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Hangola
July 4th weekend extended

Wed, July 1

Thursday, July 2

Friday, July 3

Saturday, July 4

Sunday, July 5

Nice day at Woodstock. John Middleton, Geoff and me. West cross @ 15 to 20 aloft. 5 knot therms to 2500 - 2800 over. Couldn't make cloudbase which was still another 1,000 ft up. John went north to the point. Geoff and I hung around the ranch. We all looked for Bacil's airfield and have concluded that he has an active imagination. I provided some entertainment by getting my arm on the wrong side of the flying wire on final causing some inadvertant aerobatics. Geoff pronounced the day a bore. I think we have an evolving "flatlander" culture here.

John McAllister showed up but couldn't fly because he left his tip strut at HR

:13 for me, 200' over, sled for Steve K earlier, Marvin sustained at launch level for a moment or two. From the LZ we could see Eddie soaring, but he was down by the time we got up top.

Judy

Three(!) pilots went adventuring xc from the towfarm today. I'll let them tell their own stories. :15 for me, landing (whacking) in the big field across the street (north wind).

Judy

Got lucky Friday at The Rock for a big 0+30 and 1500' over. Even had a decent landing. Was beginning to think that I was getting good on this thing. Sunday at the TowFarm quickly disabused me of this notion.

It turned out to be a nice day. Steve K., Mike's Balk and Chevalier all went XC for decent miles, given the conditions. Impressive performances. I, on the other hand, fed my Fusion about 150 squares of corn (weak link failure) and skinned my right knee (flare failure) for a total of 0+35 and 2500' AGL max in two flights. Corollary list of bone-headed acts would fill a pamphlet. Perhaps I'll take up knitting.

On a positive note, Janet had her first alternate field landing, deciding in flight - as did many others including myself, finally - to put it down in a adjoining field that faced into the wind rather than braving the 90 degree cross in the main LZ.

-- Joe

How was everyone's weekend?

I had a wonderful time at Hyner :-) At the last minute I was able to get the entire day off on Thursday so it was off to Hyner in the middle of the night. John Middleton had the flight of the day on Thursday with Mark Gardner right behind him with 1 hour, 2000' over. What were your stats John? Unfortunately conditions weren't as great as we'd hoped but of course that didn't stop these guys!

The party Saturday night was fantastic as usual, with the Drag Races (Danny Brotto won best dressed and looked great with Fred Permenter a very close second as a southern belle!), Statue of Liberty, Fire Breathing by Nick Stammers (incredible!), naked motor scooter (with fire coming out of the tail pipe as well) fire jumping by Spoons and the usual naked fire jumping (those guys had to get some good jumps 'cuz the fire was HIGH.) The evening was truly incredible!

My highlights of the weekend are: 1/2 hour flight where I FINALLY got over the wall (400' over) and a sled on Thursday at Hyner. Extended sleds Friday and Saturday at Hyner, cloud dive Sunday morning at Hyner and 2 hours and 3000' over at Kennedy on Sunday - - YEAH!!! (it was the toughest flying I"ve done yet). Other CHGA'ers on Sunday (at Kennedy) were Mark Gardner, Tom McGowan, Raean, Jim Rowan, Brian Vant-Hull and Chuck Pyle. Sounded like a lot of the other Hyner-ites were heading to Sacramento.

Chuck Pyle gets the Iron-Man award by taking too many sleds for me to count - how 'bout it Chuck?

Can't wait to hear about everyone's weekend!

Sheila

Hi all:
I'll post a report from the Sac. I got there around noon to find only Bacil setting up. I was expecting local pilots and returnees from Hyner to show up, and they did show up. Eric Wakefield made the trip up also.
Bacil launched first into somewhat gusty straight north air. He boated around for awhile and headed down the ridge. I launched awhile later as it had calmed a bit, and lost lift and sank out. Bacil lost lift after crossing the first gap and landed so I retrieved him.
By the time we returned pilots were arriving by the carload and launching. I set up again and launched, this time picking a better cycle and getting up right away.
All soared till we got tired. Most everyone got 2000-4500 over and some had 3.5 hr flights. Sometimes smooth, sometimes rough
An excellent Sac day indeed.
Herb Graybill

You all may rejoice in that I had a lousy weekend. Nothing but sleds at the Rock on Friday and Sunday for me, and I lost my radiosounde data service from Weatherbank and was dysfunctional without it, worse than flying without a vario.

BTW, miss Emma is starting to make noise about closing the lz if we don't fly there more often. I think hearing so much about the Pulpit aggravates this situation. I suggested another High Rock fly-in after she talked glowingly of the anniversary fly-in we had. Perhaps Rae, Fred and Danny can do a little exploring here to see what's up. Please do not mass-call her, let the "old timers" who've known Emma a long time get in touch. Or just go fly there.

Marc

I had a very enjoyable XC Sunday from the tow farm. My first real XC of the year. Flew due south to the little town of Harmony -- total of 28.8 miles according to Mike Balks GPS. Off tow at 2300 and climbed to 4000 which was only a couple hundred feet shy of base. There were lots of cumis downwind and I flew and drifted for quite a while bobbing up and down between 2800 and 4500. But all good things come to an end and about 15 miles downwind I came to a huge blue hole that was probably 10 miles across. I figured I was toast and almost was. Got down to about 1500 but found a very nice thermal over a brown field -- birds were rushing in to join me. This was probably the nicest thermal of the day for me in terms of consistency and climb rate. It dissipated at about 3900 feet -- short of the cloudbase/dew point. So next time you come to a blue hole, it may not be as hopeless as you think. There is (or at least can be) lift out there . Made it all the way across to where the thermals were again marked by cumis and the birds were singing and the flags were flying and the bands were playing and I'm starting to hope for major miles and promptly sank out. Sigh.

