Hi-Ho Highland! Sat21Jun

[markc]

Hopes for a mountain day Wed through Friday were unrealized,
but tomorrow looks like it might be good for Highland.

And we can't leave poor Janni out there drinking alone!

If anyone's interested in carpooling, give me a call tomorrow AM.
Early (7-ish) is ok.

MarkC
301-807-5414

[carweill]

Heading to Highland as well

My sister and niece plan their second tandem. If logistics for carpooling work I'll call. Otherwise I'll see you down there.


Carlos

[RedBaron]

Great weekend at Highland. Sunny and Adam gave me the Aeros Discus to tow Saturday, sort of as a stepping stone to towing the Litespeed. Had 5 tows on it, the last two were soaring flights of 30 minutes each, awesome, never soared there before. Had to cut the second one short due to physical and mental fatigue, that Discus is the meanest glider I've ever flown. It was okay with the fin but on my last tow I took it off and was actually flying sideways at times. And so much adverse yaw, you say right and the thing goes left, nasty. Almost screw up a landing because of it. I was headed for the big antenna near the camp ground and just couldn't make it turn. Adam later told me it was tuned for pig mode, I'd rather call it kill-Janni mode. Today I towed the Litespeed, with fin as bad as the Discus without it, the air was smooth so I managed okay I guess. Landing turned out to be quite technical due to winds from the South. Hangars, airplanes, swamp, antennas and wood pile = time for the drogue, or so I thought. Came in short, slow and low on my first landing, which didn't only raise red flags with the Highland crew. So I decided to ditch the darn thing and land without it on my second flight (I also had to make sure that my glider outperforms the race version of the Discus, which I landed without the drogue ). On heading for the camp ground I overshot my target (of course), and for quite some time those trees weren't moving up on the horizon, great. But it came down eventually and I flared pretty close to my truck, the only positive outcome of my not so accurate approach. I had a good time still and Adam and Sunny did a great job at preventing the worst. Thanks so much guys. Going back for more on the next good day, I'm on vacation.

Red Baron

PS: Where the hell was everybody on Saturday? Mark and Carlos went XC and Larry flew out and back for over 4 hours (with only one "good thermal", yeah right)

[lbunner]

It was a good day on Saturday. Ralph and I headed to Ridgely getting there about 1000. I was excited to get back in the air (he stayed in the truck; inside joke). Wish more were there. I launched at noon and slowly climbed out over the field. My plans were to fly north toward Elkton and make the decision whether to head up into Pa (I didn't have a driver). The lift was relatively light and top of the lift was low (3-4K) early on. The skies were dry to the north so I stuck with the clouds and headed slowly to the northeast. Most of the clouds were working however the strong lift was elusive and I only had a few climbs over 400 fpm. Two hours into the flight, CB was at 5000' but by then I decided to fly a triangle. 15 miles north of the field I turned back, headed to the field and then worked my way to the south past Denton before all the clouds dried out. Made it back to the airport comfortably and worked my way to the ground. It sure was good to see I could still thermal and fly some miles after my confidence was totally destroyed by my woeful performance at the ECC. Ended up with 4 hours 11 minutes and a slow 40 miles.

Back in the saddle,

[mcelrah]

Way cool, Larry! Janni, glad to see you are towing the Litespeed. Ellis and I flew powered in USUA club 1's poker run to five little grass strips within 20 miles of Warrenton:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pink.albatross/PokerRun2008

- Hugh

[Zig]

Man, you guys are lucky. I tried getting some tandem lessons in on Thursday and then Friday down there but the conditions were too suspect for it--and they were having some difficulty with the tug Friday afternoon. Ahh, the joys of being an H2. But I am glad you guys had a great time.

And Larry, if you can make it to Lancaster County from Highland and I am home, you'll have a ride. God knows we have plenty of LZs here.
Steve Ziegler

[hang_pilot]

I tried getting some tandem lessons in on Thursday and then Friday down there but the conditions were too suspect for it--and they were having some difficulty with the tug Friday afternoon. Ahh, the joys of being an H2.

Hi, Steve-

Glad to see you posting. Sorry to see you got blanked at Highland. Don't worry, though, you'll be soaring the Pulpit soon enough! If you can swing this with your long drive, your best chance of getting in a tandem lesson is to be the first lesson of the day, i.e. 7 am.

All -

Alek and I met Steve at Lookout in March. He drove us around when my car was in the shop. He's a really nice guy who is going to make another great addition the local flying community.

~Daniel

[lbunner]

Steve, thanks for the offer. What's your cell number I need to add it to my phone!!

[markc]

Highland on Saturday was just great! I launched after Larry, Bob, and Carlos. Zack
dropped me off in a strong thermal a bit to the east of the field. Somehow lost it, struggled
a bit, but finally connected and took it to 3k. Then found another to 4k, over Goldsboro.
Drift was straight to Dover, so I had it in my head that I would jump streets to the
east, and angle towards the coast. Did ok with the first jump (4k down to 3k, then
regained a bit). Didn't really find anything good, so jumped again, which took me
down to 2500 or so. From there, it was nada. Felt like I was just wallowing around,
trying various things but without any real feel for what was going on. Ended up lawn
darting over the DE line, for maybe 8 or 9 miles? *sigh* . I've got a lot to learn.

Janni picked up both myself and Carlos (thank you Janni!!) and we were back at
Highland by about 3:30. Lots of great clouds to the east and obvious convergence,
but things were drying up over the field and upwind. Still, we were there, so what
the heck? I set up again and launched at maybe 4:20 or so. The tow was pretty smooth,
but Zack-The-Man dragged me along a light line of lift and pretty far upwind, so
that I'd at least have a shot. And I did find a thermal that took me to 3500! Then
a second to 4500! All under completely blue skies, with a great view of the convergence
to the east. HUGE Q's were popping up along that line; I think I was actually a bit above
their bases.

Probably should have headed north, but thought that two retrieves in one day
might be pushing my luck a bit .

We ended the day with frisbee, pizza, beer, and guitar, so it was another classic
fun day of flying at Highland. I was really surprised by how few solo pilots were
there, given the light SW forecast. Ya shoulda been there!!!

MarkC