Sat (12/03/2016) @ WS

[wmelo]

It looks promising.
Thoughts?

[Joe Schad]

Saturday i am in. Possible Friday at Woodstock or maybe Dickey Ridge.

Joe

[XCanytime]

I'll be there around noon. Looking to fly during the warmest part of the day (2 to 4P). Bacil

[wmelo]

Fantastic!
I may be able to also fly Friday if the conditions are good.
who is in?

[flymiller8]

Friday afternoon looks tempting and Saturday also at WS.

[smurfsky101]

Got clearance from the girlfriend who said she'll pick up after any XC attempts, looking to arrive by 11 if the forecast holds

[flymiller8]

I'm planning on early at WS only Saturday... I hope some ppl get up today.
Josh
7 O tree 6 wun 5 ate tree 59

[flybop]

I am planning on Sat. Looking forward to it

[markc]

If I can shake this cold a bit, I might give WS a try tomorrow. Seems strong north (Pulpit) and light south (WS), but the latter seems like the better gamble to me... At least for the moment!

[Dave Gills]

There is Zirk's... (Cumberland, Md.)
Not too strong and not too light @ 10mph NW
Still watching

[flymiller8]

I'm thinking to arrive between 10 and 11. Anyone else plan on ETA before 11? Gust factor backing off on windmapper after 10 so I assume the consensus is with Bacil aiming for afternoon 12-5.

[flybop]

Eta around 1030

[flybop]

Need to walk the lz. If anyone walk me around call, 406.223.1506.
Don

[XCanytime]

In 2 words: AWESOME CONDITIONS . More later. Bacil

[XCanytime]

First off Charley Fager is to be congratulated on his achieving a goal XC flight to Front Royal Airport. And Mark Cavanaugh for having a serene wave flight to 7K- MSL, way above the clouds. My goal XC flight was met today too. Some background: Last Saturday we met Paul Kos up at launch. Paul lives on 40 acres in Fort Valley behind launch, drives triple 7s for United Airlines out of Dulles Airport, and has a future airstrip by Passage Creek inside the property border. Paul invited me/us to land on his property anytime. Charley and I checked out the future airstrip and it looked good. Midweek I contacted Paul and let him know we would be flying at Woodstock on Saturday. He was very excited, as there would be many boy scouts camping by the creek over the weekend. Got a late start today, having a 9A appt. Stopped by the airstrip and talked to Paul, letting him know there was a 90% chance I would be dropping in from above later. I also placed my 2 spinner windsocks at opposite ends of the strip so I could land near either one. Didn't arrive at launch until 12:30P, finding many pilots but nobody flying (yet). Charley and Ric Caylor made it all the way down from the Harrisburg area. On the drive out there was wave galore in the sky. It was light on launch, but started picking up a little just after I arrived. Mark, Joe Schad, Walt, and Gary Smith all launched in light cycles and easily got up and high in soft conditions. I took to the sky and found light but plentiful lift in front of launch. Headed NE to due east of the goal. Climbed to 3100' MSL and drifted east towards the goal but not a lot of nice fields approaching from that direction. Flew back in front of the ridge and headed up to stage just opposite the goal LZ, motioning to Gary to follow me for the OTB try. It filled in nicely above me NW of the goal with good looking clouds that weren't lying about the lift feeding them. Climbed in nice, smooth lift to 4K' MSL and committed to going OTB, just NE of Mudhole Gap. Climbed all the way downwind until I made it over Fort Valley, where I boated around the local area, enjoying the view. The scouts below spied me, and they started running out from their campsite next to the creek. Had a nice approach and a good landing in front of the troops . Greeted by a dozen scouts, Paul, and a few other adults happy to see me. I was jazzed big time. Packed up and Paul made good on his promise, giving me a ride back to my truck at launch. Paul is flying to Tokyo in the morning, having the first shift of being the takeoff pilot and driving the pressurized metal tube for the first 6 hours. Called Charley to crow about his quick XC flight to Front Royal Airport and to let him know he had a guaranteed retrieval. We made it to the new Woodstock Brew House to grab some well deserved food and drink, debriefing w/ Gary, Mark, and Josh Miller. The conditions today were just marvelous for this time of year. Bacil

[Dunegoon]

Like Bacil said, "awesome."

