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Hangola May 12 - 18, 2005

Flight Reports

It was a good day at Jacks. Although winds were a bit cross from the South, it was soarable by 3pm and glassed off at about 5pm. The gang included me, Jim & Teresa, Shawn MacDuff, Joe Gorrie, Bob & Cookie Beck, and Dave 'Spoons'.

After helping to launch Jim, I flew the Falcon 225 and stayed between 250' and 700' over, snapping photos. It was a bit too strong and cross for the PG. There was a sailplane race going on and sailplanes were screaming by launch every 15 or 20 minutes.

After awhile I landed and helped Jim fly a second time. Although both flights looked great, I think he liked his second flight best.

Everyone else flew to the airport.

'Spark

A few photos - http://community.webshots.com/album/344564286bheMqI

Arrived to find ole Man Jack cross, ugly, & cold. We were all afraid to fly until a new two showed up, so we threw him off to surprisingly mellow conditions. The sky eventually brightened and the thermals, though lite, were big and had long legs. Times to 2 hours, Gains to 2100' ( 4100' MSL ). Me, Joe, and Shawn to the airport. Shawn, Joe, Me, Sparks, Jim?, Spoons, and a bunch of sailplanes.

Headed up to Hardy Hill ( Glen got his H-1 rating from it so we named it after him.. ) and found the wind straight in. But...by the time we set up the new Falcon2 225 it had crossed signifgantly from the SSW. Eventually some launch windows allowed some flights for all of us, and we amused the numerous Bovine whom we had to chase away from the LZ so that we could land safely. Curious buggers' they are! LOL.

Yanni whined like a 'girlie mon' about the larger wing being "too big" but after he had some great flights and landings with it, he changed his tune. Being a 250+pound pilot...he was thrilled by how much easier it landed compared to the Falcon2 195 at his wing loading. And...got the longest flight of the day too.

Considering Saturdays' forecast, I'm glad we headed out today. Good time had by all -including the cows.

Rich Hays

Many thanks to Sparky for his excellent help as an observer at Jacks.

The LZ is completely planted now. So it may not be possible to use it soon, or at least not until the band of hay is cut. I did not catch the lift on the first flight so Sparky landed and we gave it another shot. That was extremely considerate. The second time I turned into the slightly south crossed wind and found the lift. I was able to stay between 250 to 650 above the mountain for an hour and a half. This is my longest flight ever. I also experienced having a red tailed hawk as a companion for a while. Three sail planes continued to cruise the ridge throughout the afternoon. Jacks is another beautiful site to fly!

Jim Hodges

After several days of lying around the house due to a nasty virus, I finally felt like I might live today and ventured forth to Quest for some flying. The weather and soaring continues to be pretty damn good and I told Davis that I was after his 50 km world record. He wasn't going to fly today but I think the thought that I might actually beat his record changed his mind and he launched shortly after me. To keep it brief, conditions started off weak but improved throughout the flight. I saw a solid 850' up for an extended time on one of my last thermals but I'd lost too much time earlier in the flight and fell short of the necessary speed. Davis came within a couple of minutes of beating his old record and trounced me by 9 minutes. He did this mostly by out climbing me, especially in the weaker earlier lift. Guess I've still got a bit to learn. Still a very fun day and tomorrow looks even better.

Lauren is still suffering from a cold and can't fly. Needless to say, I'm hearing a bunch of whining from the SB/SG.

Paul

I went to Ridgely and made two Tows. Extended Sleds. Textured air. Only one other pilot showed up and he didn't set up. T-storms started rolling through about 8:30. They're getting ready for the meet, the second week of June, and the place is starting to look pretty good. I'd like to make a comment about the post they sent out about Paris Williams arriving early for XC instruction. I've gotton to know Paris a little, from my winter trips to Quest. He's a very approachable guy and an excellent teacher and I can't think of a more productive and less expensive way to further one's Thermal and XC skills than by attending one of his XC sessions.

John H.

I decided to try Dickey's Ridge today after talking with Steve about the day. It rained here this morning but the sun came out about 1100. I got to launch about 12:30 and set up. Conditions were very light and cross. I waited till a little after three to launch when the sun finally stayed out for a while. I thought I got a good launch cycle but as it turned out I launched into sink. I made one turn and headed to the LZ only to find some lift about half way out. Got a nice save and flew for a little more than an hour. The sky started to over develop and I got some good, too good, lift north of launch to 3700 over. I was getting concerned with the dark cloud approaching the lz and launch. Decided to head toward Front Royal. Managed to get to the north side of the town and land by 522 along the river for 6.25 mi. For me it was my first xc from Dickey's and I was on the falcon.

