Saturday 9-06-08 Memorial Fly-in
This year's Memorial Fly-in was special in so many ways. There was great flying, a record crowd and I set a new personal best for distance flown.
A few days ago I decided on a goal for myself on the next big air day. Rim of the World High School to the east, and the last peak west into the Cajon pass. I have been into the pass before, but never that far east. I made my goal on this flight.
We (John Wright, RebarDan, Kyle and myself) arrived at launch around 12. The forecast was favorable, but we all wanted to get off the hill early, before the inversion set in. We were the first 4 HG pilots on launch and were in the air just as the next group was arriving. It was nice to set up and launch early to avoid the crowd on launch later:
We all launched a bit too early. The thermals were kind of weak and were not going very high. I would get to around 6000 at the billboard. I looked at pine a few times, but no one was getting up over there and I figured it would be flush city over there. So I spent about 30 minutes soaring over Crestline, waiting for the billboard to "turn-on."
It did turn on. Rebar (on his ATOS) and I worked it together to about 6000 when Rebar gets on the radio: "Hey one more turn and I'm out of here" he said. Just like he said, he made one more turn and started east for the turn out. From my previous experiments with heading east I knew that I needed more than 6000 ft to get there. I stayed in the thermal with a PG pilot and we got up to about 7300, enough to get over the the turn out.
I arrived there at about 6400 and jumped right in the thermal. As I was climbing through 7000, I again hear Rebar on the radio: "I'm at 9 thousand 9 hundred.... Oh I'll wait for ya." I thanked him but told him to just go on ahead. There was no way I was going to keep up with him on the ATOS. I got up to about 8300 and kept on going east. I tried to get to Strawberry Peak, but had to turn back. It wasn't long before I found another thermal. I got back up to 8000 and went east again. Soon I would find another thermal, this one got me to almost 10,000 ft just 1 mile west of Strawberry. I went to my east goal for the day, Rim of the World High School and got there with about 8500 ft to get back with. Got a cool picture of Lake Arrowhead:
Getting back wasn't much of an issue. There were thermals popping off all over the ridge and not much head wind. I flew all the way back west to the billboard. I needed a 800 feet or so to get over to Pine flats and I got it. There was now a lot of traffic in the air and I had to keep my head on a swivel. I thermaled with a topless glider, a single surface, and a PG.
I made it over to Pine and found the thermal right away. The last time I flew from Pine into the Cajon Pass I was at 9000 over Pine. All I got this day was 6800. Just as I was topping out in the thermal I heard an airplane engine that scared the shit out of me. I got an eye on it, a few thousand feet over me, heading north into the desert. It was a P-51 Mustang! How cool? Last week I got to share the sky with F-18s, today a P-51! Awesome!
6800 feet wouldn't be enough to get to the Cajon Pass and back, so I decided to just go as far west as I could and try to get lucky. Well I was lucky, found a thermal before I got to SugarPine that got me back over 7000. I kept on going west. I got 2 more thermals that kept me up around 7000 and I made my goal.
Getting back was a bit scary. I was over the last peak before the 15 freeway at around 6800 ft. The last time I was over there I was at 8500. I remember that it took around 2000 ft to get back to Pine Flats, so at the rate I was going I would be back at Pine at about 4800, which would be plenty to thermal back up, or just head on out to the LZ. I was again lucky and found just enough lift on the way back to keep me on a comfortable glide and I arrived back at Pine with about 5500 ft.
At this time I was 2 hours 30 minuted into the flight, was tired and out was water. I dove down to the LZ and landed before most of the traffic.
A great time socializing in the LZ after flying. I haven't been around that many HG people since Wallaby. It was really great.
More pictures on my Flickr Page soon.
EDIT: Picture Finally up: CLICKY CLICK
A few days ago I decided on a goal for myself on the next big air day. Rim of the World High School to the east, and the last peak west into the Cajon pass. I have been into the pass before, but never that far east. I made my goal on this flight.
We (John Wright, RebarDan, Kyle and myself) arrived at launch around 12. The forecast was favorable, but we all wanted to get off the hill early, before the inversion set in. We were the first 4 HG pilots on launch and were in the air just as the next group was arriving. It was nice to set up and launch early to avoid the crowd on launch later:
We all launched a bit too early. The thermals were kind of weak and were not going very high. I would get to around 6000 at the billboard. I looked at pine a few times, but no one was getting up over there and I figured it would be flush city over there. So I spent about 30 minutes soaring over Crestline, waiting for the billboard to "turn-on."
It did turn on. Rebar (on his ATOS) and I worked it together to about 6000 when Rebar gets on the radio: "Hey one more turn and I'm out of here" he said. Just like he said, he made one more turn and started east for the turn out. From my previous experiments with heading east I knew that I needed more than 6000 ft to get there. I stayed in the thermal with a PG pilot and we got up to about 7300, enough to get over the the turn out.
I arrived there at about 6400 and jumped right in the thermal. As I was climbing through 7000, I again hear Rebar on the radio: "I'm at 9 thousand 9 hundred.... Oh I'll wait for ya." I thanked him but told him to just go on ahead. There was no way I was going to keep up with him on the ATOS. I got up to about 8300 and kept on going east. I tried to get to Strawberry Peak, but had to turn back. It wasn't long before I found another thermal. I got back up to 8000 and went east again. Soon I would find another thermal, this one got me to almost 10,000 ft just 1 mile west of Strawberry. I went to my east goal for the day, Rim of the World High School and got there with about 8500 ft to get back with. Got a cool picture of Lake Arrowhead:
Getting back wasn't much of an issue. There were thermals popping off all over the ridge and not much head wind. I flew all the way back west to the billboard. I needed a 800 feet or so to get over to Pine flats and I got it. There was now a lot of traffic in the air and I had to keep my head on a swivel. I thermaled with a topless glider, a single surface, and a PG.
I made it over to Pine and found the thermal right away. The last time I flew from Pine into the Cajon Pass I was at 9000 over Pine. All I got this day was 6800. Just as I was topping out in the thermal I heard an airplane engine that scared the shit out of me. I got an eye on it, a few thousand feet over me, heading north into the desert. It was a P-51 Mustang! How cool? Last week I got to share the sky with F-18s, today a P-51! Awesome!
6800 feet wouldn't be enough to get to the Cajon Pass and back, so I decided to just go as far west as I could and try to get lucky. Well I was lucky, found a thermal before I got to SugarPine that got me back over 7000. I kept on going west. I got 2 more thermals that kept me up around 7000 and I made my goal.
Getting back was a bit scary. I was over the last peak before the 15 freeway at around 6800 ft. The last time I was over there I was at 8500. I remember that it took around 2000 ft to get back to Pine Flats, so at the rate I was going I would be back at Pine at about 4800, which would be plenty to thermal back up, or just head on out to the LZ. I was again lucky and found just enough lift on the way back to keep me on a comfortable glide and I arrived back at Pine with about 5500 ft.
At this time I was 2 hours 30 minuted into the flight, was tired and out was water. I dove down to the LZ and landed before most of the traffic.
A great time socializing in the LZ after flying. I haven't been around that many HG people since Wallaby. It was really great.
More pictures on my Flickr Page soon.
EDIT: Picture Finally up: CLICKY CLICK
posted by David Aldrich at
9:46 AM
