My Flight (b)Log

Taylor Farm 11/19/11

2011-11-19T22:12:00.004-05:00

Busy day at Taylor Farm. John M had seven students, several of them first timers. A couple of his more experienced had pretty good flights and look close to graduation. Carlos brought his bag, and spent the day kiting in the field, with a couple of flights late in the day. Peter, who had not flown in two years, came out with Janice and her 1 year old Newfie/Bernad, Bear. Matthew and Karen brought bot plumbing and bags, prepared for any eventuality of wind.

From 11 to mid afternoon, the forecast 8-10 mph winds were more like 10-15 at the top of the hill. It was a bit more mellow down in the field. Matthew, Karen and I were launching from 1/3 down the hill to be in more benign winds. Peter, being more hardy, was launching from the top, albeit with careful timing. By 4:00 it finally mellowed out, and Matthew, Karen, and Carlos all got some bag flights in.

I made three flights, all with reasonable launch runs, the final one with a fully acceptable landing. Also, proved to myself I need to get more exercise.

Sunset across the field was lovely, as we were finishing packing out our gear.

Karen & Matthew, Janice & Peter, Carlos and I finished the day with dinner at Amy's Cafe down by the river. Great little spot. Several of us discovered Fred Red Ale, from a local Fredericksbug brewery - fine tasty beer, in a generous 22 ounce bottle. We all recommend Amy's, and plan to return.

Great day for everyone. Even John's first day students got in a couple of short low flights.

Bad Launch, Broken Glider

2011-07-31T09:45:00.002-04:00

Blew my launch. Based on witness accounts and how the glider acted, I pushed out very slightly as I left the cliff, initiating a stall. The right wing lifted, turing me toward the trees to the left.Then it appears I was not aggressive enough in pulling in for speed, because I gained no control as I swung to the right; the left turn continued unabated.
I ended up in the trees immediately below launch. able to stand on a rock ledge.
Crew came down immediately to get me unhooked, fold up the glider, and carry it up to the top for me.
Only very minor injuries: bruised and scraped left shoulder and right forearm. Known glider damage includes both downtubes and at least one segment of leading edge.

Many thanks to everyone who helped out- all of the pilots there and even a couple of wuffos.

Flying at Highland Aerosports on July 10

2011-07-11T01:35:00.002-04:00

Saturday I drove to Blue Sky at Richmond, to find the truck runway waterlogged - no flying happening.
Sunday, I joined over a dozen pilots at Highland Aerosports in Ridgely, tempted by outstanding thermal forecasts.
The day was reasonable, but not stellar as we had all hoped. Much of the afternoon the sky was flat, with few thermals working for us. I flew twice, a couple of sleds: 13 1/2 minutes and 12 1/2 minutes. Solid tow on one flight, like I was on rails. A bit more lively tow the second time; was working harder to stay in position. Landings were good. On the first I flared a bit too early so my no-stepper was a feet/knees crumple/down, safe and not too noisy. The second was a very satisfying no stepper.

Lots of friends on hand: Carlos W., Joe G., Steve K., Valerie R., Jon B., Matthew G., Karen C., John S., Christian T., Ward O.. Met Travis from Philly. Fun day, and good to be in the sky again.

Shortly after releasing from tow, here is a view of the north edge of the town of Ridgely from over the field.

This gives pretty good view of the field. Note all the gliders in the set up lane next to the main landing area.

A Non-Flying Holiday Weekend

2011-07-03T17:55:00.004-04:00

With big plans for the holiday weekend at Hyner View, I loaded both gliders onto the truck Thursday evening after work. However, an injured dog kept me around the house all weekend. Just in case the dog got better, I left the truck loaded and ready to run off. Well, it rained Saturday night. Time to sun dry the gliders in the back yard on Sunday. Thus, the opportunity to get a picture of my Wills WIng U2 160 and the Pacific Airwave Pulse 19 side by side.

If you look closely you can see the big black plastic tube hanging under the eave of the shed; it is the U2's home.

Return to the Sky!

2011-05-24T18:11:00.001-04:00

May 21st, the Day of the Rapture and Judgement, I travelled to the High Land, to be nearer unto the sky. ThIs day was more than a year since I last tried to reach the heavens!

And there was I called up into the heavens, just as it was foretold. Rising from the ground with the aid of the First Man and his Engine of Hope (like unto a flying dragon, it was!), i was carried to nearly a half mile above the unsaved, those Left Behind. But the First Man then signaled that I must make my own way for further ascension. I would have to ride the winds, and in my ride, I would be judged whether worthy enough to continue upward into glory. Alas, while I struggled hard, it seems I was judged not yet worthy. I fell slowly earthward, to rejoin those Left Behind. I could not, on my own, even reach that level to which the First Man had lifted me. In the space of seventeen minutes, I found myself once more about to be walking among the Left Behind. As I sped across the good green grass, passing the Flag of Many Directions, I spanned the grass from the hard road to the edge of hard road. Lest I fall upon the hardness of the road, just before I reached that road, I pushed my hands skyward in Praise, and settled gently to my feet in the last part of the good, green grass.

But I was not yet ready to accept this judgement upon my life's performance! Once more I tied myself to the Engine of Hope, and implored the FIrst Man to take me skyward a second time. He did not object, and again took me to most nearly a half mile above the green earth. Again, I saw his signal that I must make my own way into the heavens from there. I struggled, but in slow steps found myself only 2,000 feet (a sign of the Millennium, for sure!) above the trees and swamp. Here, my prayers were answered, and the wind lifted me upward, upward, at 400 feet per minute! But as I reveled in this uplifting joy, it seems my circles were not true, for at only 2800 feet above the trees and swamp, I fell from grace, and once more slowly descended, gliding earthward. As I approached the green field, I decided I must follow down the wind, consider my own base life, then undertake the final leg of my personal journey of hope for this day. This time, at the moment of 27 minutes of travel, I again raised my hands up unto the sky, and settled gently onto my feet in the center of the Good Green Grass field. For this act, I was praised by many, as it pleased them in my performance.

Yes, this day, I was Left Behind by several of the saved ones: Dave P, John S, Heather S, Tom McG, Steve K, Matthew G, Karen G, and Carlos W, Jon, Amy, Valerie, and others. But, this is not my last attempt. Be assured I will work hard to join them and others in the heavens again as the sun shines upon our earth!

Blossom Kite Festival 2011

2011-04-10T20:52:00.005-04:00

As of 2011, the Smithsonian Kite Festival has become the Blossom Kite Festival, part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

The Capital Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association has been displaying gliders and talking up our sport for at least 15 years that I know of.

We realize that the effort doesn't really recruit many (any?) new students for the sport. However, it is a lot of fun to put a positive PR effort out in front of a huge crowd. We even let kids hang under a glider - more photo ops than you can imagine. Look for kids under the glider on Facebook, Flickr, or whereever.

Chis T and Matt I get the booth set up before the crowds arrive

Showing off my glider.

Gary D talks up the sport with festival visitors

Mark C and Chris T explaining hang gliding and paragliding at the booth

Matt I and Chris T ready at the gliders waiting for the crowds

Paraglider kiting on the practice field

Kites in the sky over the CHGPA Booth at teh end of the day

Flickr pics from the festival, including a few of our booth.

Here are a couple of past festivals I took part in.

2008
2007

Taylor Farm February 6

2011-02-06T22:18:00.001-05:00

What a great day on the training hill! Arrived at Taylor Farm about 1:30 to see Mark C setting up, Bob P breaking down, Matt I surveying the slope, and John M running two students through the paces on the flats at the bottom of the hill. Matthew and Karen arrived shortly after I did. A neighbor came by to watch, and Mrs. Taylor came out into the backyard to visit.

I have been flying Taylor Farm for about 15 years, and had never met Mrs. Taylor before today. What a lovely lady! She told us of an artist friend in Fredericksburg, who she has encouraged to come paint a scene of gliders on the hill. Last week she hosted the local Boy Scout District Camporee, with 600 tents and multitudinous Scouts on the farm; her artist friend has painted a view of the campers in place. She described it as a Grandma Moses style painting.

News flash: Taylor Farm no longer has cows! Mrs. Taylor had her son take them all to auction. That ought to make spot landing practice better next spring and summer.

Back to flying: Winds were light, but all over the place. Temperature was sweet - most of us were in (long) shirtsleeves all afternoon. None of that Smithsburg snow for us! We would wait for cycles in the right direction, and then all hurry off the hill. Matt, Matthew and Karen were all flying their bags, while the rest of us had our plumbing out and in use. Bob had arrived at 11:00 a.m., and after four flights, declared victory and headed home, departing as I was finishing set up on the Pulse.

I managed four flights on the Pulse. Not great flights, but safe and I was in the air. Others had from five to seven flights. Matthew bummed the U2 from Mark for a couple of biwingual flights late in the day. John M even got in six or seven between student flights. Students Dan (yes, another one!) and Joe seemed to be enjoying the day, Joe flying from 1/3 up the hill and Dan from the top.

As sunset approached, the wind picked up and went solidly catabatic, denying John the last flight of the day. Sunset over the distant trees, red sun sinking behind them was beautiful.

Matthew, Mark, Karen, and I stopped at Hard Times Cafe on US 1 in Fredericksburg for dinner. Our arrival brought the customer count to 6, so we almost outnumbered the staff! I guess any place not a sports bar is gonna be dead on game night. We enjoyed chili, fish, poppers, beer, and wine, and declared the day a resounding success.

Return to the Sky

2010-12-04T22:47:00.003-05:00

=Click on the video to jump to YouTube and see it in full width.=

Well, my last flight was April 3rd; the neurologist saw my MRI on April 6th and referred me to the neurosurgeon within five minutes of seeing the images. My surgery was April 30th. On November 10th, the surgeon inspected the latest X-ray images and approved me for flying, again. Veterans Day weekend and then Thanksgiving week travel precluded an immediate response to the new prescription. But on Saturday, December 3rd, the weather cooperated, and I headed out to the training hill in Smithsburg, with hopes of a follow on flight at High Rock.

The video shows my two flights, getting back into the groove, on my Pulse. Two decent launches; one adequate landing (didn't get fully into the wind, and flared early) and one very satisfying no-step landing. Note the bit of lift I hit on that first flight!

I did head up to the top at High Rock, just in time to see Karen C. Launch. Also helped Hugh M launch in a tandem with Ellis K, and then, with Carlos and Kelvin, observed Greg S for his second ever cliff launch. Greg had the quality launch of the day off of the Rock. Once we had more pilots to crew, we helped Carlos W launch about 4:15.

With gray sky and dusk quickly approaching, and glider set up taking a while, I decided not to fly at HR. I didn't want to be landing in the flat gray dusk light on my first day back.

Great day being back in the sky. Seven months is along time to be grounded. More to come!

Become a Pilot Day - Smithsonian Display

2010-06-20T17:23:00.005-04:00

I may be grounded, but I can still talk a good flying day.

Four years ago, I was part of a team from the Capitol club showing off hang gliding at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum Annex for Women in Aviation Day. On June 19th, I returned to the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles with Dan Tuckw for a different kind of event, Become a Pilot Day.

We were in a gaggle of over 50 pilots, including military, public service, experimental, sailplane, balloon, even a gyrocopter.

Dan an I spent the day in 90 degree-plus sun, extolling the pleasure of taking part in the least expensive way to fly. We talked all day, gave out dozens of flyers, and even met an old early 70's pilot who asked if we had ever flown a Standard (he had).

Grounded for the Summer

2010-06-20T16:40:00.006-04:00

Three days after my flights at Blue Sky, I carried a CD of MRI images to a neurologist. In only a couple of minutes she pointed out to me a notably bulging disk in my neck, VERY close to the spinal cord:

She told me I had congenital cervical stenosis, and that she was immediately referring me to a neurosurgeon. I saw the surgeon on April 19; he was clear that corrective surgery was called for, sooner rather than later. Beginning the interview, I had told him I had a sports activity question for him. After discussing the surgery, he was open for the sports question. I asked him about my hang gliding. He got a notably surprised look on his face, and said "That's NOT what I was expecting." He also suggested I needed to stay grounded until fully recovered from the surgery.

On the last day of April, the good doctor slit my throat and replaced two disks with a bone slurry that will harden and fuse the vertebrae. He also installed a titanium plate on the front of the spine to protect all his work. This surgery earned me two weeks of no driving and no lifting, a pocket full of Percoset, and a month off from work.

At my one month check up at the end of May, the surgeon looked at the above image, and declared all was looking excellent. He also wants to see me again in another three months, at which time we'll talk about flying. So... I remain grounded into August.

Oh, and I did give a copy of Hang Gliding & Paragliding Magazine to his resident to share with the surgeon!.

Flight Parks in April

2010-06-20T16:17:00.003-04:00

The first weekend in April I tried for back-to-back flight park days. Saturday April 3rd I headed south to Blue Sky at Manquin. Winds were light, and only a few pilots on hand. Steve pulled me up with the truck for three flights; all ended up as sleds. The tows went well, with pin-off heights of 840, 920, and 1040 feet. My landings were adequate and safe, but not as well positioned as I'd like. Still, it felt good to get high into the sky to begin the season.

Sunday I was eastbound for Highland Aerosports at Ridgely. As I set up the glider, I watched the winds grow stringer and more cross. Several pilots had flown, but not always happy with the conditions. Joe G landed and made unkind comments about the wind direction. As tug pilot Zac and I sat at the flightline discussing the 90 degree cross, a young Hang 2 who had already flown several times suited up on a cart, waited a few minutes, then climbed out and declared himself done for the day. We agreed he made a good decision. I saw no signs of improving conditions, so I packed up the U2 and socialized a bit before heading home.

One for two on tow parks.

Taylor March 20. '10

2010-03-21T07:26:00.004-04:00

Finally, a sunny, dry spring day. Time to run the cobwebs off on the training hill. I arrived at Taylor farm mid-afternoon, where John M had a half dozen student in class. Just as I was unloading, two new faces pulled up. Turns out they are old faces at Taylor, having flown it way back in '75. Bill Shelton, from Stafford, said he has not flown in at least 20 years. Jimmie Zell from Manassas taught at Kitty Hawk '75-79, and then had a school in Blacksburg. He also hasn't flown in decades.

Bill Shelton and Jimmie Zell

John's students in class

I only got in two flights, both light wind, one a cross wind launch. Then, about 5:00, the forecast SW wind shifted to NE. We waited a half hour, then John pulled up the wind socks and we all broke down.

Double Park Weekend - 11/7&8

2009-11-11T23:27:00.002-05:00

The loving wife ran off to Texas for the weekend, to play RenFest with her brothers & sister-in-law (see KaysHappenings for a report), leaving me in charge of the house, dog, and vehicles. The weather looked clear, with moderate temps, but wind speed and direction were inauspicious for mountain flying. Clearly, the solution was flight parks and towing.

I declared Saturday to be macho day, first spending an hour at the NRA range working on my sight grouping. From there, on down to Blue Sky at Manquin.

I liked the 6-10 S forecast, perfect for the Blue Sky runway. Arrived about 12:30 and saw four glders set or setting up.

As I was in my initial conversation with Steve Wendt, a lovely and brightly smiling woman walked up. He introduced me to his wife. Tatyana and Steve were married in her home conutry of Moldova last January. Steve kept the news secret, even from his parents, as they worked on the immigration processes. The last hurdles for a spousal visa overcome, Tatyana arrived in the USA just four weeks ago. Steve said she is learning to sew, and she LOVES driving the little tractor to mow the grass at the park.

Clearly, Steve has a helpmate, in many ways. That is a very happy couple.

Winds were solid in direction, but stronger than expected; no soaring to be had. Several pilots had one flight each; I flew three times.

Good tows off the truck; I reached 1150 and 1250 on first two runs from the truck. Release popped early on the third at 600. Tow of the day was a newer pilot on a Falcon, last tow of the day, who reached close to 1800'.

I was very pleased with my three close in, no-step landings in the moderate wind

A huge and sincere congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Steve Wendt!

Sunday, for change of pace and balance, I headed over to Highland Aerosports at Ridgely.
I first walked Daisy around the block, then headed east over the bay, Ward was there before me, so I was the second glider set up for the day. A bright and light wind day, I wathced as the crowd grew. Pilots there eventually included Christian T, Joe G, John D, John M, John and Heather S, Carlos W, Tom McG, Steve K,HUgh & Sally McE, Luis, and a few others.

Lift was close to non-existent. Only Tom McG stayed up for any significant length of time, although Christian gave it a shot in his rigid. I flew tiwce, both gentle tows to the standard 2500, with slow sleds down to the field. My second flight included about a minute of added air time by playing in very light lift at around 600' over teh swamp adn trees. One good landing, one slightly late flare. The good part is that both were in dry spots on the field. LOTS of recent rain left many soggy pools across the LZ. Part of the day's entertainment was watching landings with a splash.

After a pumpkin beer with Joe and Christian and Sally, (thanks, Joe), I was on the road back to VIrginia.

Five flights in two days, both platform and aerotowing, and a good set of landings overall. Pretty nice weekend!

Back to the Pulpit, 10/25/09

2009-11-07T19:57:00.005-05:00

Pulpit Sled 10/25/09 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

Left the house at 9:30 and arrived at Pulpit launch at 1130.
Was pretty much set up to fly before 1:00, but various distractions and assists delayed me entering the launch line. One of the distractions was the sight of Pete struggling like crazy to find lift in front of launch as Krys sledded down to the secondary. (We won't talk about Carlos playing happily at a grand over down by the towers as this was going on.)
There was a lot of buoyant air between 4 and 5. More on that in a moment. Having helped several other launches, we reached the point where the last two HGs set up were mine and Karen's. Some may be aware that Karen and I have a de facto tradition at the Pulpit: I launch mid to late afternoon and get 20-30 minutes, then Karen launches really late and gets 1 hour +. I decided to swap with her this time; we got her into the air at 5:00, then Bacil, Carlos, and Pete assisted me off the ramp about 5:10
Well, make note of the buoyancy window (4-5) and our two launch times. Karen had a reasonably leisurely glide out to the main LZ, and I joined her in the closest thing possible to a Pulpit sled that ends in the main - a nice fun 4 minute flight..
While breaking down by 7th Street, we decided to go back to our old launch order.

Thanks to Bacil, Carlos, and Pete for crewing for me.

Dinner afterwards was at Brewer's on Alley, Market St, Frederick.

Here I am with Alex and Carlos.

We had nearly a dozen at the exended table.

After dinner and beer in Frederick, I was home by 11:30. 14 hour day, 4 minute flight. Gotta love this sport!
And, I do!

Pulpit Flying, Sunday, October 11, 2009.

2009-10-12T22:44:00.006-04:00

The view from the ramp as I start my launch run:

My launch sequence, photographed by Mel Sessa:

View From the Bottom of the Stack from Cragin S on Vimeo.

