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Hangola September 25-26, 1999

THE PULPIT FLY-IN

Congratulations to the victorious women's team at this past weekend's Pulpit Fly-In, and in particular to their top scorer, and overall top-ranked pilot, Ellis Kim! Ellis, in only her second and third soaring flights ever, won the meet by demonstrating the tenacity and purpose that are the hallmarks of all really good pilots. That was one helluva performance. Christy Huddle too is to be congratulated in being the only pilot to have completed both of the day's assigned tasks.

In a leadership role, Judy McCarty is to be commended for the shepherding of her flock of female geese along the somewhat intimidating Fisher Road ridge on Sunday. Janet Gregor, who'd never before gone XC, wound up running the ridge under Judy's wing; receiving a constant stream of encouragement and tactical advice. In more general terms, the women were fun to listen to on the radio because of how they helped one another fly. If a Fly-In is an event intended to enhance our enjoyment of flying, and the camraderie of the experience, the women managed to completely achieve those objectives. They flew well, flew together and had a ball. Again, Congratulations.

Finally, the sandwich. Christy Huddle pointed out to me that my place in the standings placed me between her and Ellis. How lucky can a guy get?

Pete Lehmann
Daedalus (Muff) Divers

Big Congrats too to Sheila and Karen for making their first ever ridge runs down to Ritchie's Knob and landing out there... And BIG thanks to Mark and Marc-- Marc for running the competition and Mark C. for stepping in and taking the reigns to put together the Fly-In after CHGA was left without a flight director.

Thanks too to Christy and Doug for cooking*, Kelly and Kevin for getting the food, Kelly for designing the T-shirts, Mike. C for supplying the firewood, Tom for bringing the beer, Brian VH for running the static display and Rich Donauhue for judging the spot landings.

I had a great time even though I was a bit thick headed and thought that only over the back XC straight line miles counted at the Pulpit. I spent 2.5 hours on Saturday dodging gliders while trying to find a thermal that would get me close to 2 K over so I could go over the back but kept topping out at about 1000-1300 over. I finally got tired and landed. I am still amazed at Ellis being able to stay up for over four hours in those rowdy conditions in a knee hanger. Marc also has to be commended for sticking with his decision to go to Fisher Road despite the constant harassment we gave him about the East cross and that it was probably better at Bill's. It finally got SWEET for most of us lesser mortals at about 4:00 and a whole slew of us ran the ridge, made the task and several of us boys landed out at Ritchie's Knob with the FiFi's. Damn what a nice field that is!!!! If we ever fly Fisher again and it's soarable, that's where I plan to land.

Matthew (next year the Spouse Boys will rule, of Karen and Matthew)

*I wish. Actually, the Pittsburg wives, Brenda and Lynn, took over when I stopped cooking.
Christy

Well,

It was as usual a challenging fly-in but with generally very satisfactory results for most participants. Perhaps most unusual was the fact we actually got to fly the Pulpit on the first day, when we had at least 50 gliders take to the air! Most satisfying was the fact that we flew safely and everyone had fun.

Saturday started off gusty and slightly cross from the North, despite a forecast of west cross (which never did seem to materialize). I called a task going down the ridge to a turnpoint 5 miles south and then going north to the Cowan's gap reservoir and then back to the main lz. Christy made it and Rick Holtz made most of the task. In addition, straight-line flights were scored by S. Kinsley, L. Huffman S. Chricten (sorry Steve) Pat Brooks and Pete Lehman. Pete's flight was to be the single best xc effort of the meet by making it just short of HR for 24 miles under extremely challenging conditions. Nice job Pete!

Meanwhile, the alternative scoring for H2's allowed Ellis Kim, Steve Padget, Ralph Sickenger (sorry Ralph) and specially-rated Janet Gregor to score big points for their teams by managing sustained soaring flights in sometimes challenging conditions. Ellis in particular has continued her trend of showing that once in the air she refuses to land, scoring an amazing 4 hours and twelve minutes. I suspect that long xc flights are in her future.

Sunday dawned with a very confusing frontal situation which, just like last year, made site and task calling very challenging for me. Making matters worse, I passed by Bill's where the winds were coming straight in. I decided on Fisher's because of the overall winds aloft shot and its generally better heating characteristics as the day went on. A task was called to Ritchie's knob and back. Pilots who launched early had to struggle just to stay up, many of whom eventually succumbed to moderate lapse rates which fizzled at around 1K over. Other pilots who launched around 4 pm reported fat magic conditions which rendered the task an easy milk run. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect to this was Judy McCarty's 3 round trips of the task whilst (love those Briticisms) leading her flock FIFI-lings down and back!