I called Steve for a ride (he was still in D.C.) and he said he would drive out. I really did not mean for him to drive out. I had to walk a few miles back to the park but managed a ride for the last six miles. A good geezer day.

After boating about the ridge for 20 minutes or so not very high, I made a tactical blunder in leaving light lift immediately East of the LZ and heading back towards the launch ramp where I saw John Dullihan a few hundred feet higher. John was heading my way and by the time our paths crossed he was down to my elevation. After a few futile additional minutes I made the turn back to the South in order to assure myself that I could reach the LZ. I soon found myself scraped off the ridge and resigned myself to landing in the primary. On the way out I found a couple of light choppy thermals and attempted a turn in each one, to no avail. Finally right above the top of the field and well below the elevation of Hwy 16, I found another after unzipping the harness. While it wasnt any stronger it seemed better formed. One turn and I'm higher than I was, two and I'm higher still. Soon I had it mapped and 20 turns or so later I'm above the ridge and still climbing. One sweet low save, in front of a witness no less! Ultimately that one thermal gave me a net elevation gain of approximately 5,000 feet. How sweet it is!

It carried me all the way to the downwind end of the sea of trees behind the ridges before dieing out at the edge of the valley. I eventually managed a short 8 mile XC but with the earlier low save it was one very gratifying one.

John wound up landing across the street from my landing point an hour or so later. Hugh got his very first Pulpit OTB and landed at Lemasters. Others showed up later and hopefully had good flights as well.

All in all a 10 on the fun factor meter. Sure am glad I ain't a wuffo!

Dan T.

Davis sent Paul an email this morning. It said, simply; "looks good, 50, 100, or 150 K?" Paul has been trying to break world records with Davis. But Paul and I had to travel to Polk City this morning to sign contracts, so we would be late arriving at Quest. Besides, Paul said he didn't feel up to a grueling task.

Therefore, Paul decided to fly with me (something we have not done for 6 weeks or more). Long tasks are difficult on my glider, particularly on a light-wind day like today. Furthermore, this is my first day out of bed since I was afflicted with the "death-cold", so a huge flight was even more unlikely in view of my health. Paul looked forward to an easy day. I looked forward to having a flying buddy, which I have been lacking since almost all the pilots we know left for the North-lands.

We set a task of a triangle of about 30 miles, first stretching to the East beyond Clermont, then to the South and West by Highway 33 South of Seminole, and finally on home North to Quest again.

Well, I'll try to keep this brief. Paul and I managed to get along better than on our last flight, but our radio transmissions still turned into fights twice. We floated along at 6000 feet, gazing at eagles and clouds, but then Paul would scream where the heck I was going and I would demand that he not yell at me and the moment wasn't quite the same after that.

We headed to the East first, but a blue hole blocked our progress every time we tried to cross over to Highway 27. Finally we just decided to fly the triangle backwards. At Seminole, perhaps 9 miles South of Quest, we had already been flying for well over an hour. We hit our turnpoint to the South and then battled our way back east. We finally decided to tackle the blue hole again, since we were so high.

I knew I probably couldn't reach the obvious cloud that hung over Lake Louisa, even with 6000 feet -- and I was right. I diverted to a field to the East when it became clear that if I continued on North I would become the "Lake-Bitc*". I struggled between 1000 feet and 1300 for another 20 minutes, but finally decked it in a cow pasture.

My Gawd. They say you can't see terrain from the air. I had no idea how true this is. On final, perhaps 30 feet from the ground, I noticed the hills looked vaguely reminiscent of the mountains I used to ski in Colorado. And the little clumps of green I had noted from the air were huge bushes that reached as high as my waist. The ground undulated down and then up. My concentration was as busted as a teenager caught smoking in the school lav. I set the glider frame down landing but it was OK otherwise. I guess my landing skills need to be even better than they have been, like good enough to land in a tailwind or downhill. I have sooo much respect for the XC mountain pilots. I was grateful for my easy glider today.

The day deteriorated. Just prior to landing, my radio cut out. I had totally misjudged how big the field was, besides misjudging the fact it was friggin' mountain. I hiked out for at least half a mile, beating the bushes as I hiked to clear out the snakes. (Yelling, "Hey snakes, hey ya snakes, run you guys, hey snakes...")

Paul made it home to Quest, since he got to my landing field with more altitude than I did, and caught a thermal (neither of us could make the great cloud by the lake). Broke a down tube landing. Was horrifically worried about me since he had not seen my glider move after I landed. Got lost coming to pick me up. I was bitten by numerous ants but was not threatened by arrest.

