Franconia Encapment - Ridge, Thermal, Wave

The weather could not have been better for this year's 4th of July encampment.  We had hot days, cool nights and not a drop of rain.  Soaring wise we had strong ridge, thermal and wave lift all happening at the same time.  There was so much flying and other activities that I am sure I will miss a lot of highlights.  Please feel free to add the this report in the comment section.

Lane and Don on the Franconia Ridge

The weekend started off right with Lane and Don ferrying the Blanik from Post Mills.  Andy acted as tow pilot as he did for the entire weekend.  They release over Kinsman and Lane gave Don an introduction to ridge soaring in the 25 kt wind.  Don later put the knowledge he gained to solo 3J in the ridge lift for a couple of hours.  Next it was Tim's turn to take Ann for an introduction to sailplanes.  Ann is a hang gliding friend of our former hang gliding members but had never been in a sailplane.  They were able to ridge soar/thermal right off tow into wave only stopping at 14,000' for lack of oxygen.  Karl (PM), Evan (T8), Dan (EA), Tom (2W), Andy Lawrence (PM), Tony (in the Blanik with Tim) and maybe others, were able to connect with wave.  Evan (T8) flew over to the Mount Washington primary and reported he had 18 kts of wave lift at times.  He had to stop at 18,000' for class A airspace.  Tom (2W) had a really cool flight.  He was able to hop wave crests up wind towards the Green Mountains to Hardwick but was finally stopped by the undercast.

Evan at 18,000' on Saturday

The annual BBQ at the Kinsman lived up to its reputation as being fantastic.  Thank you Judy, Ann C. and Marsha for doing the heavy lifting and to Karl for grilling.


I was not at the airport Sunday but I heard Dan (EA), Tom (2W) and Evan (T8) all broke off climbs at 18,000' in the Mt. Washington primary.  Back at Franconia the ridge and thermals were also working well all day.  There were many good flights.

Evan at 18,000' on Sunday

Dan Mac at 18,000' in wave, upside-down, and wearing shorts - doesn't get much better.

Dan crossing Franconia Notch

That evening the club was invited to Phil's house on Sugar Hill for fireworks and more BBQ.  Phil puts on an amazing fireworks display.

The wind died down on Monday and so did the ridge, wave and thermal lift.  People stayed closer to the airport for a more relaxed day.
  

Tim and Michael rock polishing Mt. Lafayette

A friend of a friend took this picture of Evan over Mt. Washington

And while we were all in Franconia, Moshe (RU) was representing PMSC at the Region 1 Contest in Springfield Vt.  Please give us your impression of your first contest, Moshe.

Chris tells Moshe how to get to Starbucks - the girls are not impressed.

Photos from Franconia

Winner of the Franconia 4th of July Encampment

I am declaring myself the winner of the Franconia Encampment because I had the most fun on any flight.

It started on Sunday morning at 11:00 with a cloudscape of lenticulars.  Lift was a little hard to come by and I made retreats from Mt. Lafayette and Littleton area.  Two hours into the flight I was 1400’ over the field and thinking of calling it quits when I found a little thermal that went back up to 5000’.  From there the clouds over Kinsman had developed and it’s up to cloud base 8000’.   Then it’s a classic wave entry.  Sneak out the up wind side of the clouds.  Go up 100’ then down 80’, repeat.  After 10 minutes I've gain 200’ and enter 5 kt wave lift to 10,000’.

Now the fun part.  Looking out to the NW from 10,000’ I can see regular bands of clouds.  I think the wind was 330’ at about 30 kts. I head into the wind and head toward the next wave crest.  When I hit wave sink I crank it up to about 80 kts.  At times the sink rate hits 8-9 kts down but it didn’t last too long.  I keep traveling north hopping from cloud bank to cloud bank.  Further north the cloud banks get longer, more like cloud bands.  Now several miles long the cloud bottoms were at about 7,000’ and the tops at about 9,000’.  The problem was that you didn’t want to go under the clouds because you would be below the wave.  You couldn’t make it over the highest clouds because of the head wind and sink.  The only choice was to head for the spot where the tops of the clouds were the lowest.   From 10,000’ I would head for the valley in the clouds at 80 kts in sink.  The glider would start sinking deeper into the cloud valley and the clouds would start looming up on both sides as valley floor got closer (of course I was careful to maintain VFR cloud clearances).  It would get darker as the clouds blocked the sun.  As soon as I got to the other end of the valley I would hit the bright sunlight, pull up hard and turn to remain close to the face of the clouds and start climbing back up in the wave.  Too much fun!

