March 1st

[mcelrah]

OK you dazzled me into it!
Jon and I have agreed to be loaded, make a last confirmation c. 0930, be at Pulpit 1230.
Chris, Peter, Ward, Daniel, others, please announce your intentions.
- Hugh

[cthornberger]

I will be there in the flesh. ETA 1200 @ LZ

[pch]

Ok Hugh, here's my intention; if UPS delivers the new wing by 1130 I can be there by 1300. If not, I have to bail. I'll call you either way to update by 1130.

[sailin]

Arrived at Pulpit launch at 1230 to find Hugh already there. Conditions were pretty nice when I arrived...NW at 9-10mph (Hugh had a Hall wind speed indicator). There were several birds cruising back and forth past launch....not high...but not flapping wings either Would have been ideal conditions if I could have arrived by 1100
I raced to set up as I didn't know how long I had before the forecasted switch to light and southwest prevailed. about 40 minutes later I was up on the more north facing ramp (the left one) and launching into a WNW cycle at about 6mph. Ridge lift was pretty light and after a few minutes making passes back and forth in front of launch I couldn't really find my way up with it. I ended up resigning to my fate of an extended sled run...which I was going to be extremely stoked with because it was a beautiful day and I was flying!!! I headed out toward the secondary LZ and just before I reached it I felt a wing tip lift and turned into it. My vario started singing and I was going up!! I kept thermaling and ended up getting 1000' over launch. With my new found altitude I cruised back toward the ridge and headed southwest a bit, where I found a little more ridge lift and some other thermal activity that I was able to work for a while. After close to 30 minutes I wasn't able to find anymore sustainable ridge lift or hook any more thermals so I headed over to land in the primary. Although there was still a bit of a north cross around 800' agl the wind direction in the LZ had switched to a very light WSW. Shamefully I did't pick up on this in time,and ended up landing in a light cross/downwind Good thing I had my laces tied tight and ready for running becasue I needed it. I ended up running it out about 10 or so steps
Chris H. and Hugh also had nice flights...I'll let them give their flight reports...
Congrats to Chris on his first Pulpit flight!!! Way to go man!!
We finished off the day with a well deserved pitcher of Yengling and a chicken sandwich at the Mountain House Bar and Restaurant.
Big thanks to Hugh for coming out and observing....even if the weather wasn't looking perfect. Thanks man!! It wasn't the best flying day of the year, but I had a REALLY fun soaring flight, and it was an all around beautiful day in the mountains !!

Hope to fly with you all soon,
Jon

[mcelrah]

CONGRATULATIONS, Jon, on a superb soaring flight! That Pete Lehman vario still has the mojo!
Chris bagged his second mountain flight and another new site intro in the space of four days. And he flew a good approach to a perfect landing. And the flying was nothing compared to the drama with his glider earlier (stay tuned!).
I sledded on PG.
-Hugh

[cthornberger]

So the biggest scare of the day happened far before I even stepped onto the ramp at the Pulpit.
After taking Monday night to get everything ready and glider on the car for Tuesday flying I went in for bed around 12. Time came to head out to the Pulpit around 9, so I grabbed the gear and stepped out to find the straps (usually) securing the glider - cut, and the glider - nowhere in sight . My heart sank to a strange low as I called Hugh and told him I wasn't going to be able to make it today, then started filing the police report (lame).
Near finishing this ordeal, one of the neighbors came up and said he saw the glider ...around the corner (Heart rose a little...a LOT). I went over to check it out. To my disbelief ... there appeared to be no damage (at least, not physical ). The battens were moved and the bag - unzipped, but that was ALL.
We did a thorough check at launch to make sure there was nothing to note, and all was good. Quite the emotional roller-coaster. Lesson learned
So...
Arrived only a couple hours behind - around 1:30PM and set up after walking the LZs with Hugh. Had a good launch into light winds expecting a sledder... and got a great sledder. Headed down the ridge a little and then out to the secondary. I did encounter a bump or two, tried turning in one of the moments of lift. I only did one of those, because I'm still getting used to judging altitude -especially after doing 180 and 360 turns. I'll play around some other day.
The approach to launch was at a good altitude, so I came in and did a DBF - solid. Got the landing gear down as well for a no-step into the wind -a bit WSW at that point.
Next order of business -- zipping up

Video coming very soon.

Thanks, Hugh again for the help! Wouldn't have been out there (flying) without it. Jon, it was great flying with you as well!

-Chris Hornberger

[cthornberger]

[Danny Brotto]

Cool video, thanks... but why is your streamer on your side flying wire?

Danny Brotto

[uplandann]

Sorry about that scare with your glider, glad it turned out okay. How long was your flight? I noticed you edited a couple of times. Congrats, by the way!

Ann

[markc]

Hi Chris,

I can only imagine what you must have felt, walking out the door and seeing that your glider was gone! I'm really glad that you found it, undamaged, and that you were still able to fly that day!

(And whoa! Talk about a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach!!!)

Your approach seemed pretty good to me based on the video, and given that it was only your second approach at a mountain site... However, you put it down pretty close to the crest in the LZ, which doesn't leave much margin for error. Given that you are flying a Falcon, you might want to use this flight as a 'reference point', and try to run your next approach such that you are on the ground a bit earlier.

That skill will definitely be valuable in the future, as you move up to higher-perf wings.

Cheers!

MarkC

[cthornberger]

Thanks, Mark. I'll definitely try to tune up the landings in the future to take that into account more. I'm very happy with the falcon down button for now, but that is a good time to build good habits.

[flying_story]

To the videophiles in the group

What kind of video cameras are you using? Have you found some to be better than others? I'm needing a quick education.

Thanks,
Judy

[cthornberger]

I've just been using some not-too-bad, small Panasonic camera. I secure it to the keel (for now) with a mini-tripod -- picked it up at REI. Really, nothing too special.
I would like to get one of the GoPro cameras, as those have mondo storage (Jon has one)

[mingram]

Hi Judy! I'm using the GoPro HD Helmet Hero cam. It has a wide angle lens and a rechargeable battery. It uses SD cards and can hold up to 32GB of data. Depending on your setting that's 4 to 8 hours of video, but the battery only lasts for 2 hours. It can shoot video in full HD (1080p) or you can set it to take a picture every 2, 5, 10, 30 seconds. It automatically chooses the exposure and works really well in varying light. It's also waterproof! Movie files are stored in mp4 format. You can view the movies directly from the camera using USB on your computer or by hooking it up to your TV.

Matt