Meanwhile, Ellis was learning bad habits from Tad who seemed to be attempting to show her the finer points of soaring until dark and then landing downwind and trimming the grass in the lz. Nonetheless, she scored enough points to cinch first place for herself and her team. Not bad for a new mountain pilot. Pete Lehman took second and Christy third, while the teams were FIFI's first, Deadalusjjj 2nd and the mountaineers third.

I think that we had a great time. I really get a kick out of doing this, but I better get some food next year! For next year--if I end up the flight director again--I would like to have a sportsmanship award in addition to the trophies. Also, I would most likely change the awards to team, duration, and xc, somewhat similar to what Sauratown does. The spotlanding/bombdrop thing never seems to be properly managed, I think we should drop it altogether if we can't get better at it.

I will post everyone's score in the next day or two.

Marc

I wish I'd done the task both days. Only got TO Ritchie's Knob on Sunday. Really enjoyed the FIFI reunion in the big field down there. What a day!!! Thanks, Marc and Mark, et al, for putting on a great fly-in.

Christy

Wow, now that my ears have stopped burning enough for me to feel my fingers again, I'd like to thank everybody for having made this a great weekend! This was my first McConnelsburg fly-in and I had a blast! Not because of winning, but because everybody was so friendly, everybody seemed to enjoy everybody else's company and it was so much fun seeing all the different flying and learning so much. I am sure I speak for the rest of the Hang 2s when I say that a fly-in is just a phenomenal learning opportunity. Ppl were so forthcoming with advice and tips and good will! It was great!

Of course being a member of team FIFI was just plain fun. It really felt like a team, everybody cheering for each other, watching out for each other. Just too cool. You guys saw some of that, when Judy led us FIFIlings down the ridge and back! Btw, I am pretty sure, Sheila went down to the knob AND back, since I followed her back. I'd have never tried going back without having Judy and Sheila in front of me (that stretch of woods, with no alternate LZs had me a bit worried). I was eying that field at the end of the knob closely, when Sheila waved me on to follow her back down the ridge. That and the advice I got from Christy and Judy on launch cycles, conditions, where to find lift, etc., the support of Karen and Janet and wonderful Kelly, who made it possible for me to fly again after sledding out the first time, (oh, and let's not forget Kevin Madden, our honorary FIFI member who threw me off that second time) really made that individual placement the result of a concerted team effort. YEAH FIFI! FIFI ROCKS!

I also received a bunch of good advice and good will from non-FIFI pilots, but I'm not going to name them, lest they get lynched by their respective team mates. ;-) You know who you are. THANKS!

I do want to thank team Daedalus for not making good on their threat to cut my flying wires. :-)

-- ellis

p.s. btw, does anybody know what this is: fairly good sized bird, all brown underneath, stumpy tail, very feathery legs and feathered head. (it dove at me at Fisher Road - too cool)

thanks to all who sacrificed their time to make the weekend go well.especially the marks. what a good flying weekend! i can't believe all the junk on the server about junk... i thought we were pilots who talked about flying..hmm....anyhow i will be interested in the flying pictures from saturday with approx. 40 gliders in the air. it was amazing. clearing turns was taken to a new level.. i launched with some gusty winds on launch and proceeded south to the first turn point. many pilots agreed with me in that the air seemed a little squirrelly. you'd seem to be thermaling well in one direction but lose it on the back side. my glider seemed to be fighting me at times. anyhow, i go way down to the south and there's one glider hanging with me. ok, above me. we must have gone almost a mile past the turn point and then proceed to the north and gaggle-city. she heads out in front and makes it around the point to the north of launch. i follow keeping an eye on her to how she's doing. i never get too high but it seems nice(uncrowded), and i make it to the cowans gap turn point. on the way back the wind starts to diminish. i head out over the valley and get kicked around like a mother. when i land there is no wind and i beak it in with authority. i'm pissed but feel good i'm down. it turned out to be about 13.5 miles. christy did well that day.

sunday was another good day . this time i ran the ridge on my own. never more than500-700 above, often lower. i made the turn point and immediately headed back. the head wind was a slight problem as i got closer and closer to the trees. it wasn't magic yet so i moved out into the valley a little hoping to get lucky. nada. i was up to the last field before the main lz(goal), but i couldn't pull it off. i landed perfectly in a tiny front yard a half mile short of goal. as luck would have it , christy beat me by .4 of a mile for third place. i'll try again next year. anyone know of any hot , up and coming hang I or II's to enlist ? seriously though this was one weekend to remember.

see ya soon flyin,
rick holtz

I read Rick's post and thought I better get in my 2 cents.

