Pulpit Sunday 9/23

[Lostgriz]

Wow, what an AWESOME day! Aside from a crappy launch, which I will discuss in another thread, the fun factor was super high today. I flew the ridge for around 40 minutes before getting established in a thermal that I drifted back with at around 5K. Charlie was kind enough to wait around for me and I chased him on glide, but eventually lost him. I think the lowest I ever got after going over the back was probably 3K. Aside from my time on the ridge and the short time I spent following Charlie, it looked like this was going to be another solo XC flight for me. As I was circling in some nice 6-700 up over Chambersburg listening to Tom and Dave on the radio, I assumed they were way out in front of me somewhere on our course line toward the Gettysburg Airport. As I was circling through 4K, I was surprised to see the two of them about a mile away and was excited about the chance to fly with them for a while. We topped out there together there and went on glide to the next street and what looked like a good place to cross the next little ridge on the way to Gettysburg. Tom Pushed out over a sea of trees while Dave and I tanked up. Tom hit some pretty good sink and turned back to climb up for another attempt at crossing. At around 6k Dave went on glide and I circled in light lift to just under 6k before pulling some cord and following him. With Dave now way out in front of me and Tom behind me, I was getting nervous about getting fully committed to crossing the approximately 8 mile swath of trees. At around 4500msl, I turned back, thinking that I would fuel up and try to cross with Tom. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything to turn in as I pushed up wind and was 3000' below Tom by the time I got back to him. Tom went on glide to join Dave and I started scouting a nice LZ. When I sent my location to Charlie, he informed me that I had landed in the same field he had landed in at the end of his great flight a couple weeks ago. Too much fun today and I am sorry that more of you weren't there with us. Thank you Tom and Dave for the retrieve; and thank you Dan and Mark for the assist with launching (we will discuss that later). It was great flying with everyone and as always, I really appreciate the coaching. Charlie and I had post flight cheese steak sandwiches at Tony's in Greencastle and recapped the days adventure. Good Times!

[FlyingFelix]

It was nice seeing so many pilots today having great flights.
It was a great day for me as well after all.
Nice lift after 6 PM - gotta love flying a mountain site - got a good 42 minute easy, enjoyable flight.
A big THANK YOU to Bacil and all other pilots! Great site, great people, looking forward to many flights here.
Cheers,

Felix.

[XCanytime]

Headed east from Morgantown on I-68 at 1P. At Cooper's Rock I saw the most incredible looking sky I have ever seen in 20 years of sky watching. Streets from horizon to horizon N/S and E/W. Unbelievable. Got to the Pulpit just after 3P and found Mark C., Charlie Fager, and Felix set or setting up. I set up after helping Mark C. launch off of the old ramp. John Simon showed up for a late PM flight. Took off from the pad after 4:30P into 12 to 18 MPH. Got up easily but spent an hour struggling to get a max 800' over. While Mark C. (who got to 4K' over earlier in his flight) and I flew around, it got strong on launch for at least an hour which prompted John to wait a bit before launching and getting up. I landed in the main field which now is free of any tree lines. Mark landed right after me and we skedaddled back to launch with Dan Tuckwiller (who flew 2+ hours and 3300' over) to help Felix and Charlie launch into butter smooth conditions. Tom M. had returned from his sweet XC flight and provided assistance as well. Felix and Charlie both got up with ease and shared the sky with John until sunset. As I arrived at the main LZ to retrieve my glider, John had landed and Felix and Charlie were coming in to land. I had noticed it had gone catabatic and tried to xmit that to the incoming pilots with wind direction signals on the ground. Neither successfully received my attempts but both landed to the north and xwind without too much drama. This was the first time I had observed pilots that late in the day and the thought of it going catabatic at the end of the day didn't enter my mind. Something to remember the next time I observe H2 pilots that late in the day. I provided high beam headlights to assist John, Felix, and Charlie in breaking down their gliders in the dwindling light, and Mark and Dan drove down John's and Charlie's vehicles to the main LZ for efficient time management. A day at the Pulpit to remember! Bacil

[markc]

Ah well... Missed out on the prime-time action due to another weekend with (non-flying) activities, which meant that I didn't arrive at The Pulpit until 12:40. Just in time to see Matt C and Charlie head OTB, followed a bit later by Dennis S and Keith F (at least, I heard it was Keith, been a long time since I've seen him in the mtns; hope I heard right and that he had a great flight!).

