| Author |
Comment |
| Roy
Wormington
|
Hull 9/1
Roy, Roger, and probably Mike K. will be flying Hull today. It was
great on Saturday.
|
| Mike
K
|
Phenomenal LD
weekend at Hull Mt.
A great Labor Day weekend at Hull! Not to preempt the other two
threads on the topic, but to give a larger view of Aug 29-Sept 1
weekend.
Friday I was the only pilot at Hull and took my sister,
Penny, tandem on a Falcon 225. Timberline launch was straight in at
10-15 mph with wind drift from the South. We quickly caught a
thermal and spent 1.5 hrs well above launch, topping out at 9400.
Altitude gains and flight duration were only limited by the ability
of the passenger to handle the cold, not by the
lift!
Saturday the wind unexpectedly shifted to the East
after we had set up. Roy, Rich and Bill waited at launch over 30 min
for something to trickle up the front, but when they finally got
off, found great lift. Rich's first thermal in front of Lower launch
went to 12,500. The other Berkeley pilots dribbled off during the
next 2.5 hr. I bagged the tandem flight with my cousin Lisa, after
evaluating the marginal launch conditions. Tearing down the Falcon,
then setting up my Laminar, I launched very late and had a good
flight, but did not get quite as high as the earlier pilots, but did
fly to Sanhedrin, then back over the top.
Sunday the wind
pulled the same trick, getting us to set up at Timberline then
switching East, making launch impossible. We should have been at the
top of the mountain. After about a 20 min wait on launch, another
pilot, Paul, and I got off in a brief wind switch and my first
thermal at Red Spot took me to about 12,000 over the West end of
Windy Ridge (lots of East drift). Meanwhile the Berkeley gang was
stuck on the ground for 2 hours as the cloud drift was out of the
NE. I easily got to 13,200 during my first of 3 trips over to
Sanhedrin, as there were plenty of clouds over Windy Ridge and
Sanhedrin. I spent over 1.5 hours over 10,500 making the flight
duration issue one of surviving the chill factor. The Berkeley crew
(mostly H2 with limited mountain experience) eventually did get off
late in the afternoon and had rewarding flights.
Monday
There were only 4 pilots, Shawn, Roy, Roger and myself. Timberline
was straight in, and given the cloud base and yesterdays experience,
I dressed warmly. I launched first and my first thermal at Lower
went smoothly to 12,500 over the top. Drift was from the South,
except at upper altitudes where it was from the NE. My highest
altitude was 13,800 and I flew all over the Pillsbury basin: Went to
Sanhedrin and back to the top twice, down to the Farway Ranch, the
dam and back over the top, down to the dam again, my house, then to
Split Rock (the southern most end of the Rice Fork), way over to the
East part of the Eel Fork, Squaw Valley, the house, and over the
middle of the lake to burn off more altitude. Shawn took his very
first thermal to 13,700 and flew to the South end of Potter Valley
on a glide. Goveless, jacketless Roger had to quit after thermalling
to about 12,600 in order to recover from the wind chill. Maybe I
need to start bringing my oxygen tank to Pillsbury.
I've been
flying Hull since '81 and its only gotten better than this once,
Sept. 8 '87, when Roy got to 16K. The following days after that, the
phenomenal lift created numerous lightning fires, which burned
Sanhedrin and Hull, creating the Timberline launch.
PS
Robert and I would like to upgrade our tandem. Anyone interested in
a Falcon 225 in excellent condition?
Mike K
|
| Roger Butler
|
Hey!
Mike I got to 13315 before I headed out. I only flew for about an
hour and a half, but 30 minutes of that were just cruising around
the lake losing all that altitude. It was a great day, hope this
week end is the same. I'm bring gloves and a jacket next
time....brrrrr
|
|
Hank Roberts
|
Re: Hey!
And also like 1987, there's a fire! From the
traded-my-kite-for-a-shovel side:
District Ranger Blaine
Baker phoned me a few hours ago, to let me know a fire crew is just
north of Red Spot to work a fire started by lightning.
He
knows I've been trying to get the 40 acres ready to burn gracefully
when the next fire happens ever since I bought it in, what, '89 or
'90 -- cut out the 'fire ladders' around trees, moved out some brush
-- so we'll hope it's a small fire burning grass and stays out of
the treetops -- better sooner with a crew around than a big fire
later.
We're going out of town, so won't be able to look at
it for a couple of weeks -- if anyone gets pictures from the air,
they'd be very helpful. Probably another little restoration project
will come out of this (HOPE it's a little one, so we can do
something before the rains set in).
|
| Mike
K
|
Fire
I was worrying about that when the Southern moisture and lightning
came through on Tue.
|
| Ashley Groves
|
Owens
Report 8/30-9/1
Wayne Michelsen and I drive down to the Owens and meet up with Eric
Froehlich and Driver Edgar at Tuttle Creek campgrounds. At the last
minute Ben Rodgers and Driver Ricki come down and stay at a
campground closer to Lone Pine. Dave Merriman and Driver ??? (sorry-
pulling a blank) also come down as well and stay at a motel. Eric
Heinrichs also comes down with Driver Bob.
At launch there
were several folks from Sonoma Wings, MLSR, and Berkley
clubs.
Saturday- Looks blue. We are a little late up to
launch. I have not flown for over a month and was slow in setting up
in the crowded space (but less crowded than expected), then I am
fiddling around with some new equipment. Eventually I am one of the
last gliders to launch. I climb quickly and reach about 12K, but is
a rowdy fight and not terribly pleasurable. I start to head down
range and hit some huge sink, I have very quickly lost 1K and I see
some gliders above me circling where I got up. I go back to the
thermal but am still in sink. I scramble to launch and still sink. I
search the spine in sink. I glide out in front in sink, and my sink
alarm finally goes off at 7800. Ouch. I should have kept going down
the range once I started.
I work light lift, but I am losing
altitude. I creep along the front. I am most of the way to the
Tuttle Creek campground, but decide to turn tail and land at the
postage stamp. Another glider is there and retrieve is simpler, and
I know where the areas clear of rocks are.
Dave Merriman made
it short of Big Pine.
Eric Froehlich landed next to 395 (I forget
where) after deciding to land due to rough air, but covers decent
ground.
Wayne takes the day and lands at a warm spring near big
ears, quite tired from fighting the air.
