Daniel and I planned to go to Florida, but ended up flying Georgia and North Carolina mountains last week. Naturally, the weather was mostly marginal, and though we flew 7 out of 9 days, we didn't bring back tales that will likely to induce you to drool.
I was recently diagnosed -- by a person who I believe is in position to know -- to be in a high risk category for intermediate syndrome. Following the trip, no doubts of that pathology remain, though I am happy to report no significant harm to glider or pilot. Oh, the little pleasures in life. For me, the symptoms consisted of decisions to fly in conditions -- that by my own standard -- would be marginal even for a local site, and at least one poor launch.
Nonetheless, we flew hang gliders at Woodstock (very light day), Lookout (new radial ramp), Pigeon Mountain (cliff launch with a primary beyond glide), Burkemont (ever feel like a kernel in a pop corn machine?) and Moore Mountain (ideal launch, not-so-ideal lz). We also sledded paragliders at Moore and Burkemont. Daniel will probably give fuller details.
Big shout outs to Marc Fink for scooping us up when we were stranded in Chattanooga, Bubba Goodman for showing us the mighty Tater Hill (40mph at the 5000 msl launch) and to the wuffo who gave us half a gallon of moonshine.
Alek
9 day flying detour
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
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John Simon
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 12:33 pm
Re: 9 day flying detour
Wow,
I am jealous. Not of the syndrome... but of the trip. Sounds just awesome, glad you had fun and didn't get hurt and possibly learned a bunch. Hope to hear from Daniel.
Take care,
John
I am jealous. Not of the syndrome... but of the trip. Sounds just awesome, glad you had fun and didn't get hurt and possibly learned a bunch. Hope to hear from Daniel.
Take care,
John
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hang_pilot
- Posts: 662
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:13 pm
- Location: Tallahassee, FL
Re: 9 day flying detour - LONG
As Alek mentioned, we took a 9 day flying trip to Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina. We flew 5 different sites (3 we had never flown before) and had 7 flying days. I only crashed once. Waiting until April might have increased our chances of good conditions, but we are both in grad school and could only take the time off during our spring breaks.
**Saturday – Woodstock, VA
NW 0-4, beautiful blue skies over DC give way to a cirrus layer over the Shenandoah Valley blocking hopes of good thermals.
I go first and work light lift to 1000 over where I lose it and get grounded by the sink cycle that follows. Alek has to wait a long time for any air to fill the slot and gets away cleanly for the first sled of the trip.
Our original destination is Wallaby, but it looks alternately blown out or rainy for the foreseeable future. Lookout looks better: direction is wrong, but we can aerotow there, so we think.
2:00 AM find us 85 miles out from Chattanooga riding in a flatbed wrecker in the pouring rain after my Jetta breaks down. This is not the kind of towing I had in mind. We are crammed up against the souvenirs the driver has scavenged from the cars he has repossessed. I appreciate that unclaimed stuff is one of the perks of the job, but it’s the first day of a flying trip and I wish I weren't pressed up against a set of repossessed bed linens.
We sleep at Hamilton’s Auto Repair which is also Mr. Hamilton’s backyard. Marc Fink brushes off a hangover to ferry us to Lookout. Thank you, Marc! We go to breakfast at a place the tow truck driver had pointed out last night by saying, “You won’t find Obama’s mama in the kitchen there.” Much debate ensues over what he meant.
**Sunday – Lookout Mtn Flight Park, TN
Aerotow operation from the LZ when they feel like it. 1340’ AGL NW launch with a new concrete radial ramp. Winds are NE and light on the ground.
It’s Sunday, so we won’t hear anything about the car until tomorrow. The tug pilot doesn’t walk the field and doesn’t take a test flight, but he’s confident the wind is too strong and the field too wet to tow. In spite of what he says, we are able to kite our PG's for a few hours on a large stretch of dry ground in the LZ and do HG no-winders off the radial ramp too late to soar. I love this area, but hate LMFP.
**Monday – Winds are over the back and legitimately too strong for towing. We kite for a few hours.
Hamilton diagnoses my car problem -- the coil had shorted, blowing out a few plugs and wires -- and gets us running for a reasonable price. Great guy, if you ever break down in Chattanooga, I highly recommend him.
