2017 Cumberland, MD Summer Soaring ~ July 19-23, 2017

[Soaring Nut]

Had a great time in spite of all my troubles. I especially want to thank Len, Burt, and Jeremy for all their help with getting (and keeping) my Discus in the air! I also appreciated the kind words and helpful suggestions from everyone else. Turns out I didn't make the smartest choice in a first Scale ship, but learned a lot and am looking forward to returning in the Fall with my new Blanik (Thanks Jim!). The highlight of the trip was the last hour of light Friday evening. Matt and I were up when the slope started working. The clouds turned all shades of pink and purple. After scratching around to stay above 200 feet, the lift kicked in and I ended up over 1,200 feet. Thought it wise to return before it got too dark. Got a chance to do some loops and rolls before another gear up landing.

Thank you Jim for building and maintaining the premier soaring site on the East Coast. I just love coming here - You just can't beat it, especially when the slope is working. See you in November!

[Swiss1]

Nice pictures, and you are more than welcome for any help I may have given!

[Tango Juliet]

Sorry to hear you had troubles, but thank you for posting images. It certainly looks like a wonderful venue. With luck (and determination) I'll be there next year!

[rkutchman]

A few photos from Saturday and Sunday. Had a great time at Highpoint Aviation Airfield.

[rkutchman]

More photos.

[Mosquito]

Great pictures but what is with the crunched up Bidule 111?

Tim

[Mosquito]

Keep on practicing!

[French1]

More seriously, one sailplane flipped over on take off, has not been able to release, with the tension on the line, me neither and with the panic, I flipped the kill switch on the engine and stalled...

[Kris]

My condolences. Stuff happens and is always at the wrong time.

[ARUP]

Great pics! Look at the pretty sky! Everybody is sure having a lot of fun!!! Bummer about the Bidule and ASW20.

[BobM]

Just got back last night at about 11pm..........what a great event !

I arrived Tuesday in the evening to see the end of the day flying and enjoyed great weather and flying every day....although a bit of changing weather Saturday and Sunday that made it interesting at moments.

It was a good size group there, always really wonderful to see everyone and catch up. Sailplanes and gliders of every size were in the air......from 2 meter all the way to 8 + meter 40% scale sailplanes.

The tow pilots were fantastic as always.....Jim, Len, Kevin, Steve, Stephan, Tom, and Jeremy (I hope I didn't forget anyone) all kept us in the air whenever we were ready to fly.......many thanks for all the work and effort to keep the tugs going and provide great rides !

Jim......I don't know if there are ever enough words to thank you, your lovely wife, and everyone at the mountain that do so much to make the events there as special as they always are. Many thanks for everything.

Looking forward to getting back as soon as possible.

Bob

[hello82]

Hey Soaring nut...was great to fly with you that later night and have the air to ourselves for a bit with the sunset and amazing clouds and lift! Thank you thank you Jim and family of volunteers for hosting this amazing event and the facilities once again. Great to see and laugh with everyone and of course to all the tow guys for making it happen. Thank you Gunny and Connio for the extra cups of Joe while I was camping the whole weekend in my van!...I need to go to camping store and get a mini camping coffee maker of some sort...too much of java nut to go without. Flying between the funky weather was fun! Jims amazing new hangar saved the day from what could have been a huge disaster for our airplanes with that ultra fast moving in hurricane!....see you all soon again somewhere on the flying schedule.

Matt

[Sinkhappens86]

Made it home yesterday evening after another trip to the mountain. Every time we go there it seems to get better and better. Jim improving the facilities, more new friends, more gliders and incredible lift. Even with the storms and rain we still got a ton of flying in! Can't wait until the next one.

Thanks again to Jim Dolly for allowing us to invade his spectacular location for up to a week at a time. There isn't a better aerotow site anywhere in the world and Jim makes sure to keep raising the bar! Thanks Jim!

[stevekremer]

Jim,

Another outstanding event. I had a blast towing, flying sailplanes, and seeing everyone at an unbelievable location. I really appreciate all the time, effort, and $ you have invested on the mountain. The addition to first building, and the new building is fantastic. Your planning saved airplanes and made people safe during the storm that went through. It would have been a mess if there was not space to quickly store airplanes and people. I look forward to the next event! Have I said thank you recently for selling me the Porters and sharing your knowledge? Thank You!

Steve K

[Csessa]

Well it took me 2 days to recover from such an amazing event. The new hanger is great and proved it's value when that storm hit. It is also a great asset for us car only flyers. leaving your plane set up for the whole event is really cool.

It is definitely redundant but: thanks to Jim and his local support team for all they do to make this site one of the premier destinations for aero towing. Thanks to the tow pilots for their time and skill. They seem to get better with each event. What a difference it makes to have 3, 4 or 5 tugs available. I do remember the days with only 1 or 2 tugs and the constant repair time required to keep them flying.

Thanks to the other pilots for their friendship. We are quite a diverse group and to see everyone not only getting along but helping each other is special.

So I posted some photos on Flickr. New camera and low skill level leave something to be desired, but it was fun trying. I have some video that I will try to process this week.

Hope to see you all in Muncy and other venues.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5d6Nmt

[Swiss1]

They are great pictures Conio!

[ARUP]

Conio... nice pictures! There's my ASW20 with the blue field and white stars on the nose!

[DanR]

Hey, that's my ASW20 with the blue nose! Actually Michael I do consider it to be your plane. All week long guys would ask, "isn't that Michael's plane". It looks great.

[ARUP]

That's right... you have it now! Everything in good working order? I ask because I have another one and will do the same mods plus increase the span with winglets.

[Xroadie]

Great event! Got to fly all my planes!! I had the longest flight ever with the L-213a in the slope lift...plenty of time to get the feel of it after putting it on my DX18. I flew the Ka6 most of the time and even did a round towing with my Carbon Cub. It was like a "Deja vu all over again" at the Horizon Aerotow.....you had to get in the "Q" to get a chance to fly your towplane Thanks to all the other tow pilots for all the great tows!!

A BIG thanks to Jim and his lovely wife, for hosting such a great event, the hanger and facility improvements are amazing, just maintaining that road has to be equivalent to the budget of a small towns street department!! My Mom had a great time and wanted to say thanks to everyone for being so nice and accommodating to her!!!

Pete

[Swiss1]

Nice to have had dinner with you and Mum, she's a hoot!!
Sorry about the trailer story!