Sunday- I see
cummies forming before dawn. I am conservative and I do not think
this is necessarily a good thing so early. Eventually we go up to
Walt's. People are there in less numbers but are apprehensive. No
one is rushing to set up. It looks good but some of the cummies are
rather deep grey. We decide to take a gamble and check out Black
Eagle in the Inyo's. A local suggests Coyote a little further down
as well.
We trek over. Black Eagle is a long drive on dirt
road, but we get there eventually. It looks OK, but the South flow
does present a rotor potential. Some folks travel further down to
check out Coyote, but the road is blocked by fallen debris. Cummies
look good, but it feels light. I decide to bag the flying and tag
along with some Sonoma Wingers and check out Black Eagle mine.
Pretty cool (maybe someone can post those pick of Ernie C. climbing
down the mine shaft). Driver ?David? took some digital
pics.
Eric Froehlich, Wayne Michelsen, Ben Rodgers and Eric
Heinricks launch.
Eric H fights hard but lands first, next to
the road up to launch.
The wind switches from South to North
during the flights and Eric, Wayne, and Ben all end up with down
wind landings. Wayne and Ben escape scott free, but Eric gets some
glider damage.
Eric took the day on distance, and landed
conveniently in the Valley.
Wayne landed on the plateau, and
tried to give me and Edgar directions. Although Wayne's directions
were correct, it takes longer than it should as one of the turns
were well concealed and I did some second guessing as some of the
roads did not look like they went in the right direction.
Ben
flew along a "road" that turned into a creek bed. We had some GPS
coordinates, but that was about all we had to go on. We found
ourselves blocked from Ben by natural features several times and did
some back tracking and bush whacking. Long after sunset, this naked
wild man comes whooping out of the bushes; we had found
Ben.
Monday- Excessive lollygagging and trying to get last
minute tire repairs was taking it's toll. Cummies start popping, but
instead of setting up we are sitting at a tow place watching the
coroner put bits out of some smashed cars into plastic bags while
waiting for the tire to be fixed.
Eventually I launch last
around 2 PM. I hit some tough turbulence over 11K, and when it
smoothes out I am pointed towards the range but making no headway.
The Westerlies have arrived. I turn tail into the valley. At Diaz I
turn North and boat along with a strong S wind. I find few thermals,
but Wayne and Ben had landed, and I was having trouble understanding
them due to my radio had a lot of distortion. So I play it
conservative, pass over thermals and eventually land at the North
end of the Alabama's.
Ben lands at Diaz, Wayne lands at
Ben's campground, W of Lone pine. I take the day with 13 miles, but
it could have been good if we had launched earlier.
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Another Owens
Report
I was planning on leaving for the Owens on Thursday, but I didn't
get my pickup out of the body shop until 6:30PM, way too late to
make the 9 hr. drive and be in shape to fly the next day. So, I made
the best of it, arranging to pick up Greg Sugg early in the morning
and taking Adrian, an 18 year old friend of my kids, up on his offer
to be my driver (I'd asked my kids to spread the word that I'd pay
for a driver, and Adrian said he'd be available after midnight on
Thursday).
Pulling my tent trailer, we took the southern
route, through Bakersfield, and pulled into Tuttle Creek campground
around 5PM. Matt and Lori were already set up, and they'd saved a
site for us, but we weren't sure which one was theirs. I checked
chairs and tables in the two likely sites but didn't find any names.
Then a pilot down the way told us the campers at one site were in a
car with "CMATFLY" license plates. That was Matt. We set up camp and
enjoyed the afternoon. Adrian is a budding photographer and was
happily shooting black and white film of the Sierras. Later, Bob
Stanley pulled in and shared our campsite.
Saturday morning,
up at Walt's Point, about 30 gliders were setting up. We made
contact with some of the Bay Area Sonoma Wingers, and talked about
the possibilities. Matt and others had not had much success the
previous day, and today was looking similarly weak. There were no
clouds and the cycles coming up launch were very light. Of the first
3 pilots to launch, two sank out while the third, Ken Muscio,
managed to get up but couldn't get high enough over Winoga to head
out on course. As more pilots took off and joined the gaggle above
Winoga, Greg and I just waited. Finally, with most gliders in the
air already, Greg took off at 12:25 and I followed about 5 minutes
later. The late start gave me a nice quick ride up and over Winoga,
but I couldn't get as high as I wanted, so I went on course at
11,200 ft. The crossing to Owens Pt. was less sinky than I'd figured
and I found lift again. Today the lift wasn't on the "knees" of the
ridges, but on the north side, quite a way away from the ridge
itself. I think that this may have been the reason several pilots
weren't able to find the lift and found themselves in the postage
stamp bailout LZ. I know that Robin Taha found himself
there.
I was only able to get above 12,000 a couple of times.
Most of the time I headed out when I got to 11,000. Sometimes the
lift would just disappear above that. Other times the turbulence
would get rough as I got higher - the westerlies were becoming a
factor.
I spotted Bob Stanley as I was crossing Whitney
Portal. Matt had radioed earlier that the lift was strong on the
other side of the crossing, but I didn't find a thing. I was
thinking that I'd have to bail to the highway, but way around the
corner on the north flank of the ridge, I found steady lift and was
back in the game.
As I was working my way around Mt.
Williamson I met up with Greg and we flew together for a while.
Before we got to Onion Valley, Greg decided that he wanted to fly
the valley and headed out toward Independence and Hwy 395. Although
I was approaching Onion Valley and its notorious westerly
turbulence, I decided to stay in the mountains as long as I could.
Sure enough as I started my crossing at 10,500 or so, I started
getting tossed around so I angled out further into the valley until
the air got smoother, then I started angling back. I noticed two
gliders high above Independence Peak, on the north side of the Onion
Valley crossing. They continued circling as I left them behind. I
was lower down on the slopes of the mountains, below the knees,
working what lift I could find. Eventually I decided to abandon my
attempt to climb back up over the knees, figuring the lift would be
friendlier out in the valley. I had plenty of altitude to make it
out to the highway where I figured I'd turn and follow it north as
far as I could, following Greg. Unfortunately, I didn't find much
lift on the way out (normally I can count on a thermal or two on the
way to 395), and when I got over the highway, I found myself in a
sinking airmass which put me on the ground in short order. But, I
managed to pick a nice spot near the road that had very sparse sage
brush, and I had a nice landing right where I'd planned, so I was a
happy camper. My GPS told me I had a 30 miler.
