FormerFF's blog

August 18 - Short and Sweet

FormerFF — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:52:54 GMT

[ Mood: Cool ]
[ Currently: Listening to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer ]
Back just before Memorial Day, I'd gone up to Lookout on a day where the winds looked flyable. When I arrived, the winds were switchy but had launchable cycles, and pilots were occasionally launching. I went ahead and set up, but just as I was ready, the wind switched to mostly over the back. One last pilot launched after waiting for 15 minutes for a good cycle. He got a good strong run, had a nice nose attitude, and still got closer to the trees than I'd have cared to be. He also got a fairly short sledder, most likely because the upper level winds were mostly over the back. I had always promised myself that if I was up on a day where I couldn't foot launch that I would sign up for my aerotow rating, which is what I did.

I'd been up once in mid July to do a couple of tandems. Both went well and I was beginning to become comfortable with the concept of towing. Family obligations prevented me from getting back up until now.

At LMFP, tow students fly at 9 AM, or late evening. Morning is generally more consistent, and since I have a bunch of vacation days to take, I scheduled a Thursday off. The day started clear and warm with a light south - southwest breeze. Today I have a new instructor, Clifton. We go for our first flight of the day, and since he hasn't flown with me before, gets us airborne and hands me the glider. I'm having a little difficulty getting the glider to turn, and overcontrolling a little in pitch. I'm not really sure what's going on, I flew much better last time.

Once we release, I can fly the glider just fine. At altitude, I can tell that the southwesterly breeze is fairly pronounced, probably 15 mph or so, so I steer us upwind. Clifton gives me a few pointers on a standard approach, and in a few minutes, we're on the ground. On rollout, I realize that I've been flying Gumby style, with my legs apart. It's not an issue with my pod harness, but with the knee hanger that we use when flying tandem, it is.

OK, time for flight #2. This time I handle the takeoff, which goes well, but as the flight progresses, I'm starting to oscillate. Clifton has to bring us back to center a couple of times. Finally, I get us so far off center that the glider isn't responding very well, and he releases us.

Since we only got to about 1000 feet, we get to go for the other half of the tow on the same tow ticket. Clifton suggests that I try shifting my whole body rather than steering with my feet and hips. I give that a try and it seems to calm things down. Still, I was flying better on my last visit. Very strange.

I hang out and wait for a debriefing while Clifton flies some discovery tandems. We discuss what I'm doing well and what I'm doing poorly. After that, since I've brought my bicycle, I ride into town to get some lunch. I get the impression that the residents of Trenton don't see too many adults using bicycles as transportation, as I get some strange looks.

After lunch I drop my bike at the LZ and head up to the launch. When I get there, the wind is blowing in at around 5 mph, but there is a squall line approaching. I can see that it is a narrow band, and duck inside while it passes. After the line passes, the wind is still straight in, and there are some thermals. After the morning's difficulties, I'm not too anxious to get out in the stronger thermals, and also would like to avoid the LZ at middday, so plan to fly around 3:30. The sky clears a bit, and I get set up. The wind is still blowing mostly in at 5 to 7 mph, so I get a wire crew and get up on the ramp. Because it's somewhat breezy but not quite ridge soarable, I start about four steps from the red line. It's a bit turbulent there, so I take another step forward, get a couple of "neutrals" from my wire crew, and head out. One step in, the glider lifts off of my shoulders, and by three steps I'm airborne.

Since the wind is southwesterly I head that way to stay upwind of the LZ. At one point I'm almost hovering over a spot, so the wind is probably in the 15 mph range. I'm not really going forward, or backward, or up, or down. I stay there as long as I can, but eventually start sinking, so go looking for lift. After less than a minute, I find some, It's not huge, but I can work it, and briefly get a couple hundred fpm up. I get 100' over launch, and then fly out of the core. Apparently this thermal is fairly sharp edged, because I'm now facing the ground. Whee! I thought that would be scary, but it's actually fun. What's also fun is flying my Falcon. Flying the tandem glider I felt like Captain Klutz, but on my glider I feel like Superman. Thermals are pushing me around, and I'm pushing back, totally in control and confident.

One thing I'm not all that good at yet is locating where I am horizontally. After I got spit out of that better thermal, I should probably have flown back to it. The problem is that I don't know exactly where it is, and go looking for other lift. I do see some areas where the trees are being blown around, but find more sink than lift, and have to keep heading out into the valley. In retrospect, I probably should have flown more downwind of those spots than I did, but that's part of being a low time pilot.

I don't find any more lift, and shortly have to set up an approach. With the wind, I'm very careful to stay on the upwind side of the field. When I get to turn downwind, I find that I have a very impressive groundspeed, probalby 35 or 40 mph. I also find that there's a weak thermal in the middle of the field, and plan to land in the first third. After what is no more than 15 seconds, it's time to turn base and final. On final, my groundspeed isn't much, even having been pulled in enough to get my airspeed in the mid 30's. There a 6-10 mph breeze down the middle of the LZ, which is more than I've landed in previously.

OK, now I'm in ground skim, just about to trim speed, so it's time to flare. Either I had a bit more speed than I though, or I've flown into the thermally part of the LZ, because I'm a higher than I expected to be. Only one thing to do, right? Flare more! I do that, the climb stops, my forward motion stops, and the glider floats me down onto my feet for an easy no stepper. Aaah. Once on the ground I do have to lower the pitch so the glider doesn't get pulled off my shoulders. It is a bit of a trick to walk with the glider in the breeze, and it's a good distance to the breakdown area since I intentionally landed short of the center.

I'd planned to do a couple of more tandems in the evening, but the wind's still blowing and I'd rather not spend the money on tandems in less than ideal conditions, so instead I spectate. Apparently there's plenty of lift at tow altitude. Clifton thermals the tandem glider to 2000' above release while carrying a (strong stomached) passenger. The tow pilot pulls his wife up to 4000" or so, and she makes good use of the altitude. I left after an hour and she was still up.

My solo flight was only 10 minutes, but it was probably the most enjoyable flight I've ever had, and was the perfect antidote to the morning's frustrations. I'm planning on going up next week for a couple more tandems. Hopefully I can get the tow training completed soon. Particularly in the summer, there are a number of good southwesterly days that aren't the best for foot launching, but offer good thermal soaring. With the AT in my pocket, I'll be able to take advantage of them.

April 17 - Lake Lookout

FormerFF — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:42:16 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Santana ]
We've had a lot of rain here recently - more than the average for March and April. One of the casualties from all this precip is that the LZ at LMFP tends to flood. It had been quite a while since February's flight. I'd been on vacation, family life is what it always is, and the weather had not been the best. Sunday appeared to have light & variable winds and the possibility of some lift, so I took the opportunity to head out.

My boss is an avid triathlete, and he challenged us to enter one as well. As the oldest person on the staff, naturally I was the only one to accept. I've been running, cycling and swimming three times per week each, and it's seriously cut into my free time. On Saturday, I ran in the morning, swam after lunch, then cut the grass and cooked dinner. When Sunday morning came around, I was a little slow moving, and didn't get to the mountain launch until after 1 PM. At that time, people were setting up but none were flying. The wind was light and mostly on the ramp, with occasionally crossing conditions. I'd hoped for a couple of sledders, so I went ahead and set up.

One thing that does give me pause is the condition of the LZ. A good portion of it is under water. The tug runway is dry, but that's most of the dry ground available. The aerotow operation is in full swing, and I'd just as soon not get in that mix. Fortunately, but the time I'm ready to go they stop and go to lunch, so the tug runway is now available for landing.

By the time I was ready to go, it was approaching 2:30. Shortly before I launched, two other pilots went off and were able to find some thermal action, though not enough to get over launch. When it's my time to fly, the wind is on the ramp around 6 mph, so I get a wire assist and head off into the valley. I am able to find some small thermals, and work them the best I can, but soon am low enough to have to head out towards the LZ. At this point, I'm the only one in the air, and boat around the LZ, enjoying the altitude I have left. There's a little southerly breeze, so I'll be approaching to the south. Normally, I would make my downwind leg on the west side of the field, and do so today, which takes me over the northwest side of the LZ. It's heavily forested and the terrain rises, so it's quite often a sinkhole. I'm not a fan of flying close to the trees, so I wind up turning base sooner than ideal. Because I have some extra altitude, I make a number of S turns, then straighten up and turn final. I can see I'm going to make a bit of a pizza run out of this, but still will have plenty of space. On ground skim, I'm a bit low and can almost feel my toes about to drag on the tops of the grass. Lately, I've had a tendency to flare kind of weakly and probably a little too slowly, so I try to remedy that this time. OK, push out, then up - the glider climbs about two feet, then I feel good deceleration, my feet rotate forward and touch down in an easy one stepper, assisted by the light breeze. Flight time: 12 minutes.

I bum a ride up and get ready for flight number two. I'm ready to go around 4:30. The wind has picked up just a bit, not quite enough to be soarable, but enough to get a bit of a climb just off of launch I get another wire assist and float off the ramp. At LMFP, there is usually a bit of lift just in front of the ramp, and today is no exception. I'm briefly above the ramp, but am not confident enough in the lift to try to run the ridge, so instead I go hunting for thermals. I do find a few that are somewhat lighter then earlier in the day. Just like before, I'm not able to find enough to stay up, but do find enough to extend the flight. I poke around all the usual triggers, and work what I can. After too few minutes of this, I'm at the LZ and it's time to think about an approach.

This time, I stay to the northeast side of the LZ. The air's a little buoyant and I have a few minutes to enjoy the late afternoon sun. However, this approach has two complications: There is a tandem glider slightly above me, and the tow operation is in full swing, so the available dry terrain is pretty small. I stay to the northeast side and out of the tandem glider's way. Though he started higher, he has a higher sink rate and will be on the ground before I am. He heads in and I start my base leg. It appears that there is a dry spot to the west side of the water, so I aim for that.

As I get close, I can see that my "dry spot" has an inch or so of water on most of it. I let the control frame out a bit to float over some of the water, switch my hands to the downtubes, let the bar out some more, and the glider immediately descends and puts its wheels in the water, followed shortly by my pants and shoes. As I roll to a stop, I hear cheers from the group assembled in the breakdown area. At this point, there's nothing left to do but take a bow, so I do that - and then carry the glider over to the breakdown area. Total flight time: 11 minutes. I get the glider disassembled, get a ride up, get the glider, and give another pilot a ride, then head home.

Y'know, landing in the wet wasn't what I wanted to do, but if you'd told me before I left home that I was going to get two flights and make a wet landing, I'd still have gone. Usually after making the trip to Lookout and back, I'm wanting a week or two to rest before I'd be ready for another, but this time I'd be ready to go back the next day. I'd like another shot at catching those thermals. A couple of the better pilots made hour plus flights out of the day, and I'd like to try to get to that level as well.

February 12 - Idiot Proof Soaring

FormerFF — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 05:10:01 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Joni Mitchell ]
We've had a lot going on at our house, so I hadn't been in the air since early November. There'd been some flyable weather, but I just hadn't gotten the chance to take advantage of it. Saturday's forecast looked good, with northwest winds, blue skies, and temps close to 50. My wife was running a 10K in the morning, so I planned for a midday departure.

After an uneventful drive, I arrived at the mountain launch at 2:30 to find winds blowing mostly straight in, and in the 12 to 16 mph range. At Lookout, that consititutes H3 conditions. Combine that with the dense cool air, and that's a bit more than I wanted to handle, so I planned a 4 PM launch.

While waiting, I was speaking with another pilot, who I'm almost sure is KeithPS. Keith, were you there? He was telling me about his flight earlier in the day where he had to find sink to get down. We then watched a pilot launch, fly too far out into the valley, and still stay up, so we pronounced the day to be Idiot Proof Soaring. We spend a few minutes getting one of our lady pilots launched, and then it's my turn. After waiting for a few minutes to get another glider out of the way, I head off to the ramp for a hang check and a wire crew.

It's blowing in around 12 mph at this time, with some lulls and some little gusts. We walk down to the red line, and after spending a few seconds getting my wings level, I get a couple of "neutral"s from my wire crew, and head out. The launch and the air is smooth, and I start an easy turn to the north. The first chance I get to look at the ridge, I can see that I'm even with it, which means I've not lost any altitude during the launch. Nice.

As I head down the ridge, I start to climb above it. By the end of the second pass, I'm almost 300' over, and can relax a bit and zip up my harness, and also let fly with the first "Yahoo!" of the day. I then make a mistake - I don't get right on top of the ridge. Then, what appears to be a bit of a flush cycle happens, and I'm starting to descend back to ridge altitude. This continues for a minute or so, by which time I'm just about at ridge height. There's one section that is particularly bluff and usually has the best lift, and I work that for all its worth, but can't get back above ridge height, and wind up a bit below it. Crap.

OK, I've seen another pilot find some lift out in the valley, now it's my turn to see what I can do. I find a few patches where I can climb a little and then sink a little. I'm a little too close to the ridge and too low to circle, so I mostly make "S" turns. I get a little better at that, and manage to get above ridge height. I find a little better patch that I can stay in and climb a little more. Now I'm a couple hundred feet above the ridge and can try circling. I circle around and get approving beeps from my vario. After a couple of minutes of this, I'm now 500' over, time for Yahoo! #2.

Now, this is the first time I've been that far above the ridge. I'd always heard that the lift was better above the ridgeline, and I can now attest that it's true. I'm still climbing - 1000' over (Yahoo!) - 1500' (Yahoo!) - 2000' over (Yahooooo!) I finally top out at 2400' over, a little more than 4400' MSL. The upper part of the climb is almost like I'm on autopilot, it's so smooth. At this point, I'm more than 3700' over the valley floor, and I'm finding out a few things. First, at least on this day, I'm a little airsick. Second, being this high for the first time is intimidating and I'm having thoughts that are probably more appropriate for a first mountain solo, like, what if something happens to the glider or how am I going to set up an approach from here? I also have to keep telling myself to relax, as I'm wearing myself out. I poke around for a while, descend to 3800' MSL, find anther thermal, and pop back up to 4200'.

While I'm up there, I'm making a major effort to scan for traffic. To my surprise, I'm above everyone. Most everyone else is running the ridge, but there are a few pilots thermaling, and they're all below me. At one point, I do see another pilot who is close to my altitude, but he crosses to my north and I can see he's below me. I'm top of the stack! OK, there's not really a stack, and the better pilots have headed out of the local area, but I am at the top. What's that saying about a blind squirrel occasionally finding a nut? I'm also surprised that none of the pilots who had recently launched came over to pimp the thermal. I guess they were happy running the ridge.

After about 40 minutes between 3500' and 4400', I'm tired, a little queasy, and beginning to get chilled, so I start to head down. Since I'm so tired and the LZ is apt to be rocking, I decide to do an intentional wheel landing, that is, when I finally do get down. I keep finding more lift and am tempted to try to work it. but my better judgment wins out, and I continue to descend. As I get lower, the air gets bumpier, and when I reach foothill height, I'm having to push back regularly to maintain my desired track. When I'm ready to turn final, I'm going through patches of sink, but when I turn final I find some lift and big bumps, and wind up using way more LZ than expected. I probably wasn't making the best decisions at that point and am glad I had that big LZ to work with. After a few seconds, I get my legs underneath me and carry the glider to the breakdown area. At this point, I'm chilled, exhausted, and a little queasy, but also happy and very gratified. I get a quick body ride up, get my car, break the glider down, return the body ride favor for three other pilots, and get up top in time to enjoy the sunset.

Idiot Proof Soaring, ya gotta love it.

November 18 - Playing Hooky

FormerFF — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 04:30:54 GMT

[ Mood: Cool ]
[ Currently: Working ]
After having flown with my family a couple weeks ago, I had hopes of getting one more flying day before the holidays. I had a bunch of vacation days to use before December 1, and had been taking Thursdays off for about a month. I'd always hoped to use one of them to fly, but it hadn't worked out. The weather didn't cooperate for a couple, I missed one good day because I wasn't paying attention, and another because we had a plumbing emergency. Earlier in the week, the forecast had been looking very promising for this upcoming Thursday, with soarable conditions on tap, but as the day approached the winds went more towards light and variable. The weekend wasn't going to be available because of a server move project at work, so I put the glider on the car Thursday morning and headed up.

When I got to the mountain launch a little after noon, the winds were blowing mostly in, but were light and occasionally crossing. One of the instructors had just launched a student pilot on an observed flight, which would indicate conditions were still mellow. At that point, there were a few pilots who were getting ready to put their gliders together, but no one else ready to fly.

Just a few minutes after I arrived, pjwings came by as well. We observed the conditions and came to these conclusions:

1: It wasn't currently soarable.
2: It might get soarable in a couple of hours.
3: Odds were high that we could get a flight in before it got soarable, assuming that it did.

So, that's what we did. One of our local biwingual pilots pulled out his paraglider, which is a pretty rare sight at Lookout's ramp. Pjwings and I ran our cars down to the LZ as he unpacked his paraglider.

Down in the LZ, the student I had seen launch and another pilot were just finishing packing up. We load their gliders on pj's truck and head up the hill, only to find the paraglider pilot still on the ramp. He finds conditions to his liking and heads off the ramp and turns northward. The wind has picked up a bit and he is able to stay at ridge height. There is one spot on the ridge where the lift is particularly strong, and he pretty much parks himself there for a couple of minutes. The wind finally fades a little and he gets flushed and heads in for a landing.

We get our gliders built, and pjwings heads out first. When I get to the ramp, I find the winds light but mostly straight on the ramp. Launch is fine, and the air is cool and calm close to the ridge. I have a pair of bar mitts but haven't previously flown with them, so I take this opportunity to see what they're like. It's kind of a different feeling but doesn't take much getting used to. I can tell I don't want to make an approach with my hands in them, though.

I poke around looking for thermal activity but don't find any. There is a little buoyancy in the air, so I get over the LZ with a good bit of altitude in hand, and search for lift on the west side. All I find there is sink, so I'm setting up an approach in short order. There's a little bumpiness a couple hundred feet over the surface, but once I turn final everything smooths out.

Though I don't yet have the hours, I'm already thinking about the spot landings for the H3 rating, so I try to adjust my approach so I'll be close to the target pylon. I'm not too far off, but my flare is a little weak and I put myself in a bit of a turn, so I wind up landing on my knees. Pjwings has captured it on video, and has been gracious enough to share it with me. It's a big help to see what your're doing. Thanks, Paul.

We get our gliders packed up and head up the hill for a second flight. Conditions aren't soarable yet, so we run a car back to the LZ. When we reach the launch, things have picked up a bit and there are a surprising number of pilots on launch, considering it is a Thursday and the forecast was not for soaring conditions. As we assemble our gliders, one pilot launches and is able to stay up. As you'd expect, this prompts a few more launches, and most are able to stay even with the ridge. I go out with my anemometer and find that the winds are only 5 to 6 mph, which is just maybe barely soarable.

Pjwings is ready before I am, and he picks a good cycle and gets a strong launch, managing to stay at ramp altitude all the way through his launch and turn to parallel the ridge. As I'm finishing my glider, I can see him making passes over the ridge at just about tree height. When it's my turn to go, the wind has faded just a bit. I can see it's going to be a struggle to stay up, but am ready to give it my best. My launch isn't as strong as his, and I head out a little below ramp altitude. The wind is as smooth as can be, and I'm closer to the ridge than I've ever been. There's a spot on the ridge where the face is more sheer than the rest and the lift is usually the strongest. I'm figuring that that spot will be the deciding point on whether or not I'm going to stay up. When I do get there, I do get a litte bit of climb. but am still below the top of the ridge. I go a little farther up the ridge, then turn back towards the ramp. I'm a little lower than the trip away from the ramp, and if I don't find any lift, I'll have to head out into the valley. No lift presents itself, so out into the valley I go. There's nothing going on out there either, so I float around over the LZ for a while.

This approach I'm not so concerned about the target pylon, but just want to make a better flare. The approach goes well, but this time I flare too late and as soon as I push up, the glider drops to its wheels and I roll in - right in front of pjwings and everyone else in the breakdown area.

I'm not really disappointed in having sunk out off of the ridge, as it would have taken immaculate technique and a bit of luck to have stayed up, but I am temporarily miffed at having made two bad landings. Soon enough the combination of the late afternoon light and good company get me to forget about the landings and remember the flying part.

Soon enough, we get our gliders packed up and head up the hill. We get pjwings's glider on his car as the sun is setting, and he goes in to talk to Matt Taber, while I stay out to watch one of our other biwingual pilots launch his paraglider. He'd already been up on the ridge for a while on his Predator, and now he's going to air out his paraglider as well. A couple of us watch him launch and head up the ridge. He gets a flight almost exactly like mine - one trip down the ridge, one trip back, then out in the valley.

That's going to be it for me for this year, as the holidays are just too busy for me to get away. Fortunately for those of us who live here, there's not really an off season, so I'll be looking for a day in January where the wind is northwesterly and the air temps are above freezing.

November 7th - Family Tandem Day 2010

FormerFF — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 03:25:26 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Gin Blossoms ]
Last year, my wife and older daughter had each taken tandem flights for the first time. Daughter #2 wasn't so sure about the whole thing, and decided to stay on the ground. After she saw her mother and sister fly, she decided she'd get in on the action this year. We'd planned to go the weekend before Halloween, but the weather didn't cooperate. so the trip got pushed to the first Sunday in November.

Forecast was for light and variable winds, with a north to northeasterly trend, and temps approaching 60. That's great for tandems and probably favorable for a mountain launch as well, so off we go. Last year, I think we were all a little nervous, but this year everyone (except the dog) had a better idea how things would go.

While it didn't look like there was going to be any lift, nonetheless it was still a beautiful day.

We arrived at the mountain launch around 1:45. The tandems were scheduled for 3 PM, which would give us time to fill out the paperwork and give me a chance to set up for a mountain launch. When we first arrived, the ramp was empty, and there was a light crossing headwind that periodically cycled to straight on the ramp. While we were getting all the necessary forms filled out, I asked Diana about the conditions. She said that things were looking good, with just a little bumpiness off of the foothills to the west of the LZ.

Once we got the paperwork out of the way, a few more pilots arrive and begin setting up. I'm the first one ready, move over to the ramp, and get a hang check from my wife. There are probably 20 or 30 spectators on the ramp, as well as my family. I suppose this could make you nervous if you let it, but once I step on the ramp the whole rest of the world just melts away. At this point, the wind is mostly straight in and light. For these conditions, a little more of a launch run is in order, so I start near the compass rose at the top of the ramp. I started with a little more pitch up than usual, so the glider popped off my shoulders quickly. Around step three into the launch run, I pulled in a little bit to get the pitch back to an appropriate angle of attack. Getting the glider flying early in the run lets me put more effort into moving forward, and I get a nice strong launch at the desired angle of attack.

There's a little strip of lift just in front of the ramp, and another little bit at Burkhalter Gap Road, but nothing big enough to work, so I head out into the valley to see if any thermals had formed.

I didn't find anything, so in short order I was setting up for a landing. I'm the only one in air and have the whole LZ to myself. The promised bumpiness is there, but so slight that it doesn't require any correction. On downwind, I do notice that I seem to be a bit lower than I'd expect, so I go ahead and turn base and final. Once below the treeline the air is smooth and the landing is easy. I get a one stepper about 50 feet from the target cone. It was a very pleasant, if not particularly long (7 minute) sled ride.

Anyway, the day is not about me. I get my glider partly broken down as the family arrives from the mountain launch. The tandem crew is still pulling gliders out of the hangar, so we hang out in the breakdown area while I finish bagging the glider.

By about 3:30, the Dragonfly has set off on an air check, and the tandem operation gets underway. My three get harnessed up and wait for their turn.

Linda (Mrs. FFF) is the first to go. This is her second flight, so no nerves, just excitement.

Our older daughter also flew last year, and had been asking to fly again for most of the year. While her mom is in the air, she launches as well.

Our youngest chose not to fly last year. This year she decided she would try it, and had been wavering between excited and nervous. She was also the last to launch. She's not that much smaller than her sister, but she sure looked small in the glider. Rex, the pilot on her tandem, hooked her in while waiting for the tug to return, and she spent the time hanging out.

Her mom rolled in just as she was ready to go, and we both watched our youngest roll out on her first airborne experience.

The fall colors weren't the best this year, but as you can see, they were on their way.

Her reaction when she got back down:

I have to think she liked it.

September 4 - Hang Waiting, Rewarded

FormerFF — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:15:10 GMT

[ Mood: In Love ]
[ Currently: Listening to Game Theory ]
After a wretchedly hot summer, the Southeast was treated to an early season cold front, which brought cooler, drier air, and northwesterly breezes. Both LMFP and Henson's Gap are northwesterly facing, so that's a very good thing for us pilots. Even better, the front came through on late Friday/early Saturday, meaning that those of us who are weekend only pilots would get a chance to fly.

The day started cool (for early September), with minimal breezes and brilliant blue cloudless skies. Since I don't get that many chances to fly, I try to maximize my flying days by getting to the launch early enough to fly twice. I arrived at around 11:30 to find that the LZ was very active, the towing operation had been shut down, and launching was limited to H4 pilots. Too bad, because the mountain launch was very doable, with 10 mph winds mostly straight in. Since the LZ would quiet down later in the day, there was nothing to do but wait. So I did.

I went down to the LZ to see how conditions looked, and found them surprisingly tranquil. The biggest issue was that the wind would shift 90 degrees periodically, which would make for a surprising approach and landing. While I was eating lunch, I happened on another pilot who found the conditions to his liking, but wanted a ride up to the launch. Hey, I can do that, so up we went.

It's around 2:00 when he's ready to go. A couple of people wire him off, and he goes down the ridge. On his first pass back, he's 100 feet or so above the ridge, and just goes on from there. At one point he flies over the mountain launch and yells, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" down to the collection of pilots on the ramp. He never gets real high above the ridge, but plays along the lip for 45 minutes or so, then gets flushed and heads out into the valley. He finds some lift, but not enough to stay up. Eventually he makes a decent landing in the middle of the LZ. Nice.

BrandonRussell73 arrives, and we both start observing the LZ. The thing that bothers me is that while the wind is usually a light crosswind, it occasionally becomes northeasterly, then swings around to the south. Having experience a downwind landing previously and not particularly having liked it, I want to wait until things mellow out a little further.

As it approaches 4 PM, the ramp is filled with gliders waiting to launch. Some of the more capable pilots start launching, and find their way to a few hundred feet over launch. After that wave goes off, the ramp refills with lower time pilots waiting for their turn. Also, first one, then a second rigid appear in the skies overhead. They hadn't launched from Lookout, so they must have XC'd in from Henson's.

At 6 PM, the LZ starts to mellow out, and the sky fills with gliders. Sky_Walker and LittleWing set up as well, as does Xerxes, and I do the same. I'm still watching the LZ, and it's still kind of switchy. When I get back to my glider, a couple of pilots tell me it had turtled. Someone had caught it and the only damage was one of the tip bags was missing. I had the glider in a protected spot for most of the day, but as the ramp filled in, I had to move it a bit so that someone else could get his wings spread, and had put it in a spot that occasionally would get a puff. After a careful preflight and big thanks to the pilot, I get the glider finished and ready to go.

