Mountaineer Airtimes - Western Edition
3/22/99 - 3/27/99 Wallaby Ranch; Will, JR, & Greg drive to the Ranch where they are joined by Homer later in the week. Greg finally gets to fly his Millenium and decides he likes it a lot. It sure is a load to haul around and takes up the space of about 2-3 gliders on the roof rack. In the air, it's sleek and fast. It also seems to tow quite well. The boys flew and soared everyday. Christy Huddle and Doug Wakefield showed up later in the week so the Mountaineers were well represented at the Wills Wing party, which took place during their stay. Demo gliders were available and were flown by most of the merry band at one time or another. Will and JR did a 20+ mile x-c flight on the second day when they flew from the Ranch to Quest Air which is due north. Will had the best x-c flight of trip the next day when he flew almost 60 miles to the NNE with several other MHGA pilots getting considerably shorter distances. Greg even ventured out on his Millenium for 10 - 15 miles that day. On another day, Homer made it 12 miles to the south with Will and JR getting about 20 miles in the same direction. Christy was kind enough to come and get them after she landed at the Ranch. Flatland soaring was an interesting change of pace and the facilities at the ranch were first-rate. The ride home proved interesting when Will's truck blew a transmission coming into Jacksonville, FL and the boys ended up renting a 28 ft moving van to complete their trip.
3/30/99 - High Pt; Will and JR fly on this strong, blue sky day. The air was punchy and the thermals were difficult to work. Most of the day was spent between 2000' and 3000' MSL but Will was able to get up and away after catching a good one on the W face. He made it 20 miles to Slanesville, WV. JR spent another hour on the ridge, but couldn't get high enough to comfortably head over the back.
4/3/99 - Pinnacle; Will, JR, & John Meyers take an afternoon flight on this light SE day. Will scratched for about 15 min while JR gets an extended sled. John got the rare experience (in the east) of being thrashed by a dust devil while hooked in and waiting to launch. He wasn't injured, but did tear the sail on the LE of his Falcon a little bit. He was still able to fly it to the LZ for a sled ride and an interesting approach.
4/7/99 - Fairgrds; Homer gets the flight of the day with 45 min and a gain to 4500' MSL. JR bombs to the LZ with an extended sled but does take the spot money, if not the glory.
4/10/99 - Bill's Hill; Will, JR, Larryboy, & Marvin get sleds or extended sleds. Sheila gets up briefly before sinking out. Larry H gets about 6 mi down the ridge to the south. Pat makes it about 10 mi and Gardinator makes it 23 mi for the flight of the day landing near Hancock, MD along I-70. Pete dove over the back on his Falcon for 4 mi.
4/18/99 - High Pt; Marvin launched first and got drilled to the LZ on this day of periodic rain showers and mini-gust fronts. Doug had an extended sled. Homer launched early and was able to get about an hour on the W face before getting flushed. JR and Christy got off between the rain/wind events and soared for 30 - 40 min getting almost to cloudbase (3000' MSL) at the N. Pt. The paraglider pilots were seen sitting on launch at the Fairgrds and may have flown later. Homer claims a tie in the spot contest w/ JR without witnesses to his landing and JR reluctantly lets him keep his $5 with some reservations.
4/24/99 - High Pt; Homer, Will, Marvin, & JR get sleds on this NE day. JR takes the spot money for an uncontested victory.
4/25/99 - High Pt; JR launches first, followed by the Gardinator. Both get extended sleds. Sheila launches next and scratches below launch instead of heading towards the LZ. She becomes Puppy Chow when she's unable to make the LZ and has to land in the Dogpit. Larryboy and Homer wait for better conditions and are rewarded with about 45 min and 2500' gains only to then be flushed to the LZ.. Homer takes the spot money after bribing Larryboy to back his claim of where he landed. JR is skeptical.
4/27/99 - Pinnacle; Will & JR fly on this strong easterly day. They decide to run the ridge S and make it past the old Buck's launch without getting very high, but once there, they get a good one to 7000' MSL drifting over the back at Keyser, WV. Dinosaur country on the plateau in that direction made them decide to fly N back towards Cumberland. JR bombs out to Fort Hill where he's trapped on the lee side of the Knobley Mtn until having to land in the rotor zone. Will dived onto Dan's Mtn where he gets drilled to ridge top level, but he soars Dan's Rock for _ hr waiting for a thermal to get him out of his predicament (no where to land). He gets his wish and climbs out to overfly his house on his way to Keyser's Ridge, MD for 23.5 miles from launch to landing, but more like 35 mi in total distance.
5/2/99 - Bill's Hill; A rare weekend at this site where it was soarable for 3 days in a row with good x-c flights everyday by someone. Virtually everyone who flew soared, although some chose to wait until evening owing to the strong cross conditions (NE). Gardinator and Sheila bopped down the ridge for about 8 mi, JR, Judy, Panties, Mike C, Pat, and many others ended up in the LZ at the end of the day. Pete flew his Falcon for 17 mi going over the back to Everett, PA. Larry H struggled down the ridge for a few miles before sinking out (he flew 60+ mi from Bill's the day before). Pete had set a site record two days prior when he flew his Fusion 80+ mi past Friendsville, MD.
5/9/99 - High Pt; Will, Larryboy, Gardinator, Marvin, JR, Doug and Christy bumped heads all day trying to get high enough to leave the ridge. Christy lives up to her nickname (Potato Queen) when she puts down roots on launch despite the push being called by the pilots stuck behind her. Eventually, she launches and within 5 or 10 minutes everyone else is off the hill. After an hour of being low on the ridge (except for Gardinator who got up and stayed high most of the day), most everyone climbs out together to 5100' MSL drifting over the back. For reasons unknown at the time, both Marvin and Larryboy choose to fly back to the ridge followed by Christy. Christy was unable to make it back to the ridge safely and comes back to join her burbling comrades. Christy and JR end up landing at the Millstone for 6 mi. Will and Gardinator choose a better path and end up with good x-c flights. Will got 43 mi to Martinsburg, WV with Gardinator going about 30 mi to just past Rt 522 s/o Berkley Springs, WV.
5/15/99 - Jacks Mtn; JR, Will, Larryboy, Fred, Sheila, Gardinator, Pat, Larry H, Pete, Panties, and whole slew of other pilots show up and virtually everyone soars. JR did a teat flight on Homer's new Fusion and like the nice guy he is, chose to land in the main LZ after _ hr so Homer could fly his new glider. Will followed Dennis & Claire Pagen N up the ridge and ended up with 43 mi (Claire had the long flight of 51 mi, Dennis got 19 mi after making a very low save over the LZ). Larryboy chose to float and boat. Gardinator went over the back for about 20 mi as did most of the Daedulus boys. Sheila went over the back for about 5 mi. Homer soared his new Fusion for an hour or two before landing in the LZ with JR who took a second flight.
5/16/99 - Pinnacle; Homer gets the flight of the day with a low save and a _ hr flight above the ridge. Larryboy and JR get extended sleds or sleds after the sun is covered with a high layer of clouds shutting everything down and flushing Homer to the LZ.