July 4th Weekend at Hyner View

Saturday evening launches.

Hyner View Launches, July 4, 2009 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

Sunday morning cloud dive.

My Cloud Dive from Cragin S on Vimeo.

Seeing my glory in the clouds.

Highland's 10th Anniversary Weekend

My U2 all dressed up and ready to play.



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A few segments of my flight; rowdy tow, sweet landing.

Rowdy Tow at Highland, 6/28/09 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

I finally made it back into the sky after a way too long dry spell. I had not had a high flight since before Christmas. This weekend was the annual Highland Aerosports Fly-In and party. I missed the Saturday flying and celebration, due to a recalcitrant computer that filled my day. However, with the good wife pushing me out the door, I made an early Sunday trek across the Bay Bridge. There was no line at the toll booths, and I was at RIdgely by 8:30 a.m.

I had the U2 all set up before 10:00, but there was no hurry. The winds were a bit strong, and no one was flying. The tug drivers went for along breakfast. I heard that Saturday it had gotten blown out in the late afternoon, and earlier in the day things had been rowdy on tow.

I got to see a lot of friends there: Danny B, Mark C, Carlos W, Joe & Janet G with Mark along, Christie H and RIch, Judy McC, Bob B, John S, Janni P, JR, and met Jesse and TD, and, of course, the core Highland crowd, Sunny, Adam, Bruce, Barb, Jim, and Zack.

Actual flying finally began about noon. I watched several launches, decided they were not too scary, and got in line. Zack pulled me up a few minutes before 1:00. I knew it was windier than usual. However, i must say it was probably the rowdiest tow I have had to date. the short video gives good evidence of that experience. Was never scared, but I was working hard to stay in position behind the tug.

Zack tried to drop me in something good, but once on my own I did not find much that I could work. I headed across the airport, finally funding a light but workable thermal when I was down a bit below 1700'. I paid close attention to my vario, and crept up to 3100', drifting back away from the field. The thermal was easy to stay in for a while, but once I lost it, I headed back toward the field. lots of little thermals along the way, Some I could work, some I could not. I played around between 2400' and 2800' for about 15 minutes. then slowly succumbed to the sink.

Winds shifted on the ground, so I planned a new (for me) final leg, coming in behind the hangar. This brought me in over the access road, and I pulled of a most satisfying no-stepper about 10 yards from the wind sock.

34 minutes of flying, and a max of 3100', reached from under 1700'. It was only 1:30, but it looked like rain might be inbound, so I packed up and headed home, rather than try for another flight. Several other pilots made the same call.

Felt great to be in the air, again.
Happy 10th, Highland!

Winter Time Training Day

Taylor Farm 2/21/09 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

The above video has my second flight. John M also shot my first flight with his camera:


After a much too long period of being grounded, I had an opportunity to get a little time with my feet off the ground. John M called me Saturday morning encouraging me to join his students at Taylor Farm in King George. I arrived as John, Kirk, and Chris had just finished assembling their gliders, and saw John fly to the bottom of the hill. The forecast winds of south to southwest were crossing seriously from the southeast, so I waited a bit before setting up my Pulse. I ended up doing three flights.John videoed my second. I wish he had gotten the third; it was much more entertaining. As I started my run, one knee-hanger strap slipped from the top of my calf to my left ankle. My ability to run thus hobbled, my last two steps before becoming airborne were quick hops on my right foot only. That was, uh, interesting. The flight was fine, but then on landing I did have to work to get both feet under me.
It was a good day for shaking off cobwebs.

Back to Woodstock, November 9, 2008

More Fall Foliage -Woodstock 11/9/2008 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

The forecast for Sunday looked promising, with west winds 5 to 10 at Winchester. I joined the crowd heading to Woodstock. Bluer sky than my last trip, and larger crowd. John M, John D, Tony D, Dan T, Grigor, Janni P, Glenn H, Carlos W all came out, all soared.

I launched at 3:30 and found quite usable lift. Did not get so high as last week, topping out at 2850 MSL, or about 800' over the ridge top. Others did a bit better. Everyone landed on their own schedule - no one was flushed. Flights wer all an hour or more.

I left the ridge at 4:25 in order to have daylight for breaking down. Wass still at 2400 out over the valley, so pulled the bar and did some spirals down to set uup for my landing.

The fall trees are still beautiful. In the video you see one glider onluanch, about to become skyborne; that is Glenn, last one off.