Somewhere in there between 6 and 7, Brandon launched, as did Sky_Walker. Xerxes launched a little before 7, and Little Wing went right at 7. I follow her out to get my turn on the ramp.

I should add I haven't had much luck with soaring in my 35 mountain flights. I've tended to wait too late to launch and made a few other bad guesses that have put me on the ground entirely too quickly. I'm not wanting to make that same mistake, but I'm not wanting to go out into a switchy LZ, either. I still have the original downtubes that came with the glider, and would like to keep it that way.

After LittleWing launched, I'm #2 behind another glider, who is needing to untangle some harness lines. Matt Taber comes over and asks them to move aside to let me go. He hang checks me and takes the keel. Out we go to the red line, and after getting everything balanced, and a couple of quick neutrals, off I go. I'm still focused on Sand Mountain on the other side of the valley, and ride the upward draft until it stops, then make a gentle right turn. I'm a little above launch height but below treetop level, so I don't get too close to the ridge at first. Instead, I concentrate on flying slowly and gently, and creeping back towards the ridge.

There are a lot of gliders in the air, and because the lift doesn't extend very high, we're all compressed into a couple hundred vertical feet. This being my first time in that much traffic, I'm very wary of getting too much into the mix, and that also keeps me off of the ridge. I do find some stronger lift, and make it a point to S turn into it, then creep back towards the ridge.

I had a bad experience with sink in Burkhalter Gap, and turn just before it. All the practice turning made during the summer's sled rides pay off as I'm able to turn without losing much altitude. I'm still finding some better lift in spots, and am able to get about 50 feet above the ridge, which is just about treetop height.

I'm able to stay on the ridge for a number of passes, probably around 15 minutes worth. Eventually I make a little bit of a diving turn and fall out of the lift band. Those stronger patches of lift I had been finding had been becoming weaker, so I head out a little farther into the valley to get some separation from the ground. I'm able to find some small patches of lift and work them the best I can, but can't stay in them.

The air over the LZ is a little bumpy at altitude, no doubt rotor from the foothills. I'm flying directly into the sun, and am surprised to see another glider a few hundred feet away. He's also setting up an approach, so I decide to follow him in. I'm still fairly high and extend my approach out away from the LZ, and find a few more bumps. On final, the bumps disappear at around 150, and the air is like butter. Because of the all the activity on the ground, I decide to land a little long. As I start ground skim, I can see the target pylon flash past. OK, bleed off speed, hands low on the downtubes, let the bar out slowly, find trim, and flare. I'm maybe just a bit slow and not aggressive enough because I have to jog the landing out a few steps, but in no wind conditions, I'll take it. I walk the glider over to the breakdown area and join the 15 or so other gliders there. Launch time, 7:08, landing 7:30, for a new personal best of 22 minutes.

A few minutes after I land, Xerxes comes in after a flight of 35 minutes or so. LittleWing is not too far behind, punctuating her 40 minute flight with a fine foot landing. Sky_Walker is next at 7:45, after having been in the air for an hour. Brandon came in there somewhere, but I can't say exactly when. One pilot tries landing really close to the breakdown are and is rewarded by giving us all a closeup view of his whack.

So, that was a very satisfying flight and a terrific day. LittleWing also set a personal best, another lady pilot who has been having the same luck soaring as I have made her first soaring flight, and at least one new pilot made her first mountain solo earlier in the day. My missing tip bag even showed up. It apparently blew down towards Sky_Walker's glider, and someone must have put it in with his stuff.

So, when's the next front?

July 24 - Heat Wave

FormerFF — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:25:19 GMT

[ Currently: Listening to War ]
Midsummer in the south usually means the three H's weather wise: Hazy, hot, and humid. This summer had been a little out of the ordinary in that is has been hotter than usual but also clearer than we would expect. The forecast was for a very hot day, with air temps nearing 100 F and dew points in the mid 70s, giving a heat index near 110. Winds were forecast to be light and variable, with a southwesterly bias.

H2 rated pilots do not generally fly in the midday hours under these conditions, as the LZ gets very active when it is thermally, so it's my goal to get to the launch to get a sled ride in before things get too active. I arrived a little after 11, and found a few gliders set up. I also found Sky_Walker and LittleWing setting up for a ride down. The word on the day's weather was that thermal soaring was likely in the midday conditions, and that there was a possibility of a wonderwind around 6 PM. I'm a little skeptical on the wonderwind but I'm certainly willing to wait and see.

First order of the day is to get my glider set up for a late morning/early afternoon flight. I'm at that point in my flying career where I'd like to fly in conditions that are a little stronger than what I'm used to, and since the LZ is looking placid, I'm in no hurry to set up too quickly. Besides, with the temps already at 90 degrees, it's not a day for hurrying. Sky_Walker and LittleWing are ready before I am, and LittleWing launches first. We can see that the air is still, and there's no lift at all. She makes a fine launch, a good approach, and winds up knocking over the target cone on landing. Sky_Walker is next, and finds similar conditions. At 12:30, I'm pulling my harness on, when Jen comes out of the shop and tells us to not launch. An aerotow pilot had crashed in the LZ, and there is an ambulance on the field. The word I got was that he was a very low time pilot who released early, stalled, recovered from the stall, turned back to the LZ, then made a low turn and dragged a wingtip. I also understand that he was unconscious for a few minutes, but was awake and alert when he left the LZ, with a probable concussion, some neck pain, and a possible broken arm. I didn't hear an update after that, but here's wishing a speedy recovery to you, bro, and come back soon.

At 1 PM I get the OK to launch. There's a light breeze on the ramp, but it's so hot that the density altitude is up around 5000 feet, so I dial a little more pitch down than usual. I do get a little better look at the trees than I would if it were cooler. Considering the conditions, I'm very satisfied with the launch. Out in the air, I don't find any lift, but I do find a few patches of sink. The only hint of lift I do find is over the hangars while on downwind, and those were just little bumps.

When I crossed over the field, what little wind there was appeared to be a direct cross, so I set up for a landing to the north. I find that when I turn final, I'm being pushed farther down the field than I'd have expected, but it doesn't register that I just might be going downwind. When it comes time to flare, I find I still have more groundspeed than I'd expect, and have to run fairly hard. While doing that , I wind up slipping and sliding in on one shin and my wheels. It turns out that while I was on final a light breeze came around from the southwest and I was landing downwind. The only damage is that I now have some road rash on the lower part of one leg. Two lessons learned: Always check the streamers on final, and if it's calm, always land into what is the prevailing wind for the day. Today's breeze aloft was from the southwest, and that is the direction I should have landed.

I (slowly) start breaking down my glider. Sky_Walker's and LittleWing's gliders are still set up in the breakdown area. It turns out they'd gone for a dip in the pool to cool off before breaking down. The three of us get our gliders bagged and back up to the top. Sky_Walker and LittleWing put their gliders away and head out to cool off, while I stay and observe. Around 2 PM a pilot launches. He finds some lift to work, and is able to stay up for 20 minutes or so before having to land. The local ace sees what he wants around 2:30, launches in what I believe was a Sport 2, finds a thermal, and takes about 15 minutes to circle up to cloudbase. There are a couple of cumulus clouds that he is circling towards, so as you'd expect the other pilots who were waiting all launch. They find the same set of thermals and start to climb as well. After 15 or 20 minutes of that, there's nothing but blue sky in the valley, and they all sink out with the exception of the Sport 2 pilot. I head into town to get some food and more drinks. Over the course of the afternoon, I drank a gallon of water and another half gallon of Powerade, and could have used more.

I get back up to the launch around 4:30. A partial cloud deck appears and cuts off the sunlight, ending the day's soaring, and with it, our chance of a wonderwind. It does create an opportunity for low time pilots to get their observed flights, and Mrsposer brings her glider up and begins to set up. I find out that she has completed seven of the 10 observed flights she needs, and the conditions look promising for #8. I set up as well, again very slowly, as even on top of the ridge the air temp is around 100 F, and the heat index is 110 or so. Since there's no reason to wait, I launch right at 6 PM. The air is even smoother than it was a 1 PM, and there is again no lift, except for a tiny patch just off of the ramp. There's not much sink either, and I see 200 -240 FPM down the whole ride. This time I approach to the south and get a little better flare, but still wind up running. I'm seeing lots of running landings as there is absolutely no wind and a little higher density altitude than we're used to.

After I get the glider bagged, I keep my eye out for Mrsposer. She launches at around 7 PM, and has what looks to be a very pleasant and uneventful flight into the beginning of the sunset. I give a couple of pilots a ride up to the launch, just in time to to see the last launch of the day, then head down to have dinner at the clubhouse. After hanging out for a little longer than I should have, I head home.

The next day, I get in my car to back it out of the garage, and the battery dies. I guess the battery gods were smiling on me on Saturday, they let me get my flying day.

June 19 - When Life Gives You Sled Ride Conditions...

FormerFF — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:16:11 GMT

[ Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Listening to Game Theory ]
The forecast for both weekend days was the same: blue skies, light winds, and hot, with a slight chance of thundershowers. I'd been trying to decide whether to go fly or to stay home and work on a project. I put the question to the board, and Noman3 responded that I should go fly, so that's what I did.

On the way up, the conditions were as advertised: blue skies and nil wind. As I approached the mountain launch, the skies turned cloudy and almost threatening. Last time I'd been up I'd left my helmet in the LZ, and one of Lookout's staffers had picked it up for me, so I went into the shop to recover it. As soon as I'd gotten it, a rain shower started. Xerxes had arrived shortly before me, and since there was no flying for a while, we went into town for lunch.

When we got back to the mountain launch, the rain had stopped, but the outflow from the squall line had pushed the wind over the back. By about 1:30 the tailwind started to subside, so we ran a car down the base with the hopes of flyable winds appearing. When we got back to the launch, the wind had diminished more, and half a dozen pilots were assembling gliders, so we got ours out as well. Mine was wet and needed drying anyway, so tailwind or not, it was coming out of the bag. At 2:30 or so, the tailwind subsided, and finally went away entirely. The first pilot launched around 2:45. I'd waited a little longer to pack my still wet bags, and was not ready to launch until almost 3 PM.

For this flight, I had three goals: maintain proper pitch throughout my entire launch, get used to my newly acquired (used) vario, and continue to work on flying slowly and making coordinated low speed turns. The sky is solid overcast and there is almost no wind, so I'll be providing all the airspeed with my legs. I've had some issues with popping the nose angle on zero wind launches, mainly because I want to switch from grapevine to bottle grip too quickly. During a slope launch it's no problem because there is so much time during the launch run, and on a breezy day it's not a problem because the glider lifts so quickly, but for nil wind ramp launches, I'm having issues, so for now I decide to try using the bottle grip from the start. I wouldn't want to do that on a breezy day because I get more leverage in the bottle grip position, but on a light wind day, the leverage isn't important.

With that in mind, I start the launch run. In the usual few steps I'm off the ramp with the pitch where I want it. I fly away from the mountain for a few seconds, then slow to trim speed. The air is as smooth as butter, so I start making steep turns, reversing 180s, and a few 360s. I can immediately see the advantage of having a vario for this sort of flying, as it gives good feedback as to how well I'm flying.

Liftless sledders are short, so rather quickly, I'm over the LZ with about 550 feet left over. I spend a few seconds trying to get unzipped, and finally do get the pull cord open. The approach goes without drama, but this time, I keep my hands on the basetube all the way into ground skim. I do get my hands switched without any issues, but this has upset my timing a bit, and I get kind of a weak flare and have to run the landing out. Acceptable when you have half a mile of flat grass, but I can do better.

We get packed up and head back up the hill. Xerxes heads back towards Atlanta, but it's not even 4 PM, the conditions are flyable but not soarable, and there are plenty of people going up and down the hill, so why not take another flight? When I get to the top Brandonrussell73 is getting ready to pull his glider out of the bag. I promised some pilots who had just landed that I would come and get them, so Brandon runs his car down to the LZ as well. Once we get to the LZ, we pick up three pilots, and their gliders and harnesses. That makes five pilots and three gliders in one Focus hatchback.

For the second flight, it's still overcast with very light winds. This launch also goes well, and this flight I concentrate on getting the harness zipped up quickly and trying to remained relaxed. I've had this tendency to want to do a pushup on the base tube, which is tiring and makes me less sensitive as to what the glider is doing. The vario is just as quiet on this flight as it was on the first, and it's easy to practice turns and thermal entries. This approach is similar to the first one, and I again try flying all the way to ground skim with my hands on the basetube, and the landing comes up similar, with a softer flare then is ideal and the need to run the landing out a few steps.

Shortly after I get to the breakdown area, someone offers me a body ride, which I gladly accept, and take a nice breezy ride in the back of a truck. I get my car down to the LZ and find another pilot who is getting ready to head up for another flight, so I put my glider on his truck and leave mine in the LZ, so we're good to go for a third flight.

For this one the sun has come out and there is an occasional headwind on the ramp. I get another solid launch, but this time I can feel that there is some lift when I first get off of the ramp. Not enough for me to work with for sure, and probably not enough for anyone to stay up in, but a little lift nonetheless. On this flight I stay as relaxed as possible and just try to feel what the glider is doing. It's a little harder to keep my speed down in turn entry this way, but if I'm ever going to do any thermaling, I have to learn to do this.

Because of the sun, I've found some spots where I could float along only sinking at 50 fpm, and other sinky spots where it was more along the lines of 400 fpm. Next flight, I have to try to spend more time in the floaty spots and less in the sink. The wind has turned around and this time I will be landing to the south. I always make my pattern on the west side of the LZ so as to not interfere with the aerotow operation. The terrain on the northwest side of the LZ is heavily forested and also rises. As I progress on my downwind leg, I start finding some of that sink. The LZ is fairly narrow at that end and is surrounded by tall trees, and I want to be on final while still above them. When I turn from base to final, I find the lift that went with that sink, and all but stop descending. I start making S turns at the north end of the LZ until I descend some, then pull in for final. Once again, I try flying on the base tube all the way to ground skim, and again things seem a little rushed. I do get a better flare this time, but still jog a few steps.

After I get my glider bagged up and a couple of pilots up the hill, I go back to the LZ to collect my glider and bicycle. There's one pilot left without any apparent way back up the hill, so we load his glider on my car and up we go one more time. It's almost dusk, and there's one more pilot ready to launch. We get his glider transferred to his car, watch the last flight of the day, and chat with some spectators. I finally head home at 9:25.

While there was no lift to speak of, I think that the day's flights have me better prepared for lifty days in the future.

May 23 -A Friend of Ours (Re)takes to the Skies

FormerFF — Tue, 25 May 2010 03:46:07 GMT

[ Mood: Embarrased ]
[ Currently: Listening to Frank Sinatra ]
I'd last blogged about my first flying day of the year, back at the end of February. I'd gone back up the week after with the hope of getting a soaring flight, but wound up getting a sledder as the conditions didn't pan out. I'd also been up one other time in April, on a northwesterly day that was a bit on the strong side for the most part. To make a long story short, a combination of a major attitude problem on my part and a minor equipment issue kept me out of the air, missing a glassoff. Since then, my daughters' schedule has been incredibly busy, and the weekend weather has been less than wonderful, with the exception of Mother's Day, which as you can imagine, wasn't spent on the mountain. Sunday was looking sunny with light & variable winds. Whether or not it was going to be soarable or not, I didn't know or care, I just wanted some airtime and a couple of sledders would be enough to make me happy.

As expected, it was sunny and hot on Sunday, with temperatures getting into the low 90's I arrived at the mountain launch around 12:30, and found a few gliders set up, but none in the air. The wind on the ramp varied from none at all to the occasional light northerly-northeasterly cross. Figuring that the LZ is going to get to be H3 or worse later in the afternoon, I make plans to set up. But before I do that, who should be standing on the ramp but curly_cue! She's healed from her knee surgery, had flown on the training hills the day before, and was getting ready for a tandem later that day. Her husband John was there as well. He had his Sport 2 set up, but was waiting for the day to develop before launching.

I get set up, get onto the ramp, and wait for a cycle. John calls the winds for me, and after a minute or so, we get a slack wind cycle, and I go. The launch goes well, and as soon as I get a decent distance from the mountain, I start working on slow flight and turns. The air's fairly buoyant, and the trees are a safe distance below, so I start trying 360's, reversing 180's, and 90's, all at or below trim speed. I see a few likely thermal triggers and head in their direction, but I only get one beep from my vario, and don't manage to find it a second time.

I float over the LZ, and still have a good bit of altitude left, so I poke around the west side of the field for a while. The tandem operation is not open, and no one else had launched, so I had the air to myself. The south end of the LZ is especially buoyant, and I almost think of trying some circling, but figure that would be a bad idea as I'm getting kind of low and I'd be in the way if anyone else were making an approach. I wind up extending my downwind and base legs, but I'm still a little high. I pull in a bunch and start to go down, but am going to land a little farther down than I'd like, so I get the bar back as far possible, which has the desired effect. I stay that way all the way to ground effect, so I'm going a ton, at least for a Falcon. I let the bar out a bit and climb back up a couple of feet - oops, too much. I pull in a bit to get back into ground skim, and bleed off some more speed. As the bar approaches trim I get my hands on the downtubes, then slide 'em up, and flare. It's not the strongest flare I've ever made, but it's good enough to get me slowed to jogging speed, and it takes about three steps to get stopped. Not too bad.

It's hot and sunny, and the Lookout LZ tends to get turbulent in those conditions, so I plan on flying at around 6 PM. I get a ride up the hill, get my glider bagged and back to the mountain launch, and head off for some errands. When I get back, most of the pilots who had been waiting for stronger conditions are in the LZ. Among them are curly_cue's husband, who had been up for about a 30 minute flight. He also said that he'd shared a thermal with her tandem glider.

When I get up to the mountain launch there's a decent collection of pilots getting ready to go, including PJwings and BrandonRussell73. I get the glider done and into position, and am waiting for the pilot in front of me. After what seems like a 15 minute wait for a headwind that doesn't appear, he settles for a no wind launch. I get on the ramp, find a no wind cycle, and head off. Now, I start off with a grapevine grip and rotate my hands to a bottle grip. I've been wanting to switch to what Dennis Pagan refers to as the "eternal grapevine" grip, but haven't been comfortable with trying to make the change on the mountain launch. Well, this time I wind up switching hands too early, which creates a big nose pop. Ugh. After a quick "OH CRAP" I pull in a bunch, probably overcorrecting a little. Now I'm a bit nose low, but with good airspeed. I do get a little better look at the trees below the launch than ever before, but that's about the extent of it.

Awright, put that behind me and fly the glider. This flight's plan is pretty much the same as the previous one's but the air is butter smooth but has no lift. I work on steepening the turns and quickening my entry into them. With no lift, the flight is short, and soon I'm on approach. With the calm air, this approach is easy. I've got the target cone in sight, get close to ground effect, reach my left hand from the basetube to the downtube, and wind up grabbing the wire instead. OK, try again. This time, I get the downtube, but put myself in very slight turn. I get that straightened up, get my hands up, flare, and land on both feet about 25 feet from the cone. Nice. There are a number of pilots in the LZ, including Sky_walker and LittleWing, who had flown earlier in the day. PJWings and BrandonRussell73 drop in as well, as does a pilot who is making his mountain solo. He makes a fine approach and a nice landing, and comes in with that ear to ear grin that a first mountain solo provides.

So, that was probably the worst launch I've ever made, and probably the best landing. Does that make the flight average? The first chance I get I'm going to get to the training hills to practice launching in the grapevine grip. That will be at least four weeks away, as I've got a camping trip in two weeks, and my wife and older daughter are going to cheer a friend who is in a triathalon the one after that, so the next three weekends are shot.

After I get packed up, I head up to the mountain launch, where PJWings and BrandonRussell73 are setting up to go again. The wind is swinging between slack and crossing, but as the first pilot is ready to fly, the wind starts tailing. Unfortunately for all the pilots on the ramp, the tailwind sets up, and the flying day ends a little before sunset.

Y'know, if a really good northwesterly day happens this weekend, maybe I can sneak up for an evening flight after all...

February 28th - Welcome to 2010

FormerFF — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:07:56 GMT

[ Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Listening to Level 42 ]
I hadn't gotten as much flying in last year as I'd have expected. The winter weather was horrible, spring and early summer were good, while late summer and fall were spotty at best. With the limited airtime in the last six months, I was looking for a mellow day to get a couple of extended sledders to kick off the season. We've had a few good days, that for various reasons, I've not been able to go up for. The weekend approaches, and both days are looking northwesterly. The consensus is that Saturday has a good chance of being blown out, so I plan on going up Sunday.

I'd had a ripping sinus headache on Saturday, and I go to bed Saturday night hoping to be rid of it by Sunday morning. When the dog wakes me up at 7:30, the headache is almost completely gone, but I'm still moving a little slowly, and don't get on the road until almost 10:30. As I head out, the breeze is starting to stir, and I'm feeling a little concern that things will pick up too much. When I arrive at the mountain launch, it's 12:45, mostly cloudy and about 40 degrees, with the wind blowing 12 to 14 mph straight on the ramp. Surprisingly, no one is in the air. I get my equipment off the car and stop for a few minutes to observe the conditions. After a few minutes, the first pilot of the day is ready to fly. I get his keel and we get him hang checked and up on the ramp. For some reason, he has his right wing low by about 20 degrees. Both the guy on the left wing and I are telling him that he needs to level his wings, but he yells "CLEAR" and heads off. At that point, there's nothing we can do but let go and hope for the best. He sets off in a turn, and his wingtip starts dragging against a rock on the side of the ramp. Not good. The dragging wingtip is increasing his yaw, but since it can't descend with the rest of the glider, it levels his wings and the wingtip slides off of the rock and he flies away. That could have been a lot worse. He makes a few passes up and down the ridge, but sinks out pretty quickly, and heads to the LZ. If that had been me, I'd have needed an underwear change about then.

I wire crew for another couple of pilots, who launch uneventfully and go up to enjoy the ridge lift. By the time I get set up and eat part of a sandwich, the winds have backed off to 8 mph or so, which is a little less than I need to fly the ridge, so I decide to wait to see if things pick back up. They don't, and there are four or five other pilots also waiting to see what happens. By 3:00, the sun is mostly out, the winds are 6 to 8 and don't seem to be increasing, so I go ahead and launch. It's very easy launching in those conditions, you go out towards the red line, take two steps, and you're in the air. Not too far off of launch, I get a pretty good beep from my vario, but I'm just a little too close to the ridge to feel comfortable about making a 360, especially with the breeze wanting to push me back towards the hill, so I make some S turns to get as much as possible out of the lift. I do that a few times, but finally lose it, and head out into the valley looking for more bubbles.

I do find some bumps, and get a few squeals from my vario, but nothing that I can stay in. I also had one episode where the air pushed me way nose high, almost into what felt like an incipient stall. Naturally once I pull in, I fell out of the backside of the bubble and am now facing the ground. Interesting, but not scary.

The air is buoyant, so I float around the valley for a few minutes looking for more lift. It's a little bumpy, and I'm flying faster than minimum sink for a little extra control. I need to learn to fly more slowly in these conditions.

I start my approach, but wind up a little high on final. Rather than make a few more turns, I pull the bar to my knees and the Falcon elevator comes down quickly. I can see that I'm going to round out a little past the midpoint of the field, which will have me touching down about two thirds of the way down the LZ. It's a bit bumpy on final, but nothing too significant. Since it's been three plus months since my last flight, my flare timing is less than perfect, and I have to run about four steps. Total flight time was 14 minutes.

As I walk over to the breakdown area, I see that Sky_Walker and his lady pilot friend Theresa are in the LZ. We chat briefly, and they head up to the mountain launch. When I look back at the ridge, I can see that all the pilots who had been waiting are now in the air. I guess I was a very effective wind dummy.

It's only 3:30, and my car is in the LZ, so I get the glider broken down quickly and head up for another flight. Jake526 is in the LZ as well, and he and another pilot ride up with me. We get to the top, unload the gliders, and I'm just in time to hang check Xerxes for his second flight of the day. Jake and I both set up, while Sky_Walker and Theresa launch. By the time I'm ready to go, it's 5 PM and the wind is about 5 mph, but occasionally crossing to the north. I wait for a cycle, then head out. This time I take one pass along the ridge, but there's not much going on and head out to the valley. The air is much calmer this time, and I concentrate on making turns and relaxing in the air. I've found that I'm too tense, and also that I tend to pull in a bit on my turns. I really need to learn to fly slowly if I'm ever going to be able to stay up.

After a few minutes of floating around the valley, it's time for an approach, which is easy in the calm air. I find a little lift on my turn onto final, and I'm high anyway, so I again wind up with the bar at my knees until I get the edge of the target circle as my roundout point. There's a little crosswind so I wind up drifting a bit more towards the east side of the field, and get a three step landing. I get my glider broken down and Sky_Walker gives me a ride up to my car.

While the day's conditions weren't quite what I expected, they were exactly what I needed after the long layoff. I'm now starting to see where my mistakes are and what I need to do to correct them. Now's all I need is more airtime. I know it's only Tuesday, but the forecast for the weekend looks favorable. Two weeks in a row? Dare I dream? Only time will tell.

November 8th - Family Tandem Day

FormerFF — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:48:48 GMT

[ Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Listening to Linda Ronstadt ]
Back in February, LMFP was offering discounts on discovery tandem flights. Although I�ve been at this for a couple of years now, my family has never been to the flight park, as it would be rather a lot of standing around for them. While I�m not going to push anyone into flying, I thought it would be nice for them to experience it at least once, and understand why I keep disappearing off to the mountain, so the offer is made. Towards the end of the month when the offer is slated to expire, I remind all of them to let me know by the end of the month. I�m slightly surprised when my wife tells me that she would like to go, and considerably more surprised when our (then) eight year old daughter also agrees. The seven year old decides against it.

We had planned a trip during spring break for them to take their flights, but the weather did not cooperate. Life, and some extremely rainy weather prevented us from rescheduling until now. My birthday was coming up, and I decided that I wanted to celebrate it with my family at the flight park, and they agreed. The forecast was for warm temperatures and light and variable winds. If all went well, I could get a mountain flight in, and my wife and daughter would almost certainly have great conditions for their flights.

Rather than try to fit four people and a dog in my Focus, I stuck a ladder on top of my wife's Odyssey van. It has a factory roof rack, but the crossbars are some sort of plastic material that doesn't give me all that much confidence, but if it can't hold a 50 pound Falcon and 10 pounds of ladder, it's not much of a rack. I find that it works fine up to about 65 mph, but I still spend the entire trip with an eye on the glider. We arrive at about 1:45 PM, at which time the instructors are launching pilots on observed flights. We go in and get Linda and Allison signed up for their tandems, which are scheduled for the 3:00 hour, then I start to set up. While I'm doing that, the wind starts to switch around to both crossing and tailing. In addition, I'm a little nervous about being distracted while building the glider, the two that are flying look a little nervous about their upcoming flight, and we're all a little distracted because the dog seems nervous and is all over the place.

Since I'm concerned about being distracted, I plan to make two very complete preflights before launching. Sure enough, on the first one, I find that I've missed connecting the top wire on the kingpost. Once that is corrected, I make two more complete walkarounds to double check that the glider is properly assembled.

