Pulpit MONDAY 9/6

[Dunegoon]

Looks like a number of pilots headed to the Pulpit.

ETA 11:00

[XCanytime]

Got to the Pulpit around 9A to clear skies and light winds at launch. Set up and waited for pilots to arrive. Allan arrived right at 10A. Charley arrived around 11:30A closely followed by new club member Tom Shaffer, who I invited down from near Reading PA for his 1st flight at the Pulpit. By this time conditions had gotten stronger, so I opted to launch w/ Charley, Allan, and Tom as wire crew. Had a good launch just before noon and got above the ridge easily to the south. It got real cross from the SW shortly thereafter, and I was on the deck heading back towards launch. Saw a SW @ 19 MPH crosswind on the GPS. Back by launch clung to lift and headed back south. Found some lift away from the ridge. Tried thermalling, but the lift was narrow. So flew upwind in the lift lines out into the valley. Out in the valley ran into widespread lift, so I cruised north, gaining all the while. Then I almost got the basetube ripped out of my hands. Went negative in the saddle, almost banging into the keel, big wire slap, and the basetube pitched up quickly. Got back on the ridge and saw a W @ 21 MPH headwind on the GPS. Finally found some cohesive lift and climbed to 4K' MSL and went OTB. Wanted to find a large open field and get down on the ground. Searched the area around Lemar Road and the elementary school, and I spotted an "airstrip" perpendicular to what turned out to be Parnell Road. The wind lines in the crops indicated W winds on the ground and strong, and this strip faced directly W. I expected turbulence over the strip, and I got it. Final approach was squirrelly, even with the bar stuffed. Decided to wheel it in; didn't want to flare in those conditions. Broke down next to an adjacent cornfield. Charley graciously retrieved me. Thanks Charley. Back at launch the Gardinator was present, and conditions were blown out. As time went by, Charley bagged it and departed, the Gardinator stuck around to help launches, Rich showed up a 2nd time to help launches. We got Allan off when conditions finally started to back down around 6:45P. He had a good launch and went way up w/o turning once. We waited a while before helping Tom and his big bird Falcon 195 stabilize on the ramp. It was still strong at 7P. Tom found a mellower window and got off safely and went up w/o a problem. At this point the Gardinator, Rich, and I called it a day and hit the road. Bacil

https://ayvri.com/scene/z15y60z0jx/ckt9 ... 6iog55jufd

[XCanytime]

On 2nd thought, after discussion w/ Charley, I think that the widespread lift I experienced away from the ridge and the associated turbulence was the actual passage of the 'weak' cold front thru the area. It would be interesting to compare the takeoff times of the Woodstock fliers w/ my takeoff time of 11:50A, and if any of them experienced any chop similar to what I experienced. I have a feeling that the Woodstock fliers prudently waited, while I was racing the imminent Pulpit blowout and took to the air into the transitioning airmass. Bacil

[LikeToFly]

Sounds like an exciting day! Congrats on your flights!

I was camped at Hyner, there 4 pilots soared in the mid to late morning, then conditions were blown out till around 6 pm. I snuck in a half hour flight as it was calming down at around 6.

Let's fly soon!

Aron

[Danny Brotto]

Bacil,

Here's a data point. I had just launched my sailplane about that time. The tow was rough, the first few thermals were rough (but not crazy, but as I climbed through 4.5K MSL all hell broke loose. I was being tossed around and just along for the ride in an 800 pound aircraft with aerodynamic control surfaces. This was not an errant thermal but a swath of nasty air; it was crazy. There was a significant horizontal wind shear. I opened boards and descended; I'll admit to being rattled. While at lower altitudes things were more manageable there was still the occasional rough spot. In sort order I had had enough and landed. Other pilots reported anywhere from "a little rough" to "I was scared" (the later from an experienced instructor.)

Wind shear can create an area of smooth air (as in a sea breeze convergence) but if disturbed can break down into nasty eddies of turbulence. I suspect that's what you may have encountered... both smooth and nasty air.

It did settle down (mostly) as the day went on.

The sailplane pilots out of Front Royal reported wave to over 10 K MSL. I don't believe what were were seeing at the glider port on Monday was wave induced rotor but rather caused by strong wind shear.

