Pulpit Saturday April 3rd

[XCanytime]

Hoping to escort Walt on an XC flight OTB. Extended fcst is WSW, which ain't too bad from the right ramp. Peak temp 60°F. Who's up for the 1st spring 2021 soaring & XC at the Pulpit? Bacil

[1otIII2007]

Weather Underground has a good forecast for the Pulpit Saturday and Woodstock Sunday. Sure hope the forecast holds out.
If it does I am certainly in for the Pulpit Saturday.

Allan B.

[1otIII2007]

Starting to look like the Pulpit will be good for most of the day Saturday then early and late for Sunday.
Saturday could be good for PGs as well.
Who's interested in going?

Allan B.

[wmelo]

I am excited about Saturday. To be confirmed by Sat 10:00am.

[Danny Brotto]

Just FYI, There will be a VIP TFR up expanding the airspace around Camp David to 10 NM this weekend. Won't affect flights on the McConnelsburg ridge itself but if considering OTB you'll want to check the NOTAM to avoid flying into the expanded airspace.

https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_1_2821.html

Danny Brotto

[markc]

Thanks for the TFR info Danny!

I'll be at the Pulpit tomorrow.

[XCanytime]

Just FYI, There will be a VIP TFR up expanding the airspace around Camp David to 10 NM this weekend. Won't affect flights on the McConnelsburg ridge itself but if considering OTB you'll want to check the NOTAM to avoid flying into the expanded airspace.

Thanks for the heads up Danny. Bacil

[markc]

Here's a good article about P-40 TFRs with a better image from the sectional:

https://midatlanticsoaring.org/content. ... _id=292749

The dashed blue line indicates the 10-nm radius.

So you can't go past HGR, and you have to stay north of Waynesboro.

[1otIII2007]

What time are starting our engines and taking off?

Allan B.

[XCanytime]

I should be there by noon. Too cold before then. Bacil

[Dunegoon]

ETA 12 PM.

CF

Edit 7:30 AM

Already soarable but only 23.5 F not factoring in windchill.

[Joe Navas]

ETA 12:00 pm

[mcgowantk]

Eta 12:30

[XCanytime]

Tired. Report later. Bacil

https://ayvri.com/scene/z15y60z0jx/ckn2 ... 6hf38oge8k

[XCanytime]

Arrived at noon to find Mark C. already pretty much set up. Put streamers on the ramp and monitored the Holfuy wind meter. Other arrivals were Johander, Allan, Charley, Walt w/ his new S3 155 w/ a custom S3 135 control frame, Tom M., Jeff Eggers from MASA, Jim Crocker, and Mathew later from Smithsburg. I felt it was soarable when I took off at 1:50P, but as you can see from the Ayvri tracklog from the previous post, my flight was pretty short. My takeoff was substandard. Right wing got lifted on my 3rd step, the nose rose, and I got lifted off the ramp. Corrected it quickly, and flew away w/o too much trouble. Got above the ridge twice, but just couldn't stick. Ended up having a nice landing in the secondary, where I hadn't landed in a while. Mark C. was the next pilot off. He got up and high. Saw Jeff take off in his PG from the pad, and get up and high. Following were Allan, Tom, Charley, and Jim C.; they all got up and got high. Jeff went XC to Woodstock, PA, ENE of Chambersburg, ~ 20 miles. I got a body ride from Walt, and assisted Mathew launching his PG from the pad. Next Fresia, Walt, and I assisted Johander launching from the ramp. And Cody, Fresia, and I helped Walt into the air from the ramp. Johander's and Walt's flights were short, but had good takeoffs and landings. A good day at the Pulpit. Bacil

[Dunegoon]

Some fun flying. I launched after Mark, Tom and Allan. Nice launch and flight conditions. Cohesive thermals, good climbs and pleasant texture. I found I was underdressed and did not have thick enough gloves or bar mitts. After a fast climb to 5K MSL I was permanently chilled but relaxed and in the zone. I was watching everyone carve up the sky and having way too much fun. No need to do much just get high or cold enough and fly down to warm up a little and repeat. I tried to end my flight and headed for the main LZ. While trying to circle down I just gave up and got back in my harness and thermaled back up and then flew out into the valley. By now my feet and heels were numb along with crab claws for hands. Finally found some sink and made a short approach and somewhat sensationless clunky landing. I think it is posted on the app. with other takeoffs and landing.

Good post flight discussion about launching, conditions etc. Thanks to everyone for their help.

Ayvri link. https://ayvri.com/scene/31jnnvz2jd/ckn2 ... 6hv8iyxxvz

CF

[markc]

From what I could tell, Charlie was King-O-The-Mountain on Saturday!

Tom and I (and possibly Allan?) : We were all commenting after our flights about how turbulent the day was.

Charlie had a different take : Great lift, good climbs, loving-life!

My guess: He was coring *way* better than we were. Staying away from the edges of the thermals can make for a much nicer flight!

[mcgowantk]

Hi Mark - I agree with what you said about Charlie. One possible reason why he was so high over me is that he was enjoying the smooth strong core of the thermals that were beating me up. I am still sore! So much for turning as soon as I hit lift. Although, it looked like you were up there with Charlie. I never approached your altitude gains. Thanks for everyone's help. It was a fun day. See you soon.

Tom

[Danny Brotto]

All of Charlie's good climbs were from right hand turns. Maybe right turns was the ticket on Saturday?

As a data point flying the sailplane out of MASA, started with some ratty climbs but then took a strong climb into unexpected wave. Fell out after 30 minutes or so back into the ratty layer. Another strong thermal climb and got repositioned into the wave. Needed to keep below 8.5 K MSL as that's my limit w/o O2. (If I had known wave was a possibility then I would have turned it on on the ground.) Noted to the other pilots that below about 4.5K MSL that the winds were in the 9K range out of the NW but over the course of 500 ft or so there was a pronounced increase to the low 20's and steadily increased from there. That's the classic setup for wave. After flying I reviewed the skew-t and there it was... predicted as it presented itself. I need to pay more attention to the skew-t. Three and a half hours added to the log book.

Danny Brotto