the ridge, never quite getting high enough to get out. In search of better clouds, they eventually headed south to the Zirks launch where Pat spent the rest of his two hour flight before, ahem, landing in the lz below. Later in the day Jim Rowan's dogs derived great excitement from investigating the interesting biological residues found on Pat's pants legs. Suffice it to say that the landing was inelegant.

In the meantime, Pete had scratched out of Zirks and committed over the back while low and climbing in garbage. He figured he'd rather take his chances in the valley behind the ridge, and after an hour long struggle finally got to base at 8,500msl under a long, dark overdeveloped street. At that point he thought he had it made, and began gliding only to have his hopes dashed by miles of heavy hail/sleet/rain. By the time he got out of the precipitation he was too low to cross the trees and mountains around Forks of Cacapon, and he landed there (24.3 miles) while Darrell watched. That's a good driver.

Pete Lehmann

Wednesday: When my vario showed 6000 feet, I cheered aloud. I am the Sky Goddess! A new personal best for me. I reminded myself to do what Paris says when you lose focus -- take a breath, re-center. The climb wasn't over yet. I milked out a couple hundred more feet. I felt happy, though chilled. I had been hanging out around the field for an hour, trying to get high, and it was almost 4:30. Crew is only allowed to fly after all the competitors have launched, unless you are chosen as wind dummy. It seemed like a waste to not use this lofty position to rack up some miles, though, even though it was late. I headed to Coleman, about 23 miles away, where I landed after another hour.

Picked a huge field by the turnpike. Landed well. I am awfully conservative but the XC will have to be on my terms for now. Flying with the top pilots has made me realize their incredible skill level. Chris doing loops on final. Jonny standing in his control frame at 5000 feet, filming his students, commentating, and going up at 700 per minute. Many of these pilots are not even aware of how much multitasking they do. I can now look for landing fields and my next lift while I thermal. But I need to think out my approaches still. The glider is not yet just an extension of my body.

Back to the good stuff. After landing, I discovered my diaper had not really worked and my gin flask leaked. My harness smelled interesting, and not in a good way. The Sky Goddess reeks. I bolted for a clump of trees and changed into the shorts I store in my harness, just in case some one decided to stop and chat with me before I found a ride home.

Paul picked me up, since he opted not to fly. He has flown all previous 3 days of the comp, and tried for the task the last two. He completed both tasks, and was 4th fastest of the rigids Tuesday. Pretty amazing, huh? But yesterday (Wednesday) he was sore and wanted to rest up for Florida Ridge. Besides, some of the competitors complained about him flying the tasks. The management said it was OK but I guess some of the guys felt embarrassed about getting spanked by a rookie.

I received the dubious honor of being wind dummy Tuesday, and was sent up at 12:30 into marginal lift. I scraped around for half an hour in rat sh** before decking it. No worries about being swarmed over by the gaggles. No one wanted to fly in view of my obvious struggles. Later, I flew again for an hour more, but I felt exhausted. Cranky. Not happy.

I think this comp is teaching me to focus on one thing at a time, or at least not so many. I ride my horse in the mornings before the pilot meetings. Then I crew, then I fly. Then we party. My parents are visiting, too. Yesterday I skipped my horse. Skipped the party Tuesday night. Well, I attended but then decided to nap in the truck while Paul ate. Kissed my parents good night and crashed. Much better to not do everything, even if it all sounds like fun. Yesterday I was much better as a result.

Anyhow. The comp is actually really fun. I had said I would never attend -- because the memories of the accidents here were so painful -- but it is OK. We have parties each night, and we even got a free bus ride and tickets to the Hard Rock Cafe so we could listen to Bob's band. The women pilots have been very supportive. Tova, from Australia, made me promise to not give up flying. Karina, the woman's world champ, spent a long time telling me about harnesses and gliders yesterday. Kari liked my watch. In fact, almost everyone is great. Full of help, full of kindness. Sunny and Kristen visited from Highland for a couple days, too. What a treat to see them.

Fly safe, flare well.

Lauren

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This page last updated April 25, 2005