Bill's Hill to Lake Milton, Ohio

Ric Niehaus

Karen, Jabin and I have been in Shippensburg visiting my grandmother for the past week. Being a resident of the eastern shore I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity to fly a mountain site. Before Saturday's flight I had one mountain flight earlier this year and one last year making the prospects of a foot launch flight quite appealing. Upon arrival last Monday the weather channel indicated rain every day during our visit. I resigned myself to a non-flying week but posted a request for a call if anyone was heading to one of the local mountain sites.

Launched at 1:00
Saturday mornings wake-up calls from Dave Proctor and Larry Huffman got me motivated to head to Bill's. After a brief visit with the crew at the hill I launched my Fusion just before 1PM. Dave's expeditious trip to cloud base got Pete, Pat, Larry, and I motivated to quit chatting and start flying; "shut up and fly" as they say. It wasn't long before our convoy of gliders headed over the back in relatively close proximity with one another. I was quite happy with this development, as it was not only my first real soaring flight at Bill's, but also my first trip over the back. Being a little lower and behind the pack, I took advantage of watching the great ones forge ahead and find the lift.

First crossing of Allegheny Mountain
Unfortunately this panacea didn't last for long as Larry's and Pete's paths diverged a little past Fisher's launch. Dave followed Larry and Pat and I followed Pete. Upon reaching Tussey Mountain we stopped to work an area of broken lift facilitated by the ridge and a cloud-producing thermal. The core of this thermal, though elusive, was eventually discovered thanks to an osprey, which Pete generously pointed out to me. After a reasonable climb out, Pete and I headed over the back only to be met by a long sinking glide. Being that Pete was flying his low performance Falcon, he found it necessary to glide further into the valley while I headed towards a nice cummie along a parallel ridge. Pete impressively navigated what appeared to be a large blue valley and with some planning we managed to meet up once again in the valley just before Allegheny Mountain. I was quite pleased by our reunion as I have never crossed the ominous mountain which lay ahead. Unfortunately this was not to last as our flight paths once again diverged. Though Pete abandoned me at this most precarious moment, he did leave me with some sound advice. He told me to get high and follow the streets. This reminded me of Manfred Ruhmer's accented response to an inquiry as to his success one day in Florida earlier this year. He said, "I got high, I flew far, it was easy." Now why didn't I think of that? Anyhow, I managed my first crossing of Allegheny Mountain just south and parallel to route 56. This was a heart-pounding glide over approximately 7 to 8 miles of trees with only one quasi-suitable bailout half way across. As it turns out this is the same route that Tom McGowan took later in the day for his first Allegheny Mountain crossing also. Nice work Tom. Pete and Larry, both veteran crossers, accomplished this feat a bit further to the south. Note that Pete did it on a single surface glider.... amazing! From here my flight path took me south of Johnstown and then across Laurel Mountain and Chestnut Ridge. Once clear of the Appalachian Mountain Range, I was blessed with the one and only cloud street remaining to the west. What fortune! Passing well north of the Latrobe Airport I enjoyed a series of long flat glides punctuated by very healthy thermals. As the day progressed I began to glide very aggressively realizing that this was going to be a day to remember. I began to respond to anything less than 200 fpm with only a push out instead of a turn. This progressed to ignoring anything less than 300 fpm. On glide I was looking at an average ground speed of 50 mph. As it turns out my average groundspeed for the whole flight was just over 30 mph, this approximately 10 mph better than my average XC. The cloud street that looked as though it continued on to Cleveland was a mix of thin cummies, cloud fragments and haze domes, quite anemic looking though quite the opposite in reality.


Avonmore
As I saw the launch at Avonmore pass off to my right I was thrilled. When I crossed the Allegheny River, I was in shock. When my old hometown of Pittsburgh passed far off my left wing I was in utter disbelief.

Staying focused
Approaching Pittsburgh I felt the call of nature and chose to ignore it. This eventually became an impossibility, so after a long wrestle with my harness and jeans I managed to find relief. With that off my mind my concern turned to Brenda and the gang as I imagined them waiting to hear from me back at the mountains somewhere. I carefully pulled out my cell phone since I flew out of radio range around Allegheny Mountain. Discovering there was no signal I repeatedly tried to contact a fellow that had been transmitting on the same frequency to ask him to make the call for me... no luck. About this time I began to notice I was getting a headache. I remedied this with a power bar located in the same zipper pocket as my telephone. The risk of dropping my phone from 6,000' was overshadowed by my need for some blood sugar. I share all these superfluous details to show that my mind wasn't focused on my flying and to communicate to others that this tendency on long flights must be recognized and rectified. Fortunately I came to this realization in sufficient time to redouble my efforts of concentration on defiance of gravity.

