Logan Walters
Thursday 4/25/2019

See Also: additional 4/25/2019 Flight Articles by:
[Sarah] [Jason] [Brian K] [Chris Garcia] [Logan]

Pine North Side to mid-way across the Antelope Valley
by Logan Walters / copied from email chain

The day started early with the hope that we would get to the North launch before the wind got too switchy.  It seems like often the convergence sets up right at Pine and knowing what side of the mountain to be on is often hard to forecast.  Because we were assuming the hike (there was a slight possibility the road would be open) the north launch is much easier to get to, requiring almost exactly a 2 mile road walk, vs. almost 7 to the south launch.  With a car this is not a big deal but when we got to launch and saw it was already working so we all decided to get ready quickly and get off the hill.  Mitch was off first on his second attempt, the wind was wrapping up and over the parking lot so we had to set up pretty far back to be out of the rotor.  Mitch showed us the skills by kiting through all the wings and weaving through the gap in the chaparral cleanly.  Next off was Jason and Sarah once we saw Mitch was starting to make it work on the ridge just east of launch.  Brian was off seconds after Sarah and together they marked a nice climb on the same ridge for me to join.  My launch was clean, but very difficult.  Not having much of an idea of the cycle (i was standing 50’ + from the edge) I gave it a shot and the wing came up smoothly, but no amount of running was going to get me to a good flying speed.  I dove off Cracka style skimming the bushes and modulating brake pressure so that I would have enough energy to clear some larger bushes (an oak tree) about 100’ below takeoff.  Luckily this much practice training hill skill worked and I flew over to join Sarah and Brian while checking to make sure the bushes did not pull the pins on my reserve.

The first thermal was snakey at first but cleaned up and got stronger as Brian and I mapped it together.  We got up to Jason’s height and I decided to push down the ridge towards Mitch and the South launch.  Sarah was starting to push up the ridge and Garcia was just launching at this point.  I came in nice and high above the ridge just below Mitch as he reported hitting 11700 and leaving the ridge for Guillermo.  Brian and Jason were a couple hundred below me and following up the ride as I continued to move towards Haddock.  Some nice climbs but I found them all getting thin and difficult to track from around 7,500- 8,500’.  Above that they opened up again and got stronger.  Jason and Brian were close behind but Jason was just a bit too far to the North and fell off the lifty line which eventually left him stuck low on the south side of Reyes.  This is about the time I lost sight of Mitch who was high above Guillermo.  Brian got a little lower around Haddock as I stopped for a very slow climb (.5-.8 m/s) thinking that we were in the difficult altitudes around 8k’.  It paid off and gave me the altitude to push towards Decision Point where I decided to jump the Chute and head towards Lockwood.  The Clouds were showing a great line on the south side of Lockwood Valley up and over Frazier. This is about when Neal launched with his pretty new wing.

I came in high to Guillermo watching Brian appearing very low coming into Guillermo, he had cut the corner over the badlands.  Pushing on over Lockwood Valley I heard Mitch come on the Radio stating he was on the ground walking towards the retrieve.  It was mostly full bar going up and over Frazier trying to move fast but also full bar so I would not get sucked into the quickly growing clouds.  The IP6 treated me so awesome allowing great control in full on conditions, I never even thought about coming off bar because I wanted that sink rate but I was also able to maintain control even with very large surges.  Crossing Interstate 5 I had to start slowing things down again and search for a climb that would allow me to make it to the Tehachapis.  I knew the convergence was nearby but the massive blue hole around me was not helping.  I headed down wind and got a “low save” next to Quail Lake.  That climb allowed me to start pushing towards Lancaster but not enough to get me to the hills.  A couple flat land thermals later and I was turning zeros 800’ AGL but still making good progress.  I was hoping to make the solar farm and see what kind of thermal might be there but talked myself out of it as I was pretty low and no longer penetrating on my the upwind legs.  Landed at zero forward speed.  Mitch and Julio were there in no time.

We grabbed Jason and headed to the San Joaquin Valley to get Brian on his birthday flight.  We jumped into the California aqueduct for a quick swim before heading home.

On our way home on the 126 near Piru we came across a fresh car accident.  I was sitting in the back and we were pulling over to move some plastics in the road when I realized how bad of an accident it was.  I made a huge mistake here, I went straight towards the accident to try and help.  I did not think about my own safety as I was overwhelmed with the feeling to try and help.  Approaching the accident I first went to the worst car and yelled into the wreckage.  No response, I learned this morning that there was only one person in that vehicle and they had passed away.  The next car had a mother, a nurse, a 6-8 yr old daughter, and a 10yr old boy.  The boy was unresponsive, but knowing he was with a nurse and then Brian K (EMT?) I felt they had control and moved on.  The next vehicle had a man that was okay and sitting on the pavement, I asked a bystander to stay with him and I moved on to the final car where I found Mitch speaking with the occupant.  I saw how the man was sitting and stupidly without gloves I decided to hold C spine and start taking vitals.  The man was pretty fucked up and going in and out of consciousness.  Mitch and I stayed with him attempting our best to communicate with broken Spanish.  The firefighters showed up and cleared the scene but they asked Mitch and I to stay where we were doing our best to talk to the man and hold C spine as they got the boy on a backboard.  Finally they came back and started to rip the car apart as I held the bloody man still, and eventually I was replaced by a firefighter and we were asked to leave.  We loaded into the van and drove down the road in silence (we may have been talking at that time but I remember silence, I didn’t have anything to say).  We pulled over at the gas station to wash our hands and arms before loading back in.  This was obviously a very intense and emotional experience that somewhat umbrellaed our amazing day of flying.  Emotions got the better of us as we discussed what was done right and what was done wrong.  I think we will all change something the next time we are in a similar position.  And I will definitely be learning how to be a better first responder.  The man’s name is Christian, and he is a survivor.

Reflections on the flight:

I think we nailed the start time as a whole but its possible Mitch was a bit too fast to Lockwood Valley and Neal was too slow to leave Pine?  I think I played the line to Lockwood really well reading the day and doing lots of research on the different lines.  I often make the decision to fly conservatively around clouds and I think once again it hurt me because I did not look for max altitude before leaving Frazier.  I knew looking ahead that blue hole would be the crux as it stretched for close to 40 miles, but there were clouds along the Tehachapis in the distance, so I should have taken the loss in efficiency to stay on them longer, instead I allowed myself to be pushed downwind crossing my fingers for a convergence that was too mixed near the ground level to find much.  I tried angling across the valley but probably too late, I went to what I assumed would trigger and though it did I feel my odds would have been similar deeper but with more odds of connecting eventually (I was too short sighted).  Super amazing day up there with great friends and strong fun flying.  I landed wanting more.  I still have not looked at my track so this is all very subjective.  No two days are the same but I look forward to finding a flying day just like this one.

Weather: light west wind aloft (2-6mph @10k) with 15-20mph on the ground forecast we found slightly stronger conditions at all altitudes but only very slightly.

Using the new Windy.com skew t seemed to work pretty well for the whole coarse line even showing the warmer air through 7500.  The classic forecast we pull for Pine from the SBSA site was the most off by almost 4k feet of lift.  XCskies did a good job with the NAM and their buoyancy to shear showed the issues we faced in the desert with the extra wind.

Logan

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