MOUNTAINEER AIRTIMES- WESTERN EDITION

 

1/18/98-Fairgrds, W 5-10mph; JR, Homer, Wayne E, & Mike Selig all soar in light but consistent poosh out air. The redtails were out boating on the ridge, as was the Blanik two place sailplane. JR probably had the gain of the day to 1400' which kept him out of the mass flush which occurred later in the afternoon. He ended up taking the spot money.
1/31/98 - High Pt, NNW 5-15mph; Larryboy, JR Marvin, Homer,Doug Christy Ben LE (on her new PG) , Wayne E, and Seji all soar in nice lifty air w/ lots of sailplanes. Gains to 2500' were common. Marvin was the air hog of the day w/ three hours. Larryboy made the SW cliffs and back. JR took the spot money although there was at least one H4 Mountaineer pilot who was to wimpy to enter the spot contest.Her name shall go unmentioned. JR
Homer2/13/98- High Pt, NNW 5-10; Homer , Gardner & JR soar in light poosh out air, JR demos John Meyer's new Falcon 195 and thinks it flies really nice and slows way down, just like gliders from some bygone era. Gardner takes the spot money from the local guns. The ravens and redtails were not impressed.
2/14/98 - High Pt W 10-15 mph; Homer, Gardner, Marvin, & JR all get nice soaring flights with Gardner getting the flight of the day after finding the Cumberland wave HE climbed to 4000' + over the middle of the valley and was above the cloud tops for the first time. He and Homer landed at Barton's LZ due to it's larger size and their fear of going head to head with JR in the spot contest. Marvin2/21/98- Woodstock, W 10 -20 mph; JR and Larryboy meet Homer, Gardner, Tom, Panties, Doug, Christy, Marvin, Pete S, Judy, Mike C, and a whole slew of CHGA pilots of a strong day. Larryboy , Homer and Panties were the three of the only four pilots who were able to make the entire 40 mile run south down the ridge. Marvin went to the north point(Strasburg) and ended up bombing out on his way back south while trying to cross the first gap. Gardner also bombed out at the first gap. Tom and Pete made it to the New Market gap before succumbing to the pull of gravity The other 'eers boated the ridge and opted for the convenience of landing in the main LZ which was no cakewalk on this strong cross day. Tom McG2/22/98 High Pt, N 5-10 mph; JR takes a second demo/test flight on John Meyer's new Falcon 195. He gets an extended sled but proves the Falcon shouldn't have a serious problem making the main LZ into a crossing headwind.
2/26/98 - Fairgrds, L&V; Homer talks JR into taking a sled dive by doubling the bet on the spot. It was dumping over the ridge slightly, but not enough to keep JR from taking Homer's money which JR gave back to him to cover the cost of the driver Homer hired to get him back to Winchester in time for his mom's birthday party. 1/1/98 - Fairgrds, w 2-7 mph; Will gets up and soars about a half hour before being flushed, Homer takes the spot money but reconfigures the rear of his keel after a good agressive flair.
3/6/98- Pinnacle, ESE 3-8 mph; Will gets an extended sled while JR opts to drive, They run into the landowner at launch and he volunteers to landscape the launch with his bulldozer and make it a smooth slope. He also volunteered straw from his barn should we decide to seed the newly landscaped launch (which we intend to do).