I possibly had the shortest fight of the day. Maybe a record for the fastest flight to the airport? Took off, turned right. Very smooth lift. Pulled the VG full on. Saw a few gliders and Mark making his way back below me. Continued to climb. Made it to the end of the ridge, thermaled up very quickly past 4.5 k msl and flew to the airport. It only took 35 minutes. Didn't have a chance to get cold. Forgot to turn on my GoPro.

Some butt clenching as I picked a bad line over the back and lost 1k quickly. It was now going to be a challenge to make it. I wanted to do some soaring over the back with the airport as my new LZ. It wasn't to be. Flew a pattern for 28. Had a great landing after a bouncy approach and "taxied" over to the windsock. Not much effort for a flight that was only an impossible dream a few years ago. Watched a few sailplanes land later in the day.

Thanks to Bacil for the retrieve and helping me achieve my goal. Hopefully everyone got a little bit of what they were looking for today. The Woodstock Brew House will be very popular place for pilots.

CF

[Dan T]

Great flight stories, congratulations to all of you.

I haven't heard much from the PG community. Did any of them join you on the XC part of the day? Were the conditions gentle enough that we could have?

Dan T

[ricsoar2]

Yesterday was my second experience flying at Woodstock VA and it was one of my top ten flight experiences for many reasons. Before leaving Harrisburg PA the weather conditions were overcast, low 40 temp’s and gusty 20 mph winds. I was having lingering questionable doubts about any favorable soaring weather. While traveling my ceaseless wondering if the 2.5 hour trip would be a waste of time especially since my flying buddy opted-out had me questioning my sanity. Thankfully the closer I got the better the sky looked. Charley Fager and I planned to meet just off Route 81 at the Pilot fuel station at Tom’s Brook before traveling to check out the new LZ. This was the One issue that kept me from returning back to this site sooner was the LZ or lack of one. The old bridge LZ was/ is gigantic to say the least however the new one is just right across the road but only quarter its size. At first it looks small in comparison but it is more than adequate and safe. It is a grassy field with slight grade uphill into the wind NW. A farm at the top of the hill has a flag pole flag for a great indicator of wind direction and speed of which I observed prior to entering my DBF. When we arrived at the top I was amazed by all the new construction at the launch site. WOW!! I heard that there was a $ 30K investment and it showed. The last time I launched there I felt like some found a wet weather stream bed among a rocky out cropping. Like something you would stumble across while hiking on the Appalachian trail. This time not so much rather it’s more like a picnic park area. The trail from the parking lot to the setup area was a newly graded 4 ft. wide a pea gravel path which is a smooth easy grade walk up to the setup and launch area. The setup area is much larger too with an added seating structure. The most significant improvement was the actual launch pad and shoot. It now has similar grade and openness as to our Elizabethville site. All I can say is that has a feel of a world class launch site. The view is spectacular and expansive. Flying this place just seems enormous with big skies, never ending ridge lines with fingerlings which catch and channel big thermals. After 5 five effortlessly hang glider launches before me I was soon on deck. Charlie and Krista help me into position. I could have easily self launched but I very much appreciated the assistance. Thank you! Seven minutes after launch I was at 45K MSL and near cloud base (not really.) It was my record altitude climb. I invested most of my time looking toward the clouds rather than the ground for sources of lift. I played around between 25k MSL and 40K MSL of 1 hour and 20 minutes. The Shenandoah Valley is so beautiful. I’m so looking forward to my first XC. I could have stayed up longer but my bladder wanted me to land. My landing and pattern was near perfection which put and exclamation point maker on this flight for me. I really which to extend a thank you to Bacil for coaxing me to fly with his gang. Thank you for everyone there for a friendly greeting and making me feel at home with you all. Most of us after flying met at the Brew House in Woodstock for a few Cheers! What an awesome time all around. I would encourage all my Hyner fellow pilots to make the trip to Woodstock VA. It is well worth the effort and time. I plan to upload a short video to Youtube for all to get a better understanding of what this site offers.

Ric Caylor

[markc]

Clear Air Wave... Can it get any better than that?

As several flight reports have made plain, Saturday at Woodstock was unbelievably good for an early winter's day!