**Tuesday – Pigeon Mtn, La Fayette, GA (25 miles from LMFP)
1150’ AGL, E facing cliff launch, winds are 10 mph, with S cross and launchable cycles. It’s overcast and cold. The launch is located in a state park. We call Luis Rosekjer of Atlanta Paragliding and get the skinny on the site and LZ’s.
PG’s approach the launch like Torrey: get flying on a shallow slope that terminates in a cliff, but it’s too turbulent today for PG. On HG we decide to take the standard cliff launch approach of moving close to the edge to get into the windstream. This should have been a no-fly day: with a one man wire crew and cross conditions, we’re waiting for light cycles; however, there’s not much clearance off the cliff for the dive out one expects in light cycles. We ignore our better judgment and fly anyway. The dive outs are close but our launches are otherwise fine. We both make a few passes and then land (it’s so cross that there’s barely any ridge lift). This is a really nice site that I’d like to come back to.
The diner in town has $2.50 burger platters and bottomless sweet tea. We check w/x conditions and e-mail at the local library.
**Wednesday– Frontal passage, heavy rain again
LMFP is getting us down, so we get out of dodge and head to artsy Asheville for dinner and close proximity to some of the North Carolina sites.
**Thursday – Burkemont Mtn, Morganton, NC
1200’ AGL, N facing grassy slot, 2 gliders wide, and sits in a bowl. Winds are strong NW. Launch is privately owned. We had called the owner earlier for permission to fly and the gate combo. The LZ is surrounded on 3 sides by low power lines and requires a cross-wind landing due to slope, but is large enough.
We kite in the LZ for a few hours. Alek flies first (HG) and extendo’s in broken lift. After picking him up, I go next and crash into a stand of small trees and dense brush shortly after launch. It was more of a soft catch then a hard stop. I don’t have a scratch, glider damage is not bad: bent keel and downtube, sail is fine. I unhook by standing on Alek’s shoulders. A very nice neighbor, Robert, who is watching us, goes to get his chainsaw to free my wing and a half-gallon of moonshine to calm my nerves. It takes us about an hour to extricate the wing once the chainsaw arrives and our friendly helper won’t take any money for his efforts or the booze. I’ll share the synopsis from the accident report I filed with USHPA in a separate post.
**Friday – Moore Mtn, Taylorsville, NC
1050’ AGL, SSW facing. Launch is a grassy slot in an apple orchard, 3 gliders wide and top-landable in a PG. Beautiful launch, but LZ is a narrow, slightly downhill thermal pit. One of the Buzzards Club members clears us to fly and shares the gate combo.
We take PG sleds in the morning, stranding our car on top. The neighbor on the north side of the LZ, Kim, a pilot for Continental, gives us a ride up the mountain and offers her guest house for the night. Kim’s cool. The LZ is a long reach and she’s seen a few tree landings. So when it was time to redo her roof, she installed black shingles to create a house thermal to help people make the field. Now that’s a friendly landowner!
Back at top conditions ramp up with +20 mph gusts. We hope for an evening ramp down, leave our gear on top, drop the car in the LZ and hike up. Alek launches his HG late and enjoys the sunset while ridge soaring. It doesn’t back down enough for PG until long after dark.
**Saturday – Tater Hill, Boone, NC
2000’ AGL, 5000’ MSL, faces W. The top of the mtn is treeless, so launch is totally open, top-landable by both PG & HG. Hang gliding legend and all around super nice guy, Bubba Goodman, owns launch. His PG and single surface HG meet at the end of July would make an easy and very fun road trip for the pilots in the CHGPA-area. Check it out at http://www.flytaterhill.com.