The wind's still going between a crossing tailwind and absolutely slack, so I head over to get on the ramp and wait for a cycle. On the way over, I ask my wife to pick up the glider bag and put it in the car. Once I get to the base of the ramp, I ask for a hang check, which I get, along with a question about whether I really wanted to launch in a tailwind. I say that no, I intend to wait for a windless cycle, and if I don't get one, that I'll tie the glider down and come back later. When I get up on the ramp, the tailwind kicks up for about 30 seconds, then goes to slack. I take this opportunity to launch. Set the pitch, get the wings level, look straight ahead and go. I feel myself switching from grapevine grip to bottle grip too early, and have pushed out a bit as well. I'm still running, so I correct the pitch, and get a bit of a nose low launch. I'm not really expecting anything in the way of lift near the ridge, so I fly straight away from the mountain a bit, then work on flying slowly. I do find one pretty good thermal on the way over, but don't really try to core it, as I'm kind of focused on getting my wife and daughter to their tandems. Thinking back, I should have made a few turns in it, it would have been good practice. Next time, I will make sure I do so. Hey, it's not like their tandems will leave without them, right?

All too soon, I'm over the LZ and at approach altitude. The approach goes very well, and there's a bit of a crossing headwind, so my ground skim tracks across the LZ a bit. I don't flare as aggressively as I would in no wind conditions, but probably should have done a little more, as I have to jog three steps. OK, but not perfect. I think I'm going to have to spend a morning on the training hills to get my flare timing nailed. I can use it to practice launching with my hands still in the grapevine grip as well.

At the breakdown area, I call my wife, who tells me that they missed my launch. I'd asked her to take my glider bags to the car, and she had interpreted that to mean immediately, while I meant to wait until I'd launched. Grrr, I'm sorry they missed the launch, but that's just another reason for them to come up again.

Now for the main course - tandems. As soon as my wife and daughters arrive, we head over to the tandem operation, with just a brief interruption while the dog makes some friends. While I was up at the mountain launch, I asked Matt Taber about how to get them nice, mellow, relaxing flights. There are a couple of pilots whose specialties are giving thrill rides, which is not what we want. He suggests that I ask the ground crew for just that, and that they will get them with the right pilots. While we are walking over, a golf cart rolls up and offers us a ride, much to my younger daughter's delight.

We arrive at the gazebo, and Sky_walker is there to take pictures. Since he's a local now, I'd asked him to come out and meet my family, and he was gracious enough to do so. It's about 3:15 at this point, and the afternoon's tows had started. People are getting clipped into gliders, while those who have just landed are sharing their excitement with their friends and family, and any nervousness that my two were feeling just evaporates. Lookout has a video that tandem students are required to watch, so that is set up for them, while my youngest and the dog and I hang out with Sky_walker.

There's not a real big crowd today, so in short order, it's time for my two to get harnessed up and go. First up is my daughter, who is flying with Pete. Off they go without any drama. I was a little concerned that she might, well, freak out, but there are no signs of that as they climb out to the ridge. We see them release, and float along the mountain well above the ridge.

There are a few mid level altocirrus clouds in the very blue sky, and the low sun refracts through them into rainbow colors. We're probably about a week after the best fall color, but there is still some, and the day is pleasantly warm as well, We've been waiting six months to do this, and we couldn't have been favored with a better day.

Now it's my wife's turn. She's going to be flying with Dan. He gets her clipped in, and off they go. My daughter is still in the air as they climb out. I suspect they've found a little lift, plus since she's so light the glider doesn't sink as quickly as it would with an adult passenger.

As they begin their approach, a couple of solo gliders come in and make an odd pattern. I'm thinking I'm glad I'm not the one flying right now. Pete handles the approach like the professional he is, and as they fly overhead, I can hear my daughter saying "wheeee".

The golf cart heads out and picks them up. My daughter seems very happy and excited over her flight. She's never been in an airplane, and I'm proud to say her first flying experience is in a hang glider.

EDIT: Added pix. Thanks Sky_walker!!!

My wife is still up on her flight, but she's lower than my daughter was as the same point. I'm guessing that they didn't find the same buoyant air. They have the LZ to themselves, and Dan makes a straightforward approach and landing. My daughters bum a ride on the golf cart and head out to get their mom. When she gets back, her only complaint is that she would have liked a longer flight.

On the way back, my wife tells me that she'd like to fly again someday, and even hints that she might consider taking instruction someday, and she now knows why it is I keep going up to Lookout.

I've had 52 birthdays, and although my actual birthday wasn't until the next day, I can unequivocally say that was the best one I've ever had. I'd like another crack at the ridge before the holidays start, but the forecast isn't promising. If there's a good possibility of a couple of sledders on one of the weekend days, I just might take that. If that doesn't work out, there are flyable days in most Januarys.

October 24th - Ground Suck

FormerFF — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:50:43 GMT

[ Mood: Confused ]
[ Currently: Listening to Laura Nyro ]
Bless me Father, for I have sinned. My last flight was two months ago...

Yeah, I know the Catholic church doesn't use that any more, but it's appropriate. First problem has been the weather. Normally September and October are our driest months. Where I live, we've had over 22 inches of rain since early September. I've needed a couple of the few nice weekend days that we've had to do family things, and the Petit Le Mans auto race was in there as well, so yes, it has been two months since my last flight.

Forecast for this weekend was for a front to push through sometime on Friday, giving us a northwesterly breeze for Saturday, tracking more northerly and ultimately northeasterly on Sunday, so Saturday it will be.

The weather played out a little more slowly than forecast, with some light rain early on. As I drove up, I ran through some drizzle, but nothing of any substance. When I arrived at the mountain launch at 12:30, there was a solid overcast, no rain, and the wind blowing in at 10 to 15 mph. Word from the office was that the wind was expected to peak around 2 PM, and not back off until sunset. Another pilot and I run my car to the LZ, then started to build our gliders. As expected, the wind filled in a bit, staying in the 12-15 range, with periods of 15 to 18. That's a touch stronger than I'd like to see, so I decide to wait a while to see how things develop. At 1:25, the first pilot of the day launches. He makes a diving launch, more like what you'd expect from a no wind situation, then looks like he's being tossed around pretty badly. After a fairly short flight, he heads to the LZ and makes a wheel landing. Naturally, this gives the rest of us pause. Around 2 PM, the pilot who helped me get my car to the LZ decides to launch. He makes a wonderfully smooth launch, and immediately begins to climb. By the time he returns from his first trip down the ridge, he's a couple of hundred feet over launch, and after a couple of more passes, he really starts to sky out. This gets a number of the other pilots motivated, and the launches start happening quickly, and everyone is getting over the ridge, with some getting a thousand feet or more over. I'm looking at them and am just imagining what that must be like.

As for me, there are still some times where the winds is in the 15 to 18 range, and sometimes a little stronger. Since the front hadn't passed all that long ago, I want to stay on the ground until I'm sure the wind isn't going to pick up to 20 to 25. When I first arrived, I was a little nervous about launching into these conditions after the layoff, but I'm starting to feel better about things after wire crewing and observing for a while.

It's now around 3 PM, and conditions have settled to where I feel good about flying. I wait for a few pilots to launch so that I can walk my glider onto the ramp. I get out on the ramp, and the wind picks up. We wait a couple of minutes to see if it is going to back off, but it does not, so we back off and I tie my glider down.

While I'm waiting, Sky_walker arrives and begins to set up. While I'm waiting for the wind to settle back down and he is building his glider, we wire a couple of pilots off. We try to wire one pilot in particular, but we both feel like we are controlling his glider more than he is, and we both start suggesting he wait until the wind backs off. He finally agrees, much to my relief. I was about to ask him to back off and find someone else to wire crew, because I didn't want to be a part of that launch. After another 15 minutes or so, the wind backs down, and I go over to him and suggest he check the conditions. He does so, likes what he sees, and we wire him off in a nice, smooth, controlled launch.

Things are looking good for me as well, so I get back into the harness - the one that is still attached to the glider. Sky_Walker assembles a wire crew for me, and we head out onto the ramp. It takes me 30 or seconds or so to get the wings level and everything balanced, and off I go. I make a gentle right turn and start flying along the ridge. I'm not climbing, but I'm not sinking either, and am at the ridge's ground level. I try to zip in, but I'm not that good at flying one handed yet, and drift a little farther away from the ridge that I probably should. I finally give up on the idea and figure I should wait until I'm above the trees before trying again.

A mile of so north of the launch is Burkhalter Gap, which is where we new pilots are supposed to turn back towards the mountain launch. I'd heard that there is a house thermal just on the other side of the gap, and since I wasn't climbing, I thought I'd try to reach it. Almost as soon as I get into the gap, I start to sink. Not good. OK, that's not working, so I'd better turn back. In just a few seconds, I'm now well below the ridge, and standard policy is to head towards the LZ, so I do. One of the problems with Burkhalter Gap is that the moutain doesn't fall away as quickly there as it does a little farther down the ridge, so the ground is uncomfortably close - to the point where I'm evaluating which tree I'd like to land in. No, check that, you don't land in a tree, you crash into it. It's not a landing when you're still 75 feet above the ground. I'm trying to fly slowly, but not too slowly as I still have a headwind to deal with. After what seems like a long time but was probably about two minutes, the ground begins to fall away and I now focus on getting to the LZ.

On the way there, I hit a few alarming patches of sink, and some uplifting patches of lift. Since I'm so low, I don't dare trying to turn in the lift, but just slow and take advantage of it.

A few more minutes pass, and I cross over the last trees before the LZ. I'm right at pattern altitude, and have enough to cross over to the other side on a diagonal downwind. I now try to put the scary part of the flight out of my mind and focus on making a good approach and landing. The approach goes very well, with just a little turbulence at the tree line. I round out a little too low, and flare too late as well, winding up sliding on one knee.

So, now I'm in the LZ. There are about 10 happy pilots and one pissed off one. I bet you can guess which group I was in.

I get packed up, utterly disgusted with my flying (lack of) skills. There was lift up there, but I wasn't able to take advantage of it, and that judgment error put me on the ground after a total flight time of nine minutes. I've been working towards this for a while now, and I can't even stay up on a good ridge day. What's worse, I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. The last couple of flights, I've been able to work the ridge some, but have been stuck at ridge level, and never got above it. This time I make one trip down and sink out.

Since my car is already in the LZ, I'm able to give a couple of other pilots a lift. One of them is John, who I flew with last fall. He's had a great flight, and came down when he wanted to. We start discussing my situation, and he makes me feel a little better about it. It's only about 5:30 by the time we're packed up, so I have time to fly again, but I'm kind of stiff from standing up on the chilly and windy ridge, and my attitude is rotten, so I decide to stay on the ground.

When we get to the top, there is one pilot getting ready to go. Everyone else is either in the air or the LZ. Sky_walker is still in the air, and yells out to me. John and I hang around in case this last pilot needs a wire crew. Turns out that this pilot was one of Lookout's sew shop employees, and Matt Taber wants to get a few pictures of the glider she's flying. John and one of Lookout's instructors wire her off while Matt takes pictures. He comments on how she'd be up over the ridge if she were paying more attention to her airspeed, and I realize that is probably what I am doing as well - flying faster than needed. It probably comes from being somewhat nervous about being blown back into the trees. Falcons don't glide well at higher speeds, and all I need is about 50 fpm of a climb to be above the ridge after one pass.

I head back down to the LZ to get my glider and to offer Sky_Walker a ride. He gets packed up, we get his glider up to the top and put away, and head off to get a sandwich, which he buys. Thanks, bro, for the food, the wire crew, and most of all, the moral support. I needed that.

I suppose I shouldn't beat myself up. I have all of 24 mountain flights spread over two years. I knew when I got into this that my time would be limited, and that the progression would be slow. Next time there's a ridge day, there are two things I need to try: Flying a little more slowly, and not drifting so far from the ridge. I believe the first one is the more important of the two. If I get a chance, I'm going to take a tandem on a ridge day to see if I can jump start the process.

And I'm not flying into Burkhalter Gap unless I'm 300 over the ridge.

August 22 - A Little Lumpy

FormerFF — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:34:44 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Abbey Road ]
At my experience level, I�m not really able to stay up in purely thermal lift, and am looking for some ridge soaring or a glassoff. Ridge soaring requires a north to west breeze in the 5 to 10 mph range here, and July and August tend to be windless, so I�m not expecting a lot of airtime right now. However, it is getting towards the end of the dog days of summer, and fronts start to push through again. As luck would have it, one pushed through on Friday night, and the forecast was looking good for the weekend. I�d promised my daughters that I�d take them to the water park on Sunday, so Saturday was my day to fly.

Since I hadn�t been up in five weeks, I wanted to get up early enough to get in a sled ride before things became too active. My wife is in training for a half marathon, and Saturday is her day to get in a distance run, so I have to wait until she�s back before I can go. This means that I�m not going to get to the launch until almost noon, which may be pushing the limit of when I can fly. The Lookout LZ gets active in mid day conditions, and when the sun is as strong as it is now, between about 2PM and 5PM, only H3 and H4 rated pilots should fly. When I arrive, the wind is blowing in at about 6 to 8 mph, which is not quite enough to ridge soar, and the towing operation is still going, which means that the LZ is still in good condition. I get the OK from Matt Taber to launch, get the glider put together, and with a little assistance from a couple of the pilots who are waiting for conditions to strengthen, head out into the sky. I have instructions from Matt to not try to run the ridge, as conditions aren�t strong enough for that, but do feel some bumps, so I turn on my vario and get some beeps as well, and start looking for some thermal lift. I do find some bits to circle in, but can�t find anything where I can make a sustained climb. I was only expecting to make a sledder anyway, so the little bit of soaring was an unexpected benefit.

After a few minutes, the trees start getting bigger, so I head down towards the LZ. Since the wind was from the northwest, I expect the air to be a bit bumpy on my approach. I do find some areas of light turbulence, but it�s nothing to speak of, and once I�m below the tree line, the air is smooth. One of the reasons I�d wanted to get this early flight was to work on my landing approach and flare. On this approach, I make sure my wings are level before I pull in for speed on final, and the glider feels rock steady. I get into roundout with my hands low, slide them up the base tubes, push up and a little back, and the glider decelerates nicely. As the glider settles, I take one easy step and stop about 10 feet from the target cone. Much better.

When I was up at the top, I met up with Sky_Walker, and he said that he was going to launch shortly after I did. I saw another glider in the air, which I assumed was him, but it turned out to be a pilot on a Sting who was using a knee hanger harness. He landed shortly after I did, and the two of us and another pilot catch a ride back up the hill. When I get to the top, Sky_Walker was still there. Turns out one of the local aces talked him out of flying. That same pilot had seen me trying to thermal, and suggested that when I�m that far out from the ridge, to slow to trim speed and to bank more steeply when thermaling. It's always good to get some advice from the experienced pilots.

I've got a few hours until it's time for me to fly again, so I go grab a sandwich and hang out in the LZ for a while. By this time, there is enough lift for the more experienced pilots to stay up in, and a number of gliders are in the air. The wind in the LZ, though, is light and switchy. Even though the predominant wind of the day is from the northwest, the wind switches 180 degrees in the LZ and is now coming from the southeast. I can imagine that there must be some substantial gradient at some altitude, and it's obvious to me why H2's don't fly in midday conditions on days such as this one.

As the afternoon wears on, I take my glider up to the top and set it on its wheels, but leave it in the bag, and then head back down to see if I can bum a ride back up the hill. While I'm waiting, some of the pilots who launched at 2 PM or so are starting to come down, and I can observe their landings. One pilot makes an odd approach, stalls at about 8 feet, and pounds in. A couple of us go out to see if he's OK, and he is, but has bent a downtube and needs help carrying the glider, which a couple of us do. Other than that, the landings are safe, if not particularly stylish.

By this time, I need to head up to the launch as the conditions are approaching what I need, so instead of getting a ride, I give one to three of the pilots who have landed. At the top, I get my glider built, and get the go ahead to launch at a little before 6:00. I need to let a couple of other pilots launch in order to get to the ramp, so I head over to wire assist a couple of pilots. As one of them heads up on the ramp, the wind picks up to where it is sustained around 15, and is gusting to 25 mph. The pilot who was on the ramp backs off, and we stash his glider in a wind shaded spot.

The wind continues on for about an hour. Around 7 PM it starts to lessen, and at around 7:15 we resume launching. Those pilots who had launched before the wind had picked up are all still in the air, along with some who had launched even earlier and had been in the air for a few hours. I finally take my turn at around 7:30, as the wind has slackened to around 10 to 15 mph, with far fewer gusts. My launch is fine, but I don't get much in the way of lift. I turned to the north, and am paralleling the ridge, but the wind is gusty, and so I'm staying a safe distance from it. As I travel down the ridge I'm not descending, but I'm not climbing above the ridge either, and the general gustiness makes me not want to get any closer to it. Before the wind had ticked up, pilots had been able to climb above the ridge from in front, but it's not working for me now. Last time I flew, Sky_Walker had given me a few suggestions where to find lift, but I'm too far in front of the ridge for them to work on this flight.

Since I wasn't having any luck getting above the ridge on the northern part of the ridge, I figure I'll try the southern part. I get kind of the same result, just being able to keep at the ridgeline, not being able to climb, but not really sinking either. Since that didn't work, I give the north side of the ridge another try, with the same result. At this point, I'm a little below the ridge, so I head out away from it. Now I start scanning the trees looking for thermal lift. I can find a few bits to work, but the wind has chopped the thermals up and the bubbles are small. It's still gusty and I'm super aware of where I am relative to the ridge, since I can't afford to go back towards it. The strength of the wind also makes it tough to circle, as the downwind part of the turn carries me back towards the ridge quickly. When a gust comes along, if there's lift with it I can slow and just about hover over the spot, and stay in that lift, but it mostly keeps me from descending; I don't get a climb.

After scratching for all I'm worth, I wind up close to the LZ, and pretty much out of any thermal lift, so I start setting up an approach. As I cross the LZ, I find some sink, and by the time I'm on the western edge, it's time to set up a downwind and turn final. Since the turn onto final will actually be down wind, I have to make a sharper than normal turn, and then have to head back towards the target cone. Once I'm back leveled out, I stuff the bar to dive through any gradient. The approach is fine until I get to the altitude where I'd normally start rounding out. I've switched my hands from the base tube to low on the downtubes, and would usually be letting the control frame out a bit at this point, but I've stopped descending, so I pull in a little more. After a second or two of that, the bottom drops out and the ground is approaching rather quickly. I push out a bit to slow my descent, but it seems to me that the wind gods are offering me a wheel landing, so I accept that and roll in to a safe, if not pretty, stop. Sky_Walker comes is in the LZ, and tells me that all of the landings he'd seen in the last half hour or so have been less than wonderful, so I feel a little better about my wheel landing. He also offers me a ride up the hill, which I gratefully accept. Thanks again, Jaime.

Comparing the two flights, the first was more enjoyable, while the second was more satisfying. At 19 minutes, it was also my longest to date. Those were the strongest conditions I've been in, and it was gratifying to know that I could handle them. I'll have to work on my landing technique when the LZ air is active. I've seen pilots make some odd approaches in active conditions, and I'd like to develop the technique to make a safe foot landing in that sort of air.

July 18 - September in July

FormerFF — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:53:17 GMT

[ Mood: Cool ]
[ Currently: Listening to Jethro Tull ]
From mid-June to the end of August, the weather in this part of the country can be described with three H's: hot, humid, and hazy. Fronts don't generally make it this far south, and the air can get kind of stagnant. So, for a big surprise, a moderate cold front pushed through on Friday evening, leaving cooler, drier air, and a forecast for northwesterly breezes in the 5 to 10 mph range, which generally means ridge soaring. It's been four weeks since I've last flown, so naturally I reserve Saturday for myself.

Normally, I would head up early to get a sledder in the morning, and then an evening flight. Because the days are so long and the sun so strong at this time of year, I decide to skip the morning flight so I can get a little family time. My older daughter had fallen while roller skating, and her hand is in a brace, so I didn't want to run off first thing Saturday morning without spending any time with her. My plan is to head up mid-afternoon to observe conditions, with the expectations of a launch around 6 PM. I arrive at 3:15, and check in with Gordon, one of Lookout's instructors, who is observing the mountain launch. He tells me it's pretty windy, and tells me that a 6 PM launch sounds about right. I get out my airspeed indicator, and get readings in the 12 to 16 mph range, with puffs up to 20 mph. That's a little too much for me, but what's of greater concern is the condition of the landing zone. It's switchy and thermally, and more than I'd care to take on. After hanging out a bit and meeting with a few pilots, I head out on an errand, intending to return at around 5 PM.

After I get back from the errand, I swing by the LZ to drop off my bicycle and to offer a ride to anyone who needs it. The entire Poser clan is in the LZ, hanging out and observing, so I stop and visit for a few minutes. There are a few pilots who have landed and are breaking down, including Jake526, so I give them a ride up.

While I was in the LZ, I was observing the wind there. It was light, but would periodically shift 180 degrees. I imagine that was from a thermal, as the surface winds were light, but it's enough to make me want to push my launch back a few minutes. Some other more experienced pilots are launching, so I help wire a few of them off. Sky_walker is up, and is trying to decide whether or not to set up, as the conditions are a bit stronger than he'd like. Things back off a bit, and he and about a dozen other pilots set up and start launching. I finally find a spot to set up, and get ready to go. It's about 6:45, and I have Gordon and Matt Taber as a wire crew. The wind is smooth, and it's no effort to get the glider balanced and go. Off the ramp, I get a little climb, and I'm a bit over launch as I turn to the north. This time I remember to transition my hands to the base tube, and am able to make firm corrections when the wind picks up. Last time, I felt a bit tentative, but this time I'm feeling much more confident in my flying. There's not quite as much lift as last time, but I'm maintaining altitude along the ridge, even after the turn back towards the ramp. I do sink a little bit on the return trip to the ramp, so when I reach it, I head out away from the ridge.

There are some little patches of lift to work, and I do my best to use them. The air is fairly smooth other than the lift, and I can feel the lift before my vario beeps. The patches are small, and I'm extending my glide more than anything else. The air's a little buoyant as well, so I'm not sinking very fast, so I'm able to stay on the hillside for a while.

After a while, the trees start getting closer, and I have to head back towards the LZ. I'm hoping to find some lift near the LZ, but it's after 7 PM and there's not much left, at least not below the ridgeline, so I transit the LZ and start setting up an approach to the North. There's some bumpiness around 200 feet, but all in all, the approach is fairly easy. I think I pulled in for speed a little before I was level, and wind up oscillating a little on the way down. The breeze in the LZ is crossing, and I wind up turning into it a bit just before roundout. Because I'm preoccupied with keeping the wings level, I don't get the strongest flare, and wind up running the landing out more than I'd like, but nothing other than my feet touch the ground, so I won't complain. Total flight time was 12 minutes.

At this point, there's a pretty good size group breaking down, so I go over and join them. After the Falcon is packed away, I go over to the clubhouse and chat with the Poser family. Lookout is serving deli sandwiches for $5 tonight, so I join them for dinner. We're all sitting out on the deck, eating dinner and watching pilots play on the ridge, while others come in and land, and others tow up, all in the cool evening air. $5 for dinner and a show, can't beat that.

At some point, Sky_walker comes in, after an hour and a half or two hours up in the air. I go over and chat with him briefly, and then take Mrsposer up on her offer to run me up the hill to my car. I get back to the LZ and pack up my bicycle and glider. When I get back, Sky_walker is finished packing up, and he gives me a few good tips on where to find extra lift on the ridge. It's after 9 PM, so we get his glider on my car, and he, I, and his lady pilot friend get back up the mountain to retrieve her car. It's a good thing that they are cozy, because my bike was in the back seat, and they had to share the other front seat.

After that flight, I feel a lot more confident in my ability to fly the ridge. I was able to try a couple of different turns that I may need when ridge flying, and I'm looking forward to the next front coming through.

June 20 - A Little Soaring

FormerFF — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:48:58 GMT

[ Mood: In Love ]
[ Currently: Listening to Steely Dan ]
Because it had been so long since I�d last flown, I went up the previous weekend in sled ride conditions, figuring that I needed to not be too rusty when soarable conditions came along. As a general rule, I don�t go up two weekends in a row any more, as it leaves too much to do at home and an unhappy family as well. However, since I�d only been up twice this year and it was Father�s Day weekend, my wife even suggested that should go both weekends. With that in mind, I�d started watching the weather early in the week. Forecast conditions were for blue skies and a northwest wind at around 10 mph, which is perfect for both Lookout and Henson�s Gap, but also blazingly hot, with air temps in the mid 90�s and high humidity. My wife and older daughter both have tandem flights coming to them, so I suggested that we all go up on Father�s Day and they could take their flights. My wife is a great heat hater, and wanted no part of that plan, so instead I figured that going up solo on Saturday, then spending the day at home with the family on Sunday was the best option.

Saturday morning started out fairly calm and a little overcast, which is normal for this time of year. As I approach Lookout�s mountain launch, I see gliders in the air, and not just a few. There are a couple of gliders still setting up, but most are in the air. I check in with Matt Taber, and he tells me that conditions are a little much for me to launch, and particularly, for any H2 to land. It�s not quite 11 AM, and already conditions are too strong for those of us with limited experience. Since I have the glider off of the car I set it up on its wheels but leave it in the bag, and go hang out on the launch.

Shortly after I arrived, I meet Nick, a pilot who is a member of our local message board, who I had not met in person before. He was in the same no fly situation as I was, so after wiring a few more experienced pilots off, we head out to visit the Henson's Gap launch, which is about an hour from Lookout. After a few missed turns, we find it. The area around the launch is big, flat, and has lots of trees and grass. At first glance, you wouldn't think there would be a hang glider launch anywhere near there. At the time we got there, no one was flying, but there were a few pilots who were planning to a little later. Among the pilots there was Clark, who gives footlaunch tandems from the site, who was waiting for a customer. We get to know some of the pilots, and they fill us in on the finer points of flying from the site. Around 3 PM, those pilots who were there start setting up and begin launching. The wind is blowing 15 to 18 MPH, and mostly straight on the ramp. In these conditions, it takes about two steps to go from standing to airborne.

After we wire off the last two pilots, we take one pilot's truck down to the LZ, and head back to Lookout. As we're approaching the town of Trenton, you can see the Lookout ramp from the highway. At first, I can't see any gliders up, then finally I do see one of the tandem gliders. That is a good sign for me, because if the tandem operation is running, I can generally fly. As we get closer, I see a number of gliders in the air, and when I get to the ramp, I see that things have calmed down a bit, so it's time for me to set up.

Assuming I get to launch, this will be my 20th mountain flight. My first lesson was on June 24, 2007, so my 2 year anniversary is coming up, and I don't yet have a soaring flight. Earlier in the day I was feeling a little sorry for myself, until Nick pointed out that if I can soar on my 20th flight, that's actually pretty good. After all, the first ten had to be sled runs, and it takes a while to gain experience when you don't get up that often and your flights average six minutes each. I'd had a couple of near misses last fall where I almost got to soar, but instead got extended sledders, and then we had a pretty bad winter/spring. So, here's my chance to end the streak.