The view of the main landing zone as I turn on to final approach:

Once more I return ot the club site the Pulpit to fly over McConnellsburg. An early start (for me) got ,me there about 11:15. Dan Tuck and Greg S were already there. Other pilots showed up over the next couple of hours. I had agreed ot be Observer for Greg S. This would be his second Pulpit flight. His dad, Mel, was there, camera in hand. Mel's photography club has a contest underway with the theme of flight. Bacil arrived a bit after 12, and after a quick set up was the first to launch. He used the new gravel slope and found lift right away. Greg was encouraged by the easy launch, and we talked about a flight plan. Dan Tuck was next pff teh gravel slope. Greg decided to go from the old ramp, since his previous Pulpit launch was from that ramp. Mel was more nervous than Greg. Ric H and Kelvin P assisted on the wires and Greg was off and up into the sky.
I helped Krystof launch, then finished suiting up while several other pilots launched, including Kelvin, Ric, Carlos, and Luis. Dan T, Tony D, and PG pilot crewed me off the old ramp at 1:50. My launch felt good - none of the nose pop I had done a couple of times recently.
The great lift of noon had diminished, so I only got about 200 over launch as I worked down the ridge. I looked up to see 5 or 6 gliders several hundred above me, bu t I never caught the bump to join them. After playign around just above the ridge, I slowly sank out, and headed out to join the two gliders already on the ground. I set up a clean approach and ran out my landing in the middle of thei main field. Total time, 20 minutes.
Others joined me on the ground over the next hour, and one car headed back to the top to launch Dan T. Last to launch, Dan caught the only train over the back and was the lone XC of the day, crossing I-81 just east of Greencastle.
Supper at Tony's Pizza on Rt 11 in Greencastle with Bacil, Dan Tuck, Carlos, and Luis, then off to the house. Good, fun day.

One More Pulpit Day - 9/13/09

2009-09-14T01:43:00.004-04:00

The Sunday forecast was NNW to NW, 5-10. They got the north cross right, but were a bit shy on the wind strength. I arrived at launch a few minutes afternoon, finding five pilots there, and four gliders set up. Dan Tuck , Carlos, Tony D, and Dave P had gliders just about ready. Mark C was waiting to hear about High Rock. We helped Dave and then Dan and Tony get airborne. They got high quickly. They also were pushed down the ridge FAST by the NNW wind.
Carlos made three tries before accepting the conditions and running off the ramp.
That left Mark C and me without crew for a while. We hung out. Mark played guitar and I read (Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling - neat book). We visited with birders and wuffos.
Dan T headed off to pick up Dan Tuck. Tony D left the LZ to fetch Dave P. Rich B came up for a while. Eventually we had enough crew to launch, so Mark C and I got our flights in, launching after 5:00.
I was in the aired by 5:25, and working hard to stay above the ridge. Still a lot of north in the wind. I eked out 25 minutes and landed in the main. Mark joined me ten minutes later. I was much happier with my launch this week.. flat and straight. Had a good approach in the big main LZ, but flared a little early, so popped up ot about 6 feet. That made for a safe no step but with a little nioise as I bumped down feet to knees to wheels.
Here is this week's sampler video of the flight:

Pulpit Flight Tidbits 9/13/09 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

8/30 at the Pulpit

2009-09-14T01:12:00.002-04:00

The next Sunday I made a return appearance at our club-owned site. This time I launched from the old ramp, instead of the new gravel slope. Wasn't too happy with my launch; got turned to the left and had to work a bit to correct as I was leaving the ramp. Feedback from a wirecrew pilot later was that I had let my nose pop up and I was mushing. Gonna watch that.
Had a nice thermalling flight, reaching 1550 over launch. Played in the sky a long time, then landed on purpose after one hour, in order to head home early.
I was much happier with my landing than with my launch, taking a nice cross-wind landing in the upper field. It was a sweet two step landing.

Tony D and Dan Tuck both landed with me, and the three of us waited a long time before going back to launch, because a motorcycle had hit a big truck on Rt 30 and the road was closed. We had seen the thick black smoke from the truck fire while flying, and wondered what had happened.
Eventually, Tony took us all back to the top the long way round on Rt 16. We had to get past the police road block at the bottom of the hill to reach launch.

No video this week - both cameras failed to record, dang it.

8/23/09 at the Pulpit

2009-08-24T22:38:00.004-04:00

Saturday was filled with rain, courtesy of Bill running up the coast. Sunday was forecast as light NW, enough to tempt several of us out to High Ro9ck and the Pulpit. After a morning of socializing over coffee, I headed out to the Pulpit at 11:15. I arrived at launch at 1:18 - just missed my two hour travel prediction. A fair crowd of both hang glider and paraglider pilots assembled. The winds were very light, encouraging the PGers and discouraging the HGers. Finally about 2:30 Mark C played wind dummy and was rewarded with about a ten minute extendo. He then spent along time in the LZ waiting for company. at 3:30 Peter A gave it a try in his Sport 2. His sled got him all the way to the secondary, where he awaited a couple og PG pilots to join him. The winds looked doable at 4:00 but I waited for better. Shortly before 5:00 Tony D gave it a try. Another extendo. I had to wait for more pilots to come back up for crew.

I launched at 5:30. There was s bit of excitement as the north cross turned me toward the trees and I took a moment to correct. Once I got around the tree, I headed down over Route 16. For a moment I was above launch. Then I spent ten minutes losing 40 and gaining 30 feet. I closed out my 12 minute extended flight with a very sweet approach and landing. With cameras on both the base tube and the keel, I got two views of the flight. Here are the launch and landing for you.

Meanwhile, Mark C gave it another try and was rewarded with over an hour of flight. Here is his approach and landing.

Mark C Landing a the Pulpit 8/23/09 from Cragin S on Vimeo.

July 4th Weekend at Hyner View

2009-07-10T14:32:00.004-04:00

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

2009-06-29T18:28:00.004-04:00

My U2 all dressed up and ready to play.

===============================

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

2009-02-22T16:25:00.005-05:00

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

2008-11-10T06:34:00.004-05:00

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

2008-10-28T21:48:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-09T03:07:00.005-04:00

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

2008-09-02T03:03:00.007-04:00

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

2008-08-17T04:19:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-17T03:51:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-15T23:19:00.003-04:00

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.

Another Light Wind Day - Woodstock June 1

2008-06-01T20:33:00.002-04:00

Well, Sunday ended up feeling a lot like Friday, May 23. I headed out to Woodstock with high hopes for a fine flying day. Arrived about 1:00 to find a tightly packed set up area, littered with gliders in bags, gliders set up, and various hang glider and paraglider pilots wandering around. Winds were light to nil, and no one was excited about leaping off the mountain. Then about 2:00 the sky reminded us that 20% chance of rain is not 0%. After two sessions of light rain, various PG pilots decided to give it a shot.
Matthew convinced our two Hang 2's present to take advantage of the available launch window, since there appeared to be more rain approaching from the far ridge across the valley. Tom observed Kathy off, then Matthew observed Dan. Each waited in the very light wind for a comfortable cycle, and showed us all excellent running launches. Here they are for your viewing enjoyment. Forgive the low grade video - cell phone camera.

I love the adulation of a cheering crowd!

A few more PGs flew, but I was not up for making my maiden mountain flight on the new U2 in such light winds P lus, it did look like another minor rain was coming. I headed home a little after 4:00, and, sure enough, was rained on on the highway.
THis was two skunked day sin a row at Woodstock. Gary S told me for him it was #5. Eventually I'll fly there again.

Memorial Day Weekend - May 23-25 '08

2008-05-26T00:08:00.007-04:00

Yes, I know Memorial Day is the 26th. But I will not be trying to fly that day, and have reports for the other days.

Friday 5/23.
As of Thursday night, Woodstock looked most promising. Packed all the gear that night and took it to work Friday. Left the office at noon with visions of mountain soaring. Arrived at launch to find the set up area covered with gliders and lots of hang waiting happening. The forecast 5-10 NW was a L&V trickle. Only Kevin C soared. Two others, Bruce and Adam, took their sleds. Others broke down at launch. I didn't even set up. Oh, well ... next time.

Saturday, 5/24.
A call to Steve Wendt in the morning elicited pessimism about the flyability of the day, so I delayed departure until noon. The normal drive time to Blue Sky is about two hors. In honor of the holiday weekend, both I-95 and US 1 became parking lots. I arrived after 4:00. However, I knew the drive would be worthwhile, because waiting for me was my brand new blue & silver U2 (click the photos for full size):

After almost two hours of learning the nuances of set up and break down with tip wands and sprogs, I suited up at 7:20 and trucked off for my inaugural flight:

The glider was rock steady smooth, and handled superbly. Mine was the last flight of the day for the park, so I had an entire pavilion of pilots and friends watching my landing. Luckily, I pulled it off cleanly.

After a fine burger and dog cookout hosted by Nick, Steve called us all together in the club house for a remembrance of Jim Carrigan. It was a touching and informal gathering, with Steve and others telling a few stories of Jim - one of the warmest and most positive pilots we knew. And almost none of us knew of his illness, much less that he had fought it for 8-10 years longer than his doctors predicted. After digital photo memories, accompanied by Jim's own singing and guitar music. we migrated out to the campfire.

A little new entertainment - Daniel showed us a bit of his choreographed fire flinging:

Sunday, 5/25
I started the flying day by joining Davis Straub for a scooter tow class with Steve. That was fun. Davis worked on his launch runs in full harness. I worked on my landings. He got in about a half dozen flights, I did four on the Falcon. Check the OzReport for Davis's report on this training.

http://ozreport.com/1211892747
(I was photographer for his short video.)

Here is that video, which is also embedded in Davis's report.

In the afternoon, I flew the U2 four more times off the truck. Kevin C. had flown down
in a little Cessna and spent the afternoon as AT tug pilot. The only truck-tow launch resulting in a soaring flight was Billy in the SuperFloater. Thus, my total flight time over 4 tows was between 16 and 20 minutes. Not long, but I got a good start on getting the feel of the new glider. Oh, Peter K was Kevin's first tow; Peter was supposed to be a practice pilot for Kevin. However, he stayed up over three hours, topping out at 6200'. Kevin had to find a few other practice pilots for his tow. They all stayed up a long time, too. I was envious; but Steve was being careful for my first few flights.

Dreaming of Flight at Kill Devil Hills

2008-05-10T22:43:00.010-04:00

This b(L)og is all about flying. I try to stick to the one topic here. However, this post is about a day I wished I could have flown. While vacationing for a week on the Outer Banks, I not only flew the dunes at Jockey Ridge State Park, I also visited, for the first time, the Wright Brothers Memorial. What a great place. I've included a few pictures from the visit, below.

The memorial itself is undergoing rehab and repair, so we were kept back by a construction fence. The busts of Wilbur and Orville at the base are wrapped to protect them during the construction. The result is a duct-tape Ninja look for the brothers.

The memorial is at the top of the hill the Wrights used for their thousand glider flights from 1900 into 1902, learning details about aerodynamics and control surfaces. And that hill offers two of the most enticing looking hang glider launches I have seen for an advanced training hill. A steep drop faces south, overlooking the sculpture reproducing the first powered flight. You can see the sculpture in the upper left corner of this panoramic view.

Here I am in what would be a nice close LZ, the memorial and hill behind me.

The north side of the hill faces out onto the flat area where the first four powered flights took place. It offers a more shallow launch, and a superb extended LZ down where the powered flights occurred.

At the first launch of the powered Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, the Wrights asked Surfman John Daniels to operate their camera. He captured the launch perfectly, creating an historic record of the beginning of that 12 second flight. That photograph is reproduced in sculpture at the park.

His view must have been amazing. Wish I could have been there with him.

Tuesday on the Kitty Hawk Dunes 5/6/08

2008-05-07T09:39:00.002-04:00

Two months ago we got a postcard reminding us of a week of timeshare on deposit that would expire in August. Not wanting to waste that, I asked for an Atlantic beach location any time in May or June. They found us a week in Kitty Hawk in May. When I locked it in, the wife said, "You'll take your glider, right?" Of course! (I love having an understanding wife.)

I brought the UltraSport for a bit of aerotow at Currituck airport, and planned on renting a glider to play on the dunes. Monday was rainy, but Tuesday was bright and sunny with a light NE wind. Over at Kitty Hawk Kites I met Bruce Weaver, who was teaching the dune classes for the day. He provided a Falcon 2 195, which I carried out to the low dune where he was teaching. With light winds and a somewhat flat slope, neither the students on the Eaglets nor I on the Falcon had long flights. I got in 4 or 5 short flights there - nothing special, but I was in the air. I then left the class area, and carried a couple hundred years back to the BIG dune. With three families playing at the top of the dune as my audience, I took a nice run down the steep slope. With applause in behind me, I flew out a fifty yards and and set down smoothly, all smiles. First a wave to the crowd on the hill, then pondered another carry up that slope of sand. Nah... it was 3:30, I'd been there since late morning. I didn't have one of those healthy 20-something KHK instructors carrying my glider for me. Time to carry back in for the day.

Fun day, good exercise on the sand, and finished with a really nice dune sled. It was also good to finally meet Bruce, having heard his name for so many years.

Minor disappointment - until the tourist season opens in a few weeks, the AT operations at Currituck are weekends only. I had hoped for a mid week tow day. I'm used to Highland and Blue Sky being full time parks most of the year. KHK is more dependent on tourist trade, so is much more seasonal. We'll stop at the airport Saturday morning en route back to the DC area, and try to get a flight in before leaving the area. I'll report if successful.

Kite Festival 2008

2008-03-30T14:13:00.007-04:00

The Capital Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (CHGPA.org) once more used the annual Smithsonian Kite Festival to show off our sport to the masses. The sky filled with kites. PG pilots kited their bagwings. We bragged about having the biggest kites at the festival. The Batglider drew the crowds from across the lawn. So many wanted their photo with it. Then we started flying little kids under the gliders with a small training harness. Parental cell hone cameras got a real workout. The line didn't stop until we broke down the last glider.

Club members taking part included Matthew G., Karen C., David B. with Jody, Chris Mc (Batman), Dan T. (old-3), Dan T. (new-2) David C., Daniel B., Juanito with family and students, Clare, Susanna, Stan, Ellis, Carlos W., Kathy C., Sheila G. , Joe & Janet G., Mike L., Gary S., Joe S., (if I missed a name, let me know!), and even my own special Kay, who wowed the crowds with her devil stick juggling. (Kathy C. and David B. picked up the sticks and got pretty good with them, too.)

Good Friday Flying (Good Flying Friday?)

2008-03-22T13:37:00.001-04:00

I had been away from mountain flying for way too long. My most recent high flight and mountain flight were 4 1/2 months ago, on back to back weekends in early November. Last weekend I played lazy and was a no show at Woodstock when quite a few folks flew in spite of the increasing winds across the afternoon.
With a mountain itch needing scratching, I was pumped up to see a flight-friendly forecast for Friday. Wednesday I marked my work calendar for a hooky day, and confirmed with the wife that I could take a pass on the free opera tickets we had been offered for Friday night.
Thursday night we were out late, seeing Macbeth at the Folger Library theater. When we got home I put the rack on the truck, fresh batteries in all the electronics, and pre-positioned my gear bag for early departure. As an aside, Macbeth was fabulous. Co-directors are Aaron Posner and Teller (as in Penn &). Teller designed a number of magic tricks integral to the play, including floating dagger, disappearing witch, and ghastly bloody fights. Great fun, and truly outstanding acting.
Friday morning I was on the road just after 8:00 and first to arrive at launch, setting my glider down on the ground at 10:00. Bacil D. arrived just as I was standing up, and Bruce E. and Randy W. within the hour. Gary S. was about an hour behind them. Juan showed up with his PG.
Sky report: at 10:00 the sky was totally clear, not a hint of a whispy in sight. Between noon and 3:00 lenticular disks formed, some in significant stacks indicating wave. By 5:00 the sky was a flat grey, indicating the new weather system moving in as predicted.
Bacil launched at 12:10, and went upright away as he turned north along the ridge. Randy followed him, showing similar upness in the sky. I helped Bruce launch his ATOS (that is a WIDE wing!), dawdled a bit, then with Gary's help ran into the sky a quarter to two. My run and pitch felt good, and Gary alter told me it all looked fine, nothing he noticed in the launch that could be improved. Juan and Gary followed me fairly soon thereafter.
I turned right once clear of the slot, and was in light lift almost immediately. As I worked up to the first ridge finger, I found the lift was all thermal, with no consistent ridge lift. Was able to find lift areas at different spots. Had to work a lot, although maybe not hard. Spent almost the entire flight between 200 and 600 over launch. Sunk out to 150 below launch twice, out front near the river. Each time found up air and stair stepped back to the ridge and 500 over. One thermal did get me to 850 over, my best for the day.
At 2:10 I watched Bacil land in the main LZ - 2 hours for him. As I approached 75 minutes I worked away from the ridge and allowed myself to sink out. Worked my way down above the Fisher yard, past the LZ, then entered a standard left hand turn DBF approach over the trees. I saw Gary coming out from the ridge, effectively setting up a straight-in approach. We ended up landing in parallel, side by side, 30 yards apart, on either side of the row of cows in the center of the field. Probably looked pretty neat and coordinated, although it was all coincidence. I logged 80 minutes, two low saves, and a lot of fun.
Randy got us back to the top, where we helped Eric S and Dave K, up from Charlottesville, launch. Home and Adam arrived at launch as Gary, Bacil, and I started back to the LZ to break down. Back at the LZ, Adam landed as we finished packing up, after a pleasant but short soaring flight. Poor Homer, last on launch, reported tailing winds and broke down on top.

Heard later that Juan had gotten up into the wave in his PG, reaching 9K, and with an awesome XC.

Finished the day with dinner at Christina's Mexican in Strassburg with Bacil. Fella at the next table had to ask Bacil about his relief map we were studying over the chips and salsa.

Fine way to spend a day out in nature with friends .

(Sorry, no video or pics this post.)

Launch Video - Light Wind Launches

2008-03-08T17:58:00.005-05:00

Over the past week OzReport Forum has had an extensive and very informative discussion on foot launch technique, particularly in light wind conditions. Several valuable video links and still photos are included in the forum thread. The thread is available at http://tinyurl.com/2ezp2q or

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10966&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Since our training hill day on March 2 was definitely a light wind day, I pulled out the videos and isolated my two launches for study. Here is the resulting short (20 second) video.

Much of the OzReport thread has concentrated on proper use of the grapevine and coke bottle grips, need for each, and transition timing and technique between them. There seems to be strong support for starting with grapevine and keeping fairly far into the launch run. This is to maximize pitch control authority. In this video, you see me taking a different approach to the grip during launch. First remember that this was a very light wind day; I was launching in near no-wind conditions.

My plan was to use a technique I learned from an advanced instructor a number of years ago, during one of his launch & landing seminars on a high wind day. Greg's suggestion was to use the grapevine grip for positive control during all ground handling, right up to standing on launch. Keep the grapevine hold in place while standing on launch, until you feel the wing load balanced. Then, once the wing is balanced and pitch is set, change to bottle grip before starting the run. Confirm that balance and pitch are still set, then begin the run. Keep the hands wrapped fully around the down tubes for positive pitch control. However, do not grip the tubes tightly. Instead, allow the tubes to slide up or down within the loose grip. As you accelerate, the glider rises off your shoulders, first with enough lift to fly its own weight. Work to keep the elbow angle constant as the tubes rise. This keeps the hands down closer to waist high, and ensure maximum pitch control range throughout the run. As the lift increases under the wing, it eventually pulls you off the ground, with sufficient lift for the weight of pilot and wing together.

In my video here, you will see that I did not allow the tubes to slide up as described. Instead my hands stayed at about the same place on the tubes, and rode up to near my shoulders as the glider flew up. I will be working on correcting this.

