High Point

High Pt;  NNW 5 – 10 mph;  Gardinator, JR, LE, Ben Herrick (UP Katana), and Krista Auchenbach (U-Turn Blacklight) arrive at launch to find reasonable conditions on a mostly blue day where the PGs outnumber the HGs for a change.  Everyone got up and soared although LE and Krista ended up getting low at the West Face where LE eventually succumbed to the pull of gravity after 45 minutes.  Krista was able to claw here way back above the ridge where she stayed for the remainder of the flight.  The climb rates started out pretty good (3 – 500 fpm) and folks were getting to 4500’, but as the day progressed, the sky got milkier as cloud cover moved in and conditions began to soften. Everyone landed at the Fairgounds LZ after getting between one and two hours of airtime.

Pinnacle

Pinnacle;  ENE 5 – 8 mph;  Pete, Pat, Larry H, JR, and Mark Gardner (Talon) watch as the light and cross winds show little signs of improvement.  Eventually, Pete leads the lemmings off launch with Gardinator having the most exciting take-off, followed by Pat, Larry, and JR.  Everyone had sleds except for Larry who got about 50’ over launch for about five seconds.

High Point

WNW 5 – 15 mph;  Pete Lehmann (Sport 2), Pat Halfhill (T2), Larry Huffman (U2), JR (Sport 2), and LE Herrick (Ozone Buzz) convene at High Point on a day that showed some promise.  Larry was off first followed by JR and LE.  Everyone got up, but Larry and JR soon found themselves low at the NW Cliffs and had to struggle a bit to survive until finding a decent climb that got both of them away from the ridge.  LE found herself getting low behind the ridge and opted to land on top in front of Carl’s house.  

Larry flew down to Zirks before opting to go OTB towards Ft. Ashby where he ultimately landed after flying for an hour and a half.  JR climbed to almost 7000’ and went OTB towards Levels, WV and South Branch Mtn. He landed behind the Points, WV Post Office for 15 miles and 1:45.  Meanwhile, back at launch Pat and Pete had launched with Pete having the FOD getting to almost 8000’ and landing at Bloomery, WV for 31 miles.  Pat struggled a bit trying to find a good climb off the ridge and ended up going OTB fairly low which put him on the ground in front of Patterson Creek Ridge after about five miles and 45 minutes aloft.

Happy New Year

We've a feeling 2015 is gonna be a good year...

Ben and L.E. took a Hike and Fly to the top of the typically turbulent and twitchy Bald Knob in TuckerCounty.  Great hike up in very cold conditions with no snow on the trail due to the recent rains.   Flying down the ridge and some circles over the top of Weiss Knob, extended descents.  Then  to land at the White Grass Cross Country Ski Lodge.  for a yummy bowl of soup.

HIGH POINT- Clear Day / Light Winds

Pat, JR and Pete gathered on a not-too-cold, clear day of light winds.  Indeed, it was light enough at launch that there was some concern about it being soarable.  Launching first, Pat was once again flying The Tent, his big Falcon, and it proved to be the ideal glider for the day.  However, after a pleasant 1:10 in the air (and a good job of getting up from low) he suffered the humiliation of whacking a Falcon landing.  

JR (1:06) was off next and he had the day's best gain, getting to 3,500 msl in one of the day's surprisingly good thermals that had bits of 500 fpm in it.  Pete was off last and got 1:20 including a late, spookily strong thermal to 3,400 that reminded me of the scary stuff we'd seen the last time we flew High Point.  For the end of December it was remarkably fun thermal flying.

DECEMBER 30  HIGH POINT

Pat Halfhill, JR and I gathered on a not-too-cold, clear day of light winds.  Indeed, it was light enough at launch that there was some concern about it being soarable.  Launching first, Pat was once again flying The Tent, his big Falcon, and it proved to be the ideal glider for the day.  However, after a pleasant 1:10 in the air (and a good job of getting up from low) he suffered the humiliation of whacking a Falcon landing.  JR (1:06) was off next and he had the day's best gain, getting to 3,500 msl in one of the day's surprisingly good thermals that had bits of 500 fpm in it.  I was off last and got 1:20 including a late, spookily strong thermal to 3,400 that reminded me of the scary stuff we'd seen the last time we flew High Point.  For the end of December it was remarkably fun thermal flying.

DECEMBER 13  HIGHPOINT: A SHORT-SOILING SORTA DAY

 from JR’s on the front side of the mountain. Our concerns were soon alleviated when John called to say that, not daring to land at the Fairgrounds LZ, he had accepted the calculated risk of shotgun pellets, dogs and cow pies in the big Dog Pit LZ.  Fortunately, the farmer was absent so dogs and shotguns were not a problem.  But the cow pies did a lovely job reducing the friction of his landing... John says that the turbulence was present down to fifty feet off the deck.

So, what the hell was going on?  Our best guess is that the strong true winds aloft were creating a wave off the Cumberland Plateau upwind of launch, and we were flying in an area influenced by that wave’s dynamics.  After we had landed we could see a very clear wave cloud form along the Knoblies.  Whatever the cause, it was a decidedly unpleasant and surprising day considering the remarkably light conditions at launch.

