Rick M's blog

TC 2009 Day 2 - St Louis to Denver

Rick M — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:07:35 GMT

It took some gear grinding but I made over to a nearby mechanic this morning after checking out of the hotel. Their suspicion after a test drive is a bad bearing in the transmission. But it's Saturday so the earliest they can do any real work would be Monday. And my car is not made anymore so it could take a day or two to find parts or a used tranny (it's a 99 Suzuki Sidekick BTW).

The car is semi drivable. 1st and 2nd grind a lot. It's real hard to get out of 4th. But 3rd and 5th seem OK.

After some serious thought I decide it's best to head home now. I just don't want to risk having it fail completely heading even further from home. So I fill the tank and make it onto the highway toward home. It's a stressful drive not knowing if and when the car may get stuck. The stops are the worst. It's not too bad on the highway in 5th gear.

I had a few scares with weird noises but I made it fine until my last gas stop. As I tried to leave the station the grinding was the worst it's been. Somehow I grinded enough in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd to get into 4th at about 25mph going up the ramp back onto the highway. I tried 5th and it was terrible too so quickly back into 4th. And there I stayed for the next 200 miles going 55-60mph the rest of the way home. Luckily I live only a mile off of the highway. I was able to time the three lights green. Once in my neighborhood I ran two 4-way stop signs to get to my house still in 4th gear. One benefit to getting home late - no one around.

Ugh. So no Team Challenge for me this year. I was pretty bummed driving back home thinking about all I'm going to miss this week.

I was away from my house for 38 hours. I spent 26 of those actually driving. The rest was gas/food stops, a nights sleep, and some time at the mechanic. And I drove 1650 miles. I got to see eastern Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri. Twice, each. In as many days. Booorrrriiiinnnnnggggg!

OK, so what is with Missouri? At least along I-70? I have never seen so many pro-life billboards, church and Jesus billboards, and porn shops. And did I mention billboards? Millions of them. At least the gas was cheap(er) there. I payed about $2.15 in MO. The most was $2.59 in Kansas.

Sorry there is no flying in this post. But my glider got to see a bunch of the country. I will say one thing. Get a Gunnison Gliders travel bag. I drove through some nasty rain and was very glad my glider was all nice and safe in that heavy bag.

OK, I'm totally exhausted. It's bed time for me.

To those that are at the Team Challenge - enjoy and good luck.

TC 2009 Day 1 - Denver to St Louis

Rick M — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:52:01 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
I haven't written anything since WW Demo Days so I thought I should get back to it. I left Denver about 9:30am. I stopped about 11pm near Offallen MO I believe. Kind of near St Louis. I still have about 7.5 hours to Dunlap.

Other than a bunch of rain it was an uneventful drive right up until the end. I was starting to look for a place to stop for the night when the traffic came to a stop. There was some sort of accident. I was stopped a 1/4 mile short of an exit with a few hotels. Ok, I'll get off here. Strangely my car decided it was time for the clutch to go. I was grinding gears trying to make it to the exit. I hung out in the shoulder incase it died for real. But luckily I made it to the exit and 3rd gear wasn't bad at all. I made it to the hotel after some more grinding in 1st, 2nd, and reverse.

I guess I better go straight to the nearest service station in the morning. Saturday should be fun. Spending lots of time and money on the car. And it's supposed to be thunderstorms too. I guess I'll be late to Dunlap. Ugh.

Ironically I was talking with another pilot about his clutch going bad in his car just a couple of weeks ago while we were driving to launch in my car.

WWDD 09 - Day 7 - Going Home

Rick M — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:24:33 GMT

My flight is at 3pm so I have some time. I decided to sleep in a bit. We had to be out of the house by 10am so that's what we all did. Cleaned up a bit and stripped all of the beds. Hopefully I get all of my deposit back.

We all headed over to Wallaby for breakfast. A few people were towing but most were content to relax or recover from last night.

After breakfast I chatted a bit with various folks and headed to the office to pay my Wallaby bill. 15 meals, drinks, 7 tows, 1 tandem, and a t-shirt for my son. One advantage of the two days off - much cheaper bill.

About 12:30 I said the last of my "see you laters" and headed off to the airport. It was nearly 90 degrees when I left and when I arrived in Denver is was 30 and snowing lightly. It was good to be home but I'll miss the fun and all the great people.