While breaking
down in the 95 deg. heat, I was mindful of Greg's experience almost
getting heat stroke at St. John a month ago. I was feeling the
effects of the heat. Luckily Adrian pulled up with a cold Snapple.
As we were loading our gear on the truck, a CHP officer pulled up to
see if we were in trouble. He told us he'd heard of a couple pilots
making it to Bishop. We picked Greg up a few miles further up the
road. We heard on the radio that Matt had landed short of Big Pine
and Bob wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it to Big Pine after
scratching his way down Tinimaha. He did make it to the northwest
edge of town, next to the cemetery. When we found him, we parked in
the shade of the trees at the cemetery and Greg did some headstone
touring while we waited for Bob to break down. We hooked up with
Matt and Lori and convoyed back to Lone Pine where we ate at a
restaurant, bought some ice and firewood, then went back to camp for
a nice campfire. Jerry Mahoney (used to live in Antioch, now lives
in San Diego) was in the camp across from us playing "Ode to Joy"
full blast. He, other San Diego pilots, and our Bay Area SW'ers
dropped by to stare at the fire and share stories.
Sunday
morning we woke up to a sky filled with clouds, to the extent that
it looked like we were in danger of overdevlopment before noon. Up
at launch the wind was blowing down slightly. With that and the
poor-looking conditions, we decided to not fly. Instead we went to
Black Eagle, across from Independence. If the conditions looked good
enough there, we'd fly. If not, Greg and Adrian could explore the
Black Eagle mine for the first time.
Steve Rudy had mentioned
that the Coyote launch - at the end of the road beyond Black Eagle -
had less turbulence in a south wind, which is what greeted us at
Black Eagle launch. A couple of vehicles, mine in front, decided to
go check it out. We weren't able to drive all the way to launch
'cause a big rock blocked the road. We walked in to see that the
launch is indeed better. There's a couple of mine shafts nearby so
we inspected them, finding and photographing some old dynamite
sticks we found on the ground.
Several other pilots who'd
come up to Black Eagle (there were 4 vehicles) decided to fly.
They've already reported their limited success. We went to the mine
and generally enjoyed the day.
Back at Lone Pine we bought
another tri-tip steak to BBQ and had another wonderful evening
around the campfire. Monday was spent on the road coming home (we
woke up to clear skies and strong NW wind).
We may have only
had one day's flying, and we didn't get to the Whites, but I
certainly enjoyed myself. It's good for the soul to spend time in
such a magnificent place, and to be able to fly those awesome
mountains is always magical. I love this place!
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
A photo
Here's Ernie climbing down a shaft at Black Eagle Mine, looking for
a horizontal shaft to explore. Photo taken by Adrian.
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
A film in the
works?
On Sunday morning as we were standing around Walt's Point launch,
we were visited by a gentleman and his family. He's a director of
children's commercials who wants to try his hand at a feature length
film. The subject for his project? Hang Gliding. I expect it might
be something along the lines of the surfing film Blue Crush, or
others. He's shopping the idea around, hoping to get backing from
Disney or another large studio. If he gets to the point where it
looks like it'll happen, we may be getting a call from him. I and
others gave him our contact info. Next spring I may be announcing a
cattle call for pilots to spend a few weeks in the Owens working on
a movie and auditioning for speaking parts!
|
| Mike
K
|
Pillsbury
PARTY-Eat, Sleep and Hang Glide on Sept 13
This is an open invitation to SW pilots and significant others for
a dinner at my family's cabin at Lake Pillsbury, Saturday evening,
September 13.
After flying
on Hull Mountain on Sat. afternoon, come over to my Rice Fork
location for a dinner of spaghetti and barbecue chicken. You might
consider bringing a bit of your favorite brew, a salad or a desert
to share. We have a propane stove, a flush toilet and hot showers!
After an evening partying around the camp fire you are welcome to
stay overnight rather than brave the rowdy deer hunters this time of
year at Oak Flat or Red Spot. About 8 can sleep on the mattresses in
the loft or you can pick a spot anywhere outside on the large deck
or sleep in your truck. The next morning I will take up to 5-6 for a
water skiing ride. Drivers get first dibs, given their status of
honor! Tubing or wakeboarding is also available. Then its off to the
LZ for another great day of flying.
If you are planning on
coming, leave a message here to help me in estimating food, but
don't hesitate to just show up if you haven't responded. Next week I
will leave directions in another message in this thread, or just
meet at the Hull LZ on Saturday afternoon. The conditions at Hull
have been amazing, see you there!
Mike K
|
| Ashley Groves
|
Reno
Report (9/15)
Rajiv Zutshi, Wayne Michelsen, Bobby Kohli, Dean Roland, Eric
Heinricks, Dave Merriman and I went to Reno area for the
weekend.
Saturday;
Good cycles are coming in at the AM and
other pilots show up. We set up but are in no hurry to launch as E
winds are predicted all day and people are scratching hard to stay
up.
Eric launches first. He goes down, scratches hard, goes up,
travels South and repeats. He is going down the ridge but is working
hard to stay aloft. It seems most of the Thermals are coming out of
the valley, not the ridges. We wait. We consider the likelihood of
PM wonderwinds, but the rest of us launch around 1:30 or 2 PM.
I
launch, get low, get up, have delusions of being Eric Heinricks,
travel South and sink out. Land about 4.4 miles down on Bowers
Mansion road. Dave Merriman sees me and lands a few fields further
South just to be sure he has beaten someone ;-)
Most pilots fly
the fishbowl, few X-C that day. A few pilots reported getting to
about 10K over Slide. Later launches have pilots in the wonder winds
in the valley for the PM. I believe Eric took the day for
X-C.
Sunday;
We are the first at launch around 9:30 AM,
and good cycles are coming in. However, the strongest inversion line
I have ever seen is seen around launch level, plus the sunlight
seems a little filtered by some haze. With the expectations of West
winds to come soon and only a sledder for a flight I do not bother
to unload my glider off the car.
More pilots show up for launch,
but everyone pretty much resigns to idle chit-chat.