Here are more comments on this bottle grip-only launch run. In many foot launch events the glider nose pops up, causing loss of forward momentum and energy, and loss of lift. Quite often, the nose pops up during the transition from grapevine to bottle grip. A nose-high launch can result in the glide mushing into the hill (or trees) instead of flying off into clear air. Eliminating the grip transfer eliminates this obvious opportunity for a nose pop. Further, while the grapevine is definitely a more powerful grip for controlling the glider during ground handling, once the wings are balanced and the pilot is ready to run, the pitch angle is paramount to a good launch. Hands fully wrapped around the down tubes, and kept low close to the waist, provide as much power, and much more leverage, for pitch control than the grapevine grip. To see the reduced leverage of grapevine during launch, look at some of the still photos included in the OzReport forum thread linked at the beginning of this post.

Clearly, I am describing a theory that I have not yet perfected in practice. However, I like the logic of it and will continue working on it. I also would appreciate feedback on it, relative to the points made by Davis, Aaron, and others in the Oz forum.

Another Training Hill Day - Taylor Farm, 3/2/2008

2008-03-03T20:35:00.001-05:00

Dan T and I returned to Taylor Farm for another afternoon of foot launch brush up flying. John M was there with his class of Jim, Deb, Matt, Dan, and Joseph. The winds were fairly light, but all over the place in direction. We had expected a smooth shift from NW around noon to SW by late afternoon. No such luck. We watched the 1-3 mph winds blow up the hill, down the hill, and across the hill. Usable launch windows were short, but doable. Newest student Jim worked on the flats and only a few feet up the hill. The rest of us were launching from the top.

I got in three flights, Dan T two, John about five, and all of the paying students from seven to nine.

All of my launches were great, but my landings were mediocre to good. Gotta dust off the cobwebs.

On the way home, Dan and I stopped for a Stonewall draught stout at Amy's on the River in Falmouth, again. Robin, our beertender last time, was busy with a birthday party of bikers, all in their leathers and jackets, but new employee Amy (New Amy - not the owner) took fine care of us at the bar. (Robin told us that all of the bikers are local cops.) We highly recommend this place.

New Year - First Training Day

2008-01-05T21:49:00.001-05:00

The first Saturday of the new year offered a perfect forecast for the Taylor Farm training hill, with light southwest winds, moderate overcast, and temperatures expected just shy of 50F. Dan T and I headed south late morning, expecting to find only John M with his class going on. We arrived about 12:30 to see hang gliders being assembled and paragliders on launch. Juan had been there since 10:00 with three bagwing students.
John's students Dan 1, Valerie, and Dan 2 were finishing the glider set up. John flew one Falcon to the bottom, and began flat run practice with Valerie and the Dans. While Dan T and I set up the Pulse, student Mark arrived and set up his Falcon.
Juan pointed out John M's cross wind HG launch technique to his students. Juan's PG students then showed good launches in the benign light wind with a slight left cross.
All of the HG students showed good flights with good control. Dan 1 has an impressively strong launch run, and obviously has progressed well over a number of lessons. Mark was also flying from the top of the hill all afternoon and doing very well. This was Valerie's second foot launch lesson, although she has logged 38 solo aerotow flights. She is getting her sea legs (hill legs?) pretty well. Dan 2 was out for his very first day under a glider. Clearly John thinks he shows promise, because Dan 2 was launching from 1/3 up the hill by mid-afternoon. Congrats!
Dan T and I took our time carrying up the hill after each flight, so while the paying students all got 8 to 10 flights, we each flew three times. We were both happy with our launches and landings. John M commented specifically on Dan T's good light wind launches.
On the way home, Dan, Valerie, and I stopped off in Falmouth at Amy's on the River, where we helped bartender Robin cheer for the Redskins, and sampled the local brewery Blue & Gray's stout on tap. Good brew, tasty appetizers, and friendly homey place - we plan to return. Oh, treat them nice; Robin told us Amy's has become a favorite stop for local law enforcement and politicians.

Highland Aerosports, November 11, 2007

2007-11-12T10:08:00.001-05:00

Two Minutes of Tidbits of My 28 Minute Flight

The Highland Crew had announced Sunday the 11th as the last day of their season. Winds were forecast as 5-10 N, not great but adequate. Several of us headed over to the Eastern Shore to finish the season with them. Off-season traffic was great. I arrived after just shy of a 90 minute drive from Alexandria. Dave the Amazing pulled in right behind me. Christian already had his rigid assembled and was lounging under the wing. Carlos had not yet pulled his glider off the rack. Viktor arrived, and John M. There were a couple of H2 students flying, who I did not recognize. Skies were broad blue, with high altitude cirrus and no cumulus in view.

Sunny and Adam had a steady stream of tandems all day, keeping Zack busy in the tug. Bob, Barb, and Bruce were all handling ground crew duties.

I launched just after 2:00, with a relatively smooth tow. We did find a bit of lift, and Zack tried to leave me in a thermal. I missed working that first one, but found another at 2K that I was able to work for a while to come close to maintaining. Next thermal I worked was over the woods and swamp, staying at around 1600'. WHile I was in that one, John M. came in above me and worked it up to 3K+. I eventually lost that one, and landed for a 25 minute flight. Just a tiny bit late on flare, so it was my custom "flare to the knees" landing.

I never even unhooked, and was being pulled skyward again shortly before 3:00. This time the tow was totally smooth and uneventful - not a good sign for lift. SUre enough, the vario never made a sound this time. I was able to slow the descent a bit, so my sled lasted about 8 minutes. This time I nailed my landing. Sweet.

Fine day, and nice to help the park finish up. Even got home at a most reasonable time.

Now - time to bundle up for winter mountain flying.

Pulpit, Sunday November 4

2007-11-12T08:52:00.000-05:00

I arrived at the Pulpit about 11:00 to see several trucks and gliders already in place. Surprisingly, Bacil was not yet set up. Larry B. was on hand for his first ever Pulpit day.

Winds ramped up a bit more than expected, with a solid high altitude overcast. Early launches were Larry, Bacil, and Hugh. They all stayed up and got major high, even under the grey ceiling. They also ventured far out over the valley, past the golf course, at ~2K over launch.

Mike L launched next, but worked a nit far from the ridge, and sledded out. I decided to wait a bit, since Mike had not stayed up. Eventually Dan T. and I suited up. Dan got on the new ramp, and the winds went to just over 20. He waited for them to go back down. Bit of a wait. Eventually he backed off, when Carlos noticed his U2 corner bracket did not have the pip pin fully seated. While he fixed his glider, I launched from the old ramp. I did wait for reports of winds at 16 gusting to 20. They had been higher. Many thanks to Shawn R. for crewing me and giving regular wind speed readings from the ramp.

I found easy lift along the ridge, and got up to about 450 over. Never able to reach the Top 3 (early launches) who were boating about way above me.

I worked out in front a bit, but eventually slowly sank out and headed to land. Bacil landed just before me, confirming wind direction. I had a nice approach, landing on the (now cleared) ball diamond area amongst the corn stubble. Missed the flare timing, so bellied in on the wheels. Darn!

Total flight time 30 minutes, max altitude 450' above launch, Good strong launch, safe but not pretty landing. Overall, a fine day.

High praise to Shawn and Matt for doing Observer duty. Shawn got Rich B. into the air, and Matt threw visiting H2 JJ from NY into the sky.

Blue Sky October 21

2007-11-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, October 21st I headed down to see Steve Wendt at Blue Sky. He had my UltraSport ready, with its newly installed king post. The forecast as for 5 S to SW, but when I arrived, the winds were notably stronger. The crowd was light, with Peter K, John C, Craig, Tom, Bob, and Billie. It was the first time I had seen Billie there in a couple of years. We were all truck towing.
I got in five flights, all with pin off heights between 950' and 1150' AGL. The flights were pretty much sleds, even though there was some small lift in the field. I was able to add a minute or three to several of the flights. This meant that I was able to stay off the ground long enough for Steve to get the line reeled in and the truck back to the start line. It is just so annoying to beat him back to the launch point.
On one flight, while I was still on the tow line, a hawk flew right in front of me, only about 6 feet away. Pretty neat!
When I had been at Blue Sky on the 6th, Steve gave me some landing advice, saying I should work on being more upright before the flare. This time I concentrated on getting upright, and nailed all five landings. Thanks, Steve!

Mounting the Helmet Camera

2007-10-21T23:34:00.000-04:00

Three weeks ago Sparky asked to see how I mount the helmet camera. Here are photos to show the set up.
The camera is an Oregon Scientific Action Camera, model ATC-2000. It comes with a quick-clip mount, and several different straps, Velcro (tm) and rubber. I put the Velcro patch (which comes with it) on the back of the clip mount.
A Velcro glider tie strap is around the helmet, secured at the back with duct tape (not quite visible in the photos) to keep it from sliding around or off. The glider strap is Velcro loop-side out, and the patch on the bottom of the mount is hook-side Velcro. This Velcro-connection for the mount helps me align the camera at angles other than along the long direction of the glider strap. That was essential with the earlier model ATC-1000. Not as essential with the 2000, because the mounting base on the camera can rotate and lock. However, it does keep it all in place better.
The trick in setting up the camera is pointing it along my actual line of sight. When prone flying the glider, I end to look more up, relative to the helmet face, than when just standing on the ground.
The same technique works for mounting the camera on the glider base tube and keel. For those positions, the long Velcro strap that comes with the camera works fine.
These photos show the assembly.

(Dry grass courtesy of Blue Sky Flight Park, Manquin, Virginia, and one darn dry, warm autumn.)

Truck Towing, Saturday, October 6

2007-10-08T22:10:00.001-04:00

Saturday morning Kay headed off to the Renaissance Faire, leaving me to my own devices. First activity for me was a bit of target practice at the range. After making about 150 little holes in the paper, I called Steve Wendt to check on conditions at Blue Sky. He reported solid overcast at 11:30, and light east winds. No indication of a soarable day, and the cross winds on the N-S tow road meant no expectation of high tows from the truck. Even so, flying felt like a good idea, so I headed south from Fairfax.

By the time I got to Bowling Green, there was plenty of blue mixed with the clouds. That was encouraging. As I was pulling in to Blue Sky Steve pointed up over the golf course, and showed me that Craig had found something and was about 2500' up. Four or so other pilots were waiting their turn on the truck.

I set up my Pulse and hopped into line. I was not so fortunate as Craig, and succeeded in logging three flights, with pin off heights of 750', 680, and 625 agl, successively. I was able to find a small area of zero sink on that first one, to stretch it into 7 1/2 minutes instead of the 5 of the remaining flights. Fun flights, just not long ones.

Randy W. was getting plenty of landing practice with his U2. John and one other pilot were rotating with us on the truck. Meanwhile, Craig claimed FotD with an hour and 2700' max. He declared that one flight plenty.

At one point as Randy was waiting to launch, we watched beautiful bald eagle circle down and land in the bean field. We could not see that the held any prey, but he stayed there for several minutes. Pretty cool. And gorgeous as he flew up, slowly circling up above the tree line.

Just 'cause I can, I built about 90 seconds of video to show you the view as I fly off the truck. Enjoy!

Two Highland Flights on 9/30

2007-10-01T22:03:00.001-04:00

Sunday, September 30, the easterly winds looked to favor flying at Ridgely. I made good time across the bay and arrived shortly after 11:00. A few gliders were already set up, and more pilots streamed in over the next three hours.
My UltraSport is in the shop for some new parts, so I brought the Pulse out for the day. I remembered that it has a lot more bar pressure on tow than the US, but had forgotten just how much. First tow, just before 2:00, I got high on the tug, and was having trouble getting back down to it. Finally, at about 1350' I pinned off, not wanting to fight it any more and not wanting to put JR in the tug into an unhappy attitude. I sledded back down for a clean landing, and hurried back over in line.
My next tow was still rowdy, but I hung on for a full tow. didn't find the big lift a few other pilots reported, but worked small bubbles around 2K and then at 700; for an extendo.
Lots of flying, two tugs working solid, but I did not hear that anyone went XC. Even Christian only flew local. John M, Carlos W, Hugh McE, Viktor, and a number of others.
The Highland Canine Contingent is doing quite well. Old Jack, smartest dog on the flightline, made it a point to follow the shade of my wing as I moved up the line to launch. Spry young Nelly had more energy than she could stand, romping behind the tandem glider before each flight, then chasing the glider down the runway until airborne. Hogan the Mobile showed his stuff by competing in a 3-way drag race, with Bruce S in one golf cart, Hogan's owner in the second, and Hogan wheeling down the taxiway between them at fill speed.
My little camera continues o provide added entertainment. Here is about three minutes snipped from the first flight, helmet cam view. By popular request, this one has full commercial sound track added. Enjoy.

Saturday, 9/8/2007, at Highland

2007-09-09T10:28:00.000-04:00

With a moderate south forecast for Saturday, September 8, it was definitely a flight park day for me. I try to alternate between Blue Sky and Highland Aerosports, so, after flying Virginia last weekend, I was off to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. An early start got me there well before 11:00, where I found the tug still hangared and the entire crew socializing. Winds were much stronger than the forecast max of 9, so they had cancelled lessons. I set up, and was joined later by other pilots straggling in.

Pilots included Mark C, Carlos W, Ric N, Christian T, Chris McK, Daniel B, John M, Tom McG, Viktor, and Roger from NJ (new solo pilot). Here I am showing off my classic UltraSport with snazzy fin among a pile of U2s and Discus gliders, as well as the tandem wing. I had the only fin on the line. I just bet they are all jealous of my way cool tail fin, right?

I allowed others to test the sky before I carted up. This shot shows just how energetic the Highland ground crew is.

See Bob run! Run, Bob, run!

On this strong south wind and cloudless day, the activity was dominated by sled rides and extendos. Even Christian in his rigid wing had difficulty sticking in the sky. Ric had FotD, reaching 5K in a fast drift for a 42 minute, one thermal, 10 mile XC, not quite making it home as planned. The best entertainment was Mark's first landing. The quote from Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and he is us," was never more appropriate. Ask Mark about pogo.

I flew twice, accumulating a total of 30 minutes flight time for the day. The flights were almost identical, although on the first I did find a very light thermal when I was about 1500 AGL. I worked it from over the LZ to the north for a bit, but the drift was so fast, and the gain so light, I decided it was not worth a retrieve to where I might need to land. I left the thermal and came back to over the airport. That drift and maintain (hardly a gain) made flight #1 all of two minutes longer than #2.

I finished both flights with well positioned landings by the sock, with clean no steps. I was very pleased with both launches and landings. Fine day to be part of the sky.

Here is a short video with highlights from my flights.

Blue Sky Saturday September 1, '07

2007-09-03T09:54:00.000-04:00

The forecast with a high pressure region bearing down on Richmond caused a light turn out of pilots for Saturday. Traffic moving south on I-95 was summer vacation heavy, so I hopped over on US 17 at Fredericksburg to take 301 down to Manquin. The trip took 3 hours instead of my usual 2.

I arrived at 1:00 as Joe was just finishing a wind check at altitude in the Dragonfly. Strong winds, not promising. Steve told me he had to make the scooter lesson earlier an abbreviated one as the winds had picked up. We all waited. Eventually, after 2:00, Peter had Joe pull him up, where he was able to stay up for quite a while and make it to 3K. However, on landing he also reported very strong winds.

Tom, Gene, Rob, and Jonathan all started some truck tows mid afternoon. No soaring, and reports of strong winds. As the wind picked up, Steve called off all flying after 3:00 for about an hour. We all visited and waited. I met Cathy, up from Florida to work on her landings using scooter tow lessons. A carload of folks arrived planning tandem lessons late. Scott and Holly arrived. Lots of socializing.

As 5:00 approached, we started flying again. The four truck tow guys flew several more times. I got on the string behind Joe at 5:10. None of us expected me to stay up, as late in the day as it was. However, Joe dropped me just next to a spot of lift over the trees north of the park, and I found light, but nicely workable lift. I had to be patient and work slowly, but I did achieve a gain of about 400 feet, and turned it into just shy of a half hour flight. My biggest problem was letting the thermal drift away from me, and having to find it again. I'm still focusing too much on the ground points when thermaling. I also gave myself way too much space when landing on the runway, resulting in a long walk back to the pavilion. Peter asked if that was my first XC at Blue Sky. :-)

Winds got better. As I left, Peter and Joe were beginning a series of tandems, hoping to get everyone into the sky before the sun dropped too low. Holly was on the truck, about to take her first flight of the day (of the year?). I took 301 home, which let me grab a slab of ribs at Johnnie's Ribs barbecue in La Plata. Nice!.

Overdue Flight Reports - July 2007

2007-09-03T09:51:00.000-04:00

Since I failed to post my flying activity in July, this post will fill in the gap and prove I have not been totally dormant in the heat of the summer.

Saturday, July 7 I joined the large crowd at the Pulpit. Lots of fine flights took place that day, including a couple of impressive XC runs. I set up the glider and considered when I should jump into line for a ramp. However, I was also feeling a bit off my feed, and realized I was not well focused on flight. The day just did not feel right for me, and I was moving very slowly mentally. I decided I should not be in the air if not ready to respond quickly to a surprise wind gust or thermal. I didn't exactly use Robert's checklist, but did declare myself not ready to fly. Dinner in Hagerstown with Matt, Karen, and Carlos was fun, and it was great seeing everyone else fly.

A couple of weeks later, I was out at Bill's Hill on Saturday, July 22.

Five pilots with gliders - John M. David C (H2). Christie H., Mark C., me.
One pilot on a motorcycle - Rich B, cruising over from McConnellburg.
We wondered why no bag flyers were there.
Total of ten flights happened.
Beautiful cumies across the sky when we arrived. However, by the time we flew, they didn't do us much good.
Lots of cross and light cycles on launch.

First launch about 2:00 volley resulted in five sleds.
Second launch after 4:00 volley saw several sleds and a couple of hard-fought extendos.
John M, Christie H., and Mark C. all did their best to stay in the sky. David C and I demonstrated proper sled technique.

With his flights, David doubled his lifetime mountain launch count.

Dinner at Bob Evans in Breezewood afterward. Bob hisseff had passed the week before. Memorial flyer at the cash register. RIP.
BTW, they close that place at 9:00. John and Christie arrived before 9:00. David, Mark and I at 9:03. John talked the manager into letting us in. We all got to eat.

Highland, Saturday June 30 '07

2007-07-08T13:11:00.000-04:00

The forecast for Saturday the 30th led me to believe the front would pass through and the overcast burn off well before noon. I got an early start to the Eastern shore and arrived in Ridgely at 1130. The sky was still totally overcast, ceiling about 4K. Even got lightly sprinkled on crossing the Bay Bridge. Darn.
Only a very few pilots came out on Saturday. Christian set up his Millenium, but then went back home. I had planned a two-day park trip, so I stuck it out. The park had a nice stream of tandem customers, but only three of us flying solo. Mid afternoon I had Zach pull me up for a couple of pattern tows, to get my sea legs. Everything went fine. After the second, I got a report of light but buoyant lift from a Discus pilot (sorry, don't know the name), so I went for a full pull to altitude.
I tried to work several small lift points, but was not really catching them, so the flight became a busy extended sled. Then I set up to land. In spite of my good work on the first two flights, this time I set up poorly, and was heading in right next to the swamp. Darn. I put the glider gently and safely right next to the big bush in the set up line, but did so with wings not level when I flared. That took a downtube out. Another darn for the day. I, of course had three spares back home. Adam checked, but had none in stock. There went my weekend of flying. Canceled my room at the Slo Horse Inn and was home before sundown.

