Woodstock on 1/2/07
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
-
silverwings
- Posts: 1243
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:29 pm
- Location: Bethesda, MD
- Contact:
Woodstock on 1/2/07
It's looking like a good day for Woodstock on Tuesday. Any other interested pilots?
john middleton (202)409-2574 c
Ausse PG Pilot Needs Ride to WS
If you plan to fly at Woodstock, please call visiting Aussie PG pilot David Leith a call at 703-455-3214 and give him the Beta on how to get to Woodstock, et cet. He's staying in Springfield and would appreciiate meeting ups with someone for the ride out to Woodstock.
I have commitments on Tuesday and Karen has to work. RATS!!!!
Thanks,
Matthew
I have commitments on Tuesday and Karen has to work. RATS!!!!
Thanks,
Matthew
I picked up Ozzie pilot David Leith at his in-laws' in Springfield. (Good thing I did: Beltway, 66 and 395 were all clobbered with an overturned tractor-trailer; his nephew gave me directions for interior routes over the phone.)
We got to launch about 1130, found Nelson, Janni, and Dave Bodner setting up HGs. The wind was already backing down as Janni launched Bruce's 225 Falcon and stayed up. So I launched PG, scratched low for awhile, but got up once I saw Dave above the ridge in his PG (guess I needed the encouragement). (About this time, I saw Janni landing out about five fingers north - halfway to Strasburg.) HG pilots Bruce Engen, Tom McGowan, Pete Schuman, Shawn and Mike Leigh arrived just before we launched. Mark Cavanaugh called and was encouraged to hurry...
Dave proceeded to show me where the thermals were at my home site for 90 minutes and 1800 over launch. Nice gentle fat thermals that we circled in together - this was only my second long thermalling flight on PG ever! Had fun sharing the abundant lift with a half-dozen HGs later. Went out to land 'cause I was hungry - hadn't eaten since early breakfast. Had to work a bit to get down as the LZ was lifting off. Laszlo had called earlier and was upset that he might be missing the window. I saw what I thought was his PG coming out to land, but it was really his wife Magda. Lazlo landed awhile later. Ellis called and was REALLY upset that she might have missed the best lift. Saw Joe Schad and Mark Cavanaugh setting up HGs at launch and it was still blowing in very gently. Yet another David, John Middleton's radio-controlled HGstudent on his first mountain flight, entertained us with an exciting brush through the trees at the bottom of the LZ, but he landed on his feet. John flew his PG after that.
I judged that things were shutting down and elected to go to Front Royal and fly the trike with David. We flew over launch about 4:40 and saw one HG still on the ridge (a topless?). When we got back, David was well chilled from the 55 mph breeze in the trike. I took Mike's friend Rhonda up for a short hop at sunset. Danny Brotto was there, too - he had been flying a sailplane from Front Royal and had contacted mountain wave up to 9,000 feet! Said he saw the gaggle on the ridge.
As we were driving back to Springfield, got a call from Ellis saying they had gotten Laszlo's gear out of a tree where the powerline cut crosses the trail north of launch. He had gotten himself out of the tree by the time people arrived from the LZ. She said he had been scratching too low... We hadn't noticed the PG in the tree - so much for airborne search-and-rescue...
Dave had a great time, is very impressed with Woodstock and we are all invited to come flying in Perth, Western Australia. Wants to fly again during the next week or two, so mid-week flyers please give him a call and a ride. Anybody going to Daniel's today?
Thank you, President Ford! Requiescat in pace. - Hugh
We got to launch about 1130, found Nelson, Janni, and Dave Bodner setting up HGs. The wind was already backing down as Janni launched Bruce's 225 Falcon and stayed up. So I launched PG, scratched low for awhile, but got up once I saw Dave above the ridge in his PG (guess I needed the encouragement). (About this time, I saw Janni landing out about five fingers north - halfway to Strasburg.) HG pilots Bruce Engen, Tom McGowan, Pete Schuman, Shawn and Mike Leigh arrived just before we launched. Mark Cavanaugh called and was encouraged to hurry...
Dave proceeded to show me where the thermals were at my home site for 90 minutes and 1800 over launch. Nice gentle fat thermals that we circled in together - this was only my second long thermalling flight on PG ever! Had fun sharing the abundant lift with a half-dozen HGs later. Went out to land 'cause I was hungry - hadn't eaten since early breakfast. Had to work a bit to get down as the LZ was lifting off. Laszlo had called earlier and was upset that he might be missing the window. I saw what I thought was his PG coming out to land, but it was really his wife Magda. Lazlo landed awhile later. Ellis called and was REALLY upset that she might have missed the best lift. Saw Joe Schad and Mark Cavanaugh setting up HGs at launch and it was still blowing in very gently. Yet another David, John Middleton's radio-controlled HGstudent on his first mountain flight, entertained us with an exciting brush through the trees at the bottom of the LZ, but he landed on his feet. John flew his PG after that.
