Smithsburg & High Rock Sunday 12/4

[Spark]

I'm planning to be at Smithsburg for some training hill time at about 12:30 pm. I might be up for High Rock a bit later in the afternoon (e.g. if I had a tandem to do).

[CraginS]

[quote="Spark"]I'm planning to be at Smithsburg for some training hill time at about 12:30 pm. I might be up for High Rock a bit later in the afternoon (e.g. if I had a tandem to do).[/quote]

Reminder to others who see Spark's plan:
Don't go fly early at HR. 10 NM TFR should expire at 1:00 p,m.today. From NOTAM FDC 5/1100:"EFFECTIVE 0512031340 UTC (0840 LOCAL 12/03/05) UNTIL 0512041800 UTC (1300 LOCAL 12/04/05)"
Be sure to call 1-800-WX-BRIEF(Flight Services) to confirm that things are back to normal in the afternoon.

Cragin

[markc]

I plan to head to High Rock today, ETA around noon.

Some of the forecasts are a bit strong, but the winds
headed our way (western PA and Ohio) are all 5-10
at the moment..... So I think it's worth a try!

Anyone else planning to give it a try?

Mark C.
301-807-5414

[Flying Lobster]

I'll be there, my frisky ponies! (Craig Furguson crack of the whip).

marc

[Matthew]

NOTAM expires at 1:00pm today. We're heading up to HR-- ETA 12:15. Shouldn't be as cold as yesterday.

Matthew

[Danny Brotto]

I've played "frozen-finger" duty too many times in my flying career so I opted out of the flying festivities yesterday at the 'burg. Instead, I performed launch crew and shuttle-meister duties for the heartier souls.

Looking at HR this afternoon but at 9:45 in B'more, it's still raining/snowing/sleeting. Will continue to watch the situation. Some reports of it being breezy too, but I don't think that will play.

TFR is reported to up until 1:00 pm. Please call WXBRIEF to confirm TFR expiration before launching!

Danny Brotto
410 274 5345 (cell)
410 882 2358 (home)

[Danny Brotto]

I've played "frozen-finger" duty too many times in my flying career so I opted out of the flying festivities yesterday at the 'burg. Instead, I performed launch crew and shuttle-meister duties for the heartier souls.

Looking at HR this afternoon but at 9:45 in B'more, it's still raining/snowing/sleeting. Will continue to watch the situation. Some reports of it being breezy too, but I don't think that will play.

TFR is reported to up until 1:00 pm. Please call WXBRIEF to confirm TFR expiration before launching!

Danny Brotto
410 274 5345 (cell)
410 882 2358 (home)

[brianvh]

Woke up with a hang over from after concert celebration. That and a gray sky with no birds singing kept me puttering around instead of heading out. When finally left to get some work done around 1 pm the sun was out, the birds were singing, why does this always happen? May have to make a kamikazi drive up to the Rock after putting in an hour of work. darn it.

[brianvh]

Just looked at satellite image. Looks overcast up there. May pass due to time constraints...but am sure to get a report saying how gorgeous it was.

[markc]

Marc F, Danny B, and myself up at High Rock today....
It was iced over, and socked in. We hung for a few
hours, put down salt, BS'd, the usual hang waiting stuff.
Wind speed and direction were good for much of the
time we were there.

I'd hoped for the conditions to improve fairly quickly,
because I had to be back home by 5:00. Left after
about 3 hours, not long after Marc and Danny bailed,
because the clouds wouldn't lift for more than a few
minutes at a time.

Wouldn't you know, there was sun in Sabillasville on
the drive back, and from the Rt 550/Rt 15 interchange
I could see that things were looking pretty good to
the west. Rats!

I think if people were in a gambling mood, there might
have been a good payoff right about.... now!

Mark C.

(I'll try to convince myself it would have been too strong)

[Spark]

Smithsburg was just about dead calm. I went there with Jim Lewis, a H2/P2 looking to get back into the saddle. We practiced forward PG launches (and picking the wing out of the corn stubble) for a few hours. Laszlo joined us, but elected not to fly. Eddie came out for awhile and so did Bruce and his grandson.

The wind even blew from the east for awhile. I did a tailwind launch and almost completed a 180 to land back uphill. I stayed nice and warm ... as long as I kept moving up and down the hill.

Although the visibility improved, the wind never blew from the W.

I enjoyed the day and the company. That corn stubble has gotta go ...

[Danny Brotto]

As yes, we conducted a membership meeting of the ?Get a life? club at HR today

It was a ?tease? sort of day, Mark. Thought for sure that you and/or Marc would get to fly! I suspect there was a window of opportunity between it finally clearing and the wind picking up too much. It became progressively clearer and drier but windier on the ride home. There?s always next week!

Spark, take good care of Jim Lewis. He dabbled with hang gliders and paragliders maybe 10 years ago. I encouraged him to get in touch with you after he expressed interest in getting back into paragliding. He?s a talented aviator and teaches aeronautical engineering at Pax River; a good guy!

Danny Brotto

[charlieg]

My 5 year old (Zane) and I drove up to HR today because 1) I'd never been there and wanted to check it out; 2) I wanted to see some of the hang gliders launch; and 3) I needed to get Zane out of the house and thought a walk in the woods would be just the ticket. Well, my little Z-3 barely made it up the snow and ice covered road up to the launch site. We arrived around 2:30 and had the place to ourselves. It was 31 degrees and whatever fell from the sky the night before was still there on the ground. Some others came and went while we were there - none with gliders (that I could see). The launch rock itself was so covered with a thin sheet of ice that I dared not try to stand on it for fear I'd slip over the edge. Ice skates would have been needed if anyone wanted to launch at that time! But objectives 1 and 3 accomplished! Sounds like from the above posts that things got better as the afternoon progressed, but I'm surprised!
Charlie