This Weekend

[jyoder111]

Friday I headed up to the Pulpit to meet Bacil around noon. It was blowing hard, but the two of us managed to launch him and he flew for a while in bumpy air and landed in the golf course beyond the LZ. Back at launch we waiting and Bacil imparted some sage advice. Around 5pm it started to back down and I launched at 5:45pm into the calmest, most buoyant air I've every flown! I popped up to about 800ft over the ridge and sailed back and forth for 45 minutes with my hands hardly on the control frame. I could have been "sipping lemonade," as Bacil said later. I landed as it was getting dark and we celebrated with beers and dinner at the biker bar up top.
Bacil mentioned some more pilots were coming out Saturday(today), so I decided on a whim to sleep in my car and test my luck again the next day. Coincidentally, Chris H, one of Richard Hays' students, also spent the night in his car at launch. I hadn't planned on spending the night and had no sleeping bag or blanket. The night was cold and aweful. In the morning we headed into town for breakfast and went out to Kirshners for some training hill flights. I headed back to the Pulpit around noon. A large group had showed up and I got another smooth soaring flight with John Dullahan observing. I had fun testing the thermals in front of the ridge and as a result never made it very high above, sinking out after 45(?) minutes, but it ended with a good landing.

Thanks to Bacil and John D for observing, and John and Amy for the ride back up today. I had a great weekend! After Friday evening's glass-off, I have something new to look forward to and hope for. So much better than the nausea-inducing rollercoaster flights in choppy midday air that I've had recently.

Jesse Yoder

[bustedwing2]

The flying was better than expected,my launch wasn't so wonderful but the airtime was,got up,got down got up got down got up,lots of gliders were way up,my best was 2k above launch,chilly but easily bearable in a t shirt.Oh wow look at those lennies,cool!,oh wow see how far I stuff the bar to penetrate,hmmmm maybe I better head for the lz. Just checked the weather,WEST at 8 from 2-5pm sunday,any takers? It was a really nice day with lots of good flights and good company.Life is good. RichB

[bustedwing2]

Thanks for throwing me off John. RichB

[markc]

Just checked the weather,WEST at 8 from 2-5pm sunday,any takers?

Tomorrow might be a tough one to call: SW->W for Pulpit and Woodstock, with strong
winds to the north and lighter winds to the south. The forecast at 3k is really strong at
the moment, and NWS is saying:

PAZ034>036-100830-
BEDFORD-FULTON-FRANKLIN-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...BEDFORD...MCCONNELLSBURG...CHAMBERSBURG
1004 PM EDT SAT OCT 9 2010

SUNDAY
SUNNY. JUST A SLIGHT CHANCE OF A SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM
IN THE AFTERNOON. WARM WITH HIGHS IN THE MID 70S. SOUTHWEST WINDS
AROUND 10 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH. CHANCE OF RAIN 20 PERCENT.

At the same time, the forecast for Highland is NE@5 becoming S, and the
hourly is saying SSW@7-9 between 1pm and 5pm.

Go figure! Who knows what it's going to be....

MarkC

[Dan T]

It looks like a Daniels day to me.

Great flying with all you guys yesterday. Congratulations to everyone.

Richard Hayes, I watched your student Chris fly at Kirshners. He looked real solid the two times I saw him fly.

Dan

[uplandann]

If anyone is going to Daniels, I would like to go out too, just to check it out and watch someone launch...
It is out near Standardsville I think, right?

Ann

[carweill]

Daniels (close to Stanardsville) seems to be the best choice.

I just don't fly there enough to know how a W-SW forecast works there.

I'll catch up on home projects today

Carlos

[mcelrah]

Carlos and Ann,

Talk to Ellis and Dan Tomlinson - looks like the paraglider group is headed to Daniel's today, Sunday. Ann I will call/PM with ellis' contact info.

- Hugh

[DanTuck]

