Palomar Launch Wind values are reporting correctly again!!! Thanks to the efforts of many, the Palomar WX station mast has been rebuilt out of metal and planted deeper. Big thank you to Chris Cote, Bob Barry, and Jeff Brown for the primary pre work & coordination efforts along with all the crew that helped get the station back to standing tall!
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Wind values are under reporting until repairs can be made Due to record setting high heat and strong NE wings this past few weeks, The Palomar Weather Station mast was bent and up rooted. The mast is sitting at a 45 degree angle and wind values are under reporting as a result reading due to the station mast being at a from strong NE winds and high heat. Repairs will be made in the next few weeks. Wind direction is representative of true direction. We will call a work party for the Palomar Launch in the next few weeks to work on the weather station & finish mowing areas of launch & the LZs. Learning along the way. . . Will be planting the mast deeper and going to a metal mast as we were planning for the next installations. Big thank you to Chris Cote and Wild Bill Davis for volunteering to do the pre work-party mast metal work.
Palomar Launch Weather Station Stands Tall Dressed in Blue
The Great White Saguaro Cactus on Palomar Launch
Over the next several months we will be fine tuning this prototype installation design and raising the station mast to get cleaner air flow. Once we are comfortable with the overall System, we will be using our lessons learned to install one to two additional stations at other sites this year.
Data from the Palomar Launch station is live and is working well sofar.
About the Palomar Launch Station
Some features of this installation include: Ultrasonic wind sensor (offering higher accuracy with no moving parts calling less attention to it along with requiring less service); Lightning Strike Grounding protection; low impact & semi portable installation for relocation if required; easy serviceability without ladders or mast climbing; Ability to lower mast and have mast break away if a glider gets tangled up in it.
June 15th 2017 Meeting Agenda & Notes:
Was a small meeting mostly attended by Board Members.
Site Information and Updates - Reminder for all on Site Protocols:
Palomar Main LZ Gate Update:
Main LZ access on Sunday is now available to SDHGPA Club Members along with all other days.
Call for SDHGPA Weather Station Proposals: - Approved
The Board voted unanimously to spend up to $2K per weather station and associated data plans and installation for two initial trail stations. The first trial stations are proposed to be at the Palomar Main Launch and Little Black.
Aug Update: After initial proof of concept install at Palomar, the Board decided to approve a 3rd station for installation this year under the 2017 budget and the first 3 Stations would be installed at Palomar, Horse, & Laguna as being sites that are undeserved by current weather stations and being lease susceptible to being vandalized.
Example Holfuy stations and web module samples:
Accident Awareness & Prime Season is here.
Reminder to follow USHPA Pilot Proficiency SOPs for flight condition parameters per rating level. - Midday flying should be reserved for advanced pilots only at all Mt sites off of the coast. Recent Accident reports were also reviewed. Without getting into details for two recent accidents at our San Diego and other US sites, some things all pilots should be reminded of when flying home sites or abroad in another country:
Fly-in Planning:
Traditionally there is no scheduled SDHGPA Meeting in July. The Aug Meeting time slot has too many conflicts for Board Members and will be canceled. The Next Scheduled SDHGPA meeting will be in September on the 21st. Follow the SDHGPA Calendar for updates.
The entire San Felipe Valley, including the usual Banner Emergency landing areas, are closed for the summer to all use, including foot traffic, and is being actively monitored effective June 1st 2017 through Aug 31st.
What to do on a windy Blown out Day? And before heading out to fly any other day?
For instance, Palomar is now listed as: Minimum Ratings: H3 / P3 - (M1 to Bail out LZ; M2 to Main LZ); or H2 / P2 with other higher rated pilots present, site briefing for the day, and instructor sign off. Also as a Reminder: If you are an Instructor or School, please also review all Site and Instruction Protocols that include all Tandem Flight at all SDHGPA Sites. Note that any and all Instruction or Tandem Flights from or to any SDHGPA Launch or Landing Zones / LZs must comply with our Site Protocols. By not doing so puts the Site, Land Owners, SDHGPA, Students, and yourself at risk and violates SDHGPA flight SOPs.
The Palomar Launch Maintenance and Purple Star-Thistle round up work party on 1-8-17 and Portable Prep on 1-15-17 to installation were a huge success!!! The 1st weekend, we were able to effectively pull out and remove a large portion of the Star-Thistle seed heads that developed late last season before they were able to break off to germinate and spread on launch and set-up areas. This was another big step in getting the Star-Thistle invasion under control. Other Work accomplished:
A big thank you goes out to All the Pilots that came out to help! After the hard work, all that came out were justly rewarded with nice gentle lift with many getting to 6K on this amazing 100+ mile visibility day ! From launch the view reached down and beyond the Coronado Islands off of Mexico, out to San Clemente Island, and up to Catalina Island. The 2nd weekend 1-15-17, we focused in on creating a level pad and access trails to a new long term portable head to be placed on Launch. The Location is just off the Access Road but sub grade and out of line site from the gate. All that came out did a great job and even threw in some fine details like stone steps. The West and SW HG Keys were also detailed out and widened a bit more to minimize tip strikes. Flying Sunday was great and most all that came out had fun flights taking thermals from sun patches to cloud base at ~ 5k. By the end of the day, CB drooped to Launch level.
For Site & Gate access: Join or Renew SDHGPA Membership if you have not already done so.
You can check Current Membership Status under the Membership menu.
The Palomar Purple Star-Thistle round up work party on 5-14-16 was a huge success! We were able to dig out and clear or able to effectively cut and remove a large portion of the seed heads before they were able to germinate and spread on launch. This was a big step in getting the Star-Thistle invasion under control. A big thank you goes out to the 15 pilots that came out to help today! After filling Wild Bill's truck with Star-Thistle till it could take no more, all that came out were able to get into the air to play with the low cloud base & mixing air.
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