After 5 or 6 cycles I was near Lake Willoughby.  There were more clouds and their pattern was confusing.  I’m tired so instead of trying to figure it out I want to go home.  Its 40 nm to Franconia, I’m at 9,000’ and when I turn around I should have at 30 kt tail wind.  Should be no problem.  When I turn around the L-nav says I only have a 15 kt tail wind.  Still should be no problem.  A couple of mile further I hit sink and I’m down to 8,000’ and the L-nav says I have a 15 kt head wind.  My “final glide” has gone from “cushy” to “maybe”.  I decide maybe I better tank up with a little more altitude.  The problem is I’m in a big clearing and still sinking.  There is a nice looking band of clouds running north from Burke Mt. so I head for it.  When I get to the cloud band I’m at 7,000’, below cloudbase and too low for wave.  I really don’t want to try to fly the broken thermals the 30 nm back to Franconia.  I wanted to get back into the wave.  So it's the classic wave entry again.  Sneak out the up wind side of the clouds.  Go up 100’ then down 80’, repeat.  It takes a full 20 minutes to gain 200’ and enter the wave.  But this wave feels even stronger than before.  It starts out at 6-7 kts.  I take it all the way back up to 13,500’.  And now it IS an easy glide back to Franconia!

When I finally land at Franconia the towplane and Blanik are leaving and all the trailers have been packed and are departing (thanks everyone!).   All I have to do is pack my glider and say good bye to the other die-hards (Dan, Evan and Moshe).

I’m the winner. I’m quite sure.

Tim

Franconia Encampment - Great Teamwork!

Someone commented on the blog  “Great amount of work by the few that always do the work but poor club participation”.  BS!

I think that group participation in the work part of the Franconia Encampment was fantastic!  I think it was at an all time high (but I have only been involved for last 6 years).  At the risk of leaving some contributions out (sorry) here is how I saw it:

1) Paul (and Marsha) arranged for rooms at the Kinsman (Traditionally Done By Andy ("TDBA") and Judy).

2) Greg spent 2 hours organizing the bins in Rick’s garage (TDBA) a couple of weeks before the encampment.  He also made up extra tow ropes (Henry and Ben helped).

3) Greg, Dan and Evan fixed up the fuel trailer.

4) Karl got the fuel and brought it to Franconia.

5) Evan set up a spreadsheet to organize the mobilization to Franconia and the return (TDBA) and people signed up for every piece of equipment.  This is HUGE.  Even though Rick and Pete took it upon themselves to get most of the equipment up to Franconia, knowing that someone had made the commitment ahead of time was just as important as actually moving the equipment.  There were many private gliders going and many owners were committing themselves to making multiple trips if necessary.

6) I saw Pete and Sonny assembling the 1-23 as usual but I know there were others.

7) Judy organized the BBQ as usual.  But instead of Judy supplying all the food everyone contributed.  Thanks everyone!

8) Moshe secured the space for the BBQ at the Kinsman Lodge.

9) Andy did the grilling as TDBA but I think he enjoyed it on the Kinsman’s Mega-Grill.

10) Dennis, Dan and Sawyer got the picnic tables from Cannon and returned them after the BBQ.

11) Dakai, Ken and a giant cooler supplied cold drinks at the field.  In years past it was every man for himself.  Dakai signed up for every empty space on the planning spreadsheet!

12) Lane setup the base camp at the field (AKA the tent).

13) The bulk (actually all) the towing was done by Andy as TBDA but this was his choice.  In fact I saw Andy beating Evan with the fuel sampler when Evan tried to get in the tow plane.  Doing all of PMSC's tows was not enough for Andy so he did all of FSA's tows too!

14) Greg and Paul made sure everything got packed up and moved out on Sunday.  I know they had lots of help but I don’t know who did what because I was still flying.  When I landed everything was gone and there was nothing for me to do (thank you, I REALLY appreciated that!).  Often we leave stuff behind and have to make special trips the next week – not this time.

15) Significant Other (wives and girlfriends) participation was higher than ever.  I heard that 2 SO’s , Anne (who said she wanted “nothing to do with husband's flying stuff”) and Angelica drove trailers home! And others drove cars for the ferry pilots.  OUTSTANDING!

16) 100 other things that I can’t think of….

And to top it off there was more biking, kayaking, hiking, climbing, stargazing (thanks Henry), bear watching (wild bears and at Clark’s) than ever.

And to double top it off FSA’s towplane was broken so we towed all their gliders and saved their weekend.

PMSC is operating like a well-oiled machine!  We should all be proud of our club.

Tim

More photos from the weekend

Sunday flight of DC at Franconia

Sunday flight of RU at Franconia

Moshe writes:

It was hot, even at 6000 feet, with no significant shade from clouds.  I got to 6500 feet, tossed in rotor in the lee of Lafayette, but couldn't find any wave lift. The WSW wind (Nook said 15 knots but I think it was stronger) blew me farther away. 