Danny Brotto

[krryerson]

Bacil,
We did experience at Woodstock that the wind got light after proximate 1:00PM.
Mark had to wait proximate 30 minutes to launch.
I picked a great cycle and launch into lift.
My launch was at 2:29 PM and had a 2:15 hrs flight.
Never experienced any crazy going on and never had a problem staying up.
Though, pretty sure I hit some very light waves, but nothing crazy.
The thermals was more oval in my opinion, over the top and not bad. That was my experience.
The LZ was also not bad. One of my better days at WS. Actually a really good day in my opinion.
Knit

[XCanytime]

Thanks Danny and Knut for the on-site "intel" on your flight experiences and flight timelines. Just curious, was any wind shear warnings in any forecasts for yesterday? And if so, where can you access these forecasts? Thanks in advance. Bacil

[1otIII2007]

This was my evening flight at the Pulpit on Monday 6 Sept 21
https://ayvri.com/scene/0jgrreyeko/ckta ... 69t3fv3f5q
I had waypoints set in my Flytec to fly down the ridge about 5 miles and back to launch. I did it in 34 minutes. It was good solid ridge lift but not much thermal activity. It was glass off conditions after having been blown out.

Allan B.

[markc]

Mark had to wait proximate 30 minutes to launch.

Damn!

I thought that could not be possible. But a check of the GoPro vid shows exactly 28 minutes on launch. Deep fry me and stick a fork in, I was a complete POTATO, sheesh.



In my defense: We had seen all those freight trains roll thru, followed by much nicer stuff. So I was primed for a slot that would be full, motion on both sides, yada-yada-yada. But I wasn't seeing that on launch. A few pick-ups had the glider heavy on my shoulders... And I've been-there/done-that, did not like how it felt. And when winds *did* pick up, they were 90-cross from the right (bouncing off the right side, winds west-cross).

So I simply was not happy with what I was seeing. At all.

In fact, I thought that my post-baked-potato launch absolutely sucked. Didn't have the energy that I wanted. Felt like I was finessing my glider out, rather than a purposeful launch on a thermally/squirrely day. Like, a 2 out of 10.

Checked with my launch crew afterwards and that was not their impression: "Good launch, what are you talking about?". So I'm somewhat happy about that... But I still know what I felt, it was NOT a go-for-it-dude launch. And that's because I did not like the conditions, even though I ultimately launched into them.

Hmmm....

Tom suggested waiting for a lighter cycle and just taking one, which was good advice. But given the weight of a T2C, and the fact that I haven't launched on a mostly-just-thermal day at WStock in a very long time... I also wasn't greatly comfortable with that. I think I said something like "Ok, what the hell" before finally picking up and charging off.

And let's face it, that's a pretty pathetic rallying cry on a challenging day. If you're gonna go, ya damn well better be 110% committed.

[krryerson]

Mark,
It was smart you waited and in my opinion it was very challenging conditions at the launch during that time period.
Seems like it got much better later, special when I launched.
Having a light Gecko, with “Side-cable/luff-line compensation system eliminates unpleasant wire slack while launching, and at the same time guarantees solid pitch stability without compromising” or a lighter S3 for that, makes it all easier on days like this, on launch.
Knut

[Danny Brotto]

Bacil,

I didn't do a thorough evaluation of the weather that day but my SKEW-T app gives some clues for Monday. At 11:00 AM local for Hagerstown, there was a strong inversion at 3 K MSL followed by strong convection to 5K MSL. Winds at the top of the inversion were ~ 12 knots westerly rising to 30 knots at 5K MSL out of the NW. Winds then dropped to 25 knots at ~ 8K MSL and then began to increase.

The strong inversion with the 18 knots of wind speed increase over 2,000 feet likely contributed to the shear. The fact that the wind dropped above the convective layer may also have contributed to the unpleasantness.

Danny Brotto

[XCanytime]

Thanks for the info Danny. Inversion layers are notorious for shear turbulence. Of course, the sky was also telling me that 2 different airmasses were present when I took off. Locally little wispies were popping up here and there, and in the distance a wall of cumies were approaching from the WNW. After I encountered the bone jarring turbulence, the nice cumies reached the McConnellsburg valley. I was then able to get the climb to 4K'+ MSL and dive OTB. Of course running downwind I flew towards the boundary that had just passed by. What was I thinking! What I was thinking was to land NOW, and in the safest place possible. And the safest place I deemed was OTB. Bacil

[XCanytime]

Mark thanks for the honest appraisal of your thoughts during your launch process on Monday at Woodstock. I went almost 24 years w/o a blown launch until March of 2017. Since then, I've had 4 blown launches in the last 4.5 years at 3 different sites. Complacency is one enemy of the aging pilot. Some others are fatigue/sleep deprivation and cold temps. I haven't flown Woodstock since my launch accident of 1/1/2019, and I will only launch from the newer ramp at the Pulpit since my aborted/blown launch of 1/20/2018 from the gravel pad. I plan to return to Woodstock on a solid NW day. No thanks w/ a west cross. That's the Pulpit for me. If too strong there, then it's Elizabethville. Bacil