Only Bobby
shows enthusiasm and starts to set up, but the Westerlies beat him
and he breaks down again. Bobby and I head back to the bay area
while other pilots go check out the air show.
|
|
Chris Gallagher
|
Re: Reno
Report
I was there on Saturday. I spoke with Wayne and helped him get his
glider over the rail. I was up about 2 hours. Flew from the chutes
to the knob to the slide back to the knob back to the slide
etc...... Kept going from 7K to 9.5K up and down. Never could break
the 10k mark. Musta been Decafear.
|
|
Vince Endter
|
Hull flight
reports, 9-13, 9-14
Well, we actually didn't start at Hull. Rich, Bill and I headed up
to Elk with the intention of flying over to Hull and joining the
pilots who were going to fly from there. The sounding showed the
lift should be good to 8,000' by 2:00 PM. As I was setting up I
realized that I had not brought my instrument pod, so I had no vario
or GPS. Rich rigged up his GPS to I could mount it to my basetube.
It is a Garmin 76S with vertical speed readout.
We launched
within one minute of each other at 1:30. Bill and Rich seemed to get
up right away. I was working hard to get above the ridge. The air
was rough with small bullet thermals and lots of sink in between. It
was very difficult to look at the GPS and still concentrate on
flying. The vertical speed information lagged a couple of seconds.
One instant it was reading 600+ and the next it would read 500-.
Rich lost a lot of altitude and came back over to where I
was trying to get up. By following him and using the GPS I finally
managed to get a decent climb and break through 6,000'. We stayed in
a light thermal and we broke through 8,000'. Bill found a good one
and quickly joined us. We left for Horse at 8,700'.
Rich and
I were flying a course line to the east of the peak. Bill stayed
west more. Bill found the lift first; Rich and I flew over him and
climbed back up to 8,700'. Bill lost his thermal and found some more
lift a little while latter. Rich and I were down to 8,400' when Bill
passed 8,000'. We went on glide for Hull. By this time the batteries
in Rich's GPS died and I would have to rely on what I thought was
lift and what I could see of other pilots from here on.
There
was a lot of smoke from a fire east of Hull blowing through the
Pillsbury basin. The air was very buoyant and we had an easy glide
over to the Hull LZ. Bill did not find any lift and landed. Rich and
I arrived just above the house. I was above Rich and saw him
turning. I came over him started to climb. By trying to keep him in
sight and also looking at my progress up the ridgeline, we both made
it up over the top of Hull. By now there were several pilots in the
air, Leo, Mike K, Greg S., Charlie W, and maybe a couple of others.
With all these pilots in the air, it was a little easier to
tell if I was climbing or not. At one point, Greg watched me circle
in sink. He thought about telling me on the radio, but it was his
chance to stay higher than me so he let me figure it out for myself.
The lift above and to the north of Hull was abundant and pilots
could stay up for as long as they wanted. I think some were getting
as high as 10,000'. I finally headed back over the dam and then to
the LZ. There was no wind in the LZ and quite a bit of smoke getting
there.
Rich's son Daniel just received his drivers license
on Thursday, and was driving retrieve. He drove over from Elk solo.
He found the Hull LZ without any problems. Thanks Danny and
congratulations. Total flight time, about two and a half
hours.
Vince
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Weird day at
Hull.
Arrived in LZ at 11.30 to see a huge plume of smoke blotting out
the sun, from a fire somewhere to the East. It was warm, still, and
humid in the LZ and it was raining ash! However Hull mountain was
still in sunshine, so we loaded up two vehicles and went up to see
what was happening.
On the road up there was evidence of
fire near Red Spot, but these mostly appeared to be fairly benign
ground fires, that left the bigger trees intact. But at Timberline
we were treated to a spectacular view of a raging fire probably
approaching 1000s of acres in the drainage between Hull and St John.
The wind was blowing over the back, so we drove up to the top. There
we watched several planes dropping fire retardant, and their efforts
seemed miniscule in the face of the blaze.
The wind on top
was coming over the back from most directions, but eventually we
decided that it was blowing in best at the rockpile. It seemed
pretty good while we were setting up, but by the time I got on
launch at 2.40 it was very light. Finally I took off at 2.50
followed a minute or two later by Greg. It was ratty at first,
though we heard that Vince, Rich and Bill had made it from Elk, and
that Rich and Vince were somewhere over Red Spot and climbing. Soon
we all found good thermals and climbed out. Danny was chasing -
first time - and was very cool on the radio - brief and to the
point. Awright Danny!!
We met up with Rich and Vince over the
mountain at about 8000ft. There was lots of lift with little drift
to nearly 10,000ft - the same height as the smoke plume was rising
to. To the SE was the fire with big flames visible, and a huge plume
of smoke which almost blotted out Pillsbury basin and the lake,
curling round through Windy Gap from the south towards Covelo. The
only quadrant clear of smoke was to the NE, and it was clear, with
Shasta and Lassen plainly visible. In this area there was abundant
lift, and it was easy to fly north to Monkey rock, in the
convergence line of smokey air to the west, and clear air to the
east, and maintain 9000ft or so.
It was super bouyant and
smooth on the way out to the LZ, though you had to smoke a pack of
Mendo Forest XXtra tar to get there. It was warm, still, and humid
in the LZ. Plenty whacks! It was still raining ash!
We all
had a fun time at Mike's - good chicken and food guys - and so we
did indeed hang glide, pig out, drink ourselves into stupor, and
fall asleep on Mike's deck. Thanks Mike.
Woke up covered in
ash, well only a bit, but with smoke everywhere and visibility les
than a mile figured flying would be unlikely.
Leo
|
| Mike
K
|
Elk on Sunday,
9-14
Scott, Kurt, I and about 6 Berkeley club pilots launched off the NW
slot on Elk (West, rather smokey breeze). One could just maintain
ridge height altitude with only a few decent thermals, but after 3
pm bigger cycles would roll through getting many of us higher. The
stronger westerlies were clearing out the smoke from the area about
3-5 pm. Scott and Kurt Were leaving for Pitney about the time I was
very low on the ridge, but I climbed up to their altitude of about
7200 before heading off to chase them. They reported good lift to
8200 beyond Pitney and I also found this altitude in a similar
location. While Kurt and Scott continued on to the next peak I
arrived a bit later at High Glade and found lots of strong sink and
eventually landed in Clover Valley. The two rigids were able to
penetrate the westerly head wind and streak their way back to
Pitney, where they were able to catch fresh lift. They both flew
back to Elk, buzzed around for quite awhile and landed at the Elk
campground. Another great day of flying! Much thanks to Justine who
drove down Scott's truck and retreived me in Clover Valley. She did
a great job finding me despite numerous locked gates. Hmmm the best
looking landing fields from the air aren't necessarily the easiest
to retreive from. Even Hull looked absolutely clear of smoke as I
drove home.
|
|
Hank Roberts
|
>fire near
Red Spot -- thanks! for this news
> fire near Red Spot, but these mostly appeared to be fairly
> benign ground fires, that left the bigger trees
intact.
