US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

RobinHastings wrote:FRIDAY, MARCH 10:
Another fine day at Dry Canyon. (It's nice being semi-retired...) My weekend schedule is going to be busy - our former RGSA member, Martin Baumer, will be visiting from Germany on Saturday and Sunday. (He used to fly F-4 Phantoms for the Luftwaffe, at Holloman AFB; now he flies Learjets and simulators.) Bill Cummings and I left Las Cruces at noon; by 1:30 we were at Cox Field in Alamogordo. We did an interview there with a journalist/videographer named Scott Hester, who wanted to learn more about what we do, then we headed up to the launch. Winds were supposed to be light southwest today. Well, they were southwest, at launch, but coming in strong enough that Bill had no trouble taking off and rising to the skies at 4:15 pm. Conditions were clear again - a couple of very small clouds out to the east, but basically it was blue skies all around. I was driver today, so as soon as I saw that Bill was well above launch, and I got a little video of it, I left for Cox Field. I arrived in time to watch Bill come out from above the hospital, and then put it down right near where I was standing, just west of the green grass field - the sprinklers were going, after all. Bill had 45 minutes in the air, and got about 900 feet over launch, so I'd say it was pretty good flying. It's a great way to start the weekend!
-Robin

RobinHastings wrote:SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 2017:
Winter is still here, astronomically. The Vernal Equinox is on March 20th this year. Nevertheless, Dry Canyon was ON today. (And so was Magdalena Rim, according to Hadley - four PG pilots soared and got from 300 to 2200 feet over launch.) Mike Ellsworth, Bill Cummings and I met up with our driver Jim Mott (retired large animal veterinarian) about 11:00 am at Cox Field in Alamogordo. When we got to the Dry Canyon launch things looked pretty good - 80 degrees, a steady southwest wind at 15-18 mph, clear skies overhead, and a bit of cumulus east over the Sacramentos. Mike was first off the launch in his T2C at 1:35 pm MDT. He didn't get up very high at first, but he didn't lose much, either. Bill was next, at 1:50, flying his Sport 2, and he went up at first, then had the same trouble with not skying out. I followed, finally, at 2:05. Jim did a great job of launching a pilot for the first time, and I was quickly getting a couple of hundred feet over launch. However, we couldn't seem to break through 7500 ft MSL (500 over launch) until about 2:30 or so. At that point the thermals finally got big. Mike went up high and was probably 12,000 ft MSL at the Tunnel, and Bill and I shared a thermal over Plateau Espresso that just wouldn't quit. I topped out halfway to La Luz at 12,000 ft, while Bill kept climbing, up to 13,500. At that point he and I decided to go cross country. Mike (whose radio had died) followed us, though we didn't know it. I made it to the Big G LZ by Alamorosa, halfway to Tularosa. Jim was waiting right there in my truck - Bill and I, at least, had excellent communication with him. I landed pretty well, and while Jim and I were packing it up Bill got back up to 11 or 12 thousand feet, right over our heads. Mike was somewhere up there, too. As soon as my Formula 144 was on the truck we went to chase, and found that both Mike and Bill had landed in the big field at the south end of Tularosa - a straight line distance of about 12 miles. Jim and I helped both of them to pack their gliders out to the truck; by 5:00 pm we were at Rockin' BZ Burgers in Alamogordo, dining well. Jim was really impressed at the entire hang gliding event. We all said goodbye at Cox Field, and hit the road in 3 different directions at 6:00 pm. Clear skies for me and Bill, heading home to Las Cruces, past verdant fields of golden poppies on the east slopes of the Organs. Does it get much better than this?
-Robin