Coming back to Cannon I lost some 2500 feet in sink, and there I joined 3 other gliders in a gaggle turning to the right, which I am not good at.  Barely climbing there, that's when I noticed the wetness in my seat.  Turned out the Camelback water spout got stuck under me, and thus my sorely-needed drinking supply turned into a puddle in the seat pan.  That was not fun. 

I kept scratching anyway, trying unsuccessfully to make headway upwind, and making a couple of low saves near the airport.  Finally, in the fourth hour, the cu got nicer and I got a bit of shade at 7000 MSL, going near Moosilauke. Sure got exhausted! 

I see that other people struggled too, e.g., Tim spent a whole 2 hours scratching, often lower than I got.  But, they were eventually rewarded with finding the wave and going to 12,000 feet. I never found the wave; perhaps I need to learn where to look for it!

Send your stories and pictures to me!

Weekend report June 30 - July 6

It was a long weekend, especially if you count the preparation phase.

The preparation phase

MONDAY
Pete and Rick drove to Franconia and delivered 3J and RU.

TUESDAY
Pete and Rick drove to Franconia and delivered PM and the golf cart, and drove back home.  Then they went back to Franconia by air with the Blanik in tow, and returned to Post Mills by air.

WEDNESDAY
Pete and Rick took the day off.

THURSDAY
Evan drove from home to Franconia and dropped off his car and trailer. Andy flew to Franconia in the Champ, picked up Evan, and brought him back to Post Mills. Evan then flew the towplane back to Franconia, towing nothing. Karl towed the fuel trailer from Post Mills to Franconia. Pete drove his truck back to Franconia, towing nothing, and checked in at the establishment across the street from the airfield. This completed the preparation phase. Rick took another day off.

The flying phase

FRIDAY, the Fourth of July
The first day of our encampment was cold and fairly miserable. Henry took a couple of practice flights, which involved towing up to the ceiling of 1500 feet AGL and gliding back down.  Andy towed. The Franconia towplane was having some engine troubles, and their club asked ours to provide some tows.  This is a Fourth of July tradition.

SATURDAY
Saturday started out overcast, cool, and quite windy.  We initially thought it would be a loser of a day. Fortunately, the wind was on the ridge, and everyone who wanted to get in the air did so, with the exception of Henry, who spent the day helping everyone else fly.

The sun broke out in the middle of the afternoon, and several pilots made it into the wave. Tim (AT), Skip (JS), Dan, (EA), and Paul (S1) posted good flights, but the best one was by Andy Lawrence (PM), who reached 13000 feet. The Blanik flew several times, with Bill instructing. Rick and Dakai made it to 8100 feet on the last flight of the day, and landed at 7pm.

In all, we had 21 flights on Saturday (including a few tows for FSA, whose towplane engine was still not yielding to the ministrations of their mechanic). Andy did all the tows, allowing the other three PMSC towpilots time to enjoy their day.

Thanks to Judy's last-minute organizing, we had a traditional cookout in the back yard of the Kinsman Lodge, where a few of us were staying and a few more were camping out. A lot of people contributed, and a few probably still owe Judy a small amount for groceries. The evening ended with some low quality fireworks and some high quality stargazing.

SUNDAY
Sunday was a beautiful day from end to end. Tim (AT) took off first and was one of the last to land. He went up north and made it up to 13000 feet. Evan (T8) and Dan (EA) made it to similar heights. Moshe (RU) spent several hours practicing low saves in the vicinity of the airport, and Skip (JS), Dennis (DC), Pete (3J), and Andy Lawrence (PM) chased each other back and forth on the ridge. The Franconia club again benefited from our visiting towplane, as the consensus on the status of their engine converged on "ruined." For the third day in a row, Andy did all the tows, for a total of 46 for the weekend.

Greg organized the retrieval of all the equipment. Thanks to the hard work of Pete, Karl, Angelica, Annie, Andy Lawrence, and Andy Lumley, everything got packed up and brought back home by the end of the day.

Monday it rained. A perfect weekend. 

The only thing left to do was the laundry.

More pictures from Franconia

Thanks, Judy!

Franconia Report July 3 - 8

Sometimes it's fun to review our history. I'll explain why it's fun in a moment.

Every year, the Post Mills Soaring Club pulls up stakes on the 4th of July weekend and heads to another gliderport for a visit.  It's nice to get out of town for a change, and it is always nice to go fly in the mountains. These encampments have been going on since before Andy started this blog.

