BacilPulpit Saturday 1/12
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Pulpit Saturday 1/12
Looks like an early hop Bacil
BacilI second that "yes"
It's a little early to tell but right now it looks very promising. It could be a really nice XC day. I'm planning on going.
Dan T
Dan T
Pulpit Saturday
Planning on an ETA of 11:30am. See no reason to get there early when it's frickin' cold. In the Spring with BIG THERMALS, I can see getting there early. Maybe sometimes in the Fall too....
But in the winter and the dog days of summer, better to sleep in. Plus, half the time I get there later than everyone else, I still end up launching before the early arrivals. Go figure?
Matthew
But in the winter and the dog days of summer, better to sleep in. Plus, half the time I get there later than everyone else, I still end up launching before the early arrivals. Go figure?
Matthew
Too Light????
If you think it's going to be too light, then bring your paraglider.
Matthew
Matthew
Pulpit Lookin' Good!
Mostly Sunny-- WNW 5-10-- almost 50 degrees. What more could you want in a Pulpit forecast?
See ya'll there.
Matthew
See ya'll there.
Matthew
Just in case any one is interested. I accomplished a few things today that I have been wanting to do for more than a month. First and foremost was that I was able to launch my VX and find the thermals that were there and so I managed to climb above launch second I was to do a little xc and as it was sored by holc the distance was 17.2 miles. Also I was able to get almost all the way across the valley in front of launch at the Pulpit. Any way it was a great day from my point of view. There were a lot of people there, if you were not one of them you missed a great day for January. Well on Wednesday I head out west to ski for a month. So I'm making the sacrifice to the wind gods and I hope it is enough to give you all great weather to fly in while I'm gone I will be looking for your reports.
Bruce
Bruce
I had a great time, too, and, from a certain perspective, my best flight so far.
It was light when I launched but I climbed above the ridge. Didn't get higher than perhaps 100' over but stayed there for a couple of passes. Thermals everywhere and a skilled pilot would have been able to use them. I flew 360's in them but I always came in way too close to the trees. Eventually I found myself below the ridge (buzzing launch wasn't the best idea either) so I went out to land. Hooked a thermal maybe 300' over the LZ that took me to 1300'. First time I ever did that. But I made the horrible mistake leaving it to head back to the ridge where I found nothing. The End. A low safe, half hour flight and a good landing, I'm happy.
PM for you, Bruce
It was light when I launched but I climbed above the ridge. Didn't get higher than perhaps 100' over but stayed there for a couple of passes. Thermals everywhere and a skilled pilot would have been able to use them. I flew 360's in them but I always came in way too close to the trees. Eventually I found myself below the ridge (buzzing launch wasn't the best idea either) so I went out to land. Hooked a thermal maybe 300' over the LZ that took me to 1300'. First time I ever did that. But I made the horrible mistake leaving it to head back to the ridge where I found nothing. The End. A low safe, half hour flight and a good landing, I'm happy.
PM for you, Bruce
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davidtheamazing1
- Posts: 306
- Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:26 am
- Location: DC Area - Hang 3!!
- Contact:
Thanks Shawn!
Just want to send a shout-out to Shawn, who came out just for the opportunity to help out and observe me despite not even feeling well enough to fly. He gave me a great introduction to the site and lots of concrete advice. Thanks everyone who wired today, I never saw a bad launch. Got up for a few seconds but couldn't stay up on the ridge. Hit a few bumps but ended up sledding it into the secondary. Came in a bit low, but was able to skip the Base on the DBF, demonstrating a fast, low 180 onto my final for the PGers and landowner already in the LZ. Perfect no step touchdown near the crest of the hill. The landowner (mike?) gave us a ride up afterwards and said he really appreciated the fruit we sent at Christmas. Great guy!
Pulpit Fun
Fun day at the Pulpit-- a mixed bag of thermal soaring, extendos and sleds. I flew the PG. Had a good launch and then immediately stepped into a sink hole-- dropped like a rock. Turned to try to find something on the ridge-- nothing. And then went out towards the secondayr while Larry Bunner and Jim Kaplan were stinking high. I found a small bubble over route 16 at 400 below launch, started doing some 180s and then 360's. It took me back to the ridge-- still about 100 below. I was sweating bullets. A few more 180s and I was above launch. The sink monster found me again and I was back down to 100 below. Zoomed over towards launch and found a big fat one that finally got me up. Got 2800 over and 1:40.
Forty-five minutes into the flight my hands were freeezing and I headed out to the primary ot land. Both Jim Kaplan and Juanito landed because of cold hands. I was sitting on my hands and making fists in my gloves as I flew straight. Out over the primary at 1500 agl I hit some lift and tried some turns with no hands-- no problem. So I tried a 360 with no hands--- again, no problem. I thermaled up a thousand feet with no hands. Finally had to grab a brake when one wing tip started to dive as the thermal got stronger. Everyone else had decked out, so I had the mountain to myself for about 40 minutes. Gregory the Greek finally launched and got up after a few HG and PG sleds and I headed out to land after stepping into yet another sink hole.