Blue Sky Report, Saturday 6/16/07

2007-06-21T00:22:00.001-04:00

With temps forecast to 82 on Saturday and 94 on Sunday, I declared Saturday my flying day for the weekend. South winds sent me down to Blue Sky for a bit of towing. On the way down I found myself in caravan with Chris Donahue, having merged together where the I-95 HOV lanes end. Besides Chris D., others at the park included Peter Kain, Chris Cioffi, Tom, Craig, Mike, Andrew, and even Jim Carrigan getting to fly for his own amusement. Joe is flying the tug this summer, giving Jim a bit more freedom in his days.
We had a lot of overcast, so not a lot of workable lift. Peter did scratch hard to get over a half hour off of an early afternoon AT. That was FOTD for the Park.
For my part, I started with a truck tow... in the sinky air only got to about 750 feet. That was a pleasant sled.
Later in the afternoon, Joe pulled me up behind the beautiful white BlueSky dragonfly. He looked hard for something nice to drop me in, but not much was available. There were a couple of bumps over the gold course, but nothing I could work successfully.
Pleasant flights, good clean landings, and a good friendly crowd - a successful flying day.
I avoided I-95 traffic no the way home, coming up 301 into MD. Very pleasant drive, with no where near the hassles of the Interstate, at least until the Capital Beltway. Once more, I noted that the least expensive gas was on the Virginia side of the river, near the Nice bridge on 301 - $3.79. As soon as I crossed into Maryland, the price jumped to $3.99. Dang!

Flying High Rock, June 9, 2007

2007-06-10T23:30:00.000-04:00

My log book tells me I had not flown High Rock since the High Rock Fly-In on August 17, 2005. That is way too long to be away from such a great flying site. Weather, schedules, complications of life, Presidential TFRs around Camp David; many reasons had kept me away from the Rock. But the Rock, and Ms. Emma Jane and Harry had been in my thoughts, especially as we got word of Harry's medical problems the past couple of years.
After Emma Jane lost Harry last month, I was able to visit with her twice. That helped me, and I hope it helped her. Then, last week the forecast was looking like a doable, if not great, HR day coming up. Many of us wanted to fly there, even if conditions worked out only as marginal, to be able to support Emma. Janni P. urged us on to turn it into a full gathering. He had the right idea, and many of the local pilots not tied up with the ECC over at Ridgely met up to fly and socialize together and with Emma.
I arrived at launch after 1:00, just in time to watch Janni leap into the sky, joining 3 others already airborne. While I set up, he and two of them found a sink cycle, but Dennis S. just got higher. With Matthew's urging to show him where the lift was, I led the second charge at about 2:40. Sure enough, I quickly made it to 400 over at the rock pile, then moved to the north, chasing Dennis. I found my big one for the day, reaching 1400 feet over launch. Matthew, Bunkhouse Bob, and a couple of others followed me, but for about 15 minutes I had top of that stack (I'm still not counting Dennis). Then, somehow, I sank back to 500 over, and Matthew and another pilot caught the good one. For 10-15 minutes Bob and I vied for low man honors, but always between 300 and 500 over. We kept a good eye on each other, working pretty close together up and down the ridge.
Eventually Bob turned wisely and I turned unwisely; he went higher and I sunk below launch, having to turn out toward the LZ. At the tracks aI found a bubble worth two 360s, but no more. Then, at the silo field I stumbled into a nice strong thermal. I worked it hard, and with a 100 foot gain, saw Matthew zooming over to join me in it. I rode up another 100 feet, but did not like the drift so left the thermal to set up my approach. I watched Matthew continue to ride it higher, back over the trees. I cursed him, thinking he would take it back to the ridge.
My set up and approach went well, but I flared a few seconds late, so skidded in with a safe, but not pretty, clean landing. My time was just shy of 55 minutes. As I carried off, Matthew came in right behind me, logging almost the same flight time.
Since it was still early, we both packed back to the top for a second try. At a minimum, we each hoped to accumulate a full hour of flying tome for the day. Thanks to Kathy C for shuttling my truck down for me, so it was ready to cart Matthew and me back up. Sorry she was not able to fly her first HR day.
For my second flight after 6:00 I tried a running launch from 4 steps back on the rock. Apparently I stumbled on that last step (according to wire crew witnesses), because I departed the rock with almost no forward energy, the run notwithstanding. I pulled into the steepest dive-out I have ever performed, got my airspeed, and pushed out over the tree tops. Shawn told me it was one scary steep dive, but also that I had plenty of clearance over the trees.
Once in flight, I found zilch for lift, and headed straight out, sinking nicely. Karen C had sledded out before me. On the ground, we both commented on the gnarly bumpy air we both felt on our short flights. Not new H2 kinda day, even for sleds. Total time on #2 - just over four minutes. Hmmm... even together, I didn't quite make my goal of an hour. Oh, well.
Thanks to Steve K. for the body ride back to the top for my truck.
Back to the bottom, I spent a half hour on the front porch with Emma and Randy. They are making it, but it is really tough on Emma. We tried to get her down to the LZ pavilion, but she said she was not up for a big crowd. We each did go see her in small groups, though, and she really appreciated that. She is truly appreciative of the HG community support for paying the funeral bill.
I finished the evening with the beer and grill crowd. telling tales, some of them true, and educating the two newest to HR, Kathy and David the Amazing, on HR lore.
My day was rewarding on many levels, with flight, closeness with Emma, and with fellow pilots in the LZ.
I did capture a few minutes of flight time with my little video camera, so I have another YouTube entry for this post.

Taylor Farm, Sunday,May 27

2007-05-27T20:17:00.000-04:00

Dan T. and I carted my Pulse 19 down to Taylor Farm on Sunday for a little launch and landing practice. We arrived about 11:30, and found the wind more SE than SW, but not too strong. Also, in spite of the overcast, it was definitely hot. Eventually the wind was blowing more up the hill than across it. I got in a couple of flights; Dan flew once. Our runs felt good, and our landings were reasonable, even if not perfect.
We both agreed it was too hot for more carries back up the hill. With that, we found our way into Fredericksburg for a brew and a bit of pizza. Not a long flying day, but a flying day, nonetheless. It was fun to be in the sky.

Woodstock, Saturday, May 19, 2007

2007-05-20T14:48:00.000-04:00

Mid-week, it looked like the weekend might get a bit damp. Luckily, the forecast changed for the better as Saturday approached. I got a late start on the morning, arriving at Woodstock launch about 1:30. Bruce, Mike, and Shawn greeted me in the parking lot. Plenty of pilots there - I had to wait for someone to launch before I could claim a set up spot. The winds were a bit strong at times, with swirling in the slot, so I was not worried about rushing into the sky. I set up right behind John M. and Steve P. As the afternoon went on, I assisted in a number of launches.. some good, some not so good. However, everyone got into the air safely.
As I finished my set up and pre-flight, two families with kids came over to ask questions. I enjoyed playing hang gliding answer man. One of the dads is an Army paratrooper, so he was asking about altitudes and need for oxygen. He has never done any recreational skydiving, though, so was not familiar with nuances of our sport. He sure kept the pre-teens in line for proper courtesy when asking their questions. I did encourage them to give it a try (HG, that is) next trip to Kitty Hawk.
I was the second to the last launch of the afternoon. Steve K. helped wire me off at 3:45 into a nice straight in cycle. We did get one of the wuffo dads to stabilize the other wire. Once I was in the sky, Steve launched, leaving the tourists to watch a while from launch.
As others reported about the day, there was lift aplenty. I hit the lift as soon as I exited the slot. Rode that up easily to about 2K over launch, working slowly back and forth between the fingers. I stayed a bit out front, but saw that John M. was another 1-2K above me, back behind the ridge. One other glider, Steve K, I think, took turns seeing who could be higher, playing between 2K and 3K over launch. We both found plenty to work with, including out front across the river. I eventually topped out at 4875 MSL, a very satisfying max altitude. From there, I went out front, and stabilized at about 3100 to 3300 MSL for about 20 minutes.
When I had been up for about an hour, I decided to work my way down. Landings in the main LZ had looked perky, so I decided to use that as an excuse and make my first bridge field landing. The set up was straightforward, with a downwind over the field on the south side of the road, base over the front yard of the house there, and final into the long axis of the field. I think I may have been a bit lower than optimum as I crossed the power lines in the front yard, but had good control and speed. Landed with a clean run out about half way down the field, and carried back over to the end by the bridge. Total flight time was 70 minutes, and I am quite happy with both the launch and the landing.
Great thanks to Mike L, and his already full complement of passengers (Gary, Dan, Shawn, and John) for squeezing me and my harness into the Amazing Toyota for a ride back to the top.
This was a great day to be out. My flying schedule has been terrible this year - my last previous mountain flight was November 18 at the Pulpit - a full six months of time away from the mountains! I'll be working on improving my timing this spring and summer. The wife says she likes when I fly... I come home so much happier with life.

April 21, 2007, Highland Aerosports

2007-05-20T14:19:00.000-04:00

This report is overdue being posted, but I want to keep the log complete. On Saturday, April 21, I braved the Bay Bridge for my first day at Ridgely since last August Most everyone acted like they remembered me in spite of the long absence. I needed a flying day, since it had been two months since my flights at Quest Air in Florida. Weather was good, with temps about 75 degrees and a blue sky. I launched at 2:40, with the tug dropping me right in a nice thermal. I rode that first gift to 3300', then looked around for another as I worked a very slow descent. Took a long time to find my own thermal, so I was down to 900' when I finally began going back up. Succeeded in getting back up to 2500' from the t900' start point. Back down some, I played for an extended periods at ~1500', mostly over the swampy area past the hangars. I landed with a sweet no-step after a solid approach, logging a total of 47 minutes in the air. Really enjoyed the satisfaction of that low save. Thanks to all the Highland crew for a fine day.

Hang Gliders at the Smithsonian Kite Festival, March 31, 2007

2007-04-02T00:32:00.000-04:00

Each spring the Smithsonian has a one day kite festival. This year was their 41st. For the last 8 to 10 years, the Capital Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association has set up a display. (Last year it coincided with Women in Aviation Day at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Annex Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport. The club split resources, and I was in the big hangar instead of at the Kite Festival.
We pride ourselves on bringing the biggest kites of the festival. Sadly, we are not allowed to fly ours there. However, many visitors ask if we are going to, and if we can jump off the top of the Washington Monument with them.
It was a long day on the Mall, but a lot of fun. I got most of the gear down there about 7:30. Just to add to the fun, there was no parking on Constitution Avenue because of the Epilepsy Walk. Batman showed up with the Bat Kite about 8, hollering obscenities at me because he could not figure where to park to unload his glider. We solved that by telling him which sidewalk to drive up in order to get the Bat Glider unloaded.
Not surprisingly, the Bat Kite was a real hit as a photo opportunity for festival visitors. Both young and old wanted to pose under it. Since the glider is brand new, it has only been flown by the test pilots at Wills Wing. Winds have not been cooperative since Batman took delivery. You can see it below.
We never really expect to recruit new pilots at the Kite Festival. It is just a fun way to do some good PR for hang gliding. One fellow said he used to teach at Kitty Hawk. Another visitor said he got his Hang 2 years ago but got away from the sport. I think we did convince a couple of folks to at least go try a tandem lesson, for the experience.
We gave away over a hundred hang gliding and paragliding buttons for the kids, dozens of copies of back issues of the USHGA / USHPA magazine, and quite a few simple flyers introducing the sport that our club has prepared.
Officially, the festival was over at 4:00. However, the crowds were still milling around, and we did not finish getting packed up and out of there until about 6:00.
Overall, pretty good turnout from the club. Here are all the names I recall as being down under the kite-filled sky:
Chris Mc. Suzie & Shasta, Carlos W, David B, Mark C, John M, Joe G & Mark, Shawn R & Malina, Mike L & Rhonda, Tom Mc, Tracey & kids, Joe S & Zelda, John D & Family, Jim D & more family, Daniel Broxterman.
--

Here are a few pics, followed by a video.

The Batman under the Bat Glider.

David B, selling the sport.

Joe G and Mark join the Batman.

Batman and I pose, with Shawn off to the side.

Daniel & David tell hang lies while Mark actually talks to a visitor.

A smallpart of the crowd; John M giving the club flying spiel at the table.

Even more crowd around our display.

And, what would a Kite Festival be without a Kite Eating Tree?

About 5 minutes of the sights and sounds of the day.

Quest Air, Feb '07

2007-02-22T21:12:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Florida the afternoon of Sunday, Feb 11, and drove straight to Quest AIr at 2:00, before going into Orlando to my hotel. The air was calm, with no indications of lift, so no none of the locals were flying. One visitor from Argentina was arranging to borrow a glider and take a flight.
I found Paul Tjaden doing repair work on the stairs going up to the clubhouse. Peter Kane, a Richmond pilot, wandered around the corner. I had not known he was wintering at Quest in his new trailer. Awesome Bob let me fill out my forms so I would have them done for the next weekend. I also met Fender, the designated grumpy Dalmation. Steve Wendt was just finishing the classroom portion of his scooter tow clinic, and spotted me as he descended those in-progress stairs. Son of a gun, in his gaggle of students was Santos!
Lots of familiar faces floating around.
Paul helped me load my glider into one of the storage barns, and I went on into town to check in and do my official business conference stuff for the week.
After spending 4 1/2 days in suit and tie and being all official (officious?) I got back out to Quest on Friday afternoon. Nothing was going on; no flying to be had. I did get to meet Bo, who was studying his anatomy & physiology text in the office. He's in school over in Miami. OK, back to my Orlando hotel for one last night.
Saturday morning I was back at Quest to a forecast of 10+, W to NW. The locals assured me west days were gnarly, plus at 50 degrees, it was too cold for them and they generally chose not to fly. However, I needed an air fix, so I set up and got ready to go. At 1:00 I was pulled into the sky by tug pilot young Paul (and I do mean young!). It was chilly, and I was happy to have my leather flight jacket. And, who knew I'd be happy I accidently brought my bar mitts? We found a couple of good lift spots on the way up, and after pinning off, I caught one at 2200 and rode it back to 2500. Losing that one, I made my way across the middle of the field to the trees at the south. Nothing but sink, so I arrived over those trees at about 1K. At 960' I saved myself and climbed back up to 2000. I drifted eastward, and found another corner thermal just outside the park. to play in. I was back and forth between the two thermals at the corners, generally between 2K and 2600. After about 30 minutes, I was getting a little fatigued and queasy. I really should have eaten breakfast, or lunch, or something. I landed at 36 minutes even though the sky was doing fine, and ran into town for a burger at Hardee's.
When I got back a bit after 3:00, Rich and Lisa were towing a few other visitors up. Winds had increased, and no one was staying up long. Reports were of very rowdy tows, in the not fun range. I decided to wait for late day smoothing, and spent time watching Steve's scooter tows. The smoothing never arrived, winds ramped up to lead into the forecast gale force winds on Sunday.
I joined a mix of locals and visitors for dinner at a Thai restaurant in Winter Garden, meeting both Jim (Prahl?) and Jamie Shelden.
Sunday was as blown out as the forecast said it would be. I was invited to the Quest Sunday pancake breakfast at Jim's trailer. He was cooking toast, cofee, and bacon in the trailer. Jamie was doing great blueberry and raspberry pancakes on the grill. Bo brought bananas. Steve finished his breakfast and headed home to Richmond. To finish the day, I ate Mexican for lunch and did laundry in beautiful downtown Groveland. I think I was the only Anglo in the laundromat.
Back at the park on Monday, we were looking forward to NE to E and 5-10, with lots of lift. Well, the wind direction was right. I set up early. Lauren came out mid afternoon, both to fly and to sell her Falcon to an out of towner. The sky was clear and blue. The temperature was nice, back to shirtsleeves on the ground. There was no lift. Lauren's glider purchaser arrived; it was Bob B. from Memphis, who I had met at Blue SKy last August. Hang gliding remains a small world.
Starting about 3:00, several of us proceeded to work on our skills with a series of sleds. Lauren has described her landing practice. Bob and his buddy from Utah were getting to know the Falcon and refresh their AT skills after a two year lull. I took tow sleds, the first about 4:30. Young Paul loved my towing and I was pleased with the flights from start to finish.
That finished my first Florida winter flying trip. I had one soaring flight, and two pleasant sleds, saw a bunch of old friends, met some very nice new HG friends, and overall had a good time.
Quest was friendly, fun, professional, and I hope to make my way back down there again, soon.

Saturday, January 6, 2007 - Taylor Farm Training Hill

2007-01-07T10:03:00.000-05:00

With the forecast for SW winds and temps in the low 70's, how could I not spend the first Saturday in January flying? After some morning chores, I arrived at 1:00 to see strong winds and a bit of west cross. Dan T. had ridden his BMW down, beating me there by 15 minutes. John M. had two students, and all three of them were setting up gliders at the bottom by the trees, due to the strong winds. With Dan's help, I set up the Pulse on the top. The winds were well above 10 mph, and increasing for a while. NWS reports later showed a peak of 17 mph at 2:00 p.m.
I finally launched during a nice lull after 2:00. Dan and I alternated on the Pulse, picking lighter cycles. Even then, we both found bumps of lift just off the hill, nearly getting above launch. I flew three times, and Dan flew twice.
In the meantime, John was working with his students, and after about 3:30 they were flying from up the hill as the winds were more reasonable. We also had the help of Gary Campbell, who dropped by to see how things were looking. Gary told us he hopes to return to flying in the spring after a three year hiatus. He is looking forward to freeing his WW Eagle from the garage. Gary's stories included tales of Attack Ducks and XCs and flying years ago with Tad and Nelson and others.
Dan and I departed about 4:30, with John and hi students still enjoying the flying.
Fine day to be alive!

Taylor Farm Training Day, December 17

2006-12-18T21:22:00.000-05:00

Sunday, December 10, was a fine day to be flying in shirtsleeves. One week later was even better. The forecast was SW 5-10 all afternoon, with temps into the 60's. Last week I flew in a long sleeve T; this week called for short sleeves. We had a nice crowd. John M. had three students, David C., Matt C., and Chris A. Joe T. and David B. brought their gliders out to do some brush up flying. Dan T. came out to swap turns on my Pulse. We even had a couple of PG guys doing some training. I took four flights on the Pulse, and then finished the day on John's Condor. Pretty nice glider... too bad it is only approved for training hills. OK, so my flying time didn't jump up by great numbers, but it sure is nice to accumulate 10 flights in 8 days.
John reports that 2 of his students completed their H2 flying tasks. Congrats, Chris & David!
As a bonus on the report, here is a video of a half dozen flights. Since I had the camera on my helmet, you won't see me. Enjoy the view. This is December?!? I love it.

or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxAbyiqLHFo

Training Hill Sunday, December 10

2006-12-11T19:22:00.000-05:00

A fine forecast of light (4 mph) SSW winds with bright clear sky and 50 degree temperature tempted a dozen pilots to the Taylor training hill. John M had four students, including recently arrived H2 Joe T, Mark, David, and Sufau (I apologize for mangling that name). Marc F was in instructor mode, too, with eager student Steve K bagging his way down the hill, and Ellis K. doing a few turns under the floppy wing, also. Janni P. did a bit of brush up work on his Eagle. PK had brow beaten and arm-twisted Joe G. into coming out, for a bit of foot launch practice that broke a long dry spell for both.

