Some Good 2006 XC Flights From Cumberland and Templeton

[lplehmann]

Below you will find a number of good, early-year xc flights made from Templeton, PA and Cumberland, MD. The accounts were written for the Pittsburgh area's Daedalus HGC and therefore have a bias to their/my flights.
Pete Lehmann

MARCH 20 HIGH POINT: 25 Mile Ridge Run to the South
John Fenner delegated work to his minions and accompanied Pete Lehmann down to Cumberland to fly with Jim Rowan and Larry Ball. The latter two were test flying their new Wills T2s after a bit of tuning aimed at loosening up the gliders’ stiff handling.
The day was not terribly attractive; cold and with a high scuz layer blocking much of the sun. Nonetheless, the ridge was utterly soarable in light winds, and everyone flew for as long as they liked. Eventually Jim and Larry landed after long flights at Bartons, having determined that their gliders did indeed handle a bit better. In the meantime, John and Pete (flying Pat Halfhill’s big U2) had decided to continue further southward along the Dreaded Knobblies toward the town of Keyser. The lift was generally mediocre, and seldom much over 300fpm, but it was consistent, and even once got them to 5,000msl just when they needed it to cross the Keyser Gap. Once past Keyser they became seriously low on the small ridge above the Wal-Mart before climbing high enough to continue on course and jump back onto the main ridge.
By now it was after five thirty and they were running out of landing fields, so they called it quits in one of the last good valley fields 25 miles from launch, and after well over three hours in the air. Pete capped this lovely flight with a botched landing when he missed both downtubes while trying to rotate upright. Fortunately, the U2's faired basetube skipped happily across the grass and no harm was done. JR then came to retrieve them and administer medically-prescribed, malted adult beverages.


MARCH 25 TEMPLETON: 50 Miles on a Falcon
Sometimes things just work out. The day’s forecast had been miserable, from dawn till dusk, but when I woke up it was sunny and the satellite pictures confirmed a broad area of clear skies over west-central PA. Knowing that the air was very unstable, and fearing the inevitable overdevelopment, I loaded up the Falcon and headed to the hill by 9:30. But even at that hour the clouds displayed hints of overdevelopment, and by the time I got to the hill it was fully overcast. Still, there were light cycles on the river and it was lightly blowing into launch, so I set up in a raging hurry. Before launching I had to wait for a bit of cycle in the hopes of getting at least a short soaring flight before the inevitable trip to the lz. Once in the air lift was light, but the unstable air provided little bubbles every time I got low, and I slowly began to accumulate airtime.
After an hour on the ridge I finally found a departure thermal that only went to 3,500msl (2,300agl), but I took it just to get off the damn ridge. The sky was still completely overcast, and my decision was half-hearted. Instead of pushing downwind, I flew crosswind to the Exxon station to land and enjoy an easy hitchhike back to the hill. But upon arriving there I hit a thermal that compelled me to make up my mind and get serious about going xc. So I glided down Rural Valley Road, still dubious as to my chances of really getting anywhere.
After a bit more dribbling and scratching, it became apparent that the overcast was ever so slowly breaking up into distinct cumulus clouds. I was still not very high but east of Numine there was a large fire within Falcon gliding range, so I headed towards it. Approaching it, I flew through quite a bit of white ash before finally hitting the fire’s lift. The lift didn’t get me very high, but I was now high enough to reach some of the increasingly good looking clouds forming ahead of me near Plumville. Thereafter the clouds were all working in varying degrees, although I never could get near cloudbase, or higher than 4,800msl. These relatively low altitudes, combined with the Falcon’s limited glide, made me fly very cautiously, zigging and zagging to get to the nearest working cloud.
Things went well until nearing Barnesboro at the 38 mile mark where I got down to about 600ft agl, unzipped and preparing to land in a cemetery, when I hit the day’s best thermal by far. It had bits of 600+fpm lift and eventually got me to base for the first time at 6,400msl. I was then smokin’ along below base with hoarfrost forming on my gloves and speed sleeves, with the Falcon producing a breathtaking, but brief, 48mph ground speed. However, that moment of glory was to be the last as I then picked the wrong line of clouds to follow, and soon found myself in a bluish area that still had some snow virga from a dissipating cumie. I was done for, and landed east of Prince Gallitizin Park’s lake, 50.5 miles from Templeton after 3:23 in the air.
When I left the hill I had been alone, and with no expectation of anyone else showing up. I had anticipated having to hitchhike back from any xc I made. But my luck for the day held when at the thirty mile point I heard first new club member Florent Fumey, and then John Fenner on the radio back at launch assuring me they would pick me up. Assuming they would first fly before chasing me, I settled in for a long wait at my lz. However, launch conditions had greatly deteriorated after my departure, and they immediately came to get me. Thanks guys.


HIGH POINT APRIL 9
Meanwhile, down in Cumberland Pat Halfhill went sixteen miles (6,000+msl) in the company of John McAllister and Larry Ball. Lift was very spring-like, at times touching 800fpm on the averager. They landed together and were retrieved by three separate drivers, a seldom enjoyed luxury. In Pat’s case the driver was his daughter Elise, effecting her first ever retrieve with the assistance of Lesa Ball. It renews one’s faith in kids nowadays.


