Return to the Epicenter: Crawford Airtime!

The forecast for Saturday looked great for the Crawfords - light to moderate W/NW winds under mostly sunny skies. Landon, his friend Mason, Klobberhed and I headed for "Ground Zero" - only two days after a 4.9 earthquake rocked Randolph:

At 5:59 PM on 4-15-10 the temblor was felt hundreds of miles away in parts of Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. This was the strongest earthquake in Utah in 18 years. There were no injuries reported as a result of the quake. Minor damage included objects knocked off of shelves, and some damage to local building foundations. I was out working in the garage when it happened, and was oblivious to the event, until I walked into the house at about 6:15 and saw it on the TV news.
Anyway, the main landing zone below the Crawford Mountains is about a mile immediately south of the epicenter! We arrived there at about 1:30 and caught a ride up with Greg B., because our 2wd pickup would not make it up the last switchback, which still had some snow. Other 2wd vehicles eventually made it up, but not without some serious spinning tires and elbow grease!

The "usual suspects" - Cal, Steve C., Greg B., Shaddo, Liz, Bob K., Jerry W., Jerry's boys and family, and numerous others who I either don't know or am forgetting, all gathered on top, stopping between the main towers and our usual launch to the north. We were stopped a bit short due to some snow drifts along the ridgetop. Conditions were classic Randolph - 18-20+ mph out of the west, with a slight SW component under mostly sunny 60 degree skies. While others debated and discussed which launch to use, I went ahead and started setting up.

It took me a bit longer than usual, because it had been about 5 months since I last set up and flew! Such a long stretch without airtime over a long Utah winter had taken its toll on my psyche, and planted seeds of doubt in my mind in regards to my ability to even fly. I knew that the steep, Crawford launch would not be forgiving of a timid launch technique - especially with stronger conditions. So, as I set up I filled my mind with positive thoughts and imagery of myself executing a strong, safe launch.

The Crawford launch is a beautiful 1,500' vertical mountain range, rising steeply from the valley floor a few miles east of Randolph. While Landon, Mason and Chober constructed dams in the snowmelt streams, I performed an extra-meticulous pre-flight inspection. By now Steve C. and Cal had already safely launched and were skying out above us. I had forgotten Cody's flip-video, and my digital camera ran out of batteries after about 5 pictures around launch! Oh well - it would actually be nice to focus only on flying, and not have the in-air photography distractions.

Just before 4 pm, after a hang check I walked out to launch with Greg on my nose wires. After finding the right slot, wings level, neutral pressures, I yelled "CLEAR" leaned through the control bar, took 2 or 3 aggressive steps as my hang straps went taught, and became airborn! I quickly proned out and pulled on some extra airspeed, which was needed to bust through some chunky air right in front of launch, resulting in a slight left turn, that I quickly corrected. Things smoothed out then, as I relaxed and started working the moderately strong thermals mixed in with the large lift band. I watched as Landon, Clover and Mason began their hike down the mountain to the LZ, but the textured air didn't allow me to get too close to the ridgeline and follow them. I worked the lift for about an hour, but was never able to get above 10K, until a lull in the action brought me back down to launch level.

The lighter winds prompted more hangies to launch, until there were at least 12 out of 15 of us in the air at one time. Then the angle of the wind clocked up to W/NW, and everything was going UP! I worked a big fatty up to 12,500' - at which point I could see well into Wyoming, over into Bear Lake, and beyond to the Cache Valley mountains! It was chilly at 4,800' over launch (6,300' over the valley floor!), but fortunately I was prepared with warm gloves and flannel jammies under my jeans.

After a couple of hours my tummy was still fine, but I decided I ought not be too greedy, and headed out to land. I pulled on full-VG and pointed NW into the wind. I passed over the LZ at 10,300', and continued on until I was nearly over highway 16. I could have easily made it to Sage jct and perhaps beyond, but instead I returned over the LZ to practice some wangs, as the "three musketeers" were just arriving back at the pick-up there. I set up my final leg extra high to allow ample time to get upright and wings level. Steve C gave me a good wind indicator, as I forced all thoughts of my crummy landing last November out of my head. I came in hot through the wind gradient and leveled out a few feet over the wide open stubble-field. The 6 or 7 mph headwind gave me confidence as I entered the flare window. I waited 1 or 2 seconds, lightly dragging my feet as my wing whispered "you may want to consider flaring soon." I then made the commitment, and punched it skyward, resulting in a stand-up no-step landing!

As I broke down Landon and Mason refined their Aerobie triangle boomerang skills, while Clobber ran up and sniffed each and every pilot which, one by one, began raining down on the landing field.

*(Group photo/image courtesy of Tooele Hawks) Above the din of pilot tales of big air, I had the time to reflect on my flight, realizing that I was no longer ground-bound, but free to experience the ineffable beauty of the 3-D sky for another season!

Airtime: 2 hours 10 minutes!