And a great turnout in spite of the fact that the forecast wasn't exactly clear-cut. Winds on launch were quite light when Don and I arrived (though there were some early cycles of 10+). Problem was that they bottomed out at around 4mph for extended periods of time. But that wasn't so bad for the first PG pilot who gave it a try (sorry, don't know his name; and wasn't able to intro myself later, as things started to improve) at about 10:45. Sledder to the PG LZ..... But he gave it another try at about 11:30 and stuck, which gave we HG'ers some hope that soaring would be in the cards.

Pilot roll call: Montana-Don, Joe S (HG), myself, PG pilot #1, Ric C, Walt, Gary, Bacil, Charlie, Krista (PG), Randy (HG), Justin (PG), Josh, John M (HG), Anthony. And I think a couple of other PG pilots who landed in the PG primary??? Bottom line: A really good day, everyone flew, and I think everyone soared. Apologies to anyone I've forgotten.

We finally started to get some decent (HG) cycles on launch by 12:20pm, and I was the first HG off the mtn at about 1pm. Much hemming and hawing about the LZ issues, given the early light winds : Probably could/should have been in the air earlier. But hey, can't hurt to wait for something a bit more solid, and that's definitely what I found after launching. Multiple thermal trips in the vicinity of launch to 4k+ MSL, though I wasn't able to break 4200 for quite a while.

Winds down low were crossing out of the West. Up high, they were more NW. After a few thermals I headed to Signal Knob and found some extensive lift that let me cruise around the end of the mountain, enjoying the views of the valley and OTB. Eyed Front Royal airport a few times but decided to stay on the ridge given how nice it was.

Oh yeah. It was cold. I'm not the hardiest cold-air pilot, so when my shivering started to shake the glider I decided it was time to head back south. And at 1200' over or so... Wow, what a difference on the trip back, started to thaw out a bit. But you know how it goes, ya hit a good thermal and you have to take it.... So I finally broke 5k MSL on the return trip.

And that would have done it for me : I was cold, the LZ was calling, time to land.

But then..... Just north of the LZ.... As I was heading into the valley after breaking 5k.... I found a lift line (or so I thought). "Oh, wow, I'm awesome, look at me, tracking this blue-sky lift, not a cloud in sight!".



It was wave. And it was awesome wave, smoothest ever, 400fpm. And once I finally realized what was going on I started skating in it, back and forth, north and south, and back again. I climbed above the cloud bank behind me on the main ridge. I climbed further, until I was above the cloud bank just upwind. And further still, until I was over the clouds far upwind in WV. I've been in wave a handful of times.... But this one? Wow. Just unbelievable, in the clear, climbing all the way, to 6900MSL in butter-smooth lift, with an unparalleled view.

Eventually it got a bit spooky : I could have broken 7k easily, but the winds were picking up, and I noticed that the cloud bank on the ridge behind me was getting closer.... Whoops! No ground speed at all here. I decided to pull in and head upwind, to see if I could punch out of the wave that way, rather than laterally. Was worried about turb/rotor.... But it never happened! I just fell into some sinking air, passing Route 11 and coming up on I-81. From there, I just made many passes, and eventually cycled into the pattern of pilots who were landing in the LZ.

Could barely pull off a flare after 2.5 hours in the air, but managed to run it out. I was freezing. Many thanks to Joe and Zelda for the body ride back up top: we overloaded their car with six people, and barely managed to avoid scraping off a muffler . After shuttles and such, on to the Woodstock Brewhouse! Fantastic day.

MarkC

[XCanytime]