Woodstock Over the Fall Foliage, October 27, 2008

Woodstock Fall Trees 10/27/2008 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

Mark C and I spent Monday morning exchanging hopeful interpretations of the afternoon forecast for Woodstock. THese were tempered by my office window view of a totally overcast grey sky to the west from McLean. Since neither of us could fly the upcoming weekend, we decided to chance the timing of the front moving in, and depart our jobs at lunch time. I drove in rain from McLean until nearly Gainesville out I-66. Our coordinated timing was excellent, with Mark pulling in behind me along the Interstate about 15 miles past the rain line. We convoyed in to the LZ, where Tony D was waiting. He planted his brand new raffle-won windsock and we took my truck to launch.

At the top we found Hank & Karma's truck, glider still no the rack, and Ellis's car. None of them were around. As we set up our gliders, looking out at the still totally overcast valley and marveling at the failed forecast for 41% cloud cover, all three arrived, multiple dogs in tow. After some consideration, Hank decided not to fly, but did hang around to give all of us a hand. He kept his bike, and Karma headed home with the dog.

Hank , Ellis, and Tony helped Mark launch, so we'd have a good sky report for our H2. A bit later, with report of a bit rowdy but do-able from Mark, the three of us crewed Tony off. I think this was his 4th Woodstock flight.

I was able to suit up and with assist from Hank and Ellis was off the mountain side about 5:25. I felt good about the launch run and pitch, and left the slot with plenty of speed. As soon as I turned right, I found comfortable lift and worked the local area, slowly reaching about 800' over launch. Mark and Tony were another 800' above me at the north finger. As I continued my ascent, I lost track of them both. When I reached about 2,500 MSL, I spotted them both below me and to the south, out over the river. as they played down there, I kept finding stronger and broader lift. At 3,400 MSL I noted that the cloud base was interestingly near. At 3,600 MSL, it occurred to me that Mark was making no attempt to join me. Passing through 3,700 and still climbing in strong lift, I looked at those rolling cloud bottoms and figured out I just might be in for more of a ride than I had wanted. Down would be a very good thing. I pulled in a little, and kept going up. Hmmmm. I stiffed the bar and began hauling tail out into the valley. I was maintaining a nice 600-800 fpm down, and had good control so just kept it up. Well out over the valley, at about launch height, I backed the speed off to trim, hoping to boat around a bit. Nope.. that just put me back into a moderate up mode. OK - stuff the bar some more. I was out near the red barn on Moose Lodge Road, and decided to skip the main LZ and use the long field Hank had described as his "second favorite LZ." Fast approach, lots of speed well into the final leg, and I was still getting kicked around. However, brought it in safely with a nice flair, and was happily on the ground at 6:00. I agree with Hank's comment, I think I was messing at the edge of some wave up there. Glad I had the experience. Glad I dove down out of it easily.

While I was packing up, Mark radioed from overhead that Tony had landed in the main LZ. Mark joined Tony a little later. By the time Mark drove up to provide transport back to launch, I was all packed up and even had my glider over the barbed wire fence, ready to load. Tony headed home, happy with his day, and Mark and I stopped at the Handy Mart for a fill up ($2.29 /gal!) and a few brews.
(Note - the Annheuser distributor pretty much owns the cooler case in that store. We went for Yeungling Lager.)

We toasted the day and some truly fun flying up at the parking lot at the top, while listening to the winds howl in. It was a great day to play hooky, and all the folks who were discouraged by the clouds and rain in DC, well, you just lost out.

Thanks to Mark for prompting our escape. Congrats to Tony for a successful fall flight. Special appreciation to Ellis and Hank for sticking around to help us all fly.

Pulpit Flying, Sunday 9/7

Pulpit PA Flight Sunday 9/7 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

I got an early start driving north to the Pulpit. Travel was easy, and I even waved to the two Maryland cops on Route 58 stopped to visit with a few motorists. I arrived at launch about 11, to find Dave P. setting up his glider and a carload of birders up on the ramp. Other pilots began arriving while I set up the U2. When Bacil D. showed up I bragged on beating him there. He told me that he had had a nice visit with the cops on 58, who only gave him a warning ticket. They had sorta wanted to visit with me, too, it seems, but were busy with the several drivers already stopped. Hmmmm. I guess I may have used up my luck for the day.

Site condition from clean-up: We all owe a big Thank You, and maybe a beer or three, to Shawn R. He had cut all the lower level grass on Friday, and spent part of Sunday morning picking up trash. Meanwhile, Tony D and Charlie G broke out their gas weedwhackers and made the hillside all nice and purdy , too. Thanks, fellas!

The crowd grew, with Dan Tuck, Janni P. and Leonie, Carlos W, Bruce E, Gary s, Kristof, and Joe S also showing up.

While Shawn and I were walking the LZs with Tony and Dan, Dave launched. Apparently he caught the train outta town, because he was over the back by the time we returned to launch. I'm sure he will have a report.

