Anyone planning to do the hike in to Woodstock Saturday?
Joe
Woodstock Saturday Feb 10
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Bear with the apparent off-topic powered-flying talk in the first paragraph - it all comes together, I promise:
Ellis and I met at Front Royal for a trike flight (on her first flight, her camera battery died). Kolie was out there with the combined MASA and Skyline sailplane clubs hoping to catch some mountain wave. Gassed up, preflighted, took many tries to start the cold engine and we were off - proudly sporting "N" numbers on the wheel pants (and using them as our aviation band radio callsign), as my partner and I completed the conversion from "ultralite" to Experimental-Light Sport Aircraft last Sunday. Kolie had warned of turbulence associated with the wave above 3000, so we were pretty cautious and turned back from our intended flight over Woodstock launch at the first bobble from ridge lift. Went downwind and took a look at the Dickie's launch, then back for a *perfect* landing on the concrete runway (wind was straight in, so no rotor over the trees on the south side as is often the case). Half hour flight due to cold fingers and feet (it was 35 on the ground when we took off).
Proceeded to the back of Woodstock (Gary had called and offered a ride from the LZ, so we wouldn't have to worry about shuttling) and I humped my PG up to launch. Tom had launched around 1 PM, Pete launched as we walked up about 10 minutes later, then Joe and Gary. We saw sail planes apparently parked high above, but HGs at around 500 above the ridge seemed to have plenty of maneuverability. Joe and Gary reported gnarly conditions with uncommanded turns and strong ups (and downs?). Laszlo decided to give it a go after it calmed down some. Seeing his apparent success (he later reported having gotten above 3000 over the valley), I laid out my wing but on my first launch attempt in what I thought was a lull, I got jerked off my feet (still reversed) and then set back down on my butt, but the wing was already out of whack. Ellis helped me reset, but the gusts kept coming, so we (literally) bagged it, hiked back down and went to dinner at Jalisco in Front Royal. Gorgeous day, Ellis' dogs had a good time, and at least the trike kept us from getting totally skunked. - Hugh
Ellis and I met at Front Royal for a trike flight (on her first flight, her camera battery died). Kolie was out there with the combined MASA and Skyline sailplane clubs hoping to catch some mountain wave. Gassed up, preflighted, took many tries to start the cold engine and we were off - proudly sporting "N" numbers on the wheel pants (and using them as our aviation band radio callsign), as my partner and I completed the conversion from "ultralite" to Experimental-Light Sport Aircraft last Sunday. Kolie had warned of turbulence associated with the wave above 3000, so we were pretty cautious and turned back from our intended flight over Woodstock launch at the first bobble from ridge lift. Went downwind and took a look at the Dickie's launch, then back for a *perfect* landing on the concrete runway (wind was straight in, so no rotor over the trees on the south side as is often the case). Half hour flight due to cold fingers and feet (it was 35 on the ground when we took off).
Proceeded to the back of Woodstock (Gary had called and offered a ride from the LZ, so we wouldn't have to worry about shuttling) and I humped my PG up to launch. Tom had launched around 1 PM, Pete launched as we walked up about 10 minutes later, then Joe and Gary. We saw sail planes apparently parked high above, but HGs at around 500 above the ridge seemed to have plenty of maneuverability. Joe and Gary reported gnarly conditions with uncommanded turns and strong ups (and downs?). Laszlo decided to give it a go after it calmed down some. Seeing his apparent success (he later reported having gotten above 3000 over the valley), I laid out my wing but on my first launch attempt in what I thought was a lull, I got jerked off my feet (still reversed) and then set back down on my butt, but the wing was already out of whack. Ellis helped me reset, but the gusts kept coming, so we (literally) bagged it, hiked back down and went to dinner at Jalisco in Front Royal. Gorgeous day, Ellis' dogs had a good time, and at least the trike kept us from getting totally skunked. - Hugh
A fun day at Woodstock. Pete Schumann and I flew for a little over 2 hours. I maxed out at 2600 over, and spent most of the flight close to 2000 over. Winds aloft were pretty reasonable (less than 15 mph) with lots of fun thermals. We landed over the back, and Joe and Zelda gave us a ride back our truck which was parked at the gate on the back of the mountain. Lots of ice in the river.
I never made it up to altitude where I saw the sail planes, but did manage to spend a fair amount of time soaring in the valley and made it out to Woodstock once.
Tom McGowan
I never made it up to altitude where I saw the sail planes, but did manage to spend a fair amount of time soaring in the valley and made it out to Woodstock once.
Tom McGowan
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kolielombard
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:28 pm
- Location: Arlington,VA
Wave Sat feb 10
Off-topic - sailplanes. It was one of those good wave days where the wind speeds were low enough to traverse upwind throught the wave harmonics. One pilot almost made it to Petersburg, WV, in the wave. The Wave was very consistent up to 14,000ft.
Kolie
Kolie
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Nelson Lewis
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 4:06 pm