Cliffside on Saturday

[Neal Gaugler]

On Saturday I had a flight that I will never forget and never could have anticipated or imagined. Being one of the stranded in the air pilots at Cliffside.

Still somewhat of a novice P2 pilot, I had flown Cliffside several times. That day I talked to several of the other pilots and conditions sounded and looked great and launched at 5pm.  Several other pilots had landed at the river. I flew in the usual sweet spot for a while and started sinking, so headed for the usual river road landing area. Only to find out the closer I got to the river the more I was going up and not penetrating any more. This was a new experience for me, which had been discussed many times in training. But to learn about it and experience it for the first time can be different.

I really never had to use my speed bar much before, but had tried it and made sure it was adjusted correctly.

I stayed up for what seemed like a lifetime and was getting increasing concerned on how this was going to end and when. Tried different maneuvers, with no effect. That God for radios! Travis, Matt H., Scott and George were kind enough to be my lifeline in guiding me on what to do and what not to do and always reassuring me. I ended up top landing safely at the takeoff spot and received several more tips from the more experienced pilots.

I learned and experienced more that day than I could have ever anticipated in one day and understand much more about the river and Cliffside and general flying characteristics!!!!

Thanks everyone for your help and making it successful day!

Neal Gaugler

[David Le]

Thanks for sharing Neal. Like Alan mentioned, it was an unusual buoyant day.  Glad you kept your cool and wits. I was next to the fellas that guided you down and nobody left until all landed safely. Proud to be around a caring group.

Dave

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[David Le]

Anybody have a good explanation as why lift was greater in the middle of the river? When Neal was caught out, there were a couple pilots flying near launch to what seems to be normal. They stayed up but wasn't skying out beyond control, penetration was fine, and winds didn't feel too strong.

I had a similar flight last winter and had to spiral for what seemed like eternity to get low enough from the compression zone...approx 500 ft or so before conditions let me down. My guess is cooler evening air compressing in the middle colliding / mixing with a hint of catabatic?

[Neil Clark]

I experienced the same lift late in the day down by the river.  Being on a hang I had more options, so I played in it for a while.  By going out over the river I got down to level with the top of the big red & white pylon, but when I came back over the land I started climbing again.  It was widespread, smooth and consistent, and I took it back up to above launch height. (I didn't actually go back to launch, so I can't compare the conditions there.)  I did this three times before I pulled speed to get below whatever was happening, so I could land before it got any darker.

While I was playing around there were two paragliders seemingly parked at about 1000 ft and maybe a mile downwind.  One of them was still in the air when I'd finished breaking down.  (I guess Neal was the other one, but he went back to top-land.)  Eventually the remaining pilot brought it down, to the light of a helpful driver's car headlights.

Very interesting.  I don't have any explanations.  I'd love to hear any thoughts on what was going on there.

-Neil

[Peter Reagan]

Dennis Pagen calls it magic air. And yes, as you surmise, it is convergence as all slopes around a valley go catabatic and the air in the middle is forced up at the very end of the day. -Pete

> On Oct 24, 2016, at 10:43 PM, David Le <asians...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Anybody have a good explanation as why lift was greater in the middle of the river? When Neal was caught out, there were a couple pilots flying near launch to what seems to be normal. They stayed up but wasn't skying out beyond control, penetration was fine, and winds didn't feel too strong.
>
> I had a similar flight last winter and had to spiral for what seemed like eternity to get low enough from the compression zone...approx 500 ft or so before conditions let me down. My guess is cooler evening air compressing in the middle colliding / mixing with a hint of catabatic?
>

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