May Hangola

Mike Chevalier preparing for tow at Highland Aerosports

Sheila Gardner

Tuesday, May 1
Wallaby. Fred and Raean decided to try their skill in the Wallaby Open, which included some of the best pilots in the world. Raean came in an IMPRESSIVE 55 out of 76 and Fred 63rd. In six days Raean flew 275.5 miles, 18 hours, with her longest flight being 79 miles. Fred flew 221 miles, 14 plus hours, longest flight 76 miles. Congratulations!!

Redwing. Judy McCarty and others had a gorgeous view of New Jersey from the air with an enjoyable 45 minute flight.

Wednesday, May 3rd
Point of the Mountain, Utah. Matthew and Karen headed to Utah for a paragliding training trip. After a couple blown out days they both got in some kiting followed by a tandem flight. The next day Matthew got in three flights for a total of roughly an hour and Karen two.

Saturday, May 5th
Sacramento. There was a ton of pilots at Sacramento for the work party and some fun flying afterwards. Local pilots were Tom McGowan, Terry Spencer and Pete Schumann. After the work party the forecasted blown out day smoothed out with thermals topping out at 4400'. Airtimes ranged from 1-4 hours.

Hallem. Ellis Kim, Judy McCarty, Matthew and Karen all headed to Hallem, PA for paragliding training hill flights.

Sunday, May 6th
Jack's. Cast o'thousands at Jack's where conditions were straight in around 10 mph despite conditions being strong elsewhere. Everyone flew including Tom McGowan, Sparky, Doug Henderson for 2 hours, Bob Gillisse who flew for 3 hours, 4200' over and Ralph Sickinger for 1 hour, 1800' over. H2's were thrown off in the strong evening magic.

Bill's Hill. Conditions started out nice but ended up od'ing. Ed Reno and Mike Chevalier, Ellis and many others were at Bill's. Ed flew for 1'45" and got 1200' over and Mike C. flew for around an hour and got 2700' over after a low save from the tree line. Ellis decided not to fly.

Fisher Road. Brian Hardwick and John Middleton both soared at Fisher's Road.

Thursday, May 10th
Ridgely. With an incredible cloud street day, Marc Fink got to 7100' and went 28 miles, Steve Kinsley went 28 miles and others flew as well with the farthest going 50 miles.

Friday, May 11th
Ridgely. Friday's 'cast didn't look quite as good as Thursdays but that didn't deter Marc Fink, Ric Niehaus and others from flying again. Marc went 20.2 miles and Ric flew for 3'25" and 76.3 miles. Congratulations!!

Saturday, May 12th
Woodstock. Pilots were rewarded with airtime after waiting for the cold front to pass through and waiting for the winds to settle down. Mark Cavanaugh flew for 1'30" and got 1500' over, Cragin Shelton flew for 48 minutes and 1100' over, and Terry Spencer, Dan Tomlinson and Bruce Engen all flew with top gains of 2400' over. Mark Gardner, Kevin Jones and Steve Padgett decided not to fly.

Sunday, May 13th
Woodstock. The forecast was for NW 10-15 but ended up being more northerly. TONS of pilots flew! Mark Cavanaugh, Tom McGowan and Terry Spencer all went 10 miles OTB, John Dullahan flew 11 miles down the ridge, Cragin Shelton flew 50 minutes, 4600' over, Joe Schad 51 minutes, 2K' over, and Dave Proctor and Lyman Hart both went xc. Also in attendance were Ed Reno, Mike Chevalier, John Middleton, Christy Huddle and others.

High Rock. After conditions mellowed, Steve Krichten, Bob Gillisse and others all had enjoyable flights.

High Point. With the forecasted NW 10-20 looking more like NNE 5-15, no one was excited about the day. Despite conditions Dan had his farthest, highest and longest to date OTB with 18.4 miles, 7900' msl, and 2'15 min. - not to mention his first time at High Point! Way to go Dan!!! Mark Gardner had his personal best as well with 50.5 miles, 9K+' msl and 2½ hours, landing in the Woodstock valley. Awesome!! Also flying were Doug Wakefield and Jim Rowan.

Monday, May 14th
High Rock. Bob, Tom and Steve ended up flirting with a gust front at High Rock. Bob Gillisse flew for 2 hours with 3,515' agl (and was glad he had his drogue chute).

Ridgely. Ric Niehaus had an exciting flight to Snow Hill, MD for 60 miles and about 3 hours.

Tuesday, May 15th
High Rock. Kelvin Pierce, Pete Schumann and Curt had nice evening flights. Kelvin flew for 1'30" and go to 1600' over.

Saturday, May 19th
Training Hills John took some students out but found crops at Smithsburg and cross winds at Luray.

Sunday, May 20th
Bill's/ Jack's/ Fisher A few flew but most chased the wind and rain from Breezewood to Jack's. Bacil, Brian VH, Matthew, Karen, Cragin, Marc, Joe B, Doug H, among others.

Tuesday, May 22nd
France. Christy was in France for a couple weeks and had a nice soaring flight at St. Hilaire du Touvet while her sister and niece took tandem flights. They came back the next week and Christy had a great pg tandem flight with the instructor doing wingovers and stuff but Christy flew most of the flight. She says the flight makes her want to take pg lessons.

Wednesday, May 23rd
High Rock. Steve Kinsley, Rob Millman and some others enjoyed a beautiful day at the Rock and took short flights. Rob launched again after it got good and soared.

Sunday, May 27th
Ridgely. Cragin, Mike C and John M went. Some tandem students flew earlier then the rain came.

Monday, Memorial Day, May 28th
Ridgely. Cragin made terrific progress on his AT rating by getting in 2 tandem check-out flights and two solos on the Target. Way to go, Cragin! Mike C walked off with the flight of the day award with his 22 minutes. John M came out again and got to fly this time. James, a visiting pilot from North Carolina brought his family out so they could see him fly. Frank and Carol, who were also there on Saturday, were waiting out the day hoping to get in some flights.

High Rock. Sparky launched late afternoon along with Bob G and Steve Krichton and flew for 1'20" getting 1200' over. Later BrianVH, Louey T, and Gary Smith enjoyed late day magic air, with Gary successfully executing his final h-3 spot landing! Good one, Gary! Marc and Rob had been there earlier in the day.

West Virginia. Mike Balk came back from the West Virginia fly-in telling tall tales of making it past the Rocks to the Dolley Sods. (Actually it was flyable, but he and Stretch could hardly launch themselves!) Ben and L.E. flew on Saturday.

High Point. Jim, Mark, Mitch, Larry Ball and Homer. All soared, and even though it was sw pilots reported the air was smooth. Mitch went 50 miles to Martinsburg, and Mark went 12 miles to the Highway Dome.

Dickey Ridge. In somewhat cross tough conditions, Pete Schumann flew for two hours getting 2200' over. Tom, Terry and Ed flew also. Since there was time left in the day to fly they packed up and went to....

Woodstock, where they boated around to 1K, with Pete and Tom landing over the back.

Tuesday, May 29th
High Rock. Bob Gillisse, Steve Kinsley, Tom McGowan, Joe Schad and Pete Schumann had nice evening flights.