Thanks for this bit of news, that's what I've been
hoping for.
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Flying
Sunday 9/21
Elk proved to be good on Saturday. I'm heading back that way today,
Sunday. It's 8AM, give me a call if you want to ride with me, or if
you have a better plan for the day.
Ernie
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Barry Levine -
healing slowly
I had an email from Barry and I asked him how his arm was doing. He
sent this reply and I so I asked him if I could post
it
LJ
>The arm's mending, slowly. I went in three weeks
ago for x-rays. Rather than telling me "it's healing nicely, let's
take off the splint and go back to the gym for rehab", he said "I
don't see as much bone density as I would want at this point. Let's
do a bone graft". Ugh. We did the one graft Sept. 11th (took bone
from the iliac crest, added it to the ulna, took the opportunity to
move the ulnar nerve out of the way of the scar tissue which
was
impinging on it), I walked out (okay, hobbled out) the same day, and
we're back on course, I think. He pulled the sutures out today, and
I'm back in rehab for range of motion, but not yet rebuilding
strength.
thanks for asking
Barry
|
| dave
clement
|
flight
report 9/22
chris and I decided to fly st john on sunday, we had a driver
lined up. we got to launch around 12 ;30 after we repaired a flat on
the way up. the conditions were mostly cross at launch but would
straighten up on occasions. I set up, but chris opted not to. I
launched in a decent cycle and managed to climb up pretty normally.
I made it to 8100 just once and the air was different. I decided to
head for town and see if I could work the valley. nothing was
working, so I set up for the field just behind the store because our
normal field had just been plowed and was bumpy as I flew over it. I
made my approach with to much speed and over shot my target and was
approaching a barbed wire fence and tried to pop over it. well, I
didn't make it and hit it rather hard. needless to say I screwed up
the one stepper and instead crashed. I layed there in much pain
until help arrived. I ended up dislocating my left shoulder.
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Re: flight
report
Bummer, Dave!
I hope you get your shoulder back in shape
soon. Maybe you should look into getting a drogue 'chute. It can
help those short field landings.
Ernie
|
| Jon
James
|
accident
Dave, I'm sorry to hear about your shoulder.
When you say
'help arrived' who was it?
|
dave
clement
Unregistered
User
(9/23/03 2:33
pm)
66.81.152.228
Reply
| Edit
| Del
|
help came
Jon, There was still alot of fire fighters and their camp at the
fair grounds. A young man named Logan had seen me circling the town
and noticed that my glider was not moving after 15 minutes or so. He
decided he might want to check on me. I was very grateful for his
help. The land owner also came out to see about the excitement, he
was very nice and helpful. Chris straightened out his fence posts
before we left. Maybe after 30 years of flying hang-gliders I would
think I would be more consistant on my landings. I'm looking forward
to get back into the air soon. ;beer
|
| Bob Wirth
|
St John
Dave,
I was glad to hear from Chris tonight that you only had a
dislocated sholder instead of a broken one. The lesser of two
eveils.
Hope you recover and return to St John in great shape for
next season.
Later,
Bob Wirth
|
| Dave
Clement
|
Thanks for all
the help
Bob , I surely appreciate the help getting my glider broke down and
being our driver . Its nice to have so many fine people involved in
out wonderful sport. I'm looking forward to some winter flying off
Tam or Mt Diablo. Hope to see you and some of the other Cloud street
boys nexy spring. Thanks again Dave Clement
|
|
Brian Padgett
|
Weekend flying
Reports...9/20-21
A good mixture of SW and BAPA pilots flew Elk this weekend.
It
was a nice weekend, hot weather and several pilots at Elk. I
originally was at Hull but when I listened in on the radio, most
pilots were on their way to Elk so I packed up and made the drive on
M1.
I arrived a bit later than I wanted and had trouble getting
up the hill in a borrow vehicle so I played it safe and planned on
launching from the LZ in the Mosquito.
By the time I was
completely set up and ready to go, most pilots had landed and the
wind was somewhere between cross and no wind and the Elk LZ in no
place to screw up a flat ground launch. I move out of the way for
Leo and Scott to land, took another look at launching and chose not
to. I think it was the right thing to do Saturday.
Sunday turned
out to be a nice flight, though most people didn't stay up as long
as I thought they would. The lift was light, so you really had to
work at it. I did however launch with the Mosquito so I had the
option of powering up if I sank out. I did my best without power and
eventually lost the lift and flew toward the LZ. Once I was clear
everyone I powered up, flew near the top of the mountain and killed
the power to try it again. I was more successful this time and
stayed up much longer. Once again I lost it and repeated the flight
to the top with power and gave it one more try.
It was a lot of
fun to get back in the air after what seemed like a long time of not
flying. I hope to work on my thermaling skills again before the
season dies off.
In the end, I flew for a couple hours and used
very little gas.
I was happy to have power once again so I was
able to get a second and third chance without landing a getting a
ride back to the top.
Special thanks to Gregg Hacket for loaning
me his Trooper!
Hope to see many of you in the air
soon!
Brian
|
|
Vince Endter
|
Flight reports
9/27-9/28
Rich, Todd and I flew Elk on Saturday. The winds were out of
the south at launch. There was a very strong inversion. The
temperature INCREASED 12 degrees on the drive up. Todd launch first
at 1:30 with Rich and me close behind. For all those who think
rigids have a big advantage, they should have been flying one there.
The lift was broken and rough. Todd and Rich were able to get right
up. I had a very difficult time getting above launch, it took me
over 15 minutes. Eventually I was able to join them at 5,600'.
Occasionally, the flexies were able to climb higher, but I just
could not make good use of the broken lift.
