Thinking about starting to Fly XC or wanting to stretch out your XC miles?  Do not miss the much anticipated next segment of the SDHGPA XC Clinic Series.

Mark your calendars: Next SDHGPA XC Clinic Part 5 & 6: Weather Tools and Site Calls  - May 21st

6:30 Mixer & BBQ ($5 & BYOB) 
7:30 Meeting & Topic: 
1. Club Info & Updates: 
 2. Topic: SDHGPA XC Clinic 

•  Part 5 - Weather Tools and Site Calls (Thomas Keefer)
  
•  Part 6 - Using the SDHGPA What's Happening & WX pages  (Keefer)
  

Location: 127 S. Rios Ave, Solana Beach CA 92075 (Greg's SDHGPA Club House, down side driveway)

Q: Where can I land now?     Can I land on the nob just above the now closed LZ? 

A: No , not at this time.

All "Side Hill Landing" would need to be in or above the future proposed Open Space area. From memory it is from the horizontal fire break / trail line up to about 100-200 ft below launch and the Bail-out. The upper line starts about where the current lower wind streamer pole is below launch.

For the most up to date Blossom Site info, and each time you fly, check the Blossom Site Guide as this information changes frequently.  Each site guide page is now dated with the revision date if there has been a revision after our move to the new website.

Laguna Mountain Flying Report 3, May - Bill H

Saturday turned out to be a great Laguna day. Andy, Anna, John, Mike and I were set up and ready to go by 11:30. We were all in the air by 12:15. It was probably blowing down by 1:00. The sky was clear blue, not a cloud in sight. 

The convergence thermals were just behind launch and in a few minutes Mike and I were over 10,000'. I followed Mike to Granite, never getting lower than 9,400'. At Granite thermals were good, climbing to near 11,000', and the wind was light from the East. I headed West thinking that I would run into "the convergence" and find even better lift. The air was stable and I was slowly losing altitude. 

A few miles West of Granite I was at 9,000' and still in a light East wind. It just didn't seem right somehow, so I headed back towards Granite then North to the Volcans. I arrived at the South end of the Volcans at 8,000'. Mike was a few hundred feet above me. Still in a light East wind, so continue along the Volcans, lift has to be here somewhere. 

Then at 7,500' the wind was West at 12 mph. I told Mike I was going to head across San Felipe Valley to the San Felipe Hills. The air was flowing down, even with a 12 mph tail wind my glide over the ground was only 3.5 to 1. I arrived at the Fish & Game lz with just enough altitude to verify the West wind and land. 

Mike had a little more altitude and was able to get to the San Felipe hills and work the weak lift. Andy reached 12,000' on Granite and headed to where Mike was. The lift was too weak and the drift to the East was too much for Andy and he came out and landed at Fish & Game. Mike stuck with the lift and finally made it to the convergence thermal over Ranchita. Anna and John were a few minutes behind Andy and found nothing at Granite. They headed East over Earthquake Valley. 

Anna was down to 3,000', 500' agl, and getting ready to land. A few birds drifted by, not far away, and climbing. She followed them and soon was over 11,000'. Now that's a thermal. John also found the lift over Earthquake Valley and they headed Northerly toward Ranchita and then Coyote Peak. 

Mike, John and Anna were now no longer in the convergence thermals. (That line probably went North from Ranchita toward Toro Peak. Driving through Borrego Springs mid afternoon we saw dust devils between Coyote Peak and Coyote Canyon.) They were able to get close to 9,000' on Coyote Peak, then again on the Santa Rosas. They went on glide North and landed just West of Thermal Airport for 52 miles or so.

Drawing of my interpretation of what was going on. I think the convergence surface was leaning very shallowly up and to the West. The convergence thermals were starting near the ground location of the convergence and going almost straight up. Sometimes the convergence surface is near vertical. That and clouds make flying the convergence a little easier.

Effective 5-7-14, the Blossom LZ Landowner will press trespassing charges to all accessing his land. 
This will remain in effect until we can demonstrate new self regulation procedures and reach a new agreement with the land owner. The LZ Landowner wants our assurance that all LZ users will be SDHGPA and USHPA members with current wavers in place. Until we can do so reliably, the Blossom LZ will remain closed.

At this time, there are no landing options were we have explicit permission to land down in the valley. 
Flying back to El Cap is highly discouraged unless you are absolutely confident you can make it back to Top-land. 

For updated Site Info see the Blossom Site Guide

This week Bill H got a call from the Blossom LZ Landowner. He is not happy that we as a community have not been self regulating this site diligently to a level high enough to assure compiling with his request that all users be SDHGPA and USHPA members. This is to help minimize his liability. This past week, 3 out of 3 pilots confronted on separate days were not SDHGPA members. To top it off, the last pilot was also not USHPA certified. Until we can assure the Landowner we have this under control; He is closing the Blossom LZ and will begin pressing trespassing charges on all parties starting next week (5-7-14). Please pass the word that the LZ is Closed.

Fortunately, The Landowner is willing to work with us and consider reopening the LZ if we can assure that we have self regulation of this site under control.  If we want the Blossom LZ to be reopened, all pilots flying Blossom need to take an active role in self regulating this site to our site protocols. All local pilots must ask for current SDHGPA and USHPA Membership cards.  This includes Visiting and Student Pilots. All pilots must be card carrying USHPA and SDHGPA members to fly Blossom and Land in the LZ. SDHGPA Membership and Virtual SDHGPA cards can be downloaded onto a Pilots mobile out on the hill via our new http://www.SDHGPA.com/Membership.html  website from any mobile device.  If local pilots are not willing to help self regulate this site, beyond SDHGPA Board Member efforts, the Blossom LZ will remain closed.

Until we have measures in place, and we can assure the Landowner that all LZ users will be SDHGPA and USHPA members with current wavers in place; the Blossom LZ will remain closed.