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Hangola June 20 & 21

Saturday June 20

Sunday, June 21

Saturday the 20th. There was a lot of hemming and hawing going on this morning. Better thermal index south, but lighter winds as well. Woodstock? The Pulpit? High Rock? Where to go. Christy called and said that she and Doug were thinking about Woodstock, but didn't want to be the only ones there. So Tom and I went, and they didn't.

In the air, all three sites were heard from. I will tell about Woodstock, and the others can tell about their sites. . .

Got there about noon, no one in the air, no one set up, and the only other pilot was one of Steve and Tex's hang two's. Looked sweet coming in, so Tom and I hurry to set up. Tex and another pilot (sorry, forgot the name) showed up (and got stung by wasps or hornets - how do we get rid of them?), and a couple of bag-wings also showed up. Others showed later, but after I was in the air.

I was first to launch, Tom was 10 minutes behind me. Made it to 3000 over right away, but there was major sink in between the big thermals. Spent most of the day 500' to 1500' over. Later Tom got 4200' over. Other than the Two (his second mountain flight) who landed after 40 minutes, no one else seemed to want to land. I decided to break my endurance record of 3:20 and ended up with 4:15! I landed to "Air Hog" greetings, but after I got the car back to the LZ is when Tom decided to land (he just didn't want to get the car) with 5:05!

It was an excellent, easy day at Woodstock! Some low to the trees flying (first time I have heard birds chirping while I was in the air), some high flying to cool off. And as much of it as we wanted. Who would have thought it? So how were the other sites?

-Mike Balk

P.S. Sunday will be the longest flying day of the year!

Great flying day at the Rock. First thermal soaring flight, 2950' over launch, 69 minutes. Highest, longest, flight yet!

Cragin

Mike Chavalier and Judy McCarty were followed to the pulpit by hang 2's Chuck Pyle, Ed Reno, Dave Johnson and Steve Padgett. Also Dan Tomlinson, Keith Ford was there and a couple other flyers (Luke a hang 2 from Youngstown who I have seen before and expect to see again). For most of the day, wind speed on the ramp was 15-20 with occasional gusts to 25 mph. Mike and Judy went off first and went over the back; Mike going 20 miles to the town of Shady Grove and Judy going 5 miles. Keith had his family there and tried to fly to his house 10 miles away falling slightly short. Dan spent an hour on the new ramp worrying about whether his right wing was going throw him (!?) (in 20deg cross wind); finally switching to the old ramp to launch immediately. After the air backed off some, the hang 2s flew; all of us flying along the ridge for 1-2 hours (unfortunately Dave got air sick and landed after a few minutes). It was a great flying day for all! (xcep Dave)

Steve Padgett.

Yeah, well, we were going to go to Woodstock, but then I called JR and got sucked out to Cumberland. It was quarter to 10 when I called JR and he said they were meeting in the LZ at 11:15. Gonna be tight getting there. Made it at 11:20 - before JR. Had a great time. The wind was coming in nicely at launch and we all set up. JR off first, then Larry Huffman, then me, then (not necessarily in this order) Larry Ball, Doug Wakefield, Stretch Minas, and Greg Beyer (owner of the site). JR was the first to try to go somewhere and he ended up hitting massive sink and landed in the Zirk's LZ. I was next to get to cloud base (I thought the two Larrys had already gone over the back) which was at about 6500 msl. I was already committed by the time I got there, so I drifted slowly with the cloud until I started getting bored with that and struck out on my own. I ended up not finding another good thermal, just burbles, until the town of Levels. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 miles from High Point. No stepper landing. No witnesses. Doug landed in the LZ (sunk out after an hour), broke down, and came and got me. Larry landed in Springfield (12 miles?). Larry Huffman, flying the only topless there, got the flight of the day, landing in Berryville. 54 miles?
Christy

Highrock - Many sleds in conditions that kept 'em launching and sledding. It was L and V, big clouds nearby, air coming in, sunny, and crossing more and more from the left. Conditions appeared to be deteriorating. So after taking our shot, Kelly and I headed to Fisher's in pursuit of the big cu. We left as Judy was on waunch lith peveral silots not foo tar behind. How did it go? Tell me it got better because...

Fisher Road (4:14pm) was pretty similar; sleddog-city all day. Enough to lure you off, but nobody had the right stuff except Marvin. He gave everyone hope that there was still a chance; he sustained 50 over for about 10+ minutes. Cu activity disappeared everywhere except to the west of us. I whacked in LZ tearing off gps III antenna in the process. Amazingly resilient thing though. I popped it back together, reattached it to the gps, and it appears fully functional. Kelly came in right behind me and demonstrated noticably better landing technique. Way cool.

Additional cool news is that the tree has been planted thanks to John McA.

-Kevin Madden

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This page last updated June 22, 1998