Todd headed out
first for Pitney. He said the air was very smooth and buoyant. Rich
and I stayed back hoping for the lift to get better. Rich headed off
for Mid Mountain. I followed him, not having ever flown in that
direction before. We found a little lift and I managed to climb
another couple hundred feet before loosing it and heading for the
LZ. Rich was able to climb another 3 hundred or so and fly back to
Elk where he climbed back to 6,000'. I worked some zero sink for a
few minutes before heading back to land. I had a nice landing in
light winds in the creek bed.
Todd's radio battery was low so
we did not know where he ended up. Rich finally heard from him that
he was close to upper lake. Rich headed over to him and landed in
the same field. Everyone had good landings. My flight time was 1:10,
Todd had about and hour and Rich had about and hour and a half. It
was a good day for me to practice working broken
lift.
Vince
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Hull sunday
Greg and I went up to Hull, and eventually were joined in the LZ by
Bob Ortiz, Doug, Lee, and several Bay area pilots. Trouble was there
was ANOTHER big fire to the north of Hull mountain sending a huge
plume of smoke into the air, and helicopters were dipping water from
the lake and flying right over the LZ, and refueling from a tanker
parked at the lake end of the runway.
We went and talked to
the USFS fire guys in the tanker and explained who we were etc, and
asked if we could still fly(!!!). Well, the airspace wasn't closed
down apparently, so we agree to avoid the end of the airstrip and
the regular LZ area, and if necessary land at the windsock at the
other end of the airfield. Just then another chopper flew in to
refuel, right across the windsock end of the airfield!
We
decided to go up anyway and have a look - nothing else to do. At
Timberline the wind was light and almost 90 degrees crossed from the
east, and there seemed to be no lapse rate, it was as warm there as
down in the LZ. We collected a lot of garbage. Enthusiasm waned. The
fire meanwhile was growing and giving rise to a spectacular plume of
smoke and a big cumulus to the north, so we decided to go up to the
top to look. The fire was much further to the north - several miles
- than we thought.
Curtis eventually set up and took off at
3.30 from near the old propane tanks launch. He climbed out to about
1000 over, and eventually a couple of the Bay area pilots flew late
and had extended sledders. Aerial activity seemed to have died down
somewhat, though the fire was still huge. The buckets of water that
the choppers were carrying seemed pathetic in the face of such a
blaze so perhaps they gave up.
Leo
|
| Mike
K
|
Hull on
Saturday!
Indeed it seemed rather inverted while driving up, but the wind at
Timberline was fine, with moderate, short cycles. It was quite hazy
with smoke from the fires to the West of 101. There was no
indication at all of the fire to the Northeast, which would cause
such a huge plume the next day. I was the first to launch at 2PM and
heard the chatter from Elk described in Vince's post. The lift on
Hull was also small, choppy and didn't go very high. However, there
seemed to be reliable lift at Red Spot (the grass is now darker
because of the fires) and at the house. Drift was moderate from the
South. 14 pilots launched but many went down with short flights.
After five trips to Lower Launch looking for a staircase to the top
of the mountain, I eventually made it over the top once, but didn't
find anything, so 7K was the upper limit for the day. Beautiful
landing conditions after a 2 hr flight. Thanks to Ray for the
retrieve at the end of the day.
Mike K
|
| MattsFlyin
|
Owens
Report (9/29)
It was pretty damn good! There were three 100+ milers and a several
40-65 milers. I had my best of the year with a 65.5 after almost 5
hours. The scenery was awsome of course.
There were no wild goose
chases and only one dead duck.
Barry's glider is still visible on
Goodale. It now looks like a red flag! Could be a
warning!
More Later,
Matt
|
|
Barry Levine
|
Owens
Hi Matt,
thanks for the report! I got to fly over my wreck on
Goodale in August '02, when in still looked like a HG. By now, I
guess it's no more than a rag, and it's likely that it has been
dragged considerably down the slope by a year of snow and
weather.
Barry
|
| Scot
Huber
|
Re: Owens
Report
Friday the wind in the valley stayed lite north all day. Managed to
cross to Black Mt. with a thermal off the cinder cone to 10G. No
lift to be found on Black so landed at Big Ears for 52 miles. Ended
up landing to the north but it was south at the time on the ground
and I fell into a downtube breaking my first on the
Atos.
Saturday after shortening a downtube donated by Matt,
(thanks Matt) I launched around 11am and found lift over the saddle
to around 11G. Headed up range trying to catch the earlier pilots.
Worked good lift off the knees to around 12 catching and passing
everyone but Bill Soderquist who got high at Whitney where I
struggled. Finally got to 12,500 at the corner before Tinnemaha and
headed north on the Sierra until the last mt. before Bishop. The
wind stayed SE most of the day.
I headed over Bishop finding a
thermal at the golf course and another over the airport keeping
above 7G the whole time. Got on the Whites just north of Flynns
launch near Laws and struggled in lite lift until Gunther where I
got a little higher, 10G. At White Mt. I was still below the top but
the lift was consistent and the winds were showing SW around 8mph.
Headed north and at Montgomery Peak found the best thermal of the
day to 15G. I was still at 10G when I crossed Basalt but decided to
circle on down as the day was waning and I had a headache from
hypoxia. Had a nice landing. this was my longest duration flight
ever. 6hrs. 58mn. 106.8mi.hh
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Re: Owens
Report
I'm remiss too. I'll write something about the weekend soon. In the
meantime, here's a brief report by Dave Hopkins. You'll remember
Dave as the fellow with the maps who showed us where to fly at
Lakeview back in '97(?). He was in town and joined up with us for
both Friday and Saturday. We used his driver, a local named Bill
(and a character too!), and my truck. The day that Scot landed at
Basalt, Dave also got there at about the same altitude, but decided
to glide as far as he could, trying to beat his persoal best (he
didn't quite beat it). Here's Dave's report:
Date: Wed, 01
Oct 2003 22:15:16 -0000
From: "flymehg"
<flymedave@aol.com>
Subject: hanging in the
Owens
The flying has been good for late in the season ..
Many 50+
flights. One 113mi 9/27 and 103 and 84.5.
On
the 113mi. It was tough getting down the siearras. I was setup to
land at the fish hatchery, Big Pine. Hit lift at 300' . turned one
360 , Went around looking for stronger stuff. Vario screamed up,
wham! went inverted ,kicked the keel, didnt look for stronger stuff
anymore, topped out at 10k went to black mt, down the whites , 15.7k
at Boundry,landed after sunset up rt 360 for 113mis.7hr 45 mins in
the air, Have you check your sprogs lately?