With the glider already on the wheels, it doesn't take long to get it built. At a little before 6 PM, I head over to the ramp and get a wire crew. I get a hang check, head up onto the ramp, and head down close to the red line. The glider floats around a bit, and Gordon, who was the instructor who launched me on my first solo, suggests I take one more step forward. That sets everything right, and I get a couple of "neutral"s from my wire crew, and off I go. I start a gentle left turn and immediately begin to climb. YAHOOO!

Alright, lets get this figured out. I'm watching for traffic first, then I look down to see where I am. I'm directly over the ridge, looking down at the trees. That's a little closer than I'd like to be, so I try to turn upwind, and the glider's just not responding like I think it should, so I check to make sure I'm not cross controlling, and I realize that I still have my hands on the downtubes. I put them on the base tube and everything's back to normal. I turn away from the ridge to give myself a little clearance.

There's lots of traffic today, so I've got my neck on a swivel looking around for it. Fortunately, it's all a little higher than I am, so I don't much have to worry about it. I think I did wind up a little farther from the ridge than would be ideal, but better farther away than too close. There's a cell phone tower a ways down the ridge where new soaring pilots are supposed to turn around, so I make a turn back towards the launch. I suspect I should have let myself drift back towards the ridge a bit more before I turned, but with this only being the second time I've been down the ridge and the first time in lift, I'm wanting a little extra margin. I head back towards the ramp, and when I get there, I'm probably about 10 or 20 feet below where I launched. The rule for new pilots is that if you're not above the ramp when you get back, you should turn towards the LZ, so that's what I do.

On the way over, I get a few beeps from my vario, and get a few wing lifts as well. I try to work those areas, but can't sustain anything. It may very well be that there was usable lift there, but I don't have the skills to work them yet.

When I arrive over the LZ, I've only descended about 250 feet, so I go hang out over the southern part of the LZ, which tends to be kind of buoyant. I'm still descending, but not very quickly, so I float around enjoying the view.

All good thing must come to an end, so I eventually turn northerly for my downwind leg. It's not particulary bumpy, so the approach is easy. Because the northern end of the LZ is fairly narrow, I turn a bit early so I don't wind up in the aerotow pattern, which sets me up for a landing a couple of hundred feet from the middle of the LZ. On final, I'm getting bumped around a bit, but nothing too serious, but I do misjudge my flare height, and wind up coming down with a bump, first on my feet, then one knee, then my wheels, but at zero groundspeed. Certainly not my best landing, but a safe one nonetheless. Total flight time: 16 minutes.

Since I got over launch for the first time, and I got more airtime than I would with a sledder, I'm going to declare this to be my first soaring flight. I realize in some parts of the world, that wouldn't be much, but for around here, I'm very happy with it.

After I get the glider packed up, I sit down and watch landings while I wait to bum a ride. I see a lot of pilots climbing slightly as they round out, and see one make a landing that must have looked exactly like mine. I'm guessing the buoyant air is catching us all by surprise.

Another pilot and I catch a ride up to the launch with Avnav8r and his wife. They've been working today and have swung by for an evening flight. When we get to the top, The other pilot and I help Dale (Mrs. Avnav8r) with her glider, so she can get into the air a little more quickly. We're trying to get the base tube on, and there's a little bit of misalignment, so we rotate the downtube back a little and the FREAKING DOWNTUBE COMES OFF! When we disassemble it, we find that the piece that attaches the downtube to the keel bracket is shaped like the letter "C", and that part of the end of it has worn off. In flight, as long the glider was loaded with positive G, the downtube would have been fine, but there's no way anyone's going to fly with a broken piece. Somebody calls down to the LZ to get permission to borrow one of the school gliders, and Matt agrees, so we go get a Falcon 3. Dale is not that familiar with the Falcon 3's hardware, so another Falcon 3 pilot and I help her get it assembled. We both preflight it, and a couple of pilots and Gordon wire them off into the evening sky.

I head off to the LZ to collect my glider, then set off for home. I arrive at 12:15 to a hero's welcome...from the dog.

June 14 - Adding Another Sledder to the Collection

FormerFF — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:58:04 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Tears for Fears ]
Our spate of bad flying weather continued through late spring, so I hadn't been up to Lookout since April. Things started to improve towards the end of May and into early June, but we were off on our family vacation, so I missed out on that. The weekend after we got back looked to be marginally soarable, but after having visited nine different sites in seven days, I wasn't feeling like getting back in the car, and anyway, I was still basking in the glory of having planned the most righteous seven day family vacation in the history of Dad-dom.

However, the weekend of the 13th-14th was looking flyable, if maybe not soarable. Saturday was forecast to be a little on the stormy side, so I penciled in Sunday. Now, Nibs had warned me that there was a strong chance that there would be a cirrus deck that would preclude any chances at soaring, but since I'd only flown once this year, I figured a sledder or two would be good enough.

I got a little bit of a late start on Sunday because I wanted to see the end of the 24 Hours of LeMans. As promised, there was a solid overcast all the way there, and light winds directly on the ramp. Just as I pulled up, I saw a familiar glider getting ready to do. It was Cathi H., who I first met while helping build gliders for the Flights for Charities event last year. I stop to chat for a moment, and find out that her "man friend", who she had gotten into hang gliding, had just made his fourth mountain solo, and was probably in need of a ride up. She shows me her new vario, which he bought her for Christmas. (Talk about a great relationship!) We get her hang checked, and Gordon sends her on her way. I head down to see if anyone else needs to come up.

When I reach the LZ, I find a whole carful of pilots needing to come up the hill, including one from our local FlyHighAtlanta group, and John from central Georgia. Once we get up to the top, I get my glider built and ready to go. The wind has started crossing, so I get a wire crew and wait for a good cycle. I get a calm patch, and head off into the overcast sky.

The air is glassy smooth, and I don't hear a sound from my vario once I leave the launch. I do a few turns just to get back into things, but don't do too much, as the trees look a little closer than they usually do.

Once I cross over the LZ, I can see that I am lower than I usually would be at that point, so I go ahead and turn downwind. The windsock is pointing directly across the LZ, but is looking limp. Since the wind was blowing out of the south when I launched, I figure that I should land to the south as well. As I head downwind, I realize that I'm a bit high, and extend the downwind leg a little. I don't want to go too far to the north of the LZ as the terrain rises pretty quickly there and it's nothing but trees. So, I turn final a bit high, but as always, I'm on a Falcon with a speedbar, down is doable. I pull in and it's apparent that I'll touch down a little past the center of the LZ. If I tried that on a double surface glider , I'd probably would have wound up in Alabama, but it's no problem on a Falcon.

My handwork is less than perfect when I transition from the basetube to the downtubes, and I balloon a little bit. In the calm air, it's not a problem, but I need to do a better job, to be ready for the less forgiving days. I've had a few issues with pushing out rather than up when flaring, so I concentrate on getting my arms fully up. I think I did that, but I also think I waited a bit too long and flared at a little lower airspeed than I should have. I do wind up having to jog three steps, but considering that it was dead calm, that's not too bad. I do think I can do better, though.

I hitch a ride up the mountain, then come down and collect my glider and get some lunch. After that, I headed back up to the mountain launch to see how conditions were. There were a few showers in the area, which are now clearing out, but there is now a crosswind that seems to be building more than abating, so I head home.

I now have all of 19 mountain flights, scattered over 22 months. The longest so far has been 15 minutes, and the most recent one was probably one of the shortest, owing to the sink that I found. The forecast for this weekend is looking soarable for both days, with Sunday probably being the better day, especially for me. Sunday is Father's Day, and I do need to spend it with the family, so I'll have to see if I can get them all to come up with me. My wife and older daughter have tandem flights to take as well, maybe they'd like to do them then. It will be a long day trip on a hot day, so I'm not sure how well the suggestion will be received.

April 25 - At Long Last, Airtime

FormerFF — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:44:19 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Booker T & the MG\'s ]
Between family commitments and a really sorry winter season's weather, it has been five months since I'd last flown. I had taken my family up to Lookout Mountain the first weekend in April in the hopes of getting some flying in, but the weather was so bad that I didn't even take my glider. This weekend, there's a big high pressure system over the eastern part of the country, bringing warm temperatures and blue skies. On Saturday, the day was expected to start off with calm winds, and an increasing southwestery breeze is expected later in the day.

My wife was running in a 5K footrace early in the morning, so I was going to get a late start on the day. As I leave, the morning is still dead calm, and throughout the drive up it stays that way. I arrive at the mountain launch at 11:45, and find that there is a light breeze blowing onto the ramp. At this point, my biggest concern is whether that will hold up long enough to get an early afternoon launch. Apparently the forecast for southwesterly winds has scared most of the pilot population off, as there is only one other pilot at the launch. I stop to talk to him, and he's wanting to launch but doesn't want to get stuck at the LZ without a way back up. I go into the shop to pick up my harness & parachute after a repack, and we run his van down to the LZ.

After we get back, the conditions still look good, so we both set up. He had a head start on me, and is the first to go. The breeze has picked up a little, so we wire him off. I go back to building my glider and move into position, get a hang check, and Matt Taber gets a wire crew together for me. There's a pronounced southwesterly flow going up the valley, and Matt instructs me not to turn downwind, or I won't make the landing zone. As I move out onto the ramp, a big thermal comes onto the ramp, and the four of us hold me down. The thermals are well marked by clouds, so the risk of getting hit by one unexpectedly is minimal. Matt tells me that conditions are changing, and that I didn't have to launch, but I still feel confident, and am ready to go. I get two consecutive "neutrals" from my wing wiremen, give the "clear" command and go. I get what I think is a good launch, then fly through a bit of lift. Since it's been so long since I last flew, I'm not wanting to play that close to the ridge, I pull in and fly through it. Because of the wind, I'm crabbing, and for a while try flying a little upwind to get myself closer to the southern end of the LZ. I can see that I'm not making much headway, and point myself a little more northerly.

The air's a little bumpy, but nothing too bad. I don't get much in the way of beeps from my vario, but I don't seem to be descending all that quickly either.

Because of the crab angle, it takes me a little while to arrive over the LZ, but do so with plenty of altitude, so there must have been some buoyancy to the air. I figure that the downwind leg of the approach is going to go pretty quickly, so I stay fairly close to the south end of the field. Once I do turn downwind, my groundspeed is pretty impressive for a Falcon. I do underestimate the amount of time it's going to take me to turn final, and wind up leveling out on final a little above treetop height, around 75 feet or so. There's a crosswind, so I wind up tracking on a diagonal across the LZ. I don't make too big of a flare, and have to run three or four steps. Because I didn't estimate the headwind quite right, I land 100 yards or so short of the target cone - OK but not great.

The other pilot and I get packed up, and head back up the mountain. He's going to get another flight here in the early afternoon, but I'm going to wait until evening for my second one. I go in and get a critique of my launch from Matt Taber, who confirms it was good, but tells me that I launched into a flush cycle. Inexperience, I guess.

The other pilot who I've been sharing rides with gets ready to go, and two of Lookout's instructors and I wire crew for him, and he goes off. He seems to be getting bumped around a good bit, and finds a number of areas of sink. He's not really able to find any lift, and is on the ground pretty quickly. I head down to with his glider bags, and as I'm approaching the LZ a car with gliders on the roof flashes its lights at me. As I get close, I realize that it's the Posermobile! I stop to chat for a moment, and find out the Mrsposer is stoked and has been flying her new glider on the training hills.

After I get to the LZ, the other pilot gets his glider packed up, and I take him to the mountain launch. The entire Poser clan is at the launch, so we just hang out, catch up on what's been going on, and observe the weather conditions. There's a bunch of thermal activity, but no pilots to try it out. I'm not sure that it was a good day for soaring, as the clouds didn't show much vertical development, but I don't know how to read the sky well enough to really say. Around mid afternoon, the wind on the ramp is a little too crossing for a launch anyway.

The Posers and I head into town for a bite to eat, then to the LZ where Imaposer makes a few adjustments to the tubing that is holding the wheels in place on Mrsposer's glider. I head up the mountain launch to see how conditions are, and find them near perfect. The wind has slackened, and is cycling from a slight cross to right on the ramp. There's one other pilot up on the launch who has built his glider, so I offer him a hang check, but he's waiting for a particular cycle, so I go back to building mine. He comes out in front of the ramp and I get him hang checked, and he goes out on the ramp to wait for a cycle. I go back to finish my glider, and finally look up and see that the other pilot has made an uneventful launch.

The Posers have most graciously come up to the launch to see me off and to take my car to the LZ. Imaposer hang checks me, and I ask him to grab my left wing's wire, just in case a puff comes along. The cycle I'm in has a light crossing headwind, so off I go. The air is smooth and just a little buoyant. Evening flights are just too good to be described, so I won't try.

There's not a lot of lift, so far too soon, I'm on approach to land. Without the wind, this one's much easier. This time I turn onto final a little high, and wind up touching down a little past the target cone. I get a better flare this time, but am still pushing my hands more out than up, and have to jog out a few steps. After I get packed up, we all head over to Lookout's clubhouse, where they're having deli sandwiches for $5 a person - can't beat that.

So, that was an excellent day, especially considering the marginal forecast. My first flight was in conditions that were a bit stronger than most of my previous ones, so I had to work a little more, but was never in doubt about who was in control of the glider - me or the conditions. The second one was easy. My only regret was that Imaposer didn't feel comfortable enough to fly in the evening - the conditions were so benign that I'm sure he'd have a great flight as well. But, being the conservative guy that he is, he wanted to fly on the training hills first, and he'd been busy that morning helping Mrsposer, and so didn't fly his glider.

November 9th - Sort of Soaring

FormerFF — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:58:11 GMT

[ Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Listening to Don Henley ]
November 9th is my birthday, and the forecast for Lookout calls for northwesterly winds from 5 to 10 mph, which are ideal conditions for the ridge. This presents a dilemma, because I'd like to spend the day with my family, but it's been two weeks and the forecast is great, so I just gotta go fly.

When I get to the mountain launch, there are a bunch of gliders set up, but none in the air. There is a breeze on the ramp, probably around 8 to 10 mph, which is not quite enough for most of us to stay up. It's still before noon, and the forecast is for things to pick up, so no one's in a hurry to launch. I go ahead and set up, as I want to be ready in case things strengthen. Last time I waited too long, and conditions were more than I could handle, so I didn't get to fly.

I'm still a little leery of getting skunked, and so decide to launch in the marginal soaring conditions. Since this will be my first time going down the ridge, I figure it will be safer to go out in conditions that are a little too light. PilotGuy wires me off, I get a decent launch, but have trouble getting my feet in the harness boot. Rather than spend any more time trying to get my feet into the harness, I turn, as I'm already pretty far from the ridgeline. I've got one foot sort of in, so I just pull the second one up close, and fly like that. It's not really much of a problem, and I still get good control, so I concentrate on flying parallel to the ridge. As a beginning soaring pilot, I have certain landmarks to look for, and the rule is that if I'm not above the ridge by the time I reach them, that I should head for the LZ. As I'm going down the ridge, I'm not climbing, but I'm not sinking either, but am a little below it. So, once I reach my landmark I turn towards the landing zone. I do find some small thermals and try to core them, but they're too small for my technique, plus they are taking me towards the ridge again. I'm not high enough to get any closer, so I turn back towards the LZ. I find a couple more thermals on my way in, and arrive over the eastern edge of the LZ at about 600 feet. As I cross the LZ, I find sink, and once I'm to the western side, it's time to make a long downwind and turn final. I make an uneventful landing, and head over to the breakdown area, where I find all the pilots who launched before me. Total flight time was about 12 minutes.

So, that was a nice introduction to trying to soar. Conditions should improve, and at this time, I'm thinking I can get another flight. I eventually get a ride back up, and things are hopping. Conditions have really turned on, so I help wire crew for PilotGuy, Xerxes, and Sky_Walker, and a few more pilots as well. PilotGuy gets an extra smooth launch and immediately heads down the ridge. After one pass he's well above the trees, and keeps going up. At one point, he hooks into a thermal and just about specks out, all the way to cloudbase. Sky_Walker runs the ridge right on up, and stays for more than an hour. By this point, I'm really hungry, and since I'm not really ready to land in thermic midday conditions, I head down to get my glider and some lunch.

After lunch I head back to the LZ, where Xerxes has landed. I'm debating whether to fly again or go home to have dinner with my family, and dinner wins out. So, I have time to hang out in the LZ to see who else comes down. While there is plenty of lift, it is cold at altitude, so some pilots are landing. One makes his approach downwind, and whistles by us at an amazing groundspeed. He wisely chooses to land on his wheels. PilotGuy comes down to warm up, after his trip to cloudbase. Sky_Walker finally lands, after having been on the ridge for an hour and a half. They get bagged up, and Xerxes and I get them back up the hill.

While I did miss the opportunity to get a genuine soaring flight, I think it was the right decision to spend the evening with my family. There will be other days to fly, and I'm very satisfied with my first trip down the ridge. I hope to get back up once more this year, since once the holidays arrive I'll be too busy. But, if that doesn't work out, there will be flying days all winter. If anyone up north is itching to fly this winter, just look for the second day after a front passes through Chattanooga, and head on down.

October 25 - Skunked!

FormerFF — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:40:43 GMT

[ Mood: Neutral ]
[ Currently: Listening to Gordon Lightfoot ]
It had been four weeks since my last flight. In between there I used up a kitchen pass to go to the Petit Le Mans auto race, and needed a little time to rest up. The forecast was for light northwesterly winds for Saturday, and west to northwest on Sunday. My older daughter had a Brownie function on Sunday, and I would be needed to care for the younger one, so Saturday it would be. I was a little concerned since a front had passed through Friday night, and the day after frontal passage is usually pretty breezy, but the isobars on Saturday's forecast map looked like we'd have light winds.

I arrived at the mountain launch at around 11:30. There were gliders in the air, and more on the ramp. Among those waiting to launch was Sky_Walker. I pulled out the trusty airspeed indicator and headed out on the ramp to find the breeze in the 12 to 15 range, which is just a little past my limits. I still needed to take my soaring written test before I'd be cleared to fly, and I didn't want to need to land in the middle of the afternoon, so I kicked around with Sky_Walker for a while while he decided if he should launch or not. About that time, Jen came out from the Lookout office and announced that the LZ was now rated at H4 and a half (!) I helped him break down, then went in the office to take my soaring test.

Having gotten that out of the way, I stuck around to see how conditions developed. As the afternoon progressed, some pilots decided to launch, and I was happy to wire crew them.

I've had some issues with popping the glider's nose on light wind launches, so I headed down to the LZ, put the glider together, and practiced some launch runs. While I was doing that, some of those pilots that had launched earlier started coming down to the LZ. I saw a few nice landings, and a couple of whacks, none of which were too serious. One thing that I learned from watching them was that making a weak flare and trying to run the landing out is NOT the way to land in midday turbulence.

Having done that, I headed back up to the mountain launch. The wind was still blowing 12 to 15 mostly, with periods of 15 to 20. PilotGuy was setting up, as were a number of other gliders. I'm hoping for things to back off a little as sunset approaches, so I'm not in any hurry to set up, so I wire crew some more pilots off the ramp, including PilotGuy. You know that "Pilot Guy Special Edition" shirt? Like I've said before, that's his away jersey. He does just fine in his 'hood.

Sky_Walker comes back up and gets his glider out, but doesn't set up. I'm thinking things are going to be just about right for me to get my first soaring flight, so I'm set up and harnessed in, when the wind picks up about 5 mph more. I stay in the glider, but it's apparent that the wind is not going to diminish, and Dan, who is one of the instructors, tells me that I'm pretty much hosed. About the time I get out of the glider, Xerxes arrives. He says something about wishing he were set up, so I offer him my glider, but he declines, not wanting to fly a Falcon in that much wind. I pack up and head down to the Halloween party.

I was hoping to be able to title this blog entry "First Soaring Flight", but that didn't quite work out. I'll be back up in a couple of weeks, weather permitting, maybe I can get one then. Fortunately, there will be flyable days throughout the winter, so it shouldn't be too much longer.

September 26th- Women's Festival

FormerFF — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:39:50 GMT

[ Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Working Writin' this blog, eh? ]
Shortly after I flew last, back in mid-August, my wife slipped on some wet leaves and broke her leg, so I've had an enforced layoff. Fortunately, the doctor got her out of her hard cast earlier this week, and she's now able to walk in an Aircast, albeit slowly. The Women's festival was coming up, and I'd promised Skyhighwoman that I'd bring her some beer, and I'd really wanted to get up there to meet her and the other .org members that were coming. I have a few vacation days to burn, so I figured it would be easiest on my wife if I were gone on a day that our daughters were in school, so I selected Friday, even though the forecast was for strong northerly winds.

After I got the girls off to school, the dog walked, and the beer loaded, I head off to Lookout. I'm thinking the chances of flying aren't very good, and am debating whether or not to even bring the glider, but figure I'll be kicking myself if it turns out to be flyable, so I load it up. As the morning progresses, the wind does pick up, but as I get on Lookout's ridge, it backs way off, and when I arrive at the mountain launch, there's a gentle headwind. I see Gordon, who is the instructor who signed me off for my H2, and he tells me that the wind has backed way off, and that I should set up. I do, and for the first time try attaching the harness before I get into it. It works very well for my setup, and has the added advantage of my being able to check that the hang straps are straight.

On my last two flights, I developed a nasty habit of popping the nose, so that's my main focus on this launch. Just as I'm stepping onto the ramp, I see both Posers, who are there with a woman in a .org shirt, who I assume is Skyhighwoman. There's hardly any wind, so I want to get a good launch run. About two steps into it, I realize I've popped my nose again. I pull back and get things right, and it winds up being an uneventful launch. There's no lift at all, but a pronounced northerly wind, and just a few small bumps on my way to the LZ. There were a few more bumps on downwind, which move me a little off target while I'm unzipping. The approach is uneventful, but I stay on my ground skim a little longer than I should have and get a weak flare, which requires a bit of a run.

I sort of figured that this was going to be a social visit, so getting a flight in is an unexpected treat. After breaking down, I bump into curly_cue in the LZ. After getting a ride up the hill to retrieve my car, and join curly_cue, the Posers, and a group of other pilots for lunch.

After lunch, we return to the LZ. There are a number of gliders in the air. It's sunny and there is some lift, particularly close to the ridge. Someone explains to me that there is an inversion about 800 feet above the ridgeline, and that is what is keeping the winds down. It's mid afternoon, and the LZ is pretty convective, certainly too strong for me, so we hang out and chat in the LZ. About 3:30 or so, I can see a line of clouds approaching from the north. I figure that once the clouds shut off the valley heating, the wind may turn around and become too crossing, so I suggest to Imaposer and Sky_walker that we head up. When we get there, there's a light crosswind, but it is still launchable. The sun's still out, and the conditions in the LZ are too strong for me, so we hang out on the ramp. There are a number of pilots set up, including errapi and Xerxes, who are waiting for conditions to improve. gbx5150 is there as well with a demo glider. I also meet FlyinBrian. We run into SkyHighWoman, an she shows me a video clip of my launch. I can see that I tried to make a jackrabbit start and pushed out in the process, then pulled back in before I even got off of the ramp. Now that I know what I did wrong, I'm sure I can fix it.

The overcast comes in, and I decide to set up, figuring there will be a launchable window that may be brief. Xerxes decides to break down, and errapi is thinking about it, when the crosswind stops and the wind becomes nearly calm. errapi gets in her harness and launches, while I'm still setting up. The calm conditions give way to a light headwind, and then progress to 10 to 15 straight on the ramp. I've never done a wire assisted launch before, and am a little nervous about trying one. Steve, who is one of the aerotow instructors, guides me out on the ramp, and Imaposer and Sky_Walker take my wires. I can see on my airspeed indicator that the wind is mostly in the 10 to 12 mph range, with gusts to 15. We're going to wait for a lighter cycle to launch me, so I'm out there a while. Dan, one of Lookout's other instructors comes out and switches places with Steve. I finally figure out the pitch control thing, and get a lighter cycle. It takes me a little while to get the wings level and balanced, but finally I get three consecutive "neutral"s from my wire guys, and CLEAR! This time I keep the pitch where it should be, and after two steps am in the air.

I haven't taken my ridge soaring test (a Lookout requirement) yet, so my flight plan is straight to the LZ. I'm flying a little faster than usual because of the headwind, and my vario gives an occasional beep. I'm guessing that if I'd slowed to best glide, I might have actually climbed, but since this was the first time I'd flown in these conditions, I wanted to make some forward progress to the LZ. I'm not getting there very quickly, but I'm not descending very quickly either, so I arrive over the LZ with more altitude than usual. I can tell that the wind is strong from the North, so I work my way upwind while descending. The approach is a little bumpy, particularly as I cross the treeline, so I make sure I keep plenty of speed. There's a little crosswind and my wings are getting bumped a little bit, and I round out a little too forcefully and climb a few feet. At first, I pull in a bit, then the "never take back a flare" rule pops into my mind, then goes back out when I realize that I hadn't flared yet. The air's still a little bumpy, and I flare kind of gingerly and run out the landing.

I get packed up and hang out with some of the pilots who have landed. gbx5150 is not among us yet, he's still up on the ridge. His mother is there and asks if I'd seen him. We try to pick out his glider but can't since it's a demo and we don't know what it looks like. He eventually comes down after getting a 45 minute flight - not bad after having been on the ground for 11 months. SkyHighWoman gives a number of us a ride up the hill. Sky_walker is set up, but the wind has resumed crossing, and he's waiting to see if conditions improve. We see two launches, one very good and one kind of scary, and Sky_Walker decides to break down. He'd sent his glider bags down with the Posers, so I head down and retrieve them. We get him packed up and head down for the party.

I went up not expecting to fly, and got two flights, including my longest to date, and met a bunch of new people. A low time pilot couldn't ask for anything more.

August 16th - Better Landings, Worse Launches

FormerFF — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:06:53 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to old dinosaur music ]
Saturday looked like the more favorable of the weekend�s days, at least on Friday, with a forecast of light northerly winds and partly cloudy skies. This time, I was riding up with another pilot, a T2 flying ace named Kinsley.

We arrived at the mountain launch at around 10:45, and were greeted by a flock of student Falcons on the ramp. It was overcast and the wind was somewhat crossing, but improving. Since I�m still looking for sled rides, that was fine with me, but Kinsley wasn�t too impressed. I set up as they launched, and took my turn shortly after a first timer completed his solo. Since this was my 12th launch, Matt Taber came up on the ramp with me to give me a few pointers. On this flight, I want to get some more practice zipping and unzipping the harness, and want to test the volume level and sink alarm of the Sonic vario I bought from Tom Benton. As I�m launching, I hear Matt yelling something to me, but can�t hear what. Everything feels OK, so I figure that I�ll find out what I was doing wrong when I get back up. The air�s cool and a little bit turbulent, and there is no lift to speak of. I get into the harness easily and get partially zipped up. The vario�s volume is fine, but the sink alarm is set too low, and stays on for the whole flight. As I�m approaching the LZ, a tandem glider scoots into the pattern, just a bit lower than I am. I adjust my pattern away from him, figuring he�ll sink faster than I do. The approach goes well, but because I�m dodging the tandem glider, I start final a bit too high. There�s a little headwind today, so losing the extra altitude is easy, and I�m on a path to land a little past the target cone. This flight, I transition from the base tube to low on the downtubes a little below the tree line, and get my hands up to shoulder high as I round out. I�ve found that if I start to flare just after I get my hands up, that works well, so I do that and am rewarded with a two step landing.