I judged that things were shutting down and elected to go to Front Royal and fly the trike with David. We flew over launch about 4:40 and saw one HG still on the ridge (a topless?). When we got back, David was well chilled from the 55 mph breeze in the trike. I took Mike's friend Rhonda up for a short hop at sunset. Danny Brotto was there, too - he had been flying a sailplane from Front Royal and had contacted mountain wave up to 9,000 feet! Said he saw the gaggle on the ridge.
As we were driving back to Springfield, got a call from Ellis saying they had gotten Laszlo's gear out of a tree where the powerline cut crosses the trail north of launch. He had gotten himself out of the tree by the time people arrived from the LZ. She said he had been scratching too low... We hadn't noticed the PG in the tree - so much for airborne search-and-rescue...
Dave had a great time, is very impressed with Woodstock and we are all invited to come flying in Perth, Western Australia. Wants to fly again during the next week or two, so mid-week flyers please give him a call and a ride. Anybody going to Daniel's today?
Thank you, President Ford! Requiescat in pace. - Hugh
Landing on a tree
Copy of my post on the HG forum
I managed to talk Magda, my wife, into coming out to fly with me at WS. Because I wanted to make sure the conditions are not too strong for her, we arrived at 1:30 pm. By then Hugh and David (from Australia) spent an hour in the air getting as high as 1800 over. First, we waited for three HGs to get in the air, then Magda launched, then me (John Middleton helped when my lines got stuck in the rocks at the first attempt, many thanks). It was 2;10 by the time I launched, and just before I saw Hugh and David sink out. We both gained about 500 over launch -- Magda over the valley and I closer to the ridge. Magda sunk out, and a lot of HGs also sunk out. After about 25 minutes I sunk out, too. We packed, and Magda got a ride up, to bring our car down. Hugh helped her to find the way back to the LZ. Meanwhile, I saw John Middleton launching with a PG, and he went nicely up, so conditions started to look better. A couple of HGs also launched, and were also gaining altitude.
We got back to launch at 3:50. John Middleton landed. Ellis was there at launch, she just arrived, and heard from Hugh that we are coming up (Hugh and David left). Ellis launched first, and stayed up. Then Magda launched, but she had trouble catching lift, did not want to stick close to the ridge (despite my helpful advice over the radio), and slowly started to sink. By the time it was my turn to launch (at about 4:05), the wind was almost completely gone. I switched to forward launch, and after some failed half-attempts managed to take off alright. I was desperate to catch Magda before she completely sinks out. Well, I did not succeed -- she was already above the LZ and about to land by then, and I believe Ellis was going to the LZ to land, too. There were still three HGs in the air, I believe -- Mark Cavanough, Tom McGowan, and Nelson Lewis.
I started scraping very close to the trees, catching tiny lift and moving sideways without losing much altitude. Made two turns around launch, then moved to the right (toward Strasbourg), hoping that the sun hits the slope at a better angle there. Started to gain in very weak lift. I was getting closer to the top of the ridge, when suddenly I hit sink. I hit a tree top before I could make a left turn. The glider surged forward, I pulled the brakes, glider went back over my head, but then I hit the next tree top. I knew right away that this is too much, lifted my leg and crossed my arms in front of my face. I flew into the branches at a fairly slow speed, and came to a stop, hanging about three yards from the trunk of a tree, and about 30 feet from the ground. Grabbed some branches and pulled myself closer to the trunk, slowly, inch by inch, watching whether the branches holding the glider will break or not. Luckily the branches held, and I managed to grab the trunk, first with my legs, then with my hands. Called Magda on the radio to say I am ok. At the LZ, Ellis noticed what happened, and Mark and Tom also saw it from the air. They landed and put together a rescue party (with Pete Lehmann joining/leading).
After being secure standing on a tree trunk, I started to unbuckle my harness, while also pulling on some of the lines so the glider gets less stuck on the tree. I figured if I leave the harness hanging on one side of the lines, we might be able to reach it with a long stick from the ground. When I let go of the harness, it swung away, and actually pulled part of the glider down, hanging at about 15 feet over the ground. At that point Nelson Lewis passed overhead, and suggested that I stay on the tree (he yelled something like "stay on the f...ing tree!!!"). I was pretty confident, however, that I could climb down with very little risk. After about five minutes of monkeying, I was safely on the ground. Checked myself -- not a scratch. So far, so good.
The rescue party arrived within about five minutes. Pete got his ropes out and started to throw it in a bundle toward the harness. He managed to loop it over several times (seems like he is a natural cowboy), but we could not grab the other half of the line. Tom and Mark then started to poke the harness with a really long branch, and after a while pulled the other part of Pete's line down. We then pulled the harness down, and then pulled the glider down. We got back to the parking lot at launch just when it started to get dark.