I now anxiously await the delivery of my own U2. Hopefully in about two weeks, maybe a little less. Unfortunately between my own schedule and our snow covered mountain sites I won't get much chance to fly her for a bit. Maybe some short scooter tows. Time will tell.

Until later....

WWDD 09 - Day 6 - Great Day

Rick M — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:17:05 GMT

Sun. Little Wind. Fun everywhere. Time for the U2 - yeah. The day would see me get 4 flights on the U2.

I arrived at Wallaby and promptly snagged the U2 160 before the other two guys got their dirty hands on it. Everything was VERY wet with dew. I spent 20 minutes drying this all Mylar glider. It had a white UVM leading edge and a gray UVM sail. A lot of people were hear today due to the last two days sucking so bad. But even at it's peak it was nothing compared to most days last year.

Flight 1

There was a big morning rush. The tandems and new solos got priority and there were plenty. I waited at least 30 minutes from hook in to tow. I had the fin on the U2 and had a great tow. The air was smooth and I had no problem at all towing. This was my first ever flight on a U2. Time to see how different it is from the Sport 2. After release I dropped the VG to about 1/3 and did a few turns. I thought it responded nearly identical to the Sport 2. A few pilots mentioned there was more of a delay but I didn't think so from these first few turns.

I then pushed the bar to my waist with full arm extension. No vario so I don't know how fast I got but the air was really rushing by. I was still at 1/3 VG. The bar pressure was light. I'm pretty sure it was lighter than the Sport 2.

I then put the VG to 3/4 and did a few turns. Definitely stiffer but doable. I tend to turn by leading with my feet and hips. In a sloppy turn where I just move my shoulders to the side it didn't turn until I shoved my hips over good. These all seemed about right so far. But it's only been 2 minutes.

With the VG back down to 1/3 I did some slower S-turns to get a feel for things I might do on a landing. I never tried a stall - I forgot.

Soon this sled ride was coming to an end and I had to setup my approach. I was still a little high so I did a really wide downwind. For a second I thought I might come up short but this thing really glides. I ended up extending my base because I still a little high. Yep, more glide than the Sport 2. I finally turned final, still to high, but I had lots of field so there were no worries. Long glide with lots of speed. I got into ground effect and waited, and waited. I waited too long. I suddenly felt a lot of back pressure and I flared. Nothing. I did a nice knee, chute, wheel landing. The grass was so wet that I actually cleaned my harness more than getting it dirty. Oh well. No harm done. On my Sport 2 I usually waited to flare just as I felt the start of the push back. That's too late on the U2 it seems.

So far I like it. The flare timing will take a little practice and I need to relearn the landing glide. But that's why I'm here. I have lots of field to practice in.

Flight 2

After another pilot got a morning sled ride I hooked in again for a second flight before breakfast. Since the first tow went so well I decided to remove the fin for this one. Yikes. I PIO'ed the crap out of the glider - right from the very beginning. I was over controlling like crazy. I actually went for the release just above tree level and missed. I hit the top of the release and knocked it sideways a little. I then decided to keep going. I'm sure it felt worse than it looked. The wings probably never got more than 30 degrees from level, probably less. I had a brief period were I got it under better control but it didn't last long. Then I started getting to high and too low. Just ugly all around.

The tug pilot finally waved me off. He took me all the way up so I guess I couldn't have been too out of control. Yikes that sucked. Now I was all worked up. I tried to relax and focus on test flying the new glider but it was tough after that tow. There were no thermals yet so it was still sled ride conditions so the flight didn't last to long. I just did a few turns around the field and came in an landed trying to relax and focus on the landing. I did the same basic approach as before. But this time I planned on flaring sooner. After I rounded out and got the glider level I waited for it to trim out. Waited another second or two and flared. It was almost too late again but definitely better. I was on my feet but I still did a few things wrong. My eyes were down, again and my flare was strong and my arm weren't straight up.

I seem to have this flaring problem at the start of each season. Hopefully in a few flights I'll get back into my proper flare technique - eyes on the horizon, full arm extension, up, and hold it up.

I handed the glider off to another pilot and headed back for breakfast.

I talked to a couple guys about flare timing and landing setup and glide. Things to put to use later today.