I got in five sweet flights in the shirtsleeve conditions, proud of myself for hiking my Pulse back up the hill so many times, wearing my knee-hanger harness. Joe got a similar 5 in on Janet's Falcon. However, PK definitely earns Pilot of the Day for foot launching for the first time in 4 years, and further, for hiking that weighty T2 back up the hill 5 times, while wearing a full pod with 'chute. I'm thinking his carry weight was about 40# more than mine. Go PK!

Damn, this is a fun sport!

Photos courtesy of Ellis and Webshots:

by pink_albatross

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Pulpit, Saturday, November 18

2006-11-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

Early start, to take advantage of the forecast partly cloudy and NW 5-10. Arrived at the Pulpit shortly before 11:00 to find Bacil's glider set up (such a surprise!). and Janni P's glider on the ground ready to set up. well, you know that partly cloudy part? So much for the partly; it was totally clouded over. Winds were on the light side and crossing a bit form the north. As I started setting up, other pilots arrived, including Mike Lee, Shawn Ray (sans glider, since his car broke en route and he borrowed his mom's to get to launch), Dave Proctor, Carlos Weill, and Mark Cavanaugh. Consensus was that it might be on the edge of soarable. Some of us assembled gliders, other equivocated. As Dave, Mark, Janni and I drove to the main LZ (all crops are down), we passed Pete Lehmann and John going up the hill. We dropped a few trucks and headed back to the top. We passed Pete and Jon as they departed, reportedly on their way back west to High Point. Pete seemed not to like the prospects.

Along in there a few PG pilots arrived, Charlie, Laszlo, Tom,
John, and Ellis. I think they each got in one or more flights to the secondary.

Back at the top, we readied for our flights. Bacil sledded to the secondary. Janni followed suit, but got to the primary. Dave worked a bubble or two out over the primary, but still I think it was pretty much an extendo. Carlos bailed for High Rock. Mike was off next, and joined Bacil at the top of Jugtown road. I launched at 1:06 with assist from Shawn, Mark, and John Anderson. Great run off the old ramp into light winds, a careful nursing of the ridge to get me down to the main, and a sweet no-step flare up where the corn had been, for a gentle sled. I joined Dave and Janni breaking down at 7th street.

Now, when he helped me launch, Mark had still been debating breaking down at top, maybe to run over to High Rock. But as I was folding my wing, we saw him launch, in the midst of two paragliders. Since he had driven us back to the top in his truck after the truck shuttle at 12:30, I figured I'd wait for him to take him back to the top. Janni left, saying he'd get Bacil and Mike at the secondary. Dave left to grab a bite in town. Mark was still working the ridge. Hmmm. Maybe my wait for Mark would be a bit longer. I finished putting gear away. Dave had offered to come back for Mark if I wanted to head home early. Naw.. that's ok, Mark will be right down. like the rest of us. I was just about to give up and leave, when Mark finally headed out to land. Even then, he milked every foot of the flight to the end. Finally, mark joined me on the ground, after a 70 minute flight... on a day 5 other pilots eked out sleds. Definitely flight of the day!

Back at the top, Mark and I talked to Ellis as she contemplated launching again about 3:30. However, the winds had picked up noticeably, honking higher than PG-friendly speeds, plus still a bit of north cross. As I headed home a bit before 4:00, Ellis was packing it up.

Thanks to Shawn for coming on out to help crew, even though he didn't fly.

I even got home in time to go out to a party with the wife, for one of her clubs.. I hope that got me a brownie point or three.

I hope Mark gives the details for us on his flight. He clearly worked hard and deserved his prize. For myself, very happy for strong launch, clean safe landing, and flying in between. Not a bad day.

Blue Sky, Friday, November 10, 2006

2006-11-11T08:50:00.000-05:00

I left Alexandria heading south on I-95 about 9:30. Noticed that the HOV lanes were mighty empty - those lanes had been secured as reserved passage for the busses taking VIPs and other guests to the dedication of the Marine Museum at Quantico. At every entrance or utility entrance to the car pool lanes there were orange cones and either a big highway maintenance truck or a State Trooper, blocking access. LOTS of security all along there. Southbound traffic was running normal, but northbound I-95 was pretty packed because of this.

Arriving at Blue sky a bit before noon, I found one glider set up. It was a Pulse, belonging to Mike, one of the Kitty Hawk Kites instructors who had been up for the biannual reunion. He lives in Powhatan, only 45 minutes from Blue Sky. Tom, and Gene Towns, and John (?) each arrived, so we had a handful of pilots ready to truck tow. Tom led off about 1:00, and the rest of us added to the line. Winds were pretty light, and the few thermals were small and tricky to stay in, so the best any of us did were sleds and extendos. I flew 7 times between 1:00 and 3:45. Air was buoyant, so I did pretty well on the tows, reaching over 1K AGL on 6 of 7 flights. That felt good, because on some days I only get to about 900'. Only on #2 did I find lift sufficient to gain (all of 40 feet) above pin-off altitude.

#----Time (min)-----Tow height
1-------4------------------787
2-------8-----------------1050 +40
3-------5-----------------1005
4-------6-----------------1142
5-------5-----------------1119
6------11-----------------1137
7-------7-----------------1260

As I was finishing my final flight, one of Steve's scooter tow students, Patrick, arrived with friend Kimberly. Patrick was ready for his first ever truck tow. Kimberly and I watched him make is first and second flights from the truck, Pretty good launch on the first, a bit nose high just off the truck, but still seemed to get to about 800'. For the second he did better with this angle of attack, and I think he made it to 1000'. He stuck both landings with excellent clean no-steppers. I am sure he was on a cloud the rest of the weekend.

Cragin

Blue Sky Flight Park, Sunday, November 5, 2006

2006-11-05T22:32:00.000-05:00

A day at the flight park was a fine finish to a most satisfying three flying day weekend. After an hour over the Virginia fall foliage at Woodstock on Friday, and a fun day at the Pulpit on Saturday with a short flight over Pennsylvania trees on Saturday, I headed down to Manquin for some towing over the farm field.
When I arrived shortly before noon, Steve Wendt was finishing up a scooter class with several enthusiastic students. Karma and Hank were there; Karma had been towing on Saturday, and Hank had been there all week, dialing in to his new T2. John Claytor and Steve Kinsley also joined the afternoon crowd. It was a light and switchy wind afternoon, with a clear blue sky a few wispy clouds. It was a truck towing day, with varying success on finding thermals. I ended up with six flights, but was able to work lift on only two of them for extendos. On one, I got a gain of about 250'; for the other, I just slowed my descent for 10 minutes of playing. The rest were pure sleds. Kinsley showed us how it's done, catching a thermal just off tow, and eventually getting well over 3K for the flight of the day. Claytor gave him a run for his money, joining Steve up high at one point.
Since my flying days have been few over the past 5 months, it was really nice to get in so many flights over a single weekend. Lots of smiles on the drive home. I needed that.

Pulpit, Saturday, November 4, 2006

2006-11-04T22:36:00.000-05:00

With a forecast of 5-10 NW to W for Saturday, I was hoping for a 2d day of extended mountain flying. However, the forecast, and actual winds, went lighter and lighter. I arrived at Pulpit launch about 10:40 to find Bacil set up and ready (hardly a surprise.) The wind direction was good, but light. Bacil opined that it was not yet sufficient to sustain ridge lift. Danny Brotto arrived as I was setting up, and we both got our gliders ready. Mark Cavanaugh and Carols Weill arrived. And then we waited. Even Bacil, usually anxious to get into the sky early, was not jumping up to fly.
Other pilots arrived - mostly paragliders. They were all quite excited about the conditions, and prepared to bag-drag into the air. Laszlo, Stefan, Hugh McE, John Middleton, Karen Carra, and Matthew Graham all unfolded wings. Of course, they are all quite happy to land in the secondary - a field I prefer not to try with my UltraSport.
Yanni pulled in in his new truck with Glen and Grigor the Greek. Ah.. three more hang gliders.
Mark C finally decided to chance it, and showed that there was some lift out there. Glenn followed, and also found a bubble. Apparently it was possible to reach the primary. Grigor launched from the PG sloe between the ramps, and then at 3:13 I was off the old ramp. I never found those bubbles that Mark and Glenn had shown us, but I did make it down the ridge enough to beam out to the primary LZ for a comfortable 5 minute sled. Report was that my launch was pretty good. Thanks! My landing approach was very good, and then I was just slow enough on the flare to flare to a no-stepper to my knees instead of my feet. Oh, well.. a safe landing is a good landing.
No camera with me, so no photos, and no point in doing fancy GPS graphs for today.
But...
Once more I have gone into the countryside, and done the stuff of dreams.. I have flown! Millions around the world would envy me, if only they knew.

Woodstock, Friday, 11/3/06

2006-11-03T22:09:00.000-05:00

Friday, November 3, 2006 - Woodstock

With a forecast of 10-15 NW, I headed out for Woodstock, hoping for decent flying day on a hooky day. The overturned log truck at mile 22 on I-66 only delayed me about 20 minutes, so I got to the LZ close to 1:00. I watched a glider launch as I drove up to the LZ. Three others were in the sky. As I parked, three of the four were flushed. They turned out to be Kitty Hawk Kites instructors, up for the reunion weekend. Kelvin had the luck of launching right into the flush cycle, so he soon joined the crowd in the LZ.
Carlos showed up a few minutes later, and as we were about to head out, David Bodner arrived, so the three of us pooled to the top, where we found Steve K. and Tim.
As we were setting up, three paragliders launched, reinforcing the light winds evidence of the earlier flush cycle. But, heck, we were there, so we set up. David B. started the late launch cycle at about 3:00, and found lift right way. The rest of us got in line. I launched at 3:26. and soon worked up to 1050' over launch. Others were higher, and some ran up the ridge. I stayed around the two fingers, slowly sinking back to only 100' over, but then recovered another lift are and worked back up to 1000' over. It was satisfying to get back up like that.
As an hour in the sky approached, I decided it was chilly enough, so I worked my way into the valley to prepare to land. It figures - when I wanted to get down, I hit all kinds of lift. So I stuffed the bar and flew out over the Fishburn house for a high speed descent.
I finished up a bit low as I entered the pattern over the LZ, but cam e in ok. I was late on the flare, so bumped down to wheels, but it was a clean stop and safe landing. Total time of 62 minutes in the air, hitting 1K over twice.
The trees were in full fall glory, oranges and reds and yellows all across the mountain. Sadly, the helmet cam is off for repair, so I don't have video of them. In the late afternoon low angle sun, they were even more fascinating, especially when the nearly full moon rose over them. It was a gorgeous view. However, tech toys being fun, I have added both the vertical flight profile from the Map 76CS GPS, as well as the flight track overlaid on imagery from Google Earth. You can see that the track is pretty boring, but well worth a fun hour in the sky.

Cragin

The Pulpit, Saturday, October 21, 2006

2006-10-23T19:53:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning before 8:00 it was pretty clear Woodstock have lighter winds than we like to have there. Bacil was insisting the Pulpit would be booming and bullet-proof, and Matthew agreed Pulpit was the call. I was on the road just before 9, arriving at launch at 10:55 to find Bacil set up, waiting for crew, and talking to Gary Devan. The parking lot was half full of tourist cars, with a crowd up on the ramp, admiring the view and hoping Bacil would launch soon. While I finished getting my own glider set up, Gary Smith and Dave Proctor arrived, so Bacil now had full crew. As he was launching, Shawn also pulled in.

Bacil had a good launch, and I then finished setting up, along with Proctor and Shawn. Dave was next off, and then I suited up at 12:30 while Shawn launched. However, I noted that Bacil was back low, after having gotten some good altitude, Dave was back down after an initial great climb, and reports from the ramp was that Shawn was working hard as he moved down the ridge. With that kind of report, I waited a bit in the setup area, still hooked in and ready. l watched them get back up, and headed to the ramp about 12:45. With carry up and hang check, I was at the top of the new ramp at 12:55. And the wind was BLOWING. We waited it to cycle down for a lull. THere were no lulls or cycles; it just blew. Finally since the wind did look smooth, I picked up and tested glider control. It was fine. I should have done that right away.

I launched at 1:05, only 10 seconds after picking up the second time after Dave Bodner cleared off my nose wire. Thanks and apologies to my wire crew (Matt, Karen, David, Gary, Gary) for making them stand in that wind for so long. Good clean launch, straight out and then up.

I milked it at 200 over down the ridge, then caught a nice one and topped out at 1600' over. After that one good ride, I spent lots of time at 300 - 600 over. As I was falling out of the small lift regions I slowly stair-stepped out and down to the LZ (would have preferred to stay up), landing at 2:00 for a 55 minute flight. Late on the flare, so a safe belly scrub landing.

Joined Shawn and David B. in the breakdown area. David, like I, had not landed by choice, but Shawn just HAD to tell us he not only landed early to meet Rich Bloomfield, but that he had trouble getting down at the LZ. I just hate it when I sink out and hear that! In any event, Shawn did well and had a good flight, and congrats at him. I appreciated the ride back up to the top form Rich Bloomfiled. I declared my 55 minutes a good flying day, so watched others and helped on a couple more launches, including Matthew's PG launch. Then Carlos and I walked over to the Mountain House for a brew while waiting for pilots to land and need retrieval and then dinner.

Back at launch, Carlos went down to retrieve Bodner, I chatted with various folks, and then one contingent headed to dinner at Antrim House in Greeencastle, so Bruce Engen and Gary Smith could hit I-81 conveniently to go home.

For my flight over the colorful fall foliage, see the beautiful fall trees for yourself, in this 2 minute film of my launch and first couple of minutes of flight:

or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmfzFuLMr0Q

The second dining group of Karen, Matthew, Bodner, Carlos, Brian V-H, and me by-passed Greencastle for one of the brew pubs in Frederick.
Good dinner with fun beer selection and mediocre service at the brew pub by Target in Frederick.

Thanks to all who helped with launch, retrieve, dinner suggestion, etc.

Yes, I did have a smile for the day.

Cragin

Pulpit Fly In 2006

2006-09-18T11:04:00.000-04:00

Pulpit Fly-In, September 16-17

Tradition continued with the opening day of the annual Pulpit Fly-In - we had to fly an alternate site. Winds were forecast from the NE, so we headed to Bill's Hill, where we were greeted by grey overcast, misting, and even a little light rain. Oh, yeah, and fog. Eventually things cleared enough for some flying. Winds were light, so there was no soaring, but both hang glider and paraglider pilots took our sleds like men (and women).
My flight was short enough to show you a pilot's view of the entire flight, from launch run to flare.

For a direct link to the video page, use http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxV7ZdH3nsc

After I landed, I was able to film the approach to the LZ by new H2 Kathy, on her very first flight at Bill's.

Just want to see the video? link here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wThFnkgq42Y

Later that night was our traditional campfire and grilled supper at the Pulpit Launch, complete with raffle prizes. I snapped quite a few photos. Here is a sampling:

to see all of them, you can go to
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v333/CraginS/Pulpit_Fly_In_06/

On Sunday the day started with a cloud deck between launch and the valley, Once it cleared, the light winds induced only a few pilots to fly, all of the early ones landing in the secondary LZ. I chose not to fly, and just enjoyed the day at launch. After the final flights if the day, several of us adjourned to the Mountain House Inn, next to launch, for a brew and recap. The Photobucket link above has a few shots there, also.

August Vacation Flying

2006-09-18T10:26:00.000-04:00

In a break from many years of standard family vacation practice, Kay agreed to let me drive the truck and bring gliders along to our annual August timeshare escape. This worked out well, since our vacation condo is in Williamsburg, only an hour away from Blue Sky Flight Park. She even agreed to not one, but two, flying days for me, allowing herself to be stranded in Williamsburg in the condo with only a/c, cable television, full kitchen, hot tub, three swimming pools, two restaurants, a bar, an exercise room, her two dozen library books, and an iPod with 2,000 songs on it to keep her company while I was away. Oh, the hardships that wonderful woman will endure to give me a few hours of escape to the sky.
On Sunday, August 13, I made my first trip down I-64 to Richmond. The crowd was small, and the winds iffy. It looked like low launches from the truck were likely, and few thermals. There was not a lot of enthusiasm for flying, but eventually a few folks took to the air from Steve's truck. I flew my Pulse for a change, and got in three sleds, all in the late afternoon post 5:30 p.m. In the light conditions my tows were in the 800 to 950 foot range. Flights were smooth and uneventful, with decent landings.
The following Thursday, August 17, I returned to Blue Sky for another truck tow day. Even smaller crowd than Sunday, since it was a weekday. Winds ENE 5-15 and rowdy, with a lot of cross at midfield. As a result, I didn't fly until late, after 5:00 again. Once more, three sleds. This time I flew the UltraSport. with tow heights between 800 and 900 ' AGL. FUn easy going days that week. Blue Sky is a great place to hang out and fly.

Highland Aerosports August 5, 2006

2006-08-06T14:19:00.000-04:00

Saturday forecast for the Greater DC flying region clearly indicated a tow park day, but that meant, as always, a choice between Blue Sky at Richmond and Highland Aerosports at Ridgely. Winds looked like they were going to be stronger and more cross to the main runway at Blue Sky, so I picked Highland as my destination.
Also, I had not been there in a while, and want to balance my flying between the two excellent parks. When I checked my log, I saw that "in a while" translated to not since last October. Darn, how time flies!
Only a small crowd of solo pilots were at Highland; picnic table hobnobbing at the runway included surmise that a lot of the XC hungry regulars were in TExas for the WRE. Sunny did note that with Steve Vogel, Christian Thoreson and Steve (? Stevens?) all there, they only lacked Geoff Mumford to complete the 1999 opening day crowd for the park.
While not many rated pilots were there, the park business was brisk, with several medium to large crowds of tandem groups on hand. Many daring first timers in those groups, with lots of excited whoops during high wingovers by JR and Sunny just before entering the landing pattern. When a one of the tandem groups turned out to be a bachelor party, there was a mild complaint from one of the staff that they had not brought along a stripper. Groom-to-be did go for the Mile High - but since that was with JR, I don't think that gives him any kind of club membership.
In addition to the aforementioned trio, we also had Dale (?), Carlos Weill, Steve S's friend Adam for a first lesson, novices Mike and Bob. and Charile. Adam and Zack reported buoyant air in the late morning tandems, so Dal and then Steve V. launched shortly after noon. Christian and I hung around watching them, then it dawned on us they were not coming down, so we both launched just after 1:00.
My weak link broke for no obvious reason at ~2,000' as Zack was pulling me in a wide turn to get back into a thermal he had found earlier. I was able to find it and slowly worked up to 2500', drifting south, with Steve V in view. He and I were circling in adjacent cores at the same altitude, and both of us keeping an eye out for excessive closeness. While still plenty safe distance apart, I decided to move back toward the field, confident I could pick up the next thermal coming along. I didn't. Landed after 20 minutes. Steve came in about 10 minutes later, and reported he had succumbed to the same error of leaving lift. He had moved into the same thermal as Dale, and wanted more separation. He also assumed there was plenty of lift and departed that thermal, for what was to be his foray toward the landing pattern, just like I had done.
After resting under my wing, I flew again a little after 4:00. This turned out to be another one thermal flight, bagging another 20 minutes of air time. I was happy with my tows to get up, and my landings were not too bad, so even with only a bit of airtime for the day, I call it a success.
Late day flights included Carlos, Mike, Bob, Charlie, and others. Best soaring opportunities were for those who launched early.
I used the helmet camera again, and put together a short (less than 2 minutes) silent film for YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEouTpLWXUE and below in the blog) to summarize the day. I apologize that the view is not quite pilot's-eye; the view angle is depressed from the horizontal a little. I need to mark angles on the helmet for when I position the camera on the velcro. Still learning on this new toy.

