Ridgely Sunday
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
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Ashley Groves
- Posts: 247
- Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:01 am
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Kurt Hirrlinger
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2005 3:18 am
Ashley and I declared a goal of Jenkins' grass strip near Wyoming, DE (18 miles NNE) mostly to have a boundary so we wouldn't blow into Dover AFB airspace.
Launched about 2:45 in SW 10. The name of the game was to just stay in lift and drift downwind. Ashley got to cloudbase at 6800 a couple of times; I was about 1000 feet lower. The convergence seemed to end in blue sky about 4-5 miles short of goal. After over two hours, Ashley made it; I overshot by 9/10 mile because I couldn't identify the strip even though I landed there 2-3 years ago. Didn't have the exact waypoint selected, just an approximation.
The farmer didn't care that I had landed in his soybean seedlings and gave me a ride to Jenkins. We got to meet Mr. Jenkins, who flew in WW II and just turned 89.
Many thanks to Tad Erickson for coming to get us - and for persuading me to commit to towing from the shoulders (with his tow release). (This was the 3rd time.) I had a good tow in what were described as difficult conditions - no PIOs, some excursions in altitude from the tug, mostly caused by thermals. Tad also talked me into putting at least one foot in the boot of my harness to keep it taught and give me a bit better control.
With the mouth-activated emergency release, I feel pretty comfortable having a way to get off tow without having to take a hand off the control bar in a panic situation. (I had a similar capability with the "Lookout" primary release - loop of line around the palm.) This emergency release is two-stage: with the string in your teeth, you have only to pull on the string to arm the release, then let go. So you can get ready to get off if thinks get gnarly, but change your mind at the last second - but from then on you have to keep biting on the string - if you haven't armed it, above a couple hundred feet or so you can just spit it out. Normal release is by a skinnier version of the standard barrel design. As discussed in great detail on the "weaklink" thread, the weak link is stronger than the current standard. Tad, maybe you should write an article for the USHPA mag...
- Hugh
Launched about 2:45 in SW 10. The name of the game was to just stay in lift and drift downwind. Ashley got to cloudbase at 6800 a couple of times; I was about 1000 feet lower. The convergence seemed to end in blue sky about 4-5 miles short of goal. After over two hours, Ashley made it; I overshot by 9/10 mile because I couldn't identify the strip even though I landed there 2-3 years ago. Didn't have the exact waypoint selected, just an approximation.
The farmer didn't care that I had landed in his soybean seedlings and gave me a ride to Jenkins. We got to meet Mr. Jenkins, who flew in WW II and just turned 89.
Many thanks to Tad Erickson for coming to get us - and for persuading me to commit to towing from the shoulders (with his tow release). (This was the 3rd time.) I had a good tow in what were described as difficult conditions - no PIOs, some excursions in altitude from the tug, mostly caused by thermals. Tad also talked me into putting at least one foot in the boot of my harness to keep it taught and give me a bit better control.
With the mouth-activated emergency release, I feel pretty comfortable having a way to get off tow without having to take a hand off the control bar in a panic situation. (I had a similar capability with the "Lookout" primary release - loop of line around the palm.) This emergency release is two-stage: with the string in your teeth, you have only to pull on the string to arm the release, then let go. So you can get ready to get off if thinks get gnarly, but change your mind at the last second - but from then on you have to keep biting on the string - if you haven't armed it, above a couple hundred feet or so you can just spit it out. Normal release is by a skinnier version of the standard barrel design. As discussed in great detail on the "weaklink" thread, the weak link is stronger than the current standard. Tad, maybe you should write an article for the USHPA mag...
- Hugh