We call Bubba and join him and his partner, Beth, for a hearty breakfast at Melanie’s Restaurant in Boone. It’s a 4WD road to launch and he kindly offers to show us the site. The view is spectacular, mountains everywhere. It is by far my favorite site of the trip. Unfortunately, it’s blowing, no exaggeration, 20 mph steady with 40 mph gusts. I really want this site in my logbook. So we tether me to Bubba’s truck with 80 feet of climbing rope and a Bailey, Alek and Bubba hold the tips of my PG and then I yell, Happy April Fool’s Day. Well, the 20/40 mph part is true and we don’t fly. Instead, we walk around town, buy some pottery for our girlfriends and do some theater hopping at the local movieplex.
**Sunday – Burkemont Mtn again, and then Raleigh, NC where the score is Davidson College 74, Georgetown 70.
We head back to Burkemont for two early morning PG sleds and are in Raleigh by 1pm where we meet up with my girlfriend, Charlotte, and another friend. We’re here to watch Charlotte’s alma mater, Davidson College, come back from 17 points down in the 2nd half to beat mighty Georgetown and advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. Don't ask how much we paid for the scalped tickets. There are cummies everywhere and the wind is moderate as we sip our moonshine at the Davidson alumni tailgate. We are missing the best flying conditions of the trip, but at least it’s an amazing game and everyone is happy.
Happy Spring,
Daniel
**Saturday – Woodstock, VA
NW 0-4, beautiful blue skies over DC give way to a cirrus layer over the Shenandoah Valley blocking hopes of good thermals.
I go first and work light lift to 1000 over where I lose it and get grounded by the sink cycle that follows. Alek has to wait a long time for any air to fill the slot and gets away cleanly for the first sled of the trip.
Our original destination is Wallaby, but it looks alternately blown out or rainy for the foreseeable future. Lookout looks better: direction is wrong, but we can aerotow there, so we think.
2:00 AM find us 85 miles out from Chattanooga riding in a flatbed wrecker in the pouring rain after my Jetta breaks down. This is not the kind of towing I had in mind. We are crammed up against the souvenirs the driver has scavenged from the cars he has repossessed. I appreciate that unclaimed stuff is one of the perks of the job, but it’s the first day of a flying trip and I wish I weren't pressed up against a set of repossessed bed linens.
We sleep at Hamilton’s Auto Repair which is also Mr. Hamilton’s backyard. Marc Fink brushes off a hangover to ferry us to Lookout. Thank you, Marc! We go to breakfast at a place the tow truck driver had pointed out last night by saying, “You won’t find Obama’s mama in the kitchen there.” Much debate ensues over what he meant.
**Sunday – Lookout Mtn Flight Park, TN
Aerotow operation from the LZ when they feel like it. 1340’ AGL NW launch with a new concrete radial ramp. Winds are NE and light on the ground.
It’s Sunday, so we won’t hear anything about the car until tomorrow. The tug pilot doesn’t walk the field and doesn’t take a test flight, but he’s confident the wind is too strong and the field too wet to tow. In spite of what he says, we are able to kite our PG's for a few hours on a large stretch of dry ground in the LZ and do HG no-winders off the radial ramp too late to soar. I love this area, but hate LMFP.
**Monday – Winds are over the back and legitimately too strong for towing. We kite for a few hours.
Hamilton diagnoses my car problem -- the coil had shorted, blowing out a few plugs and wires -- and gets us running for a reasonable price. Great guy, if you ever break down in Chattanooga, I highly recommend him.
**Tuesday – Pigeon Mtn, La Fayette, GA (25 miles from LMFP)
1150’ AGL, E facing cliff launch, winds are 10 mph, with S cross and launchable cycles. It’s overcast and cold. The launch is located in a state park. We call Luis Rosekjer of Atlanta Paragliding and get the skinny on the site and LZ’s.
PG’s approach the launch like Torrey: get flying on a shallow slope that terminates in a cliff, but it’s too turbulent today for PG. On HG we decide to take the standard cliff launch approach of moving close to the edge to get into the windstream. This should have been a no-fly day: with a one man wire crew and cross conditions, we’re waiting for light cycles; however, there’s not much clearance off the cliff for the dive out one expects in light cycles. We ignore our better judgment and fly anyway. The dive outs are close but our launches are otherwise fine. We both make a few passes and then land (it’s so cross that there’s barely any ridge lift). This is a really nice site that I’d like to come back to.
