March Hangola

by Sheila Gardner

Saturday, March 3
Pulpit. Despite a rather overcast, dubious forecast, tons of folks had an awesome day at the Pulpit. The forecast was for 10mph but pilots were seeing averages of 18 with gusts over 25. Most folks launched in lulls around 15 mph. Enjoying the day were First-to-Arrive, First-to-Fly Bacil who flew for 1'15" with 1200' over, Marc Fink for 3 hours and 5200' msl, Cragin for 50 minutes and 2200' over, and Matthew Graham for 1'30", 2700' over and 16.7 miles for his first OTB – Way To Go!! Mike Chevalier landed with Matthew for about 16.7 miles, while Tom McGowan landed in Shady Grove for 17+ miles. Ed also had his first over the back landing at the middle school in Mercersburg for 5 miles – YEAH!! Mark Cavanaugh, Dave Proctor, Brian Vant-Hull, Joe Brauch, Joe Schad, Dan Tomlinson, Kevin Jones, Karen Carra and Paul Donahue also flew but don't have the details.

Smithsburg. Sparky and Doug Henderson headed out to Smithsburg where they each had a few flights. Sparky was checking out a vintage 1986 Moyes GTR 210 in the NW 5-10 winds. Then they headed over to . . .

High Rock, where Sparky flew for 25 minutes and got 650' over and Doug Henderson and Bob Gillisee also soared. Congratulations on your first High Rock soaring flight Doug!!!

Ridgely. Flying was to be had everywhere including Ridgely where Rolf Goedhart flew for 45 minutes and got to 3850' after not having flown for 5 months. Awesome!

Thursday, March 8th
Manquin. Steve Kinsley had a "welcome back from California" flight at Manquin where he flew for about a ½ hour and maxed at 2600' feet but unfortunately on one of his flights he forgot to hang onto the string on the cart. He landed uneventfully. Bruce Engen had a flight that was about ½ hour as well.

Friday, March 9th
Smithsburg. Sparky and Bob Gillisse spread their wings at Smithsburg where Allen had 3 flights on his GTR 210 (aka Big Mama) and Bob flew once in winds that started out WNW 5-10 and increased to blown out.

Saturday, March 10th
Woodstock. Conditions were light at Woodstock but that didn't stop pilots from having a great day. The cast included Marc Fink who flew both his hangglider and paraglider, getting an extendo on the hg and 1'30" with 2K over on his pg, and Dan Tomlinson who flew 50 minutes. Christy Huddle got to 3K over and landed across from Mr. Fishburns' new residence and visited with him, Doug Henderson flew 45 minutes, 1300' over and Terry and Steve Kinsley both flew to Front Royal and got to 3500' over. Also flying were Kelvin Pierce, Bruce Engen and Vitali.

Pulpit. A crew of pilots showed up at the Pulpit but most of them decided 20-40 mph winds were too strong and decided to head to High Rock after throwing Lull-Master Ed Reno off in a lull. Ed got 3500' over and went 10.5 miles. He reported that conditions were relatively smooth and ended up landing around Whitetail. Alright!!

High Rock. The rest of the gang headed over to High Rock where conditions were wonderfully boatable. Pilots that flew were Ric Niehaus, Rich Green, Doug Rogers, Raean, Danny Brotto, Mark Cavanaugh, Matthew and Karen and Mike Chevalier. Most flights were in the ½ hour to hour range. Also showing up were Lewis Truitt, Brian Vant-Hull, High Rock Laura and Joe Brauch who couldn't fly because his glider had flipped in the set-up area and he broke a bolt on his kingpost.

Sunday, March 11th
High Rock. The 'cast was definitely not bullet-proof with winds forecasted to be shifting from the SW to the N at about 12 mph dropping to 5 mph. Actual conditions were gusting winds that averaged 20 and gusted between 15 and 25 most of the afternoon. Flying reports were gnarly, windy and cold, but . . . most people flew!! Cragin had a short flight, Mark Cavanaugh flew for 20 minutes with 300' over, Brian Vant-Hull flew for 10 minutes and Laura and Joe M were both nice enough to wire-assist.

Wednesday, March 14th
Woodstock. Conditions were strong west and turbulent with some 1000 ft/min. Steve Kinsley, Terry Spencer, Joe Schad and Adam all flew with Terry making it to Mt. Jackson.

