Pulpit Nov 26 or 27 (Sat or Sun)

[Dave Gills]

Any interest in weekend flying?
It might be a bit strong on Sat or it might change.

[flybop]

I very likely am in will know better tomorrow.

[A.Lloyd]

I plan on going to the Pulpit tomorrow.

[Dave Gills]

I'm staying in Summerset Pa. tonight so I'll be close.

[Dunegoon]

Sunday looks good. ETA to be decided in AM.

[Blaine]

Planning on being there at 9.

[smurfsky101]

I'm planning on being there by nine also

571 332 0095

[flybop]

I'll get on the road asap

[smurfsky101]

Overslept, ten thirty eta

[Blaine]

Winds 8-14 straight in at launch. Clouds popping. Looks soarable already.

[smurfsky101]

Really great flying with everyone today, particularly Blaine - we teamed up to cross over mcconnellsburg (directly into the wind, following a cloud street) after putzing around on the ridge for an hour or two.

Really a special flight for me, except for my face freezing off two thirds of the way through the flight.

Ended up making it to the next ridge over where 30W intersects, max altitude for me today was approximately 5k.

Cloudbase was between 4-5k before noon but climbed slightly to perhaps 5200 feet by early afternoon.

[XCanytime]

Got to the Pulpit at 9A just before Blaine. Conditions on launch were 8 to 14 MPH pretty much straight in with a north cross at times. Cumies were popping already so Blaine and I set up and waited for pilots to arrive. John Dorrance arrived around 10:30A so I launched from the pad in a light cycle with Blaine and John's help. Got up easily but conditions were way north, with lift lines running down the valley, not wide enough to turn in, and stopping a few hundred feet above launch. Being tired from the day before, I tired quickly of the non ideal conditions, bailed, and had a nice landing at the golf course driving range. Watched Blaine and John struggle in the same kind of conditions, not getting high and battling the north cross. Then it filled in above launch with a bunch of clouds, which drew John back from south of the Rt. 16 xing to join Blaine. He and Blaine stair stepped their way up higher but not real high (yet). Got a ride back up from Ric Caylor. Thanks Ric! Charley, Anthony, and I launched Tom McGowan from the newer ramp as Blaine and John climbed stinking high under a beautiful cloud street as they flew upwind towards McConnellsburg. Tom climbed way high and flew upwind as well. Next up was Ric for his first Pulpit flight. He had a nice launch from the newer ramp and got up. Charley, Steve Kinsley, and lastly Anthony all launched from the newer ramp and had nice soaring flights. Plenty of smiles in the main LZ after everyone landed there, save for John, who landed where I did. Looking forward to Blaine's report on his flight. Charley and I grabbed some chow at the Lincoln Way Pizza restaurant in McConnellsburg. Nice place! Will be back there again very soon. Bacil

[Dave Gills]

Eric Kriner, Don McCue, Dennis Pagen & I went to the Gap.
Eric launched 1st & got a sledder to the bail out field in his big Falcon 190.
Dennis launched 2nd & managed to stay 75-150' up in his Gecko.

I was in the slot, ready to launch and it was 3-5mph.
After about 10 minutes I gave up and broke down on top.

Don did the exact same thing.

Meanwhile Dennis is yelling for us to launch and we can't figure out how he is still staying up.
There were very few beeps coming out of his vario and he seemed to be doing fine.
Still scratching my head over that one.

Oh well, better luck next time.
We did see 2 bald eagles fly by.

[Blaine]

Had a great day of flying...started off with a launch that felt horrible from my perspective but after watching the video it wasn't as bad as it thought. Not good but not horrible either. After launch I turned left and headed toward the towers adjacent to the primary. That seems to be my safe zone until I get things figured out. I was climbing but I didn't get very high over the ridge. Maybe just a few hundred feet above. I don't look at my vario to much. I prefer just to listen. I flew the ridge for a long time not getting very high. When I did find something I lost it pretty quick. I thought about giving up and landing a few times but figured I was maintaining so I stuck with it. A bald eagle flew by but there was no keeping up with him. I joined 3 red tailed Hawks for some ridge soaring until they had enough of me and moved on.

John launched and things seemed to turn on shortly after that right in front of the launch. I followed a cloud street upwind into the valley and lost the lift so ran back to the ridge while John circled around to the north and jumped on it from there. I followed but I couldn't keep up. I made it to the High School and lost sight of John, lost the lift and I was starving by then. I had 2 hrs and 15 minutes at that point so I headed in to the primary and ended it with a good return to earth. I need to get a radio. Had John and I had the ability to communicate in the air I think we would have opted for some xc. Thanks to my wire crew and John for the opportunity to follow your lead.

[Dunegoon]

Some nice flying. Blaine and John had great fun. Ric C had a great launch on his first flight at the Pulpit. After a clumsy launch I got it together and poked around for 1:45. Made it to 3865 msl later in the day. Could have climbed higher but that would have taken me OTB while my car was in the primary LZ. The lift was very smooth back over the mountain and easy to get out front with no loss of altitude. The sun warmed the sides of my harness and my hands as I serenely themaled to my hearts content. Not a bad day in the mountains.