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#403302
Haven't heard of many OTB XCs from Crestline. Can you safely cross from a certain altitude, or are you dependent on hitting a couple more thermals? Is it a long, convoluted retrieve for drivers? RE: your comment about Tehachapi, at the east end of town/the valley, right where the windmills start, is a glider port that has always been pretty cool about HGs landing there, preferably in the big clearing to the NE of their runway. It is far more common for us to head there from launches to the west, though. That's by far the predominant wind direction from early spring to late fall. Never heard of a PG or HG crossing the windmills from the east. I imagine it's very rare---the windmills are there because it's typically damn breezy and not conducive to upwind flying. Anyway, nice flight! You da man!
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By NMERider
#403303
cheesehead wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:41 am Haven't heard of many OTB XCs from Crestline. Can you safely cross from a certain altitude, or are you dependent on hitting a couple more thermals? Is it a long, convoluted retrieve for drivers? RE: your comment about Tehachapi, at the east end of town/the valley, right where the windmills start, is a glider port that has always been pretty cool about HGs landing there, preferably in the big clearing to the NE of their runway. It is far more common for us to head there from launches to the west, though. That's by far the predominant wind direction from early spring to late fall. Never heard of a PG or HG crossing the windmills from the east. I imagine it's very rare---the windmills are there because it's typically damn breezy and not conducive to upwind flying. Anyway, nice flight! You da man!
Thanks.
I've gone OTB as a low at 5,800' MSL and connected on the little hills behind Hwy 138 then kept going. You can just as easily go OTB from 11,000 and get flushed out of the sky. Retrieves are really no big deal unless you fly into the West Antelope Valley and land on Tejon Ranch Property. Then it's a big deal. There are other locked gate properties to avoid. I don't have a list. When I got to the wind farms is was blowing like 10mph and would have been pretty easy to cross the ridge and land at the gliderport or even keep going. I didn't wish to be a bad guest and make Mario and his brother spend extra time to fetch me. X/C is a team/group activity and everyone needs to stick to the game plan unless you are truly self-sufficient as a handful of pilots are. I've flown Techachapi and landed at the gliderport once. It was a gawd awful turbulent day and zero fun too. I've gone OTB from Crestline/Marshall along many different routes. It's a matter of opportunity and often takes great patience before an opening comes your way. There are many different ways to do it.
#403304
Flying the greater Bakersfield area from '94--'07, I learned to avoid Tejon Ranch property (all 10 billion acres of it) like the plague. I got caught landing on it once and 20 minutes later the Tejon employee escorted a cop to my location. In that 20 minutes I got my s--- packed up and hoisted it (and my body) over a nearby fence onto non-Tejon property. There was essentially no evidence against me and those two decided not to pursue it further. The cop actually gave me a ride to town so I could contact a retrieve. There was another decent launch on TR property (LZ was not) so remote that we bandito-ed it often.
Sorry your one Tehachapi flight sucked. I flew the 3 main sites there A LOT when I lived an hour away, and with local guidance and experience learned how and when to enjoy consistently pleasant conditions. But I've heard all the sites up there are super-sensitive and flying them now requires some serious protocol and logistics. The few local pilots must guide you. SUCKS.