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Hangola June 12 & 13, 1999

Weekend flying was a lot of driving but a lot of driving. Dan Tomlinson and I headed to Jack's on Saturday, arriving about 3:00 pm. Only Jeff Harper was in the air, specing out. Lots of gliders in the set up area, none on launch. The PA pilots finally got the idea and they hit the sky. I launched at the beginning of a flush cycle, and got only 300' over launch for 13 minutes. After a body ride and van retrieve, I found Dan had still not launched. The flush cycle had gotten worse and he was waiting it out.

Dan launched... he will tell the tale of his flight. It was a good one.

I got set up and back in the queue, hitting the air in better conditions. This time I worked several small thermals up to 1,000' over launch. While I was working these, the first batch of flushed pilots, as well as several of Jeff's students all launched. The sky was full, including a whole gaggle of Falcons. I got back right over launch at about 1,000' and found a very friendly boomer that carried me to 2,000 feet. The front and back valleys both looked great from 3,000 above the valley floor. I had drifted back a bit, so headed out in front of the ridge again. Once I left that big lift, I was not able to find any more to work. I searched up and down the ridge, but staying away from the wandering Falcons, none of whom were organized into a simple group pattern over the ridge. I slowly sunk out, and landed at 37 minutes for a very nice Jack's flight.

On Sunday I got a late start on the day, driving back to PA, but over to Bill's Hill this time. Arriving at launch around 2:30, I found John Dullahan and Bacil Dickert as the only other pilots there. John also had two guests, a couple of boys visiting from Germany. John had just brought Bacil back to launch after an early (well, late in the day for Bacil) sled. John was already set up, using Steve Kinsley's old glider he bought recently from Allen Sparks. John flew about 3:30, and tried valiantly to stay in the sky. There was very little to work with, and he only was able to turn it into an extended sled. Bacil and I went on the retrieve, leaving our gliders behind with the boys, so I could leave my van at the LZ. The day was still sunny, but we watched clouds rolling in from the east, bringing light rain. About 5:20 I launched into the gust front preceding one of the showers. That had brought winds on launch all the way up to 9 1/2 mph, the high winds of the day. I found light lift areas to both sides of launch, so worked my way up to 300' over, passing back and forth in front of the slot. By the time I got off we had been joined by a couple of trucks of local residents, so I had my own audience in the hills. John told me later they were applauding as I passed by waving!

As the gust front passed I started sinking out, so headed for the LZ. The whole way out I was buffeted by light turbulence, bouncing up and down. Bacil later asked if I had been pushing out in it, but it was all just notable bounces. I set up a fast approach from the north, and put the glider down in a sweet, gentle no-step with a light flair, to my own delight, as well as for the spectators'. The flight was a very satisfying 19 minutes on an otherwise typically light sled day at Bill's.

This was a great flying weekend. The van logged 415 miles on Saturday and another 300 miles on Sunday. Life is good.

Cragin S.

hey gang don't forget this weekend june 19,20 is the high rock party,t-shirts are being printed as we speak(type)whatever!They were created by our own lynn barnes a local artist in baltimore.

Secondly i was down highland this sunday and once again i must say what a nice, out-going ,and knowledgeable bunch of guys down their.Their tandem operation should be finally up and running this week so lets give them our support and make them feel welcome to our area their web site gets updated each morning with the local weather.

see ya on the hill and be safe

george

Cast of Scads, but only me, Dan and Cragin from our area. I arrived to totally blue skies with a line of clouds just peaking over the horizon. Decided not to fly until they came nearer. Conditions that afternoon were off and on. Dan and Cragin both flew twice, but I didn't get any specific details because we had mixed messages about meeting for dinner and lost each other. It was fun meeting a perplexed Dan driving across Launch a second time in search of the LZ. Turns out he had lost track of WHICH VALLEY it was in.

I Launched in the early evening and after an hour long struggle with everyone else to stay above 300 feet the line of clouds finally arrived and it went magic at the same time. The whole glider pack floated up like a bunch of alien saucers.

After I landed I couldn't remember whether I had launched at 5 or 5:30. Tracked down someone who launched right before and landed right after me, and he had 1:40 on his timer. Oh well, 1.5 hours isn't as groovy as 2, but at least it helped me come up with a new addition to "How Hang Gliding is Like Sex":

Any guy who can keep it up for more than 2 hours is gonna brag about it.

I'll brag some other time.

Brian.

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This page last updated June 27, 1999