Taylor Farm, Sunday, July 9

2006-07-09T23:41:00.000-04:00

The forecast for Sunday looked prime for good training hill flights at Taylor Farm: winds SSW, 5-10, partly coudy sky,high 84 F. I arrived there about 11:45 to find John Middleton setting up wind socks and his three students about ready to assemble their gliders. John had brought the lawn tractor, and was planning on making parts of the LZ more presentable between student flights.

John took the first flight of the day just before 1:00, and got enough lift to rise above launch for a moment. Between 1:00 and 4:20 I got in six flights from the top of the hill. The wind was a bit switchy, a lot of the time coming more from the south than southwest. As a result, most of my flights started with crosswind launches, all of them satisfactory. For my landings, I had three I am happy with, and three that were fully safe, if not as pretty as desired.

Hang 0 students Mike and Chris spent most of their afternoon on the flats, and then with four to six flights from just up the hill. Both are getting the hang of it. Hang 1 Matt, already on his own Falcon, put in about eight flights from the top, and is looking pretty good. After class John told him he may be in the mountains in about a month.

My day at Taylor also gave me a chance to play more with my new little movie camera. I figured out how to mount it on my helmet so it looks where I am looking, instead of down and to the side. I slso tried rigging it on my GPS mount for a basetube position. One aspect of a basetube position... on landings all you see is sky at the end. If you have Shockwave or Flash Player installed, you can see the results in the movie below.

Blue Sky, Saturday July 1

2006-07-05T22:27:00.000-04:00

After a hiatus from flying for a month, I hopped back into the sky with a couple of truck tows at Blue Sky HG Park in Manquin. Conditions were ok but not great. First flight I towed to 920' and had a sled. Good landing though, after getting kicked around as I turned onto final.
The second flight was particularly fun. Towed to 1115', caught a nice thermal at 775', and worked it back to 1100. Total flight was 19 minutes.
On that 2d launch, I also experimented with the new helmet camera. Initial test video looks neat... this is gonna be a fun toy once I get it all sorted out.

Woodstock report for Saturday May 27

2006-05-28T13:41:00.000-04:00

Woodstock report for Saturday May 27
I arrived about 10:15 a.m. in the first wave of hopefuls. Here is the roll call, best as I can recall: David Bodner with Jody to drive (thank you Jody), Mark Cavanaugh, Hugh McElrath, Gary Smith, Bruce Engen, Joe Schad, Joe Brauch, Randy Weber, Adam, Ashley Grove, Steve Kinsely, Pete Schumann, Steve Padget, Glenn, Yanni.
From 10 to noon the sky stayed totally to mostly overcast. There was heavy haze over the valley below the clouds. Winds were also lighter than the 10-15 forecast, and included a notable north-cross component (which had been in the forecast). No one wanted to launch into such guaranteed sled conditions.
Eventually some blue sky appeared, and as the ground heating began, a few pilots decided to give it a try. Winds in the launch slot were squirrely. The wind remained relatively light, and with the cross from the north, winds bounced around in the slot, often giving as many as three or four different indicated directions among the eight wind streamers placed in the slot. When the streamers did vote together for launchable direction, the strength was below 5, and lasted only long enough to pick up the glider, watch the streamers all change their vote, and put the glider back down.
Mark C braved these conditions some time around 1:30. Following him off in quick succession were Joe, Gary, David, Randy, and Hugh. Ashley moved onto launch next, and I was on deck right behind him. Launch conditions worsened, and Ashley waited about 20 minutes for a launch cycle long enough to use. I had no desire to push him, because as we waited we watched a flush cycle drive Joe, Gary, David, and Randy down to the LZ. Eventually Ashley took a cycle, and I moved into launch potato mode. Funny aside - as soon as Ashley launched, I stood up to carry into position, but could not move. It seems the squat I had been in had put my foot to sleep, and I had to let it wake up before I could carry the glider. After my own long wait, I did my best to launch into a small cycle at 2:49 and was rewarded with a little lift leaving the slot. That was about my only reward for that flight. Ashley and I shared several very small lift areas between the fingers, neither of us high enough for 360's, and staying a safe distance apart. Hugh was above us, part of the time even above the ridge. As gravity overcame both Ashley and me, we headed across the river to the LZ. I headed out with more altitude than he, so I had plenty of time to set up my approach as he did the same several hundred of feet below. Just as I crossed above the west edge of the LZ, about to turn left on to my downwind leg, I saw Hugh enter the pattern below me, also. The three of us landed in rapid succession, one-two-three; the flush cycle had completed its task, leaving Mark as the only survivor in the sky. My flight had lasted only seven minutes. I took satisfaction in having had a good launch run in the light conditions, a clean no step landing, and the fact that I experienced the stuff of dreams: I FLEW!
All of the other pilots launched after 3:00, and from what I could see, they did indeed find plenty of lift and filled the sky the rest of the day. I am jealous of all those longer flights, but hold no animosity.
I did return to launch, and a few minutes before 5:00 Gary Smith and I helped Steve Padget launch. Glenn and Yanni had the last two gliders on launch and Glenn had just left to fetch Kinsley to observe their launches. Once Steve was safely airborne, I headed home for dinner with the wife.
Addendum: Pilot safe report.
At 9:50 p.m. Steve Padget called me at home, to let me know he was OK. He had only just then made it back to his car at launch. It seems that he had had "lift everywhere" and run the ridge up toward Strasburg, feeling assured he would be able to make it back to the LZ. I'm not sure how far north he went, but on the return leg, found himself in heavy sink, and landed very near the river at Tom's Brook. Total flight time was about 1 1/2 hours. After breaking down the glider, he had hiked out to Route 11, walked / hitched to Woodstock, walked more up toward launch, and caught a second ride up to the top. Apparently he had no radio, and his cell phone was in his car. Since he had earlier told me he reached Woodstock launch after a 4 1/2 hour drive from the Tidewater, arriving before 2:00, and as of 10:00 p.m. still had to drive back down the mountain and fetch his glider from Tom's Brook, I think we can say that Steve had one LONG flying day.

Bill's Hill, Saturday April 29

2006-05-28T13:39:00.000-04:00

With a forecast of E to NE at 5, club members declared an informal slot clearing day for Bill's Hill, with reasonable expectation of flight afterwards. I arrived at about 11:30 and contributed about half an hour to the efforts, Several others, including Mark C, Tom M, Pete Schumann, and Shawn Ray had preceded me and been doing yeoman's work.
Eventually a nice crowd of DC area and Pittsburgh-based pilots arrived, greeted by NE winds well below 5. A lot of sled rides, with a few notable flights. Pete Lehmann was in the sled crowd on his first launch, but did very well on a relight. Tom McG and Mark Gardner both had outstanding days, as did Juan on his PG.
For myself, I launched about 3:30 in very light winds, and found only a couple of bumps during my slow sled to the LZ. Launch quality A, but landing only C- with insufficient flare.
Rather than stay to socialize, I headed home to have dinner with the wife before two straight weeks of business travel.

Saturday April 15, back to Woodstock

2006-04-23T18:21:00.000-04:00

Saturday April 15, back to Woodstock
The forecast was for W to WNW winds at 10-15. Not a particularly promising forecast, but on the order of 30 hang glider and paraglider pilots showed up with high hopes. When I arrived at 1:00 about ten hang gliders were set up and waiting for wind. Not even early bird Bacil had launched. PG pilots were taking their turn in the just enough wind, with marginal success. Eventually, about 3:30 the winds started increasing and HG pilots scrambled to launch. As I was moving on deck, the winds were doing a lot of strong and cross. I discussed a possible pre-frontal situation with Karen and Steve K. There were launchable lulls, and neither Steve nor I saw the clouds out across the valley as threatening. Even so, I decided to be prepared to duck under any nasty weather that might come in.
I launched at 4:00, after several minutes of watching a 90 degree cross in the slot. The wind straightened out during the lull, and I grabbed the opportunity. Dave Bodner told me later my run looked a little slow. This matched with my perception that I was lifted in the air a step or so before I had intended - I must have had my nose a bit high; not good, but not terrible. Right away I was in moderate lift, and worked my way to the north finger in steady up, reaching 1200 over launch in just a few minutes. I saw four gliders about 800 to 1000 above me, but they eventually headed south. A light rain started hitting me, and I inspected the cloud that was generating it. Moderately dark, several thousand above me, and spread out along the valley. I was in rowdy air, but not so bad as to be scary. I was thinking it was just not a sky for new Hang 2's or single surface gliders.
I debated with myself just how long the storm clouds would remain, and whether they would build up. Since the winds had been increasing since 3:30, I decided to play it safe and head out to land. Penetration was no problem, although there was lift all the way out, and some bumps. I set up a good fast approach and hit a no-stepper half way up the slope in the LZ. I was much happier with my landing than with my take-off. I was on the ground at 4:15... a short 15 minute flight.
I spent the next three hours in the LZ, relaxing on the grass and mostly watching no one launch. Gary Smith eventually joined me there, and reported a most windy and rowdy hour in the sky. He also had heard from Joe Schad about a real rock n roll landing in the bridge field after a quite rowdy flight. Both Gary and Joe had launched after me. David Bodner gave me a telephone report about 6 that it was really cranking on launch, and no one wanted to launch in it. Driving out to Rout 11 a little after 7:15 I passed Nelson Lewis in a field along Moose Lodge Road; he had landed a few minutes before, after an hour flight. He had been the only launch between 4:30 and 7:30. He also reported a lot of very strong winds.
Over the next two days I read more flight reports of pilots who were in the air between 4:30 and 7:00, and most all of them spoke of high winds, un-fun rowdy conditions, and even being pushed over the back in high performance gliders. For my first one to two hours in the LZ, resting in the grass, I had wondered if I had wimped out by landing when I did. After compiling the available evidence I concluded that I had left the sky at just the right time. I am thankful for a safe launch and landing and some reasonable flying in between those two events.

Sunday, March 26 at Woodstock

2006-04-23T18:20:00.000-04:00

The forecast was for NW 10-15 and overcast. Actual was more NNW, but still in the 10-15 range. I launched just after 3:00 with a clean run. The lift seemed light, and I worked it very slowly, eventually peaking at only 800' over launch. Lost that out front to about 50 below, but then worked slowly back up to 500' over. At about 55 minutes air time I headed out into the valley, flying just west of the LZ, where I found big thermal, played it a little, then set up a fast approach for a clean no-step landing. Total air time 61 minutes. Nothing special about the day, but a good launch, good landing, and reasonable day in light lift. It made me happy.

Women in Aviation Day at NASM, 3/25/06

2006-03-25T20:11:00.000-05:00

Well, we didn't get to fly today, because the Capital Hang gliding & Paragliding Association was engaging in public awareness for hang gliding activities at two Smithsonian Institute activities. One crew was down on the National Mall, near the Washington Monument, taking part in the annual Smithsonian Kite Festival. Meanwhile, I was part of a second crew, out at the National Air & Space Museum Annex at Dulles International Airport, taking part in Women in Aviation Day. This annual activity is sponsored by the Girl Scouts in cooperation with the Museum.
Our team was headed up by CHGPA President Daniel Broxterman,and included Karen Carra, Linda Baskerville, Linda's daughters Olivia and Charlotte, Gary Smith, Christy Huddle, and Brian Vant-Hull. We set up a table display giving away club handouts and copies of Hang Gliding and Paragliding Magazine, set up my Airwave Pulse glider, and showed flying videos. The hit activity of the day was former high school physics teacher Brian's hands-on activity of build your own hang glider. He had the young Scouts folding a simple paper airplane in steps, adding wing shape and then a pilot (pipecleaner). Each step reinforced the lesson of aerodynamics and wing in air. Well, that was the hidden lesson from educator Brian. For the girls, they had fun doing a simple craft activity and building a souvenir toy that worked.
Special credit goes to the younger Baskerville ladies for their contributions to the day. Linda may have coerced or bribed them into coming, but they put their hearts into being part of the team, talking to visitors, handing out items, helping with the build a glider activity, and being demo pilot on my Pulse. They were cheerful and helpful all day, and a delight to have with us. It was pretty cool to tell the Scouts coming through that yes, these two ladies of 8 and 13 had flown on hang gliders!
It was also a fun surprise to be in the staff area for lunch, and see a photo on the wall identified as "Susan Pierce, Hang Gliding Pilot, McConnellsburg PA, 1994."

Here are quickview photos of the day.

To see the full album, hop over to
http://photobucket.com/albums/v333/CraginS/GS_NASM_060325/

I talked all day, showed off my gear, and came home pleased with the day and exhausted.

Cragin

p.s. Oh, I should note that late in the day we discovered we had brought two versions of the club flyer. One of them quoted one local pilot as needing a better hobby than alcoholism, and thinking hang gliding fit the bill, and quoted a second pilot as stating that yes, flying a hang glider IS better than sex. Hmmm. We stopped giving that version out to the Girl Scouts. However, every visitor before 11:30 a.m. received our PG-13 flyer version. Darn.

High Wind Weekend at Woodstock - March 18-19

2006-03-20T02:09:00.000-05:00

High Wind Weekend at Woodstock - March 18-19
I knew that the forecast winds would be on the high side, and possibly blown out, for both Saturday and Sunday. Forecasts above 15 mph are always shaky, but the optimist in me looked for the Woodstock effect to bring calmer conditions to the ridge there.
Saturday morning before leaving the house, I saw the 8:20 report from Winchester... 9 gusting to 23. 150% gust factor bodes ill, but I went out anyway, in hopes of seeing the forecast late day fall off in wind speed. Found that the early launches (before 12:30) had launchable winds, but had a handful in the air. Some of them tell their own tales. All found it dicey on landing.
After about 12:30, winds ramped up and stayed there. Folks made their blown-out calls over the course of the afternoon, starting with Tom Mc about 1:30, and going through Dan T, Nelson Lewis, around 4, me at 4:55, and Ashley Grove about 5:00. Between 4:55 and 5:20 as I was breaking down, several lulls caused Mark C to try to get me to fly. I called them sucker lulls.. I was proven right.
Sunday the 19th had a better look to the possibilities, resulting in a larger crowd out to the site, also. After helping with some other launches, I got out of the slot at 3:55. I launched straight into 500-600 up, right out of the slot. That was nice. Worked my way to 1900 over launch fairly easily. Then I started working down the ridge to the south. I had a destination of a field on Route 11, just south of the town of Woodstock, because my truck was parked there. That field is 4 miles straight from launch.
As I worked down the ridge, I thought I'd test the valley to see if it could sustain a flight out to 11. I left the ridge at 1500 over, and worked into the valley, until I was 200 below launch. Yet I was no where near my field. At 1700 MSL, I ran back to the ridge, finding lift and slowly working up high enough to get above ridge top. From there I got into better lift and worked back up to 3500 MSL, or 1600 over. I was no straight out form my desired field, but still on the ridge. Worked lift up and own, but was never able to get to 2K over. As 5:00 approached, I decided to go for the filed and see how far I could get. I picked safety LZs en route, and headed out. GOt only 1/3 of the way to Route 11, and saw that it was not gonna happen. All 3 of my secondary choices were back near the river, so I turned back and set up to land in a nice large field of corn stubble.
I landed at 5:10, for a 75 minute flight. Had a few bumps coming in on final, so stayed fast and did not try to flare until too late. Wheels may be ignominious, but they work safely. I was only 8/10ths of a mile (straightline) from my goal, so I'll call this a 3 mile XC. It turned out I was at the end of Morning Dove Lane, off of Lakeview Road, at the very edge between Woodstock and Edinburg. Dan T. was able to pick me up after I had walked abut a half mile toward 11, and get me to my truck very quickly.
This was one of my few goal XCs (truck-suck is a good incentive), and I was very pleased with the results, especially the save from below launch altitude, even if I did not get all the way to my goal.

Taylor Training Hill 3/12/06

2006-03-12T20:53:00.000-05:00

Ok, so for Sunday March 12 the forecast around Fredericksburg was for Sw 10 -15, or 5-10, depending on when and where you read the forecast. Seemed a reasonable day for a spring brush-up, as Chris McKee had pointed out.

But the silly weathermen said nothing about NNW 15-20.

John Middleton arrived at Taylor Farm first, with two 1st time students, pretty close to his announced 11:20 target. Dan Thomlinson and I rolled up just after 11:30. By shortly after noon, Mark Cavanaugh and Chris McKee were both on the hill, too.

Winds were in the 1-15 range, with an occasional gust approaching 20. Dan an I set up my Pulse as a team to keep the glider in check. John had his students take a Condor and a Falcon to the bottom to set up down below. Dan helped Mark get the U2 set up. Chris had arranged earlier to share John's Falcon; he was not interested in lugging his T2 up the hill.

John's students took turns with the Condor on flat runs in front of the kite eating tree and Chris practiced a lot of flat runs on the Falcon with his super sleek fancy streamlined racing type harness. Meanwhile, up at the top, I launched first on the Pulse, got back up, Dan flew the Pulse, and then Mark showed us highperf with a U2 flight. I got in a second flight on the Pulse, but in carrying back up saw that I had not routed the flying wires correctly when I had switched from plain old round downtubes to Attack tubes. Bad, bad, bad! The wires were rubbing on the DTs, requiring immediate correction and inspection. While I was engaged in glider maintenance, Mark got in another flight, and John flew the Falcon from the top. Chris was waiting for his turn with the Falcon after John.
About the time I got the Pulse reassembled (the wires are fine), the wind turned due west and strong. We all stood around waiting for the cycle to finish and the winds to go back to the forecast SW direction. They didn't. The direction turned even more northerly, reaching NNW, and stayed strong. Temperature dropped notably, and the smell of the air changed. Not quite rain smell, but different.
We finally gave up and packed it out about 3:30. Mark was gonna head to Woodstock to see if he could make a late day flight in the bonus NW winds. Dan and Chris and I just headed home. John was still with his students when we left. I think they had a good time.
None of us H3's got as many flights as we had hoped, but Chris got experience in his harness, and Dan, Mark and I did fly. We are happy about that. And once more, enjoyed a day out under the sky, fresh air. That is good.