Flight 3

After breakfast one of the other guys beat me to the U2 160 so I waited my turn to get an afternoon flight. As it turned it this worked well in my favor. I got the glider back and was hooked in around 1:30. I put the fin back on - I didn't want a repeat of the last tow and it was getting a lot more thermally. I was reminded the sky was getting crowded. People were really starting to stay up and there were a dozen gliders in the air by now.

My tow up went really well despite the thermally conditions. I was a lot more relaxed and made much better bump corrections. After release I got a good look around and saw a couple of gliders a bit above me circling. They were also further upwind. I drove around looking for lift not wanting to get too far away. I still have leash syndrome and I still don't have a good feel for the glide on the U2 after only 2 short flights. I gave up on trying to find the thermal these other guys were in and decided to glide closer to the Wallaby field.

But soon my vario (finally put it on the glider thankfully) was beeping a little. It was wasn't long before I was gaining in a light thermal. Five minutes later I was in a death gaggle with 20 gliders spread out over hundreds of feet of altitude. I think every glider in the sky was in this one big thermal. Most, including me, were doing left turns. One key exception was a guy at my altitude going right. Come on, pay attention. It was crazy. At one point I had 4 gliders within a 100 feet of me going around. Sport 2's, ATOS's, and everything in between. Crazy but cool at the same time. My head was on a big swivel trying to keep track of anyone near me. People kept coming into and out of the thermal. I occassionaly had to leave the thermal and come back in due to another glider or just from flying out of it. All the other gliders made it real easy to find again though.

At about 2600 MSL we were topped out and scattering to find another. I was a bit tired of doing left turns and being in such a crowd so I went off by myself back toward the orange grove. Everyone else was finding another thermal near the one I just left. I suddenly had the sky to myself and did a couple of right turns just for the sake of it.

Then I smelled orange. Yummm. Thermal. Boom. My vario started screaming at over 600 fpm with periods of near 800. I was going up great - and all by myself. I found this thermal at about 2000 MSL and topped out at 3200. And I was still the only one in it. When I topped out I could see almost everyone else in another death gaggle but I was 600-700 feet above the top guy - how cool was this?! As I moved on I saw an ATOS heading my way down low and a few others starting to notice.

I also noticed my flight time. It was about 45 minutes at this point and I knew two other guys were waiting for the glider. So being the nice guy I am I decide I should head in to land. So I spent the next 10 minutes slowly going down. It was too bad because I flew through some more nice thermals. But it was now time to focus on an approach and landing.

I was planning on the same basic approach and landing. But as I got low I saw another glider a little lower setting up and he then did something I didn't expect. He setup to land in a completely different way and direction. Then I finally took a good look at the flags and sure enough the wind was 90 cross from what they were towing and everyone else was landing. So I followed this other guy's lead and landed into the wind. It was more of a walk but a better landing. I had a decent flare and landed on my feet OK. Still need more work of course.

After a bit I got the glider on a cart and wheeled it over to the staging area. 30 seconds later, literally, Malcolm moved everyone to the east side of the grounds. The glider was in someone else's hands now. But I helped the Wills' guys move a glider. The least I could do for all they do for us. Then I had to walk all the way back to near were I landed to get my harness.

I was grinning big time. What a fun flight. After the switch the gliders were coming down in droves and most were whacking. It was carnage. I guess it got trashy. My timing was pretty fortunate. Fun times for sure.

Flight 4

After lunch I wanted to do another flight, even if it was a sledder. I will be flying home on Sunday so today was it. Even a sledder allows me to get another landing in on the U2.

But everyone else was faster than me and I now had three guys ahead of me on the list and the first didn't go up until 5pm. It was lightly soarable at first but I finally got my turn about 7:10pm and would be one of the last few gliders to tow up that day. It was real calm so I wanted to try again without the fin. This time I was real relaxed and had a great tow. Just as good if not better than with the fin. Yeah! Amazing how well this glider tows when I'm not in the way. This was a nice little sled ride.

I played with the VG a bit again. One thing I noticed this time was how much the bar moves between 1/4 and 3/4 VG. The bar moves back a lot at the higher VG settings. Much more so than the Sport 2.

But it was soon time to land. I setup a basic approach and was to land into very light west wind. I flared right next to all the gliders in the setup area with several people watching. Happily I saved it. I flared a tiny bit late but was able to get my feet under me and run a few steps for a nice landing.

