How Not To Land At Daniel's On A Wicked Strong Day

[markc]

Lots of verbiage below. So just head to the video if all you want is the OMG moment.

(And oh, sorry, didn't realize that Vimeo is still Flash-based... Some browsers might not like the link, or you might have to allow/activate Flash in order to see it, whoops!)

The forecast : Bumped up to SW 10-20 on the morning-of. Excited! For me, Daniel's has often been Woodstock-like, with winds less (ie, many sled-rides) than predicted. But perhaps things have improved since I formed that impression years ago? Unfortunately, I don't fly the site very much, and that's probably not a good thing.

Conditions on launch : Initially light, but things started to turn-on about the time that was forecast. Some cross-right, but also (seemingly) some cross-left. Some wavy-looking clouds up there. Generally 5-10 in the slot, with an occasional ramp-up that you'd let roll through.

Conditions in the air : Damn! *Way* more W than SW. If you know Daniel's, that's not good because the winds can dump off the Blue Ridge, turbulated and strong.

The flight : Well heck, I'm in the air, gonna fly, that's what we do right? Tried to figure out the day and where the lift was. Lots of 'skating' back-and-forth in (strong) lift lines, but the occasional bonafide thermal as well. After a few good kicks in the @ss on the downwind side of turns, I started working the vallley more than the ridge. Topped out at about 1k over launch a couple of times and flew for about 45 minutes.

The gut-check : Strong conditions at Daniel's can really suck, and I know that. So the fun-factor was slowly disappearing, and I started to pay very close attention to exactly how strong, how turb, how far out, how much should I be worrying?

The trip out : I went for 1k-over once again because I wanted time to evaluate conditions as I headed to the LZ. And yikes, it was just as strong in the valley, if not even stronger! I started looking at socks and eyeing the available fields, and trying to get a sense of the air as I got lower. Conditions on the ground were hard W, so I wrote-off the field on the right side of the road. There was an easily-makeable upwind field, but I hadn't been in it or walked it. As I got lower, it seemed like things were getting a little bit better. Hmmm, maybe not so bad? And having been in a worse situation at Daniel's a couple years ago, I decided I could probably handle this. I committed to the usual/primary field on the left side of the road.

LZ concerns : You know how it is, you dive into the gully and then land on the uphill side. But I'm in a T2C.... And if you crest, you are in trouble. Might not be clear from the video, but I ended up climbing 1/2 of that slope, even after all the excitement of my base leg, and even with the strong winds on the ground.

What to watch for : The yawing due to the strong winds. Then the screaming speed of the downwind leg. The late turn, such that I'm a bit behind the treeline. The subsequent dump that has me going into the trees. Somehow, I muscled the glider around, and then pushed out to clear one of the trees, and I then I had a clear path ahead of me.

The take-home : Don't land in the primary on strong days like this. One thing that I didn't realize was just how *gusty* it was : Zero wind in the LZ one second, then blasting the next. I think this was a contributing factor in the excitement of my landing.

https://vimeo.com/198304367

[theflyingdude]

Nice flight report, Mark! I'm glad you were successful in landing safely!

JR

[XCanytime]

Thanks for the video Mark. Very instructional. I had a similar experience on an XC flight from Woodstock in Nov. 1998. Was flying along Rt. 55 towards Buckton and spied a field to land in behind some houses on the road. Did not have enough altitude to scope the field out (flew towards rising terrain) so I went into the downwind leg immediately. There were some (3?) small bushy trees at the downwind edge of the field. I began my base leg where I felt I should've but failed to anticipate the strong winds at my back and "skidded" behind and 40' above the bushy trees. I aimed for the crown of the bushy tree in front of me and dove at it with lots of speed, then "porpoised" over it by ~ 15' by pushing out a little and trading airspeed for an altitude gain. A good lesson learned. Bacil

[markc]

The issue I'm kicking myself over is that this was *not* an XC flight into an unknown field, and I *knew* that the downwind leg was going to be a handful. And yet I still found myself behind the eight ball, because things happened so fast.

There's a certain comfort-factor in the LZs that you know, especially when conditions are difficult. But that can sometimes be a siren call which needs to be resisted.

