Pulpit 7/7

[lbunner]

Great day at the Pulpit yesterday. 7 hrs in the air and landed near Cedar Bonnet NJ. Got home at 0200 and still have to go pick up my truck and then retrieve the glider. Will be another long day today only this time on the ground.

Ciao

[Ward Odenwald]

Congratulations Larry!! I hope you took a dip in the Atlantic to celebrate. When you find the time, give us the details.

Ward

[Danny Brotto]

Heck of a flight. If it's not over 200 miles, it's pretty darn close. How did you manage w/ the Philli airspace?

Looked to be a great day yesterday with bases along your route at 8K!

Details, please!

Danny Brotto

[theflyingdude]

Great flight, Bun! I'd love to see your track log and find out how you dealt with the airspace issues around Philly.

[John Simon]

Swweeeet !!!!

Awesome flight Larry! Looks like 200 miles? I've wondered often how far east you could go from the Pulpit... figured that one would have to turn south east down the Delmarva, but NNooooooo. Can't wait to hear more. Congrats!!! Flying to the beach from the Pulpit, awesome.


Take Care,
John

[hang_pilot]

Way to go, Skygod!

Gang, let me know, is that the longest flight ever in Region IX?

~Daniel

[pink_albatross]

oh my gawd!
words can't do this one justice.
Great job!
-- ellis

[theflyingdude]

Way to go, Skygod!

Gang, let me know, is that the longest flight ever in Region IX?

~Daniel

We won't know until Larry provides more details, but it may eclipse Pete Lehmann's 194 mile flight from the Templeton site near Pittsburgh some years back.

JR

[Lauren Tjaden]

holy chipmunk cheeks, that's a doozy!
Lauren

[Paul Tjaden]

Wow! That is an incredible flight, Larry. Why have we not read about this on facebook? Make sure Davis knows about it when you get the details especially if it's a new record for the region. Might as well get some recognition and glory!

Paul

[mcelrah]

I note Pete Lehmann's discouragement about XC flying in Region 9 expressed in his recent USHPA mag article (also note picture credit to one "Sally" McElrath - but thanks for crediting her, JR!). I propose that "someone" take over running the Region 9 XC contest and keep it going, since Pete is giving up on it. Larry is going to blow the doors off everyone this year with this 200-miler plus his 78 (?) miler 6 weeks ago, also from Pulpit. Mark Gardner had a long flight a coupla months ago from Cumberland to Woodstock and on down toward Harrisonburg. Even we tyros are grinding out some mileage. If we included a paraglider section of the competition, there would be quite a bit of XC flying to report there also.

I am thinking about writing a letter to the editor to the USHPA mag with some of the above - but I don't want to steal Larry's steam if he wants to write up this landmark flight in an article. Whaddaya say, Larry?

And huge congratulations, Larry! Would you hold an XC clinic sometime?

- Hugh

[POLISH EAGLE]

Congratulations Larry, way to go. Come on write about it.
Krzysztof.

[lplehmann]

Larry's spectacular flight is indeed Region Nine's longest, handily trumping my 182 miler (and more than doubling my Pulpit site record). This was a very cool, well planned xc flight. He wasn't lucky; he's good.
With great respect,
Pete Lehmann

[theflyingdude]

Larry's spectacular flight is indeed Region Nine's longest, handily trumping my 182 miler (and more than doubling my Pulpit site record). This was a very cool, well planned xc flight. He wasn't lucky; he's good.
With great respect,
Pete Lehmann

Oops, I stand corrected and will claim a "senior" moment after I mistakenly indicated Pete's flight was 194 miles, when, in fact, it was "only" 182 miles. He doesn't need my help when it comes to "pin-stretching".

JR

[Pete Schumann]

Wow! Way to go Larry.

Pete

[mikel]

Congrats Larry !!!!!!

According to map quest, driving distance is 231 miles..

