Elizabethville Saturday Dec. 17th
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Re: Elizabethville Saturday Dec. 17th
Arranged to meet Allan at Elizabethville. Arrived at launch just after 10A. Already soarable. Set up and waited for Allan to arrive. Met local Steve Snyder, who reminded me of John Dutton of Yellowstone. Allan showed up around 11:30A, and assisted me staging for launch. Had a somewhat interesting launch, just after noon. There was a light coating of snow, w/ grass showing say 50% of the area, so the footing wasn't solid. The glider started lifting nicely, so I cleared Allan, and started carefully walking and controlling the nose angle. Got lifted up, and the glider yawed right and rolled a little. Then I was lifted straight up and things were fine.
Turned left, and got up easily. Gained up to 1K' over, and enjoyed the view. Spotted a mature bald eagle a couple hundred feet below me. Putzed around the local area, way out away from the ridge, thermalling here and there. I spotted the Carsonville Airport to the south, and noted its location. I found some lift to get me to 3K'+ MSL, then beelined it for the airport.
A pretty substantial headwind aloft had me doing a quasi figure 8 approach, and I had a nice landing in breezy conditions on the ground right by the large aviation windsock. Carried over to the open hangar and parked the glider by the Cessna 172 parked in the hangar. Greg Gusler drove up, and we had a nice chat. Currently in the US Army, he's home on leave for a while, and is the main pilot of the 172, since his father doesn't fly much anymore. I secured a ride back to launch w/ him, and we talked aviation the whole way.
Back at launch Allan was setting up, and I assisted him in an excellent launch around 2:50P. He got up easy, and got over an hour, getting to 3200'+ MSL, and landed in Dave Keefer's large field on Earth Drive off of Mountain House Road. Picked him up, and had to engage the 4WD on the way up to launch. Wolf Pond Road had an icy incline that the F250 w/ no weight in the bed couldn't make it up the incline. It's a little scary when a huge truck slides down an incline and the brakes don't hold. Thanks to Allan for calming my nerves.
It wasn't that cold. Where were the pilots? Bacil
Turned left, and got up easily. Gained up to 1K' over, and enjoyed the view. Spotted a mature bald eagle a couple hundred feet below me. Putzed around the local area, way out away from the ridge, thermalling here and there. I spotted the Carsonville Airport to the south, and noted its location. I found some lift to get me to 3K'+ MSL, then beelined it for the airport.
A pretty substantial headwind aloft had me doing a quasi figure 8 approach, and I had a nice landing in breezy conditions on the ground right by the large aviation windsock. Carried over to the open hangar and parked the glider by the Cessna 172 parked in the hangar. Greg Gusler drove up, and we had a nice chat. Currently in the US Army, he's home on leave for a while, and is the main pilot of the 172, since his father doesn't fly much anymore. I secured a ride back to launch w/ him, and we talked aviation the whole way.
Back at launch Allan was setting up, and I assisted him in an excellent launch around 2:50P. He got up easy, and got over an hour, getting to 3200'+ MSL, and landed in Dave Keefer's large field on Earth Drive off of Mountain House Road. Picked him up, and had to engage the 4WD on the way up to launch. Wolf Pond Road had an icy incline that the F250 w/ no weight in the bed couldn't make it up the incline. It's a little scary when a huge truck slides down an incline and the brakes don't hold. Thanks to Allan for calming my nerves.
It wasn't that cold. Where were the pilots? Bacil
Re: Elizabethville Saturday Dec. 17th
The last time I landed there. Bacil. http://www.chgpa.org/forums/download/fi ... &mode=view