The diner in town has $2.50 burger platters and bottomless sweet tea. We check w/x conditions and e-mail at the local library.
**Wednesday– Frontal passage, heavy rain again
LMFP is getting us down, so we get out of dodge and head to artsy Asheville for dinner and close proximity to some of the North Carolina sites.
**Thursday – Burkemont Mtn, Morganton, NC
1200’ AGL, N facing grassy slot, 2 gliders wide, and sits in a bowl. Winds are strong NW. Launch is privately owned. We had called the owner earlier for permission to fly and the gate combo. The LZ is surrounded on 3 sides by low power lines and requires a cross-wind landing due to slope, but is large enough.
We kite in the LZ for a few hours. Alek flies first (HG) and extendo’s in broken lift. After picking him up, I go next and crash into a stand of small trees and dense brush shortly after launch. It was more of a soft catch then a hard stop. I don’t have a scratch, glider damage is not bad: bent keel and downtube, sail is fine. I unhook by standing on Alek’s shoulders. A very nice neighbor, Robert, who is watching us, goes to get his chainsaw to free my wing and a half-gallon of moonshine to calm my nerves. It takes us about an hour to extricate the wing once the chainsaw arrives and our friendly helper won’t take any money for his efforts or the booze. I’ll share the synopsis from the accident report I filed with USHPA in a separate post.
**Friday – Moore Mtn, Taylorsville, NC
1050’ AGL, SSW facing. Launch is a grassy slot in an apple orchard, 3 gliders wide and top-landable in a PG. Beautiful launch, but LZ is a narrow, slightly downhill thermal pit. One of the Buzzards Club members clears us to fly and shares the gate combo.
We take PG sleds in the morning, stranding our car on top. The neighbor on the north side of the LZ, Kim, a pilot for Continental, gives us a ride up the mountain and offers her guest house for the night. Kim’s cool. The LZ is a long reach and she’s seen a few tree landings. So when it was time to redo her roof, she installed black shingles to create a house thermal to help people make the field. Now that’s a friendly landowner!
Back at top conditions ramp up with +20 mph gusts. We hope for an evening ramp down, leave our gear on top, drop the car in the LZ and hike up. Alek launches his HG late and enjoys the sunset while ridge soaring. It doesn’t back down enough for PG until long after dark.
**Saturday – Tater Hill, Boone, NC
2000’ AGL, 5000’ MSL, faces W. The top of the mtn is treeless, so launch is totally open, top-landable by both PG & HG. Hang gliding legend and all around super nice guy, Bubba Goodman, owns launch. His PG and single surface HG meet at the end of July would make an easy and very fun road trip for the pilots in the CHGPA-area. Check it out at http://www.flytaterhill.com.
We call Bubba and join him and his partner, Beth, for a hearty breakfast at Melanie’s Restaurant in Boone. It’s a 4WD road to launch and he kindly offers to show us the site. The view is spectacular, mountains everywhere. It is by far my favorite site of the trip. Unfortunately, it’s blowing, no exaggeration, 20 mph steady with 40 mph gusts. I really want this site in my logbook. So we tether me to Bubba’s truck with 80 feet of climbing rope and a Bailey, Alek and Bubba hold the tips of my PG and then I yell, Happy April Fool’s Day. Well, the 20/40 mph part is true and we don’t fly. Instead, we walk around town, buy some pottery for our girlfriends and do some theater hopping at the local movieplex.
**Sunday – Burkemont Mtn again, and then Raleigh, NC where the score is Davidson College 74, Georgetown 70.
We head back to Burkemont for two early morning PG sleds and are in Raleigh by 1pm where we meet up with my girlfriend, Charlotte, and another friend. We’re here to watch Charlotte’s alma mater, Davidson College, come back from 17 points down in the 2nd half to beat mighty Georgetown and advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. Don't ask how much we paid for the scalped tickets. There are cummies everywhere and the wind is moderate as we sip our moonshine at the Davidson alumni tailgate. We are missing the best flying conditions of the trip, but at least it’s an amazing game and everyone is happy.
Happy Spring,
Daniel