Highland Sun09Aug?

[markc]

At the moment, things are looking pretty good out at Highland on Sunday. Decent temp/dp spread, humidity down by early afternoon, 40% cloud cover, light winds aloft. If the 'cast holds it could be a pretty good day!

MarkC

[Dunegoon]

Agreed...looking good. Thinking of camping Saturday night just for the fun of it and traffic avoidance.


CF

[markc]

You're reading my mind Charley!

[krryerson]

Yes, looks good for Sunday at Highland. Will be going too, if the forecast holds.
Knut

[Ward Odenwald]

Yes, Sunday is looking stickable!

[jimsmess]

You guys are twisting my arm, I'll look at it tomorrow and think about doing a day trip on sunday.
Jim Messina

[silverwings]

Count me in.

[Samlak2]

Would love to see you guys. Hugo and I are here for the weekend. I'm even thinking of setting up my old falcon and taking a yank tomorrow.

Sami

[Blaine]

I'm hoping to make it down too.

[krryerson]

Arrived 10AM at Highland and no traffic on the Bay Bridge.
Launched at 1:15PM. Got up to 4400 feet, after releasing from tow. Called out to Jim M on my radio, telling him the condition was good. Waited for him to get on tow and join me. Jim joined quickly after releasing from tow.
Long story short, our goal was Ridgely - Denton - Ridgely, a ~14 mile round trip and we both made it, thanks to Jim.
Great day and a great flight. Total time airborne: 1:45 hrs.
Thanks Jim for taking me under your wing and I needed that flight. Great picking your brain, having radio contact and flying with you.
Landed in time at Highland before a 20 minutes short rain shower came down on us.
Drove back and over the Bay bridge at ~6PM and again, no traffic.
Knut

[Dunegoon]

Interesting day at Highland. Some of the usual suspects. Mark, Jim, Bob, Ward, Rich E, Blaine, Sami and Hugo, John, Knut and one other pilot flying a Spectrum? Sorry if I forgot anyone. I had high hopes of having four weekends in a row with soaring flights. Mission accomplished. Did not make cloud base today because I pulled the plug early due to approaching rain. 1:15 total time with 15 min at 500' in the pattern during my first short flight. Nasty little thermal just wouldn't let me climb out despite everything I tried. Bugs, butterflies, hawks, lawn chairs, straw hats (not really) got a ticket out, but not me. Saw the thermal swirling in the corn below and move out. At least I avoided landing in it.

Forget all the details of the day. The highlight was watching Sami tow up and fly by me at 3K. She came in for a very nice approach and had an outstanding landing in the RC field. Everyone cheered and it was a great moment! Nice job Sami!

Charley

[markc]

Yup, another awesome day at Highland Aero! Jim and Knut did an out and back to Denton. It was fun thermalling with them and John M, but I didn't go anywhere. Topped out at 4100msl, in conditions that I felt were pretty broken and raggedy. But maybe I just wasn't feeling it today....

Charley's tenacious work down low helped me out when I was down to 1400 or so.... The ratty thermal was a bit more organized a few hundred higher, and it got me back up. Totally pimped his ride, and was sorry to see that all of his effort didn't pay off.

Seeing Sami back in the air was the highlight of the day, absolutely. She seemed pretty matter of fact, gonna do this! But obviously a very big deal... Great approach, and she nailed her landing, woohoo!

The on-again/off-again rain showers in the afternoon shut things down for a while, but I think that everyone got some decent airtime today. Good flow of tandem customers too!

MarkC

[Ward Odenwald]

Totally agree with Charley and Mark - the best part of yesterday was watching Sami fly!! I landed before the rain arrived but not soon enough to avoid packing up a wet glider. Here are some views of the day.

Ward

[krryerson]

Mark, totally agree, "broken and ragged" and a few bad clouds producing some challenging turbulence one time. But lucky for most of us, we did not have to land, but stayed up till the rain came.
Yes, great to see Sami fly again and she had the best landing of all of us. In contrast, I had a belly landing.
Great job Sami!
At last, good to see you all and had a great time flying with you guys, after flight talking and as always, great pictures Ward... . I need to get one of does Drogue Chute.
Knut

[jimsmess]

Really good day is very happy to see and fly with everyone. Seeing Sami fly was therapeutic. Another highlight of the day was seeing Mitchell Johnson do his first solo in the morning. He is the son of my long time friend and flying buddy TR Johnson of the Hyner club. TR is no longer able to fly due to ALS, but he and his wife were there to witness the achievement. So if you see the lad at Highland congratulate and encourage him
Jim Messina