Saturday -> April 18, 2015

[dbodner]

Pulpit was interesting. If you got up, you went far. I didn't, so I didn't. Still, not a bad day at 20 minutes of airtime, much of it scratching.

Watch this thread for later posts with better stories.

[andybalkphysics]

Worked out OK for me. Probably because of luck…I left the pin for my base tube in my jacket or something last time I flew, so had to run to the true value in Mcconnelsburg, which was closed, to get a grade 8 bolt as a substitute. Luckily there was still a guy there and he kindly let me get the bolt. By the time I got back and put together there was some lift to be had which got me to 4k or so MSL. Was thermaling with some kind of raptor for a while, and then with Steve. Landed after a bit of floating around, finding the LZ a touch naughty but manageable. Thanks to Craig for a ride up top. All in all a pretty good day, and worth the drive. Karen and I spoke to a lady at the secondary…it's in corn, but the corn is still young and she said it would have been OK to land there today if necessary. I don't know for how much longer, though.

[Matthew]

I landed 1.5 miles short of the High Rock LZ on the second flight in my PG.

Cavanaugh landed a few miles behind me in his HG.

More details later.

Gong to bed.

Matthew

[markc]

Wow. What a day at the Pulpit. Unbelievable!

Not because it was STFI, no worries, it'll be great... Far, far from that.

Randy gave me a call while I was on the road, asking why I was headed to the Pulpit , and what my reasoning was. Explained that the forecast was very light, high pressure dead center over central PA, but the velocity might be better than High Rock. Then he mentioned that his drive was 3 hours.... And I'm thinking "Oh man, that is a huge gamble, one that I'm not sure I would take!".

But I was ahead by 1.5 hours, so I offered to give a conditions report so that he could make an on-the-road decision. Arrived at launch at 10:40, and conditions looked absolutely SWEET! It actually *was* STFI, 10-12, due West. So I'm like "Come on up!!".

Threw the glider together in record time, imagining an early flight.... But then, as other pilots arrived, the winds cranked WAY back, and got seriously L&V. Like, under 5. Like, due North. Like, 180-degrees over-the-back. Kid you not!

So it became a PG day, with lots of hemming and hawing by the hangies. Matt I was first off, just as the initial stronger winds were dying off. He nailed it, great timing, got a thermal, and was OUTTA THERE! I think he flew to Greencastle, awesome flight.

Randy, Matthew, and Dan T followed, with varying degrees of success. North cross much of the time, bullet thermals blowing through, but nothing consistent. Dan T went over the back, but Randy and Matt succumbed to earth-suck. Meanwhile, the hangies were watching/waiting/debating. After Randy's second flight we started to see some stronger conditions on launch : Not ridge soarable, but definitely picking up, the trend was good!

I measured some 12-16mph cycles on the ramp, and started gearing up for a flight after Karen/Matthew/Anthony/Andy got back up top. Krys and Dave B were setting up at that point. Things really started looking good for a possible HG wave!

My launch was off the new ramp, in conditions that seemed comparable to what I'd been seeing... Krystoff, Dave and Matthew G on wire crew: Thank you very much guys, your help made things much easier!! (don't think I've even been off the ramp in my T2C until today, go figure).

Conditions were bouyant, but very turbulent down low. I had one of those "OMG, I am going to be eating bark" moments early in my flight. Huge wake-up call : You have to be VERY careful flying a wing like this in scratching conditions. I got the damn thing back around, somehow... But it was sooo close.

So after freaking myself out, I was not very efficient in the air and basically I blew it. Headed to the LZ, unzipped, started my approach. But then.... No way! I found some lift at about 400' over the field. Mapped it out, and oh thank god, it was big enough to actually play with. That's a rarity for me, I just don't seem to pull off low saves very often.... But today, sheesh, it worked, I found it, it was squiggling all over, but DAMN, I was *NOT* going to let it get away!

Got back above the ridge, things were working, and I started to think about going OTB. After playing in the valley for a bit (thermals almost parallel to the ridge) I made the mistake of a fly-over at launch. Stupid!! Buried the bar and zoomed back south, was below Route 16, but found a thermal and survived. Phew!

