Hammondsport | Soaringroadtrip

Well it turned out to be a beautiful January day in Hammondsport. Rob, Mark D, and Dave P were rewarded with their first soaring flights of the year. All flew for over an hour. Dave was skyking with about 2000 ft over launch. Karl and Katrin came out to show support. I ended up not flying due to “ technical difficulties “. Hoping for a few more days like today this winter........Chris

6/16/21

Tim L and I flew Hammondsport today. Conditions were a little strong and gusty. Tim was off first, and was immediately 500-600 above launch. I launched next. There was abundant thermals and strong lift. I managed a max altitude of 3400 ft. ATO. I could have climbed higher , but was concerned about the drift and making it back to the LZ. (We didn’t assess the top fields for landings.) Twice I came into land , but hooked thermals over the LZ that took me to 2500 ATO. The third time I had had enough, and landed in rowdy conditions behind the church. Tim had landed earlier having had his fill of the rough air. I believe Leo stopped out , but opted not to fly. It actually turned out to be a great day. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my birthday! Perhaps this will start a new tradition. Chris

7/22/21

Nothing quite as fabulous at Hammondsport yesterday. John and Bill did some parawaiting after noon. Karl arrived after 3pm. I was the last to roll in at 4:30 pm:). Periods of high gust factors delayed flying until about 6pm.

Karl, Bill, and Jim flew. Launching in that order. Karl was top, Bill following, and I was the newbie PG pilot trying to stay in fairly small thermals with some ridge lift. We never got a real wonder. Flights ranged from 38 minutes (me) and Bill and Carl in the 60+ minutes.

Solicited advice to me was to use more weight shift and less brakes, and maintain your 360 including that downwind turn. I also just realized that Bill was watching and following Karl, which is in my next flight plan. Regarding transitioning into PG. This was certainly the most challenging flight for me. First time launching from an actual slot and landing in something less than a football field :). I also just realized that I don't feel that comfortable in my harness and that there are all sorts of adjustments that I can make!

I'm booked for Columbia with Eagle for week 2. I expect to return capable of reasonable cross country flights, even in our area of lots or trees!

Jim Black

8/2/21

It finally all came together (for me anyway) and some awesome flying was had. Everyone had awesome flights. Carl tried the mid-day stuff, and found it quite challenging and had to work to get down. I waited till just before the glass off,and found myself in near mid day conditions, with 800-1000 up, and more lift "everywhere" I worked it hard for about an hour, and when it mellowed out, I came back from the valley (exhausted) and landed.Jim must have had about an hour. Carl got in another 2 hours. Bill stayed on the ridge (until he fell asleep) When I was camping... it was blowing in till after dark. Awesome Day... John O.

8/5/21

Karl and I went to Hammondsport. The sky looked great and there were light thermic cycles up the hill. We hiked up from the LZ, mowed a little and flew sledders. Anybody planning any evening attempts? Jared Y.

8/14/21

Ten to thirty minute flights for:. Bill S, Rob S, Aaron L and Jim B. All ended in a flush cycle. It was soarable for about thirty minutes then nothing for about thirty minutes. This cycle repeated twice or three times. Then at around five pm the megawonder started and lasted well into sunset. Bill, Jim, Matt C, Karl and Katrin flew for 1.5 to over 2 hours. The lift stretched over the entire valley into Hammondsport. Highest altitude was 4000 msl. Dinner at Liberty Pub followed by a camp fire. Katrin P.

There were a few PG flights (extended sledders around 2 o'clcock), then around 3, Aaron, Bill, and I launched expecting sledders and got a few hundred over on both ridges and somewhere around 45 minutes of airtime

When I left to go to dinner in HPort, there were 3 PG's in the air and it looked like the start of a wonder wind. When I came back down Rt 54 2 1/2 hours later, there were 4 PG's parked in the air a few hundred ( maybe ~1000? ) over, so I'm assuming some folks got 2 or 3 hour flights.

6 o'clock would have been an awesome time for students to double or triple their airtime. Rob

6/4/22

Twelve pilots showed up for a chance at flying. Conditions were strong and windy but became much better around 5pm. The HG guys at first found it hard to gain much altitude but that changed within an hour so and they got skyhigh and staying high until they toplanded, probably too tired to fly til sunset. PGs dotted the sky later and at all levels as the abundant lift was frequently punctuated by late thermals. Most of us opted to land way early but the conditions were great for easy soaring well past sunset. Great day. Katrin P.

7/3/22

HPort One hit wonder

https://ayvri.com/scene/mpk9223x5z/cl57it9d80001346nb1jvoho9

Rob S.

7/4/22

It was very light at first, then short cycles slowly getting better. By 1pm Karl launched just when it turned on. He found lift everywhere except way past Rt 54 or way over towards HPort. He never turned in a thermal or was near the ridge. Lift simply everywhere some strong some light with a little turbulence here and there. The clouds were all over the place and so was the updraft, you could have flown in any direction. He found sink behind launch where he came down. In the meantime Bill had launched btw launching wasn't easy as the air was swirly at launch. Bill got to 2k ato but then lost the thermal and had sink all the way to the ground top landing in the big field behind launch. After that conditions mellowed but Louis and Mike had good flights. Louis made it to about 1k ato. They both landed at the church. Afterwards conditions did pick up again but it was now crossing from the W and Bill reported bumpiness, pops and sink and so on. Still ok to fly but not as much fun and no great altitude gains. So the really good window lasted for 1-2 hours starting around 1pm. All flights were under an hour but it was easy to fly while it lasted. We all left before 5pm so don't know if there was a wonder or not, it looked like it might. 🤔

Bill is now the inofficial PG king, soon to be fully instated 👏 . Cheers 🍻 Katrin P.

