Mount Greylock is one of my favorite flying sites. This place feels like it was put there for us, free fliers, to have some fun. It has a very easy access to the launch, huge and grassy setup area, 2800 feet vertical drop to the LZ. There is only one problem with that site - it faces east, and predominant winds are from the west. That means we don't get to fly here nearly as often as I'd like to. Combine that with the fact that not all easterly days are happening on weekends - and I might not fly Greylock for the whole season. Work gets in the way of flying... sometimes.
Forecast for the last weekend of September was aligning to the east perfectly. It was on a light side, but I was eager to go. I wanted to fly my Sport 2 there, at least once this season.
I still have H3 rating and, to fly at Greylock, I needed an official USHPA observer. I posted a message to a local email list asking if any observers were going and would be willing to help me out. John Musto volunteered to help. Great! I was all set.
I texted Ilya a night before to see if we could combine forces for easy vehicle retrieval. We agreed to meet at Gould farm LZ at 9am. Then Tom L and Jeff C expressed interest in carpooling. I changed the plans to go with them, but the communication that night seemed to be broken as all we could agree on that we meet at Tom's place in the morning, but not on the time we meet.
I was so eager to get going that I didn't sleep well, and got up really early. I was texting Tom before 6am asking if he was ready. I was under impression that we had to get to Greylock as early as possible, but Tom was not in a hurry. Apparently, on a light day like forecasted, there was no reason to be too early. All we could count on were thermals (no ridge soaring) and this time of the year it takes longer for things to warm up... if at all.
Eventually, by 8:30am we all got loaded on Tom's car, and were ready to roll. All that was a couple of hours later than I expected, but I trusted Tom's experience in the matter.
A two and half hour trip felt much shorter in a good company. We got to the parking lot at the top of Greylock around 11am. No one was flying yet. Tom immediately proceeded to temper our enthusiasm by saying "Does it look soarable to you?". It didn't. Almost no wind. Tom chuckled and said "I am just keeping our expectations low".
It didn't matter at this point - we were here, and I was ready for a nice sledder to the LZ... if that was all I could get.
Tom was right. There was no reason to rush. First paragliders that could stay up launched around 1pm. And some of them were struggling anyway. Then things started slowly to improve. Paragliders were consistently surviving down cycles. One HG pilot on a Falcon launched, and didn't stay up. He was taking every little hint of a thermal, but slowly descended into the LZ.
The second HG pilot to take off was Jeff. He had a great run, and stayed at the launch level for a few passes then climbed out. At this point people couldn't climb higher than 200-300 feet above, but I saw a paraglider going into the valley, and climbing there as well. There was nothing else for me to wait. I was ready. Plus I had to launch before my observer anyway, so waiting more meant holding John up.
I suited up. Put my Green Lantern shirt on (every little bit help, ya?), got into my harness and done the rest of the pre-launch ritual. I got delayed a few minutes by paragliders launching in front of me, but eventually I made it all the way to where hang glider pilots usually starting their run.
Moving to the launch through spectators and paragliders
PGs are launching in front of me
In position
There was some wind lazily trickling straight in, but remembering my experience at West Rutland a few weeks back, I wanted to make sure I wasn't launching in a flush. I couldn't see any markers from where I was standing, but John confirmed that paraglider in front were still climbing.
I picked up my gliders and off I went.
Take off!
That thing about keeping expectations low totally worked. I settled in a zero-sink on a non-existent ridge for a few passes, and then seeing where PGs were climbing out, found a weak thermal to the south of launch. I was totally happy with that - my flight was already a few minutes longer than expected.
First thermal
I spent 5 minutes climbing in that first thermal, observing a gaggle of PGs and a lonely Jeff on his Sport 2, above the mountain. They were doing better than me, but I couldn't get where they were. In those 5 minutes I gained only 300 feet. Then it was over and I lost 300 feet in the next 30 seconds. It was time for me to shop around, recharge, survive.
I flew back in the direction of launch, but was losing altitude rapidly. Plus, there was already some light HG traffic close to the mountain. I remembered that a few PGs were finding lift away from the mountain, so I flew NE, totally expecting to land.
Back to the "ridge"
Sinking out
The mountain already looked huge and imposing behind me... and then in happened... 1000 feet below launch level I felt some texture.
1000' below
Then vario confirmed with silence that we weren't losing altitude anymore. I started a wide circle, and found what I was looking for. Vario confirmed my good fortune with with happy beeps. The thermal was initially slow, but it was getting better and better as I was continuing to climb. I centered in it pretty well, and climbed all the way to 4000' MSL.
Back in the game
Above launch
I boated around at that altitude for some time, but at this point - everyone started to launch, and the place became a bit too crowded. Another downcycle came, and I was constantly concentrating on other HGs. Working lift became a background task, and it wasn't performing well.
Ilya zooming by
Thermailling with Peter
I hoped to find something away from the mountain again, but it was not the case this time. All I could get was zero-sink 700' above LZ. I spent a couple of minutes floating there while observing what wind on the ground was doing.
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| Perfect landing |
And wind was doing something weird. Wind sock in the middle of the field was turning 90 degrees every minute. When I got low enough to setup my approach, I picked a direction and committed to it. I could have ended up landing in crosswind, but it didn't worry me that much - winds were very light.
And somehow, I executed the best landing of my flying season. That was an icing on the cake for this awesome day. Of course, I could attempt to stay in the air much longer, but I made a choice to get away from the traffic, and I had a good flight before that. I was definitely a happy camper.
46 minutes total air time, but it felt like a couple of hours.
...
unfortunately, the day ended on a sour note. John Musto had a hard landing and got a ride in an ambulance. Fortunately, he is expected to recover fully.
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