Globe pilot Rick Powell invited us to come up and try out Pinal Peak so we went up Saturday to give it a shot. Globe is only a little further from my place than Sierra Vista so it seemed like a reasonable day trip.

Just before arriving at globe we checked out the bailout LZ. It's at around 5000' msl and still feels up in the mountains, about 1500' over the elevation of the town itself.

After meeting Rick we headed up. The road up Pinal Peak is a 14 mile (!) well-maintained dirt road, so it's a pretty significant turnaround. But the views are very pretty and the drive wasn't bad. Launch itself is at about 7500 ft. msl, faces approximately south, and the LZ is over a ridgeline (not visible from launch) about 2.75 miles away for about a 6:1 glide to clear the ridge and to make the LZ. The site actually likes a southwest wind, because the bowl of the canyon faces that way, directs the breeze into the launch, and pressurizes enough to provide lift for the glide out to the bailout.

We arrived a little late and weren't ready to fly until around 1:30. A high overcast had moved in, and the wind was crossing right on launch pretty regularly.

Eric Tucker was first off and he got his left wing up as he ran, getting turned parallel to the hill. Fortunately the cycle was a good one and kept him from sinking into the slope, and he was able to get the wing turned out again and flew way. he found bouyant conditions and appeared to have no trouble making the LZ after some soaring time.

Visiting pilot Ken was next on one of Eric's Falcons. He also had trouble with the takeoff, getting his nose up a bit and stalling off launch. He also got turned right along the hill, but wasn't able to recover, tripped his right wing on some brush and piled into a large, relatively soft juniper bush that fortunately saved him from any injury and the glider from any serious damage.

Several of us went down to help pack up and recover the glider. While we were at that, Rick was able to get a good launch and joined Tucker out over the canyon. He reported later that it was a bit iffy on takeoff, a lot of sink as he went off even though he was able to maintain a good line and not get turned.

After we recoved Ken's glider we saw conditions were getting worse, with what felt like west cycles blowing hard cross right on launch. We decided to call it a day at that point, with Eric Smith, Rafael, Ken and I breaking down.

On the way out of town we stopped by the bailout to check in with Rick and Tucker. They had good flights and landings, no problems. After hanging out for a while it was getting dark so we headed for home. Eric and Raquel planned on camping the night and taking another shot at it on Sunday - haven't heard yet how they did.

Thanks to Debbie, Raquel and Annie for driving and wire crew help, and thanks to Rick for showing us the site even though we didn't get a chance to fly today. The gliders and pilots are all reusable, so we'll try again another time!

J've posted some pictures of the site and the takeoffs at album_cat.php?cat_id=1


John