Kinsley has brought my car down, and gives me the news that I popped my nose on launch. I never felt like the glider was mushing, so I�m guessing that it looked worse than it was, but nonetheless it is something that has to be corrected. We haul one of the student's gliders back to the top, and I go consult with Matt, who has confirmed that I popped the nose. I'm not really sure why this has happened, so he suggests I transition from grapevine to bottle grip a little later, because that is when I pushed out. While we're up there, Sky_Walker starts setting up his glider, while Kinsley and I head off to lunch.

We swing back by the LZ and pick up Sky_Walker. When we get to the top, Kinsley starts setting up, while I go into the shop and ask about conditions. I get the go ahead, and start setting up as well. The heating of the day has changed the crosswind to a light headwind, and I head up to the ramp for flight number 13, and for the first time, without an instructor on the ramp. I'm mindful of the nose pop on the last launch, yet wind up doing the exact same thing.
This time I immediately notice the problem and fix it. There's a brief band of lift near the ridge, but I don't have the chops to play that close to the trees, and instead fly through it. I do get zipped in pretty easily, and use the flight to try some different things. I slow down to minimum sink, and pull the bar to my knees and get a faint PIO, mostly I think because of the bar pressure needed to hold it back so far. On this flight, I try some different turns, figuring I'll need them when I can start soaring. I've turned the sink alarm off, and the vario is silent except for a brief beep over the LZ. Since I'm the only one in the pattern, I turn back to see if I can find the lift. I do, but it's too small to stay in, so I get into the pattern. This time, using the same technique as the first flight, I get another two step landing, this time in no wind, about 100 feet short of the target.

While I'm breaking down, Sky_Walker graciously comes down with my glider bags. Kinsley launches, and stays in the ridge lift for a while. He finds some other little spots of lift, and stays up about 20 minutes, which turns out to be the longest flight of the day. When Sky_Walker and I get to the top, the wind has increased to maybe 10 mph, and straight in. Unfortunately, no one is ready to launch.

After I go down and retrieve the gliders, Kinsley sets up for a second flight. The wind has gone back to mostly crossing, and there are a number of pilots standing around not sure if they should launch or not. Having popped the nose on two consecutive flights, I'm not sure if I should go again, at least not in these conditions. It didn't help when Matt Taber came out and pronounced that conditions "pretty much sucked". I spend most of the time up there trying to figure out why I've been popping the nose, which is not something I've had problems with before. I finally come to the conclusion that I've been rotating my wrists forward, in an effort to keep my hands as low as possible on the downtubes. What I should do is to rotate my wrists inward, and if my hands have to be a bit higher on the downtubes, so be it. If I get a chance this weekend, I'm going to pull the glider out and try it on some ground runs.

I finally decide not to take a third flight. Instead , I go down to retrieve Kinsley, and we head home. He confirms that my second launch was also bad, and also confirms that he goes directly from grapevine to the base tube.

If you're a low time pilot, and you get a chance to take a long car ride with someone with H4 skills, by all means do it. I learned a tremendous amount from talking with Kinsley.

Next time, I need to work on my launch, specifically the transition from grapevine to bottle grip. Everything else is coming together nicely.

July 27 - Sledding with the gang

FormerFF — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:51:41 GMT

We'd had some rain showers on Saturday, and the residual moisture led to some fog Sunday morning. I thought I'd enjoy my first day of not needing to go to the training hills by sleeping in, and didn't arrive at the flight park until a little before 10 AM. When I arrived at the mountain launch, both the launch and the valley were still foggy, and you could see wisps of fog blowing across the launch. I checked into the office, both to see if there was any update on the weather and to have the parachute I'd ordered installed in my harness. While I was waiting for Jen to get the materials to install, Sky_walker popped in, then started to set up his glider.

By the time we finished installing the parachute, the fog had lifted enough where one pilot had already launched. A few more pilots started arriving, including Cathy, who I had previously met as a co-volunteer for Flights for Charities. The three of us all were wanting to get sled rides in, Sky_Walker and I because we are low time pilots, and Cathy because she had only one previous mountain launch. Sky_Walker and I stashed my car in the LZ, and headed up to build our gliders and launch.

After we get back up, who should be up at the top but Wilburleft!! I'd met him last year, which I assume was the last time he was up. I didn't get to talk to him much, as I was getting ready to go, and he was wanting to set up as well. I didn't see him in the LZ, so he either stayed up a while, or else went over to get an aerotow. Maybe when he gets home, he'll give us a pirep. The Posers have come up as well, and Imaposer starts setting up.

Cathy was the first to go. Although she is an experienced aerotow pilot, foot launching and landing are new to her, so she still has to have an instructor launch her. She gets a good launch, and looks very comfortable in the air. I'm next up. Jerry, who had launched Cathy, offers to watch my keel, which I gladly accept. I'm carrying about 10 pounds more in my harness than I previously had, because of the parachute, and also because I have Sky_Walker's glider bags, as he had no place to carry them. There's about a 5 mph wind on launch, and I get what I think was kind of a lazy launch run. I think I should have taken one more step. but I could feel the glider was already flying, and kind of lean forward into it.

On today's flight, my goal is to try flying the glider one handed and to try zipping up the harness. I do that, but wind up getting turned by some lift. The second time I try unzipping the harness, I wind up dropping the unzip cord, can't relocate it, and that's the end of that for the flight. After that, I just concentrate on flying smoothly, and am doing a much better job of controlling the glider than I had on previous flights in the pod harness. I do run into some areas of lift, but I haven't taken my soaring written yet, so I'm not really cleared to thermal and don't try. I have an altimeter watch, and for the first time try using it while in flight, so I have a little idea how much altitude I'm using.

I stayed pretty much on the same flight path as I have on previous flights, arrive over the LZ, and make one box of the field. Since I'm no longer required to stay over the LZ once I reach it, I stay more to the south side, to stay out of the towing runway's traffic. I'm also becoming more comfortable transitioning from the base tube back to the uprights, so I wait until I'm about 50 feet to get back on the uprights. I can see that there will be a time when the transition becomes part of the roundout, but I'm not quite there yet. On this landing I round out a little higher, flare a little earlier and a little more aggressively, and am rewarded with a decent foot landing with a shorter runout.

While down in the LZ, I see Curly_cue's husband John, and have a brief conversation with PilotGuy. Sky_walker lands a few minutes later, and we load three gliders and four pilots on/in a Focus hatchback.

When we get to the top, ClandestineSwine and his new lady friend are there as well. I'm surprised to see that Imaposer hasn't launched, but apparently it's gotten pretty bumpy out there. We go in and ask Matt Taber for the scoop, and he tells us we can go ahead and go. Sky_walker and I start setting up, while Cathy, who had flown the training hills earlier, has called it a day. By this time it is very hot and humid, and the sun is intense. There's a certain commotion going on, and we finally get the word there's been a towing accident in the LZ. It turns out that there was a pilot who has his own tandem rig, which has a wheel attached to its keel, and it had snagged on the dolly when he first lifted off. I understand that the passenger was uninjured, but that the pilot had a broken collarbone that was going to require surgery to repair. Jen comes out from the office to tell us to break down as it will be too strong for us by the time that the LZ reopens. Sky_walker and I also decide to call it a day at this point, as does Imaposer, so the five of us go to lunch.

It would have been nice to get a second flight, but I got my chute installed, got in a flight, and had lunch with my friends. I could have stuck around until evening, but I'm going on a trip later on this week, and didn't want to be out late. I'll be back in three weeks, and since the days are getting shorter, an evening flight is even more appealing. Plus, September should start bringing fronts through and a chance for some ridge soaring. It should be good.

July 13 - I'm FREE!

FormerFF — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:23:38 GMT

[ Mood: Hypnotized ]
[ Currently: Listening to Gino Vannelli ]
After my last trip to Lookout, I was now up to eight mountain flights, and needed two more to not need to clear the training hills. The forecast for this weekend had favorable winds for both days, with a good chance of thunderstorms on Sunday. Because we were supposed to participate in a garage sale on Saturday, Sunday was my day to go up, even though the forecast was not ideal. As I've said before, I have some scheduling issues. There are lots of days that I can't go up. It's also a bad idea for me to be gone two weekends in a row, so I sometimes have to scatter the days I go up around a little more than I'd like, and if I didn't go this weekend, I'd wind up losing one of my flying days. Even with the less than ideal forecast, there are a couple of ways this could work out for me. Typically at this time of year, storms happen in the afternoon, so there's a chance I could fly on the training hills in the morning and get in a mountain flight late morning. If it is overcast most of the day, I could get a second flight in early afternoon, and if the storms developed early enough, I could get a flight after they had cleared. Earlier in the week I met with Nibs, who has given me his airspeed indicator to use, so now I had all my own equipment for my last two observed solos.

The morning dawned mostly overcast, with some patches of fog. When I arrived at the training hills, the skies remained overcast, with calm winds. There were four of us on the big hill today, myself, two new pilots still working on their tasks, and Sky_Walker, who was transitioning to his Eagle. There was also a pretty good crowd on the small hill. We're all moving a little slowly today, as it is plenty warm and extremely humid. For my first flight, I choose to start with the 90 degree turn task. I get a good no wind launch, and fly straight away from the hill for a few seconds so as not to repeat the trip into the bushes I made the last time I tried that task. I'm making a fairly soft turn, so it takes a little longer than would be ideal, and wind up having to make a wheel landing as I'm fairly low when I level out. Now my pants are soaked from the knees down, and my shoes are sopping wet. The second task is a pair of reversing 45 degree turns, which come off well, and I get a decent foot landing. I'm eager to get these tasks done as quickly as possible, so after I land, I pick up the glider and carry it off of the active part of the training hill rather than waiting for the ATV, but it's so sweaty that I'm having a hard time holding onto the downtubes. The next two tasks go well, and I'm done in about an hour. As I'm breaking down, I hear a whistle blow, and look out to the small training hill, just in time to see a pilot stall and then whack his glider. Diana, who was running things on the big hill, heads out with a medical kit. The pilot isn't seriously hurt, just some bumps and bruises, and most likely at least a little bit shaken. If you're reading this and you are just beginning your flying career, remember this: When in doubt, pull in. It's much better to fly into the ground with flying speed than to stall the glider in.

I offer Sky_Walker a ride up to the mountain launch, but he's having some hang point issues and decides to keep his glider on the training hill, so I head up by myself. When I get there, it is overcast, and there is a light breeze blowing in. I go inside to ask about conditions and am told that the tandem flights have been suspended because of thunder. I can see a storm up the valley, but it is moving to our east, and it looks flyable to me. I go back in to discuss the weather with Jen, who is behind the desk today. I get a look at the radar, and there's a big blob of rain to our east, but it's moving to the east and shouldn't be a problem. I ask her what she thinks the chances of flying are, and she tells me I should go home. That's the first time anyone has ever told me to do that, at least that early in the day. I still think the weather is flyable, so I decide to wait. While I'm there, I order a parachute, a LARA 175.

After a little while, the conditions still seem fine to me. The tandem flights resume, and a flying couple, both of whom are relatively low time, arrive. Now Jen has three of us who think the weather is flyable, even though she's not so sure. She calls down to one of the tandem pilots, who tells her to have us set up, but to call back down before we can launch. Of course, we all set up. With all the practice I had from the Flights for Charities event, I'm now pretty quick at setting up, and am the first one ready. Gordon has arrived from the training hills, and after checking with the tandem pilots, is ready to launch us. I'm the first to go. The wind is fairly light and smooth, and right on the launch ramp. I'm off into the smooth, cool air. Because of the overcast there's no convection to speak of, and the flying is easy. Once I get over the field, I make my standard one box, get a good approach, and land on my feet about 100 feet past the target. That's my first foot landing in the pod harness, and my second flight in it ever, despite having had it since October of last year.

The other two pilots launch a few minutes after me, and also get good flights. One of them gets a body ride up, and after a little wait, arrives back down with his truck. We all load up, and I ride up in the bed of the truck - my favorite place to sit.

Now I'm at nine flights, I'm at the top of the mountain launch, there's a gentle headwind and a thin overcast. Could we be good for another flight? I check in with Dan, and he gives me the word to set up. All three of us are getting ready for another flight, and while I'm the last to start setting up, I'm the first one ready to go. This time Jerry, who is the head of the sew shop in addition to being rated to launch us low time pilots, is out on the launch, and sends me on my way. I get another good launch, and am thrilled to be on FLIGHT NUMBER 10! The overcast has thinned out and the air is a bit bumpier. It probably wouldn't be the best conditions for someone's mountain solo, but it's great for anyone with at least a couple of flights. I arrive over the LZ a little higher than usual, and make my first box. I look down and see that I haven't descended very much, so I make a second box. At the end of this one, I'm still too high, and make another, which still leaves me too high. Thermaling isn't on my flight plan, and I'm pretty sure that Jerry doesn't want to stand out on the launch all day and watch me fly, so I start extending the box patterns to use a little more altitude. After the fourth or fifth one, I'm still a little high, but break out on a downwind. I'm a little leery of getting too low, as I'm expecting some sink to be around, and figure that I'll find it soon enough.

I get to the end of the LZ, still no signs of sink, but hey, I'm on a Falcon that has a speed bar, I can get down. I make a base/final turn, get my hands on the speedbar portion of the basetube, and pull in. The glider accelerates and starts going down. There's still no sign of any sink, but at the current rate of descent I'll be just a little past the target. Because I want to keep my speed up, I keep my hands on the basetube until I round out, and because it takes me a few seconds to switch them to the downtubes, wind up running out of airspeed before I can flare, and make a wheel landing about 100 yards from the center of the LZ.

By now there's a small crowd of us in the breakdown area. After getting my glider partially broken down, I snag a body ride back up to get my car. The husband in the flying couple goes up too, and retrieves his truck as well. When I get to the top, I head into the shop and bump into the Poser family, who had arrived earlier in the day, and Dan Z. one of the instructors. He asked us if we had heard anything about Zig, and asked me to find Zig's posts on his accident. Zig, if you're reading this, there's a lot of people in the HG world wishing you a speedy and complete recovery.

I head down to the LZ and get my glider packed up. We load four gliders on the pickup truck, I take two passengers in my car, and we head up to the mountain launch.

It's still a little overcast, and probably flyable for one more sledder, but I've already set up and broken down three times, carried the glider a lot , it's hot and humid, and I haven't had lunch, so I call it a day, and a very successful day at that.

So what's next? More sledders, for now. There are still some limits as to when I can fly, as the Lookout LZ gets pretty intense in midday convection. I just want to master flying in my pod harness to be ready for some ridge soaring this fall.

I reviewed my log earlier this week. I've been to the training hills a total of 18 times in the last year - 9 times to get my hang 2, and 9 times to reclear. The fewest flights I ever got there in a day was three, on my first day, and that was because most of the morning was taken up with ground school. The fewest flights I got because of weather was 6, and that was on the big hill, once. Every other time I got as many flights as I wanted, or at least as many as my body would let me. I got skunked three times on the mountain - unfortunately they were on consecutive attempts, which was mighty frustrating at the time. This year has been very successful, with two days where I got two flights, and one more where I could have but needed to be home.

I feel like one chapter is closing and another is opening. It's a cliche to say that the time for learning has just begun, but that doesn't make the statement any less true. Up until now, most of the decision of when to fly have been up to someone else, and now the primary responsibility shifts to me. I feel like I'm ready for it, which certainly means I need to be careful not to become overconfident. In any case, I can't wait. Like Nibs said, this sport just keeps getting better.

June 22nd - Flights for Charities

FormerFF — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 03:01:33 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to the Emo station on LaunchCast ]
I hadn't originally signed up to ground crew for Jim Rice's Flights for Charities, since I was on vacation that week. Fortunately for me, the weather had been uncooperative and the event was rescheduled for June 22nd. I had just been up the Thursday before and recleared the training hills, so I was hoping I might be able to get a mountain flight in as well, but my main priority for the day was to support Jim.

The night before had been stormy, which meant two things to me: a short night's sleep, and a strong chance of valley fog. As I headed out the door that morning, the sky was clear, the air was cool for the season, and there were patches of fog.

I arrived at Lookout's mountain launch at 8:30, and Jim and the ground crew waiting waiting around. Not surprisingly, there was fog in the valley. I check in with Jim, who I had not previously met. I've signed up for a midday shift building gliders, but I want to make sure that the ground crew has adequate staff before I set up for a flight of my own. Curly_cue's husband, who I will call John P. since that is his name, is one of those who are going to be assembling gliders for Jim in the first shift. I check in with him, and find that they have a full crew, and he gives me the go ahead to get a flight of my own.

I unload my glider, and another pilot and I run my car down to the LZ so we can get a quick retrieve. Down in the valley, the fog sets in a few hundred feet above the LZ. It's not too thick, but it's more than enough to stop us from flying. We head back up, get our gliders built, and wait for the fog to lift. It breaks up around 10 AM, and Jim is off for his first flight. Matt Taber comes out to launch us, and I take my place on the ramp. This is the first time I've flown my pod harness, and I'm having a little difficulty keeping the glider on my shoulders. Early in my training I started my launches using the bottle grip, but it's not working with this harness, so Matt switches me back to the grapevine. I get a decent launch, get my hands on the base tube, and have no difficulty getting my feet into the boot. I don't attempt to zip up, and am pressing my feet against the boot for the flight. I'm varying between cross controlling and overcontrolling, so it wasn't the cleanest flight I've ever had. Because of my control issues, I turn final a little higher than usual, to give myself a little more room to manuver. I do overshoot the turn to final a bit, but get it straightened out and wind up touching down a hundred feet or so past the target pylon. I get most of a foot landing, but wind up sliding the last step on one foot and one knee. The two of us who are getting observed flights get out gliders packed up and I drive us up to the mountain launch. So, I now have eight flights and have flown my pod harness. I just have two flights to get out of having to reclear the training hills.

We get the other pilot's gear unloaded, and I go over to the setup area to check in on Jim's progress. They are well staffed, and have gliders ready for Jim, but someone has forgotten to send down a couple of the glider bags, so the breakdown crew has no way of sending those two gliders back up the hill. I run those down to the LZ to a very appreciative breakdown crew. While I'm down in the LZ, I run into Tony7kp, who has just flown Xerxes's glider, and is in need of a ride up. I get him back up the hill, and check back in with the setup crew, which is what I'm scheduled for. While driving up, I spot Curly_cue's car behind me, and realize that she's bringing Jim up. I pedal a little harder than I usually would going up that hill, I don't want to delay them.

Here's the setup: There are four gliders in use, one Falcon, one Sting, and two Pulses. Jim flies one of them down, someone picks him up in LZ in a golf cart, and takes him to a waiting vehicle that has already been loaded with a glider. When Jim gets to the mountain launch, we unload the truck while Jim gives the glider a preflight. We get him onto the launch and he goes, then we build the glider that has just arrived. We put the glider bag in a five gallon bucket and send it down the hill with the driver. At any time there are two drivers and at least three people assembling and packing gliders.

Because of the glider bag snafu, we only have one glider ready when Jim arrives. This gets rectified pretty quickly, and by 1:00 we have two gliders ready by the time he arrives, and am happy to say, were able to maintain this for the rest of the day. In the midday period, there are five of us at the launch, and things are pretty relaxed. The flights are going off at an astonishing rate, much more quickly than I would have thought possible.

As the afternoon wears on, the wind picks up, and there are lots of gliders in the air, including our own PilotGuy, and two beautiful rigids. I'm sure it was a bit frustrating for Jim to have to dive through all the lift that was available, but certainly satisfying to get so many flights in as well. When the wind was light, we would get the glider up on the ramp where Jim would preflight it and get his hang check. As the wind picks up, we are no longer wanting to do this, and keep the glider in the setup area until he is hooked in and ready to go. At this point, I'm a little concerned about Jim having to muscle the gliders around as much as he was, but he's one of those big beefy guys and seems not to be wearing down at all. We did have at least three people assisting, so I'm sure that helped.

Around mid afternoon, Scott, who is one of the instructors at Lookout comes up to act as safety officer. We're having to wire assist every launch now, and Scott's assistance is great. We're doing great on time, and there's no reason at all to rush the inflight part of this, and Scott is the perfect person to communicate this to Jim.

At 4PM, two members of out setup crew have to leave, which leaves us three: myself, John P., and a gentleman that I later find out is TnFlyer. Jim's a little concerned that there are no new people coming on for the last shift, but we reassure him that the three of us will stay until the end. Things are a little less leisurely now, but the three of us have this process wired now. When Jim arrives, two of us get the glider off of the truck while the third loads and unloads the glider bag buckets. Jim preflights the glider, two of us grab the wingtips, one grabs the keel, and Scott gets the nose wires. We get Jim launched, then unbag the glider. John sorts the battens, TnFlyer and I get the basetube on, and we get the wings separated. John and TnFlyer each put battens on one wing, while I do the underside battens and then the nose wire and nosecone. Here's a tip if you're going to build gliders all day on a gravel ramp: Wear kneepads.

Despite getting a late start, Jim is ready to launch his last flight by 7:20. For this flight he's flying his personal glider, a Northwing Horizon. Since we don't have to build gliders any longer, we're able to watch his last three flights. On his last flight, he stays up to enjoy the lift a bit, and makes his first foot landing of the day - all the others were (intentional) wheel landings. I'm a little worn out at this point, but very gratified to have been a part of this.

We head down to join the breakdown crew and the drivers for some pizza. I've got to get going, since I've accepted an invitation to join a couple of the instructors and the Poser family for dinner. I also needed to check with Tony7kp to see if he needs a ride back to Atlanta, but he was able to ride with PilotGuy.

When I got home, my wife asked me if it was all worth the effort. Yes, it was, I have to say, it was a unique event and I'm glad to have been a part. Jim is a hell of a lot tougher than I am, I could never make that many flights in one day, and I take my hat off to him and to all my fellow volunteers.

June 19th - Poser sighting!!!

FormerFF — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:09:25 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Working ]
Between the winter/spring weather and the rest of my life, I've been struggling to get the 10 mountain flights in that I need to past the observed status at Lookout. I have a number of vacation days available, so I thought I'd put one to use and go up on a weekday. At Lookout, until you've done 10 mountain flights, if it has been more than four days since you last flew, you have to reclear the training hills by performing four tasks: a flight with a 90 degree turn, a flight with two 45 degree turns, one with two 90 degree turns, and a speed run.

The morning dawns clear, calm, and surprisingly cool. On the way up, I have to turn the heat on in my car, which is not what you'd expect for Georgia in mid June. I get to the hills right on time, but am surprised to see someone already going up the hill. Later, I find out that he was close to completing his tasks and wanted to get them done early so that he could get his mountain flight. I get my glider built, and head back to my car for my helmet, and who should I see but Imaposer. Not only is Imaposer there, but the entire Poser family is as well, including the new puppy. After six months away, the weather and their lives have finally allowed them to get back to flying.

I go up the hill while the Posers build Mrsposer's glider. My first task is a 90 degree turn. I get launched, and make a quick 90 degree turn. A little too quick, it turns out, as I'm flying towards the bushes now. I'm thinking it shouldn't be a problem as I should land before I get to them, but the cool air is surprisingly buoyant, and they're getting closer than I'd like. I realize that if I keep going that I'm going to fly into them at about 2 feet altitude. I'm really a little low to make a turn, and besides there are some gliders where I'd be turning, so I pull in a little and get onto the ground. I slide into the bushes at about walking speed. I haven't done that since my second day! There no damage done to either me or the glider, and when I get to the top Diana (the instructor) suggests that rather than try to make a 90 degree turn that I just aim for the 90 degree pylon rather than trying to make a 90 degree turn.

On the second attempt at a 90, I do a more gradual turn and everything goes according to plan. About ths time Mrsposer joins us on the big hill. Because there is virtually no wind, she doesn't feel confident about the launch, and heads over to the small hill. Imaposer joins us on the big hill. On his first flight, he makes a strong launch, flies the glider perfectly, and makes a nice foot landing, just like he's never been away.

It takes me four flights to complete my three remaining tasks. Imaposer gets his tasks done in short order as well, but stays for a couple of extra flights, since Mrsposer is still flying on the small hill. Diana calls up to the mountain launch to ask about conditions for us to get a mountain flight. The wind is northerly, which is a bit too much of a cross for us, but it is expected to become a little more northwesterly, so we are told to be ready around 10:30. Since there's no hurry to be to the mountain launch, I stay for a few minutes to help the Posers break down, then head up.

When I get there, the wind is mostly northerly, which is a 45 degree crosswind. It's started switching more directly to a headwind, so things look favorable. For this flight, I'm graduating from a training harness to a knee hanger. I read the handout, then go set up my glider and get a knee hanger. The Posers arrive and begin to set up a glider for Imaposer as well. Gordon comes up from the training hill to launch us. I get my turn on the ramp. The wind is still crossing, but we wait for a good cycle and I get a good launch. I do forget to cross my feet for about the first 15 seconds of the flight, but get that figured out, and transition my hands to the base tube as well. It's easy to do, and the control is MUCH greater, I find out. The air was still pretty smooth, but you could tell that things were going to start popping shortly. Once I get into the approach, I transition my hands back to the downtubes on my downwind leg, since this is the first time I've flown solo on the basetube. On final, I'm right on target. There's a little crosswind, so my plan is to turn into the wind when I get close to the ground. I do that, but don't get the angle quite right, and need to correct a lifting wing. By the time I get everything lined up, I'm pretty much out of airspeed and altitude and wind up wheeling it in.

While I'm breaking down, Imaposer launches. He flies beautifully, makes a great approach, then sticks a no-stepper. The only problem is that he has started his flare a little early and his feet are still about three feet in the air when he does that. He comes down with a thump, but no injury to either self or glider.

After we break down, the Posers give me a ride up to get my car. I see someone setting up who looks a lot like Nibs. Nibs, were you at Lookout yesterday?

The Posers and I get some lunch, and bring it back to the LZ. I do a little more simulator training with my pod harness, and do a few simulated launch runs. After that, I get my bicycle out, because I want to see if I can ride it from the LZ to the mountain launch. It's only about five miles, but there's a 1340 foot elevation change. I figure it will take about an hour. It did take 58 minutes, including me walking about a quarter of a mile on one very steep pitch.

Once I get back to the mountain launch, things are happening. There are a number of people in the air, and more are launching. A few of the better pilots are circling at cloudbase, considerably more are a little above the ridge, and others are getting extended sledders. There's a nice direct headwind on the launch now, and launches are only taking a couple of steps. I go over and stand on the launch and air myself out, as I'm pretty sweaty from the bike ride. It's too strong for us to launch, so Imaposer and I arrange for Diana to stay after 6 PM to launch us. I head down with my bicycle to get my car, and I will have to say while the downhill was much easier, it was also kind of scary. On the steep part, I could smell my brake pads, and I spent most of the ride down trying to keep my speed under control.