Windy last couple
days, Time to leave soon . Hope to get one more 100+ .
DaveH
|
| Roy
Wormington
|
Hull Sunday - 10/5
Doug, Kurt, and I flew Hull on Sunday. There was an inversion a
little above lower launch, that was very rowdy, but once I got
through it there was good lift right into the clouds (9600 ft.).
Kurt made a second flight around 4:00 and found wide
spread smooth lift too the clouds. He ended up coming down because
of the cold.
|
|
Hangfly
|
Weekend Flight
Reports - 10/11,12
Hull was some big fun Saturday. Eight pilots launched from
Timberline into pretty strong, right cross conditions and prepared
to take our sled rides. We scratched and scraped our way down the
ridge trying not to go down in small ratty thermals. As for me, I
had sunk down past the knob and was below 3000' coming over the
trees behind Oak Flat when I began to encounter lift. Flying west to
map it out, it was quickly apparent that it was convergence. I
climbed 1000' and radioed my good fortune to the other pilots. Soon
there were six of us flying all over the north end of the lake in
smooth lift that went as high as 6500'. At times the lift was up to
600fpm. Kurt and Scot were up over 3 hours in their rigids. I was up
just under 2 hours. Turned out to be a very nice fall day.
Sunday
was strong over the back and we all left.
Hangfly
|
| Shannon Raby
|
Mother Load Sky
Riders THANKS
The Mother Load Sky Riders would like to thank the crew from Sonoma
Wings club for their support at the October fest fly-in. Scot,
Ernie and Mat. The flying was not as good as could be and it seemed
to be the best late in the day. There still was gains of 2500 ft.
and three plus hour flights. The M.L.S.R. would like to thank all
the pilots that made this a fun and safe fly-in!!!! Just a reminder
PRE and POST flying at Lake Mcclure is some of the best. see ya soon
and THANKS AGAIN ! Shannon PS there are some pics. on the mlsr.net
site more to come in a few days
|
| Ernie Camacho
|
Mother Load Sky
Riders October Fest 10/11-12
So, here's the story: The weekend before, on the way back from the Owens,
Matt's Jeep broke down. I was following him, just in case, and he and Lori
got a ride back with us. Then this weekend he had to go pick up his repaired
Jeep (it was towed back to Lee Vining, then on to Carson City). I volunteered to take
him and Lori to Carson City, with the idea that we could get some flying in.
The weather in Carson City was not good, strong westerlies, so Lori decided to drive
the Jeep back home while Matt went with me to the fly-in. We went down 395 and
over Tioga pass (saw a bear crossing the road on 395 along the Walker River).
We got into Coulterville Saturday evening, had dinner, and hung out at the campground with
some of our Bay Area club members. Matt was going to fly early Sunday in the
speed gliding comp., but when 7AM came around, his bed was way too comfy.
We basically hung out with the MLSR gang, and Scot, who we'd missed the night before. The flying wasn't
great - I had a prolonged sledder, but the company was fun. After saying goodbye to everyone,
Matt and I headed home, getting back late.
|
|
Hangfly
|
St Helena
Sunday 10/19?
Anyone interested in St Helena Sunday? The weather looks pretty
doable. I just got off the phone with Jane Campbell, she says there
are cows in the large field but we are welcome to land there. She
thinks the cows like
us.
Hangfly
|
|
|
Fight
report
Yea, I flew. Naw, it wasn't much. Had a smooth sledder about 15
minutes long. Good launch and landing. Cows were sparsley scattered
throughout the big field so I opted for the field with the big oak.
Stopped in to see Jane afterward. She was happy to see us and glad
to hear the St Helena flying season is starting again. Thanks to
Donna for driving.
Hangfly
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Hull report, 18
-19th Oct
After keeping us out half the night and forcing lots of nasty beer
down us, Charley was sufferiing from some mysterious malady on
Saturday morning, so he couldn't come flying. You must be getting
old Charley!
The rest of us, variously hung over or not,went
to Hull. Me, Greg, Matt, Kurt and Spencer, Scot, Ernie, Roy, Doug and Dick
Girard met in the LZ, where a lot of high cloud was keeping things
rather cool, but we proceeded, rather late, up to launch.
The wind on launch was blowing 10 - 15, but almost 90
degrees crossed from the left most of the time. Every few minutes it
would straighten up and blow in and you had to pick your moment and
go. Greg went first, turned right and flew into the big bowl in
front of the mountain, and began to sink. When he turned back into
wind he almost stopped, but was still sinking. I was next, and he
radioed to me not to go right, which was a pretty superflous piece
of advice. As soon as the wind straightened up I took off. It wasn't
one of my better take offs, because the wind picked me up after no
more than 2 steps, but the glider was flying, my wings were level,
and I flew away. I went left. There wasn't a lot of lift but it was
somewhat buoyant, if a bit bumpy and unpredictable. I did several
turns in bits of lift, only to fall out of them before finally
finding a more organized thermal a few hundred feet over the trees,
and climbed fairly quickly to 7500ft. However the wind was fresh and
blowing parallel to the mountain face, drifting me rapidly back
towards the peak. Eventually everyone else began to take off, and
some just sank out. My thermal drifted me downwind over the back of
the mountain, so I abandoned it and flew slowly back towards launch,
sinking all the way in a strong headwind. Only Kurt and Scot on
their rigids really climbed out - most of the others were being
flushed towards the landing area, but with the advantage of a couple
of thousand feet of altitude I was able to hang out.
At one
point an immature red tailed hawk zoomed by me only about 10 feet
away from me - so close it made me jump. We did a couple of circles
together but he outclimbed me with ease and I lost sight of him.
Greg, Matt and I flew around in weak lift near the house, but
eventually I found a better core and climbed back to nearly 7800ft.
I was a bit concerned about the strength of the wind, which was
blowing from the general direction of the LZ and strangely seemed to
vary from about 12mph to over 30 mph. It may have been some sort of
wave effect in and out of phase with the mountain. Lift and sink
cycles seemed equally variable. At one point my forward speed over
the ground was a mere 6mph and the LZ looked along way off, so I
decided to get out and land lest the wind picked up even more.
However once out over the mountain foothills the headwind decreased
to almost nothing, so I arrived over the LZ with several thousand
feet to burn off.
