Highland : Sat Sept 11

[markc]

I headed out to Highland Aerosports today, given that it looked like the clouds would be moving
in later the further east you went, and given that Dr. Jack's forecast forecast for the Eastern
Shore looked pretty strong.

There were a bunch of pilots, including Kirk, Christian, Bob, Ward, Greg, Carlos, Steve K, myself,
Tom Low (visiting pilot from CA, but without glider) and many more. I thought it was a pretty weird
day, with rowdy tows and unpredictable drift aloft. On my first flight, I released from the tug after we
hit a boomer thermal which was kicking both my a$$ and Zac's, but once off I floundered down to
700 AGL before finding something that got me back up to 2k AGL. Then I made a mistake and
went west, with two gliders back over the airport in something. DOH! By the time I realized
my mistake and headed back it was too late, and I was on the ground after 20 minutes or so.

Marched right back and got in the flight line for another go, and the second tow was a bit less crazy.
But still, I was down to 1100 AGL before I finally found something, and I had to work 150-200 fpm
*forever*. Things finally started to coalesce at 3k, and I topped out at slightly over 4k MSL.

Conditions then improved dramatically, and it became a day where you could fly anywhere around the
airport and find lift. Thermaled with the tandem a couple of times, and with John Simon and Bob (I think).
My best climb was to 4905 AGL, where it was *chilly* (just a T-shirt and bar mitts). I got cold and
decided to put it down around 4:30... But that was easier said than done with lift everywhere you flew!
I finally found some sink west of the airport and spiraled down, landing to the southeast.

Steve and Carlos and I were kind of looking at ourselves sheepishly, out once again for some airtime
just two days after that great Woodstock Thursday. But hey, it's fall, conditions are good, gotta take
advantage when and where you can!

Simon mentioned that he was shooting some video, so maybe we'll get to see some of it later.

Cheers,

MarkC

[g.sessa]

I experienced a great day flying at Highland over the weekend. I arrived on Sat. around 11 am and began setting up along side of Ward. Conditions were a bit light on the ground and much different that I expected based on forecasts. Shortly after setting up, the cummi's started moving in, and Sunny mentioned there was no need to wait as thermal conditions were looking good. I suited up and took off just before noon. The tow was definitely a bit tricky or rather rowdy as Mark stated. I unhooked at 2,500 feet and flew steady without loosing or gaining much altitude for about 10 minutes. I then hooked into a good thermal on the north east side of the runway. This took me up to just over 4,800 feet (a personal best with altitude). As my hands started to get cold, I decided to move on in hopes of warming up, but also in hopes of catching another good thermal. My plan worked, although not before making me nervous that I would be landing sooner than expected. I traveled towards the south west side of the runway loosing altitude all the way down to below 2,000 feet. I was thinking about having to land as my vario was making nothing but depressing sounds as I kept sinking. I then found another great thermal and took this one all the way back up to just over 4,800 feet. I moved on a bit further west and found myself descending again. At this point I figured I would have some fun practicing stalls before heading in to land. I had a good solid landing after a little over an hour flying (another personal best for longest flight at Highland). All in all a great day!

[kraine]

Wow, sounds like you all had a fun day. I wish I could've been there to do crew and be jealous of everyone flying. Haha. Unfortunately I'm doing the whole school thing, but I'll try to make it out for my break in October. Congrats on breaking the PR's!

I try to make up for my lack of flying with other outdoorsy activities like kayaking and cliff diving, but they just aren't the same. Hopefully I'll see you all soon.

[John Simon]

Cliff diving! Yikes... better stick to hang gliding. Safer. Hope to see you soon at Highland.


John

[brianvh]

Hang gliding IS cliff diving, at least if you fly the mountains.

[John Simon]

Yeah,
it's been a while. Heading to Lookout in Oct possibly. But NO Cliff Diving! Just some foot launch stuff, the diving thing scares me and I don't swim well...


John

[Flying Lobster]

Yeah,
it's been a while. Heading to Lookout in Oct possibly. But NO Cliff Diving! Just some foot launch stuff, the diving thing scares me and I don't swim well...


John

Uhhhh..pretty much all our sites down here are cliff dives! : ) Look me up when ya get here--BTW the Halloween party at LMFP is a ton of fun.

marc

[Pete Schumann]

Finkster call me on my cell, I lost your cell and home number when my cell phone crashed.

Pete