Ha, the joys of being punished for a good deed. Poor Paul. Davis broke the world record for 50 K with a zippy little flight of about an hour. Paul and I waffled around for 3 hours, and I made 20 miles of a triangle. Yeesh.

I had cocktails with Belinda while Davis helped Paul fix his glider. At least I'm not bored.

Lauren

My first launch at the Pulpit. Winds at 6:30 launch had died back to about 10 -12. Clean launch, but I stayed too far out of the lift band as is my conservative tendency. Had enough lift to get to the primary LZ with a clean landing. Karen launched after me and was up for an hour or so, so I can't claim there was no lift! Thanks to Sparky for agreeing to observe (which got me out there) and then Matthew did back up observation since MNK arrived in time for Spark to launch and then for Matthew to observe me, and Karen, Matt and Hugh did wing crew for me. Got a beer from Shawn who had a great flight apparently ( he was up a long time while I was there). Got a body ride up to the top from Bacil who had flown a couple times today also. My thanks to all for all the help. -Linda B.

Fun day despite the fact that we didn't get ther unitl 6:00pm. Almost bailed due to scary clouds along I-81 on the drive up. But we called Sparky on site and he said conditions were sunny and great and they'd still be great at 6:00.

Karen got an hour or so in her HG and I got just under an hour and 700 over in my bag. Sparky launched his PG right after me and landed early after about 20 minutes to get home at a reasonable hour. We got home at midnight.

Summer is here!

Matthew

Bacil led the charge as usual yesterday, then John Dullahan, who flew for 3 1/2 hours. Then Dan T., then me. I joined John at the saddle and got to 1500 over (not quite high enough to leave), then we survived overdeveloped cycles where the clouds shaded the ridge for awhile, but we finally hooked a couple of good thermals that got me up to 2100 over drifting over the next ridge back . I had good comms with Dan on the ground (John's PTT was stuck so we couldn't talk to him on that freq) and I was pretty much committed anyway, so headed over the back with John right behind me. Hit a couple of bubbles but turning didn't yield any climb. (John advised me afterwards to stick with the thermal a bit longer - even in zero sink.) Mercersburg looked big and built up so I avoided it. I still had a couple of thousand over the elementary school, so continued to a huge field just east of Lemasters for a nice runout landing and carried into the backyard of the United Methodist Church to break down. The next door neighbors arrived and came out to admire this strange contraption. Dan picked me up and we joined John and Rich Donohue, who was driving for us (thanks!), on route 30 east of Fort Louden for the return to launch. Helped Linda and Karen launch (Linda's first launch at the Pulpit? Karen's first with the new Sport 2?), then Matthew and Allen Sparks launched their paragliders. Gorgeous day in the Pennsylvania countryside! Not rowdy like the last two weekends at Woodstock. One hour and 15 minutes, six miles, 2100 over, and lots of appreciative wuffos. I sure appreciate all the big fields that are still uncultivated! - Hugh

<snip>
The season finally started here, got a half hour at Villa Grove, some of the others did better with one pilot going 80 miles. MC

As mentioned earlier, I took off shortly after Bacil, and for the next few hours we struggled in short duration thermals to about 1,000 over, though most topped out at less then 600 over. Bacil was unlucky to be scratching low on one of the flush cycles and landed in the main field, but wasted no time in getting back up to resume the struggle. Naturally, the rest of the gang on launch waited for more promising conditions, and achieved more productive flights.

Dan T. and Hugh Mc. were far too modest in their flight accounts. The former launched about 2.5 hours after me and mostly showed me the bottom of his glider, as did Hugh, who followed him. In fact, Dan's save over the LZ was really low, and when he came back to the ridge, he caught an elevator to at least 2,500 over launch. I attemped to join him, but was too late for the train, and I watched Dan speck out and head over the back. Hugh also showed me where the lift was, and this time I joined him as we drifted over the back, topping out at 2,200 over before heading downwind. After spending about 3 hours scratching and working the patchy thermals, I was happy to break the cycle. However, there was no further lift over the valley. Hugh landed at LaMasters, and I landed at St. Thomas, on route 30 just across the road from Dan for eight miles. It was a paltry distance for a three hour 50 minute flight, but challenging and good practice to work the ratty thermals and scratch in survival mode.

Sean Ray also flew, and I had the pleasure of doing wire crew duties for Karen, and for Linda's first Pulpit flight. Matthew and Sparky had nice glass-off bagwing flights (after Sparky flew his CXS topless HG).

In all, it was a very pleasent day, with a sizable Harley contingent visiting launch to watch; several of whom said our activities seemed to be at least as much fun as riding hogs, and asked for information on taking lessons.

