Weekend 6/18 - 6/19 flying

[XCanytime]

Looking like a great weekend coming up. I'm targeting the SAC Saturday (NNW) and the Pulpit Sunday (WNW). Who can fly and which days? Bacil

[1otIII2007]

It is looking very windy on Saturday then it backs off a bit for Sunday. I would think the Pulpit would be blown out Sat and Sun. Sac might work later Sat and Ravens Haven on Sun. Bacil if you want to fly the Sac on Sat early I could be chase crew. Then I would like to fly Ravens Haven on Sunday and maybe fly to the Sac.

Allan B.

[XCanytime]

Agree on Saturday. Now looking like a Woodstock weekend. Bacil

[Bari]

Yeah baby! Anyone interested in tomorrow evening flight?

[markc]

I have two narrow windows when I might be able to fly in upcoming days, late Fri or late Sat. Eyeing WStock for both, but can't commit yet....

[RichH]

Im looking at a very late flight on Saturday ..Thinking of launching after 4pm ..Rich

[wmelo]

Hoping for WS this Friday
I am still being dealing with post Covid symptoms: not major just very annoying… hoping to be up to the task

[RichH]

Looking good late today (Sat) and Sunday looking good as well. Planning on going out late this afternoon 3-4 pm hoping to fly the last few hours before sunset and possibly staying at Woodstock overnight to fly again on Sunday..Rich

[markc]

Change of weekend plans for me... So I'm now hoping to fly on Sunday at Woodstock.

[markc]

Now leaning towards a later arrival (noon-ish+) at WS tomorrow, given that the sfc gust factor seems strong until late afternoon. Will adjust if need be based on the 'casts tomorrow morning... Crossing fingers that this will be a good one!

[XCanytime]

https://ayvri.com/scene/z15y60z0jx/cl4m ... 6qy3x2equv

[XCanytime]

Stayed overnight in Woodstock Saturday night to get an early start on Sunday. Got to launch around 9:15A. Light conditions on launch. About 10 minutes later the early release occurred, and it picked up and blew moderate to strong for the next hour. Then it scaled back to light conditions, and continued until and past Bari's arrival around 10:40A. Once Joe Schad showed up right at 11A I staged on launch and waited for a good cycle to blow thru. It stayed light, and I should have waited, but I didn't. I had what they call get thereitis, which is not good to have. So I took a light cycle and proceeded to launch. According to Bari, my run was weak, and my nose was high. I got airborne, but w/ not a lot of airspeed. The nose weathervaned to the left, and I pulled in a little and shifted my weight right. The glider yawed back straight, but I am deep down in the slot, and the treeline at the bottom of the slot is fast approaching. I flew the glider, and pushed out ever so slightly to porpoise over the bushy canopy that stands above the rest of the canopy on the left side of the slot. I cleared the bushy canopy by 5'. That was way too close.

Once clear of the mountain, I turned left and stair-stepped my way up to above the ridge. After dilly dallying around a little, I decided to head up to Signal Knob to kill a half hour. Not much happening up that way, so I turned around and caught up w/ Bari SW of launch. We headed together towards Waonaze Peak, me on the ridge, and Bari out away from the ridge. It took me 3 attempts to "climb" the hill up to Waonaze Peak. Once above it, I found good lift above the 3 rockpiles just north of the Peak, and climbed up to almost 4K' MSL. Bari was exploring the area down there as well, and since his radio wasn't working, I had to use hand signals to gesture to him, suggesting we head back NE and go OTB up by the Strasburg Reservoir/Signal Knob area. Bari followed me most of the way, then turned back around to land. I spent a frustrating long time up by the reservoir, trying to climb to at least 4K' MSL, erstwhile drifting OTB towards Front Royal Airport. But it was not to be.

So I decided to head back to the bridge field and land. By this time I had been in the air for 2.5 hours, and it was a very active flight. I started feeling pretty fatigued, so I wanted to have an easy glide back. Got my cage rattled real good climbing in a thermal, so I beelined it away from there and headed towards launch. Wanted an easy glide out to the bridge field, so I climbed in a good thermal upwind to 3400' MSL, and since the GPS registered NNW winds at 14 MPH, I flew crosswind towards the bridge field, reaching it at 1900' MSL, 1200' AGL. Had some turbulence on approach, but executed an accurate aircraft approach into the field, and had a nice landing into a WNW wind. 3 hours in the air, my longest flight in quite a while. A fun way to spend Father's Day 2022. Bari came back down to the field to retrieve his packed up glider, giving me a body ride up to launch.

Up at launch Mark Cavanaugh had broken down, not liking what he saw (or heard - Bari detailed turbulence that caused him to smack the keel and rip out his earpiece/mic setup on his radio). So we sat around, chewing the fat and enjoying the panoramic view from launch for a good while, then heading back home. Bacil

[markc]

Yeah, it was an early-bird-gets-worm day. Or at least, if you weren't in the proper mindset to be patient

I wasn't. Arrived not long after 12:00, and watched conditions build all afternoon. I think KOKV reported 30+ gust (surface!!!) on their 5:30 report. I had already hit the road by then.

The hourlies at Winchester and Martinsburg definitely DID back down by 7-8pm. I just wasn't willing to wait things out for that long. Shoulda gotten there early, or shoulda arrived around 5. Sigh.

Bari's reports of hitting the keel twice were also a bit concerning

Sometimes you have to stick it out in hopes of a late day flight, have faith that things will improve. I couldn't pull that off this time around, grrr!

[Bari]

Brutal Sunday Flight video.

https://youtu.be/0QzXobZleng

[RichH]

Just a word to the wise..Flying Hang Gliders at Woodstock in more than 30 degrees cross with from the NNW or W is asking for trouble. You are basically gambling with your chance to get out of the slot cleanly and if you navigate the slot flying the ridge can and in most cases will be very turbulent especially the zone between 100-200'ft above launch until you clear the ridge heading out to land. In many cases you will experience mechanical turbulence right until you enter your landing pattern. The fatality we experience recently was in such conditions yet pilots continue to fly in my opinion unsafe conditions. Flying Woodstock in 30 degrees cross with higher winds will eventually be a recipe for an accident. My experience has been that the best conditions have been from 290 degrees to 330 degrees a 20 degree swing from straight in from either direction. I most recently viewed a pilot who launched in winds that were swinging from 270 -280 and had a very close call clearing the slot. The bravado Ive seen most recently ..Pilots launching in and flying in unreasonable condition is just "fool hardy" there is no other word to describe it. If Hang Gliding is going to survive in this area its going to have be under the tutelage and strong governance of experienced pilots to prevent further issues down the road. I was very glad to make my most recent trip up to High Rock and felt it has very strong possibilities to be reinstated as a regular flying site ( As long as we comply with the Camp David Restrictions) but the one necessity is re-educating pilots in the technique of a cliff launch and the crew in how to launch a pilot for the Rock in varying conditions. We can't allow ignorance and bravado and buffoonery be the rule we live by. I would like to see hang gliding survive since I have enjoyed flying hang gliders since I was 18 years old but feel this current time for hang gliding in the DC area is entering its most critical phase..Im seeing pilots who claim to be knowledgable trying to goat new and inexperience pilots into flying in conditions that put them all at risk. I hope I can be excused for using such blunt language but I feel its necessary. All the best and continue to fly safe! Rich Hiegel #26060