When I get back up, Diana gives us an ETA of 7:30 for our launch. The ramp is emptying out now, so we assist those remaining pilots with hang checks and wire crews, in addition to settup up our gliders. Imaposer trades his training harness for a knee hanger as well. We're ready to go, and Diana gives us the go ahead to fly. This time Imaposer goes first. He gets his usual strong launch, but the novelty of the knee hanger has made him forget to cross his feet, so he's flying Gumby style. I go about two minutes later. Since there's a decent headwind, Diana reminds me to pull in a bit once I get into the air, and to lower my nose angle a little. The launch run is about two and a half steps, and I'm up. I think I may have come off in a slight turn, as I have to correct a bit, but it's nothing serious.

The air is very smooth, but apparently there was some lift, as people were staying up. While the late morning flight was fun, the evening flight was glorious. I arrive over the LZ as Imaposer is on his final, and I will have to say that was the most interesting ground track I've ever seen for a final approach. Hopefully he'll get on here and tell you about it.

This time, I transition from the base tube to the downtubes on final rather than on the base leg. In the smooth air, it's very easy. I'm on target on my final, round out smoothly, and begin my flare. I don't do an aggressive flare, instead I do a crescendo flare that in no wind conditions requires running about four steps. My feet reach the ground, I start running and find that I can't, so I'm back on the wheels again. It turns out that I hadn't tightened the knee straps enough, and when I rotated upright, one of them slid down to my ankle.

We get packed up, and I'm finally able to return the favor of the rides the Posers have given me by taking Imaposer's glider back up the mountain. I then head home, sore of leg and slightly sunburned, but very happy. After a stop at a 24 hour McDonalds, I arrive home at 11:30, a mere 18 hours after my departure that morning. When you have a family, you don't get all that many days to yourself, so you have to pack as much in them as possible.

I've signed up to build gliders for Jim Rice on his Flights for Charities event, so I'll be up Saturday or Sunday, depending on the day he chooses. My shift is in the middle of the day, so maybe I'll have time to get in a flight as well. Diana has given me the go ahead to fly my pod harness, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm up to seven mountain flights now, so if I can get one more this weekend, I may get the other two the next time I go up.

May 25 - A Long Day's Journey Into Evening

FormerFF — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:56:08 GMT

[ Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Listening to Renaissance ]
After three months of not flying, I finally got a weekend where there was a possibility of both good weather and no other commitments. Since I have a family, I could pick out one day to go of the three we had off this weekend. Looking at the forecast, I figured Saturday to be too windy, Sunday to be light and variable, and Monday to be a little southerly, so I picked Sunday,

Heading out at my usual departure time of 5:30, it's clear and calm. I'm expecting a big crowd this weekend, and when I get to the hills I'm not disappointed. There are two of us who need to reclear, myself and Jaime, who I later find out is Sky_Walker. There are about six other pilots who are still working on their skills as well. On the way up, I had a little case of the nerves about flying again, but by the time I get the glider assembled, they are long gone. I carry the glider up the hill rather than wait for the ATV, both to speed things along and to get my legs loosened up. I started doing that in the cold weather, and have never had a pulled muscle, so I recommend it.

OK, first flight. Since it's been three months since I've last flown, Diana (the instructor du jour) and I agree on a straight flight. Now, let me run this through my mind: Wings level, pick out a target, accelerate smoothly, keep running until the glider gets me fully off the ground, ankles crossed, hands low on the base tube, pull in a little, as the ground approaches pull in some more, round out, hands up to shoulder height, test for flare, push up and bring the keel to my feet. Now, let's try it for real. I get a good launch, everything's where it should be, and make a decent foot landing, although I'm still having to run things out a little more than I'd like.

Second flight is a 90 degree turn to the right. I wind up rolling out a little too early and get what's closer to a 45 degree turn, so I do that one again. The second time's the charm, as it goes well. A bit of a headwind has appeared, which makes launching easier, but also means that if you don't fly straight for a few seconds, you make your turn very close to the hill. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just unexpected.

Next up is a pair of reversing 90 degree turns. That goes pretty well, but the wind is getting a bit shifty and I get stuck in my second turn for an extra few seconds. By the time I roll the glider level, I don't have enough altitude to get in a flare landing, so I wind up wheeling it in, and my foot landing streak stops at 8. My last task is a speed run, which goes well until I test to see if it is time to flare yet. I get a little bit of ballooning, and by the time I try the flare test again, I've run out of energy and wind up wheeling it in. I suspect I hit a little puff of headwind, and that I should have continued flaring almost immediately instead of waiting a couple of seconds.

Sky_Walker and I are discussing our flights, and I'm complaining about my weak flares. He points out that instead of pushing up, I'm pushing out, and that limits my angle of attack. Thanks for the observation, Sky_Walker, I'll be sure to think about that from now on, and I'll bet my flares improve.

It's only about 9:30, and I'm done clearing. There's no reason to hurry breaking down, as Dan has already told us it is blowing over the top at the mountain launch. It seems that there is a light easterly wind at the top, so we'll have to see how the day plays out. I start videoing some of the other students, then get to breaking down. About this time one of the other students either gets into a slipping turn or just rolls out too low, and scrapes a wingtip. He makes kind of a hard landing, but isn't injured. He does take out both downtubes, so things stop for a few minutes while he and Diana get the glider off of the landing zone. After I get the trusty Falcon put away, I help them install new downtubes, and he goes back up the hill and gets in more flights. Lookout installs downtubes that are of a softer alloy than the ones that Wills Wing puts on the glider, so they can take a good bit of the impact without hurting the pilot.

After the morning's festivities, I head up to the mountain launch for a little hang waiting. Sure enough, there is a breeze over the back, but it's not a strong one. It's bright and sunny, and the odds are that the sun will cause the breeze to turn around early in the afternoon. Of course, by that time it will be too thermic to us newbies to fly, so we'll have to wait until evening for our chance. There is a real possibility that the wind will turn easterly again before the thermic activity settles down enough for us, so it's still a gamble. I start chatting with another pilot, and I find out it's Neoflier, He cleared the big hill on Friday, and is now waiting for a chance to solo, and is debating whether or not to stay, as he has a long drive back. After we scope out possible rack installations for his car, he decides to head back home. Next time he comes back, he only has to reclear with four hill flights, then he'll be ready for the mountain.

I decide to go down to the landing zone and try out my still unused harness in the simulator. I meet Scott, who was my instructor the last time I flew, and his wife, Leah, plus the obligatory couple of dogs. It's a hot day, and I find out how warm a pod harness is when there's no airflow. The LZ is buzzing with discovery flights and a few solo pilot tows.

After a while, I can see pilots starting to launch off of the mountain, so I head back up to watch and to get a drink. I assist a few pilots with their hang checks, and go in to check on the weather. It's still not at all settled as to what will happen later in the day, so I hang around and watch pilots launch. Most get an extended sledder, but some of the better pilots stay up pretty much as long as they want.

Since I'm not doing anything useful, I head back down to see if anyone wants a ride up. Nobody's breaking down, but I do see Dan, who is about to give a tandem flight. He tells me that he'll give me an air check when he gets down, so I go and hang out by the pavilion where the tandem flights are launching from. Curly_cue and her husband, John, are there so I chat with them for a while. They decide to take Curly's glider up to the mountain launch, where John is going to fly it. It's about 3:30 now, and Dan returns with the news that the conditions are still too strong for those of us who need sledders. That's not at all surprising, as at this time of year I wouldn't expect to fly before 5:00 at the earliest. I head up to the mountain launch to check the conditions once again.

The mountain launch still has a decent headwind, which encourages me to make a decision: I'm going to stay until someone tells me to either go fly or go home. Curly_cue and John set up Curly's glider, and John gets an extended sledder. Curly heads off to go get him, and I meet up with another pilot, Charlie, who is also hoping to get a sledder in as well. At 5:00, things are still too rowdy in the LZ for us to fly. The wind occasionally clocks around to a weak tail or crosswind, but it is still mostly a headwind. Still, the tailwind moments are a bit worrisome.

At 5:45, one of Lookout's office staff comes out to tell us that the conditions are OK for us to fly, and did we want to get an instructor for the evening? I'm sure you can guess the answer. Sky_Walker has come up as well, and we both start setting up. Gordon shows up shortly, and Charlie is the first to launch. Sky_Walker is next up. He's on the ramp, and the wind is cycling around. He and Gordon wait a couple of minutes for a good cycle, and he's off. On his launch, he gets that kind of "falling into the glider" situation that occurs when the glider hasn't completely taken all the slack out of the harness straps before the pilot reaches the downsloping part of the ramp. We give him a couple of minutes head start, and it's my turn on the ramp. We play the same waiting game, then Gordon gives me the go ahead. I immediately say CLEAR and head out. Curiously, I don't get that "falling into the glider" feeling at all, even though I have the same lack of headwind that Sky_Walker did. It turns out that he was wearing sandals and couldn't get a real strong launch run. I understand it made for a funny landing experience as well.

The air is smooth, the valley is outrageously green, and it's a wonderful flight. There are a couple of plowed fields between the launch and the LZ, which generate a little lift, but my flight plan is straight to the LZ, so I ignore the lift.

I get over the field, make my standard one box pattern, and head out on my base leg. One of the consequences of my general aviation background is that I want to land somewhat close to the approach end of the LZ, which is wrong, as the target is in the middle. This time I turn final about a third of the way from the end of the LZ, make sure I have my hands low on the downtubes, and pull in for speed. The target's in sight, and the glider's coming down fast. I round out, start to flare, but still don't get a very strong one and have to run the landing out.

Sky_Walker and I get broken down, and after a few false starts, Curly_cue and John arrive, and offer to give our equipment a ride up to the mountain launch. Thanks, guys! Once all the gear is stowed, we head over for a well deserved dinner.

After enjoying dinner with some fellow pilots, I head home, and arrive at 11:00, only 17.5 hours after I headed out the door that morning. You may ask, was it worth all that for five training hill flights and a sledder? YES! YES! YES! Are you kidding? YES! There were some experienced pilots there waiting and wondering if there was going to be a wonder wind. (There wasn't) I don't know if they launched or not. I guess to them a sledder wasn't worth the effort. There is one advantage to being a newbie: It doesn't take much to satisfy you.

We're taking the annual family vacation next week, and the following weekend is Father's day, so it will be the end of June before I can get back. We're heading towards the light wind part of the year, so hopefully sledders will be easier to come by. I've got five down, which means five to go. Next time out, I'm supposed to transition from a training harness to a knee hanger. Maybe soon I'll be flying in my pod.

Sorry if this was a little long, but hey, it was a long day.

February 24th - Mountain Flight #4

FormerFF — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 04:40:58 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Watching Life After People ]
I hadn't flown since mid-November, and since the weather was looking cooperative, I decided to take a chance on getting some airtime. The actual forecast was for a low in the mid thirties, light and variable winds, a slight chance of showers, and highs in the low 50's.

Since I only have three mountain flights, I'm required to clear the training hills. Today's surprise: I'm the only one on the hills. Scott is already there when I arrive, and I get my glider off the car and built. Since it's cold, I choose to carry the glider up the hill for the first flight. It's a good warmup and hope that it will prevent a pulled muscle.

It's been three months since I last flown, but from the top of the hill, it feels like it's only been a couple of weeks. Scott and I decide that I should make a straight flight. There's almost no wind, so I get lined up, find a target, and go. The launch comes off without a hitch. I pull in a little bit, and enjoy the cold, still morning air. Now the ground it approaching, I get a little bit more speed, then round out, wait a second, and start a flare, I run the landing out to a stop, and Scott comes and gets me. That was easy.

Next up, a flight with a 90 degree turn, with pretty much the same result. About the only suggestion Scott has for me is to flare a little more aggressively so I don't have to run the landing out so much. After the 90 degree turn, we settle on doing a flight with a 45 degree left turn followed by a 90 degree right turn, mainly because the landing are has some big puddles and that flight plan keeps me out of them. That flight comes off with just the same result as the first two. Somehow, landing seems easy today. I wind up doing one more flight with the same result. It's not even 9:00, and I'm cleared.

As I pack up, it starts to sprinkle. Dan arrives, and tells me that it's blowing over the top at the mountain launch. I head into town for some breakfast, and finally make it up to the mountain launch, and yes, it is cold, raining a little and blowing over the top, probably around 15 mph. Since I'm there, I decide to hang around to see if things will change. The rain stops, but the wind continues blowing in the wrong direction. It gets to be around 12:30, and I'm getting discouraged. Matt Taber arrives, and asks me how I'm doing. I tell him, and he suggests I stick around for a while. He also says that I should really tempt the wind gods and set up. He finally says he thinks things will turn around. So, I set up.

About the time I get the glider off of the car, the sun comes out and the wind starts to slacken and turn around. By the time I'm ready, the wind is almost gone, but when it is blowing, it's now a headwind.

Matt comes out to get me launched. We have a discussion about my hang loops and hang height, which makes me a little nervous. I shake that off, Matt tells me go have fun, and I launch. There must have been a bit of a headwind, since I don't get any of that "falling into the harness" feeling that you usually get in a no wind launch. There's a little bit of turbulence in the air, but it's mostly smooth. There's a bit of a southwesterly flow through the valley, so I'm tracking a bit more southerly than I would be with no wind.

I make my standard box pattern, then break out on a downwind leg. I'm getting pushed around a bit by the wind, and am not as confident as I'd been on my earlier mountain flights. I wind up tracking over a stand of trees, which for some reason, makes me uncomfortable, so I turn around them. Now, the landing zone is pretty narrow at that end, so when I turn to final, I'm now over a group of RVs. Not good, so I bump over, and not much happens, so I bump over some more. That gets me back on course, so I roll out and pull in a little. I'm fairly low at this point, so it's a short time to roundout. I get yet another foot landing, which makes five in a row. I haven't done since my training hill days.

I'm the first one off the ramp, and was the only one up there, so I wind up waiting over an hour for someone to give me a ride back up. Since I'm supposed to be back in Atlanta so that my wife can go to a party, I have to pack up and head back home. Next time, I'm reserving the whole day for myself, as conditions were still good and I could have gotten another flight. There's nothing on my schedule for the weekend of the 15th, so hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can get in another flight or two.

November 19 - Mountain Flight At Last!

FormerFF — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:12:56 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Gordon Lightfoot ]
Since I hadn't had much luck getting mountain flights this fall, I thought I'd try to get one more day before the holidays. The weekend of the 17th-18th was looking reasonable weather wise, and I consulted with the boss, and she confirmed that we didn't have any real plans for either day, so I penciled in Sunday as my day to fly.

We have a very old dog, who is approaching the end of her life. My wife took her to the vet on Friday, who wanted to euthanize her right then and there. My wife wasn't ready for this, so the vet gave her some sedatives (for the dog, not for my wife) and sent them home. I was at work at the time, and received a tearful phone call. Double bad news for me, because not only did it appear that our dear family pet was soon to be gone, but I would also not be able to go flying.

Saturday rolls around, and the dog is holding her own. I've had a persistent cold, and I'm not feeling so well myself, so the dog and I have a low key day. The good news is she's looking like she's going to stick around a while, and now Sunday's forecast is looking promising. Now the problem is that I'm not feeling all that energetic myself. It takes me 45 minutes or so to put the rack on the car, load the glider on the rack, and gather all the stuff I need to do both the training hills and spend the rest of the day at the flight park, and I'm not quite up to that. I've got all of Thanksgiving week off of work, so I figure that if things hold together, I can go up on Monday.

Sunday morning, I feel much better, and the dog is doing fairly well. I spend most of the day rebuilding my Relationship Karma Point balance by installing a faucet that my wife bought for the powder room. I put myself on the training hill schedule and get the car loaded up.

Monday morning dawns a bit foggy. Crossing over the ridge into Lookout Valley, its very foggy, but the valley floor is clear. I arrive about 10 minutes late because of the fog, and meet Imaposer in the parking lot. He heads out in his Jeep to pull the glider trailer to the small hill, since we're still short an ATV, as MrsPoser needs it to pull her glider up the hill.

There are four of us on the big hill today, including a father and son. The other three are still working on their tasks, while I need to reclear. At first it starts calm, but the wind becomes kind of fluky and crossing. For my first flight, I get off of the ground in a right turn, and wind up pulling in too much and fly close to the ground. I'm still getting used to the Falcon 3, and it is much more responsive than what I'm used to. Plus, last time I was out here, Christopher was getting on me about flying too slowly, so I was overcompensating. I totally blow my task, and wind up doing a wheel landing as well.

Things got better after that, but the wind continued to be kind of goofy. Four of my six flights wound up being wheel landings, including a couple where I was just about to flare when a wing lifted. I think it was the wind doing that, because on one flight where the air was smooth, I got a perfect reversing 90 and a solid foot landing. Besides, the other students were having the same problems I was.

Mrsposer wasn't having the best day either, probably because of the odd conditions. Since she was the only one on the small hill, she got finished pretty quickly, and she and Imaposer come over to the big hill. He shares a glider with one of the other students and gets recleared as well.

Earlier in the day, Gordon had assembled a Falcon Tandem, that someone was interested in buying. He pulls it up the hill, and he and Mrsposer fly a tandem off of the big hill. I had a video camera in the car, but didn't think to go get it. Doh!

The air gets flukier and weirder, and we pack it in for the day. After we get everything packed up, Gordon, the Posers, and I all go to lunch. The weather is looking a little promising for later that afternoon. Could it be that I will get my elusive third mountain flight, and will it be the day that Imaposer gets his first?

We all wander up to the mountain launch. There is a broken overcast, and the wind is blowing in at about 8 mph. Things are looking positive. It's probably a little too convective for us to fly in the middle of the afternoon, but we all have hope for later in the day. We go ahead and get set up - I learned that lesson a few weeks ago. Gordon tells us that tandem flights are going to start soon, and we'll get a report on how the air is soon. He has to head off, so he hands us off to Matt Taber.

Things are still a bit bumpy, so we wait a while longer. Someone comes out and tells us that Dan will be coming up in about 15 minutes to launch us. Mrsposer, Lilposer and I buzz down to the landing zone to leave my car, since I'm the one with the glider rack, and we zoom back up just after Dan has arrived. We're a go!

Imaposer is up first. He gets hang checked, and heads up on the launch ramp, cool as a cucumber. Dan get him lined up and gives him the go sign. With no hesitation, he launches. After a two month wait, he's off of the mountain! I'm taping him, at least until Matt asks me if I'm ready to go. Randy, sorry I didn't get the last minute of your flight on tape, but I'm guessing you understand. I probably should have asked Lilposer to take the camera, but I hadn't had the chance to brief her on how to use it. I had shown Mrsposer how, but I think she was too nervous to use it anyway.

Now, I'm up on the ramp in my new Falcon 3. Oddly enough, I'm not nervous either. I get the go ahead to launch, and get a good one. Once I get out in the air, I start getting pushed around a bit. The Falcon 3 responds differently than the 1 and 2 have, in that it rolls a bit, where the 1 and 2 just went up and down. It takes a bit of getting used to, and I am probably overcontrolling a little. I do notice that this glider seems aerodynamically cleaner than the Falcon 1 and 2. A little bit of pitch change produces a more noticeable airspeed change than it did on the school gliders.

I arrive over the landing zone pretty quickly, so I suspect I was flying a little faster than on my other flights. I make one box over the field, but am a bit too high yet, and since there is no one else around me, I do a 360 degree turn and roll out on downwind. Things have smoothed out a bit, and it is very easy to fly the pattern. I head down to the condos, and turn final, pick up a little speed, and round out, probably a little slowly, and have to make a wheel landing. As I roll to a stop, the glider turns about 45 degrees, as there is a slight crosswind. Mrsposer has recovered enough to handle the video camera, and does a great job recording my flight. Thanks, Judy!

I head over to the breakdown area, and congratulate Imaposer. Mrsposer has both our glider bags, so we stand around chatting until they arrive.

We get the gliders bagged up and on top of my car, and haul them back up the hill. Conditions are still good, and a few other pilots arrive as well and start to set up. Imaposer and Mrsposer set up his glider in record time, and he's on the ramp and underway. It takes me a few more minutes, and in that time the wind switches around to a tailing crosswind. I finish setting up and get in line, but no one's going because of the wind. We students get out of the way for some more experienced pilots, but they decide not to launch either. I wait a few more minutes, but the tailwind is increasing, and I wind up breaking down in the dark and going to get Imaposer. I'm somewhat disappointed, but I was able to reclear, get in a mountain flight, and help a friend to get his first two mountain flights. That's quite a lot accomplished on a mid-November day.

Unfortunately for the Poser family, they have to wait for me to get down there with the rack. We get his glider back up the hill and into the barn, and I bid them goodbye.

That's going to be it for me this year. In addition to Thanksgiving and Christmas, my younger daughter's birthday is in December, and I owe it to my family to stay home. When I first showed up for training, Dan asked me what my goals were for hang gliding. I said that it was to fly off of the mountain, and I did that. I would have liked to get some more mountain flights, but the fall weather was not cooperative. At age 49, (now 50) I'm guessing that I'm one of the older first time pilots. It just shows that you're never too old to be a newbie.

And as for the dog? She's still with us and seems to be making a bit of a recovery.

See you all in January.

Flying Monkey Invasion

FormerFF — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:30:59 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Focus ]
I've been trying to get my 10 mountain flights in, but the weather hasn't been at all cooperative. I hadn't originally planned to go two weekends in a row, but since Lobido and family were coming in from St. Croix, I just had to come up. As a bonus, the forecast was looking very good.

As this is the last day of Daylight Savings Time, and LMFP is on the western edge of the time zone, it is nighttime dark until 7:25. As I get closer to the flight park, I start encountering fog in the valleys. It's quite thick at times, and I have to slow to 25 mph for a while. As I get to the training hills, the fog is with us in force.

I get my new Falcon off of the car and begin setting it up. Lobido is here today, as is ClandestineSwine, and Imaposer and Mrsposer. What is missing is both ATVs. Apparently there are new ones on order, but they haven't arrived yet, so we'll be carrying the gliders up the hills today.

We head up to the top of the big hill. There's no wind at all and it's foggy. When it's my turn to launch, I can't really find a target, and wind up running something less than straight. Christopher yells at me to run left, which I try to do. I get into the air and still don't have a target, and wind up not making my scheduled left turn. This Falcon 3 feels very different than the 1s and 2s that I'm used to. It's much more responsive, and maybe a bit faster. I haul the glider back up the hill, and go over to chat with Imaposer and Lobido.

Flight #2 is launched into equally foggy conditions. I pick out what I think is a bush for my turn target, and have to pick out a spot at the bottom of the hill for my launch target. This time I do get the scheduled 90 degree turn, but wind up wheeling the glider in. The fog is making things difficult.

By the time the third flight comes around, the fog has lifted. I find out my "bush" actually was a hay bale - that's how foggy things were. This time I'm trying to do a reversing 90 degree turn. I get the first 90 degree turn, roll level, and then start to turn back. I've been a little slow in setting up the second 90 degree turn, and probably should not have tried it at all, as I wind up landing while in a slight bank, and do about a half a ground loop. No harm other than one of the washout tubes has popped out. I put it back and get the glider back up the hill. I will have to say that was the worst landing of my flying career.

Now the sun's out, we can all see what we're doing, and the flights are coming much more quickly. But, between the number of people there, the fog, us having to to carry the gliders back up the hills, and Christopher's general chattiness, it's pretty apparent that we aren't going to get a mountain flight this morning. All we (Imaposer and myself) can hope for is that the wind will back off near sunset and we can fly then.

About this time DocSoc and HeavyPilot show up with a Ford F250 pickup truck, and attach one of the glider trailers to it. On my fifth flight, I get a carry up the hill. I will have to say that the truck makes for a much smoother ride up than does an ATV. Of course, it also costs about eight times as much as well.

On my last flight of the day, I get a speed run, and the best landing I've ever made. It's the first time I've felt the glider decelerating when I've flared, which indicates to me that I've been waiting too late to flare.

I get my glider packed up and head up to the top of the mountain. As expected, it's too breezy for me to launch. I do meet up with Joel, who was here last Saturday and has been here all week. Things are starting to fill in a bit, and four or five gliders launch in short order. I help wire crew a few launches, then head down to the LZ to retrieve a couple of pilots. About the time I get them to the top of the hill, the ridge is really starting to happen. There are a few pilots already running the ridge, and a number more launch and join the mix. Around 2 PM I go get some lunch, and when I come back, most of the same pilots are in the air, and more have joined them. I hang around and wire crew some more launches, including Nibs and Slavacus.

Around 4:30, Dan suggests we newbies set up, anticipating that the wind will slacken near sunset. Imaposer arrives, and gets a glider out of the barn, but doesn't set it up. The wind occasionally slackens a bit, and Joel and I are ready to go. Unfortunately for us, it picks back up as well, so we continue to wait. At this point, there are only about five of us left on the ramp, and only about three gliders set up. Around 6 PM, the wind backs off to 12 mph or so, which is enough to let Joel launch. We get him on the ramp, and he gets a nice smooth launch, and winds up soaring for 30 minutes. I wind up breaking down in the near dark, and finally head down to the party.

I won't try to describe the party, you've seen the pictures and heard the stories. You've also heard about a few of the flights. There were lots of long flights and a few personal bests. Unfortunately for us low time pilots, it never did slacken enough for an evening launch.

I'm still stuck on two mountain flights. I feel a little embarrassed, because I have a new glider and a new pod harness, and have all of 14 minutes of loggable time. We're getting into late fall and winter here, and light Northwesterly winds are going to become pretty scarce. I'm also getting a little resistance from my family, especially since I was gone two Saturdays in a row. I'm thinking I'm going to have to drop back to winter mode, where I'll only go up once every four to six weeks, and on many of those days, will only be able to clear the hills and won't be able to get a mountain flight. So, it may wind up taking me six or eight months or more to get my 10 mountain flights. Imaposer has decided to start his aerotow training, as he's been trying to get his mountain solo for two months now. I'm not feeling the love for aerotow right now, as I'd like to be a lot more comfortable handling the glider before I start towing. I was hoping I could get those mountain flights in before the start of winter, but September and October have been most uncooperative, weather wise, and we're getting to the time of year when light winds are the exception and not the rule.

More clearing, no mountain flying

FormerFF — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:02:03 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Adam Ant ]
That plague of easterly winds we had in September continued into October. About the only thing I can say positive is that we've finally gotten a normal month of rainfall.

It's been four weeks since I've last flown, and there's a Saturday (October 27th) coming where it looks like the the wind will be light and from the northwest. Since the window for mountain solos has been pretty small, I decide to take Friday off and reclear so I'll be ready for Saturday's anticipated good winds. Besides, Gordon has called me to tell me my harness is ready, and I'd like to pick it up as well.

When I reach the training hills, the winds are calm, and it's overcast. Among the pilots who are on the big hill today is Joel, who was also on the big hill the last time I was here. This time he has bought a purple and black Sting, and he is now getting signed off on it to take it to the mountain. I'm sharing a Falcon 170 with Larry, and we assemble it in record time. Larry doesn't even wait for the ATV, and instead carries the glider to the top of the big hill.