Way to go,

Mike

[Danny Brotto]

Using GOOGLE EARTH's ruler function from the middle of the ramp to the middle of Cedar Bonnet island is 200.84 miles.

Danny Brotto

[Larry Huffman]

Larry,

Great flight! Congratulations!

Larry

[Chico_mon]

Hey Larry, Congratulations. I know darm well, that if you decided to visit us in Whitewater, WI that you would be able to break the site record. When are you coming? Bring your flying buds. We now have a hot shower stall. SW-NE runway is operational. Campfire is waiting. Dale has the beers.

http://www.whitewaterhangglidingclub.com/

you know the directions. So what's keeping you?

Your Wisconsin buddies are wanting to swap tall tales, and wanting to share some air time with ya!

[hepcat1989]

.

[lbunner]

Hey Shawn, I did use the new launch with the help of a couple paraglider pilots (Michael and Martin). They did a super job and got me off cleanly. A writeup is coming, I have just been too busy to put it all together. How about the group Free? Just downloaded their Fire and Water album, kinda diggin' it.

[hepcat1989]

.

[lbunner]

Pulpit to Cedar Bonnet

Last December in a fit of winter doldrums I mapped out four 200 miles flights using Google Earth. Ridgely (Highland Aerosports) north to New York, Woodstock southeast to Currituck County Airport, NC, Jonestown (near The Sac) south onto the Delmarva Peninsula to Campbell Field Airport in Virginia and the Pulpit east to Cedar Bonnet, NJ. For each one I plotted out the waypoints necessary to accomplish the tasks. For the Pulpit flight, I noted there was one dog leg required to get around the Philadelphia International and Atlantic City airspace however a long flight to the coast was feasible. I laid out waypoints for Hanover and Fawn Grove, PA, Elkton, MD and Husted, NJ to set the track to go to the south of Philly and then ENE to Cedar Bonnet, NJ which would put me outside of Atlantic City.
Last year I flew from the Pulpit to home almost straight east for 79 miles. In April I botched an opportunity to put in some big miles gliding from the Pulpit at 7200' (msl) to the ground just east of Chambersburg. I was significantly dejected on blowing it and talked with Pete Lehmann about the conditions and the flight. He gave me some sage advice about leaving the mountains and I put it to use again in May when I flew from the Pulpit to within 5 miles of my house. On both 70 mile flights I was too aggressive late in the flight and didn't top out when the lift began to wane.
Last Saturday, Dave Proctor and I met at the Pulpit to give it another go only to have the winds blow 30 mph on the ramp. This particular site tends to build stronger winds than predicted much the opposite of Woodstock down in Virginia. If predicted winds are in the 15 mph range it is a real crap shoot as to whether it is launchable at the Pulpit.
Then on Monday July 6th I was headed to the Pulpit again. My gear was still on the truck after Saturday's demise. However I had removed my helmet so I could work on the headset and empty my cooler. Not ten miles down the road, Sue called saying I left the cooler in the garage. It had my Camelbak in it so I met her half way to get it. Thirty minutes later, she calls again saying my helmet was still on the floor in the living room. "F$#k! I was now pissed to say the least. I really hate it when I am the only one to blame! I quickly resolved that it just wasn't meant to be so turned around and headed back. I was not pleasant for the rest of the day. Later, while checking the FSL Sounding to see how high the clouds were (so I could cry some more in my beer), I looked at Tuesday's conditions and saw they were going to be even better. My mood changed considerably however I already blew my chance at having a driver for the day.
Tuesday dawned with outstanding conditions, the sounding predicted cloudbase at 8000' with wind at altitude at 25 mph, yet the winds in McConnellsburg (where the Pulpit is located) were predicted at 12 mph. I couldn't believe my good fortune. I left the house early (with my helmet and cooler). All the way over I reviewed in my mind how to approach the day. I had no driver and didn't know if any other pilots would show up so kept telling myself that safety was priority one. I recounted how Steve Kinsley got stuck on High Rock some years ago and bolluxed himself up trying to back off the rock after conditions worsened. I resolved not to let this happen to me. At the Pulpit around 1030, conditions on launch were sweet with lulls coming in