[XCanytime]

From Pagen's Hang Gliding Flying Skills book: "In surface winds above 15 MPH the DBF approach is not advised because the downwind leg occurs so fast that it's hard to decide where to turn and head upwind. In this case the figure 8 approach works fine because not much change is required in order to produce stationary figure 8s". Bacil

[thermalup]

...
Mark, thank you for sharing the video. Great in-flight commentary too .. whew!
I have not yet flown Daniel's but I have walked the primary field and also looked at the field that you landed in.
That field seems a bit of a challenge for a topless even with perfect landing conditions(!). Your video is a good lesson for those of us who haven't landed there yet.

We have an undulating dune grass landing zone at one of our sites that is large enough for a DBF pattern (fence on the downwind side and low voltage power lines on the base leg side) and often the wind is 15-25 mph so the downwind leg is speedy. When the winds are in the higher range it seems to work well to do a DBF approach significantly higher than normal and then turn the base leg into one or two figure 8s (as Bacil mentioned) for proper positioning before final.

Do you think an approach like this would have worked for the conditions you experienced?

[rlweber]

Thanks for the video and the report. The dbf with a figure eight was not the best because of the turbulence. I was thinking about it but diverted to a field to the east because of the turbulence. IMHO
Randy

[markc]

Thought about a figure-8. For about a second. Too turbulent in either field, IMO. The better option, by far, given the glider and the nature of the field.... Would be a different field.

[krryerson]

Great educational and thanks for posting the video with comments. Love your comments during the flight too. No music needed there. In the end, during your final leg, it looks like you nailed the landing, despite... Landing a T2C too.. . Good job!
Knut

[XCanytime]

In April 2013 Jon Brantley and I landed out at in adjoining fields along Rosebrook Road, just SW of the "spine" field on the other side of the road. Looking at Mapquest' satellite view for Geer, VA you can see that there are 2 fields split by a dirt road bordering a bend in Rosebrook Road. The field on the right side of the dirt road is relatively flat, and the field on the left side of the road is uphill, from what I remember. Might be the fields to consider if strong conditions are on the ground at Daniels the next time we fly there. Bacil

[wmelo]

It was one of my worse flights so far. After I stopped my 8 figures in front of the launch area trying to move up, I went too far south following a thermal. It was very turbulent and I was not able to take advantage of it. I was having serious issues maneuvering the glider due to the conditions. I sank and decided to land. I looked the main LZ and my car was not there! Gosh, I could not believe somebody steal my car! I took a few seconds to realized that I was about to land in the wrong field It is a hilly field with trees in the middle and a pond on the corner. I realized that I would not be able to reach the main LZ: it was too wind and turbulent. To be sure I would cross the tree line, I put the VG on. As soon I was inside the field, I removed the VG and did a couple of 8 figures to burn a little bit more the altitude and position myself to try to land up hill. I follow the line and turned to land up hill. However, I ended up breaking the down tub (VG down tube of course!).

Then the most ridiculous thing happened. I took too long to turn the glide, got a gust wind, the wind flipped upside down. I was in a very silly position unable to detach myself and holding my feet to not fell on the glider. I had seen a youtube video one day before where the pilot "undressed" himself from the harness to go down the tree. I did the same I undressed myself from the harness when I was still attached to glider with the broken down tube. After I got free from the glider and I could do what needed to be done. Since my fellow pilots were still flying, I had plenty of time to remove the broken down tube and break down the glider: I am glad I had a Swiss knife with me!

Finally, my great friend Garry rescued me

In retrospective, seeing Mark's video, the following things come to my mind:
a) Pilots were not using the radio to inform about the conditions (only Bacil and I, I think, were using Radio.)
b) I did not know other fields around Daniel's main LZ - I should have visited other "spots" in case it became difficult to land in the main LZ
c) Practice more 8 figures in case that happen again!

I am glad that everybody landed safe and we could celebrate the news year in one piece

[Ward Odenwald]

Walt, I have extra Sport 2 down tubes so let me know if you need one. Relieved that the only loss was a down tube.

I considered making the drive down to Daniels that day but the forecast models (ECMWF, GFM and NAM 5km posted on Windytv that morning) all agreed that there was a high probability of 15 mph plus surface winds coupled with significantly higher gusts during the afternoon around Daniels. Given the LZ options below takeoff (tight, uneven and/or down wind of smaller ridges), I decided to wait for another day.

