New Experience at Ridgley

[Danny Brotto]

Although I’ve been scorching the gel coat off my sailplane this season, it’s been a number of months since flying the hang glider. Yesterday looked to be a sweet day at Ridgley so I did the hooky thing and got the U2 out for some UV duty. I was a little tentative about flying as my shoulder has been bothering me for a couple of months.

Going through control motions on the cart, the pain was negligible and it seemed that flying wouldn’t stress the injury. Lift off form the cart was uneventful and felt good. We flew through a boomer off the west end of the runway at about 400 ft and I half thought about releasing but held on for the second pass through the bugger. I released at 900 ft and slowly climbed to 2500 where the air mass changed for the better. A solid, smooth, 6 knot core boosted me to 4300 ft. I bailed out due to the cold. Darn it was cold!

I flew for another hour or so intentionally dropping down to 2500 ft occasionally to warm up. After an hour and a half or so, I had had enough. I found a spot of smooth down at about 2500 ft and initiated mellow, descending 360’s over the east end of the runway.

Something caught my eye directly below. I stopped the 360’s to better discern the curious object; it seemed to just hover, slowly rotating. From above it looked rectangular and brown but it wasn’t a bird. It wasn’t any familiar jetsam we typically encounter in the sky. I moved laterally to the object and reinitiated a slow descent till the object came into discernable view. There off my wingtip at about 1800 ft I found myself being spied by a goofy looking, happy clown, Mylar balloon! The balloon had one arm raised as if it was waving “Hi”. As I circled the object a few revolutions, it kept looking at me always keeping me in view! I let out a howl; it was just hilarious!

I’ve circled with all the usual denizens of the sky; eagles, hawks, swarms of bugs, spiders on gossamers, plastic bags and cornstalks but I’ve never before had the distinction of sharing a thermal with a clown just passing through.

The landing went well into a textured-air mid-day field. While the day was a typical decent day at Ridgley, the image of my clown-friend floating about waving at me will remain etched in my mind.

Danny Brotto

[Ashley Groves]

I can just picture it in my mind. That was a hilarious write-up!

[lbunner]

Hey Danny, it was good to meet you. I too enjoyed the day. I did struggle to get up after pinning off at 1000'. I slowly climbed out and eventually connected with Tom. Christian and PK were intent on heading north to Pottstown (81 miles) however I thought that the only clouds in the sky to the south were much more inviting. I couldn't communicate with anyone but figured I could coax Tom south after we climbed to 4600'. I was about 6 miles south when I hit the next good thermal and climbed out to 5400' at 400fpm. A nice cloud was in reach just to the east however I heard Christian say he was about 7 miles north on glide. I assumed PK was with him so I went with the flow (and our driver Janice) to ensure I had a retrieve. Back east of the airport at 3700' I met with several climbing gliders and eventually left at 4700' heading north to catch C and PK. Next climb was a good one again at 450fpm to 5400'. I thought the day was shaping up to be a good one. My next climb was at 500fpm to 6200' (the high for the day) and I was off to the races. I went on a ten mile glide in a lifting line cored back up to 5900' followed by two more climbs over 5600'. I was now about 25 miles north. Unbeknowst to me PK was with me in this thermal. Christian had reported his landing several miles south of us. I looked to the north and saw mostly shade on the ground so decided to head back to Highland. I had a bit of a headwind on the way back and got low several times as the sun disappeared behind a high cirrus bank of clouds. At 15 miles out I dug out from 1000' in a good climb at 350fpm to 3800' where I lost it and decided to head south rather than look further east. This was fatal as I never hit anymore lift and landed in the town of Goldsboro (?) about 6 miles short. Although somewhat disappointed, I did manage 52 miles and 4hrs 14min. I must thank Janice for doing a great job driving for us (even though she might say otherwise). She picked up PK and C, dropped C off with another driver and then picked me up in a timely fashion. My hats off to her for navigating and attending to a 3 year old at the same time. Thanks a bunch. Bun

[Danny Brotto]

I heard that a number of pilots had made it to Massey. Ric N. launched from Massey and made it to Ridgley.

Danny Brotto

[mcgowantk]

Larry

You have a gift. I could not stay even close to you. I ended up chasing you to the north and landing at the Massey Airport. I figured I saw you high above me heading back to Ridgley. Nice going. I hope the radio thing works out better next time - I almost followed you north but I thought I wouldn't be able to pimp off you without talking to you on the radio.

Tom McGowan

[Flying Lobster]

Pimping rigids is a good way to end up on the deck, or so I've discovered.

marc

PS--Larry, I still have only gotten a "maybe" out of James Stinnet for the ECC's, don't think Ollie or any of the other stiffies are interested. Maybe if you threw a few choice insults about their gliders their way they may change their minds?