Back to Listserv Picks

Hi Dave,

Very nice job. You accomplished the hardest part of that trip, getting past Cacapon Mt east of Paw Paw. Looking at a map validates your description of it being east bumfuck.

Comments:

• When you asked about me climbing above Zirks, I didn't know who was asking. Next time ask,'This is Dave,is that Pete at (guess our height differential) above me?' When there're heaps of people on a channel it's best to make transmissions very specific.

• You were quite correct to not follow me. My lift eventually struggled up to 5,700 (I think) where all of the early lift ended. Had you come with me at that point you would probably been stuck having to follow from behind and significantly below. That is always a bad idea, particularly on a (largely) blue day, and one where it had only just turned on. That could have meant that as we got away from the good ridge we'd be struggling on until only ten minutes before, we would have found ourselves in broken country that was not yet properly triggering the lift back there. Indeed, it was quite a while before lift became meaningfully good, and even then it was found only when we had gotten onto bigger, cleaner ridges again. As it was, Mitch nearly landed ten miles behind launch, and I got a little lower than I liked.

  To further validate your decision, I had been in precisely the same situation with respect to Larry Huffman and Mitch. I too had been about a thousand feet below and behind them when they left, and I went back to the ridge. It is a hard, general lesson I have learned about following good pilots from behind and below. You can stay with them for a while, but the moment finding lift becomes a bit tougher, you are either too low or too late to get the thermal that saves them. You are then history.

• Your course line: You were some 6-7miles north of our track at the point you landed. I believe you were flying slightly cross-wind. I point that out because on a truly blue day, that cross wind track would result in you unknowingly straying out of the blue thermal streets, and into the corresponding sink streets. It wasn't such an issue on your flight because there were some clouds to indicate lift, and the bigger ridges were all kicking off good thermals. But once you get into the flats on a blue day it is meaningful.

  I suspect that you took the track you did because of the influence of others. That was a communal mistake that is the result of the Mountaineers being a bit stuck in a route rut. Because they have often gone to Paw Paw, they again go to Paw Paw by following route 51 even if that puts them on the wrong track for finding lift. I flew there two weeks ago and they all did the same thing, while on that occasion I successfully flew several miles north of 51. In other words, follow your own analysis of the situation. This 'individualistic' sport of ours has far too much herd instinct in it. It is a delicate balancing act, but you need to know when to benefit from going with the herd, and when to trust your own judgement. The herd is often wrong.

• Climb rates: I and Larry only use twenty second averager figures. All other instantaneous figures are useless. Incidentally, in four years of flying in the East with a barograph the best I ever saw was 900fpm at a 30 second sampling rate. And that was on a stupendous day. During those years of barograph traces the best long-duration average climb rates (ie.3,000-5,000foot climbs) were no more than 400fpm. I have occasionally seen 1,000 on an averager, but basically it's merely distracting to think that that's what's out there. Orient your decision making around working 200-500. If you see better, great, but don't count on it. I think many pilots are too impatient to work garbage lift because they have an idealized view of what's out there, and that view is the result of believing too many stories about 'a thousand up'. This is particularly true behind the Pulpit. In the flats lift is not going to be as good as it was on the ridge. If it was true 500fpm on the ridge, you may have to work stuff as weak as 200 in the valley until you again find good lift on South Mt.

• Trash lift: You are again correct about having made a mistake by leaving that rowdy thermal. It would almost certainly have mellowed out with time. A tip about dealing with those strong, gnarly thermals: We pilots often accentuate the thermals' nastiness because we begin to hold on to the bar too tightly, and pull in as well. The result is that our encounters with the lift, and accompanying sink take on a more dramatic character than is really necessary. I sometimes literally tell myself to relax, ease up on the grip, make smoother control motions, and slow down a bit. It is remarkable what a transformation that brings to the thermal. Suddenly it isn't so nasty, and one is climbing faster and more smoothly.

• Finally, the retrieve: You need to get/make a map holder and fly with a map. Furthermore, you must make prior arrangements for pick-up. You are clearly a good enough pilot that you will no longer merely fall over the back at the Pulpit for a few miles. Once you go a bit further and into confusing country like you did, retrieves become a nightmarish inconvenience for yourself and, more importantly, the others you are stuck going out and getting you. Speaking from personal experience, you can wear out your welcome in a big hurry that way. At Zirks, what you ought to have done is talked to the others present and found out if it was ok to expect a ride, and with whom. Offer money, drugs, loose sheep, or whatever else they value.

Oh yeah, our flight. Mitch got the furthest (61.6 miles), landing on route seven on the east edge of Blue Ridge mountain east of Winchester, I landed on the western slope of the mountain (59), and Larry landed sick, and frozen north of Winchester (44.9). We went most of the way together after I caught up to them ten miles out. They then scraped me off at the fourty mile mark, and Mitch and I finally hooked up again ten miles short of landing. Climb rates were 200-600 (average about 350), with only Mitch seeing one of 800fpm, and also being the only one to get to base at some eight grand. It was quite easy after the first ten miles, until the last fifteen miles which were in the open Shenandoah valley, and late in the day. Mitch and I landed at about 5:05, and I'd been in the air for 3:40. Helluva fine day.

Again, congratulations on a good flight,

Pete