Saturday, March 17th
Woodstock. Greg DeWolf and Terry Spencer both flew with Terry getting 1'50" and 5150' msl. Conditions at launch were relatively smooth and blowing straight in. In the air winds were 45 to 85 degrees cross with Greg and Terry doing lots of ridge rotor surfing.

Sunday, March 18th
Woodstock. Cast o'thousands at Woodstock where conditions at launch were cross and gusty. Most reports from the air was that it was gnarly. Mike Balk flew for 1'40", 5000' over and went to Luray for 16 miles, Ed Reno flew for 2'30", 2500' over and 12.9 miles, Bacil got 12.45 miles, Steve Kinsley flew about 16 miles and Matthew flew for 1'45" with 3500' over. Others also flying were Terry Spencer, Mike Chevalier, Lyman Hart, John Dullahan, Marvin, Tom, Mark G., and Brian Vant-Hull. Mike Chevalier, Tom McGowan and Matthew all decided to land over the back in a nice, big beautiful, rotor-free field. Those opting not to join in on the rodeo-ride were Karen, Lewis Truitt, Kevin Jones, Kevin Madden, Dan Tomlinson and Greg DeWolf. Tracy, Kelly Madden and Sheila all provided wire-crew and/or retrieval service.

Saturday, March 24th
Smithsonian Kite Festival. Joe Gregor did another fantastic job of handling all the logistics of having a hanggliding display at the Smithsonian Kite Festival on the mall in downtown DC. Others helping out in various ways were Janet Gregor, Brian Vant-Hull, Ellis Kim, Marc Fink, Dan Tomlinson, Cragin Shelton, Ralph Sickinger, John Codd and Sheila Gardner. Despite the weather starting out great but deteriorating throughout the day (strong winds, light rain and cold), it was a huge success with lots of very interested people. Hopefully we'll see some of them!

Sunday, March 25th
Pulpit. It was an excellent XC day for Marc, Kelvin and Ed Reno. They all made it past Chambersburg with Ed landing just above Scotland for 21 miles, 5440' agl over while Marc and Kelvin landing at 26.7 miles in Shippensburg. Ellis was nice enough to sacrifice flying and wire-crew for everyone.

Smithsburg. After making the supreme sacrifice at the Pulpit and driving retrieve for the xc'ers, Ellis had fun with her paraglider at Smithsburg.

Woodstock. Sounds like it wasn't a spectacular day but it was a nice one at Woodstock for those who went. Conditions were light west cross most of the day. It was the "luck of the launch" draw as many sledded while others scratched, but conditions did get better later in the day. Dan Tomlinson had a very enjoyable 1'30" where he flew all the way to the North and almost made it back and Sparky flew for 30 minutes with 350' over. Pete had an excellent low save on his first flight and went XC on his 2nd. Tom went XC on his 2nd flight as well while Mike Balk went OTB to the Fort Valley. Others flying were Doug Henderson, Gary Smith, Steve Padgett, Tom McGowan, Adam Arkfeld, Dan Tomlinson, Mike Balk, Mike Chevalier, John McAllister, Bob, Christy, Pete Schumann and Bruce Engen. This was Steve's first flight since his knee surgery last October – welcome back! Sounds like many thanks are in order to Terry who couldn't fly due to waiting for glider parts but helped out on launch and retrieval. Congratulations to Doug Henderson who is now a Hang 3!!

Manquin. John Claytor decided to head to Manquin where his best flight was over an hour to 3500' in NE 5-10 conditions that turned SW/W.

Ridgely. Geoff Mumford (where have you been??), Ric Niehaus, Richard Green and others were at Ridgely where Richard got to 6500' and Ric went XC for 22 miles. Schweet!!

Saturday, March 31st
Ridgely. It was a pretty gloomy day at Ridgely, but cleared enough for Bruce Satatis and Steve Crichten to get in the air. Bruce got to fly his new Exxtacy performing a perfect launch, tow, flight, and landing. Steve too had a nice test flight on an Aeros Stealth 2. Bruce's new wing will be set up on tandem gear. He has graciously offered to allow Highland Aerosports to use it for tandems with those interested in checking it out.

Bill's Hill. The Gardinator checked it out, found it non-flyable and did some site maintenance instead. Thank you!