John Dullahan

I got to the pulpit around 2 and started setting up.The sky was kind of looking threatening, but no rain. Spark got there around 3 or so. It was pretty strong at that time.I helped Bacil, John Dullaham,and Hugh off launch, then Spark,and I went for a walk in the two lz's.We left my van- The Mountain Queen!!!!- down in the primary, because that was my main goal! I just wanted to see what I could get,and try for the primary.We went back up on launch,and the sun came out about 5 o' clock. Spark asked if I was ready, I said yes.A group of spectators showed up at that time, and one of them was Wayne Smith I believe- a hang 4 that has been out of it for a while. Anybody know him? Bacil was flying at the time so Wayne, Spark,and Dan wired me off. I was on the ramp for a while- gusty thermals coming through. I could see what Spark meant by the swirling trees in front of the ramp.I found a lull,and slipped in.Spark said the launch was fluid.I got away from the ramp,and turned left down the ridge, and said to myself . Can I make it? Oh my god, no worries. I was up 300 over by the time I got to the primary! I turned back towards launch ,and flew through a thermal- i'm guessin- that made my vario go reeeeeeeeeeeeing! I waved at Bacil who was up , just Bacil, and I on the whole ridge- SWEET!.It was a good day, all in all I got 1000 over, and an hour+a few. I went down to retrieve Spark , who then flew his pg after flying his hg with a fin that opened up to slow down- pretty cool! Linda had a good flight to the primary on her first pulpit flight . good job!I watched her landing. Mathew, and Karen were still up at the end of the day. I had fun!!! Shawn.

Classic Rock day.

I left work early, planted my garden vegtables, then jetted to the LZ and met Steve and Skip. Arrived up top around, launched the 225 Falcon around 5pm into NW 10+ and was at 1k over launch within the first 5 minutes. Bruce and Curtis K joined us, and soon we were all airborne, thanks to launch assistance from Eddie.

I flew for a bit more than an hour and maxed out at a measly 1700' over launch, mainly because I wasn't willing to drift too far back with the fat-wing. I think the other guys were getting between 2k and 3k over. I was able to pimp off the local vulture clan several times, climbing in lift all the way out to the railroad tracks.

PG Thursday, HG Friday, PG Saturday, HG & PG Sunday, and HG on Monday. I gotta stop for a few days.

'Spark

I'll add just a few notes to the Pulpit report. I took off around 1:15P when a long, dark cloud street was headed right for launch. Launch conditions were moderate. Got up and spent a frustrating 1:15 in the air, getting 700' over max. The flush that John mentioned put me on the deck for a good 15 minutes, going back and forth just above the trees in the chop. Stepped in a big hole around 16 and immediately headed out. Another one of those visual sights that gets your attention: your ground speed is very slow, you are sinking, and making the main field looks iffy for a few seconds. A few seconds later things are looking better, and they turn out fine. While in the LZ watched John struggle between 700' to 1200' over, just not getting high enough to go OTB. Sparky gives me a body ride up. We witness Dan's low save, and see him go OTB. We thought it was John, so John's driver Rich goes to retrieve John, who happens to be still in the air. We launch Hugh, then I set up to launch again. Hugh gets up easily and joins John. I get airborne around 5P and see John and Hugh upstairs going OTB. I spend another frustrating 1:15 getting to 1200' over in one thermal, but still not enough to go OTB. More flush cycles ensue, but not to the extent of the one earlier. Shawn joins me in the air and he has a nice flight. Finally it's around 6:15P and I give up on OTB and go in and land after Shawn. Sparky comes in to land in his CSX with the clamshell drag unit deployed on his keel. He and Shawn pack up and go back up top. Linda Baskerville makes the main LZ on her first flight at the Pulpit. John, back from his XC, graciously drives my car down to the LZ. As John, Linda, and I are ready to head to the top, we see Sparky descending to a landing right at the breakdown area in his paraglider. Airborne are Matthew in his paraglider and Karen in her hang glider. Within an hour Sparky flew his hang glider and paraglider. Now that's efficient use of flying time! Pretty beat from tussling with the chop just safely above treetop level in all the flush cycles that hit in the 2 flights. I counted at least 2 in the first flight, and 3 in the second.

Bacil

Fun "mini" outing late Tuesday. Winds were anything from calm to light cross out of the North. I got two flights in and Glen Hardy got two flights in. Glen was having some harness issues, leading to some less than perfect flights but...otherwise he survived. LOL. Had to run our butts off to get airborn. Can't say this fat boys' run so fast in a long time. Seems like all my launches lately have been with lots of wind. So....these dead-air launches are both a surprise and a workout. Definately had lost my skills in that department so...the practice was worthy.

