Pulpit April 18th

[lbunner]

Could Saturday be that special day at the Pulpit. Tell me your opinion.

Ciao

[lbunner]

Of course Saturday is the 18th. It's still shaping up to be a good one. Any takers?

[mcgowantk]

I am looking at it, but have an early morning conflict. I don't see the westerly flow, but it is still early.

Tom McGowan

[XCanytime]

Latest update is good. Things are coming together. Looking forward to it. Bacil

[mcelrah]

I'm planning to come (with bag and pipes). I think the PGers are also. - Hugh

[mcelrah]

Interested in taking a close look at the area between the ramps to try and visualize the launch improvement proposal. - Hugh

[brianvh]

Stand at the line between the gravel pad and the rocks to the right and imagine a launch. I think you'll see how you can have everything you need with less work than total annihilation requires.

[XCanytime]

Still coming together. However, since it is April, and it's the Pulpit, best bet is to get there way early. It's going to be quite breezy, and may blow out for a good portion of the day.

Bacil

[lbunner]

This is shaping up to be an excellent day boys and girls. Better get there early, 6000' top of lift, 400 fpm, could be a long day!

[carweill]

Conditions look promising

I'm inclined to go to the Pulpit.
Anyone else?

Carlos

[kcarra]

Matthew & I are planning on Pulpit but aren't getting an early start.

Karen

[mcelrah]

Was out but am back in - late start also... - Hugh

[mcelrah]

Wishy-washy. Bailing to Woodstock with the PGers. - Hugh

[XCanytime]

Got to the Pulpit just after 9A to find Dan Tuckwiller there. What a pleasant suprise! Dan had a family engagement in Charlottesville on Sunday, so he decided to believe some of the predictions and drive 5 hours from Charlotte and camp Friday night at the Pulpit. Larry Bunner showed up around 9:30A and we set up. Conditions were straight in 8 to 12 MPH on the ramps. Other pilots filing in were John Dullahan, Gregory, and Krzyzstof. Shawn Ray showed up to help launch pilots just before 11A. Things started ramping up at 11A, so Dan took off and got up near the Rt. 16 crossing. Larry followed suit and got up a few hundred as well. Then 10 minutes later as I was on the ramp it shut down, and Dan and Larry got flushed. I wisely for once backed off of launch. As Shawn retrieved Dan and Larry, it started ramping back up again. At 12:30 it was 12 to 18 MPH with some higher gusts. I took off at 12:45P and got a couple hundred over quickly right in front of launch. Krzyzstof had launched and was getting much higher than me to the south. I beelined it over towards the Rt. 16 cut and found the ticket out of town. Got to 3500' over drifting over the back. Since there was some SW in the flow I headed over to the knob of Broad Mountain. By this time I had lost 1300' and was down to 4400' MSL. Found nothing much coming off of the knob so I headed towards a rock quarry near St. Thomas, sinking all the time. Saw some serious wind lines on a pond showing a strong SW surface wind. At the quarry I was down to 2700' MSL (2K AGL) so I loitered around and found some lift to 3K' MSL. Headed parallel to Rt. 30, sniffing around for something to climb out in. Didn't find much and flew over a huge field to land in, still 1000' AGL. I looked to the NE and spied the Majestic Ridge Golf Course. Flew over a fairway aligned with the wind, and spent around 5 minutes lining up to land on a green with the nice flag showing a strong SW wind. The golfers below were checking me out hovering over the fairway. A long final ensued and had a nice landing right next to the flag on the green to some cheers from a few folks who live next to the green. Total time in the air was just under an hour. Once down, I radioed back to launch to let them know I had landed at a golf course. Larry Bunner crackled on the radio that he was at 7K' MSL and heading my way. The folks were nice enough to allow me to stow the glider in their garage. Much thanks to Shawn Ray for the retrieve. Shawn had played the course, so he knew exactly where I was, next to the tee for Hole # 2. Back at launch, around 3:30P, Matthew and Dan launched and were soaring in smooth ridge lift. The launch conditions were strong. Karen was set up and contemplating launching. I headed back to Gary and Jan's house and retrieved the glider. Larry made it to a park near Fayetteville on a glide from 7K' MSL all the way to the ground. Some pics follow.

Bacil

[XCanytime]

Dan setting up his video camera.

Larry setting up for the first of his two flights.

A view of The Corner from 5K' MSL.

[XCanytime]

Looking north from 5K' MSL. Cowans Gap Lake is visible in the upper left.

Kittatinny and Broad Mountains, looking north.

Looking west from OTB.

[mcgowantk]

Congratulations on the nice flights. Dave Proctor and I flew the Pulpit on Friday. I topped out at 4300 over and then went over the back. I experienced a nice smooth glide to Upton, where I landed. Dave was struggling on the ridge when I left, but when I landed, he was thermalling over my head. Dave made it across the valley for 26 miles.

Tom McGowan

[XCanytime]

Looking along Rt. 30 towards Broad Mountain.

On final to the closest green between the sand traps.

Parked by the tee for Hole # 2.