With a late arrival I kinda knew that it would be a stay-local day. Helped a couple pilots launch, then ran a shuttle and dropped my vehicle in the LZ.... Wasn't until about 3:45 that I got into the air. Interestingly, the usual Pulpit ramp-up didn't happen until late afternoon, after my launch. A bit weird, go figure.

Conditions on launch were 10-15+, crossing out of the north, when I launched. There were stronger cycles... And I guess they increased once I got into the air. But once in the air it was pretty damn sweet, even late in the day. I topped out at 4k above launch fairly early in my flight, and had solid 700' up with my vario on a 20-sec average. Not too shabby for late afternoon!

Unfortunately, that ride wasn't to be repeated for me.... Headed upwind after topping out, but the street I happened to be on turned blue above McConnellsburg, and I had to settle for some boat-around sightseeing as the afternoon progressed. But very fun!

Landed just after Bacil, so that I could get back up top and help launch Felix and Charlie (both Hang-IIs). Ran into Tom McG up top, and found out that he and Dave P had made it to the Gettysburg airport. Way to go guys, great flights!

Felix and Charlie both got into the air with about an hour of daylight left, and were both immediately above launch, soaring in brain-dead soarable conditions. Very cool to see them up! We also got to see John S, who launched around 5:30 and had a great flight.

All in all, a great day of flying for everyone, what a great day!

MarkC

[John Simon]

Late as usual... I intended an early arrival to join in on the fun but work went late Sat night and I slept in a bit. No interest in arriving at 2or 3 to launch in rowdy conditions... I am not current. I dragged my feet to arrive and setup for about 4 or 5 and take my sled ride, or maybe get lucky and hang on the ridge. I haven't flown the mtns since last fall... trying to take it easy.

I am helped by Charlie and Felix to lauch at some time after 5... it had looked nice, smooth and fair on launch so I went an got my glider and the guys helped me up to the south ramp. On the ramp, things seemed a bit different though, it looked strong and a bit gusty. I edged close to the edge of the ramp. Too much for me though... and with just 2 on my wires I'm not comfy moving closer down the ramp. I back off after 5 or 10 minutes and set down. Potato...PotatoE.

As soon as my harness is off, it goes light and sweet at 10 straight in. The XC troops show up and I suit up for another run... it stays steady at 10 or so and things are easy on the ramp. I step off a bit weak and smoothly fly out into light and smooth lift. There is nothing but 50fpm up everywhere.... smooth and very light and kind, a good way to get back into the hills. I thoroughly enjoy the ride, no XC, no rowdy thermals, nothing but beautiful vistas and smooth sweet air, I chill and enjoy. Charlie and Felix join in a half hour later and it's just perfect... smooth reliable lift as the sun goes down in spectacular color... we all put down and smile our way into the evening, breaking down our rigs in the early darkness. Nice to be back.

Thanks to Bacil, Charlie, Felix, Tom, Dave Charlie, Mark (beer!) and all.

John

[XCanytime]

Mark C. out over the valley with a late evening sky backdrop.

[mcgowantk]

Kevin

Glad to hear you had a great day at High Rock. I was looking for you at the Pulpit. By the way, the winds were quite nice at the Pulpit, as you predicted. I was concerned launch conditions would be challenging as the thermals rocked through but that never seemed to develop.

Tom McGowan

[Lostgriz]

Still buzzing from a great day yesterday!

[DanTuck]

Yes, great day at the Pulpit! I launched around 1:30 or 2:00 into 10-15, pretty smooth air. Most everyone was gone by then but I found some amazing climbs, on the ridge and in the valley, 7-800 fpm sustained and better. My super cool new 6030 recorded a max 1083 fpm on a 10 sec avg. Never quite got to base topping out at 5,500 msl (3,300 over launch). Flew under a street upwind across the valley, got a good look at Meadow Grounds Lake before the lift began to dry up. Flew most of the ridge South of rt. 16 and ended up landing in the primary, which is freshly cut, after I had my fill. I'm really glad Bacil came out and Charlie and Felix got to fly. Thanks to my wire crew. Now Matt, about that launch....

[heaviek]

Tom,

I should have come join you guys at the Pulpit but I squeezed my day from the top and bottom. One of my ideas was to carpool out to the Pulpit with Proctor then fly to Sugarloaf to meet my family for a hike. Looks like I missed the perfect day to execute that plan! Maybe next time.

Kev