Great day yesterday. I'm sure I'll miss someone but I'll give it a shot. Flying HG - Ward, Mark C, Mark Gardner, John D, Carlos, Greg, Jon B, Jesse, Rich B, and me. Flying PG late in the day - Dan To, David O'Neil, Conrad (sp?), and Ellis. Amy was also there helping out all day and Chris T was up at Kirchner's pumping out 12 flights from the hills. A PG pilot from Serbia named Vuk stopped by with his wife to check out the flying action. It was too strong to fly when he was there but hopefully we'll see him again soon in the air. When I got there Ward was already flying so I set up pretty quick. Winds on launch were not bad at all ranging from 8-15 mph. Others launched and everyone stuck but no one seemed to be getting very high plus it was kind of early so I waited a bit. About 2:00 my impatience got the best of me so I got ready to launch. By then winds had increased a little with the occasional 20 mph gust. I got off in a lull and quickly beamed up to 2K+ over and could have headed East. But it was only 10 minutes into my flight so I went back out front all the way over McConnellsburg, finding good lift all over the valley. Went back to the ridge and cruised around with lots of birds. At one point a red-tail hawk and I were on a collision course. I saw him but he was hunting and looking down. At the last second he saw me and dove away right in front of my face. Pretty cool. Later I caught up with another red-tail and gave him my best chase yet. I was right on his 6 o'clock for close to a minute. He's pretty small in the video because of the wide angle lens but I'll post it later anyway. Near the end of my flight, at about 300' over, I chased a third one who led me to a great thermal that got me back up. Finally I was beat and went out to land. There were bubbles all over the field and I got popped as I turned onto final. So I overshot the crest and ended up landing on the downhill part. Oh well, just less of a walk to break down. Mark, Mark, and John D all eventually went OTB as did Ward a little earlier. After retrievals, dinner in Mercersburg topped the day off. Shoulda been there.

[mcelrah]

Valerie wrote up Friday's activities pretty well. I would just like to reiterate thanks for Gary Devan's indispensable help with tandeming. We had to re-rig hangstraps to accommodate the new knee-hanger I am wearing (actually Bunkhouse Bob's old kneehanger) which works out to be more comfortable for both pilot and passenger while climbing those ~!@#$% deteriorated steps up to the cube (when, oh when will we get that new ramp?!). Only problem is the dirt grabbing the reserve handle as I belly in. Took it back to Sunny at Highland to have a flap sewn over the handle that I can still grab under in a hurry if needed.

It was a pleasure to fly with Ann-Marie again. Her enthusiasm is really infectious. The new hang-strap rig made it easier for her to control the glider briefly - if we ever get a real soaring tandem flight, we'd both be comfortable with her doing turns, 360s at altitude etc.

Four more tandem flights to go with rated pilots for the 25 I need for T3. I'm gonna stick with High Rock and Hyner for now since they are established tandem sites with friendly LZs and easy launches when encumbered with a heavy glider and a passenger. I think Pulpit might have potential, but I'm too new at the tandem game to be pioneering anything.

It was a great satisfaction to observe Valerie, whose launch was good and balanced. She shows signs of "iron teeth" - does not give up easily when working lift! Danny reported she was good to fly with on the ridge, head on a swivel, aggressive but safe.

What a great Indian summer weekend! - Hugh

[John Dullahan]

Arrived at the Pulpit just before noon and found "wall to wall gliders," making it look like a fly-in! Wind was mostly straight in, with an occasional north cross, at about 8 - 10 MPH. Walked both LZs with John Brantley and his girlfriend Amy, who is waiting for delivery of her new Falcon from John Middleton. Went back to Launch and observed Jon, Jessie Yoder, and Later Rich B. launch. Then launched just before Mark Gardner. Was at about 1,000/1,200 for about 30 minutes before getting to around 4,500 MSL and drifted over the back with it. Mark Gardner and Mark Kavanah came later, as we worked our way in a couple of nice thermals and light lift across the valley. Thought I would deck it before 81 but found another thermal just before Greencastle to eventually make it to Waynesboro for 22 miles. About 15 minutes later Mark K. joined me in the same field next to route 16. Friendly Mennonite folk stopped by to ask about hang gliding and our flight. Mark G. made it to Emma Jane's (High Rock LZ), for about 26 miles, giving him the flight of the day. Ellis and her bagwing contingent joined us for dinner at a classy joint in Mercersburg (12 of us took over the place until closing). It was fun to share the enthusiasm of the new H2s, and a great day to be in the air in Pennsylvania.

[DanTuck]

Here's a couple shots of Ellis.

[sailin]

