High Rock Saturday
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Here's the reason
"As to Bacil, why weren't you at the Pulpit on Saturday? And what about X-mas??? I dragged a few other pilots out to the Pulpit on X-mas day and flew. Didn't see you there. I think you're jealous because you know that I really love the Pulpit more than you do.
Matthew"
Matthew,
Trust me, if I could fly everyday at the Pulpit, I would
. However, XMAS day I celebrated XMAS with my in-laws (every other year) and Saturday I was on the road to South Carolina to celebrate XMAS with my parents. If I ever flew on XMAS day I would get AIDS (Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome).
Bacil
Matthew"
Matthew,
Trust me, if I could fly everyday at the Pulpit, I would
. However, XMAS day I celebrated XMAS with my in-laws (every other year) and Saturday I was on the road to South Carolina to celebrate XMAS with my parents. If I ever flew on XMAS day I would get AIDS (Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome).Bacil
In response to Larry's post: out west I saw that many pilots had trailer rigs so that they were at the flying site for the whole weekend - and, it occurs to me - that would make it easier to be there and set-up to launch early. With rising gas prices (although $3/gallon is not much compared to $8 in Europe), running a big tow vehicle would have to be balanced against the commuting mileage to/from the site from home. Maybe we could park a trailer at each of the "Big Three" sites... - Hugh
One last bunch of observations
With Dan's and Matthew's inputs about their experience flying the Pulpit, below is a summary of what I've learned over the years flying at the Pulpit, for what it's worth:
Here's some cheap experience and advice on flying at the Pulpit, our most friendly mountain XC site that we have. I have been flying/observing weather there since 1994. I go there as often as I can because of the XC friendliness and potential, so I have a huge database that covers the site year-round. So here goes:
1. The first thing that you should do when planning to fly the Pulpit is to get there early. What I mean by early is arriving at the site early enough to be set up and ready to fly between 10AM and 11AM. I know that's asking a lot, but it makes the difference between soaring for hours while the late-arriving pilots are stuck on the ground with strong/blown-out conditions. I do believe that yesterday it was launchable between 10AM and 11AM (for experienced pilots only!) and whomever (experienced pilots) could have been set up by that time could've launched and flown until sunset if they wanted. The Pulpit tends to be blown out a lot in the fall/winter/spring more so than any other mountain site we fly. The times that tend to be launchable on those midday blown-out days are in the early morning or the late evening. So getting to the site early or getting there late in the day is your most efficient use of time. Getting there after 11AM on any day during the fall/winter/spring often guarantees that you will be standing around for hours waiting for it to calm down, or driving back to High Rock. Been there, done that too many times (waiting around all day).
2. To get to the Pulpit early means you should have already decided the night before to go to the Pulpit. This kind of decision-making comes easy after years of weather predictions and actual observations at the Pulpit. Or what the heck, just go ahead and make your call the night before. Take a chance. You will always be able to log a data point for the Pulpit (i.e. what time of year it is, predicted launch conditions, actual launch conditions, conditions aloft) to help you either avoid making the wrong call in the future in going to the Pulpit or get rewarded with a long soaring and possible XC flight at the friendliest XC mountain site that we have.
3. The Pulpit is the windiest site that we have. This is due to the local topography. Visualize the cut in the mountain where Rt. 30 passes over the spine as a venturi tube, an "escape valve" of air if you will. Couple this escape valve with the fact that the mountain to the right (north) of launch sticks out in the valley further than the launch ridge like the curved bottom of a thumb. This "thumb" portion of the mountain compresses the airflow and speeds it up around the Rt. 30 cut and launch area even more, just like putting your thumb over a garden hose to speed up the water flow. This highly energized airflow scares some pilots into thinking that the air aloft is the same. More often than not it is completely benign compared to the conditions on the ramps. The strong flow on the ramps is usually only a local phenomenon. The air is often fine aloft (no strong headwind).
Bacil
Here's some cheap experience and advice on flying at the Pulpit, our most friendly mountain XC site that we have. I have been flying/observing weather there since 1994. I go there as often as I can because of the XC friendliness and potential, so I have a huge database that covers the site year-round. So here goes:
1. The first thing that you should do when planning to fly the Pulpit is to get there early. What I mean by early is arriving at the site early enough to be set up and ready to fly between 10AM and 11AM. I know that's asking a lot, but it makes the difference between soaring for hours while the late-arriving pilots are stuck on the ground with strong/blown-out conditions. I do believe that yesterday it was launchable between 10AM and 11AM (for experienced pilots only!) and whomever (experienced pilots) could have been set up by that time could've launched and flown until sunset if they wanted. The Pulpit tends to be blown out a lot in the fall/winter/spring more so than any other mountain site we fly. The times that tend to be launchable on those midday blown-out days are in the early morning or the late evening. So getting to the site early or getting there late in the day is your most efficient use of time. Getting there after 11AM on any day during the fall/winter/spring often guarantees that you will be standing around for hours waiting for it to calm down, or driving back to High Rock. Been there, done that too many times (waiting around all day).
2. To get to the Pulpit early means you should have already decided the night before to go to the Pulpit. This kind of decision-making comes easy after years of weather predictions and actual observations at the Pulpit. Or what the heck, just go ahead and make your call the night before. Take a chance. You will always be able to log a data point for the Pulpit (i.e. what time of year it is, predicted launch conditions, actual launch conditions, conditions aloft) to help you either avoid making the wrong call in the future in going to the Pulpit or get rewarded with a long soaring and possible XC flight at the friendliest XC mountain site that we have.
3. The Pulpit is the windiest site that we have. This is due to the local topography. Visualize the cut in the mountain where Rt. 30 passes over the spine as a venturi tube, an "escape valve" of air if you will. Couple this escape valve with the fact that the mountain to the right (north) of launch sticks out in the valley further than the launch ridge like the curved bottom of a thumb. This "thumb" portion of the mountain compresses the airflow and speeds it up around the Rt. 30 cut and launch area even more, just like putting your thumb over a garden hose to speed up the water flow. This highly energized airflow scares some pilots into thinking that the air aloft is the same. More often than not it is completely benign compared to the conditions on the ramps. The strong flow on the ramps is usually only a local phenomenon. The air is often fine aloft (no strong headwind).
Bacil
-
hepcat1989
- Posts: 684
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:15 pm
One last observation
From Dan:
"Tom McGowan once suggested to me that we should launch fairly early even on light wind days and launch again if we sink out. He consistently goes OTB when he flies there.
I've reached the high rock lz or that ridge 4 times and each time I launched after 1:00.
I've had fun OTBs numerous times, I think all of them were on flights started after 1:00."
I would bet the launches after 1PM were during the months from June to September, when the Pulpit's winds finally settle down to a manageable velocity during the midday hours. Dan?
Bacil
"Tom McGowan once suggested to me that we should launch fairly early even on light wind days and launch again if we sink out. He consistently goes OTB when he flies there.
I've reached the high rock lz or that ridge 4 times and each time I launched after 1:00.
I've had fun OTBs numerous times, I think all of them were on flights started after 1:00."
I would bet the launches after 1PM were during the months from June to September, when the Pulpit's winds finally settle down to a manageable velocity during the midday hours. Dan?
Bacil