Tater Hill

[MikeB]

Hi all
I'm a P4 now living in Hedgesville, WV. Had family here so I couldn't make the Pulpit Fly-in / meeting last week.
I'm signed up for the Tater Hill Open HG/PG Competition near Boone, NC, July 31st-August 6th
Has anyone here gone down? I'm new to comps. ((http://www.flytaterhill.com/))
It's easier for me to fly during the week or in Mexico <g> so I haven't met many folks here.
Cheers
Mike

[mingram]

Welcome Mike! Hedgesville is really close to the Pulpit! How'd you end up there?

I'm hoping to make it to the Tater Hill Open this year. I'm new to comps too. I've never been, but have heard good things.

We have a couple PG pilots that sometimes fly during the week. I'll ask them to post their flight intentions here and hopefully you can meet the crew.

Matt Ingram - P3

[MikeB]

Hi Matt
If you're interested in sharing a cabin, let me know.
Thanks
Mike

[tetzen]

Hi Mike & Matt,

I went to Tater last year, and I have to say it's a blast. Although it was my first comp and I have nothing to compare it to, it was really fun to say the least. On top of the fun I also did a lot of flying and a good bit of XC.

The atmosphere is really relaxed so you won't feel a whole lot of pressure to perform, and it's more of a learning environment instead. There were a few times where I was neck and neck with people on glide to the next turnpoint, and I even made goal twice in the week! The courses are easy enough that you should be able to make goal at least once which is very satisfying to say the least.

Hope to see you all there!

Rich G.
P-3
Skywackers

[MikeB]

Where are you staying? Three pilots sharing a cabin rental would be less than the weekly rate at the Mountain City Motel

[Roger]

I just heard from Bubba that Mike Barber (unofficial world record holder for the longest flex wing flight), will be making a stop by during the Tater Hill Fly In. For those that don't know what Mike does, he is a cross country instructor (among many, many other things). I can't speak of his paragliding abilities, but I can say that he is an excellent instructor. I have attended the last two TTT Team Challenges and he was present for both. He gave MANY hours of his time doing cross country seminars for us wanna-be's. I can't express how much this guy has to offer to even the most experienced cross country pilot. And most, if not all that is in his seminars applies to paragliding too.

[mingram]

Looks like I'm going to make it. I still haven't registered, but trying to get that ball rolling. Mike, I'm going to need Wifi. I don't suppose the cabins include that do they? Do you have a website?

Matt

[MikeB]

I talked to one of the cabin rental agents and WiFi is not common. I need it too so may end up in Motel. I don't know about WiFi in campgrounds. I'm asking.
I don't have a www object!

[Dan T]

I'm going. My wife and I are staying at the New River State Park. It's about 40 minutes from Boone. I've been there before it's a nice campsite and I think they have WIFI access in the visitor center. Not sure of that though.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all there.

Dan T

[Dan T]

I've flown Boone but never the Tater Hill open. It's a great site, an easy launch by our CHGPA standards. It should be a load of fun. Bubba is a great guy and Mike Barber is going to provide some tips that will benefit any pilot regardless of the wing they fly.

Dan

[MikeB]

I've had no response about cabin rentals. The VanderPool campground has Wifi and is 4 mi S from the LZ/HQ.
See y'all from above
Mike

[mingram]

Arrived at Tater LZ on Saturday at 3PM - beautiful cumulus sky and gliders at cloudbase. Earlier birds even got some XC on this practice day. After registering for the comp and getting my GPS firmware updated along with waypoints downloaded for me, I got a ride to top. What a sweet launch! I took off at 5PM in smooth air. There was a huge cu-nimb raining to our South, but it stayed stationary and didn't pose a problem. I boated around with 13 other PGs and 2 HGs for 2 hours, max 1000 over in nice smooth thermals. At the sound of thunder we called it quits. What a great start!

Sunday was the official start. I learned how to enter my first route in my GPS and flew my first task! It was two triangles in the valley to keep people local because we knew storms were on the way. Most people could not finish the task. I managed to fly half of it at least. I love hearing the sound my GPS makes when you tag a turnpoint. It's like winning money in a video game.

High pressure the next few days so we're all excited for big tasks.

Matt

[jyoder111]

Great job Matt! Thanks for the report. Let us know how it goes. good luck

[sailin]

Way to go Matt!!, sounds like a wonderful time and good experience!!! Keep us posted!!

[deveil]

yeah, keep the postcards coming.

[mingram]

Great day at Tater... for most. Some flew to cloudbase to 9000 ft and made goal. I didn't fare so well. I series of bad decisions accumulated today.

It was over the back until some weak cycles started to blow at 3pm. Forward launching for most. I had a blown forward launch and landed on my shoulder due to bad wing loading and not enough energy in my run. A hang glider also blew a launch before me, but he was fine too. My second forward had much more energy and was good.

I connected with lift to the south away from the first turnpoint and decided to leave the lift to get back on course, thinking I could connect in the valley. I ended up low over a christmas tree farm headed toward the main LZ. I found some lift a few hundred feet over the tree line and tried to work it. My glider started pitching in front of me. I tried to keep it overhead instead of letting it fly and swinging underneath it and managing the energy. I was using a lot of brake on and ended up in a parachutal stall. My wing was mostly over my head, but I was falling fast. I landed partially on my feet, but mostly on my airbag. The landing was hard, but I felt ok. Overall I was extremely lucky. I nearly clipped a power line that I hadn't seen below me. My GPS shows I was 300 over when the problem started. Definitely too close to the ground to be scratching for lift. Especially since I didn't know there was a powerline below me. My wing was still overhead and I was fighting to keep it inflated so didn't even think about throwing my reserve. I won't be as aggressive next time - I'm just going to head for the LZ and consider the flight toast if I'm that close to the ground. I also should have let the glider fly instead of braking so much at the beginning. Maybe I could have used the energy to swing out of trouble. Anyone else have thoughts?

