Flying Saturday

[markc]

Joe Schad and I will be heading to Woodstock today, hoping that there might be a tad bit of west in the north forecast.

Several Kitty Hawk pilots will be there, and I think Gary S plans to be there. The 'casts seem to imply that we'll have
NNW from 1-ish to 3-ish or so, let's hope that's the case!

MarkC

[sailin]

Arrived at launch just before 3pm and hopped on one of John M's wire who was in the slot waiting for some cycles. It took a bit but he finally found a decent one and had a nice strong launch. I quickly started setting up. By 330pm a switch got flipped and what was light and variable at launch was now pretty strong with lots of cross strong stuff in the slot. By 430 when I was in the slot to launch things had calmed a bit but not much.big thanks to Trevor for help on my wire .i found a decent enough cycle and had a nice launch. Within a blink of an eye I was 1600'msl over without even doing a 360. Lift was everywhere and the wind was strong. I clocked 25+mph several times. I flew around for a bit and then decided to head upwind in hopes of finding a big field with less turbulence then I expected was happening in the main. It took FOREVER to make it down to the other end of Moose Rd in the strong head wind ..... Luckily there was lift everywhere . Pretty turbulent approach until final and I eneded up hardly needing a flare at all as the wind was blowing pretty good on be ground too. Big thanks to Dan Tuck for the ride back up to launch.... The second week in a row !!
Interesting and strong day at Woodstock. Sounds like it might hae been nicer earlier on. The clouds when i was flying were ttracking SW and the surface winds were closer to WNW. Could have been part of the turbulence along with the overall wind speed having some mechanical effect..... And lots of lift!

Wish I could have joined you all on Sunday but had to be back at work

Jon

[chuckok]

One hell of a return to mountain flying!

August of 2011 I didn't walk away from Woodstock.

This weekend, my first mountain flight back ... Woodstock!

I arrived a bit late from the main group with the intent to take a nice hang two conditions flight. I helped Matthew and John launch, then went to retrieve my glider from the car and set-up.

The conditions were light when John launched, but picked up quite a bit as I was setting up. It backed off to about 10-12 at launch, and I moved down. I managed to get some help from some spectators and one of John's students (I wish I could remember his name).

The winds started pretty cross, so I had to wait a bit, but it finally came straight in and .... CLEAR!

Launch was strong and uneventful, and had a wonderful, if somewhat trashy, 30 minute flight with the best view of the Shenandoah and the fall colors. A view only this group can share. I cut it a bit short due to being sore from building a fence Friday, and being low against the control bar.

Made it into the landing field; quite a ride in some real trash, but uneventful. Didn't stick the landing, late getting prepared to flair, but ... I did walk away.

An awesome return to the mountains!!!

[wmelo]

I had a very good day at Woodstock last Saturday. It did not start very well when my observer told me that I should not hope much, since it was too light and cross in the morning. Fortunately, the winds got stronger and better in the afternoon. I took off by 2:00pm. John and Matthew helped a lot: thank you very much both of you for observing me again! I flew for more or less 1 hour. I got a little bit concerned with the ail planes flying so low on the ridge. At the end of the day, it got too turbulent to my taste: I kept being pushed over the ridge. I landed at the primary LZ...missed the flair...again But it was not too bad

Again, I would like to thank everybody for their hints, guidance, and support.

walt

[hang_pilot]

One hell of a return to mountain flying!

August of 2011 I didn't walk away from Woodstock.

Here's a pic from Chuck's last flight at Woodstock: http://chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f ... 277#p27277

This weekend, my first mountain flight back ... Woodstock!

Congratulations, Chuck! Welcome back to this life-expanding sport.

Best,
Daniel

[Dave Proctor]

Chuck---Glad to see you back in the air. Big Congratulations!!!
Highland was working great on Saturday. I took one tow, climbed to 5350 MSL with at least 10 bald eagles of assorted maturities. Alex Mykyta and I shared the sky for quite some time with the birds. The 68 degrees on the ground lulled me into a false sense of warmth. Underdressed a little and got cold at altitude. Eventually spiraled down from 5K. Had a crappy landing when my left hand caught the rear wire on transition. I haven't done that in years. Ended up with a cross wind landing on the taxiway. Not pretty. I think my error was transitioning while I was still making a slight turn, putting things in *different* places. As active as it was in the LZ I would not have wanted to transition any earlier.

DaveP

[mcelrah]

Congratulations to all who flew. Margarita and I flew over in the motor glider around 5:30 and saw three HGs breaking down in the LZ. Next time you get high like that, turn downwind and land at Front Royal airport! Unpowered traffic makes right turns (come in with the runway to your right); there's a nice big grass area for landing. - Hugh