It was a great day yesterday at the Puplit with a HUGE turnout of pilots! I got to meet several new people and everyone was very friendly and helpful.
I arrived at about 1145 to find one glider already flying overhead and several others being setup. I got my Falcon off the car and got to work getting it ready to fly. John Dullahan, who graciously agreed to observe again, showed up a few minutes later and begin to set his wing up as well. Jesse was ready to launch shortly after and as John D observed I helped with wire crewing. After we were done with set up, John D., Amy and I headed down to the LZ's to drop Carlos's vehicle and do a walk thru of both the secondary and primary LZ's. We arrived in perfect time to give Jesse, who had a nice flight, back up to launch.
It seemed by the time we got back up to launch things had ramped up a bit but there was still very nice launch cycles. A few more pilots launched and then I was up. Ready for my first Pulpit flight!! I have to tell you that I had been thinking about this moment for sometime after John Middleton had brought Amy and I by here one evening after a training hill day at Kirschners. I could remember that night looking out at the valley from the ramp with major excitement that "one day" I would be flying from here..........and here I was
It was blowing strong enough and straight in enough to launch off the gravel ramp so I moved up there with help from an awesome wire crew of John D., Jesse, Mark (from Cumberland), Amy and Rich B.. The gravel felt a little shifty under my feet so I cleared out a small little circle that I could stand in and get a feel for what the glider was doing. A good cycle came and I was off, running down the ramp, chest forward running hard and......and I am still running...why am I not in the air yet? ......still running.....small bush by my feet.....okay I am going to push out a little bit to get this wing in the air!! .....okay now I am flying Apparently I over compensated for not letting my nose pop and kept the bar in a little to much, a little to long, not letting the wing fly early enough. Once I eased the bar out a bit I had plenty of airspeed and she took right off Thank you again John D. for observing!!!!
I started going up a little right away and headed down the ridge a little bit toward the primary LZ. I can tell you being a new pilot and this being my first flight here, that the primary LZ looks a VERY LONG way away.....its intimidating. I wasn't ready to commit to making it there until I had lots of altitude so I headed back toward the launch ramp and climbed steadily. I soared the ridge in great lift from launch ramp down to where the Primary LZ would imaginarily intersect the ridge. After a while I was starting to feel a little fatigued so I decided that after all the bumps I had hit over the Woodstock LZ a few days earlier, that I should probably have plenty of energy for this approach......sure glad I did because I needed it! As I headed to the LZ over I found nothing but lift !! Seemed like everywhere I flew I was going up. The primary LZ was one big thermal!!! I ended up doing several spiral dive turns just to get down through it. It was a pretty bumpy ride all the way in. There was a definite north cross and so I set up my pattern accordingly. I came in with lots of speed , rode some ground effect for a while, and ended up going over the crest of the LZ and landing a little bit downhill. I landed on my feet but had to run it out several steps. What a ride down! What a beautiful site the Pulpit is.... I can't wait to fly it again!! All in all my flight time was around 40 minutes and I got a couple thousand feet over launch. Carlos and Greg Sessa were in the LZ and breaking down so I joined them. After a little while Rich B and Dan Tuck landed. Amy kindly came down and picked myself and Rich B up, and Carlos, Greg and Dan headed up in Carlos car. Dan, Amy and I hung out back at launch and watched several PG's launch and get some nice flights in. It was a cool sunset! Those pictures Dan Tuck took of Ellis are amazing!!! We dropped Ellis's truck down in the LZ and gave a ride back up to Conrad, a new PG pilot from South Africa, that had just flown. We came back to the launch area to find a great group (including all the guys that had gone over the back) drinking some beers and telling stories. A few seconds later we were drinking beers and telling stories as well As Dan Tuck said, a huge group of us headed down the mountain and took over a restaurant and had a nice fancy meal. Sitting around the table with all the other fellow pilots was an awesome ending to an outstanding day.
It was great flying, talking and laughing with you all......GOOD TIMES!!!
By the time we got home it was well after midnight and I was TIRED!!!! Amy and I had planned to go to Highland today to do some towing but sleeping in and being a bit lazy won over in the end........Highland tomorrow for us
Can't wait to fly with you all again.......heading to Highland tomorrow

Jon

[Dave Proctor]

Congratulations Jon on your first Pulpit flight. It is indeed a special site. Also big congratulations to the OTB crew: JohnD, MarkC, and Gardinator. Sorry I couldn't join you. Too many house projects...yeah...I know...lame excuse. Maybe next time. Dan...shoulda gone...again...We gotta have a talk son.....

DaveP

[DanTuck]

owned.

[Ward Odenwald]

Here are some pics of my XC to Clear Springs MD starting with the thermal that took me OTB (~1 hr 40 min into the flight). Highest gain was to 4,800MSL just after crossing the ridges.

[Ward Odenwald]

Next set of five.

[Ward Odenwald]

3rd set.

[Ward Odenwald]

Last set.

[DanTuck]

Nice pics Ward! Here's some video from the day. The hawks end up real small after compression by Vimeo. If you have a decent internet connection, download the video to your computer and watch. It looks much better.

[brianvh]

Reading this and pining for the south vicariously. It hurts to be up in New York and miss so many new pilots flying the sites I love.

I just wanted to suggest to Jesse and Chris: why not do what I do and keep a small tent, pad, sleeping bag and jug of water in the trunk permanently? What else are you gonna use that empty space for? If you don't want to leave the good stuff in the car just go to kmart and be outfitted for $75 total.