around 10 mph. I was ready to go shortly before noon and checked conditions again. They had ramped up slightly but still lulled around 10 mph. I clipped in and walked up behind the old ramp, got the glider situated and shuffled over between the ramps. The winds were rocking the wings severely. There was no way I could control the glider and shuffle down between the ramps to the launch zone so I scooted back down the hill to the set up area, unclipped and tied the glider down. Just as I was ready to go out to the tavern to recruit some help, two paraglider pilots showed up. Michael and Martin "volunteered" to help me launch and I quickly suited up again. This time things were more manageable and I punched off around 12:30 (thanks Michael and Martin for your patience). I played around on the ridge for 20 minutes working small bubbles trying to get up under the clouds as they passed over the mountain before I hit a good thermal and rode it to 4700'. I knew from previous flights that more altitude was required to get a good start so headed WSW back to the ridge to another cloud coming over. The lift was there and I went over the back at 6000' in a good street. Two miles later at 6100' the next thermal took me to 6800' and then after another mile tanked back up to 6500' before a long glide to Marion just south of Chambersburg. My track was taking me toward Mount Alto which I believed at the time was pushing me too close toward High Rock so I headed northeast to another line of clouds to get back on track. Unfortunately the sink was killer while chasing the closest cloud. Down to 1600' (800' agl) it was do or land time; a gnarly, ratty thermal presented itself and I dove into it with the mindset of a buck in rut. I rode it halfway across the Michaux before heading out at 6400'. Again a buoyant line got me to 6600' at the exit of the Michaux and on glide to Gettysburg. Good clouds were off to the northeast so I connected with them and left toward Hanover at 6300'. So far every cloud was working and I was able to stay high. The cloud spacing was tight about every 2-3 miles and the winds aloft were 20+. At Hanover the best thermal of the day took me to the highest altitude at 7200'. It was a 15 mile glide just past Shrewsbury where I got back up over 6000'. Ten miles later I was down to 3800' just northeast of Fawn Grove before finding good lift to 6000' and two miles later I thermaled up just south of the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station (I retired from there 7 days earlier). The lift by now had softened considerably and the clouds were drying up. I changed tactics and headed for wispies rather than mature clouds as I noticed the mature ones would die by the time I got to them. I also looked at my distance and was surprised to see 100 miles on the odometer just 3 hours after leaving the mountain. There was still a good probability of reaching the coast. Off in the distance I could see a strong convergence line running north to south where the cumulus were robust. This line was the ticket to make it happen. Continuing downwind, I picked a bad line and got down to 2500' five miles from the Delaware River before digging out in a thermal that turned on to an average 400 fpm to 6000'. The crossing was not of consequence and I continued on toward Husted. I glided down to 4000' and for the next 15 miles I dribbled along between 3000 and 4000' before finally latching on to a weak climb that took me over 5000'. I was now under the convergence and although I wasn't climbing I flew the next 15 miles in just over 30 minutes and only lost 1500'. Unfortunately I was headed for the Pine Barrens which is really no man's land for a hang glider; twenty five miles of mostly unlandable terrain and the areas that are landable are so remote that it would take a long time to get out of there (check it out on google earth and you will see what I mean). I was down to 3500' at Hammonton on the edge of the Pine Barrens chasing a cloud and made my mind up to fly a couple more miles catch the lift and if not then head back to Hammonton to land at the airport. I missed the climb and turned around. The wind was still stiff at 20+ mph and my progress was slow however 1/2 mile upwind I found some light lift that eventually turned into 300 fpm. I took this to 6400' and headed on glide. Down to 5300' I hit some 100 up but could see a cloud down wind that appeared to be building. Half way across the Pine Barrens I could see clouds forming over 1000' below me a good