And that thermal? OMG!!! One of the best ever. Watched Matthew G (PG) just after his second launch, and he was crankin/bankin'. That helped me map out the lift, and it was INCREDIBLE!

I topped out at 8650MSL just over the back. Second highest I've ever been in the eastern US. From there, I should have just pulled full-VG and tried to make High Rock. Might have worked!

But I was in my typical go-slow-and-milk-it mode. Got past Mercersburg and Upton, found one climb from 6-something to 7-something, but it was SO tough. Not a cloud anywhere, and the lift was very disorganized. I decked it a couple miles west of Waynesboro with High Rock in my sights. Sigh.

Matthew was doing better at this point, and I had tried to pimp off of him, but the lift was ridiculously light. Wish I had a PG damnit! I could see him after I landed, on course for HRock, and it seemed like he had it on glide... But I think he landed a couple miles shy.

Awesome day, and I owe many thanks to Karen for swinging by to pick me up. We headed back to the Pulpit for a few beverages on the ramp, then on to Mercersburg for dinner with Craig and Andy.

Great flying day!

MarkC

[Dan T]

I called Mark Cavinaugh up just before heading out to the Pulpit and again while I was on the road. His part of the conversations was pretty much "I don't know, there's a big high sitting right over PA and it's a long drive and waaa waa. Needless to say it turned out as he wrote in the previous post. It just goes to show you never know until you go.

As for me I didn't actually get to go over the back. I couldn't quite get high enough to feel comfortable doing it in a PG even though at 1,000 over launch I was probably high enough at one point. What I did do was run south a few miles past the towers at 16, manage a low save similar to Mark's and after more than an hour in the air land in a huge field that wasn't yet it crops.

Shortly after I landed one of the kids from the nearby house and her mom came out to greet me. The mom offered me a glass of real lemonade and a piece of freshly baked home made apple pie. Yumm! Once I finished packing up her husband gave me a ride back to launch. How's that for hospitality! All and all a darn fine day.

Dan T

[lbunner]

Awesome reports guys. I hope to be out there at the end of the month to fly the mountains with ya.

[mingram]

Sounds like I missed the best part of the day yesterday! Thanks for the write up Mark!

"I topped out at 8650MSL just over the back. Second highest I've ever been in the eastern US." - Mark C
How high was your highest?!

Matt

[markc]

9230, over Chambersburg, years and years ago....

[Ward Odenwald]

As John mentioned in his Highland post “south looked pretty much awesome”, and it was! Flew south for 31 miles and during the ~2.5 hr flight my only low save was ~5 miles south of Denton when I dropped down to 2.5K msl - scary. Except for the last 3 to 5 miles, every cloud that I flew under was “working” and the thermals were incredible with climb rates that pegged my flytec multiple times.

Tim Bowen drove an hour out of his way home to bring me back to Ridgely. Huge THANKS Tim and hope to return the favor soon.

Here are some photos of the flight with the first 3 looking back at Highland.

Ward

[Ward Odenwald]

Next set of 5.

[XCanytime]

Congratulations guys on the flights from the Pulpit. I decided to go to the SAC and introduce Walt to another new site and gamble on a late day wind direction switch. Cross to straight in all day. End of day sledders for a few pilots as we waited for the switch. Good to see TR out on the mountain after a long time. Bacil

[XCanytime]

9230, over Chambersburg, years and years ago....

June 9th 2001

[Ward Odenwald]

Last set.

[Matthew]

Karen and I started our day at Smithsburg hoping to do some PG launch and landing practice. However, it was blowing over the back or 90 degrees cross-- from the South!

Anthony met up with us and we all went up to the Pulpit. It had been blowing straight in-- until we arrived when it immediately turned hard North cross. Matt Ingram was on launch in his PG and had one aborted takeoff. A decent cycle came in and he was off and up and over the back. He made it to Greencastle. Randy went next in his PG and was flushed-- almost saving it over the secondary.

