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Hangola August 27-29, 1999

The tug at ridgely was operating today (friday). Mike C and I flew. They didn't mention a problem with it.

Nice time but a low cloudbase -- 2800 or so.. Mike made 3200 up in the dome of one.

Spanking #1

So Brian VH is brave and takes the first flight at HR on Sat. and sleds and then Juan Sonen and Rick Holtz get off in a good cycle and each get about 20-30 minutes before getting flushed while Tom just plain gets flushed. I wait a little and it starts to look good, so I launch, lose a few hundred, but I find a decent thermal and I'm able to work it back up above launch for a little while before starting to sink out. But at 600 agl I hit something and circle in it and around it and through it and back in it again before finally clawing my way back above lauch. Oy! But soon I'm down again and thinking about landing when I find this little gnarly thing at 400 agl. After what seems forever, I finally start to climb back up and I get up just as Brian VH is launching. Soon we're both happy campers working some light thermals bumping up against the ridge. We both head North... I'm maintaining and a little above Brian but he heads back just as I see some birds climbing further to the North. I continue on and _flush_ I'm down 500 feet and I'm thinking that I'll have to land in an orchard. I scratch back to launch but being low I head out and again I find the gnarly thing at 400 agl between the pool and the LZ. Up a hundred, down a hundred, circle- circle- circle and I just get pooped, give up and land. Meanwhile, Brian find the big one and gets 1200 over and stays up another 35 minutes! Tom launches again and also enjoys the big one.

Spanking #2

Allen, Eddie, Kurtis, Will MacFarlan from Waynsboro (who for some reason flies mostly at Ellenville and Vermont???), Karen and I all head off for some late (very light) magic air. And we're all boating around at about 200-300 over and Karen is just floating above us all out in front of the ridge... la de da!

Karen ended up with an hour and 450 over. I got about 45 minutes on each flight. Mike C. showed up mid-day and had about a 15 minute flight.

Matthew (how were things at Ridgely? of Karen and Matthew)

Tom and I, after consulting with Mike C and Steve K, decide to go to the Pulpit. Bacil is there by the time we are there (of course), and the three of us set up. Bacil is first, and is doing pretty good. John Dullahan showed up later, and I won the coin toss with Tom to launch next.

So Bacil and I are floating around about 300 -500 over, and finally we got a quick ride to 1200 over. Just as that was disappearing, Tom launches. The three of us stay about 300 - 500 over for the next hour. Then it starts crossing from the north, and the velocity picks up so that we can now park if we want. Bacil goes out and lands in the ball diamond, and says it was the nastiest landing in his life. OK, good motivation to go over the back and land!

Finally some thermals start coming in (with the front passing through earlier, and a lot of ground haze, there was a slow start to the thermals). Twice Tom and I lost the thermals around 1200 - 1500 over. With the cross, we decided not to risk it. Then as Tom was going back out above me (almost always above me), I caught a REAL nice thermal, locked in the center and climbed out at about +500 fpm. Unfortunately Tom couldn't get back in time, and didn't want to risk going behind the ridge without being in the thermal (good call on his part).

Up up and away, making it up to +3800 over launch, drifting towards Mercersburg. I did a lot of drifting in light lift, letting the wind push me for miles. Only looked at my downwind speed once, and saw 50+ mph! Drifted for another hour or so, over Greencastle, over highway 81 for (an unofficial) total of 19.7 miles.

2:47, +3832 feet, 19.7 miles. A good day!

-Mike Balk

I was able to teach both Saturday & Sunday this last weekend. We went to Long's hill both days where by the way the land owner has built a house on the right side of the property. The house is not really in the way of flying but may contribute to turbulance when the wind is crossing from the North. On Saturday there were two first timers (Mike, George) and one second timer (Paytra). The wind was suppose to be from the NW 5-10 but was very light and variable though mostly cross from the N to NNE. Of course while we were setting up there were a few nice straight in NW cycles! All the student's got 4-5 flight attempts and all had decent last flights and a nice way to end the class.

Sunday was similar to Saturday with 3 students; one second timer (Tom), one KHK experienced (Bob), and Jose (close to a Hang 1). Some nice straight in cycles (3-5 mph) while setting up and ground running. Wind suppose to be NW 10-15 turning N in the evening but started turning N as soon as we were ready to fly! Luckily the wind was not strong and on occassion adequate in direction for flying though most of the time it was cross from the right (N). All the students got between 5-7 flight attempts and we had to stop when the wind started to be more consistantly NNE and stronger. It seems so rare that we get good direction and velocity during a class. It's frustrating knowing that the students would have a better time and advance easier if the wind would cooperate. Jose is flying pretty good and would get his Hang 1 if he would land consistantly on his feet! Maybe next time.

- john middleton

A bunch of Mountaineers had some good flying this weekend. (I solved that missing zipper pull problem by taking one of the 'extra' zippers off one of my Wills Wing glider bags. Worked perfectly.) On Saturday, Marvin, John Myers, and JR launched in that order and sledded out in the light conditions. I launched 5 minutes after JR into a good cycle that got me above the ridge. From then on it was easy to stay up. John McA. and Adam Arkfeld launched after me and also had no trouble getting up and staying up. I got a max of 3300 over the ridge. John McA took one over and rode 3 clouds to the Highway Dome field (12 miles).

On Sunday it was blowing much harder on launch - about NW 10-15 picking up later (when we were in the air) to 20. This time Marvin wasn't there, but Danny Loudermill and Stretch Minas showed up. JR sunk out shortly after his launch, but the rest of us got up and over. The highest we were getting was in the neighbor of 1500 over. Adam seemed to be above me in Doug's old Spectrum the first half. I didn't feel too badly since I was over John McA's Fusion most of the day. I was the last to land with a perfect no stepper, in fact, I hovered 2 feet over the ground in the 18 mph wind (my guess)

Totals: Saturday, 1 hour 30 minutes
Sunday, 1 hour 35 minutes.

Thought I would come out of the lurking mode and give a brief update on Sunday at Woodstock. Sunday saw a whole bevy of glider pilots (Ray Mitchell, Rich Lawrence, Claude ?, Marlin ?, John Muldoon, Terry Spencer, Doug Price, Gary Campbell, Bob Radcliff ). I hope I got everybody. I am not sure of all the last names. Gliders started leaping off the mountain about 3:00 pm. The first three pilots (Ray, Terry and Claude) had to survive a down cycle before it really turned on. Claude did not make it and relaunched later for mucho airtime. I launched at 3:45 into 10mph straight up the slot. The rest piled off afterward. The thermals were plentiful and large (Rich found an elevater and claimed 1200 fpm). Altitude gains of between 3000 and 4500 above launch were experienced by many. The air was surprisingly smooth, as was the lift. All of us flew until we were ready to come down, not when the lack of lift brought us down. The only way to fly. Nobody went XC.

There was added excitement due to helicopter rides be given at Woodstock. The copter made two passes over the ridge at about 700 ft., otherwise he stayed away from the ridge. Thankfully there were no gliders in the area. Radios were very important because we could share the location of chopper. It was good to have a number of eyes scanning the sky. Coming into Woodstock I saw that helicopter rides were being given. In retrospect I wish I would have stopped and notified the pilot that hang gliders were going to be flown nearby. It would have been an added safety measure. There was also a small plane who flew along the ridge at ridge level on the west side of the ridge. The plane passed about 500ft over a glider who was coming out to land. Keep scanning the skies for other aircraft!

To quote an often read phrase " a good time was had by all".

Soar High And Far,
Randy Weber

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This page last updated August 31, 1999