On Saturday when I heard that we had a choice of going over the back or doing the 19 mile ridge task, I figured first I'd try to get high and if it was relatively easy to get high and stay high, I'd go over the back. If it was easy to get high but not stay high, then I'd do the task. I figured it would be easier to get in 19 miles with a ridge telling me where to find lift than flatland flying where the clues (esp on a blue day) aren't so evident.

After spending 45 minutes working lift and avoiding other pilots in the thermals, I headed down to the towers to get away from it all. I was about at ridge level when I arrived and thought I was cooked. I worked hard to get up between the towers (soaking up the microwaves) and finally was rewarded: I got just over the bigger tower. I then headed south figuring I was in reach of the first field if I didn't find any lift. But low and behold, to the south of that tower I found plenty of lift and got about 1k over. I kept heading south, no longer checking out fields as possible lzs since the lift was there when I needed it: downwind from all the big fields and upwind from all the gaps in the ridge behind the one I was flying. I saw Rick way below me (it seemed) and appreciated the company, esp. since it was lower. Can't say he spotted thermals for me since I was finding plenty on my own. It was handy having him there for a witness since I knew Marc would be suspect of me making goal when he didn't!

The trip back to launch was a cakewalk. When the Tangent told me to push out I did and when it told me to pull in I did. I didn't bother working the thermals very high since I wasn't having any trouble staying 1K over. (Highest I did work one was about 1400' over.) I breezed on past the launch area, higher than most of the pilots gaggling around (btw, the worst lift I found was between the towers and launch), and went north for the next leg. My thinking was that if I had trouble in the big bowl, I could always bail back to the powerline cutout which almost always is working. As it was, I found lift at the southwestmost point and again, plenty of lift as I worked the northwest facing ridge. Here's where the hard part came, though - trying to find the damn turnpoint. Luckily Kelly was listening in and when I asked where the turnpoint was in relation to the lake (which I'd reached), she was able to tell me that the turnpoint was closer. So I turned around and headed south. When I got to that southwest point I was about ridge level - as Rick said the wind had dropped off a bit. I figured the point would save my butt, but it didn't seem to be working or so I thought. Seems I was 'reading' the Tangent wrong. That optimistic noise it makes when it wants you to slow down (G- on the readout) I'd mistook for that not so optimistic noise it makes when it wants you to speed up (G+ on the readout), so I had sped up as I turned the point. I wasn't dropping out of the sky the way I normally do, so looked at the screen and realized my error. I pushed out and up I went. Made it back to launch where there were still too many gliders for comfort. Figured I might as well land, having been in the air for almost 2 hours.

On Sunday, I watched the first pilots off struggle in the marginal conditions. I told my fellow teammates (FIFI 1 and 2) that I was going to wait for the 4 o'clock switch (when Fisher usually turns magic). I launched about 4:10 and headed straight for the high point where I got up over the rock pile (which is on the back side). I had about 2-300 over and headed north to Ritchie's Knob. There was a cushion of lift on top of the ridge so I didn't bother working lift, just stayed about 50 feet over the trees. When the ridge dropped in elevation so did I and when it rose so did I. At the knob I looked for the 'easy to see' square bare patch Marc had mentioned and couldn't see anything resembling that on top of the knob (the old launch is grown over) but did see a square bare patch past the knob in the finger that continues northerly toward the river. I figured I'd go out there and use it as a turnpoint. Lost what little altitude I had and saw that I wouldn't have a chance at getting above the ridge to head back, so boated over to the ridge that borders the SE side of the field where you land (where the road goes through the gap), went back and forth a couple of times hoping for a rogue late day thermal to take me up and over. ha ha

Had a nice landing in the field where the Pittsburgh pilots for and a great reunion with Judy, Sheila, Janet, and Karen when they came in to land.

Christy

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This page last updated September 30, 1999