What a fun day. Four flights, four landings (well three really - the first doesn't count). Almost 2 hours. And it was now party time.

Fun in Florida.

WWDD 09 - Days 4 and 5 - Weathered Out

Rick M — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:50:07 GMT

Thursday and Friday saw no flying at Wallaby. Thursday was too windy. Friday had lots of rain and wind in the morning and just too much wind in the afternoon. But the forecast for Saturday looks great.

I spent both days just hanging around Wallaby. Gary, Bob and I did make a trip to some stores for a while though.

Mike from Wills Wings did a great 15 minute talk that lasted 2 1/2 hours. There were about 40-50 pilots in the tent listening to the impromptu discussion with lots of good questions. Topics included sprog settings, glider testing, and a bunch of other things. Good stuff - thanks Mike.

I had the fortune of sitting with Mike and Steve one night at dinner. Since they are in the middle of building my U2 I asked them about the process and what goes on during the 6 or so weeks it takes right now to deliver a glider. It was very interesting to hear but it's too much for me to get into here. But here's the Readers Digest version:

1) Cut tubing
2) Cut sail
3) Assemble
4) Test fly
5) Deliver

Hope that helps

It was great seeing people again and meeting new pilots during these down days (as well as during flying days). I suck at names and have a terrible memory for this sort of thing so I won't mention anyone specific so I don't insult anyone.

But there were maybe half a dozen folks from this site that I chatted with. It was fun running into someone I met on one of my road trips last year. Trying to figure out which site we met at.

WWDD 09 - Day 3 - White out

Rick M — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:26:17 GMT

Another early day at Wallaby. I talked with Mike from Wills Wing about flying the Falcon 195 and working my way up to the U2.

I was able to get a flight on the Falcon sometime before breakfast today. The winds were light down low but were blowing 25 up higher. I was reminded to be careful on the Falcon in this wind and up I went. The tow went very well. It was real smooth all the way up except for some small burbles as we passed through the shear. We basically towed straight into the wind the whole tow.

Once off tow I just kept pointing the nose into the wind. At trim I was slowly going backwards over the ground - cool. But it was real smooth up there and boaty. There had been some clouds during the morning at about 500 feet. In fact the morning started pretty foggy but cleared up. As soon as I was off tow I noticed some clouds upwind. A few small clouds blew through below me. Then I started to notice the upwind clouds were getting thicker. Hmmm. They were moving in fast and I quickly realized I might lose sight of the ground in a minute or two as the widely scattered clouds were quite solid upwind a bit.

So I pulled the bar in a bunch and started descending. I was at the far upwind end of the Wallaby field. I was trying to get under the clouds before they got to me. Nope, too late. As I got about even with the tops I knew I wasn't going to win the race. I ensured my wings were level and I was relaxed. Years ago I was an instrument rated private pilot so I knew what whiting out could do to the brain. Moments later I "crashed" straight into this big gray wall. Happily I had descended just enough because even though I couldn't see anything around me I could just make out the green looking straight down. After about 10 seconds in the cloud I descended out the bottom. That was actually really cool. It was a little bumpy in the cloud but perfectly smooth under it and the winds were a lot lighter. I then setup my approach and did an OK landing.

It was weird as that cloud came at me. There was some ancient part of my brain telling me I was about to crash into a wall. Logically I knew the cloud was soft but I still felt a little apprehension just before I "hit" it.

My plan was to fly the Sport 2 after breakfast. The winds were still blowing a bit and the sky was building in places. I kept going back and forth trying to decide whether to go or not. I put the fin on the Sport 2. I had finally decided to wait for calmer conditions. And just about the time Malcolm was going to call it for lunch it did get a lot calmer. So I hooked in and went. I was to be the last tow before lunch. There were maybe three other gliders in the air. It wasn't soarable.