What an awesome flight Mark. WOW (Wave Over Woodstock ). Glad you had the situational awareness to make your wave experience pleasant. Reminds me of my wave flight from the day before Thanksgiving 1996. Stumbled into wave up by the reservoir. Recognized the situation early and spent a few minutes with the bar stuffed, trying to escape the wave upwind. Did not want to suffer hypothermia (39 degrees that day at launch) by climbing too high, did not want to have to land downwind due to an inability to penetrate upwind because of an increased headwind at altitude, and did not want to have to turn downwind and risk running into turbulence below the wave crest. Had to stare at the U bend of the river below for a long time to see that I was making forward progress over the ground. By the time I escaped the wave I had climbed to 7300' MSL, 1600' above cloudbase . According to the weather books a typical wavelength is 3 to 6 miles. To reach the turbulence created by the rotor "tumbleweed" of air spinning in place under the next wave crest upwind one would have to fly upwind out of the wave for ~ 2 to 5 miles. 2 to 5 miles from Mark's position exiting the wave would translate to ~ past 81 to past the spine of North Mountain on the other side of the valley. From what Mark experienced (no turbulence) the wavelength must have been > 3 miles. The trough of sink that exists between successive wave crests allows you to get down quickly, provided you remain within the borders of the trough long enough to run out of all the air you just gained, as Mark smartly did. Bacil

[Dan T]

Great flights everyone. I'm envious.

Thanks for posting.

Dan T

[XCanytime]

The link to Ric's video. Bacil


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxR9TlxmgSc

[eggzkitz]

Wow, what a great day.

Mark, can you describe how far out into the valley you were when you started going up in wave? curious where the edge of the rising crest was relative to the two ridges on the E/W sides of I-81. This seems to be an interesting confirmation/indication of the "woodstock effect" we often theorize but rarely see.

Thanks,
Jeff

[thermalup]

...

Sounds like a fantastic flying day for you guys!
Mark, do you have an .igc file of your outstanding flight that you are willing to share?

Thx Much ..::Jim G.

[markc]

Sadly, no IGC file Jim : I don't usually bother with track logs unless it's a comp situation, or a defined for-fun XC task. And heck, the number of times I've done even that??? Tiny.

So I've tended toward re-living flights via video..... *Damn*, *Grrr*, *Arrrgh*! After recovering the third corrupted MP4 from my GoPro (battery died mid-flight), it doesn't have any of the wave portion of the flight. Noooooooo! I coulda sworn that I had looked down to see that little red light flashing: "Oh, good, I've got some of this awesomeness!". But damn, the file size was way too small, and the discrep between the three clip sizes and the total space used on the card was only 200MB (perhaps 5min at 1080p 30fps?). So even if that bit was somehow recoverable, it wouldn't have even gotten to the good stuff. I've reluctantly concluded that memory will have to suffice.

Speaking of memory: I recall a pilot who was flying WS some years back in similar conditions. He radioed his wave experience, describing the wonderful views as he climbed above cloudbase.... Until suddenly he found himself in a distinctly uncomfortable place, with clouds closing-in all around. The transmissions went from "Oh, totally cool!" to "I'm in trouble here". Afterwards, on the ground, he described some pretty radical maneuvers that were required to get back down, with periods of total white-out.

Was I thinking about that on Saturday? Oh yeah!

Among the things I was paying attention to: Conditions during the trip up, from below cloudbase; location of the wave lift WRT the upwind/downwind cloudbanks; the density of the cloudbanks (thick behind, thinner ahead); distance above the cloudbanks (in case I had to skate laterally to get out of wave); the nature of the cloudbanks upwind in WV (in case there was a sudden surge/change); the gap between the upwind/downwind cloudbanks; my airspeed and location above the ground.

I never felt threatened on this flight.... Perhaps a combination of luck and awareness? Among the oddities: No turb as I was climbing into the wave, definitely within the vicinity of the downwind cloudbank that I climbed above later; no turb as I pushed out ahead of the upwind portion of the wave. Given the clouds behind and in front, I was expecting to encounter something unpleasant, but it didn't happen (this time). I would have thought that the cloudbanks were marking rotor, but that just didn't seem to be the case. Luck?

I was skating between the old primary LZ and the finger north of that LZ. Location was just above, perhaps just beyond, the old primary LZ.

When I decided to punch out upwind (to be honest, the cloudbank behind was getting closer simply because I was sight-seeing), the end of the wave lift was a bit past the new primary, but not more than a mile or so. Sure seemed like everything was very 'contained'.

I will remember the view of the upwind clouds in WV, from above, for quite a long time.

MarkC

PS: I was flying a T2C topless at 3/4 VG while climbing in the wave. And when I punched out upwind, the bar was at mid-chest, and my progress seemed fairly slow (though hard to tell from near 7k). Bottom line : The wing that you are flying also determines the 'envelope' that you can play within.