Back at the landing zone I decided I was ok and decided to shake off the bad flight by trying again. The second flight had a good launch and landing in the LZ, but I managed to lose my keys and iphone. I was in a rush to launch a second time and forgot to zip my pockets. I should have left the keys with my car. Bad decisions all day. Luckily the people here are great. Some pilots staying in my hotel took me to dinner and back to the hotel. I'll try to find my keys and phone tomorrow, but I'm not hopeful. Might as well enjoy the fantastic weather here at Tater Hill. Hoping for better decisions tomorrow.

Pics of the crash landing
The camera was taking a picture every 2 seconds. It looks like the 4th picture I start to get in trouble and 11 pictures later I'm on the ground - 22 seconds. My vario confirms something similar. It also shows -6 m/s down (-20 ft/sec or -1200 ft/min). I felt almost like a 20 foot fall save for the airbag.

Matt

[deveil]

Arrrgh (expletives deleted)

[deveil]

keys, major bummer. rent a metal detector?

[deveil]

phone - borrow someone's and call your number while you're searching? are you going to be stranded down there?

[Ward Odenwald]

Matt, that is an amazing photo! I didn’t realize just how close you were to the power line until I enlarged it. Flying only HGs, all I know about PG safety comes from what I can glean from various accident reports (both local and in the USHGPA rag) plus write-ups about the recent deaths at the worlds. So my naïve ? is: Is there a link between the newer PGs and wing instability in turbulent air? It also sounds like you experienced a similar control problem “My glider started pitching in front of me “ that triggered what happened to Hugh this Spring. Is the "pitching forward" issue related to the newer models or common to all PGs? Ward

[Ward Odenwald]

Photo Caption Contest for Matt’s Insane Pic:

First entry:

Wow! My new Lazy-Boy 3D Surround-Sound Recliner is AWESOME!

Second entry: ?

[Danny Brotto]

"Confidence is that supreme feeling you get right before it all goes to hell".

Danny Brotto

[mingram]

Ward, all PG wings pitch around in turbulence. They pitch backwards when they hit lift and they pitch forward again to regain air speed. Think of a weak link break on tow close to the ground. With good brake pressure you can feel this happen and anticipate the surge to prevent it. Normally it's easy to manage, because lift isn't usually that strong close to the ground. I was insanely lucky. At that altitude my only concern should have been where I was going to land. I was forcing myself back into lift too aggressively. When my glider surged forward aggressively I held on to the brakes which stalled the wing, rather than dampening the surge and then letting it fly again. There's just not enough room for error if you're trying to punch back into strong lift close to the ground.

Matt

[mingram]

GOALLLLLLLLLLLL! I made goal for the first time ever! I'm so lucky I got the chance to learn from my mistakes from yesterday. More luck came my way this morning when a pilot walking up the road to launch found my keys! Still no iPhone, but a spare should arrive tomorrow.

Conditions at Tater Hill have been sweet. I love this place and will definitely be coming back for more next year.

Today looked like a ridge soaring day with high cirrus and strong cross wind, but the valley heated up by 3pm and started to block out the prevailing wind. It turned on for 4+ hours of magic flying. I was ready today after missing the good launch window yesterday. I had my gear ready to go before the task was called. Once it was called I slipped back into my harness and was the 3rd person to launch, even though the start window didn't open until 15 minutes later. I was up above everyone before I knew it which made things a lot easier. I got to 7000 feet, but never quite got to cloudbase. The Cat 1 task was 11k, Cat 2 was 23k which turned out to be short tasks for the conditions, but big smiles all around as most people were able to make goal. This built everyone's confidence and will allow the task committee to make things more challenging tomorrow.

The difference today started with a seminar by hang gliding champ Mike Barber. He talked about lift lines and always keeping awareness of your surroundings and altering your course slightly when you're in sink to find better lift lines. It made a lot of sense to a lot of people. I made sure I topped out in lift every chance I could.

The biggest mistake I made today was not going back up for a second flight. It was magic until 7pm. I hope we get more tomorrow.

https://picasaweb.google.com/mattyingra ... 9844064258

Matt

[Ward Odenwald]

Thanks Matt, but now I'm confused - most likely because I did not clearly state my question. Of course, all airfoils respond to turbulence by changing their angle of attack/pitching or rolling, but in your case the wing apparently pitched and then changed its behavior transforming it into what you call a "parachutal". Breaking a weak link on tow just after takeoff with a HG has nothing to do with your situation in that there is no pitch change. When it happens, the only thing that changes is that the glider's airspeed drops significantly and pulling in takes care of that. So now I have several questions: what is a parchutal and how does that differ from a paraglider? No pun or play on words intended. What happened to the shape of your wing? My second question which, based on your response, I hope is more to the point: Are the new generation paragliders more unstable in turbulent conditions and are they more prone to "parachutal' malformations. Ward