I realize that the above is an easy “arm chair” impression/statement, but I can’t remember a day when all three forecast models agree in the AM and real-time conditions during the PM disagree.

I still believe in the creed “you won’t know if you don’t go” but when the updated forecast models all suggest intense landing conditions near less than ideal LZs for double surfaced gliders, I’m on the sidelines.

Ward

[XCanytime]

Here is the flight report from April 11, 2013 pertaining to the fields I mentioned earlier that upon further review are THE fields to consider if the conditions in the main field at Daniels are not to your liking:

Flew Daniels today with Steve Kinsley and Jon Brantley. Temp on car thermometer hit 88 on the way down. I got to the LZ just after 2P to give Amy, Jon, and Steve a ride back up to launch after they drove their vehicles down. Back at launch it was pretty light at times with the high solid overcast, but at 3P somebody threw the switch and it turned on. Steve launched and got right up. Jon followed and did the same. Very cross aloft from the SE. Steve got good and high and ended up landing in the "west" field. Jon ended up getting 2K' over and landing out in a large field to the SW of the spine field. He reported lots of turbulence over the "west" field and horses in the spine field, so he opted for a field that had uphill terrain and faced more SE. I launched with Amy's assistance just after John landed, a little after 4P. It was turbulent and cross down low, and I couldn't find a climb to get me any higher than 600' over. After 5P it got a little smoother and I was able to boat around in some wider lift and gain up to 960' over. As Jon reported E/SE conditions in the "west" field, and the horses still being in the spine field, I ended up landing in a huge uphill field just across the road from Jon's field. Jon and Amy retrieved me and gave me a head start on the hike back up the mountain to retrieve the car. Thanks again Jon and Amy for the retrieve. It was still blowing strong at launch at 7:15P. Dinner at Sal's in Stanardsville hit the spot after a warm day on the mountain. Bacil

[mcgowantk]

Mark - thanks for posting the video. Good job bringing it around. This was a great lesson for all of us. I need to work on my grunting!

I have run into similar problems at other fields too. Most notably at High Rock when I once ended up dragging a tip trying to stay out of the forest when turning onto my final. This is a good issue to be aware of whenever we are flying - especially when conditions are strong.

Take care and hope to get out flying soon.

Tom McGowan

[XCanytime]

In fact, the field(s) I have pointed out are visible in the first 10 seconds of Mark's video on the right hand side. The bend in Rosebrook road is also visible in a clump of trees. Next time I fly Daniels I will plan on landing there. Bacil

[rlweber]

I too could identify with the the spot you found yourself in. The video was very educational. As to the grunting....one time at Woodstock after I landed I was confronted with the accusation that my radio was stuck on broadcast. I disputed the assertion until I was told what I said as I landed through turbulent conditions
I landed in that field by Rosebrook on another windy day at Daniels. I received a friendly greeting from a neighbor. LZ suck has gotten me in trouble in the past.
Randy

[markc]

Hey, grunting was a requirement of my training! And thank god that it was enough to propel me over that tree on the right, phew!

(Yeah, I know, you can't make light of stuff like this. But given the close call, a bit of dark humor helps sometimes!)

Thinking back to a flight in Oct of 2015: I was in the air at High Rock when things similarly went to hell. Took one look at that narrow LZ, and the trees that line it, every one of them boilin' and shakin'... I didn't give it a second thought, immediately bailed to the field just south of the tree line. It was still a handful getting in, but MUCH better than the primary.

So kinda wondering why I didn't do the same at Daniels? Don't have an easy answer for that... But maybe I was LOOKING for something that I could use to convince myself that the primary would be "doable"? Even if it wasn't?

Good piece of advice : You shouldn't put yourself in a situation where you have few/one options when things are hitting the fan.

PS: Forgot to mention: Both Bacil and I were aware of Walt's landing, and we worked our way out over the field he landed in, taking turns to get a good look. Our initial concerns were dispelled once we saw Walt moving his glider, yay!

[XCanytime]

.
So kinda wondering why I didn't do the same at Daniels? Don't have an easy answer for that... But maybe I was LOOKING for something that I could use to convince myself that the primary would be "doable"? Even if it wasn't?

Could it have been that a knucklehead had already landed there before you seemingly w/o any problem? Bacil