Possible Saturday Flying

[Batman]

Looking like its E to SE 8 - 10 depending on which forecast you believe. I'm trying to free up my schedule and get all my toys put back together. Vario & Radio's are charging, and downtubes should be in by end of day. Anyone thinking Bill's? Should know by tomorrow morning if I can get out and knock off the rust!

[Ward Odenwald]

Looks like the greatest XC potential on Saturday will start at Ridgely. Current predictions suggest light surface winds, plenty of field-baking sun, a slight southeasterly push from the winds aloft and plenty of open space for that almost low-save.

[markc]

Maybe Jack's Mtn would be worth a try? I'm not very experienced with the site,
and it's a long drive.... But supposedly it's pretty good in light SE to S ?

MarkC

[DanTuck]

I've never flown Jack's and I'd like to. I'd give it a try with you.

[Batman]

Jack's was my second mountain flight and haven't flown since. I'd love to fly it again, but I don't think I can fit the 3 1/2 hour drive in to my schedule tomorrow.

[markc]

No way is that drive 3.5 hours! (at least, not from the top side of the beltway).

Maybe 2.5+ hours from the Rockville area, AFAICR. You go to McConnellsburg,
and then head north on 522 to just shy of McVeytown. It's a bit of a haul, but
no worse than the Sac, that's for sure!

Dan, give me a call tomorrow AM.

MarkC

[Luis]

I will like to join you guys tomorow

I have all my stuff ready!

[markc]

Jack's it is! Dropping off some stuff for the Kite Festival, then hitting
the road, ETA around 1:30pm.

MarkC

[Ward Odenwald]

Luis, Mauricio and I were the only ones to fly at Highland today. Conditions were OK but not up to last Saturday's standards. As the photos show, there was little or no cloud development (check out the puddles/lakes). I took the first tow from Zac up to 2,500 at 12:30 and found only two thermals that produced small gains (the first was just south of the field and the second was north of it) and managed to stay up for 20 minutes. Mauricio and Luis flew ~ an hour later and had longer flights.

[Ward Odenwald]

Two more pics of from my flight at Ridgely

[DanTuck]

Folks from far and wide showed up at Jack's yesterday. Mark and I met up at the Pulpit and caravanned the extra hour North to Jack's arriving at about 1:30. To our surprise there were 10 other pilots there from the Hyner and Pittsburg Crews along with a bunch of spectators. A high cirrus layer was threatening to shut things down and it didn't really look soarable when we got there. But pretty soon Dave launched and proved us wrong by getting above the ridge although he did have to work for it. I guess Jack's is so steep it doesn't take much wind to get enough lift to soar. Soon he found a thermal and became a speck so the lemmings rushed to follow. I got off around 3:00 and it was easy flying, the ridge was working and the thermals were plentiful. Get high and cold, come down and warm up, lather, rinse, repeat. I flew until my hands wouldn't warm up anymore and headed out to land. I boated around in net-zero sink at 1K AGL over the field for 10 minutes before finding some decent sink to core. Finally I touched down with a nice flare at 5:00 for 2 hours in the air, topping out at 2,300' over. As I finished breaking down Pete L. and Pat H. landed with everyone thinking they were the last to land. Then they realized Mark was nowhere to be found. "Does he have a cell phone? A radio? We have to find Mark!" LOL!! You guys don't know Mark very well do you?! Another 15 minutes later here comes Mark cruising back up the ridge from the North, then nailing the landing. Awesome day! There's nothing better than getting a great flight at a new (to you) site. Video later.

PS- That makes 3 flights for me in 8 days!

[markc]

Isn't there a USHPA rule? Last in the air, last to land, right?

I'd almost forgotten how nice Jack's is.... You've got miles and miles of ridge to cruise, with beautiful
valley views on either side. Landing options are everywhere: If you get low in an area of trees, diving
OTB to an LZ is doable at almost every point along the way. Rock piles and ledges provide reliable
sources of lift, the entire length of the mountain. I've really got to get up there more often!

Some of the others there: Bob Beck and his wife Cookie (big thanks to her for helping wire me
off!); Karen and Joe Gorrie; Paul (of Paul & Deborah, Pittsburgh); Shawn McDuff. Was great to
see pilots from so many areas.

I landed a little after six, for about 1.5 hours of airtime. My best was 2155' over launch, about halfway
to the gap at Yeagertown (Rt. 322). No luck jumping it, but did have some fun thermalling on the
leeside above a huge rock-strewn slope, watching the traffic on the road and on the river.

The cirrus cleared out by the end of the day, and conditions went magic. Could have stayed up
until sunset, but decked it because I was cold. Great fun! SE@5-10 forecast? Go to Jack's, it's only
an hour past the Pulpit.

MarkC

[Batman]

Wish I could of joined you guys. How long was it from the top of the beltway? I remember 3+ hours from Alexandria, but its been a long time since I flew Jack's. I'm also a big panzy that rarely flies below 50 degrees Soon ....

[XCanytime]

Pretty easy. Add 1:15 to however long it takes you to get to the Pulpit. Bacil

[Batman]

That would be right about 3:15 - 3:20 then for me because it takes right about 2 - 2:15 for me to Pulpit depending on traffic on Beltway and I-270. I thought it was about 3 to 3 1/2 the couple times that I went.

[DanTuck]

[Luis]

Anyone has an address to the take off ramp to be used to get there using a GPS?

[markc]

I don't have coordinates, but it's really easy to get there Luis.

Search for :

Jacks Mountain Rd, McVeytown, Mifflin, Pennsylvania 17051

in Google Maps, and then switch to terrain or satellite view.

Basically, take Rt 30 West past The Pulpit, then Rt 522 North,
then turn left on Jack's Mtn. Road.

Launch is located where Jacks Mtn Road crests the top of
the ridge.

MarkC

[Luis]

Thanks Mark

Luis

[brianvh]

The must common response of befuddled first time pilots when they get to Jack's is "where's the launch?". You'll see a long parking area on one side of the top of the mountain with some kind of monument at the end, and a smaller parking area on the other side with a guard rail. You step over the guard rail and you're on launch.

If there's any appreciable wind do not attempt to launch without wire crew. A six inch slip of the feet and you are committed, ready or not.