For the first few years, we went to Stowe, but starting about 10 years ago, we seem to have settled on Franconia, and beginning in 2007, we wrote stories about our experiences.  We had fun-filled weekends at Franconia in 2008, 2009, 2010, but not in 2011. And for some reason, I failed to write the 2012 report. All we got last year was a brief story about a young punk in a Blanik.

So why is it fun to review all this?  It's fun because last weekend, Lane told me that he enjoys reading this blog, and that he always clicks on all the links. Have at it, Lane. That was fun.

In 2013, it went like this:

WEDNESDAY
As usual, we faced the logistical challenge of getting all the gliders and trailers to Franconia in time for the first  scheduled flying opportunity, which was Thursday morning. After work on Wednesday, Andy and Andrew drove PM to Franconia, parked it at the airport, and checked in at the Gale River Motel. Paul and Marsha also checked in and wondered what was behind that closet door (petri dishes, perhaps?). Sonny and Pete dropped off the golf cart and returned home.

THURSDAY

For the first time in several years, we did not have a Blanik at our disposal on the 4th of July.  The Franconia Soaring Association was kind enough to allow us to use PI (the one we flew last year) for our advanced training, but we decided to cover our bases and bring our 2-33 as well.  Tim and Rick dodged the low clouds Thursday morning and delivered the glider to Franconia.

It turned out that, other than a couple of guest rides, most of the Thursday flying was solo.  Most notably, Dan had his first flight in Papa Mike.  Congratulations, Dan!

I'd rather be flying EA

The ridge wasn't working, and Tim had the best flight of the day, about an hour and a half in PM.  A few of us celebrated our arrival by going out to dinner at the local downtown restaurant.  Don't go there if you're in a hurry.

FRIDAY
Despite the low clouds and lack of obvious ridge winds, we assembled ourselves and our gliders by noon.  We stood around for a while and eventually made 13 flights, all but one of which were solo.  Dan and Tim shared PM, and, thanks to Andy Gelston (who wasn't able to join us), Tom was able to make a nice rollout in TH following a brief local flight. Skip (JS) also flew locally.  The best flight was turned in by Greg (JD) who traversed the Lafayette ridge twice and wandered down to Mount Moosilauke twice.  Both visits to Moosilauke were disappointing, altitudewise, and he made his final glide in light rain.

The rest of us did a poor job of flight recording.  Pete, Sam, and Bob flew 3J without taking any data, and likewise for Dennis, who made his first solo flight at Franconia.  Paul (S1) probably recorded his flight, but he never turned anything in.

We had dinner at a Mexican joint in Littleton, where the food and music were both excellent (your opinion may vary).

SATURDAY
Saturday started out with a solid overcast, drizzle, and widespread pessimism. While we were still drinking our morning coffee, one of the FSA pilots damaged the left wing of PI by rolling out into a Christmas tree following a normal landing.  It was sad to see such a valuable glider taken out of service in what appears to be a really avoidable accident.  We were planning to use it this day, and we were lucky we had brought our 2-33.

At about noon the weather started to improve, and it never looked back.  We had gangbuster thermal, ridge and wave conditions till sunset.  Tom, Dan, Tim, Skip, Greg, and Andy (Lawrence) posted some extended flights.  Greg visited the usual peaks: Lafayette, Garfield, and Moosilauke, rarely getting very far above the ground.

 And he took some nice pictures:

As did Skip:

Pete taped a video camera to the nose of the 1-23 and recorded a 40-minute movie that turned out to be really ...um... boring.  Here's the first frame of the movie.  Note the liberal use of duct tape.

The flying part of the day ended with Dennis's first flight in 3J (without the duct tape).  Congratulations, Dennis!

I'd rather be flying DC

After flying, we adjourned to the motel for our annual extravagant barbecue and club summer meeting (if you didn't know that we had an annual summer meeting, well, we used to have one.  We're trying to bring it back).  The turnout was 30+ hungry party-goers, and I can't believe we don't have any pictures from the party, other than this crooked one that Skip took with his cell phone before most of the aviators arrived.  If you're holding back any party pictures, c'mon, let's have them!

The party was a big success, which is no surprise, since Judy and Marsha were in charge of it.  They shopped and prepared all afternoon while the rest of us were out enjoying ourselves.  Someone should make a point of thanking them.  And while you're at it, make sure Judy gets your $10 contribution, if you haven't done that already.

After the party we had a lively meeting in which we approved the improved Bylaws, and in which Paul gave us the update on our efforts to buy a glider.  There should be more news about this soon.

SUNDAY
The last day of the encampment was pure denouement.  We flew a little, congratulated ourselves a lot, packed up, went home, and dozed off in our own beds.

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