Pulpit PM 9/27

[XCanytime]

A few of us are gambling on the extended forecast showing clearing and fresh west winds at the Pulpit Sunday afternoon. Should be plenty warm and good. Bacil

[mcelrah]

Luis Chang and I are interested, if the forecast is still good.

By the way, does anyone know if Smithsburg is open? If open, will it be Mudburg after the rains?

- Hugh

[XCanytime]

Smithsburg is not open. It usually does not open up until around the end of October/early November timeframe. Bacil

[mcelrah]

There is some sentiment that it will be too strong at Pulpit, better at Woodstock. Let the open-outcry bidding begin! - Hugh

[XCanytime]

Simple. Get to the Pulpit early tomorrow. How difficult is that when the throttleup isn't until after 12 noon?

[John Dullahan]

I will confirm after looking at the weather forecast tomorrow morning, but right now I think the Pulpit will be the best bet. My sister, her hubby, and two boys want to come as well, so we will have two drivers available. As Bacil mentioned, it won't clear up until around noon - so there will be plenty of time to get there.

John D.

[Matthew]

Looks more like Woodstock to me...


will check in the morning.

Matthew

[carweill]

It's always a gamble.

Dr Jacks favors the Woodstock area.

I'll keep looking

Carlos

[Matthew]

Option C

Too stong at Pulpit

Too light at Woodstock

Were'nt we supposed to fly High Rock this weekend?

Matthew

[mcelrah]

I saw a lot of west in the forecast, but more sun at Woodstock than at Pulpit (convection at Pulpit?). Loading... - Hugh
P.S. If light, use paraglider instead?

[John Dullahan]

Bacil, I and at least three others believe afternoon at the Pulpit will be the best bet. The High Rock Fly In was rescheduled for next weekend: unfortunately I will be out of town.

John D.

[DanTuck]

One of the at-least-three. Heading to the Pulpit. ETA noon-ish.

[Matthew]

Watch out for the rain and thunderstorms. There's one over Pittsburgh heading East at 10am and another bigger one in central Ohio following about an hour behind the Pittsburgh storm.

Matthew

[mcelrah]

Ya, that's what I meant by "convection"... - Hugh

[XCanytime]

Patience was the key today at the Pulpit, and patience enabled John Dullahan and Dan Tuckwiller to have nice soaring flights of about an hour each, launching around 5PM. John Middleton had 3 Hang IIs take sunset flights at the Pulpit, with successful landings in the main LZ. Got some nice pictures of the various parts of the day that will follow.

Bacil

[XCanytime]

John, Dan, and Carlos in the fog on the pad.

The valley fog starts clearing.

Is that a tornado?

[XCanytime]

Small rain cells to the SW.

A rainbow forms in front of launch.

Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, John D. flies in front of the rainbow, why oh why didn't I?

[mcelrah]

After much caucusing with Matthew and Ellis, Luis Chang and I agreed to meet in the Woodstock LZ at around 1230 or 1 PM. We dropped a vehicle and went up to launch. The noise in the trees laid to rest any question about whether we would be flying hang- or paragliders - we went for the pipes! At first it seemed like a milder version of the standard post-frontal Woodstock day - freight trains running through at 30 mph - it was only 12-15. I had several phone conversations with Laszlo, who was relaying my on-site reports to Jim Kaplan and Noah Merritt. By the time we got set up, it had gusted up to the standard 30. But this only lasted half an hour, then conditions on launch moderated quite nicely. Jim, Noah and I helped Luis launch at 4 PM and I followed ten minutes later (thanks, Jim and Noah!). In the air, the west cross was quite pronounced and the air up to 3-400 over launch was a bit ratty. At times the Sport 2 was only penetrating at single-digit miles per hour with 3/4 VG - so I always favored the left side of launch. After awhile, it became possible to follow lines of lift out to the west as wispies and clouds blew into the ridge from the valley. Luis on his U2 ranged more widely up, down and behind the ridge. We saw climbs to 1500 over launch. It was a comfortable 66 degrees there. At one point, I had two bald eagles on my tail. After an hour and 45 minutes, I figured I had made my point and went out to land. I radioed down to Jim, who had tried kiting in the LZ but found it dead, that it might be paraglidable. He waited to see that I landed safely, then went up (Ellis, Matthew and Karen had arrived with paragliders only) but judged it to be just that much too strong, cross and ratty. Matthew, Karen, Ellis, Luis and I celebrated the day at the new Cristina's in Strasburg. - Hugh

[DanTuck]

Strange but very cool day at the Pulpit. Watch the video for pretty much the whole story. But for those with dial-up, or no time for such childishness, here's the gist. It was raining when I got there at noon and completely socked in for a couple hours. But I set up anyway, as did John D, and after a couple light showers things started to look better. The clouds on launch cleared in grandiose fashion and spirits soared. Then, so did the velocity on launch. Strong stuff with a high gust factor had us grounded for awhile longer. We took the opportuniy to drop a car in the LZ (thanks Bacil) and I drove down with John's nephew. Wow, that's one bright young man! Back on launch there was more waiting and hoping for the throttle down and as Bacil said, our patience finally paid off. John launched first with me soon after and it was a nice soaring flight in pure strong ridge lift, definitely glad to have the U2 at times. After getting spit in the face for a little while, I decided to land. I'm still getting used to the U2 but my approach was pretty good, just a little too high when I turned on final. I came in pretty fast across the lower field and just kept gliding for-e-ver. Flared a little late but on my feet. And great job to our newest H-2's Greg, Matt, and Chuck! What a fun day to be at the Pulpit!

[g.sessa]

Interesting day of flying!! After being away from the mountains for a few months, I decided to join John and a few students at the training hill. Although, I must be honest, I was half tempted to turn around after starting the trip north and seeing nothing but ominous clouds in the distance. And then, the rain started! None the less, I carried on. Upon arrival to the training hill, the rain had stopped but the winds were very switchy with frequent gusting. I had 5 or so flights before packing up and making the trip with John and the Hang 2 crew (myself, Matt and Chuck) to the Pulpit landing zone. By this time later in the day, the dark clouds had passed but there was still a light sprinkle. We walked the secondary and the primary landing zones, and made it just in time to observe Dan and John land. We then proceeded to the launch. Conditions were good, and I launched, followed by Matt and Chuck. I flew the ridge for a good 10 minutes before proceeding to the primary. The sun was setting and it was time to head in. A good flight, good landing, and overall decent day!! Thanks John for observing us for the day!!

[chuckok]

First mountain flight! No time for soaring as I was the last one off ... but, made it to the primary. Thanks to Steve Wendt for two years of fighting the truck ... and especially John Middleton for the foot launch training this season!

[mcelrah]

Congratulations, Chuck! Now you will be getting the payback for climbing the Mount Everest of skill development. There's still plenty to learn, but this is the fun part! - Hugh