indication that I was overflying the convergence. By now my deck showed that I had Cedar Bonnet Island by a few hundred feet. I was getting 20+:1 glide but felt one more climb would be needed to get me to the beach and then back to the landing field. The closer I got however the more concerned I became. There were absolutely no other landing options within 5 miles of the island, it was all water and trees. I passed over the Eagle's Nest airport and out to the edge of the water still searching and envisioned the head line in the local paper, "Hang Glider flies 200 miles but drowns in bay" only I wouldn't be around to read it! Finally I headed back toward the airport into a stiff 15 mph WNW breeze all the way down to 500' where the wind turned east. Good thing there was a sock at the airport! I came in hot and had a no stepper. I landed at 6:48, 6 hours and 18 minutes and 197 miles from the Pulpit. Wooohooo!
The adventure now really began. I called Sue to share the good news and the bad (I needed her to come pick me up). I walked carrying my harness 5 miles to town the whole time about to be carried aloft by a horde of hungry mosquitoes. I found an ice cream parlor and struck up a conversation with a couple patrons who offered to take me to a bar and grill. I closed this place down after a fine burger and three Captain and diets. The manager gave me a ride to another establishment that didn't close until 2:00 where I imbibed some more. Sue showed up at midnight at which time I was not legal to drive. I asked her to let me get 20 minutes of shut eye then I'd drive the rest of the way. The next thing I knew we were pulling into our driveway at
2:00. We agreed to get up early so we could go retrieve the truck and we hit the road the next morning at 6:00, I picked up the truck and drove to Cedar Bonnet to get the glider. I finally returned home at 3:30 that afternoon. I did talk to some locals at the airport about my intent to land on Cedar Bonnet Island and they informed me that there really is no dry place to land on the island.
Lessons learned from the flight are too numerous to cover here but a few I'll share include:
1. Recruit a driver, I could have paid someone handsomely and it would still have been more cost effective than the route I took. I know Tom McGowan has used Craig's List with good results, I need to do the same.
2. In spite of all of my pre-planning I still missed a few details that ultimately resulted in the flight not being "clean". For those of you that would like the details, I'll share off line.
3. Looking at the map and my track, I really didn't need to deviate from my course line when I was south of Chambersburg. The WNW winds would have put me right over South Mountain where there are a number of good landing fields on top. In fact this route gives the pilot a few more options especially if heading over the Michaux low.
4. Top out in lift. All day I left when the lift began to die (or I stumbled out of the thermal) well below cloud base. I only got above 7000' once all day. I should have been more persistent and spent time looking harder for the lift before heading out.
5. Late in the flight at Hammonton I should have worked harder to climb higher and not gone on glide. I also should have stopped to work the light lift out over the Pine Barrens. I was slow to recognize that I was overflying the convergence. Either one of these options would have allowed me to achieve the ultimate goal.
There were a few good decisions along the way:
1. I didn't let my emotions get to me and backed off the ramp when conditions looked a little dicey.
2. I recognized early that staying up was the key to long miles and concentrated on doing just that rather than racing.
3. I headed back to Hammonton instead of flying out over the Pine Barrens down low.
4. I headed back to Eagle's Nest airport (to a reliable wind indicator and a dry field) rather than risk a wet landing.

Sorry for the wait,

Ciao

[mcelrah]

Superb! Thanks for this - it was worth the wait. And congratulations on your retirement! - Hugh

[John Dullahan]

Larry,

Congrats on the epic Pulpit flight. I liked the cryptic, concise, and classic understatement of your initial post: "7 hrs in the air and landed near Cedar Bonnet, N.J."

Thanks for the excellent and comprehensive account of the flight. Your descriptions of what you did both right and "wrong" (too harsh on yourself) provides both lessons learned and powerful inspiration for the rest of the flying community.
Gratefully, John D.