The winds were distressingly light all afternoon. Launchable, but not particularly conducive for soaring (in spite of Dave's success). Joe made it down the ridge for a bit of soaring, and was able to land in the main by the road. Janni squeaked down to the upper main. And Bruce worked his rigid wing patiently slowly up, for along time only a few hundred over. Eventually he caught something by the towers to the north and went off into the valley behind.

Shawn and I co-observed Dan and Tony, and watched them each head off to the secondary. Afterward, Shawn took his sled like the man he is.

Others all landed in the secondary, some after short sleds (even Charlie under a bag). Only Bacil actually chose the secondary when he had the option of going to the main.

With so few flights on my U2, I did not want to land in the short secondary. The light wind and minimal thermal action convinced me to stay on the ground. Carlos gave it a shot in his, but the main was not in his future. By 4:30 we had launched all the pilots but two. My glider was set up and waiting. Gary S had not even set up, the winds were so light. I declared that I was not planning to fly, but would not break down until 5:30. Several of us watched the valley.

Then, surprisingly, the broken mostly blue sky clouded over about 5:00, and along with all the clouds came a steady, strong wind. The residual crowd encouraged me to suit up. I had to shift my mind into flight mode - I had already given up on a flight.
Gary, Janni and Carlos helped me launch, and I was lifted up into the air before even reaching the end of the ramp. I was in moderate lift right away, as I turned down the ridge. I slowly made my way up to abut 600' over launch, and played along Route 16 for about 20 minutes. then I began slowly sinking out - bands of lift not quite making up for the light pockets of sink. I had plenty of time to circle the field and wonder about wind direction. Finally I decided to use the hill, and landed toward the ridge, for a nice uphill landing. 35 minutes and 600' over - not as stupendous as Dave or Bruce, but a most satisfying flight.

At the very end of the day, after Carlos and Janni gave me a ride back to launch, John M showed up with 4 students who had just finished lessons at Kirchners. This was their first view of a mountain launch site. I think they were impressed.

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory! Labor Day at Hyner View PA

Hang Gliding at Hyner View, Labor Day 2008 from Cragin S on Vimeo.
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory! Labor Day at Hyner View PA.

After about ten years of urging from John M and others, I finally got my tail in gear and hit the road for a holiday weekend at Hyner View. Very glad I went; sorry I took so long to do it. Hyner View is indeed a free flight national treasure. Kudos for the Pennsy club for maintaining top relations with the state govies for launch access in the park and the local landowner for a HUGE LZ with the most spacious camping and landing accommodations you can wish for.
We had a quite reasonable contingent of Capital club faces on hand over the weekend. John M with Marnie, Rich C, Shawn R with Melina, David the Amazing with Victoria, Dan Tuck, Bacil D with Judy, myself, and, if the New Yorker will let us still claim him, Brian V-H. Overlapping Brian into the Maryland contingent, we add Bunkhouse Bob and Steve C.
PA locals included Shawn M, Tom G, Bob B, Dennis P, Bill U, Spoons, Joe & Karen G, and a supporting cast of dozens more pilots with innumerable spouses, kids, dogs, and camper trailers in tow.
I had thought my own weekend trip was the longest commute reported to reach Hyner. However, Brian V-H beat me with his 10:30 - midnight loop from NYC. I left the house at 6:45 a.m. and pulled into the LZ at 5:00 p.m. Ok, there was the interlude with the flat tire on the Beltway 15 minutes from home, followed by the purchase and installation of four new Bridgestone Duellers and a particularly troublesome 4-wheel alignment in Springfield. On the road again by 11:30, I pulled into the LZ at 5:00. I visited launch, but due to the extreme N to NE cross wind, did not set up.


On Sunday I flew twice, first with my Pulse about 4, and then with the U2 a bit after 6. Although there were several soaring flights, there were a lot of sleds. I was proud of eking out a dozen minutes on the Pulse, and padding a sled to 4 minutes with the U2.
I joined the cloud dive contingent Monday morning, for my first such experience. It was great, and I did, indeed, see my glory. The snapshot grabbed from my video shows the glider shadow over my left shoulder. The photo does not do justice to the rainbow halo that surrounded the shadow.

I will report that my launches were all good strong runs in light or no wind. On Sunday I landed in the upper field, visible to the picniccers at the swimming pool. For Monday's morning sled I brought it in right in front of the pilots' campfire.
In the evenings, I visited several campfires and enjoyed the many friendly folks. I will admit to bypassing the midnight to two shift up in Two-Town. Sunday night, I also stayed away from the kareoke up at the pool. Reportedly, not all the pilots refrained from it.
My return drive was greatly improved by map advice from Dennis P - I do learn much from him beyond his great flying and weather books. Only 5 hours to get home, and avoided all the I-70 holiday mess.
Thanks to all the great Hyner crowd, It was super fun, and I will get back there again.
For more great videos of the weekend events, see Dan Tuck's videos at
http://vimeo.com/1649872
and
http://vimeo.com/1648480

Return to High Rock - 8/16

Oh, no! 14 months since flying High Rock and seeing Emma Jane. That required correction. Several flyers declared Saturday, August 16 as a good HR day, and I agreed. The crowd included Mark C, Carlos W, Kelvin P, Janni P (with Leonie). Glenn (with Mom), Rich H, Pete S, Eddie M, Dan Tw (to distinguish him from Dan Tm who is in Baghdad for a while), Pete S, and Bunkhouse Bob B.