Blue Sky report for Saturday, March 11

2006-03-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

The forecasts were obvious that it was not a mountain flying day, so it narrowed down to a question of which flight park. Weather Underground gave me the following for 1 and 4 p.m:
Highland / Ridgely MD, 2-3 SE, clouds 43-58% Temp 65
Blue Sky / Manquin VA, 6-4 SE -SSE clouds 63-67% Temp 69

I opted for staying in Virginia, and headed to Blue Sky, arriving about 11:30. Steve was finishing up his morning scooter tow class, and only a couple of gliders were set up. Tug pilot Jim Carrigan was at a construction job with his log splitter, so there was no aerotowing on the agenda for the day.
Winds were more cross and stronger than expected all afternoon. That expected SSE stayed much more SE than we wanted. At 1:30 Peter Cain (sp?) offered himself up as wind dummy on the truck. He made it all the way to 630 feet in very sinky air. We all decide to wait a bit. While waiting, Steve agreed to break out his newest static winch, which he is building with his 4-wheeler ATV instead of a scooter. His goal with this one is a winch useful for launches as high as 1,000 feet.
Peter was test pilot on this new set-up, since he had had previous experience on Steve's big scooter with the two-release system required. The tow line ends in a a V-line with one segment slightly longer than the other, both segments hooking to the pilot's releases. The pilot flies with both a shoulder-point V-bridle as with aerotow, with the shorter line over the cross-bar, and a hip-mounted truck tow release for the longer line, which passes under the cross bar. Tow tension starts on the shoulder points, over the bar. As the upper line reaches the crossbar, the pilot opens that release using the barrel slide we consider the secondary on a full AT set up. The tension switches smoothly to the lower line and truck tow release. The pilot finishes out the tow in the same manner as a truck tow.
Steve has about 6,000 feet of spectra on the drum, and places the return pulley 3,000 feet down the runway. Once everything is working and the winch construction completed, this system should give tows to heights similar to the truck.
Peter flew three times on this rig, reaching heights in the 500+ range. Steve saw several items he wants to improve, both in how the trailer /platform for the ATV is anchored for stability, and in exactly how to configure the line drum. He should have this launch option ready very soon. He does not expect to use it for instruction. The small and big scooters are better suited for the speed and power needs of getting students to H2 level. However, this looks like a great alternative / supplement to the truck, especially when the ground is too wet to run the truck on the runway road.
Status of aerotow at Blue Sky: For now, AT will be with the trike as tug. The Dragonfly has arrived... in all of it's boxes. Steve figures he has about 200 - 300 hours of work ahead to turn all those parts into an aircraft. He is not predicting a hard ready date, but thinks maybe by June.
Crowd report: good day for socializing in the sunshine, and opinionating on the ATV winch. Others there besides Peter - Mike WIlmer took delivery on his Sport 2 175. Tom picked up his newly purchased Falcon. Obviously, neither got to try them out. Ray Mitchell dropped by, gliderless for the day, to visit with the gang. Nick Martina and Andrew B. rounded out the crew. There is electrical power available at the picnic table pavilion, and Andrew promised to have the WiFi repeater antenna working from the hangar roof very soon , so the terminally connected techno's will be able play internet most anywhere on the premises.
Well, I didn't fly, but I did spend a day in the sunshine and fresh air, away from DC. That was good.

March 5 at Woodstock

2006-03-06T21:34:00.000-05:00

Sunday, March 5, the forecast was NW 10-15. Had a late morning at home, to spend time with the daughter, home from college for her birthday weekend. Packed up the glider and gear and was away at 12:15. Arrived at Woodstock launch about 2:00 to see only a couple of gliders in the air, lots of gliders set up, and winds coming in about 5-7. Apparently it had been much lighter, but was picking up some just as I arrived, because a stream of gliders ran down the slot as I was setting up.
Hank Hengst launched as I was stuffing battens. He was back up at launch before I was fully preflighted. Hmmm.. seems a sink cycle had hit. As I finished getting the glider ready I saw a BUNCH of gliders accumulating in the LZ. Joe Brauch launched, leaving me alone. Soon Brauch was on the radio saying unkind things to Matthew and Karen, who had some how avoided the flush.
I thought I would be alone to launch, but a couple of PG pilots showed up. THey watched me launch in about 4-5 mph. It was effectively a self launch. One fella I did not recognize was on my left wire, and I had to ask him to let go of it because he was fighting me for control, pulling me down when I was getting level. I launched at 3:52.
Out of the slot I found only minimal lift. I turned right, and worked what I could find in passes between launch and half way to the north finger. I was able to add 10-15 feet of altitude on each pass. Began thinking it might be an 8 minute extendo. Somehow I slowly made it up to 200 above launch. That gave me enough to go all the way down to the north finger. I worked more light stuff, passing back and forth, until I had 400 over. At that point, it felt ok to start a 360 when I found a little better lift. Good choice - that put me in a nice thermal all the way to 1700 over. Way cool!
I played around at 1600-1700 over for a while, staying over the middle of the ridge, to the north of launch. By this time I was sharing sky with Matthew, and decided to give him some room, so headed down to near launch. Not the best plan... ended up losing it. down to 50 below launch, out in front. Now, having messed up my original 8 minute expectation, I figured well, half an hour ain't bad.
But straight out from launch I found more small bumps. I worked them slowly, inching back up, again at maybe 15 feet per pass. At 300 over, I headed back up to that nice north finger. Sure enough, it was still working. Caught some good thermal action back up to 1350 over. Played around as 1300 over for 15 minutes, enjoying life. As 5:00 pm got closer, I decided to call an our a good flight, in order to have plenty of light for breaking down. At 59 minutes in the sky, I left the ridge and flew out in teh valley, past the LZ. did a lot of bar stuffing to come down fast, set up my pattern, and landed in the main at 4:55 - 63 minutes of air time. Clean landing, but flared a tiny bit too early, so I set down feet then bumped down to wheels on the ground.
I was very happy with my flying. Clean launch, a couple of low saves, some light lift work that actually worked for me this time (I have not been happy with my ability to stay up in that stuff.) Then a reasonable and safe landing.
Thanks to Joe B for the body ride back to the top. Dinner in Strassburg was fun, with Matthew, Karen and me meeting Dan T and David B for Mexican.
Oh, anyone want a puppy? The family in the LZ has a litter of 5 week olds, ready to adopt in about two weeks. Really cute.

Saturday November 5 at Taylor Farm Training Hill

2005-11-06T10:28:00.000-05:00

Good time on the training hill Saturday. I had a specific mission this time, to practice light wind launches with my Ultrasport. A few weeks ago at Woodstock I set up but did not fly because the winds were so light. Brian flew his Falcon that day, and Carlos his Pulse. If I had had my Pulse, I would have, also, but was not sure of myself on very light wind run with the heavier US.
All last year, every time I went to the training hill, I had used my Pulse, because it is easier to carrry back up the hill.
This time I brought both gliders, but only set up the US. I got in three good launches, all in very light and slightly crossing winds. Lots of running... 2 or 3 steps more on the hill than I may have needed with the Pulse. The various Falcon and Eagle pilots in John's class were getting airborne sooner than I.
With three flights, even though the launches were good, I did get a bit tired on the carries back up. I was fatigued on the final flight, and did not handle the landing well. No damage, just embarrasing to slide it in.
John's students were looking good. Bob, who has had one WS flight with John on a Falcon is now ready to seek observers, comfortable with his new Eagle and Z5 harness. Chris Donahue looked very good on his launches and landings (better than me). Busy as a catcher at the trapeze school, he did not get to the mountains all summer, and is ready to get in some flying again.
Taking it easy Sunsday, and out of town next week, so gonna be a while before I get another flying day.

Saturday, October 29 - Wave at Woodstock

2005-10-31T23:57:00.001-05:00

I launched at 3:15, after David Bodner had landed, into about 7 mph, immediately after Karen. She must have gotten high fast, because I never did spot her. I stayed on the ridge for ~30 minutes, mostly between the two fingers, and hit 6375 MSL (4520 over launch). At that point I was looking straight out in front at the side of the clouds. definitely cloudbase+. I was also being pushed down the ridge to the south, away from the LZ, and not of my own choosing, so I pulled on the string and stuffed the bar to go out into the valley. That got me down, but more down than I had planned, to 700 over launch but out front and just south of Woodstock. I had previously set a destination in my gps of Dan's Budget Motel field on 11. I landed there (4 mi XC) at 45 minutes, right at 4.
The lift out there was amazing. I was not totally convinced at the time it was wave, although Bruce's 3K over me is a good indicator of wave.. rare to get that high in anything other than wave.
My descent was interesting.. bar totally stuffed, glider flew straighte and smooth, no handling difficulty at all. But I was focused on the clouds, and did not realize how much I had descended becasue the ridge was behind me.
I was marking the ground to see that I was making forward progress. Also, when it is stuffed, I cannot see the instruments
After a sweet no step landing on the back side of the field, away from 11 (slight uphill shape, perfect for landing), I walked from my LZ to the launch road in WS.. 2.5 miles. It was beautiful day for a walk. Karen had my truck and met me there so we went to launch to get hers. That is when she heard Carlos on the radio sking for a pick up in back
oh.. on Dan's Budget field..
the back of it has a great uphill landing area like a shallower main lz
PLUS, at that end is a gate held only by a clipped chain
so you can walk the gilder right out to Hoover Rd, no fence climbing needed.
Super sweet day, with a flight that stretched me a bit, and a nice walk.

Cragin

Sunday, May 1, 2005 - 1st Ridge Run

2005-05-01T23:07:00.000-04:00

Although I have been flying in the mountains just shy of 8 years, I have been pretty conservative in most of my flights. You can count my cross-country flights on one hand. And all of them were over the flats, either over the back at the Pulpit or short sojourns out from Ridgely. I had never felt comfortable leaving the safety of glide-range to the main LZ on any of our ridges. I always worried that I would not find enough lift as I moved out, and would sink out to an ignominious unplanned landing out.
That status changed today, when I took advantage of a really rowdy west cross day at Woodstock. Mid-afternoon winds in the slot were relatively straight and 6-10 with gusts to 16. I launched at 2:30 and hit clean lift right out of the slot. Turned right, and at the first finger found a fat thermal (1000fpm) that quickly took me to 2100 feet over launch. I used that altitude to make my way north, hitting numerous bumps and troughs along the way. Reached the reservoir in less than 30 minutes at about 3100 msl, or 1000 over. Found big sink just south of the pond, and was down to 2500 quickly, but a yellow/green Talon that had preceded me (Dennis McReedy?) was in firm up right over the water. I rushed over to the same spot as he began his run back to the south.
With my altitude back up to about 3000 msl, I started my slow crawl back to the south. The west cross took it's toll. Within two fingers of the ridge I was down to 2300 msl, or only 200 over launch. I started planning my LZ in every section of the valley. I milked every bump or thermal I could fund. I spent a lot of time between 2400 and 2700. Then about a half mile down, I found another boomer. It took me from 2300 to 3100 in just a few minutes. However, the drift put me darn near back at the reservoir again!
This was going to be a slow trip down the ridge. With the VG pulled on and moderate speed, more than once I found myself watching the trees below go backwards, or stay in the same place but moving upward toward me rapidly. Each time I pulled in the bar more, and gave thanks I was flying the UltraSport and not my Pulse.
For almost the entire trip back to the south I was expecting to need to land out, and had two LZs picked at each finger. Virtually the entire trip was around 2400 msl, since my one attempt to gain big altitude also gave me big drift away from goal. Then, I reached the first finger north of launch. That same thermal was still working there, and in another 1000fpm up, I found myself back at 3700msl. Dang, and I was tired and sweaty and ready to land. The trip up to the reservoir had taken about half an hour. The trip back was a solid hour and a quarter. I decided I did not need to play in the sky for another 15 minutes just to cross a magic two hour mark. Even with that, I did some real speed flying out over the valley to get down to landing pattern height.
I made a standard left hand approach down the tree line, came in fast, and flared a tad late, flaring to my knees instead of my feet. But, it was a great flight, lots of work, and a new adventure out of the crib for me! Total time 1:53, max altitude 4200 msl, and my very first ridge run!.
Lots of agreement in the LZ that the day was rowdy, big lift, and alot of work. Pete Schumann collapsed onto the grass after unhooking, declaring himself exhausted. He and Tom McGowan reported 6000' over down to the south, but they both came back to land in the main LZ.
We ought to have a bunch of great flying stories from Woodstock today. I look forward to reading them all!

Cragin

Sunday, June 27 at High Rock

2004-06-28T00:26:00.000-04:00

Along with many others, I started the day at the Pulpit, hoping the forecast of west rather than northwest would work out. Tom McGowan was already high over the valley out front at 1:00 when I arrived, and a full crew was assisting Dave Proctor on the old ramp as I drove up. He launched as I unloaded my glider. The crew came down to say he had been on launch 15 minutes, and the winds were so strong none of them were setting up. We watched the two brave pilots get stinking high and begin their eastward journey. With that, I joined a mass migration to High Rock.
Since it was blowing so strong at the Pulpit, it was, of course, rather light at High Rock. We all flew, but most of us for not very long. Only Brian Hardwick acquitted himself well during the mid afternoon heating, with some impressive low saves, and a fine flight. Brian Vant-Hull, David Bodner, Doug Henderson, Curtis Kemerer, Carlos Weill, and I all had basic extendos, and Sparky did only a little better, reporting a 1000’ gain over Emma Jane’s house on his way out. The normal HR sled for me is 6 minutes. I logged 8 minnutes today, so I hereby claim an extendo, a d a quality landing with a 3 step run out.
With a second shuttle run back to the top, we helped David B. and BVH launch into the building late afternoon winds after 6:00 pm. As I drove off to home, they were both over the ridge, looking like they would have fine flights to finish the day.

Saturday,. June 26 at Woodstock

2004-06-28T00:25:00.000-04:00

Notwithstanding the naysaying, negative prognostication from our local apprentice meteorologist in training about the lack of promise for Saturday flying, it was a gorgeous, spectacular day at Woodstock. Rather a shame that so few pilots came out to enjoy it. I arrived to find Hank Hengst already set up, waiting for company. There were several paraglider pilots sitting watching it blow, not bothering to unpack their wings.
Soon after I arrived, Allen Sparks, Gary Smith, and Bruce Engen all showed up. One by one we hit the sky, with Hank leading the charge. Bruce was next, with the inaugural flight of his new U2. Gary Smith and I were off soon after Bruce. Sparky had set up the new Falcon 225, and decided to wait for lighter air with such a big floater. While he was waiting, Christy Huddle got to launch and was soon airborne. She tacked north on the ridge, to join Hank and Gary who were already talking great altitude gains. At one point I heard Hank announce he was going through 6000’. They have made their own reports about crashing a party up north with tehir landings.
I continued boating around near launch, catching one strong thermal that took me to 2145’ over launch. Most of my flying was between 400 and 1000 over. Sparky launched in the big Falcon late in the afternoon. At two hours in the sky, I headed out to the LZ, still playing with lift over the farms. I landed with 2:06 (with a perfect no step). Bruce joined me in the main LZ shortly later, reporting 2 1/2 hours for that first U2 flight. Sparky joined us saying he saw us both down and wanted to b polite. He drove the three of us to the top, and as I was heading for home at 7:00 p.m. he was preparing to launch his bag wing, to join the other PG pilots who had waited so patiently all day.

Saturday, June 19, Woodstock

2004-06-28T00:23:00.000-04:00

The forecast was northwest winds at 13, with a 30% rain chance. That sounded like a reasonable shot for Woodstock. I met Wesley Comerer in the LZ, since I was observing him for the day. We carpooled to launch. Many folks on hand. John Middleton, Allen Sparks, Mark Cavanaugh, Gary Smith, Christy Huddle, Rich Alexander, Shawn Ray, Kelvin Pierce, and Brian Hardwick. Steve Kinsley started the day with us. There were also a passle of paraglider pilots on hand.
As I walked up to launch about 1:30, it was near calm. Too light even for the PG types to launch. By 2:30 it was honking fast winds. Steve Kinsley declared it a bust and headed home. His sacrifice appeased the sky gods. Around 5:45 it got reasonable again,and the launch sequence began. I threw Wesley off shortly after 6:00, with a good strong launch. This was his first mountain flight on his new Eagle. I was running into the sky at 6:38. I topped out at 760’ over launch, while most others were up around 1K over. Nonetheless, I had a nice 62 minute flight. Was a tiny bit late on the flare, so kind of clunked down into the grass. Not too graceful, but safe.
The evening ran late, and we did not clear the LZ until nearly 10:00 p.m. That meant the regular dinner haunts in Strassburg were closed. After making the rounds we ended up at Fox’s Pizza. Eric Logan even joined us, regaling us with wayback stories traded with Christy and John M.

Highland Aerosports Fly In, June 12-13

2004-06-27T23:52:00.000-04:00

This annual flying party beckoned me once more. On Saturday I counted more than 45 gliders set up or in the air. Many pilots reported stellar performances. I got pretty good at finding sink, logging two sleds of 11 and 12 minutes, and then on my third flight finding only one working thermal. (Well, finding is not exactly the right term - Windsor dropped me in one. ) I did log 26 minutes on that one, with a max of 3100.
The full effect of the weekend was great. Greg DeWolf spent all day Saturday filming every landing. After dinner and awards, he played the videos on his computer, critiquing each landing for us all. Dennis Pagen joined him, so we had two of the finest teachers around giving a mini clinic on landing techniques! At least I got good marks for two of my three landings!
Dinner was fantastic, awards were fun, crowd was friendly. I slept like a log, and had no complaints about my snoring this year (unlike last year). I heard later there were some noise complaints about another tent, but I missed out on all of that.
Sunday was overcast and a bit drizzly. I was preparing to fly when Jason reported rain at the house, so I packed up. Others flew with good reports, but I just enjoyed the picnic table lunch chatter for two hours before braving the return trip over the Bay Bridge.

Sunday, June 6, Blue Sky Flight Park

2004-06-27T23:40:00.000-04:00

I was WAY overdue for a visit to Virginia’s fine flight park. Friendly people but light winds were happening there. I drove down with John Middleton. Found Rance Ruppp, Chris Cioffi, Jim Kerrigan, Tim Eggers, and a few others at the park.
I first had Tex tow me aloft with the ultralight tug, but only worked one thermal for a flight of 18 minutes. Rance came in under me for that same bubble, and worked a flight with that and others for close to an hour. Go, Rance!
I then got Steve to run me off the back of the truck five times, to get in some landing practice. Winds were so poor, I only got off at 600’ for each run, but that worked perfectly for thepractice I needed. Had five good landings from the truck tows, so I was quite satisfied with the day.

Sunday, May 29, High Rock

2004-06-27T23:28:00.000-04:00

Dan Tomlinson and I drove up for the first High Rock day in a long time for either of us. I met David Bodner there, having agreed to observe his flight that day. David had walked the LZ and reported high grass. We all discussed the options with the grass, and most of us chose to fly.
Dan and I both had mediocre launches ,with varying amounts of nose pop. David showed us up with a clean quality launch, going straight off the rock with no dive out.
I only eaked 8 minutes from the flight, but drove off my high grass demons with a less than pretty but safe bump down landing into the grass.
The entire Pierce family was present, with Kelvin giving one daughter her first tandem flight. Matthew and Karen, Ralph Sickinger, Curtis Kemerer, and many other pilots enjoyed the lovely day.
Thanks to Ralph for saving the day in pictures. My launch can be seen here.

Sunday, May 23, 2004, Highland Aerosports, Ridgely MD

2004-05-23T21:52:00.000-04:00

There has been way too much idle time between my flying days. Business travel, parental duties, weekend classes all conspired to give me a 6 week break in flying. Today the forecast we for SW winds 1-12, but with a chance of late day thunderstorms. I arrived at Ridgely early, to find Larry Huffman and Pete Lehmann presiding over their advanced cross country clinic. I spent the morning with the Highland staff, watching a few tandem lessons and waiting for signs of lift – like little cummie clouds forming in the distance. About 2:00 several pilots decided to give it a try. Jason played wind dummy, and reported very small thermals, but nothing he could work. John Middleton did better, finding enough to stretch out a 25 minute flight. I had my first launch at 2:30, but after a rather rowdy first 500 feet, popped the weak link at 640 feet. I returned to the main LZ, landing in some turbulence, and missing my flare to belly in on the wheels. Again. Darn. Again.
I got right back in line, and this time the tow was much smoother. Tug Pilot Windosr dropped me right in a working thermal, that I slowly rode from 2500’ to 3000’. Then I spent a while flying in and out of the lift, effectively maintaining atr 3K. Lost that one over the swampy woods, and was not able to find anything else. Landed with 15 minutes airtime with a very smooth no step right by the taxiway. Rather tired and hot, I took a break for a coke and snack, and found the hammock by the picnic tables quite inviting. The plan was a third late day flight, expecting a sled. However, shortly after 4:00 Sunny called in all the aircraft when they spotted a thunderstorm in the distance. I rushed to break down the glider, and was on the road about 5:00. It was not a super day as flying goes, but it was excellent to get back into the sky.

