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
Sat. Oct. 4th
The Puchacz and L33 were trailered to
Flight operations were underway by
Monday Oct. 6th
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
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
Wednesday Oct. 8th
Another wave day! The calm winds of the morning changed by
Thursday Oct. 9th
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. 10th
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
Saturday Oct. 11th
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
Sunday Oct. 12th
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
Monday Oct. 13th
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
So ended the 2008
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
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
Roger
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