At home I examined the glider. No line break, but a 20 inch rip at the lower side of the glider, around the middle. Exactly along the stitches. I glued it together. Will see how it holds. Seems like a small price to pay for a stupid mistake.
Lesson: the trees need more clearance, otherwise they grab you.
Many, many thanks to the impressive rescue party.
Cheers,
Laszlo
I managed to talk Magda, my wife, into coming out to fly with me at WS. Because I wanted to make sure the conditions are not too strong for her, we arrived at 1:30 pm. By then Hugh and David (from Australia) spent an hour in the air getting as high as 1800 over. First, we waited for three HGs to get in the air, then Magda launched, then me (John Middleton helped when my lines got stuck in the rocks at the first attempt, many thanks). It was 2;10 by the time I launched, and just before I saw Hugh and David sink out. We both gained about 500 over launch -- Magda over the valley and I closer to the ridge. Magda sunk out, and a lot of HGs also sunk out. After about 25 minutes I sunk out, too. We packed, and Magda got a ride up, to bring our car down. Hugh helped her to find the way back to the LZ. Meanwhile, I saw John Middleton launching with a PG, and he went nicely up, so conditions started to look better. A couple of HGs also launched, and were also gaining altitude.
We got back to launch at 3:50. John Middleton landed. Ellis was there at launch, she just arrived, and heard from Hugh that we are coming up (Hugh and David left). Ellis launched first, and stayed up. Then Magda launched, but she had trouble catching lift, did not want to stick close to the ridge (despite my helpful advice over the radio), and slowly started to sink. By the time it was my turn to launch (at about 4:05), the wind was almost completely gone. I switched to forward launch, and after some failed half-attempts managed to take off alright. I was desperate to catch Magda before she completely sinks out. Well, I did not succeed -- she was already above the LZ and about to land by then, and I believe Ellis was going to the LZ to land, too. There were still three HGs in the air, I believe -- Mark Cavanough, Tom McGowan, and Nelson Lewis.
I started scraping very close to the trees, catching tiny lift and moving sideways without losing much altitude. Made two turns around launch, then moved to the right (toward Strasbourg), hoping that the sun hits the slope at a better angle there. Started to gain in very weak lift. I was getting closer to the top of the ridge, when suddenly I hit sink. I hit a tree top before I could make a left turn. The glider surged forward, I pulled the brakes, glider went back over my head, but then I hit the next tree top. I knew right away that this is too much, lifted my leg and crossed my arms in front of my face. I flew into the branches at a fairly slow speed, and came to a stop, hanging about three yards from the trunk of a tree, and about 30 feet from the ground. Grabbed some branches and pulled myself closer to the trunk, slowly, inch by inch, watching whether the branches holding the glider will break or not. Luckily the branches held, and I managed to grab the trunk, first with my legs, then with my hands. Called Magda on the radio to say I am ok. At the LZ, Ellis noticed what happened, and Mark and Tom also saw it from the air. They landed and put together a rescue party (with Pete Lehmann joining/leading).
After being secure standing on a tree trunk, I started to unbuckle my harness, while also pulling on some of the lines so the glider gets less stuck on the tree. I figured if I leave the harness hanging on one side of the lines, we might be able to reach it with a long stick from the ground. When I let go of the harness, it swung away, and actually pulled part of the glider down, hanging at about 15 feet over the ground. At that point Nelson Lewis passed overhead, and suggested that I stay on the tree (he yelled something like "stay on the f...ing tree!!!"). I was pretty confident, however, that I could climb down with very little risk. After about five minutes of monkeying, I was safely on the ground. Checked myself -- not a scratch. So far, so good.
The rescue party arrived within about five minutes. Pete got his ropes out and started to throw it in a bundle toward the harness. He managed to loop it over several times (seems like he is a natural cowboy), but we could not grab the other half of the line. Tom and Mark then started to poke the harness with a really long branch, and after a while pulled the other part of Pete's line down. We then pulled the harness down, and then pulled the glider down. We got back to the parking lot at launch just when it started to get dark.
At home I examined the glider. No line break, but a 20 inch rip at the lower side of the glider, around the middle. Exactly along the stitches. I glued it together. Will see how it holds. Seems like a small price to pay for a stupid mistake.
Lesson: the trees need more clearance, otherwise they grab you.
Many, many thanks to the impressive rescue party.
Cheers,
Laszlo
Status check
I wanted to find out whether my glider and I are both OK (physically and mentally, in that order). After flying over Daniels for two hours this afternoon, everything seems to be in good order.
Laszlo
PS. Hugh, I tried to reach you when I took off from DC at noon and left a message on your cell.
Laszlo
PS. Hugh, I tried to reach you when I took off from DC at noon and left a message on your cell.