Mother's Day at Woodstock

[breezyk1d]

I did it, I did it, I DID IT! Whaahoo! I SOARED! So my glider and I are capable of soaring - no more worries on that account! What a mother?s day present from my girls! All of 40 minutes, to 800 feet over. What a beautiful sight, the Shenandoah mountains and the north fork laid out below, birds circling just below me (okay, so they were carrion birds and they thought I was their next meal?). I could see over the back, and beyond, several ridges beyond. I flew over launch and whooped to my kids who whooped back. I was flying with their good graces today. What a sound, to hear that vario singing the high notes over and over and over! The only reason I came down was because I didn?t want the girls to have to sit in the dark waiting for me.

The sunset was beautiful; Dan T.was wonderful and gave the girls a lift down from launch; my launch (I believe) and landing were good and solid; the cows were sentient (the Fisher?s have the best trained hang gliding cows in the field, though they do like to munch a windsock now and then); and Hugh and Joe S. toted us all up the mountains to retrieve our cars. Daniel B. (who has his own thunder to share on today?s events, if he will) and John M and Brian V-H were all in the air with me. What fun to fly with compatriots, to soar with the birds, to feel the lift, to float parked in the air, to run crosswind back along the ridge, and to get to the LZ with 500 over and simply wind down over the valley.

John was afraid I was going to head up the ridge ( he was further north than I ? and he must suspect me of radical-ness) and Brian thought I was headed to Strausburg, but I only coveted the lift at the larger bowl one finger to the north and was well rewarded?.I?d been aptly warned by Brian to not stray too far, to not go over the back, to not drift without realizing it, to not go too high (penetration problems), you name it . Mega thank you?s to Brian for all his good advice that finally allowed me to stick with the lift, and for waiting so patiently to launch me at the very end of the day, and for his kindness in observing. Hugh retrieved with grace and much goodwill, and Joe Schad treated me to dinner for Mother?s Day! What a super day! Any one of those by itself is enough to make a great day, but all combined, well, I should be high for quite a while.

Last mother?s day I was scooter towing at Blue Sky, and had had a particularly successful tow, was delighted at actually getting to release and glide to a flared landing. It would be hard to imagine me making this much progress without the support of so many people in this HG community, pilots who are willing to share their knowledge and skills and time to get a beginner on a well grounded path. To all, a humongous THANK YOU! See you in the skies ? Linda B.

[Paul Tjaden]

Wow!!! Happy Mothers Day Linda!
?
It's always fun to read about someone's early triumphs. This is surely just the beginning of many, many more.
?
Congrats,
?
Paul

[hang_pilot]

Linda wrote: Daniel B. (who has his own thunder to share on today’s events
Matthew signed off on my H3 on Sunday! Gotta give thanks for my instructors (John and Adam) and observers (Bacil, Brian, Cragin, Hank, Kelvin, Matthew, Sparky and Steve) for their time, support and guidance.? ?
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For my first flight as a 3, I waited until late evening for the gust differential (7 mph lulls – 30 mph gusts) to diminish.? Stats: 1:20 and 1900, over.
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A few moments:
*Sun is low on the horizon, cranking high bank turns seeing my shadow race across my wing.?
*Flying above Linda on her first soaring flight.? Pulling three-quarters VG to keep up because winds aloft are much stronger than at launch altitude.
*Having a VG.
*Realizing how much I had been flying my Mark IV on bar pressure.? There is none on the U2.
?
Huge congrats to Linda for her first soaring flight!? Linda, I hope one of Charlotte or Olivia’s teachers assigns the “What did you do on Mother’s Day” essay.? ?
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Chris wrote: They REALLY wanted to eat that windsock too.
Has anyone had a cow much on their WING in that field?
?
Huge congrats to Chris for his first soaring flight on Saturday!? ?In addition to weird weather, Saturday was a Hang 2 day.? John M threw off Chris, Mike, Jim, Linda and me.? ?Thanks, John.? He gets a day off from teaching and what does he do, mentor five new pilots!
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A different kind of ridge run?
Chatted Saturday evening (sledder after rain storm #3) with volunteers who were manning an aid station for the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 Mile Run (http://www.vhtrc.org/mmt/) in the parking area at Woodstock.? Saw the eventual winner come by, he had a lot of spring in his step considering it was mile 84! He finished in 18:12. …and people say free-flight pilots are crazy…
?
Daniel
Cell 301.275.6584

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[hankh2rbc]

?
?
Big congratulations to Daniel and Linda. I was first off for the day. Didn’t get off until my second attempt. It had back off to where I was comfortable so I got a wire crew and began to move to launch only to have it start roaring again. Waited another 20 min or so and got off. It was a little punchy coming out of the slot. Went to the north finger and found consistent lift. Once I was about 500 over I would follow the finger out into the valley and try to catch a thermal I could ride while drifting back the ridge. Got in a boomer that too me to 2800 above launch. Flew out to rt.11 with full VG making about 20 mph ground speed or so. Turned back and decked it after 50 min because I had to get to work (oh how I hate it when work spoils all the fun!)
?
Hank

[mcelrah]

Geez , you were pretty cagey about that H3. Felicitations on a major
milestone! - Hugh

On 9 May 2005, at 13:30, Broxterman.Daniel wrote:

> Linda wrote: Daniel B. (who has his own thunder to share on today?s
> events
> Matthew signed off on my H3 on Sunday!

[mcelrah]

Hank, did you land in the LZ? I thought I saw you way up toward
Strasburg, low and even behind the first ridge... - Hugh

On 9 May 2005, at 17:11, Hank Hengst wrote:

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> ?
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[hang_pilot]

Geez , you were pretty cagey about that H3.

>>>I'm superstitious....didn't want to jinx myself. Could imagine Joe's
report: "Inexperienced pilot flying in gusty post frontal conditions on
a new wing crashes on THE DAY he passes his hang 3 exam."

Felicitations on a major milestone! - Hugh
>>>THANKS! ~Daniel
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[hankh2rbc]

That wasn't me. I spent most of my time out in front of the north finger
out in the valley. I landed in the bridge field to expedite my getting
to work on time.

Hank

-----Original Message-----
From: mcelrah@verizon.net [mailto:mcelrah@verizon.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 6:31 AM
To: hg_forum@chgpa.org
Subject: Re: Mother's Day at Woodstock


Hank, did you land in the LZ? I thought I saw you way up toward
Strasburg, low and even behind the first ridge... - Hugh

On 9 May 2005, at 17:11, Hank Hengst wrote:

> ?
> ?
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