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Hangola
Friday April 24, 1998

Thanks John for the excellent intro. (Was your subject really Pulpit on Sunday? Not Saturday?) (Sorry for the length of the post, but it was a good weekend!)

Anyway, Tom twisted my arm into taking Friday off (thanks Tom). It really didn't take much twisting (damn work ethic!). So we headed out for Cumberland to see what we could see. The thermal index was -0.7 which we figured must be bogus, and since Tuesday was "nuclear" and they got sleds at Fisher's, I figured that the weather people just couldn't be relied upon.

Friday:
Will Jenkins, JR, Larry Ball and John McAllister had hired Daryl to drive for them and Tom, Myself, Geoff, Steve Kinsley, and Doug Wakefield showed up to imposed on them. My recommendation is that if you are planning XC from Cumberland, Bring A Driver. You will want one, and you risk generating ill-will from the local pilots (whom you will need to get up to launch!) My thanks to the locals for suffering the imposition (you will also need to be a Mountaineer, but all of these things are worth it as you will see).

It was blowing in at about 15 with some major thermal cycles. Will reported the air was not too strong, just a little choppy from the thermals. So we all dove off. Will, Larry, and JR all left with about 4000+ over, soon after I launched. About 10 - 15 minutes later I was at altitude and left the ridge too. Unfortunately, they didn't wait for me and I was all by myself in the air. I got to about 7200 (+5400) and started jumping clouds. There was a huge blue hole downwind, so I had to keep skirting to the south. Max altitude for me was 8719, but Will reported about 9600 (too bad the thermal index said that there wouldn't be any good thermals!) I drifted over the Highway Dome field, and Paw Paw. Unfortunately while listening to people talk about where to go, I stopped listening at Paw Paw. I figured an 18 mile flight would be awesome. So I just kept drifting over the ridges far below me. Once into the clear I encountered nothing but sink and lost 5600 feet on what was to be my final glide! I got 32.2 miles in 1:40.

The others: John unable to penetrate back to the ridge landed less than a mile behind the ridge and was happy to be alive. JR made it to the Highway dome field. Will made it east of Winchester for around 50 miles. Tom who left the ridge about 30 minutes after I did made it 8 NE of Will for exactly 50 miles, but it took an hour and a lot of miles to get him. We then went to Middletown MA (west of Frederick) to get Larry who went 69 miles!!!!! By the time we got back to launch to get Larry's truck the wind was howling at least 40 mph! And it was very late (close to midnight). An awesome day.

Saturday:
Some of the same faces: Will Jenkins, JR, Larry Ball, John McAllister Tom, Myself, Doug Wakefield, with the addition of Christy, and Marvin. (Did I forget anyone?) It was a much tougher day. Winds at launch were a little stronger. Over a period of time, launching into lulls, everyone but JR and John got off. Marvin, Christy, and Will got high and left. Then a cloud system came in and John wanted to back off launch but couldn't in the 35 mph winds. Finally he backed off, but everyone in the air on the ridge was low and struggling, but there was NO WAY anyone was going to land at the Fairgrounds in that kind of wind. Eventually the sun came back and things got better. John and JR finally launched. Then Larry, John, and Tom left the ridge leaving just Doug and myself on the ridge. I didn't like drifting back too far in my Formula due to the penetration problem, so kept getting to about +2500 to +3500. Finally after 3:30, and still not wanting to land at the primary.

And since Tom and I had parked the truck over the back in anticipation of XC, I dove over with +2300 for a nice 3.45 miles (which in the old days before GPS would have scored me a 5 mile trip according to JR).

It was a great weekend!

-Mike Balk

PS. On a personal note, This has by far been my best year, and this month alone is better than my average year for the past 6 years!!!! Thanks to Tom and George for letting me tag along this spring.

Anyway, the forecast was west 10-15. The winds aloft were forecast for 310 at 20 knots from 3,000 to 12,000 msl. I never saw a winds aloft forecast with such consistent winds and thought that it may be especially good if the thermals stayed together as they gained altitude.

Mike Balk and I got out there early (at least for me), but the local sky gods were convinced that going early would be a mistake. We ended up getting to launch around 1:30 and began launching around 2:15. I launched at 2:45. Cycles were surprisingly strong, and it seemed pretty thermally on launch due to the cycles up to 25 mph and lulls to 10 mph.

In the air, I thought that things were fairly turbulent (wires went slack several times), but the winds aloft were light (apprx 15 - 20 at 4,000 msl). Larry Ball, JR, Will Jenkins, and I climbed out to about 5,000' over at 3:15. They proceeded to have great flights, but with cloudbase so much higher (9,600 msl per Will), I went back out front to get under another cloud on top of the ridge. This worked somewhat as Mike Balk and I proceeded to climb again, but at 4,500' over, I again decided to head out front and try to get under another cloud. Mike took this thermal and also went on to have a great flight. My strategy worked as you may guess: I sunk down to about 500' over as the clouds dissipated and the others spec'ed out and went downwind.

After another 1 1/2 hours, I finally blundered into another good thermal. I noticed Geoff Mumford was already the thermal and was several thousand feet above me, so I decided to stay in this thermal a little longer. This thermal took me to 6,300' over launch (apprx 8170 msl) and about 5 miles downwind. After I left the thermal and turned downwind, I often found little bubbles of lift, but try as I could, I usually lost altitude chasing the lift.

I finally stopped chasing this false lift and glided to the railroad tie plant (10 miles) and found my first decent thermal, and climbed from 3,500 msl back to about 8,000 msl. Again, I headed on a NW track past Paw Paw (18 miles) where there were better fields and some clouds. I seemed to chase more false lift - sometimes I gained 50 feet but more often lost 50 feet.

I finally got low in near where Rt. 127 crossed the last big ridge east of Paw Paw (28 miles). I found myself down to 3,100 msl with a little field in front of the ridge and better fields behind the ridge, but I didn't quite have the altitude to cross the ridge (at that time a 20-1 glide) to clear the top. Mike Balk then told me that he landed with 32 miles (at that point I had 28). However, in the gap where Rt. 127 crosses the ridge I worked a small thermal to 3,500 msl, and more importantly, drifted downwind past that last big ridge.

I then found a few small thermals that kept me in the 3,500 msl range until I reached Mike Balk, near where Rt. 127 hits Rt. 522. Then I found my last good thermal (400 up) and went back to about 7,000 msl. From that point, I worked only light lift as I drifted downwind and slowly sank.

I think due to the lateness of the day, the valley was going magic. I hit very little sink the last 20 miles and actually gained at times while on glide. I crossed I-81 at 2,000 msl and still glided 10 miles to Summit Point (870 msl). The last good field I saw turned out to be part of the Summit Point Raceway, so I turned around and landed just west of the race track at an old farm.

By way of confession, my longest distance from launch was 50 miles (I marked my position by GPS) but when I landed, I had only 49.7 miles. But I'll consider this my first 50 mile flight, albeit unofficial. I also have to give credit to Mike Balk. When he told me he had 32 miles, I decided to work the light lift at the Rt. 127 gap so that I could fly at least as far as he did. It also appears that I made a pest out of myself because Will Jenkins, Balk, JR, and Darryl (the driver) had a difficult time getting to me. My apologies to them. I hope to make it up to them some time.

The stats from my vario:

max lift: 900 (only a 5 second averager)
max sink: 1200
Max altitude: 6312' over launch
8170 msl

What a great day.

Tom McGowan

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This page last updated April 29, 1998