10 Days of Non-Stop Flying - 2008 Wave & Mountain Flying Camp

Too much of a good thing.....is never enough....

By all accounts, the 2008 edition of the Lake Placid mountain & wave flying camp was a stunning success. A mix of thermal, ridge and wave conditions prevailed throughout the camp. On some days, a combination of all three where used by pilots. Where else but in the mountains can you still find 2 kt lift at 5:30 PM in October or climb to 11,000 ft on a day with solid overcast! A short summary of each day follows.

Sat. Oct. 4th

The Puchacz and L33 were trailered to Lake Placid on Friday so rigging proceeded quickly on Saturday morning. Martin and Tommy (in the Stinson) and Paul (in the Pawnee) arrived around 10:00 AM and by noon the flight line was in full swing. Nick and Tim also arrived later with their able aircraft and were quickly airborne. A combination of thermal cloud streets and ridge lift over the Sentinel Mts. kept everyone airborne. The Puchacz and L33 were tied down beside Andrew’s campsite, a true glider pilot haven…

Sunday Oct. 5th

Flight operations were underway by 11:00 with similar calm wind conditions and slightly more cloud. Ridge and thermal lift (go figure) kept folks up for the day. The Sentinel Mts. looked to kicking up a wave over the Keene valley but no one connected, even though the wave window was quite evident (as shown in the photo).

Monday Oct. 6^th

The temperature dropped quite radically on Monday as the clouds cleared out Sunday evening. Andrew captured the frosty morning scene best with a picture. Ridge, thermal and weak wave (over Heart Lake) where the order of the day. As the wind died later in the day, thermal lift over the Sentinel Mts. kept working until almost 6:00 PM.

Tuesday Oct. 7th

Our first real wave day! Although the winds

were weak and variable, wave to 8000 ft. was present in the vicinity of Algonquin Mountain. Flying continued until 17:30.

Wednesday Oct. 8^th

Another wave day! The calm winds of the morning changed by 13:00 to a WSW flow. Carl and George (RVSS) launched in their Twin Astir with Andrew D. and Wolfgang in hot pursuit with the Puchacz. Carl and George connected first over Heart Lake and rode the wave to over 11,000 while Wolfgang and Andrew in the Puchacz capped out at 9300 ft. Later team A2 (Andrew D. and Andrew K.) launched in the Puchacz at 17:00 and also connected with wave to 8500 ft landing with the runway lights at 18:30. On landing, the grins on the faces of all the pilots were priceless! As the photo shows, life of a tow pilot when the wave is working can be quite relaxing after the gliders are launched!

Thursday Oct. 9^th

The day started and remained sunny but with much stronger winds (10 kts with gusts to 20 kts). The only disappointing part was that the wind direction of 240 degrees was good only for wave off the smaller peaks. That being said we still had three flights all over an hour in a mix of wave and thermal conditions.

Friday Oct. 10^th

The first of the big three days of the long weekend. Another sunny day with light NW winds. 11 flights with the longest over 4 hours. Strong thermals (2 - 4 kts avg.) choked off any wave activity below 6000 ft. Flights durations and XC flying through the high peaks region was the activity of the day. Andre Pepin (MSC) took off on a short XC flight to Elizabethtown and Saranac Lake airport. Sunny, upwind, rocky sides and peaks of mountains generated thermals through to 18:00 hrs.

Saturday Oct. 11^th

A sixteen flight wave and thermal day! A few pilots went off and explored the MacKenzie mountain range NE of Lake Placid and were rewarded with strong thermals and wave. Ian grant connected with wave directly over the Lake moved over the Whiteface mountain and climbed to 11,000 ft. As the wind died down later in the day, pilots migrated to the Sentinel Mts. to take advantage of the prevailing winds kicking off late day thermals. High level wave activity was visible in the cirrus clouds near the end of the day. A boisterous campfire party at Andrew & Brenda’s campsite finished the day off with a bang!

Sunday Oct. 12^th

Another sunny day with a more stable air mass. Weak winds would not allow for wave conditions so pilots once again resorted to thermal flying throughout the high peaks region. 15 flights with flight operations closing down at 18:00 hrs.

Monday Oct. 13^th

The surprising last day. The day remained overcast (clouds at 13,000 ft) but the lack of thermal activity and calm but steady winds set up wave conditions at Whiteface Mt. Soon the skies over Whiteface were filled with gliders on what would be considered back at Pendleton a “sled ride” day. Martin (flying the L33) even managed to capture some beautiful video of the Puchacz in wave over Whiteface. After politely reminding everyone that the Puchacz and L33 needed to be derigged and the Pawnee flown home, flight operations ended at 14:00 and the glider trailers and Pawnee

So ended the 2008 Lake Placid wave/mountain flying camp. 10 straight days of thermal, ridge and wave flying.

By the last weekend there were 10 gliders on site along with the GGC Pawnee and MSC L-19 tow plane. The Pawnee helped out the L-19 with the launch backlog on Sat. and Sunday to get anyone who wanted to fly up in the air. The Puchacz and Twin Grob (RVSS) provided yeoman service in checking out new pilots and sharing learning experiences of flying in the mountains. At one point late in the week, a glider pilot was even heard to mutter one morning, “do we have to fly again”. The great weather provided little opportunity for hiking or playing ground based tourist activities for most pilots. That being said, Andrew D. still managed to hike to the top of Algonquin Mountain, Brendra and Andrew K. took a ride down the Olympic bobsled run at Mt. Van Hovenburg while Joan and Lucile climbed Cascade Mt.

Thanks to everyone who helped and participated in making this year’s camp such a success! Special thanks to the pilots and staff of Adirondack Flying Services at Lake Placid airport for their first rate hospitality.

Roger