[mcelrah]

Congratulations on all the great flights. I foresee a new sport: "soaring golf"... - Hugh

[Matthew]

Hey Bacil,

Great day at the Pulpit--- too bad more people weren't there to enjoy the great conditions. It wasn't smooth lift-- it was still thermals, small punchy ones, sharp ones that you bounce off, medium ones, and big ass thermals that went all the way out across the valley... plus occasional giant sink holes and wire slappers. I got 2800 over and thought about bailing over the back a few times. However, my radio wasn't working and I didn't have my cell phone. Plus, the drift went towards Chambersburg and I had to go to High Rock to make one more cat pick-up in the great Emma Jane Cat Rescue Saga. I was joined in the air by Dan Tuck., Karen and Keith Ford. All got stinkin' high and Keith went over the back to Chambersburg. I went out to land after 2 hours and couldn't get down. So instead of fighting it I took another ride back up from the LZ to 1600 over. I gave it another try ten minutes later and had to stuff the bar to my knees to get down. Landed around 5:30. Could've stayed up to sunset easily. But we had to get those cats. Karen landed about 10 minutes after me. We packed up and called Emma Jane. No cats! Her grandkids were running around all day and had scared off all of the cats. Dan gave me a lift back to launch and then Karen and I stopped for dinner in Mercersburg and called Emma Jane when we finished the meal. Still no cats. So a good day flying-- but we still need to get in one more cat pick up to complete the plan.

Matthew
PS Never PG-able at Pulpit. When I picked up my car at launch at 6:30 it was blowing in at a steady 15.
PPS Big thanks to Shawn Ray for coming out to help with launches and shuttles even though he wasn't flying.

[brianvh]

I flew at Ellenville on Saturday. With strong winds aloft the shear turbulence made the first 800 feet above launch ratty as hell. Uncommanded turns and stuff. Landing was no picnic either. Guess you southerners didn't have it so bad.

Any new insights now that people have looked at the pulpit launch with 'the plan' in mind?

[theflyingdude]

Various factors contributed to the fact that no one went x-c on either day, but we were getting strong climbs to 6700' msl on Friday and 7893' msl on Saturday in Cumberland. Both days were blue, but staying up was not much of a problem. Cast of characters included: Marvin Presley, Mark Gardner, Pat Brooks, Larry Huffman, Steve Walko, Larry Ball, and moi.

JR

[Danny Brotto]

nteresting meteorological conditions on Saturday. I flew the sailplane. I plummeted off a 2000 ft into the pattern where on base I blundered into some snotty, fast drifting lift. Others launched clawing onto every wisp in the broken puffs. We managed to find some bullets up into the wave but not before going through a rather “weird” layer of mixing at between 4000 MSL to 6000 MSL. Climbs in the wave were brisk up to 11K+ MSL. The wind on the ground was decidedly SW but at altitude it was NW in the 30 Kt range. I used the wave to fly comfortably from Greencastle to Mt Holly Springs. I needed to stair step back a couple of wave bars to make it work though. The wave in the Hagerstown valley was not as cohesive as usual likely due to the SW ground direction.

The weird conditions reported by area soaring pilots this weekend was likely due to the wave rotor coupled with the strong shear.

Danny Brotto

[DanTuck]

What a fun day. I launched first at about 11:30 I think. It was coming in nice and there were thermals popping off already. As usual it was strong on launch and much lighter down the ridge but we knew it was going to be a thermal day. Down the ridge, over a rock pile, I managed to get about 300' over in a light, disorganized thermal. I lost it, couldn't find another, and ended up landing in the secondary after 20 minutes. Larry had launched when I was still doing okay but he was scratching low when I landed. I was thinking that I've really got to stop sucking at this when Larry sank out and landed also. Then I didn't feel so bad. I noticed that no one else had launched after Larry and that was because it had really turned off. Shawn came and picked me up and took me up for a re-light. I didn't set up again right away and helped crew for people for awhile. I waited until about 3:30 to launch again and found lots of thermal lift on the ridge. I spent 30 minutes between 200' and 600' over the ridge. Like Matthew said, some thermals were small, some big, some mellow, some with pretty sharp edges. Finally I found a huge one that I took up to 2,300' over launch. It was drifting over the back and I really considered going with it. See, earlier I had been looking at Bacil's relief map and I had 2K' over in my mind along with Mountain View Elementary and Buchanan High, if I could make it. At this point I was kicking myself for not scoping out the bird's eye view of the valley on google maps. So I tried to look for some landmarks I might recognize to get my bearings. I found the fish hatchery which I know is on 75, same as the Elementary School. And from there I know where the High School is. So far so good. But then I noticed another fish hatchery not far to the South and I realized that I didn't know which was the one on 75. I tried to follow the roads from the mountain but I wasn't that high to get a real good perspective. Hmmmm. On top of that I'd forgotten my radio at home and my cell baterry was really low. The final straw was that I would have been alone, no one to follow for my first XC so I decided not to go. Ah well, soon enough, soon enough. I landed after 1:15 in the secondary again. Once again, Shawn, who made this entire day possible for a lot of us, picked me up and took me back up to my car. You are the man, thank you. Fantastic day! I'll post video later.

[theflyingdude]

Various factors contributed to the fact that no one went x-c on either day, but we were getting strong climbs to 6700' msl on Friday and 7893' msl on Saturday in Cumberland. Both days were blue, but staying up was not much of a problem. Cast of characters included: Marvin Presley, Mark Gardner, Pat Brooks, Larry Huffman, Steve Walko, Larry Ball, and moi.

JR

Oops, i forget to include John "Homer" McCallister as one of the cast of characters.

JR