Pulpit 3/7

[XCanytime]

Looking warmer and got some west in it. Ward O. and Dan Tuck? are up for it. Any others? Bacil

[BrianL]

I'll go flying Sunday

[brianvh]

What is this, another Brian, and I wasn't notified?

I knew you guys would eventually get around to replacing me once I left the area.

[DanTuck]

Count me in.

[POLISH EAGLE]

Me too. I am planing to fligh the Pulpit this weekend.

[Luis]

I will like to go anywhere

[chuckok]

Possibly ... need an observer willing to alow a tag along.

[markc]

Count me in for flying at some point this weekend! Sunday looks good at the moment.
But will look tomorrow AM, to see what's what....

MarkC

[mcelrah]

Ya, Brian VH, we were able to get a robotic emulator. Form/fit isn't exactly there, but it does the off-the-wall posts pretty well! - Hugh

[markc]

Strange, all of a sudden the Sunday 'cast for thePulpit is:

SUNDAY
SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 40S. WEST WINDS AROUND 10 MPH
WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH.

and the winds-aloft 'casts are looking strong. Maybe today
is the day, at HIgh Rock?

MarkC

[POLISH EAGLE]

I am leaving soon. HR. or Pulpit? Call me. Conditions look good for both sites today. ETA 11:00AM
Krzysztof.

[DanTuck]

Headed to the Pulpit. ETA 9:45.
High near 50F today! Come on out!

[markc]

Heading for the Pulpit now, ETA 10:30.

MarkC

[lbunner]

Well, inquiring minds want to know, how was it?

[RichH]

Larry heard it was pretty good..Talked with Ward and he go over an hour ..sounds like a few others did pretty well also..

[XCanytime]

Got to the Pulpit around 9:30A to honkin' conditions at launch. Dan Tuckwiller, Ward Odenwald, and Brian Leisenring arrived not long after and we hiked our stuff in. After about 30 minutes things settled down nicely enough to allow me to launch at 10:45A into STFI 12 to 18 MPH. Got up easily and waited for Dan to launch. We flew around between launch and Rt. 16 waiting to hear from Ward if he had launched yet. Ward got airborne and slowly climbed up. The lift was choppy and disorganized. Highest I got was 700' over. Contacted Dan on the radio and asked him to follow me towards The Corner. We headed out and ran down to the last farm silo, never getting low. We turned around and Dan VG'ed it back to launch, while I loitered in some smoother lift on the way back. Got to the gas line clear cut and headed out with the golf course in mind, but ended up landing in the main LZ. Dan followed, landing about 15 minutes after I did. During Dan's and my flight we interacted with lots of redtails. Flying with them was fun. Hope Dan's video caught one redtail flapping between us. Down in the main LZ Danny and Mark C. were dropping off a vehicle. Danny gave us a body ride up so we could launch the remaining 3 pilots. Thanks Danny. Brian, Danny, and Mark all launched and had real nice flights. Mark ran further down to The Corner and back. Ward, Dan, Mark, and I hit the bar for some beer and chow after very satisfying flights. Where were the pilots?

Bacil

[markc]

WOW! Redtails everywhere!! Do I have any photos of 'em? Sadly no, today's were pretty ho-hum,
with the exception of sunset. So words will have to do for the exciting part of the flight.....

I was near launch, and had gotten to about 600' over. I looked south and saw two pairs of redtails,
not too far above me. So I'm thinking "Oh, please, let there be some lift along this line!", and I
sneak down there, pushing out for any gain that I can wring from the air. The lower pair suddenly
locks talons and go spiralling/helicoptering down to the very tree tops. WHOA! Totally cool!

The higher pair are just 50' above me. They split, one heading over my glider and into the valley.
I briefly follow but see that it's a lost cause, and turn 180 back towards the other. And we're
absolutely co-altitude, on a collision course! I pull in, the redtail's looking down, doesn't see me...
Suddenly s/he looks up, sees me (Agghhh!), spreads her wings wide, and dives under. No further than
10 feet away, what a fantastic encounter! I'm yelling and letting go with fake hawk whistles/cries,
unbelievable. Me happy!!

Moments like these are what keep me in the air. So sudden, so quick to unfold, so incomparable.

We had a great day of flying. I showed up next-to-last, finding Ward, Dan Tw, and Brian set up
at 10:50, and Bacil in the air. Helped get Dan and Ward up, with Danny B's help for the latter.
He and I ran a shuttle once we had set up, and it worked out well because Bacil and Dan Tw were
landing at that point. Dragged them back up top, and we launched Brian, Danny, then myself.
Thanks for the help, Bacil and Dan!

I launched around 2:15 and landed at about 4:45. Best I managed was 1270' above launch not
far south of launch, and then 1200' a couple times, when I had headed down the ridge towards
Cito. Got within spitting distance of the peak at the very end, finally turning back because I was
getting turbulated by the upwind portion of the ridge:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.805193 ... 16016&z=13

Some photos follow, hope you like 'em!

MarkC

Approaching the vertex of the 'V' in the ridge

Looking north back towards McConnellsburg

View of the Mountain House. Soon that lot will be filled with bikes!

Sunset photo #1

Sunset photo #2

[DanTuck]

Yahoo!! A great day! I chased red tails all over the sky! Some got real close too, it was really cool. I got a few of them on camera and I'll sort through that later. It was nice to soar so easily in abundant ridge lift. The thermals were small, sharp, and not going very high. But given the sweet ridge conditions, it was a great opportunity to follow Bacil down to the corner for the first time. I kept him in front of, and below me so that he was my human vario. Thanks for the escort! For the whole run down I had on half VG, and then when we came back I cruised for a little and then pulled on 3/4 and left Bacil in my dust! That was fun! Spring is in the air and I'm looking forward to this season!!! Glad everyone got to fly and had great flights. Thanks Danny for the ride back up. I'm gonna do another video of today but this is a good taste of what today was anyway.

[lbunner]

Sweet, you guys. Wish I could have been there. Sold my glider and won't have the new one until later this month. Then look out cuz I'll be motivated to put some miles in!!

[XCanytime]

Great video Dan! I had hoped you caught the sequence of the flapping redtail. Awesome. Bacil

[Ward Odenwald]

Here are two "sprog cam" views from one of the best thermals that I found yesterday just north of launch.

[XCanytime]

Some pics I took last Sunday at the Pulpit. Bacil

View of the setup area.

The farm with the silo in the distance.

Heading back north.

Dan about to land in the snow.