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David Webb General MemberWas a good day – better than predicted. Few of us went up to Crestline before 9 for a morning flight. Unsure if it would switch in time, as the models were conflicted on that, but around 9:30, some nice light cycles were starting to come in consistently. Fairly bumpy for the season and time of day, I thought, but easy lift on the back ridge. Headed forward to give time to retrieve vehicles.
Back up to Crestline on the noon Sandy Van – 2 loads with hangs and PGs. Light conditions still made for easy launching. Looking out to the horizon, it looked like the whole site was in the middle of the inversion.
Pretty rowdy conditions for the afternoon – definitely a workout. Topped out just over 6k and bounced around for 2.5 hours. Flew to Pine and found it just as rowdy over there, so didn’t stick around. Conditions started to mellow just after 3 and had several long, smooth climbs late in the day. Lift everywhere.
David Webb General MemberThis one’s been….. handled.
January 23, 2023 at 8:06 AM in reply to: Sunday January 22 2023 at Soboba – Great & Different #17257David Webb General MemberIt was a much-needed respite from the dreary flying weather as of late. Good time was had by all.
Track log of some of us enjoying the rare conditions, plus a bonus picture of snowy Mt. San Jacinto:
David Webb General MemberPerhaps, if you’re into those kinda shows. Would be easier than typing, I guess, but maybe slightly harder to post since you’d have to upload the video somewhere. Chalk it up to personal preference – I lean towards text since I can consume it quicker, but to each his/her own.
David Webb General MemberApply product directly to head.
Brand name does not necessarily endorse a specific treatment regiment.
David Webb General MemberKudos to those that donated sweat to the parking lot and bailout area. Parking lot is smoother than I’ve ever seen it and the bailout is downright luxurious.
David Webb General MemberI was comfortable, but I definitely layered up before launching:
December 3, 2022 at 7:51 PM in reply to: Soboba – Saturday Dec 3 2022 – Using the 1450′ launch #17061David Webb General MemberSince he was the only one to not sink straight to the LZ, it was decided Jerome was using orange magic. Probably counts as cheating.
David Webb General MemberElevating the art of parawaiting with billiards!
David Webb General MemberDefinitely good to keep in mind. The last 2 weeks, with their really nice, high conditions, definitely put us in the big boys’ playground. Head on a swivel.
Also – some weird aircraft activity today. Saw a helicopter cruise right over the 750 (I was at Cloud), and around the same time, saw a squadron of small prop aircraft buzz right over the Crestline launch.
David Webb General MemberDay was indeed much better than forecasted. Had a nice flight from Crestline in the morning, launching just before 9AM into light conditions. Winds were around 8 mph – not quite enough to ridge soar reliably, but there was a little bit of thermal activity for a fun-but-turbulent 40 minutes down to AJX.
Lots of happy pilots at sunset in the LZ after my afternoon flight. Talked to a couple of students that had their first flights off the training hill, and others who had their longest flights to date. I called it quits just after the 3 hour mark, and plenty flying until the daylight would no longer allow.
Also reports of good flying over at Soboba.
David Webb General MemberAJX is using cellular (it’s not WiFi since the WiFi at AJX has been, historically, unreliable – the Crestline station is the only one using WiFi since there’s reliable WiFi and since the cellular signal strength up there is terrible). Sounds like AJX switched over to the 2G network when the 3G shutdown happened (on the 19th), as the SIM provider (hologram) allows devices to automatically switch between networks (depending on whichever provides the strongest signal).
It’s possible that upgrading the directional antenna on Marshall (not sure if the frequency range for 2G is completely different than 3G – if it is, the antenna should be replaced; if they are in the same range, then perhaps just a better antenna with more gain) or pointing it at a different tower in the area would do the trick.
David Webb General MemberI think the “half of the X” idea has come up before – seems like a simple solution (and we already have it). That is a good point about it possibly being mistaken for being half-deployed though.
David Webb General MemberA couple of us were in radio communication with the pilot and with Gene/AJX while he was working on his gear. We also relayed his GPS coordinates to the LZ.
As sunset got closer, we recommended to him that he come back for his gear the following day and start hiking down, and also gave a suggested path down to the road. Gene drove up as far up the road as he could but the gates were locked and no one on duty at the station to provide access.
Just my opinion, but I think we did all we could, and communication with both the pilot and AJX were good (even though not everyone in the LZ was up on the situation it sounds like). Perhaps he could have dropped what he was doing much earlier to start hiking out (likely the best move in this situation), but pilots in the air were in no position to make that assessment for him. Looked pretty thick from where I was sitting, but I couldn’t assess if he had a 20 minute hike or a 3 hour bushwhack ahead of him.
I think Tom’s suggestion of a radio in the LZ is a great idea. It’s come up before but hasn’t gotten traction for some reason. Even if it’s not on all the time, maybe just turning it on in the event of an incident (after the frequency for response has been made known) so that folks on the ground can monitor easily?
David Webb General MemberThe higher altitudes were over at Pine, but agree – start getting above 6 or 7, best to move out of the immediate area. Saw a couple at eye level that were in the 6-7 range which was unsettling.
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