APRIL 14 HIGH POINT:
Tom McGowan’s 58 Miles, and an Old Retired Woman Makes Herself Useful
Spring is here in a big way. Pete Lehmann went to Cumberland to fly with Adam, Tom McGowan and Bruce Engen on what turned out to be one of the easiest XC days he’s ever seen. Despite not immediately climbing off the ridge, he was at 7,000msl thirty miles over the back exactly an hour after launching. The barograph showed a couple of lengthy climbs (2,000ft or so) that averaged five hundred feet per minute; including 1.4 minutes at better than 800fpm. The clouds were most reliable, but Pete then made a foolish decision to try and work around Washington’s airspace to the south. That southerly route entailed flying across an immense fifteen mile blue hole in the Shenandoah Valley, unlike Tom McGowan (7,800msl) who wisely used a northerly detour under the clouds. Bruce followed Pete into the blue hole, and consequently they both decked it around Winchester. On the other hand, Tom went 58 miles to Harper’s Ferry where Christy Huddle came to pick him up and drive him to Winchester where Tom’s car had been left in the morning. Making the retrieve complete, Bruce (44 miles) had landed almost within walking distance of the car, and Pete (48 miles) was only a few miles away as well. Finally, Adam got something over 25 miles, which worked out well as he’d left his car in Paw Paw, only a few miles from his lz. A day of very efficient retrieves.


APRIL 27 HIGH POINT: 68 Miles and Ten Grand MSL
Pat Halfhill and Pete Lehmann went to Cumberland to join Adam and JR on a day Dr. Jack forecast to be blue, but with good altitudes and climb rates. In the event, there were cumies forming as they arrived in Cumberland, and by the time every one was set up to fly the sky was full of them. The only problem was that while the sky above them looked good, downwind of launch to the SSE there was a high layer that suppressed all cumulus clouds. In other words, to get very far one would have to fly cross wind towards the east in an attempt to avoid the negative effects of the high clouds. But by so doing one would be aiming at the forbidden Washington Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), necessitating an even more radical crosswind struggle to the east.

Lacking a driver, the pilots drew straws for the honor of retrieving the others, and Pat “won”. He launched first and very soon got to 7,500msl, but couldn’t leave due to his having drawn the short straw. Pete had launched shortly behind Pat and gotten to a similar altitude whereupon he bailed over the back. Adam launched JR’s T2 in an attention getting fashion before getting a flight of about half an hour. That freed Pat from his driving obligation, but neither he nor JR could ever again get high enough to leave the hill. Both flew for about two hours before landing in the lz below. Jim was treated to a typical Fairgrounds LZ wind switch, but he pulled off the resulting downwind landing thanks to his Sport2’s exemplary landing characteristics.

In the meantime, Pete was getting increasingly higher with each successive climb after struggling a bit to find the first thermal over the back. After that things improved steadily, with climb rates occasionally touching 700fpm and altitudes going up progressively until he finally got to base twenty miles over the back. And what a cloud base it was: 10,100msl. After that the clouds became larger and generally reliable, enabling him to fly hard cross wind in an attempt to get around the DC airspace to the north, as well as to avoid the cloudless area that became apparent to the southeast. At Martinsburg Pete angled to the ENE under an apparent convergence line that continued until he began to again angle eastward toward his desired destination of Fredrick airport. In the end he came up about six miles short, landing into a south wind to the applause of a boy’s soccer team in Middletown, MD’s city park, 68 miles from take-off.


MAY 14 TEMPLETON: The Counselor Gets a Good One
A day that began overcast and a bit windy slowly improved as the two dueling eagles had suggested it might when John Fenner first arrived at the hill. John launched first and never spent a moment on the hill as he immediately climbed to base at 6,200msl somewhere behind launch. The overcast deck had broken up and the clouds largely dissipated as he headed out on course under very scattered clouds. He got quite low at Deming’s Ridge (about 15 miles out) before again climbing out and continuing on his way before finally landing on US 22 west of Ebensburg for 43.3 miles.


MAY 20 TEMPLETON: 53 Miles, a Little Rain, and Lots of Trees
Another day that began largely overcast. However, by two o’clock the clouds started to break up. Only Pete Lehmann flew, with Mark Gardner showing up around three and bagging it due to the strong and crossed conditions. Florent Fumey also came to the hill, but suffered few illusions that it would be flyable for his paraglider. Yet again he volunteered to drive for Pete, who gladly accepted the offer.
Pete launched into the crossed conditions and quickly got up beyond the road cut where he found a decent departure thermal under the broad OD looking clouds. The good climb soon deteriorated and he slowly struggled up to 5,100msl (3,800agl) before departing towards Dayton on a very easterly track. At Dayton he climbed out slowly in spitting rain before heading eastward on a track that kept running him into heavily wooded areas short on good lzs. By the time he got to the 25 mile mark the sun was more in evidence, climb rates improved, and he got to base at 6,100msl for the only time in the flight. Thereafter it was a series of half-assed climbs to mediocre altitudes that culminated in a windy landing at the base of Allegheny Mountain east of Prince Gallitzin’s reservoir for 53.8 miles after 1:47. Despite having to chase him across the grain of the road net, Florent was there before Pete had completed breaking down.