Came back up and helped Karen launch her PG. It was really light and cross and Karen had a good launch. Lazlo was up next for his fourth flight of the day. He kept missing the good cycles becuase he was fidgeting with his lines. After countless attempts and aborts, he gave up. Just then the winds picked back up to about 4mph, so I thought I'd give it a go for a second flight. Of course, winds died by the time I was ready. I made two aborted attempts in winds of maybe 1mph. On the third try, with winds maybe 1/2mph, I went full throttle. The wing came up nicely in a reverse and I ran off the edge--- right into a big old sinkhole. Except this time my glider wasn't supporting my weight yet. So I ran all the way to the bottom of the rock and took one step in the dirt at the bottom of the rockes before getting airborne. Another thing added to my list of things to never do again. Had a nice smooth sled to the secondary. Lazlo decided to try a forward and moved back even further to get more of a run in and finally took his fourth flight to meet me in th secondary.
After my fun down the rocks, it occured to me that we could use the existing rocks (plus gravel, fill dirt, etc) and build up a runable 4-5 ' wide rock-ramp down below the PG lauch to give pilots another 6-7 steps in order to more easily do forward launches at the Pulpit. I'll set up a work party in the Spring.
Matthew
Forty-five minutes into the flight my hands were freeezing and I headed out to the primary ot land. Both Jim Kaplan and Juanito landed because of cold hands. I was sitting on my hands and making fists in my gloves as I flew straight. Out over the primary at 1500 agl I hit some lift and tried some turns with no hands-- no problem. So I tried a 360 with no hands--- again, no problem. I thermaled up a thousand feet with no hands. Finally had to grab a brake when one wing tip started to dive as the thermal got stronger. Everyone else had decked out, so I had the mountain to myself for about 40 minutes. Gregory the Greek finally launched and got up after a few HG and PG sleds and I headed out to land after stepping into yet another sink hole.
Came back up and helped Karen launch her PG. It was really light and cross and Karen had a good launch. Lazlo was up next for his fourth flight of the day. He kept missing the good cycles becuase he was fidgeting with his lines. After countless attempts and aborts, he gave up. Just then the winds picked back up to about 4mph, so I thought I'd give it a go for a second flight. Of course, winds died by the time I was ready. I made two aborted attempts in winds of maybe 1mph. On the third try, with winds maybe 1/2mph, I went full throttle. The wing came up nicely in a reverse and I ran off the edge--- right into a big old sinkhole. Except this time my glider wasn't supporting my weight yet. So I ran all the way to the bottom of the rock and took one step in the dirt at the bottom of the rockes before getting airborne. Another thing added to my list of things to never do again. Had a nice smooth sled to the secondary. Lazlo decided to try a forward and moved back even further to get more of a run in and finally took his fourth flight to meet me in th secondary.
After my fun down the rocks, it occured to me that we could use the existing rocks (plus gravel, fill dirt, etc) and build up a runable 4-5 ' wide rock-ramp down below the PG lauch to give pilots another 6-7 steps in order to more easily do forward launches at the Pulpit. I'll set up a work party in the Spring.
Matthew
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hepcat1989
- Posts: 684
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:15 pm
I arrived at launch around 10:30 to see not one, but two Atos VX's set up!Larry and Bruce was cool enough to explain every inch of their crafts.What a treat! I had never seen one up close. Those things are machines.....Larry had a rip in his stiching at the zipper, so he chose to tear down his wing and fly his Talon. While he tore down his VX, he showed me the carbon fiber leading edge. Unreal!...He had told me the crafts weigh 104lbs, and have a 45 foot span. That being said Janni and I helped Bruce off the old ramp. Not much room! Bruce had a hold down for us to use to (wire) him off....(No Wires Included) He launched off smooth and easy and when he flew away I could see his control surfaces working. Very cool. I was still feeling like shit from being sick as hell this past week.I just dashed up to help out and see what was happening. Mark C, David B,Janni, Leoni, Matthew , Karen,Bruce E, Larry B., Bacil, Laslo, some other PG'ers(4),The Greek,David C,Glen, Tim H,CARLOS!. I'm probably missing someone. Anyway, good turnout.HG's and PG's. Some went all over and left(Larry and Bruce). Some soared. Some sledded. Congrats to "The Amazing1" for his first Pulpit flight. Good launch and good approach and landing in the secondary. Good job David!
The sun felt good.
No pilots got hurt.
No crafts got damaged (As far as I know)
It was a good day.
Shawn.
The sun felt good.
No pilots got hurt.
No crafts got damaged (As far as I know)
It was a good day.
Shawn.
Congratulations all, sorry I missed it.
Some kind of weird bug knocked me down Friday night and all day Saturday and kept me from joining you all. Those things are supposed to happen on weekdays! It was fun to read about your flying adventures though.
I hope to join you next time.
Dan T.
I hope to join you next time.
Dan T.
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hepcat1989
- Posts: 684
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:15 pm
Think about renting an electric generator, and an electric Jack Hammer.We could do some damage to the big rocks on either side of the PG launch. Use those bits to build up the retaining wall, some quikcrete,(able to mix it onsite) rebar, eye of newt, wing of bat, and the bones from a specially hot batch of wings.. Some back fill. It could be good for us all.
Shawn.
Shawn.
Hello everyone. My name is Dan Tuckwiller and I'm new to the forum. I'm a HG student of John M's from NoVa. I was at Smithsburg training on yesterday while you were all flying the Pulpit but I can't wait to get out and see you guys fly. It was real nice to meet Cragin and Dan last week (Thanks for posting that video Cragin!) and I look forward to meeting the rest of you! Anybody else notice the post above mine was the 10,000th?!
Dan Tuckwiller
My HG Videos - sorted by site
My HG Videos - sorted by site