Diana arrives at the top of the hill with a few more gliders and pilots and we start launching. Because Larry and I are the only ones who are sharing a glider, we get a few fewer flights than some of the other pilots. Unfortunately, Larry aggravates a pulled muscle, and stops after the minimum number of flights needed to clear. I get cleared after four flights, but since the wind is blowing out of the east at the mountain launch, there's no hurry to get off the hill, so I stay and get an extra couple of flights. I'm still flaring too late and too low, and getting weak flares.

After lunch, we all straggle up to the mountain launch. The wind is still coming in the wrong direction, but is clocking around and we think it will be right for Saturday. I head into the shop and find Dan behind the counter. I ask him, "Dude, where's my glider?". He says, "It's in the condo next door." My glider's here! We get it out, and I take it across the road to set it up. It has a few goodies that I'm not used to, like a transverse batten and a nose cone, so it takes me a while. While I'm doing that, Diana is demonstrating a Horizon to a few other pilots. I also get my harness, and spend a few minutes hanging in it. The wind's not going to turn around for us today, so I head home with my new equipment.

On the way home, I stop at my bank to hit up the cash machine. The driveway is very steeply banked, and I manage to bend one of my rack supports. I was hoping to spend the evening with my wife, but instead I have to get the support off of the car and repair it.

The next morning, I head out at around 6:30, after six hours of sleep. As I approach the mountain launch, the winds are near calm, all good so far. When I get to the mountain lauch, it's overcast, cold, and the windsock is standing straight out. Larry and Joel are there, and already set up, but none of us are going to launch in these conditions. The ramp is filling up with experienced pilots hoping for a bit of ridge soaring, so I go ahead and unload so I can have a place to set up should it back off.

I stand around and shiver for a while. A paraglider pilot attempts to launch, but winds up getting pulled into the air immediately, and flying slowly backwards, at which time his canopy deflates and he winds up lying on his back. Good thing he had one of those back protectors, or that would have hurt. At around 10 or so, the wind begins to slacken a bit. I head over and start setting up. Because of the crowded conditions and the stiffness of the fittings on the new glider, it takes me about 25 minutes to get it put together, and another five minutes to get it close to the ramp, at which time the wind has picked up. Larry and Joel have already launched and landed, but there are about four of us who weren't ready in time. Matt gives me the word to break down, as things are getting a little rowdy out there for the likes of us.

After I break down, I meet up with PilotGuy and Slavacus, who have recently arrived. I also meet Xerxes, Nibs and Curly_cue, none of whom I'd previously met. I wire crew for Slavacus' launch, and ultimately head down to the landing zone to see if anything is happening there. At that time Slavacus is packing up, so I stop and chat for a few minutes and head home. I've got to take my daughter to our neighborhood block party and chili cookoff. I'd originally hoped to come back on Sunday and Tuesday if conditions were good, but the forecast for Sunday was the wrong direction, and since I wouldn't have flown for four days again by Tuesday, I cancel that as well.

Two days up on the mountain, no mountain solos. This is going to be tough.

Thursday, Sept 27 - Second Mountain Solo (Finally)

FormerFF — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:54:21 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to The Byrds ]
I'd been feeling a little heat on the home front, so after my first mountain solo, I figured I'd better cool it a little. Between staying home with the family, working on a car rack, and being plagued with Easterly winds, it wound up being a month between sessions. The forecast for today was southeasterly in the morning with a chance of showers for mid afternoon, and the wind changing direction to the northwest.

I head out at 5:30, after having gotten about 4 1/2 hours sleep, as I was finishing up my car rack. Between the lack of sleep and me now looking at the uprights of the rack through the windshield, I seem to be driving kind of tentatively, and wind up being about 10 minutes late to the training hills. I'm still in the observation phase of my training, and have to reclear the training hills since it's been more than four days since I last flew. This is four tasks: A 90 degree turn, a linked 45, a linked 90, and a speed run. To make a long story short, it took me seven flights to complete my tasks, and I wound up staying to do one more flight, as neither Diana nor I really liked my linked 90 all that much. Fortunately, I do a much better job on the last linked 90, because the wind has picked up a bit into a tailing crosswind. Good for the folks on the small hill, but not good for the big hill. No matter, because by that time the three of us who were on it are done.

I head up to the mountain launch to see what's happening, and there's about a 10 mph direct crosswind, so no flying for us newbies, at least for now. There is an Audi S4 with a nice looking goalpost arrangement on its front bumper, so I go over and introduce myself to Wilburleft. As the morning wears on, the wind starts to switch around to more of a headwind, and he decides to do a sled run, since he hasn't mountain launched in a while. He gets Diana to give him a few pointers, and makes a nice launch. I head down to the LZ to get him, and I'm about as excited to get to use my new car rack as I would be to fly. While we're down there, Matt Taber gives me a compliment on the rack, and asks me if I can take one of the school gliders back up the hill, which I am happy to do.

While there's not much to do during the early afternoon, I can't think of a more pleasant place to do it, and I'm quite content to hang out at the mountain launch and chat with whoever comes by.

Later in the afternoon, the wind clocks around to just about straight onto the ramp. It's a little too strong for us newbies, but not quite enough to provide enough ridge lift to keep anyone up for an extended period. I arrive back from town just in time to see Wilburleft make another launch. He's able to stay in the lift band for a little while, then finally works down to the landing zone, and finds some thermal lift there. He definitely has one of the longer flights of the day.

The northwesterly breeze has brought out a number of pilots, and it's interesting to see all the advanced rigs in the setup area. As it pushes toward six o'clock, there are two of us newbies hanging around hoping to get a mountain launch. Gordon agrees to stay with us after hours, and suggests that we set up in case the wind slackens. Joel and I pull Falcon 170s out of the storage shed, and begin setting them up. Daniel, a pilot who had recleared this morning and is hoping to get his first mountain solo, arrives, and also needs a Falcon 170. There's no basetube for the third 170, so Matt Taber volunteers me to fly a Falcon 195. Gordon asks me if it's OK with me, and since I spent most of my training on a 195, I have no problem with that, so we get one out and Gordon helps me set it up.

By now, I'm really tired. I've been staying up late the last couple of weeks to get the car rack ready, and combined with the short nights sleep last week, I'm getting a little punchy. While assembling the 170, I put both the nose wire and luffline ring on twisted. Both problems were caught on preflight, so no harm was done. I do manage to get the 195 put together correctly, and the waiting begins. A little after 7 it's starting to get dark, and I get this feeling that I should break down and go home. Gordon suggests otherwise, and eventually the sun comes out from behind the cloud and I feel much better about things. The wind has barely slackened, and it's getting dark, so it's now or never. Gordon sends Joel first, as he's had the most flights of the three of us. He launches smoothly, and I'm next. I've been hang checked, but get a second one anyway. I'm out on the ramp, just about on the top, and get the go ahead to launch, look left, then right, then take a deep breath, and CLEAR! I get about three steps into the run and I'm going UP! I'm wondering if I've popped the nose, but the pitch angle seems correct, the wind feels and sounds correct, and when I get a chance to look at the airspeed indicator, it's right at 20 mph, which is what I'd expect.

On this flight, there are four things I wanted to get done. One was to take an extra step on my takeoff run, the second was to cross my feet as soon as I got off the ramp, the third was to do my slow flight task, and the fourth was to look at the windsock on final. I've already taken the extra step and crossed my feet, so it's time to do the slow flight. I let the glider approach trim speed, which shows right at 18 mph. One problem I do have is that I tend to overcontrol this bigger glider. After a few turns, I get that figured out. On the 170, when I bump over, the glider responds immediately, so I can return to center quickly. On the 195, if I wait for the glider to move very much, I overshoot the turn. It's a little different, but by the time I get to the pattern, it seems natural and the problem goes away.

The air's a little buoyant tonight, and even with the headwind, I arrive over the LZ a little higher than on my first solo. At least I think I'm higher, as it's getting kind of dark. I make a little bigger box pattern than I did on my first solo, but still break out after one pattern. I still think I'm a little high, so I pull in as much as possible, but the combination of the bigger glider and the buoyant air is still keeping me up a little higher than ideal. I get to the end of the field, and turn final, still a little high. I can see I'm still going to land in the middle third of the LZ, so I don't make any more turns, just pull in, get close to the ground, round out, then wait too long to flare and wind up on the wheels, about two thirds the way down the LZ. It's not ideal, but it's good enough. I unhook and get the glider out of the way, and push it to the breakdown area, because I know that Daniel was right behind me and it's his first mountain solo. I start breaking down, but look up to see Daniel make a great approach and get a nice two step landing.

I'm so tired at this point that I can't remember how to break the glider down properly, and forget to put the bag on before I roll it off the basetube. With Gordon's help, I get it bagged up and we load all three gliders on the truck. Daniel and I ride up in the back with the basetubes. As expected, he's jazzed, as well he should be. Now he's thinking about a rack for his car, and buying a glider, and all that other stuff that I just went through.

I'll be going to the Petit Le Mans this Saturday, so I won't be flying this weekend. Hopefully the easterly plague we've been having will abate, and the rest of y'all can get some flying in. As for me, it will be two weeks, at which time I'll have to reclear again. With all this clearing and reclearing, I'm starting to feel like a Scientologist. In any case, I can't wait.

Day 9, 8/26/07 Mountain Solo!!!

FormerFF — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 04:01:53 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Yes ]
As I headed out this morning, there was still a little moonlight left. From that, I could see that there was a high, thin partial overcast. As I approached LMFP, a light rain shower appeared, and stayed with us for the the first 45 minutes or so and got us, the grass, and the gliders a little wet. There's some added motivation to land on your feet, I'd say. As I build the glider, I'm looking up at the streamers at the top of the hill. It looks like there is a slight crossing tailwind at first, but it switches around to a slight crossing headwind.

Here's where I am in the training plan: I need to do two consecutive linked 45 degree turns, and two consecutive linked 90 degree turns, then two "speed runs", which considering the limited altitude we have to work with, won't be all that speedy. After that, I will have cleared the training hills and will be ready for my mountain solo. So, if I have a good day, I could just possibly be going off of the mountain today. I'm mentally prepared to do that, but won't be disappointed if I don't get to it today.

There's a decent sized crowd on the small hill, but just two of us on the big hill, and both of us are named Matt. The other Matt is a little late and is building his glider while I'm ready, so I'm first to go. Up until today, I've been flying a Falcon 195, but I'm really a little light for that glider, and since I'm buying a Falcon 170, that's what I'm flying today. Gordon is our instructor, and he asks me if I want to take a straight flight first. I decide I'd rather jump right into the linked 45, since a straight flight isn't going to tell me anything about how the smaller glider will turn. I walk, jog, run, and pretty much as expected, the 170 requires a few more steps than did a 195. I get a right turn, then a left, get back on course, and set up for a landing. I round out a bit too low, but still wind up on my feet. Because the glider gets ahead of me, I put it down on its wheels for the last part of the landing. I'm having a much easier time turning today. I'm sure some of the improvement was from the two aerotows I took last Sunday, but I'm feeling much better on the 170. Sometimes I felt like the 195 was flying me, rather than me flying it. With the 170, there's no question that I am master of my domain.

OK, let's see what's next. Linked 45's using starting to the left? Should be no problem. I get a good launch, now a left, now a right, and coming up on a landing. Again, I round out a little low, and this time wind up wheeling it in. Not too bad.

Next up are linked 90s. On the first one, Gordon reminds me that I'm not keeping my feet crossed, and tells me that I'll get more control if I do. I add that to the list of things to do. OK, let's try to put it all together: walk, jog, run, cross the feet, turn right (crossing your feet gives you a LOT more control authority), we're most of the way to the 90 degree pylon, look left, shift left, glider rolls to the left, we're about 30 degrees from the desired course, start rolling out, we're on heading with wings level, now pull in a bit more and get a little more speed, now round out, get the hands up, here comes the ground, FLARE, do a little running, and let the glider settle onto my shoulders. For some reason, I just keep walking with the glider on my shoulders until we're off to the side of the landing area, even though it would be easier to unclip and roll the glider on its wheels. (As always, the "we" I'm referring to here is me and the glider.)

With just the two of us, flights come pretty quickly. What we've been doing is for me to launch and walk my glider to the side of the hill, then for the other Matt to launch, after which Gordon comes down on the ATV to get both of us. When we get to the top, I unload my glider, and when the other glider comes up, I unload it as well, so I'm getting a little winded. This time, I tell Gordon I need about three minutes to rest, and he says, "You're OK", like he wants me to keep going and clear the hill. Now I'm beginning to believe I'm just about ready for the mountain. I tell him I'll be ready when he gets back with the other Matt, and I am. He also tells me my last flight was "textbook".

What's next? Another linked 90, and about the same result. Everything has just clicked, and it no longer seems that there's not enough time to do everything, though when you think about it, that's a lot of stuff to pack into a 30 second flight. Now it's time for the first speed run. This, as you might expect, is the easiest task, provided that you don't have the downtubes in a death grip. I get a little bit of altitude, then pull in and parallel the hill's slope. At the bottom, I let the bar pressure off, round out, and get the best landing of the day.

As I start carry the glider over to the side of the field, I hear Gordon yell down to me, so I look up. He tells me, "GET OFF MY HILL!". I guess I don't have to make a second speed run.

It's SHOWTIME!

I wheel the glider over to the breakdown area and start putting it away. It's still overcast, and there's a weak northeasterly wind, so there's a good chance I'll get a launch today. I work quickly, but not too quickly, as it's still early. I get the glider packed away, and some of the small hill students come in, including Wayne, who I had met at aerotow last week. He had just cleared the small hill, and chose to rest his legs rather than go to the big hill right away. At this point I'm more excited than nervous. I am nervous enough to forget to put the caddy fees in Gordon's car. I remember a little ways down that long gravel road that leads back to the main road, and execute about a 20 point turn to get turned around and get back to the hills.

On the way up to the launch, I'm totally focused on flying, so much so that I have to remind myself to think about driving. When I get up to the launch, the winds are light and shifting from a cross to a crossing headwind. It's not perfect, but it looks like there are launchable times. I go into the office and tell Diana that Gordon has kicked me off of the big hill. She confirms what the windsocks have told me, and asks me if I want to set up, even though I may have to wait. Yes, I do, so we go get a glider out of the barn across the road. Unfortunately, this basetube doesn't have any hardware, so we go searching the shop for some. I also get a harness and the last airspeed indicator.

After I get the glider built, I have to ask Matt Taber where to install the airspeed indicator. I do a preflight inspection on the glider and harness, and am a little nervous, especially since this is the first time I've assembled a glider without the instruction card. What I'm also nervous about is the launch. After this morning's flying plus last Sunday's tandems, I feel very good about the flight and the approach. But the launch, I still don't know about. Everyone tells me it's easier than the training hills, but hearing that someone launched into the trees last week proves that you can still blow it.

About this time Gordon comes up from the training hills. There are a number of other pilots and gliders ready to go, and we let all of them launch. Gordon goes over the flight plan with me: Launch, head towards the red roofed house, then to the windsock, make the appropriate number of boxes over the field, when three trees high, break out of the box pattern and head downwind, turn base when two trees high or at the end of the landing zone, then turn final, pull in for speed, round out, and land.

I'm watching a number of other pilots launch, and it seems like a number of them make kind of a diving launch, which Gordon tells me is not what I want to do. He also reminds me to cross my feet.

Now it's my turn to get on the ramp. I've gone between excitement and nervousness, and at this point, they're in about even proportion. Gordon tells me to hang check, and I try to do that, even though I haven't hooked in yet. We rectify that situation, get a hang check, and move onto the ramp. I want to set the glider down to do a hook in check, and do so. The wind's not quite right anyway, so we wait a minute, then I pick the glider up and move forward a bit more. The wind shifts again, and I set the glider down on its wheels while Gordon holds the keel. The wind shifts back, Gordon tells me to pick the glider up, and to move forward another step. At this time, I'm totally locked onto Sand Mountain and the horizon. The Presidential motorcade could have passed behind me and I wouldn't have noticed. Gordon gives me a few more words of instructions, then says, "The ramp and the glider are yours." I take a quick look to the side to make sure the wings are level, then say, "CLEAR!" I take a step, start to jog, and can feel myself going down the ramp. The slack comes out of the harness and the glider starts lifting me. I'm launched!

I get my usual trim speed plus a half inch, and consult the airspeed indicator. I'm at 20 mph, pretty much where I want to be. The task that you are given for you mountain solo is to slow to trim speed, and to pull in to about 23 mph. There's a little turbulence, so I'm not too motivated to slow down, but do pull in to see where 23 mph is. It's about where I pull in to when landing on the training hill.

At this point, I have about three words to say:
Woohoo!
Awesome! and
Righteous!

There's a bit of a breeze, and I'm crabbing into the wind. I don't seem to be turning as effectively as I was this morning, and I realize that I haven't crossed my legs. I've been flying Gumby style! I fix that and everything comes right.

We're approaching the windsock, right on course. I've seen a number of students come in too low, and don't want to repeat the mistake. I'm guessing that one box of the field will be plenty, especially since the crabbing into the breeze has probably cost us a little altitude. OK, look left, no one's there, turn left. We fly a little farther, and time for another left and are now going across the LZ. It's fairly narrow here, so it's time for another left, and are now flying upwind. At this point, I think I'm about three trees high, and choose to make a 120 degree turn, to both get us across the field and start the downwind leg. We get to the end of the field about the same time we reach two trees high, and start to turn base leg. Because the field is narrow at that end, base leg is more like a 180 degree turn than a separate leg. Since I'm over the tug runway, I make a little more than 180 degrees of turn, to get us a little closer to the left side of the LZ. It's time to pull in, and set up a final. Now there's a golf cart headed straight for me, I think I'm going to fly over him, but instead he changes direction and it's no longer an issue. The ground is getting close, I round out, bleed off some speed, get those hands up, flare, and take about four steps before the glider settles onto my shoulders. I'm not far from the breakdown area, so I just keep walking until I get there. I did it!

To be continued...

Day 8, 8/19/07 - Glider purchase day

FormerFF — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:58:14 GMT

[ Mood: Hypnotized ]
The day dawns slightly overcast, still, and hot. As we start setting up, there's a good crowd on the small hill, including ClandestineSwine, and they're using both Condors and Falcons. Unfortunately for them, one of the caddy trailers has a flat tire, so they'll be carrying the gliders up the small hill. I had to do that one day, and I didn't think it was so bad. On the other hand, I did carry the glider up the big hill once, and I can see that if I had to do that repeatedly, I wouldn't be getting more than five flights.

Dan is the instructor du jour. There are just two of us on the big hill, and we're sharing a Falcon 195. I have two 90 degree turns to finish that task, and Dan asks me if I want to start with a straight flight. I choose to make a 90 on the first run, get a good launch, complete the turn, but am a bit too slow to get a foot landing and wind up wheeling it in. The other pilot comes to get me on the ATV, and he drives us up the hill for his turn. Next run, I get my second 90, and an adequate foot landing. Now it's time for linked 45s, first to the right, then to the left, so you roll out on the same heading you started with, but on a different track. I'm instructed not to make any turns below 20 feet. On my first try, I'm already turning to the right as I get off the ground, but it takes a while to get back to level, so I don't try the second 45. Second attempt goes a little better, and I get close to two 45s and a wheel landing. Third time's the charm, and I get two good 45s, but a wheel landing. Next time I don't get quite as good of a flight, as I come off in a right turn, and don't quite finish the task, but do get a most of a foot landing, where I wind up sliding the last part on one foot and a knee.

Both of us students have been taking off in right turns. Dan decides to take a test flight to make sure it's not the glider. He takes off and flies hands off, and perfectly level. Yep, it's us.

About this time we get an occasional tailwind. During those times, whoever's driving the ATV runs over to the small hill to caddy some students up. On my second run over, I get there just in time to see ClandestineSwine make a perfect flight, and the beginnings of a flare on his wheel landing. I can see he is about ready to start doing foot landings. I was going to stay to get one more student up, but since he jumped into the glider on his launch I figure that I'll let him push it back up. That will give him time to think about things.

It's my turn again. I start my launch, Dan yells for me to keep my wings level, and I start to think about that, but I also start to slow down. Now he yells to keep running, so I accelerate, but come of the hill in a bit of a right turn. About the time I get level, the glider starts climbing. This is definitely not what I'm expecting, so I concentrate on keeping the wings level and an appropriate pitch angle. I finally wind up wheeling it in, almost to the edge of the tall grass. The other student is very impressed with how far I've gone, but I'm still not sure what happened. When I get back up the hill, Dan tells me that I've stumbled into a thermal, and that it had taken me for a ride. Needless to say, this is not helping me accomplish my tasks. The other student gets another flight, then it's my turn to wait for a good cycle. I get hooked in and am waiting, and would really like to get another flight, as I wasn't too thrilled with the last one. We see what might be an opportunity, and Dan suggests I just make a straight flight. The opportunity doesn't come, so instead I unhook and call it a day, probably somewhat to Dan's relief. He takes the harness and helmet, and is going to fly it down the hill, but doesn't get the chance, as the tailwind has established itself. I do learn a good lesson in the micrometerology of the training hills, though.

While breaking the glider down, I speak those fateful words to Dan: "I'll be around all afternoon, since I'm taking some tandems this evening, so if you're around, let's talk about a glider."

After lunch, I head back up to the mountain launch. There's a crossing tailwind on the ramp, so not much is going on up there, other than people studying for tests and signing up for tandems. There is a bit of a buzz going on since a pilot blew her launch off of the ramp on Saturday and wound up in the trees. She was fine, but spend a good part of the afternoon up there. I get the mountain test study guide, read it, and then take the test, which is 65 questions. So, I'm all up to date with written tests for the mountain solo.

After I'm done with that, I spend some time just sitting out by the launch. After I while, I start getting nervous about tonight's tandems. I'm not sure why, other than that I'm irritated that I didn't do more with that last flight. At some point, Dan arrives and takes me out to the ramp and diagrams the Mountain flight plan. This will be repeated when I get to do my solo. Then we go in to talk about equipment.

I've already decided that I want a new Falcon 3, when Dan suggests that I also consider the Northwing Freedom. Now I've got to do more thinking. I finally decide to stay with the Falcon, for reasons that I'll bring up in the "Why Did You Choose The Wing You Fly? thread in a couple of days. http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=3202

I also order a Lookout GT XC harness, training wheels, a flight pass, USHPA membership, and Beginner and Novice ratings. Oh, and a helmet, which is the only thing that I actually received that day. Including tax and shipping, and a 10% discount on harness, helmet, and wheels, it came to a shade over $5000. Since the helmet is the only tangible piece of this purchase right now, I'm referring to it as my $5000 helmet. I step out of the office, and I feel great, which is not usually how I feel after a major purchase. The nerves I previously had are completely gone. So, if you get to a point in your training where you're nervous, just buy a glider.

About 5:00, a little thunderstorm rolls in. It's so hazy, we can't tell it's little, though. I head into Trenton to get a drink, and run both into and out of the storm. I get back to the landing zone about a quarter to six, and the storm, which has missed the LZ completely, is on its way out, and the only clouds left overhead are high and thin. Because a few rumblings of thunder are still audible, we wait until about 6:30 to start launching. All the first time students and the people on the weekend package go first, then the three of us more advanced students are last. I get two flights, both with Erik. On the second one, I'm able to do almost all of the tow. While towing, I tend to use too big of a control input, and also tend to get slightly off pitch when making a roll correction, and slightly off roll when making a pitch correction. Most importantly, I get to make two approaches, and feel much better about the prospect of stepping off of the ramp. The air is as smooth as butter, and it's getting towards twilight, so Erik lets me just fly around and appreciate the experience for a minute or two. It's just magic.

We get to the ground, and I get out of my harness. It's a little after 8:00, so I start to head for my car. I get about 20 steps, and realize I've forgotten my helmet. Oh yeah, I have equipment now.

Day 7, 8/5/07

FormerFF — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 02:15:10 GMT

[ Mood: Cool ]
[ Currently: Listening to Game Theory ]
As I head out this morning, it's... dark. Back at the end of June when I started, I could get some sort of read on the weather as I headed out the door. As the sunrise has come later, it's now too dark. As I approach the training hills and the sky lightens, I can see that there is a thin overcast and it's hazy.

As we set up the gliders, a slight breeze appears. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a tailing crosswind, so we'll be playing a waiting game. There are three of us sharing two Falcon 195s, one person with his own Falcon, and another student on a Falcon 170.

Gordon takes us up the big hill, and the waiting game begins. Some flyable wind cycles start opening up, and we start launching. My first task is another H1 flight, which is to say straight down the hill. I get that done easily enough, and get a decent foot landing that requires a bit more running than I'd like. Next up is a run at trim speed. I get a good launch, pull in a bit, and then start letting the bar out. I immediately start what feels like a zoom climb. As I approach trim speed, the glider falls off a bit to the left. I get it back to level, but am so surprised by this that I don't even attempt a foot landing, but instead wheel it in. I ask Gordon what happened, and he tells me that I had a very slight turn going, and when I slowed, the glider slid off towards the low wing.

Next up, it's time to start 45 degree turns. The first attempt, to the right, is a tad soft. It takes me about three bumps to get the glider turned, and wind up making another wheel landing. About now, the wind has shifted, giving us a bit of a crossing headwind, so we start launching quickly. The second attempt at a 45 is much better, but still results in a wheel landing, as I round out a bit too low.

Now that I can turn to the right, it's time to try turning to the left. I get a good launch and lock onto the 45 degree turn pylon. I lock onto it so well that I forget to set up the landing until it's too late to get a foot landing. I promise myself that I won't do that again.

The wind's getting sketchy again, so we are starting to wait again. My next task is a 90 degree turn to the right. I undercontrol this a bit, and probably make more like an 80 degree turn, but at last I get a foot landing.

Somewhere around 9 AM, we are joined by a pilot who flies a Pulse, and is requalifying after a long layoff. He takes a couple of flights, then asks Gordon to test fly it for him. The tailwind appears to be setting up for the duration, so I decide to pack it in. The other two guys who are sharing the Falcons stay up on the top of the hill with Gordon, who is looking for a better cycle to launch the Pulse. Gordon sends the two students for flights while waiting for an appropriate cycle to launch the Pulse. He never finds it and winds up sending the Pulse down the hill on the ATV. My glider mates fly the Falcons down the hill, and we break them down.

What's next? I have to do a couple more 90 degree turns, then linked 45s and linked 90s, and a speed run. I also have two tandems left, and I'd like to take them before the mountain launch. I won't be going up next weekend, as my younger daughter's first day of Kindergarten is a week from Monday, and I'd like to spend Sunday with her. So, weather permitting, I'll be up on the 19th, and hopefully can get most of my tasks and the two tandems in.

After getting the gliders packed up, I headed up to the mountain launch to read over the mountain test study guide. After that, I walked over to the ramp, stood on it, and tried to visualize what the launch from there will be like. The first day I came up there, I was so intimidated by the ramp that I didn't even want to stand on it. Now I'm looking forward to running off of it, with a glider attached, of course.

