Highland Saturday
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
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Ashley Groves
- Posts: 247
- Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:01 am
Highland Saturday
I will be a bad boy and go flying Saturday at Higland instead of the Dulles show. One day for me this weekend, will be grounded Sunday.
Ashley Groves
I headed to Ridgely on Saturday. Temperatures were extremely nice with highs in the low 80's on the ground and low 70's at cloudbase. Steve K, Carlos, Bob & Ashley were out there as well + a large contingent of tandem flights. Sky looked absolutely beautiful, but interestingly enough was quite a lot of work. My first tow was incredibly turbulent from an up-n-down perspective. Felt like lift was abundant during my shortened tow. After finding myself WELL above the tug, I pinned off in one of the strongest thermals I've seen at Ridgely. I haven't downloaded the 5030 track to see the averager, but I was off tow at 1500' and was at 3700 before I had time to comprehend my climb rate. As I neared cloudbase, I decided that this was one of those infamous braindead lift days and punched up Bower's Beach in my GPS and pointed the nose ENE. As I approached this huge dark cloud, east of the field that would take me miles, I experienced more sink than expected as I plummeted from the sky. Heading back to the cloud that had ripped me skyward, I found even more sink and ended up on the ground MUCH sooner than expected. Pattern worked out as planned and I deposited myself on the taxiway for a short walk to get back in line. As I watched other pilots takeoff, they also were deposited back on terra firma more expectedly than planned.
On the second tow, it was equally as bumpy, not to mention the 6" piece of corn stalk that glanced off my helmet on tow. Once again, I pinned off early in a big fatty. Starting from 1700, I climbed up to 2500 drifting quickly to the NE and then was promptly spit out. I headed towards the chicken coups, which has been a good thermal source for me recently, and was rewarded with zero sink. As I struggled to maintain altitude I saw something quickly approaching me head-on. Once again, only this time more squarely, I was reward with a 18" piece of corn stalk right between the eyes. The only joy was it wasn't outclimbing me! I fought the good fight, but once again found myself pointing back towards the field. As I rolled final at 250' (yeah, I watch my GPS...so sue me!), I started climbing. As I approached the line of setup gliders, I was up to 300'. I decided to turn downwind again and continued climbing. As I hit the zone I would normally turn base, I was back up to 325'. Zack burned in on final and I decided to extend with intent of turning final behind him. As I made a 360 over the east end of the runway, the sink alarm resonated in my ears as I plummeted from the sky. I ended up rolling final at about 75' and hit my flare near the end of the runway. EXTREMELY long walk back to the setup area, which I still claim was in another area code. I can still feel it today! Overall, two flights, nearly an hour of flight time and two perfect landings albeit a long walk back on the second one.
Fun day to be at Ridgely!
On the second tow, it was equally as bumpy, not to mention the 6" piece of corn stalk that glanced off my helmet on tow. Once again, I pinned off early in a big fatty. Starting from 1700, I climbed up to 2500 drifting quickly to the NE and then was promptly spit out. I headed towards the chicken coups, which has been a good thermal source for me recently, and was rewarded with zero sink. As I struggled to maintain altitude I saw something quickly approaching me head-on. Once again, only this time more squarely, I was reward with a 18" piece of corn stalk right between the eyes. The only joy was it wasn't outclimbing me! I fought the good fight, but once again found myself pointing back towards the field. As I rolled final at 250' (yeah, I watch my GPS...so sue me!), I started climbing. As I approached the line of setup gliders, I was up to 300'. I decided to turn downwind again and continued climbing. As I hit the zone I would normally turn base, I was back up to 325'. Zack burned in on final and I decided to extend with intent of turning final behind him. As I made a 360 over the east end of the runway, the sink alarm resonated in my ears as I plummeted from the sky. I ended up rolling final at about 75' and hit my flare near the end of the runway. EXTREMELY long walk back to the setup area, which I still claim was in another area code. I can still feel it today! Overall, two flights, nearly an hour of flight time and two perfect landings albeit a long walk back on the second one.
Fun day to be at Ridgely!