Kevin Carter stopped by and grabbed a flight on my new Falcon2 225. Hung out for about an hour and then left. It was cool seeing him fly from where I gave him his first lesson. This time however; from the top. LOL. And damn..can he ever get a glider back up the hill fast ! NOTE: He's off to Europe to compete. Good luck and best wishes to KC !!! Kevin also informed me of some interesting personal news, but I'm not sure he wants to share that info yet, so...look for him to announce some good stuff regarding gliders' and such.

Winds switched fast the the SE, shutting us down. That, or it went catabatic.

Regarding the 225; what a joy it is FINALLY being on a glider suited for my fat-ass. Great handling too. I am really surprised at how good the roll rate is. I was expecting a "BIG" sluggy glider feel and its' not at all. At least for my hook-in weight. One nice feature is that they have kept the control bar the same size as the Falcon 195 so...you don't feel like you're holding a monster bar. Very easy to groundhandle. BIG difference from the original Falcon 225.

Rich Hays

I'll start with the last part first - Steve signed off on my H3! Thank you! Huge thanks to the instructors, observers and everyone else that have mentored me.

And now back to the beginning... It was overcast on the drive up, but the sun started to poke through once we got to HR. I launched around 1:30pm and started sinking out after a few passes, but found a thermal on my way to LZ and eventually got up to 1800 over launch. Steve finished setting up and launched just as the lift started letting up and within 10-15 min we were both on the ground. Then enjoyed a hike back up to get our cars.

Alek

I was looking at the Wind Riders site this morning & it said stop reading this & go flying so I did. The air was very textured (Booming) at Redwing today! I do mean booming ! What a wild ride . It was a blast. Thanks to Norm (crazy wings) many gliders got in the air. I won't name all the names because I may forget someone or screw up the name. At least 9 pilots got in the air. Including a couple of new guys from New York. I got off at 2k when Norm gave me the thermal signal. I don't think I could have held on much longer anyway . What a great ride! My vario says I hit 1700 ft/min lift . But I only saw it at 800 ft/min but I didn't really look at it much I could hear all i needed to know. I toped out at 6049 ft above the LZ . Of course just below Doug the AirHog. After a 1:12 flight I had a good landing even though it was a little bumpy down to the last 100 ft. I did wait for Rodney like I said I would at 4k for around 15 min but he was running a little late & the sink monster caught up with me. I did put up a good fight at 800 ft for a while because I didn't want to land in rowdy air but it laid down a bit when I landed. Great day Great people. Life is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gary (getting up for works gona be hard tomorrow) Cargen
Thks again to Norm for the tow & Bob for keepin the tug going.

Congrates to Gary's new personal record of 6K!

As for me, I just couldn't stay in lift except when I was on tow. The roudiest tows I've ever experienced. After checking my vario I found that, even though it took me 3 flights, my total air time was 1 hr & 5 minutes. That only drops me another 7 minutes from Gary's 30 minute lead. I'll catch him this weekend while he's out sailing.

I'll second (or third) the vote for wildest ride!

Jim Spadafora gave Norm a needed break from the scary conditions to tow me up to 3000. Great Adventure has nothing that could even come close to this thrill ride! I think a lot of the maneuvers that we both performed count as aerobatics!

Jim dropped me off in what should have been an excellent thermal, but it shut down almost immediately. After that the sink alarm was on all the way down to 1200, where a small rowdy thermal acted as a steeping stone to higher altitudes. I ended up at about 5100 for a total of 1:35. Yikes was it cold, but wow was it good.

Many thanks to Norm for starting this day, Jim for the unforgettable tow, Bob for his untiring efforts with the engine and airframe, and everyone else for great flying!

Tom Curbishley

Like Richard said, that 225 flew great. I had to run a little more then I expected without wind but she floated away nice. Roll was light for the relatively flat turns as well as a 90 for final. I felt light flairing it but it finished beautifully. Winds were 0 and I weigh about 180-185 now.

It was great flying Oregon Ridge again with Richard. Brings back the memories. I don't remember hiking hurting that much. All the flying is making me soft.

Kev C

Yeah I was late but after last Tuesday yesterday was awesome. Got off at 2400 while climbing on tow at 850 ft/per min. and spent the next 45 min. below that. My new compeo (way cool!) indicated max lift 1660 and max sink 1330. Yes it was bumpy with little hot bullets everywhere but the thrill was worth every second! Thanks to all you babysitters 'cause Will had a great time and thanks to everyone else who makes our little club work!

Great day,
Rigid Rod

(I can't believe I just typed that!)

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This page last updated May 19, 2005