Garlock Sunday

A place to stretch the truth a little...
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OSCAR
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Garlock Sunday

Post by OSCAR »

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3izowE9lWw[/youtube] Irwin ,Maluary,Jonathan,Tom C, Sony and Myself at Garlock 4-18-2010.My camera shut down so I have no in flight video :cry: But I had a nice flight it was fun. :D
Last edited by OSCAR on Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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JD
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Post by JD »

Thanks to Oscar for suggesting on Saturday at AJX, that I join the crew at Garlock on Sunday. When I got home the forecast looked like lift to 10-12K all along the Owens valley w/ light winds from the SE. I stayed up way too late editing my video from Saturday;s flights at Marshall & Crestline: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvoXiuoYwS4 Then I got insomnia and had about 2 hours sleep by the time I got up at 6 on Sunday.

I picked up Oscar and we got to Kagel LZ at 8:15 after picking up burritos and coffee from the little Mex place behind Yum Donuts. We all rendez vous's at Garlock LZ and loaded onto Adam's truck then drive up. The weather was nice for hiking and climbing but seemed a bit off for soaring. The wind direction and velocity were good for launching.

As soon as I had my gear in order I made for the ramp and launched. I didn't bother to wait for a cycle because Garlock can be very a flaky place to fly. I cruised the ridge line looking for activity and found different spots that were working but the lift was capping low and I had to expand my search pattern. The other pilots sat on launch and watched. About a minute after I was airborne I asked Erwin on radio to caution the other that the air was very turbulent. And it was below launch height but smoothed out higher up.

While I was on the adjacent ridge I saw Malury make a clean launch then focused on getting up and out before the conditions deteriorated. It felt to me like the day was getting worse and not better. Once I hit 7200' I decided to head North to Black Mountain and try to bench up. Black was less than worthless and I sank to 5300' about 5 mile North of launch.

It was now a one-way trip. I left Black for the valley and it was working at the foot of Black. I climbed to 8K and was now 7 miles North and Boomer Ridge was now an easy glide. I arrived at Boomer with good height and tried working the various points. It was better at the base of Boomer and that's where I maxed out at 10K. Maybe it was the lack of sleep but I decided to fly toward the Sierra spine rather than staying along the foot where it was working here and back at Black.

I cruised over a sailplane that was finding squat, 3K below me and I took that as a bad sign. I sank to 9K near the spine and headed back toward the base then North from ridge to ridge. I was down to 5K about 5 miles North and hit a bullet thermal but the edges were so ratty my glider felt like it would tuck. I made for the highway and hoped for a low save. Once down to 1500' AGL I was fully focused on finding a safe LZ. the air was very gusty and filled w/ broken thermal bubble.

I spotted a clearing near a turn-off and set up a series of S-turns that put me right in the center. I unhooked, dropped my stinger and took some self-portraits with my GoPro HD in still mode. I got a call from Malury that he'd be taking my card to come and get me. I was really hoping to have Malury chase me rather than merely picking me up. At least he now has a taste of the boredom associated with XC retrieves. Chasing and working the radio and GPS are alot more fun. Especially when pilot and ground crew are swapping weather observations and planning the flight path.

Maybe next time! My keel cam stayed put and recorded everything. I'll do a video edit in the next day or so. I pulled off and captioned some good frame stills: http://imageevent.com/aero92/garlock

Here's an embedded still of climbing over launch........

Image

Be sure to check out the rest of the stills until I do the video edit.

Image
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adamwn2000
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Post by adamwn2000 »

A short video of my flight Sunday at Garlock with Jonathan, Tom, Sony, Maluary and Erwin.
7,500 MSL
2:15 flight time
only Jonathan went xc this trip
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib40UwdPYQE[/youtube]
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Benjamin Franklin
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JD
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Post by JD »

adamwn2000 wrote:A short video............
Fun video! You and Mallury had good launches but Sony accelerated kind of quick causing his nose to pop up during his first step. He actually had one or two more steps to safely abort his run. Bummer about that. Nice flight and landing. That glider really suits you.
OSCAR
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Post by OSCAR »

So much for remaining anonymous, Nice video "CB",
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Steve90266
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Garlock

Post by Steve90266 »

Nice trip, guys. Glad everyone is home safe and sound, including that anonymous pilot. I'd like to go with you guys next time. I think I'm ready for round 3.
Steve Murillo
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JD
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The flight video

Post by JD »

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4vhNgXjGv8[/youtube]
Also on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/11129353
Se what it's like to go over the back from Garlock fairly low.
OSCAR
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Re: Garlock

Post by OSCAR »

Steve90266 wrote:Nice trip, guys. Glad everyone is home safe and sound, including that anonymous pilot. I'd like to go with you guys next time. I think I'm ready for round 3.
I will let you know next time. 8)
OSCAR
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Post by OSCAR »

Hey JONO,....nice video ,I like how you found that little bitty LZ in the middle of all the bushes. Nice landing too . 8)
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JD
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Post by JD »

OSCAR wrote:Hey JONO,....nice video ,I like how you found that little bitty LZ in the middle of all the bushes. Nice landing too . 8)
G'Day OSCO, I spotted that little ATV doughnut clearing from a few miles out. It was near a highway exit which is why I chose it. The BLES technique working on my T2 for a change which helped the landing in the very switchy and gusty winds.
Cheers, Jono
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