Friday (3/25/2016) @ Woodstock

[wmelo]

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 59F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph

Thoughts?

[silverwings]

Looks quite promising. Lets go fly on Friday at Woodstock.

[smurfsky101]

i'm in if i can finish all my work in time

[Blaine]

I may be able to make it too.

[Eric]

I plan to be there, and I'm excited and hopeful to do my very first mountain flight!

[markc]

Hmmm.... Thinking about it....

[Lucky_Chevy]

I'm planning to give it a go if the weather holds.

[bowen.tim]

I am looking to go also. I can meet at the Bridge field. What time? Hope the weather holds.

[smurfsky101]

Looks like it'll be dead west before noon and start shifting to a nice WNW all until sunset.

Wind speeds around 12 MPH all day - so could be a good PG day not just hangs?

[smurfsky101]

I'm trying to get setup at launch by 12 - I need to get back to DC pretty early tonight

[wmelo]

yes, it is getting better and better
W, then WNW, then NW...it looks like we will have a great day for a 1st flight from Woodstock by the end of the afternoon. Eric: we will be there to help you out!
I was planning to be there by 2:00pm, but I can be there before to help those who want to fly by noon.

Please send me a text those who are actually planning to take off by noon.

walt

[smurfsky101]

My # is 571 332 0095 - looking forward to seeing everyone tmrw

[Eric]

Thanks Walt!

[markc]

Out. That 4-letter work word

[mcgowantk]

I am likely to come out. Eta 3:30.

Tom McGowan
703-501-9532

[smurfsky101]

The launch looks incredible! Thank you everyone for the hard work.

I had a nasty launch where I got bumped after popping the nose a few degrees. Made it work but it wasn't pretty.


What was pretty were the flying conditions! Booming thermals with sustained 650 fpm over 30 seconds , and ok ridge lift.

Flew for less than an hour because I've got to run back to entertain guests.

Thanks Walt for the ride and wire assist

[Eric]

Awesome first mountain launch for me! The launch is just so wide open and amazing now! I was told my takeoff was mediocre. I soared the ridge lift for 50 minutes. I chose not to hook any thermals; although, there were plenty to be had and a few that gave me a boost as I flew through them. I stayed around 1800 AGL. I decided to follow the spine out to land when I hit 1450 AGL and was finding no lift. I made it out to land no problem. I received a little constructive criticism about choosing and doing S-turns a little before the field versus over the field -- a DBF would've been tough with the altitude I had. I definitely plan to continue hitting the training hill to sharpen my skills. All in all -- Awesome!

A huge thanks to Instructor John Middleton for absolutely everything... and especially throwing me off the mountain! Thanks to Rich, Walt, Anthony, Tim, and others for the mentorship and assistance as well. It's been a long, hard road getting there with a couple motorcycle crashes and injuries in between, etc, blah, blah, and a million other excuses. Anyway, I thought my first mountain launch deserved at least a couple hundred words.

I can't wait to do it again!

[silverwings]

Quite a nice flying day and my first high flight since the end of October. On the drive out I hit multiple rain showers until getting closer to skyline drive where the sky had opened and some sun shining. I arrived at the bridge field 12:30 ish and a number of pilots where joining up and leaving retrieval cars. A pg pilot had previously landed and was packing up.

Up at launch wind was coming pretty straight in and with the major improvement of tree removal (thanks Patrick) there was a lot more setup room and easier moving of gliders. Even though trees down low in the slot weren't cut just the upper 3rd and setup area, I wonder if it some how improves the flow of the air in the slot allowing straighter wind direction.

John Durrance was soaring when I arrived at launch with others starting to set up. It was not a typical spring roudy air flying day but was quite nice with ridge and thermal lift. Approximately 12 hg and 1 pg flew with most of the hg launching between 2:30 - 4:30. Wind on the ridge was it's typical left cross and mostly we were flying 500 - 2000 above. When I left the ridge to go out to land I was gaining until I got past the LZ to find some sink and ended with 1:45 flight. Maybe others beside Eric and John will post about their flights.

[dbodner]

I stopped by on Saturday to take a look. It appears to me that we'll be able to launch from much higher up, thus giving us much more cushion as we pass over the trees at the bottom of the slot. Did anyone take advantage of the additional runway?

[silverwings]

We only launched from the usual spot. Conditions were pretty straight in at 4 - 10 mph.

[bowen.tim]

As John mentioned, I encountered rain showers coming down 340 through Harper's Ferry. I arrived at the bridge field and met up with Blaine. He loaded up on my vehicle and we headed up. I think all total, there were 11 HG pilots, me, Walt, Blaine, Rich, Dan, Eric, Eric's brother, John M, John D, Tom M, and one other whose name escapes me.

I think I launched in the 6th position. I had a great run and straight launch. I got to about 4.2K MSL and flew for an hour. I could have flown longer, but I just wanted to have a relaxed flight. As some have noted, some thermals were quite punchy, but there was one big fatty that was smooth as silk. That one got me to 4.2K MSL. I followed Dan in one thermal and then realized the terrain did not look familiar. After a few minutes, I realized I was over the back somewhat, but with altitude. Once I got my bearings, I bee lined it for the ridge with plenty of altitude to spare.

All-in-all, it was a great day. For the year, I have 3 flights and 4.5 hours flight time. Not bad for the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring.

[wmelo]

Oh yes, it was a good day!
I arrived by noon to help John D to take off. After a C- take off, he had a good flight. He was the only one who landed across the bridge field - smart guy, since the bridge field was very turbulent.

I was the 2nd to take off by 2:30 +-. The ridge had plenty of lift and small thermals. I did not get very high: 1200 meters ASL most of the time. After flying for 2:30hs, I landed in the bridge field. My land was challenging: It was hard to push the glider down. My hire crew was again terrific: thank you all!

Congratulations again to our president for managing the clean up. We have now plenty of space to set up the gliders and more space during take off.

Congratulations to Eric as well for 1st mountain flight.

Walt
ps. 1 Meter = 3.2808399 Feet

[Eric]

Thanks Walt. I saw your H3 listed in this month's mag. Congrats on that.