I followed -- with a half dozen aborted launch attempts-- getting my wing stuck alternatively in the brush and rocks on both sides of the slot. Big thanks to everyone for clearing my wing. When I did get airborne I was running off the rocks and skimming through the brush below launch. It was UGLY!

I found some lift and got a few hundred over. Bouncing up and down in ratty lift on the ridge between launch and the secondary, I decided to head South and see if I could find better lift where the ridge bends around a little to the North. Instead I found sink and my feet on the ground in the Primary.

Karen, Anthony and Andy drove down and we all walked the primary and the secondary with Anthony. Dan T. and Randy (on his second flight) were in the sky and high. Randy made it to Upton and Dan went down the ridge.

Bach at launch Anthony began setting up so I could observe him for his first flight at the Pulpit. However, he was missing a pip pin.

Mark launched and, after his valiant struggle, got back up. With winds light again, I dragged out the PG. Of course as soon as I laid it out on the pad it began howling. I waited it out for about 15 minutes and had a better launch. Again, the lift was ratty down low. After a few good climbs I found myself below launch with my body swinging between the trees. I steered out to land in the secondary. Then boom! A big one. After some figure 8's, I cranked and banked and kept climbing, seeing Mark above me the whole time. I think I topped out around 7500msl (CORRECTION--8580 if I'm to believe my vario). My vario batteries were dying and my display turned into a random number generator. Fortunately it kept beeping. Though it was a sad, raspy beep by the end of the flight.

I remained in the same thermal all the way to Upton. Then went on glide to Greencastle. Found another thermal over Interstate 81 and slowly climbed and clawed my way to Waynesboro. I watched Mark land as I circled in light lift and pushed South of Waynesboro. I could see High Rock and Mong's field and the tree line for the High Rock LZ. Twice I found thermals down low and cranked and banked. Both times the lift pushed me back over Waynesboro. It was blowing out of the SSE!!!

I thought about going on glide to Mong's. However, there was just too much nasty terrain-- trees and orchards. So I landed in a big field on Smithsburg Pike in Maryland 1.5 miles from the High Rock LZ. If it hadn't been for the head wind at the end, I would've made it.

Karen picked me up and then we retrieved Mark and went back to launch and met up with Cragin and Andy for a glass of wine on the ramp. Finished the day with dinner in Mercersburg.

Matthew

[carweill]

Matthew and Mark,
Good flights. I heard from Karen that you both were OTB. I was heading from Greencastle to Pulpit thinking I might see you, bu were probably beyond that point.

Carlos

[g.sessa]

Highland was great on Saturday! I launched just before 1 pm. After tow, I found lift to the NE of the airport. It was a bit of a slow climb, but I worked the lift up to around 5300 ft. Thereafter, I decided to venture out a bit and decided to do a very short out and back while chasing a growing cloud I noticed out past the town of Ridgely. By the time I reached the cloud, it was working well. I was only seeing a couple hundred fpm at first, but as I climbed higher the lift seemed to steadily increase until my averager was steady showing between 400-500 fpm. I took the lift to cloud base around 5,500 feet, and then decided to head back to Ridgely as I was getting cold. I think my recent trip to Florida spoiled me as I was thinking it would have been warmer aloft, and thus I did not layer up as much as I should have given the local weather conditions. None the less, I worked to lose altitude when I got back to Ridgely and floated around 1,500 to 2,000 feet while my hands started to warm up. After I felt a bit more comfortable, I followed lift to the SE of the airport. Again, the climb rates were a bit low at first, but then I found my averager showing 400-500 fpm the closer I got to cloud base. After this climb, I was again getting cold, and a bit tired, and decided to land following a 2 hour flight. Overall, it was a great flight, and to the best of my knowledge, it was a great day for all flying at Highland!

[bowen.tim]

I had a great flight at Highland. The tow was quite interesting keeping up with Mitch. The thermals were strong and I was either too high or too low on tow trying to match Mitch. I got off tow and went up. I topped out at 5100’ in a few thermals. As Greg said, I should have layered up a little more. I also shouldn’t have taken off my bar mitts after setting up. I think I flew farther away from Highland than I have ever been. But I still can’t cut those strings yet…..but my goal is to this year.