Sunday, April 10, 2004, Highland Aerosports, Ridgely MD

2004-05-23T21:50:00.000-04:00

It was a light lift day at the tow park, but I made the best of it. On my first flight at 3:30 I pinned off at the standard 2500’, but found no lift until I had descended to 100’. I caught a good working thermal there and rode it back up to 1900’. That was the only one I found for the day, but it gave me a satisfying 25 minute flight. I was pleased to nail a clean no-step flare landing.
At 5:10 I gave it a late day try for number 2. This time the best I could do was milk areas of light sink, stretching my sled into a 13 minute flight. This time I finished off with a good 4-step run out landing.

Saturday, April 9, 2004, Woodstock, VA

2004-05-23T21:49:00.000-04:00

The forecast was 10 - 15 NW, which attracted a crowd hopeful for spring time lift and cross-country potential. We all found abundant lift and opportunity for adventure. After observing David Bodner on his launch, I headed off the mountain about 3:50. My first 10 minutes were playing in messy ridge lift, looking fob the sweet spot on the ridge. I stumbled into the right spot, catching a thermal at 400’ over launch and riding it up to 3860’ over, 5700msl. I descended from that max and spent most of the flight about 1300’ above launch. Many other pilots ran the ridge for a lot of xc activity, including forays way out over the valley toward I-81. I played it very reserved and stayed in the sky near launch. Eventually I got a bit cold and queasy, so I headed out to land, pushing through the lift to land after 68 minutes. I made one more 360 turn before entering the base leg than I should have, so my turn to final was much too low. I pulled it off, but then was late to flare and bellied in on the wheels. Darn.

Woodstock 4/3/04 - Return to the Mountains

2004-04-04T12:52:00.000-04:00

I just checked my logbook. Darn, my Woodstock flight yesterday was my first high flight since the day before Thanksgiving! That is just WAAAY too long between flights. It was also my first UltraSport flight since January. I just gotta get out more. (In January I had a Taylor day with 6 Falcon flights and one US flight.)
Sorry so many folks went pessimistic on forecasts. If you'd have come out, you'd have had a great day. At least, if you flew plumbing, you'd have had a great day.
I had the pleasure of throwing three H2's off, each of them displaying good solid launch runs and clean escape from the slot into the abundant lift. Ken Swingle, Wesley Comerer, and Daniel Broxterman all got well over an hour of flying, a couple of them reaching 1800' over launch. Of the three, I only saw Ken's landing, which was very good, with good approach pattern, properly adjusted for the WSW wind direction, and pretty darn close to the spot that Sparky had set out for Gene.
I launched at 4:00, and succeeded in having a nice 62 minutes, working both ridge lift and the occasional tight FAST thermal that came ripping through. By 4:30 we even had blue sky with lightly scattered clouds. What a beautiful day! I maxed out at 1300 over launch, and kept looking up at Joe Schad in his Falcon, and a couple of other pilots. I set up my approach too low, so my last turn was much too close to the ground. And then I missed the flare window by 1 second! Darn.
Sparky gets major credit for arriving early to launch Gene Towns, and then staying on the hill late to push Rance Rupp into the sky. What a dedicated Observer!
Nelson Lewis was the first to launch yesterday. He turned right and I never saw him again. Wonder how far he got?
Final comment - it was good of the H2s to have beer. However, just how respectful is it to fly longer, get higher, and have better landings than your Observer???
Good work, guys!

Off Season Training Report, Jan - Mar 04

2004-04-04T12:10:00.000-04:00

Well, the weather and my personal schedule failed to cooperate for flying high in winter and early spring. But that did not keep me out from under a glider completely. The training hills beckoned more than once, and I was able to keep my hand (foot?) in the hang gliding game a little.
January 3 I headed down to Taylor Farm to join a mass of HG and PG pilots. John Middleton had a lesson going with several students. Chris McKee was out dusting the cobwebs off of his UltraSport. Karen Carra and Ellis Kim were there to practice with their paragliders. Winds were switchy, so I mostly worked flat runs in the LZ. However, I did get in two flights on one of John's Falcons, as well as one using Chris's UltraSport.
March was the busy month, with three training hill days. March 7 Dan Tomlinson and I met John Middleton at Taylor, and also found Juan Ortiz giving a paraglider lesson to several new students. I only took one flight that day, on my Pulse, but Dan did complete three. We were back at Taylor on March 12, where the wind was mostly cross from the left. We were able to wait out usable launch cycles, and I flew my Pulse 4 times, Dan 3.
Then on March 28, Dan and I made the longer drive to Oregon Ridge park, northwest of Baltimore. Quite a crowd! John Middleton and Richard hays each had full classes, with about six students each. Danny Brotto was there with his new-to-him 20 year old Harrier. David Rice came out for a practice day. Dan an I each got four very satisfying flights on my Pulse. We were all amazed at the amount of ground effect glide we got on landing, carrying us well in to the golf practice area to the right of the band shell. Dan and I were tired after four flights from 2/3 up the hill. Wesley Comerer completed 8 flights, all from the very top. That is a LOT of glider carries!

Ed Levin Thanksgiving Week

2003-11-26T16:53:00.000-05:00

California Flying - Long Report / Short Flight
Spending Thanksgiving week in Northern California, San Francisco and Sonoma County wine country, we planned a city vacation and family time. However, a few days before departure, Kay asked if I wanted to fly while out there. I had not expected encouragement, but jumped at the idea. Calls to Mission Soaring in Milpitas arranged for a glider rental, and even a weather-dependent tandem for Kay.
We drove down from SF to Milpitas on the day before Thanksgiving, meeting Pat Denevan at the Mission Soaring shop when he opened it at 11:00. Another out-of-towner, Paul Donahue, was in from Florida, also planning a glider rental. Wind conditions precluded a tandem for Kay, but Paul and I both looked OK to fly. Winds were over the back at Fort Funston, but the NW to N winds made Ed Levin Park, just a few miles from Pat's shop, a possibility. Paul had borrowed a ladder from his local brother in law, so he carted his Falcon 195 and my Pulse 11M to the LZ at Ed Levin, Kay following in our rental.
What an amazing deal - Ed Levin is a county park, just at the edge of town. There is a permanently established fenced LZ with parking right there, as well as a small training hill, and launches at 300, 600, and 1750 AGL. Gated access to launch is controlled by locks - all members of Wings of Rogallo have the combinations. The road is 4WD only, so Paul and I had to wait at the LZ for a friendly and helpful local. We found two PG pilots and two HG pilots, none of them anxious to fly. Several locals were already at the 1750 launch, but were reporting NE winds (over the back) and they were breaking down. Winds started looking a little better at the 600' and the PG guys talked each other in to hiking up for a sled. Doug, a new H2 with about an hour airtime, was not going to fly, but offered to cart Paul and me up to the 600 and assist with our launches. We knew only sleds awaited, but had both come all the way across the continent and rented our gliders, so Paul and I went for it.
Packing Doug's car, I mentioned I'd be flying in my knee-hanger harness. Doug responded, "Knee hanger? Is that an antique?" Uh - he was serious!
At the launch, the two PG pilots arrived while Paul and I set up. They both got off safely, then Paul and I in turn carried around to the front of launch. I stayed in back until Paul was airborne, so that Doug could help me get around the side to launch position. I waited for Paul to land before running off. Winds were about 6 to 8 almost straight in, so it was an easy unassisted launch. I flew down the spine, through a small point of close in ridge lift, before turning toward the LZ. Hit another bump on my base leg, so added a figure 8 to get back down where I belonged before turning final. Still was a tad high, so went beyond the spot, but made a safe landing. Kay, waiting at the LZ, had photographed both our flights.
Short, sweet, basic, and easy - but safe, and a flight in a new site, new state for me. What a great sport!
Special thanks to Pat Denevan at Mission Soaring, as well as Paul, Doug, and Kay, for letting me have such a great experience.
==
30 seconds in the air, launch with sock on the far right:

Landing in the background as Paul breaks down:

(photos by Kay)

Pulpit November 15

2003-11-15T00:57:00.000-05:00

Oh, ye of little faith! Forecasts of cloud cover and light winds scared you off! Bacil said Saturday would be a Pulpit day. You didn’t trust him and ran to the towpark, or stayed home. You lost out! The Bacilcast has been vindicated.
I arrived at the Pulpit about 11, roughly two hors earlier than my routine, thinking I’d only find a couple of folks there. There were already 7-8 vehicles, and many gliders set up. So much for being early.
I launched just before 1:00 into 10-15 and a little switchy direction. Took me a few minutes to feel the glider balanced. Thanks to wire crew Bruce and Alek for putting up with my slow launch as I got the feel of the wing. Ran off into enough wind to maintain near ramp altitude, but did not get the sweet immediate lift that I had seen Sparky get about noon. Worked my way down the ridge, in and out of light lift pockets, showing up near the towers about 150’ below launch height. With some careful work I was able to get back up to about 200 over. Spent the next hour or so working between the towers and half way back to launch, ranging from 200 below to 200 over many times. Never got up high over the ridge crest, as I saw 6-8 other gliders doing. I also noted a period when I had that end to myself, as everyone else was about 500 over up near the ramp.
For about 20 minutes I was 100-200 over, with Matthew scratching well below me. He eventually climbed back up to a few hundred above me. I found a bit better lift areas just west of 16, as opposed to hugging the ridge. Over the hour I recovered from 150-200 below at least half a downs times. Felt like I was really earning my flight. Landed at 2:15, nailing my flare right nest to the wind sock. I was extremely happy with the entire flight, 75 minutes, max 250’ over launch.
Hooked a body ride back to launch with Hugh so we could assist the last launches of the afternoon. Steve Padgette was first off in this shift. He flew a bit out from the ridge, and never caught enough lift to head down near the main, so he demonstrated use of the secondary LZ. Brian was preparing Alek for his first Pulpit flight. Alek had an excellent launch, and was able to work the light ridge lift and end in the main LZ. He should give the details of what looked to be a nice flight. We got Brian on launch, where he had a lot of difficulty controlling his glider due to slippery gloves. A quick swap on launch of his fancy lined Hotfingers ski gloves for my split cowhide cheapo work gloves gave him enough grip to stay in control, and he headed out for his late day extendo.
Matthew laid out his paraglider, and after a couple of false starts bouncing on the rocks, he demonstrated a two-part stand-sit-stand launch with assist. Ellis set up, but decided against flying in the switchy cross.
Our invasion of McKinstry’s in Mercersburg was quite successful, with a total of nine ensconced in the back room. The chef/owner, who has gotten used to us, told us that if we ran off her new waitress (we were the first table of more than four she ever served) Brian would have to fill in. Luckily, she stayed, so Brian could displace Paul in the seat next to Lauren and hit on her for half the dinner. Of course, Alek demonstrated the power of an accent, and had Lauren’s attention the other half. Paul watched from the end of the table, and had his revenge by making Lauren pay their check.
Special thanks to the many pilots who came out just to help launch – Bruce, Holly, Scott.

Veterans' Day at Daniels

2003-11-11T22:55:00.000-05:00

A personal first, I have now flown Daniels. Actually two firsts - first time I used the 4WD in my new truck, and first time flying the site. Tuesday was rainy up around DC, and the upper level forecast was strong, 33 kts at 3,000'. Notwithstanding those harbingers, conditions at Daniels were pleasant and light.
We had partly to mostly cloudy, with notable blue visible in the sky. Winds were barely strong enough to lift the red disk in Mark Cavanaugh's Hall wind meter. It was sled city, and the bagwing was the wing of choice. Ellis Kim had flight of the day, reaching 200' over launch with her paraglider on her first flight. Over the rest of the afternoon she logged a total of four flights. Tom Besch and Alex (Don Alexander?) each had three PG flights, and John Middleton rode his bag out for two.
On the plumbing side of the foot launch community, Greg Dewolf, Nelson Lewis, and I each took our sleds like the men we are. Having been warned about the tight approach requirement I flew my Pulse instead of the Ultrasport. The landing went great, but the brush growth is high so I flared about 3 feet higher AGL than I had realized. Just meant a longer drop to earth than expected. I was happy with the short smooth flight.
Mark gets major bonus points for using his bow saw to improve the low end of the slot, dealing with tall growth for over an hour. Eventually he packed his glider back up, not wishing to push his K5 into a 3-4 mph launch wind. I think the sequence of clearing and then not flying doubles his points for the day.
We also garnered a wuffo gallery - a nice young woman with her three daughters (age 8 and below) who were driving up the road and stopped when they saw us on launch. Nelson got the girls to count down his launch run. Mom appeared more excited than the girls to get to see us fly.
Dinner en route home was at the Culpeper Diner in Beautiful Downtown Culpeper. Reasonably good food, and judging from the crowd, locally popular. The local Budweiser distributor owns the beer cooler, but at least he provides Heineken to supplement the St Louis brand set. Middleton was quite happy to find his Bud Light available.

Ridgely 11/1-2

2003-11-02T20:43:00.000-05:00

Feeling lazy, and working for max sympathy at home from a light cold, I didn't head over to the Eastern Shore until nearly 3:30 pm on Saturday. I knew I really had to get there to take advantage of the parachute re-pack weekend that Brian V-H had set up. Light, reasonable traffic on the way, I arrived shortly after 4:30, time enough to get my own chute aired out and packed back up. Thanks to Mark Cavanaugh for giving me tips and reminders as I worked on the chute.
Marvelous gang/community dinner Saturday night, with big pots of minestrone and chili, a batch of smashed taters, and what appeared to be brat-n-kraut (I filled up on chili and didn't sample that pot. Hats off and thanks to the many contributing cooks!. We were also treated by Joe Gregor to an evening of competitive beer tasting. These Guys roundly trounced Those Guys, as Those Guys (my team) repeatedly talked ourselves out of our first impressions and named the unknown brew wrong with our second and final choice. Rumor has it that These Guys had a lucky ringer on the final selection, since Adam recognized it as his personal favorite brew.
After more socializing and my first ever game of spoons (dang, that tingles!) we wandered off to our separate tents. Paul & Lauren suggested my tent might be too close to theirs, considering Paul's snoring. Naw.. I can sleep through any snoring. Next morning, they assured me I could sleep through ANY snoring... mostly my own. (Told you I had a cold!)
Sunday morning I assisted Brian in guiding several more folks through their own chute re-packs. Challenge of the day was when David Bodner put one small twist in his lines, and Brian and I succeeded in turning the whole assembly inside out and super-twisted, until the untangle team grew to six with Chris Cioffi, John Claytor, and Steve Padgette all assisting us. We finally got it all back into conformance and David has a nice, freshly packed parachute.
About 3:00 I headed over to the glider line to take my sleds like a man. (Did I mention that no one was reporting any lift all day?) With continuing reports of no-lift, I opted for a series of pattern tows to work on my landings. Four flights, no excitement, good flare timing on all, one long overshoot on my target, the other three reasonable close to goal. I was pleased with the results.
Was nice having a shirt-sleeve flying day in November. And we all owe Brian V-H big time for setting up the pack day. Look for a new Halloween tradition!

Pulpit Saturday 10/18

2003-10-18T00:44:00.000-04:00

I arrived early, about 11:20. Only Mark C was set up. Lots more folks arrived, and began setting up. The winds were NW about 4-6, as expected. What was not expected was the solid overcast - no ground heating going on. Eventually we started seeing some blue sky, and thing looked promising.
I launched late in the pack, about 3:15. Light lift on the ridge, I slowly made it up to about 500' over launch, mostly down by the first radio tower, and in front of the house on Route 16. Rather frustratingly, I could never get as high as Steve Padgett in his Falcon. Even Rance Rupp on his Pulse was above me. Danny Brotto flew rings around me on his new/old Harrier.
Maxed at 1,170 over, but then lost it and just kept getting more down than up. Landed with 35 minutes, late on the flare, but safe.
Most enjoyable dinner gang in Mercersburg afterwards.
--
My launch, courtesy of Ralph Sickinger: Launch Sequence

High Rock - Sunday 10/5/03

2003-10-05T21:16:00.000-04:00

Well, I had both the worst launch in my personal HR history, as well as the scariest launch of the day. I launched late, ~4:30, after waiting to Observe Dave Bodner off for his 2d HR launch ever. His launch was flawless. Not mine. Had a right wing lift JUST as I called clear. Folks still on the rock when I launched told me they were REALLY scared by my turn-on-launch.. nearly hit the rock with left wing. Fortunately, I was focused on flying and not being scared, so I got turned back to the right and missed that tall tree.
Curtis launched after me. The two of us never got as high as the earlier launches. I got only about 30 minutes, , and only got about 900 over.
Mark Cavanaugh and John Middleton had 3+ hours and 2K over. Lots of other pilots on hand - nice crowd: Allen Sparks, Kevin Carter, Brian Vant-Hull, Hugh McElrath, and others.
About 5:00 a flush cycle sent 4 or 5 of us to the LZ all together. Staging and position went smoothly, so we all got down safely.

Pulpit Fly-In, September 20, 2003

2003-09-20T13:57:00.000-04:00

http://photos.sickinger.net/20030920_pulpit/34.Cragin_Shelton/index.html

My launch sequence, courtesy of photographer / HG pilot Ralph Sickinger.

Ridgely Sunday 9/14/03 & WW Demo

2003-09-14T21:40:00.000-04:00

Forecast was cloudy all day, but nice winds (SE 4-8). In reality the sun came out early afternoon for a lot of blue peppered with nice clouds. However, there was never enough ground heating to make it the boomer day reported a week earlier. No great adventure flights, but a lot of fun flyiing.
I took a couple of extended sleds in my UltraSport, for 20 and 16 minutes, feeling good about the tows and the landings. On that first one I finally caught a tiny thermal at 750 that I tweaked back up to 850, but that was as good as I could get.
I also kept telling Rob Kells that I had to avoid trying the U2, because I have had the US less than a year and cannot afford to want another glider so soon. But John Middleton flew the U2 160 and had one of the better flights of the day, playing at EXACTLY 500 (I swear, ossifer!) feet below a cloud for quite some time, and came down raving about the handling. Then on a second flight on it he was all
grins about how much time he got just sledding around and how nice it was.
SO.. About 5 I gave the U2 160 a try. Damn! I knew I shouldn't have flown it! On tow (no fin) like on rails. Easiest bar pressure and control I've seen. Fast was neat, slow was easy. Had to REALLY puush out to stall it. Brainless stall recovery both straight and in turns.
One surprise was on landing approach. My turn from downwind through base to final was more a big 180 than separate legs. That turn became a slipping turn (not planned) so I quickly lost more altitude and gained more airspeed than planned. Coming out of the turn put me in PIOs that entertained the crowd and made Rob worry for his glider.
However, I smoothed it out, went upright, and the glider gave me the most beautiful flare signal and timing I've ever had. What a hoot!
Good crowd, good flying day, good visits and good advice from Rob.