10/27/22

Chris and Bob S flew PGs at Hammondsport in sunny skies. When we arrived, there were cumulus clouds, but these disappeared soon after we arrived. Conditions were lighter than forecasted. Chris had an excellent launch, but then sunk and landed after a 6 minute flight. Bob retrieved Chris. In the next try, Bob launched first. The launch was tricky due to a cross wind from the North in the narrow slot. Bob then flew using ridge lift and broken thermals, getting 475 feet above launch. He flew for 21 minutes with a good landing. Chris then launched in difficult North cross conditions and flew for 8 minutes, ending with a very nice landing. Let's keep a watch on conditions for early next week.

Robert S.

4/2/23

Bob got 10min, Rob got 5min. Bit light, shuttling now then going back up (my first). Nice sunny day. Shoulda brought my paramotor. Matthew Conrad

5/8/23

Rob S, Jim F, Karl L. and I brought out our PGs to Hammonsport today and Rick B brought out his HG.

Rob launched first and immediately took the elevator to about 4,000 ft over launch. Rob was up for about 2.5 hours and reported one brief episode of very strong turbulence. He top-landed.

Jim F also climbed to several thousand feet above launch. I am estimating that he was approximately as high as Rob and was up for approximately 2+ hours. Jim also top-landed.

Karl also flew, but I am not sure of his maximum altitude. Karl top-landed.

I launched right after Rob, but only got to about 600 ft over launch and had a 14-minute flight before I sank. I landed at the LZ.

Rick didn't take to the air, but he transported pilots up in his pick-up truck and also delivered what may be used as the pole for the new Hammmondsport weather station that will be installed soon.

Karl got out the lawn mower and took charge of cutting the grass at the lower of the two launch sites.

Robert S.

5/8/23

VERY interesting day ..

You had to core the sink to get down ....

Fantastic XC day if I had known how to do that sort of thing and had planned it out ...

Had a very interesting full frontal collapse, but did the hands up thing and it all worked out.

Rob

7/30/23

We had a nice day at Hammondsport yesterday. Rick, Karl, Katrin, Bob S, Jim F, Clint and myself flew. Flights ranged from extended sledders to several hours. Clint Fought had the flight of the day at around 2 hours. He almost reached cloud base, but bailed because he felt that was getting too far back. He got a second flight of around an hour….. totaling 3 hours for the day. Congrats Clint! Thanks to Bob and Karl for mowing the grass….. Hammondsport is in beautiful shape. Chris

9/14/23

The forecast for HP turned out to be pretty accurate. It was overcast early but still soarable as a visiting PG pilot from Canada demonstrated with a 40 - 50 minute flight around 11am. I got there around 1:45 and Louis and Mike were waiting for the wind to pick back up. There were some strong thermal cycles and then lulls in between. The clouds were spreading out with more blue sky showing between so the conditions were improving. Moritz and Mark D showed up and everyone got set up and waited for things to improve. Mark went first, maybe a bit early, and worked up to a couple hundred over. I went next after a short wait for it to pick up and took a long time to get above the ridge to where Mark ws. Louis launched and quickly climbed over us while Moritz wisely waited for the traffic to sort itself out. Mark headed down the ridge towards the jail, found nothing and landed at the church, 30ish minutes? Mike launched his PG and was rewarded with a soaring flight and a top landing, not sure on altitude or duration. The thermals started kicking off and I ended up a thousand over and 50 minutes. Louis was the top dog with 1400 over and must have been over an hour? All things considered not a bad day. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Rick Brown

11/6/23
Between all the sink we managed a couple of nice flights. Carl was sky king on his new wing, half a mile up and cruising the valley. I got up a couple thousand and went north for a better view of the lake. Not bad for early November. Jim F.

If you could get up high enough, the lift was very good. If you couldn't get up high enough, it was a sledder. I had one extended sledder and one shorter sledder. Karl, Jim F., Kyle, and I flew. Karl and Jim got up high. Kyle and I did not. Robert S.

Surprisingly good flying at Hport. After an initial sled run round the site turned up to be the place to be starting after 2:30 pm or so. Anyone who made it above the ridge found it successively easier to fly with increasing altitude. Above 900-1000 ft ato you could not get down unless you made a special effort. Jim F. was going to the lake his only concern staying below wisps of cloud along the way and back again, flying for a very leisurely and enjoyable hour. In the meantime Karl was following a long cloudstreet way way out over the valley staying at around 4k msl without any trouble while avoiding with a little effort not to end up in cloud but staying below as required. He was debating on just how far to go when his increasingly cold hands told him to call it and get back to the LZ. It wasn't easy to come down, as there was widespread and smooth lift everywhere. Only at or below ridge level was it no problem to get down. Cutting such a good day for XC flying short is bit of shame, but after over an hour without heated gloves it seemed a good idea. Pilots were Bob, Kyle, Jim F., and Karl. Katrin assisted as driver, regretting not to have brought her wing for a nice late afternoon flight on such a good late fall day, with blue sky, nice clouds, more sunshine than expected, and the best conditions we had in a while. Bob provided a cooler of food and ice cold beer for all those who wanted some. Thank you Bob 😊 Katrin P.