I arrived close to 1:00 after a few errands, got partially set up, and helped several others launch. FInally I completed set up, hooked in, and was standing on the launch block just after 3:30. At which point the sky shut down, glders who had been many hundreds over were at launch ,and the trees out front showed no signs of motion.
BOOO! I potatoed for over 15 minutes. THanks to Rich, Eddie, and Glenn for staying with me as crew.

At 3:50 it looked almost good again. It was launchable, and soarable, but I am not sure good covered the option. I had a very satisfying launch from about 2 feet back from the edge of the cliff. Straight out, with almost no drop - nice. I spent almost half an hour scratching up and down in front of launch, varying from 100' below launch to 150' above.FInally my altitude losses became consistently greater than my gains. I stair-stepped out over the tracks and to the LZ. My setup and approach went very well, and I was quite happy with a 3 step run out landing. All was well.

Once packed up, I helped observe Dan Tw for a second flight in the half hour before sundown. He deserved it, having suffered the only sled of the day earlier.

We finished the evening with 6 of the gang having dinner at the Cozy Inn in Thurmont, enjoying their Saturday seafood buffet.

Here's a two minute review of my flight. I edited out the launch potato portion.


Flying High Rock, August 16, 2008 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

U2 to the Mountains - 080808

According to the Chinese, 8 is a very lucky number. Thus, the date 8/8/08 was particularly auspicious, and they opened the Olympics at 8:08 p.m. that day.
I chose to play hooky from work the afternoon of Friday, August 8, because the NW winds and open sky looked like a fine Woodstock day. Others on hand included Joe S, Bruce E, Homer, Steve K, Gary S, Pete S, and Bacil D.

I had brought the U2 to Woodstock several weeks earlier, but had not even set it up. This would be my first mountain flight with the new glider.

Bacil and I were the last ones still on the mountain, and he helped me launch. As I left the ground and floated into the slot, he hollered "Pull in!" I needed the advice. I launched nose-high, and was mushing out over the rocks, getting closer and closer to the trees. Finally, my brain engaged, and I pulled in to correct as I skimmed over the tree tops with only a few feet to spare.
My long lag between mountain flights led me to get the pitch wrong, Once I was airborne, I think my subconscious took over with the natural, but BAD, analysis of 'push out for height to get over those trees.' I know better, but dumbed up.

In any event, I used up my Luck of the 8's and made it out of the slot unscathed. After that, I had a pleasant 45 minute flight, primarily at 200' to 600' over launch. Landing on thee upslope of the LZ was very satisfying. I had impetus to get it right; I had just watched Gary S use every bit of the LZ, right up to the fence, to put his U2 on the ground.

I finished the evening by joining Joe, Zelda, their friend Louie, and Steve for beer, burgers, and bluegrass at the Strassburg Hotel. It was a fine flying day and a fun Friday night.

Sled Day at Blue Sky, June 14

Launching & Landing at Blue Sky 6/14/08 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

The DC area forecast offered a 60% chance of thunderstorms; not conducive to flying. However, for Richmond the odds were only 20%, with SSW to SW winds. Blue Sky was worth a shot. Besides, I needed to drop off the UltraSport for Steve to hold on consignment - still looking for a buyer.

Rather than rushing down I-95, I started the morning at the NRA range to get in an hour punching holes in paper plates. The .22's just back from factory service did right nicely.

However, letting the traffic build up on the highway was not the best idea. The trip down took about 3 1/2 ours rather than the under 2 theoretically possible. Arrived about 2:30.

I found a moderate crowd with gliders set up. Mike told me that so far the lift had been light, and just seemed to be turning on. Others there included John, Ray M, Peter K, Chris O, Cathy (from NC), another Mike, Olaf the paraglider, and a few more.

All of us hang gliders took our sleds as they came. Only Olaf soared, working the tiny burbles of lift with his bag wing. That gave him FOTD. I scored three flights, having fun getting used to the U2. Tried a new mount position for the camera, on the downtube. I think it worked out well, but want to adjust the angle just a bit.

Driving home I got caught in the downpour. Oh, well.. the glider will dry out. I've had wet glider bags before.