Ohio??
I began to imagine the possibilities of a flight into Ohio and carefully picked the remaining fragments and wisps of clouds in order to accomplish this fantasy. I rejoined I-76 at the Ohio border in yet another indescribable moment in my hang gliding life. This flight had begun to seem surreal. As the sun lowered in the west I noticed what looked like the world's largest junkyard. As I got closer I began to notice that some of the cars were moving and very few were junk. As it turns out, it was the enormous Canfield Fair that I found out later has over 1,500 concession stands.

Warm reception
It was about this point that I began a slow descent below 4,500', the first time I had been this low since the mountains. My max altitude of the day was about 6,900'. The lift for the day averaged between 200 and 400 fpm with an occasional 400 to 600 fpm. Surprisingly I wasn't slowed down by any low saves on this flight. After such an amazing flight, I really wanted to make my LZ a special one. This because it would be a nice exclamation mark to my flight but also because I had I feeling I would be spending a lot of time there. Below 2,000' it became clear that I was going to land in the proximity of a nice sized lake. I surmised that there would be some points of interest and maybe even some food to be had in this locale. Nearing Lake Milton I came across a large and safe farmer's field that looked mighty lonely. Always keeping it within reach I ventured a little closer to the lake to check out what appeared to be a park. Upon closer scrutiny I spotted a large flag and a nice stretch of grass running north and south along the eastern edge of the lake. This property was the Lake Milton State Park and became my final choice of LZ as I continued my descent. When I reached the lake, I saw too much human activity on the preferred stretch of grass so I amended my flight path to approach from over the lake directly into the wind. The down sides of this approach were a chance of getting wet and a very limited stretch of grass followed by my choice of a pile of lumber, a volleyball net or trees. After a series of S-turns over the water, I crossed the shoreline at approximately 5 to 10 feet. I alighted softly on the beautiful green grass still 50 feet from the closest obstacle .... what fun! The first couple to greet me, Harron and Vicki, ended up spending the rest of the evening with me. The extended Ruffner family, who witnessed what they considered to be an exciting approach from an island on the lake, came over to make my acquaintance. They proved to be the most hospitable folks I have ever met on a hang gliding adventure. First, they took their boat back to their house and returned with a delicious feast and a camera. Then they stayed with me until the film crew from a local news station arrived to add a human interest story to their nightly production. Brad Ruffner took it upon himself to alert the media on his return trip to the house. I didn't mind though I wished there was a local hang gliding school that I could have promoted in my 2-minute spot. After this we all went to the Ruffner house and enjoyed a bonfire with hotdogs and cold beverages. Pete arrived at 10:30 and joined in the festivities while we awaited the 11 o'clock news. After this we bid our farewells, exchanged addresses and phone numbers and began our journey to Peter's house. He was not only good enough to come pick me up but he also put me up for the night AND gave me money and a credit card as I forgot my wallet when my journey began. The credit card was for a brake problem that I ignored for too long which manifested itself to Pat while driving my truck to Pittsburgh for me.

Approximate flight path

My flight spanned 167 miles and lasted for 5:38. I landed at Lake Milton State Park at 6:31 PM and had the time of my life. This is a personal distance record and also a Bill's Hill record.

Best ever
Thank you Dave and Larry for the wake up calls. Thanks to Sparky and Terry for wiring me off. I expressed to them my intimidation with the foot launch thing and they were very helpful. Thank you Bruce for loaning me the turtleneck, it kept me nice and toasty. Thanks again to Brenda and Larry for the first half of the retrieve, Pat for the middle part, and Pete for the pickup, the bed, and the funds. Thank you Karen and Jabin for being understand with my afternoon flight that took 2 days and more importantly supporting me in my flying passion. And finally, thank you God for the most incredible flight of my life and for the most amazing vehicle by which we can view your wonderful creation, the hang glider.