Cumberland Fair Sunday or Monday?

[brianvh]

Shawn McDuff and I are planning to come down and fly at the cumberland fair. Sunday and monday are looking good (though hot). We would likely lean towards monday because of less people in the parking lot. If you've never done this, flying over the fair is a hoot. As plans firm up I'll post the meeting time.

[brianvh]

We will be there Monday, probably meeting in the parking lot between 4 and 5 pm. I've heard that Ellis will probably be there sunday night. Looks soarable sunday and monday.

[DanTuck]

Sounds fun, I'm interested. What's the launch like? More importantly, is it 2-able?
Anyone else flying anywhere later today? I'd love to get out if it's possible. 202 487 0231

[pink_albatross]

Bailing on Cumberland. I am starting to develop a fear of thunderstorms...
Have fun tomorrow!
-- ellis

[brianvh]

Though the fairgrounds launch is good for Hang 2s, normally H2s are discouraged from flying during the fair because the parking lot is filling with cars. Monday will probably be a slow night though. Jim Rowan would have to make the call on that, though he would probably like to keep the policy unambiguous. I'll go ahead and call him on your behalf to find out.

[brianvh]

Confirmed, no H2 flying during the fair. You are welcome to come watch to learn the ins and outs of the site, and if you drive for us (hint) we would likely get you free tickets to the fair (something like a $4 value!!).

[DanTuck]

Thanks for checking Brian. Maybe I'll still make it out there (free ticket - 5% of the gas - sounds enticing ) but I'm hoping some folks will want to fly one of the mountains that I can fly. Whad'ya say guys? Nothing good happens at work on Mondays anyway!

[theflyingdude]

The Allegany County Fair is about to begin and we will be flying every evening (weather permitting) for the 22nd year in a row. Many moons ago, the fairgrounds management Godfather made us an offer we couldn't refuse - fly for the Fair every year and we would always have a place to land.

The overflow parking area is the LZ for two flying sites, the Fairgrounds and High Point. It's a somewhat restricted LZ under the best of circumstances and is used for parking during the Fair. That makes it an even more restricted LZ and it continues to get progressively smaller as it fills with cars. I have Falcon 195 that pretty much only gets flown during Fair week just for that reason. Normally, the Fairgrounds launch is a H2 site with an Observer except during Fair week when it become a H3-rated site due to the LZ restrictions. The High Point is also a H3-rated site and we'll fly from there if it's too windy to launch from the Fairgrounds (slope vs. cliff-launch).

Some years we've had good flying conditions almost every day and other years, we've been rained out or taken downwind dives for brief sled rides, but we've never had an injury or hit a parked or parking car and we'd like to keep that record intact.

JR

[brianvh]

Shawn and I reached the fairgrounds about 4:30 and met up with JR, Homer, Gardinator, and a pilot (Will?) who injured his shoulder but came to drive. Damn but I miss those guys. Soon as Gardner opened his mouth my eyes began to well up with nostalgia. Anyway, rode up to High Point in the back of Homy's pick-me-up truck to find it blowing in from 5 to 10. LE joined us and all were glad.

The lift was borderline, but we were competent enough to get up and stick a few hundred above the ridge line. It is such a gorgeous site, with that broken ridge and rock outcroppings above the river, I really didn't mind how much driving I made Shawn do to get there. Weren't many fairgoers on a hot Monday night, but the parking lot was about 1/3 full. May have had a tailwind when I came in, but am still ashamed to say I overshot and flared right before the treeline. The others nailed it.

Turned around after watching nearly everyone flush to see Gardner and LE working a thermal away from the ridge. Outshone us all for the next 10 minutes. Typical adolescent behavior from those two, and we reprimanded them severely.

Shawn and I stopped at Puccini's a few miles outside Cumberland on the way back. It compares to the best pizza I've had in New York.

We also stopped in on Steve Zigler on the way up. He's wearing a vest-style back brace, and has started working from home. We compared notes on getting out of bed after back surgery. From his description of pulling in only to find the oscillations get worse, it sounds like he was indeed PIOing instead of flying slow (though he said he popped the nose after his turn), but we may never know for sure.