Day 6, 7/22/07: So Long Small Hill

FormerFF — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:48:20 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Tears for Fears ]
That front that had been hanging around the South finally pushed through almost to the Florida - Georgia border. As I head out from home, I see a few flashes of what is either an airplane strobe at close range or lightning that is far away. No matter, I'm committed to going up there and I'm on my way. When I arrive there are a few clouds, it's dead calm, and cool.

Today there are three of us headed for the small hill. Conveniently, all three of us need Falcon 195s. Alex and I assemble one, Brandon assembles the other, and Dan takes us out to the small hill. On the first flight, one of the guys, who shall remain nameless (but it wasn't me) gets into a turn and hits kind of hard, winding up on the glider's nose and bending a downtube, and taking a pretty good divot as well. When he gets back up to the top of the hill, Dan rather forcefully impresses on him to not overcontrol the glider.

Next up, my other fellow student takes his run. He does much better, but still winds up with the glider on its nose. Now I'm beginning to wonder if there's something going on down there that I'm not seeing. The flight plan for this first flight is to make a good launch and a wheel landing, so I can get reacquainted with the glider after the week's layoff. I get set up, get a decent launch, a nice smooth flight, and an uneventful wheel landing. Since there are three of us and two gliders, we're rotating gliders. I think I kind of surprised Dan by wanting to preflight the glider I didn't build. I'm sure he looked at it, but I just would like to preflight the glider I'm flying. BTW, I also preflight the harness before I put it on.

Flight #2, it's time to try to land on my feet again. I get a good roundout, but am a bit too low to land on my feet. For flight #3, it all comes together. I've flared a bit late and having to run the landing out some, but it's still a decent landing. Flight #4 is very much like flight #3, and #5 is just like #4, except a little puff of wind picks me up off the ground during the launch run before I think I have enough airspeed. My legs are still going, so I pull in a bit, get my feet on the ground, and get a few more steps before launch. Now the pressure's on, as I need a fourth foot landing flight to clear the hill. The wind is starting to become a bit shifty, and it's starting to move us around some. Dan has been giving me some suggestions as to where my hands should be during different phases of the flight, and I'm starting to spend more time thinking about that. So much so, that on flight #6, I lose sight of my target, begin a turn, and wind up flaring too low to get a foot landing. I think about it, but decide having to do more flights is better than possibly pulling a muscle trying to get a foot landing that isn't quite there.

When I get to the top, Dan asks me if I lost sight of my target, and I realize that is what happened. The wind is starting to play games with the glider, and I'm not sure there will be enough time to get four more flights. My legs are holding up well, so I think I'm OK, but the conditions might not be.

For the next flight, I lock onto the target. I fly straight towards it, while the wind picks me up and drops me slightly. I'm able to maintain level wings, get in the flare window, and pull off a decent foot landing. The ATV driver comes down to get me, and has my cooler and training card. I ask if we're going in, and he says, yeah, it's getting too windy. Man, I'm close. As we approach the breakdown area, he tells me, "I was just jerking your chain. You're going to the big hill." Apparently the "four consecutive foot landings" rule is Lookout's, and the instructors can give you a mulligan if you're otherwise flying well.

I should put in a word about my fellow students. After a couple of flights, Brandon is making solid launches and nice foot landings. Alex has corrected his overcontrolling problem and is making solid flights with wheel landings.

I get to the top of the big hill, and a number of congratulations. Also there is a woman I'd met a few weeks ago who had 70 or 80 small hill flights. It turns out she had cleared the small hill on Saturday. Joining us a few minutes later is Brandon, who has also cleared the small hill.

After waiting my turn, my task is merely to do an "H1" flight, which is to say straight down the hill. The launch off of the big hill is much easier, as it is steeper. I may have pulled it a bit too much at first since I'm now a lot higher than before, but a few extra knots of speed is better than a few too few. I finish up with a decent foot landing, and head back up the hill with the glider, as Brandon is waiting for it.

We're having to wait for the wind to cycle between launches, so I'm not sure I'm going to get a second flight. No matter, I'm very pleased with today's results, and would rather go home after getting a good flight than going out in sketchy conditions and not doing all that well. About this time, the ATV arrives with Alex and the other glider, as he has cleared the small hill as well. Diana, who is instructing on the big hill today, is now telling everyone to take their gliders to the breakdown area, as things are getting too shifty to continue. I offer Brandon the glider for the last run, and he accepts. I head down, very happy with the days events.

I'm going to have to skip a week, so I have two weeks to think about turns. Y'know, that mountain flight isn't that far away now.

Day 5, 7/15/07

FormerFF — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:24:41 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Deodato ]
There's a stationary (or is an occluded) front hanging around the Southeast, so the weather is cooler than usual, with showers and some thunderstorms. On the way to the flight park, I passed through some fog, but no rain, and when I arrive at the training hills, it's a bit hazy but still dry. However, there is a bit a breeze blowing, which is not a problem for the two of us on the small hill, but stops the five or six pilots on the big hill, as it is a tailwind for them.

Today we get a new instructor: Lauren. Gordon is handling the big hill, and later I find out that Dan and Diana will be handing the first day students, of which there are about 10.

I get my first launch, which is assisted by a bit of a slightly crossing headwind, and don't do a lot with it. I get a little bit turned and wind up cross controlling. As Lauren says, the glider is flying me , rather than the other way around. Also, she wants me to fly a little faster. The second launch is much better. I start getting pushed around a bit by the breeze, start cross controlling, realize what I'm doing wrong, and fix it. For the next couple of flights, I work on keeping adequate airspeed in preparation for landing on my feet. One time she asks me to keep the nose down on launch, and I do a little too good of a job of it and wind up chasing the glider a bit, and getting a low flight. I do get a flight with a good roundout, and Lauren gives me the "flare speech", where she emphasized the need for airspeed, moving hands up, and never taking back a flare. (in other words, if you flare the glider too high, keep it flared, don't let the nose down.) OK, I'm set, I have level wings, correct pitch angle, now walk, jog, run, keep running until my feet are off the ground, pull in a bit for some speed, now I'm approaching the ground, time to let the glider come back to trim speed, and get my hands up. About this time Lauren yells something, which I later realized was "Flare!" No matter, I'm already on it. I push up, take a step, then a second, a third, and I'm stopped. Now the glider is settling a bit, I tighten my grip on the downtubes, and I'm standing on my feet holding the glider on my shoulders. Very nice.

That was my sixth flight today. Unfortunately, my legs were starting to give out. On Friday I'd taken my daughters to the water park, and had been on my feet for seven hours, then on Saturday took a short (12 mile) bicycle ride, so I may have just overdone things. I do get two more flights, but my launches weren't the strongest, and I spend most of those flights correcting the direction that the glider is going, and don't get an opportunity to try another flare. Lauren suggests that I should be off the small hill next week, and I hope she's correct. The launches are killing my legs. After I get the Falcon packed away, I watch the people flying the big hill, since the wind has slackened, then head up to the mountain launch, if for no other reason than my legs are too sore to drive back to Atlanta quite yet. While I'm there, I get to see someone's first mountain solo. The guy looked absolutely delighted to be on that ramp. I hope that when my time comes, I'll the that excited and confident. While I'm not there yet, I'm beginning to believe that in another month or so, I'll be ready to go off that ramp.

Weather (and legs) permitting, I'll go up next Sunday. The following week I'm out of town, and somewhere in there I may have to skip a week, at least until school starts, as I'm beginning to hear a few rumblings of discontent on the home front.

Day 4, 7/08/07

FormerFF — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:31:32 GMT

[ Mood: Cool ]
[ Currently: Working ]
When I head out the door at 5:30, the streets are wet and it's misting. By the time I get towards Cartersville, it's actually raining, and I'm beginning to wonder what I'm doing out here. As I head farther north, the rain slackens, and as I approach Lookout, it's dry and the clouds start to break. Then, as I get to the training hills, it's a bit foggy, but no rain in sight. So I'm 4 for 4 on picking good weather days.

Because of the rain, I'm a couple of minutes late. Dan and Gordon are there, along with 10 or so students, a number of whom are setting up shiny new double surface gliders. After we get set up, four of us head over to the small hill with Dan. It turns out we have two bummers for the day: A small herd of cattle has invaded the training hills and left their, um, deposits all over the place, meaning that gross encounters of the bovine kind are likely. Bummer #2 is that one of the ATVs has gone belly up, and that those of us who are on the small hill will be pushing our gliders back up the hill today.

Of the four of us on the hill, one is a mountain pilot who is transitioning to a Mark IV that he recently bought. Then there's me, another man who is a beginner, and a lady who is the mom in a flying family, and is still on the small hill.

It's kind of foggy, and I'm a little reluctant to launch. After the others get their first flights, I get in position and go. I get a nice strong launch and a smooth wheel landing, and manage to miss all the cow pies. I also now remember why I got up at 5 AM and drove through the rain. When I get to the top, Dan is concerned that I'm holding the downtubes too tightly, so that's mostly what we work on this day. I don't have a lot of success in trying to flare, as I'm still working on my hand position, and on those short training hill flights I find it hard to work on more than one skill at a time. With one exception, all my launches are strong, but I'm not quite getting the flare timing right. One thing I've been doing wrong is to keep looking at my original target rather than bringing my target down to the horizon as I descend, so I'm having trouble determining where the ground is.

On the next to last flight, as I stand ready to launch, for the first time I feel confident and comfortable. Not that I was that nervous on the other launches, but things just feel better this time.

Since we're all moving a little slowly, Dan puts us in the simulator to get a little flare practice. After that, the other two beginning students say they've had enough, but I'd like one last flight. The sky is starting to clear, and a bit of breeze has picked up. I have to wait a few minutes for the breeze to slacken, then get the go ahead to launch. On this flight, I get a few ups and downs from the beginning thermals, which is a neat feeling.

After we get through putting our gliders away, Dan, Gordon, one of the other students and myself head off to try to get the cattle back to their farm. After about 45 minutes of trying, the score is Cattle 3, HG Pilots 0, so we head home.

Yes, I'm still on the small hill. But, the more flights I get the more I enjoy it. I'd rather stay here until I get my takeoffs and landings wired than to move ahead too quickly. And yes, I did manange to avoid the cow pies. One of my fellow students was not so lucky. Last time I looked the offending harness was still outside the shipping container.

Day 3, 6/29/07

FormerFF — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 19:38:36 GMT

[ Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Listening to Milton Nascimento ]
Since I have a number of vacation days, I decided to stay overnight in Trenton, to try to get a jump start on my training. The next morning, my slightly sore shoulder is still a little sore, but nothing too serious. I head out to the hills, and the crowd today is myself, a young man whose father also flies (this one's younger than yesterday's), and another former general aviation pilot who's taking up hang gliding. Diana and Gordon both arrive at 7:45, and they give us each our own glider to set up. Also, someone shows up to drive the ATV. I don't think any of the three of us has ever set up a Falcon by ourselves, as it takes us each around 30 minutes. Considering there's only three of us, there's no hurry, as we're each going to run out of legs long before the wind starts to blow.

We get our gliders out to the hill, and I get ready for my first launch. Today's task is to learn to land on my feet. I level the glider, walk, jog, run, and YEOW do my legs hurt!. Now Slavacus had warned me about getting sore, but I hadn't experienced it yet. Between the leg pain and the sore shoulder, I get off the ground kind of cockeyed, and the glider responds by turning to the right. I try to bump it over, but I wind up cross controlling (that's where you move your head and shouders one way and your hips and legs the opposite, which doesn't get the glider to turn) and am now heading towards the trees. I'm almost out of altitude anyway, so I wheel land and slide to a stop in the tall grass.

I get the glider up to the top of the hill with the help of the ATV driver, and in about two minutes, it's my turn again. This time I make a much better launch and a nice clean wheel landing, but my legs are burning. Back to the top, and I take myself out of the rotation for a couple of minutes. My legs are loosening up a bit, so I go for flight #3. This time I try for a flare, and get the beginning of one, but didn't really commit to it and wind up on the wheels. I wait a couple of minutes at the top of the hill for another launch and see if my legs will loosen up. For launch #4 my legs were getting worse, so I don't make a very strong launch and don't even attempt a flare. I get the glider to the top of the hill and tell Diana that I'm packing it in for the day. In the meantime the other former GA pilot has started landing on his feet, and after ten total flights, is promoted to the large hill. Since he's on the aerotow package, Gordon sends him to the landing zone to do tandems rather than starting him on the big hill. The person who was driving the ATV offers to take me back to setup area, and I start (slowly) putting the Falcon back in the bag. Now it's just Diana and the young pilot. He does a total of 15 (!) flights off the small hill before packing it in. Teenage legs, I guess.

I head back to the mountain launch and slather myself in Flexall. After some nice conversation and congratulations to someone who had done his mountain solo earlier, I finish reading the needed chapters and take my Hang 2 test. I then head home, happy but sore. I was hoping to get back up there on Sunday, July 1, but am just too sore, so now I plan to go Sunday, July 8. If anyone wants to ride up with me for hill training, or needs someone to drive their car to the LZ late morning or early afternoon, PM me and I'll get you my phone number.

Day 2, 6/28/07

FormerFF — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:51:52 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Frank Sinatra ]
After a bright, early wakeup call at 4:45, I'm on my way. After an effortless drive, I arrive at the training hills ahead of schedule, and before the instructor. Gordon arrives shortly before our start time of 7:45. As is expected for a Thursday, it's not crowded, with only about four of us on the small hill, and two more on the big hill. It's a nearly windless morning. Gordon pulls down one of the wind direction streamers to see if it's stuck to the pole, and it's not, it's just that there's no wind. It is, however, plenty wet, as the normal dew has been joined by some rainfall from the previous day. I share a glider with a young man whose father is also a pilot. He's more experienced than I am, and with his help, we assemble the Falcon quickly, and are off to the hill. On my first flight, I walk, jog, run, and lo and behold, this time the glider lifts off. It's a little in front of me, and I'm more than a little surprised how easily the glider lifted off, since I couldn't get the Falcon to fly on Sunday. I wind up sliding on the grass about 100 feet or so, finally stopping at the bottom of the hill. My training partner comes and gets me on the ATV, and compliments me on the slide. Now I'm soaked from the waist down and muddy. Fortunately, PilotGuy had warned me about the wet grass, so I was wearing lightweight hiking boots, which held up much better than running shoes. Thanks, PilotGuy, for the tip.

OK, time for attempt #2. Now I know I can get the Falcon off my shoulders, it's time to try and fly it as well. This time I get things right, the glider lifts off, I keep running, and it picks me up. OK, we're ballooning a little bit, time to pull in a bit, that's better, we're approaching the bottom of the hill, and in for a nice smooth (and wet) wheel landing. That's much more satisfying.

Flight #3 was a little more like #1, as I didn't get a real good launch. Flight #4 was another good one. I've finally gotten a little bit of rhythm going. I get the glider in position, pick out my target, get the glider's wings level, set my pitch, walk, jog, run, let the glider lift off, slide my hands down the downtubes, and when I'm happy with the pitch, accelerate. This gets me good strong launches and longer flights.

There's a bump a little ways down on one side of the hill. Earlier in the day, my training partner bounced off of it after a pretty good launch. With those big Lookout training wheels, it's not dangerous, but it's not really pleasant looking, either. Well, now it's my turn, with the same result, and it's not a particularly pleasant thing to do. Note to self: Don't run towards that bump.

On one of these landings, I have my body kind of crossed up where my right arm is taking all the load. I tweak my shoulder so that it is now a little sore. Nothing serious, and not anything enough to stop me from flying, but a good reminder to relax and to keep things evenly balanced. I end up with 10 flights, and stop because I'm starting to get a little tired. The conditions were still light and variable winds, and we could have flown a few more times, but I was satisfied with the day's progress. We get done around 10 AM, just as the first day students are gearing up.

After watching them for a while, I head out for some lunch, and set a new personal best by eating $7 worth of Taco Bell food. Apparently, that running down a hill makes you hungry. Gordon has asked me to review the part of the training manual that covers landings, as my next task it to start landing on my feet. I do that and take my Hang 1 written test as well. About 2:00 or so some big thunderstorms come rolling in and bring some badly needed rain. When they clear out, those of us who were hanging around the mountain launch waiting for tandems head down to the landing zone. The thunderstorm has ended any convection activity for the day, and the air is glassy smooth. For my first flight, I go up with Rex. On this one, I'm basically a spectator, and I hold onto a couple of handles on his harness. The takeoff run is fun, and soon we're climbing into the air, and it's a little intimidating. Now I'm starting to wonder if I really want to do this. Rex releases from the tug, and we get that kind of over the falls feeling as he pulls in to get some airspeed. He wraps us into a turn over the mountain launch, and we buzz by it and into the valley. We do a few more manouvers, fly for a few more minutes, and he sets up what I would call a Navy style approach, all in one turn, and he wraps it up tight, where I can feel myself pulling against the harness straps. Now that Taco Bell lunch isn't sitting so well.

We land, and I get out, slightly airsick. I hang out for a while while the other students take their flights, and decide to take my second one. This time I go up with Eric, and this is much more of a lesson and less of a demonstration flight. He lets me shadow him on the takeoff, try to keep the glider behind the tug, and when he releases, I follow him through on the turn and bar pull. He demonstrates a few things, and then starts coaching me on some turns. I overcontrol them of course. He then shows me the approach I'll be doing on my mountain solo, and has me flying it, with me still overcontrolling, but not as badly. We set up the downwind leg, turn onto a very short base and then onto final. Now it's time to pull in and get some speed, which I am now undercontrolling. He gets us up to speed, and we make a smooth landing. If the first flight was intimidating, the best way I can describe the second one as is rapturous. On the first one, I'm beginning to wonder if I want to do this. On the second one, I can't figure out why anyone would not want to do this.

10 small hill flights and two tandems, quite a day.

Day 1, 6/24/07

FormerFF — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 02:50:29 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Return to Forever ]
It's day one of my Eagle package at Lookout. The alarm goes off at 5:45, and I seem to have a bit of a scratchy throat and headache. No matter, it's not bad enough to stop me. I get out the door and into the car, and 2 hours and 10 minutes later, I'm at Lookout's mountain launch, which I have to say is kind of intimidating when you first see it. I'm early, so I poke around while waiting for my fellow students, and marvel at the valley below.

I go in and fill out my paperwork, get my aerotow tickets, and a general rundown on the day's activities. A little after nine, we head out towards the training hill, where we meet Diana and Gordon, our instructors for the day. First order of business is to get harnesses and helmets, then head out for instructions on how to hook in, and are given a four point checklist to use when hooking in. After being given some direction how to carry the glider, our first task is to run with the glider on the flats. Now, while we're doing this, Diana keeps telling us to LET GO OF THE GLIDER. I never can make that work, the glider keeps yawing and doesn't seem to float very well.

Next up, we head over to the small hill. A glider is set up in a couple of stands, and we each hang in it and are given directions on what to do for our launches. Start with our hands palm down, loosely holding the downtubes. Then, as the glider starts to fly, change grip to where we are circling the downtube gently with thumb and forefinger. Pull in slightly to get a bit more speed, and make any needed roll corrections.

Now, we're ready to try. Diana asks who's up first, and since nobody rushes forward, I take the first glider, which happens to be a Falcon 195. I get hooked in, get my hang check, and off I go. I start walking, jogging, and finally running. Again the command comes to let the glider go, which I pretty much do. It settles back to earth in front of me, and I'm not so much flying as dragging.

Ok, that's not so good. Gordon comes by to pick me and the glider up, and we go back up the hill. Now, it's a hot day, and I didn't bring my cooler up the hill with me. This, plus my not feeling too sharp, is hindering my analytical skills, so I'm not really sure what I did wrong. I wait my turn (there are eight of us, seven on the intro experience and me), so it's a few minutes before my second turn. Some guys get some decent flights on their first runs, some not so good, and one guy tries jumping up into the glider, which looks like an earthbound belly flop, since it immediately brings the glider back to the ground.

OK, time to try this again. Back in the Falcon 195, get hang checked,, pointed into the wind, and off I go, with a slightly better but somewhat similar result. Now I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong, since a number of the other guys are getting decent flights. Gordon comes by to get me and tells me two things: Stand up straight when I'm running, and next time try the Condor. Turns out the other glider was a Condor, and all the good flights have been on it.

Fair enough. I wait my turn for the Condor, get hooked in, walk, jog, run... The glider starts to lift, it starts pulling me, and I'm flying.

GNARLY COOL!

OK, I'm in the air, it's time to pull in a bit. I get a touch more speed, everything's comfortable, the right wing is rising, let's bump over, it's coming back to level, time to get back to center, the ground's approaching, let's just maintain pitch, and we settle back to the grass.

BTW, the "we" I keep referring to is me and the glider.

I did look down briefly, and figure I was about five feet in the air, and the total flight was maybe 10 seconds. Gordon comes over to get us, and I thank him for the advice. Somebody volunteers to go back to the parking area with one of the ATVs, so I go for my cooler. When I get back, the Falcon is in a heap with two bent downtubes and a dinged leading edge. I talk to the pilot, and he said that he got a lot of lift, and was headed for the trees. I think he then pulled in and made kind of a hard landing, but isn't hurt at all. Gordon heads back for some new downtubes, and gets the Falcon fixed. Then somebody makes a hard landing in the Condor and bends the basetube. It's getting to be after noon, and the air is getting to be kind of rowdy, at least for us rank newbies, so we stop. Between the heat, the dehydration and my mild cold, I don't mind stopping after only three flights.

I head up to the mountain launch to eat my lunch and see what's happening. There are a couple of gliders out that have climbed above their launch altitude, and a few people waiting to launch. The wind turns around and two more launch, but can only get sled rides.

Dan takes me through an orientation, showing me around the repair and sew shops, and asking me what my goals are. After that, I head home for dinner with the family.

I'm looking forward to going back Thursday, even if it does mean getting up at four freaking forty five in the morning. Having the first day under my belt, I've learned two things: Take the cooler out to the hill with you, and also that I'm not in as much of a hurry to get off the training hill as I thought I was. (It's not the training hill that I thought I wanted off of, it's the getting up at 4:45 that doesn't appeal)

I Start Tomorrow!

FormerFF — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 02:43:22 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
I mean, how often do you star doing something cool that you've never done before? Tomorrow is my first day training at Lookout.

We had a little impromptu neighborhood party this evening, and my wife outed me to most of my neighbors. Some of them think this is really cool, and the others probably think I'm crazy.

Last time I checked, I had 95 posts on this site. I'm almost certain that I hold the record for the number of posts by a non-pilot. I'll gladly relinquish that title.

Off to bed for me. I've got to be up at 5:45 tomorrow so I can be at Lookout by 9.

All signed up

FormerFF — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:30:46 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Listening to Santana ]
I finally signed up for lessons today. I'll be doing the Eagle package at Lookout, which consists of 50 training hill flights, four tandems, and four mountain solos. I'll be starting this Sunday with ground school and the small hill, and plan to return the following Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, weather permitting.

It's going to be a wild week at home. My wife is working four days this week and going to yoga on the other night. That means I have to get my daughters bathed and to bed, and clean up the kitchen. Also, I really would like to get the grass cut in the evening, so I don't have to do it under the blazing sun on Saturday. I want to be sharp for my first day on the hill.

Got clearance from the boss

FormerFF — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 01:20:10 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Watching 24 Hours of LeMans ]
I spoke with my wife, and she's OK with me being gone next Sunday. I'm going to give the flight park a call on Monday to get this thing scheduled. So, I'm spending the evening reading "Hang Gliding for Beginning Pilots" and watching the world's greatest motor race, the 24 Hours of LeMans.

See you all out on the hill.

Finally, the book arrives

FormerFF — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:32:23 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Reading Hang Gliding for Beginning Pilots ]
OK, so I ordered the book before I left for vacation last week. I thought it might make it to my house before I left, but no such luck. I figure for sure it will have arrived while I'm gone, but that didn't happen either. Finally, I look at my credit card statement, and see I haven't been charged. So I give Lookout a call yesterday and reorder it. I talk to Dan, who upon finding that I live in Roswell, asks me if I'm thinking of taking up training. Of course, I have to say yes, and he asks me if I've looked at the training packages. I say yes, that I'm thinking of the Eagle package, and then I start prattling on about how I'm not all that interested in aerotowing, mainly because I've been reading the thread on training packages, and I'm thinking that I'm not wanting to learn solo aerotowing this year. So I probably confused him since I just told him I was interested in a package that included tandems, but didn't clarify that it was solo aerotowing I wasn't interested in. Anyway, we get that cleared up, and he agrees that the Eagle package is a good starting point.

Anyway, the book arrived today. Did you ever see the movie "The Jerk" with Steve Martin? There's a scene where the phone books are delivered to the gas station where he's living, and he starts jumping around and shouting, "The new phone books are here!". That's about how I felt. I did manage to avoid the jumping around and shouting.

I'm going back to my book now.

An introduction is in order

FormerFF — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:16:55 GMT

[ Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Listening to Joni Mitchell ]
I've been posting here for quite a while, so I thought an introduction might be in order. I'm 49, married with two daughters ages 7 and 5, own one large Atlanta style suburban house, and have one full time plus job. All of this doesn't leave a lot of free time, hence my situation: I've never seen a hang glider, let alone flown one. In my previous (unmarried) life, I've:

Scuba dived (kinda fun, requires a lot of travel)
Windsurfed (Great fun when the conditions are good, frustrating when they're not, and they usually aren't)
Made 7 parachute jumps (OW OW OW that harness hurts)
Got my private pilot license (The learning was fun, after that it wasn't too interesting)
Was an amateur sports car racer (Great! Awesome! I did that for 15 seasons - my favorite and something I still love, but I don't want to drive any more. It's too intense, and I wouldn't be as good as I was when I was younger. Plus, with a family to support, I can't afford it.)

And most dangerous of all, rode a motorcycle in city traffic. I had 48,862 miles on my last cycle when some unobservant person turned in front of me. I broke two bones and got a concussion, but have recovered 100%. Three days after the crash, my wife discovered that daughter #1 was on the way, and that was the end of that.

Anyway, late last year I got it in my head that I wanted to try hang gliding. After all, I'm only a couple of hours away from Lookout Mountain Flight Park, and not learning to hang glide would be kind of like living in Denver and not learning to ski or snowboard, right? I even met with PilotGuy, Tony7kp, and Slavacus earlier this year.

After that, things went downhill. My father-in-law died, and between that and other family obligations, I basically gave up on the idea this spring. However, things have gotten better. May is the most hectic month of the year if you have school age children. We've had:
1 Brownie campout
2 Dress rehearsals and dance recitals
1 Gymnastics exhibition
1 Preschool graduation
1 Brownie bridging ceremony
Attended 5 birthday parties
And thrown 1 Club Libby Lu birthday party.

But, things are looking up. The obligations drop off during Summer. I've got a bunch of vacation days left this year, and no commitments for them. My daughters are in day camps the last week in June, which gives Mom some time to herself. I've cleared this with the boss (and my employer as well), and I've scheduled a couple of vacation days for the last week of June. If anyone has any pull with the weather gods, see if you can get me some calm mornings then. I've even taken my first baby step by ordering the Peter Cheney book from Lookout. We'll be on the annual family vacation next week, I hope it comes before we leave.

I'm going to give myself a promotion: No longer a wannabee, but now a gonnabee. Hey, it's a start.