Airtimes:  John circa :45, Pat and I both got half an hour, and Jim about ten minutes.  Pat got five hundred feet over launch, and I might have been somewhat higher, but was flying without a vario and can’t be sure.

John McAllister, JR, Pat Halfhill and I decided to take a chance on a somewhat sporty forecast that turned out very differently than we’d expected, and far more than we had bargained for.

Pat and I drove over the mountains from Pittsburgh in drizzle, mist, and through some Dr. Zhivago winter scenes before breaking out into clearer skies as we approached Cumberland .  When the four of us arrived at launch it was crankin’ and seemingly blown out.  But after a short while it began to back off, and continued to do so until there was essentially no wind by the time we were ready to launch.  Indeed, it briefly blew over the friggin’ back!

It did not look at all soarable when Pat went to launch first with his big new Falcon.  Pat had taken the Falcon after having misread the day’s forecast as calling for light conditions.  As a result, the rest of us gleefully and selfishly figured that he wouldn’t be able to fly and we would have a driver.  However, the light conditions suddenly made the Falcon look like an inspired choice.  After getting a bit of wind to blow in Pat finally dove off and promptly plummeted nearly two thirds of the way down to the Fairgrounds.  At about four hundred fifty feet he began to climb in the first of a series of short, violent bits of lift, interspersed with some amazing sink, eventually getting above launch for good. 

Back at High Point , Homer was waiting for a puff of air in which to launch while Pat finally climbed out.  With JR insulting his manliness and calling him Christy, John finally got some wind to launch in and headed over to join Pat.  He didn’t get as low as Pat had done, but it was essentially the same flight: vicious sink, turbulence and nasty lift. But at least he too got up and over the ridge.   Next off was JR who got up quickly, but was so unhappy with the appalling turbulence that he decided that landing in the spooky Fairgrounds lz was better than staying in the air.

With Pat and Homer still in the air, I ran off the hill and, surprisingly, climbed out quickly and easily in the vicinity of launch.  I stayed near launch and at first saw little of the turbulence being felt by the others.  It was only upon venturing in their direction that I began to experience some truly violent turbulence, perhaps the worst trash I have seen in twenty years.  I now understood Jim’s decision to land, and within minutes Pat was on the ground at the airport after having gotten high enough to run there.  I joined him as soon as I had again gotten high enough to risk transiting the strong lee-side rotor. I didn’t dare take a hand off the base tube to unzip my harness until I was beyond the rotor.  

From the airport Pat and I looked back at the ridge to see how (radio-less) Homer was doing, and soon became worried as he had disappeared from our sight, as well as

THE PULPIT - Don't Trust the Forecasts

Pat and Pete headed to the Pulpit on a sketchy forecast of clear skies, light lift, and light left-crossed winds.  However, as they drove eastward on the Turnpike cumies began to form and become ever better-shaped as they neared the site.  By the time they arrived at launch the sky was full of well-streeted and reasonably shape clouds.  The wind was light but certainly launchable, albeit with a north cross; not the forecast left cross.

Tom McGowan was already set up when we arrived, and he launched first, ahead of Pete and Pat.  Tom had to wait quite a while for a straight cycle, but immediately climbed slowly, right in front of launch.  He soon beamed out to base at 5,600 msl (4,900 above the valley behind) averaging 350 fpm in the day's best thermal before departing over the back under a well-defined street.  Pete launched soon behind Tom, but didn't get up at launch and had to struggle a bit to do so.  Pat then launched right behind Pete in his new tent-like Falcon 225 and climbed out almost immediately, accompanied by two eagles.  

Pete finally climbed to join Pat and they left together under already less well-defined cumies, wandering a fair bit chasing lift.  Pat did a good job of staying with Pete for over ten miles before they became separated and Pat finally landed on a friendly Mennonite farm southeast of Chambersburg for 18 miles and 1:26 in the air.  

Tom continued on ahead of them in a rather more direct line, flying straight towards his goal of the High Rock lz, which he made (27 miles, 1:42) after only once getting down to 1800 agl.  After Pat and Pete separated south of Chambersburg Pete began a weird, arcing southern detour chasing the ever more short-lived clouds.  Only when he got near Waynesboro did he finally find a climb that started weakly but eventually got him to base.  

That cloud was part of a street heading towards his chosen destination, the Fairfield glider port on the east side of South Mountain.  Leaving at cloud base for a ten mile final glide, Pete just made it to the airport, having had to fly around the Liberty Mountain ski area’s hill to get there (34 miles; 2:24).  After landing, hang glider and sailplane pilot Danny Brotto ran out to greet him.  He then fed Pete beers in his warm trailer as he waited for Bacil Dickert to come and get him after first picking up Pat and Tom. Thanks, greatly Bacil, we owe you.

It was a ludicrously fun day, made all the more so by the utterly unexpected nature of the conditions.