Scot, Roy and Doug went home but the rest
of us camped up at Red Spot. Sunday morning there wasn't a cloud in
the sky, it was warm and the wind was light and blowing right in at
launch. We all thought it would prove to be a much better flying
day, but by the time we had taken the gliders up to launch, taken
all the vehicles down to the LZ, and then driven one back up with
all the pilots (such complicated logistics when you hang glide) thin
high cloud had spread in once again, cutting down the sunlight, and
with it the chances of good thermals.
Greg and I decided to
swap gliders. I was too antsy to wait around for a possible patch of
blue sky miles away, so I took off first. Everyone then watched me
as I found no lift whatsoever, and sank slowly down the ridge. Kurt
called over the radio "You'll have to do better than that if you
want us to join you". I kept sinking - the air was very smooth -
hardly a bump. Eventually, half way to the LZ and below 4000ft my
vario started to beep feebly and I found some weak and broken lift.
I climbed 300ft in about 15 minutes. I was aware of being
overdressed. I saw the others begin to take off, but they could not
find any lift either, and one by one they to began to sink out
towards me.
I managed to stay up for almost an hour, and
even climbed back to nearly 5000ft before the clouds shut out the
sun, and shut down the lift altogether. In the LZ the wind was very
light and coming in from the boat ramp, which necessitated an
approach over the trees. Nearly everyone overshot, but I won the
prize by hundreds of feet. The light wind made for a very fast
landing, and I was very conscious that I must not whack and bend
Greg's glider, nor hurt my wrist again, (I cracked a bone in it a
few weeks ago and it has been painful) but I managed to pull off a
perfect no stepper landing.
So no epic flying, but it was fun
to camp and fly once again.
Leo
|
| MattsFlyin
|
Alcohol and
Flying
In order to maintain our sense of responsibility regarding the
safety of flying and the use of alcohol and other drugs I am posting
this info:
Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 91.17
The use
of alcohol and drugs by pilots is regulated by FAR 91.17. Among
other provisions, this regulation states that no person may operate
or attempt to operate an aircraft:
*within 8 hours of having
consumed alcohol
*while under the influence of alcohol
*with
a blood alcohol content of 0.04% or greater
*while using any
drug that adversely affects safety
Although we like to tell
of our flying adventures on this public forum we have to keep in
mind that not all readers are informed of the standards established
by the FAA.
Our flights over this past weekend were all in
compliance with these standards.
No one flew until at least
12 hours after having their last beer. This exceeds the FAA minimum
by a 50% margin!
No one was impaired in any way.
We
all know the old adage: "8 hrs from bottle to throttle" and we
follow it.
If you can't or won't follow these standards
yourself then you should be responsible like Charley was and NOT
fly.
Matt
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Responsiblity
That's a good point Matt, and it's as well to point that out on
this public forum, but I'm sure you know as well as all of us, that
though though many HG pilots aren't teetotal after a great day's
flying, whilst engaged in our fun we are about the most drug free
and sober participants of any sport.
I have been hang
gliding, like many of you, for over a quarter of a century, and I've
never seen anyone drinking before flying, indeed I have seen pilots
disqualify themselves from flying after writing the day off and then
consuming a single beer, only to have the conditions improve. (Of
course, you'd really have to be crazy to fly a hang glider under the
influence of anything - and no-one I know who flies is that crazy!)
Apart from the fact of course that the rest of us would physically
prevent anyone from flying if we thought they were under the
influence.
One of the great things about hang gliding and
hang glider pilots is the sense of responsibility and consideration
exhibited to everyone. I don't know of any other group of users of
the outdoors who is as conscious of their environment and so adamant
about not abusing it as we are. Who else do you know who picks up
other people's garbage, including cigarette butts and glass when we
camp. I even remember you picking up a pile of someone's else's
trash from a field you'd landed in. I don't think this is just
because we are so visible (when on the ground anyway). I think it's
because hang glider pilots in general are like that. And people who
know us know that, which is one reason we are treated so
hospitably.
Leo
|
|
Gregg Hackett
|
St. Helena
11/2
4 paragliders flew on Sat at St. Helena.....It was great! Oh yea,
Todd flew to Middletown also (I think). We had our permit checked by
Ranger Burke......happened to print the wrong permit but it was OK
with him......found out I printed last year's permit instead of the
current one. I also asked about possibly opening up a new launch
SOMEWHERE. He said it would probably
"not be a problem" if we found somewhere that we
did not have to change the landscape. Maybe on the next peak North
under the antennas? We should check it out.........
Gregg
|
| Scot
Huber
|
Flight Report
Elk 11/1/03
Why I Fly!!!!I took off at 1:30, beamed out in 1100ft/mn. lift to
7600'. Headed for Pitney with Linda chasing. Nice clouds all the way
to the end of Bartlett ridge at this point. I climbed to 8200 on
Bartlett Mt. and headed over the back at Pinnacle Rock following the
clouds to the east of Long Valley.
Hung with a big Redtail at
7000' for awhile waiting for the clouds to show me the way at the
end of Long V. Headed SE splitting the difference between Hwy 20 and
53. Finally got some west component to the winds which were light
and variable to this point so headed out Morgan Valley Road toward
the Blue Ridge. Caught another good one over a burn to 7500 and
continued south east over the gold mine. Thought I could make the
Blue Ridge but came up a little short and as I descended the winds
died to light north. Landed at 4:30 along the Berryessa/Knoxville
Rd. for 45.2mi. This is the longest flight flown off Elk so far this
year. If the clouds don't come in tonight I'll be up for besting it
tomorrow. hh
|
| Jon
James
|
Flight Report
11-9
Soaring did happen this weekend
by a paraglider, Gregg H at
Vista Trail
Leo, Matt and I witnessed
about 5 minutes, to 20'
over with a top landing
The winter season has begun
|
| Shannon
|
winter
flying
This Last week end was blown out and or raining,but the week end
before there were three hour flights with 3000ft + gains!!! Mcclure
can be great in the winter pre or post,as long as its not raining or
blown out it seems to let lose with some good flying. We have had
some of the best flying in the winter,thirty mile triangle runs
thirty five mile X.C. soar until the sun set's. It is all in the
timing, the winter is not as forgiving, you can launch at One oclock
and be on the ground at 1:05 ,or launch at 1:05 and climb to cloud
base!! Just a thought for the long winter days. GETUSUM Shannon
|
|