Thanks toMike Balk for the retrieve. Dinner at Buddy's in Annapolis after with Joe and Janet, Mikes B & C and Judy JUdy. Janet's Birthday. Happy Birthday Janet.!!

My XC at the Towfarm was short but exciting. I released at 2000' in a weak thermal. I'd lift a wing once in a while to check on the small but building cloud above. I climbed at about 100 fpm or less till I got to 3500 at which point the turbo lift kicked in. 600 fpm took me to cloud base and cloud suck topping out at 4950'. I whited out and went flying out the side of the thing, flew through the sink back under it hoping to get back in the lift. No luck. Just sink so I tried flying ahead to the next building cloud. It was soon obvious it was out of reach because of the sink so I picked out a field and landed just east of Centreville. The GPS showed 10.9 miles. A corrections officer pulled up in a prison van, asked if I was OK and then asks "Watta ya got there a sailboat?" No wonder there are so many prison escapes. So I explain to him the concept of hang gliding, thermaling and towing, he leaves a little older and wiser. I walked out to rte. 213 where Steve Vogel picks me up.

Later we're just a little disappointed because Buddy's doesn't have the all you can eat crab special tonight. Then to add insult to injury I put a twenty on the table later and drop my wallet. The chain catches it but unbeknownst to me all the cash landed on the floor. Someone in that restaurant is $60 richer. My loss someone elses gain.
MC

At 08:49 AM 7/6/98 PDT, you wrote:

>Chuck Pyle gets the Iron-Man award by taking too many sleds for me to
>count - how 'bout it Chuck?
>
>Can't wait to hear about everyone's weekend!
>
>Sheila

Thanks, Sheila for the Iron-Man award but most of it was just looking busy as opposed to actually flying. However, I did get 12 flights over the weekend and went through almost as many observers (THANK YOU ALL!!!!). Observers were kind of thin on Monday so, after one flight, I reverted to fly fisherman on one PA's beautiful trout streams. Two "most memorable flights" of the weekend for me would have to have been:
(1) Thermalling on my first flight from Hyner on Thursday. While watching other pilots take off, I noticed there were always a number of comments from the "wall watcher" pilots -- "Turn Right, Turn Right, Circle right there!" Apparently these folks were seeing potential thermal action that the actual pilot wasn't feeling or wasn't responding to. Having seen this enough, I thought how useful it might be if one of these guys/gals would be in radio contact with me so I could get the benefit of their wisdom. I mentioned this to Sheila who, in turn, got John Middleton to agree to fly my glider by remote control with me as the pilot. It worked!!! John guided me into a nice thermal and had me do 360's until I was well over launch and it was GREAT!!!.

(2) At Kennedy on Sunday, I ridge soared and thermalled to about 1500' over launch for over an hour.. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the vario John Middleton had loaned me so I had to go by "seat of the pants" and by an overheard radio transmission from Raeann to Sheila which discussed good lift over the point.

Chuck

On July 1, set out for Colorado with brother Jim. Driving two cars, one carrying my old HPAT 145, we arrived at Pete Farbishs' place near Denver on July 2 and joined a Rocky Mountain HGA fly-in the following day. It was an informal affair, with some pilots at William's Peak, a fairly high site but subject to being blown out, and some at Kenosha Pass, at 10,500 ft MSL a lower a more predictable launch.

I had four days earmarked for flying. On July 3 it was blowing over the back at Kenosha, so we hung around launch talking to pilots and enjoying the great view of the Rockies. Some of the high peaks were partially snow-covered. The RMHGA pilots were still depressed over the death of their mentor and most-prominent member, Brad Koji.

On July 4 it was light and the first four pilots got sled rides. After Jim took one to get more time on the HPAT everyone decided to wait for better conditions. About 30 minutes later I launched on a borrowed MK IV 17, sank to 400 below launch, was lucky enough to stumble into a light thermal, and worked it back to launch level. Everyone else started launching but only one, Dan Rayburn on a Moyes, avoided a sled ride and climbed to 1,000 over where I was hanging out. I had forgotten how much effort it takes to keep the MK IV in the core of a thermal, as compared to my trusty HPAT, now in Jim's possession.

For about 50 minutes Dan and I found thermals for each other all the while keeping an eye on the over development moving towards us across the wide valley. With the winds picking up and the possibility of cloud suck increasing we bailed out and landed.

The next day produced similar light conditions, except that I flew with oxygen and promptly sank out, as did anyone else who flew. Jim got an extended sled on the HPAT.

For our last day we had intended to go to William's Peak the next day but high winds and thunderstorms forced us into non-flying activities.

A few observations: RMHGA members constantly reminded us to get up lots of speed on launch before attempting to leave the ground (we did). They said east coast pilots have a tendency to blow an occasional launch by mushing-in on shallow slopes. We didn't notice the thin air when flying, but when walking around, especially carrying anything or climbing, found ourselves breathing a lot heavier.

Although I had been in the Rockies previously, this time the mountains seemed really spectacular. Weather conditions are very changeable so flying with and getting lots of guidance from local pilots is a must. Mark Windshimer, an instructor and very experienced pilot, was a great source of help.
Now, until the Xtreme gets here, for flying I have either Jim's MK IV 17 or an Eiger from Austria which flys like a big Falcon. Both gliders are for sale. The MK IV is in good condition; the Eiger is almost new and breaks down to about seven feet.

Matt Tabor says the Xtreme I ordered is being tweaked a little more and will be here in about four weeks. I am not so optimistic and prepared for a longer wait.
John Dullahan

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This page last updated July 13, 1998