Overall, I had a 1.5 hour flight, a personal best at Ridgely. I am still working on my thermaling skills, but I am improving. I probably would have had a longer flight if I flew south over the town of Ridgely, but a saw a nice big puffy cloud to the NW of the airport. I couldn’t find the lift, but the lower altitude afforded me to warm back up. I had a good approach, speed, flair and a no-step landing.

Ward did call me when I hit the 50/301 split to let me know that he landed out safely. I offered to retrieve and met up with him in Laurel, DE.

[markc]

D@mn, what a day on Saturday, pilots specking out all over the mid-atlantic, and beyond, definitely a day to remember!

[XCanytime]

Some observations from the awesome XC flight day at the Pulpit Saturday. Feel free to comment:

" but the velocity might be better than High Rock"

The velocity at the Pulpit is always greater than High Rock due to the topography of the local area.

" imagining an early flight"

Referencing Pagen's Performance Flying book, the most efficient use of your time is to always get to the site early so that you have options. On some days conditions may be real good early and then not be so good later. If you are there and set up early you will not miss the better conditions and cover all bases. Of course this means one must make a decision the night before where they are going.

"Matt I was first off, just as the initial stronger winds were dying off. He nailed it, great timing, got a thermal, and was OUTTA THERE! I think he flew to Greencastle, awesome flight."

Referencing Pete Lehmann's article "Socially Accepted Pimping" from the printed CHGA newsletter from way back in 1997 a 2nd pilot (HG or PG) could have launched right after seeing Matt climbing out and got in the same thermal and beamed out with him.

Bacil

[Matthew]

Referencing Pete Lehmann's article "Socially Accepted Pimping" from the printed CHGA newsletter from way back in 1997 a 2nd pilot (HG or PG) could have launched right after seeing Matt climbing out and got in the same thermal and beamed out with him.

Bacil

***********


That only works if there is consistent launch conditions. This was not the case at the Pulpit on Saturday. There were brief launch cycles followed by long periods where the winds were 90 degrees cross,

Matthew

[markc]

You might consider cross-correlating the pilot choices at the Pulpit vs. what was happening elsewhere in the region on Sat. If I recall correctly, a certain top-class XC pilot from Pgh didn't launch until about the same time as we at the Pulpit, because conditions were hugely inconsistent. We had that (and far worse: 90-cross, 180-cross, for extended periods), just the occasional Q upwind, and almost totally blue OTB. Easy to say coulda/shoulda after the fact. Not so easy when you've got one chance at prime-time conditions.

Saturday was *not* an easy-call day at the Pulpit.

MarkC

PS: Bacil, we ALL KNOW that it usually blows harder at the Pulpit than High Rock. That's certainly what swung the day for me, vs HR, in spite of the very legit concerns about the wind direction and velocity. High Rock is often a better bet on an L&V day... Which is exactly what we had, at least when I was checking the nearby airport readings prior to launching. Basically, we got *lucky*, with some booming thermals and great lapse rates. I certainly was expecting to be on the ground minutes after launching, super turbulent down low, and this was into conditions that were WAY better (for HG) than what the PG pilots had been seeing earlier in the day. Trust me, we were not ignoring primo cycles!

[XCanytime]

Thanks for the comments.

Mark my question is would you have launched at 10:40A if you were set up and ready? You reported that the conditions were STFI and 10 to 12 MPH. The point I am trying to make is that it seemed from your post that launch conditions were good early (10:40A) and stayed somewhat good for a while (how long?) then deteriorated. Just curious.

Matthew, according to Mark, Matt launched just as the initial stronger winds were dying down. From that one might deduce that there may have been a launchable cycle after Matt launched.

This discussion is good reference material for the newer, less experienced pilots of the club.

Bacil

[Matthew]

Matthew, according to Mark, Matt launched just as the initial stronger winds were dying down. From that one might deduce that there may have been a launchable cycle after Matt launched.

Bacil


********

There was not.

Matthew