My tow went really well. The air wasn't too active and I was nice and relaxed making good, small corrections. My only worry was the Mylar leading edge on this Sport 2. Minutes before I launched one little cloud just on the edge of the downwind side of the field spit a few drops on us. After I got off of tow I got settled in and stowed my bridle away. I had no vario but felt a few small bumps. But I was scanning the sky. A few miles off to the northwest was a big area of rain. Given the wind it wasn't heading for Wallably but there were other dark clouds scattered around so I decided to come down. Quickly. The whole point of this flight was to work up to the U2 so soaring the Sport 2 wasn't a priority. I had fun putting the Sport 2 in a spiral, slipping turn and dropping like a rock. After a dozen turns I got dizzy and leveled out. There were two or three gliders below me heading in too. We all landed in the same area within a minute of each other.

It was a good tow and short but fun flight with an OK landing. The lunch bell rang a bit before I launched so it was time to get over there before the food was gone.

This was it for the day. It rained real hard later on but only for a few minutes. Then it was windy.

But I felt confident that I could safely tow the U2 on my next (morning) flight.

WWDD 09 - Day 2 - Tandem Refresher

Rick M — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:29:27 GMT

I got to Wallaby about 7:45 (ugh, that's rough when still on mountain time) hoping to crank out a tandem and a few solos in the calm morning air. I signed the waiver and headed to the flight line. Most of the same crew was working Wallaby this year as last. It was nice to see everyone again. But there was a miscommunication somewhere and the crew didn't realize I was waiting for a tandem. I watched a few folks get their tandems (lots of discovery flights going on). Then I noticed others arriving after me getting their flights too. Hmmm. Maybe I should speak up. So I spoke to Carolina asking if she knew I was waiting and she said no. Oops. So now I'm on the list. I'm sure this was all my fault. No big deal. But Malcolm was busy. By 9:30 I still hadn't flown. So I spoke to Carolina again to see if I could just go up with one of the other guys. After a few minutes Malcolm agreed I could get checked out with Stevie so the two of us chatted for a minute and up we went. I launched and did the whole tow, flight, and landing getting a few reminders from Stevie. It was getting a little punchy by this time and I had to work hard to stay in position. Tandems on the big Falcon are a lot more work than solos in higher performance gliders.

I thought I was doing so-so since I'm a bit of a perfectionist but Stevie said I did real well. I setup a nice approach and we did a wheel landing. By the time we were done it was about time for breakfast so that was it for the morning. So much for my original plan. But I was cleared to do a solo on my next flight. I figured I would wait until evening for the solo so I made no plan to fly between breakfast and lunch. I used all that time to video a bunch of tows and landings.

Unfortunately the winds picked up after lunch so there was no flying late in the day. And as it turned out there were periods in the afternoon it was plenty calm enough for me to do my solo. Oh well. There is tomorrow morning.

The biggest issue is that the weather for Thursday and Friday, and even tomorrow afternoon, don't look too good.

WWDD 09 - Day 1 - Denver to Wallaby

Rick M — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:12:22 GMT

It's Monday the 30th and I wake up to a blizzard. Great, I have a flight to Orlando in a few hours. But first I have to take my son to school, come back home, finish packing, and load the car. On the way to the airport I need to stop at my ex's house to drop off a bunch of stuff for our son.

Late Saturday night my son (7 years old) and I returned from a 2500 mile road trip. We drove from Denver to California and back. Stops included Meteor Crater, the Grand Canyon, Pacific ocean (in Oceanside), LEGOLAND, Hoover dam, and Las Vegas. We had a blast and Daniel did real well despite all the driving.

Now I was off to Wallaby Ranch near Orlando to attend the Wills Wing Demo Days event. This will be my second year. Unfortunately the weather forecast isn't looking nearly as good as last but it's still a nice vacation.

When I get to the airport I find just about all flights have been delayed an hour. The weather was actually starting to clear but the short storm dropped two inches quickly and caused the morning issues. So after a the extra wait I was off to Orlando. I would be sharing a house in Davenport with Axo and a friend of his from Miami and PhantomFlyer.

I arrived at the house about 8pm. Axel and Daniel were already settle in. Gary would be arriving tomorrow night.

I haven't aerotowed since this event last year so my plan is to do a tandem first thing in the morning to knock the rust off and get reminded about all the details of this form of launching. Then I want to get a solo in on the Falcon and then the Sport 2. Then finally to work up to the U2. I have a U2 160 on order and should have it by mid-April. But I've never flown one. I put about 45 hours on my Sport 2 last season. My last flight was in October except for a real short scooter tow about 30 days ago.

Let the fun begin.

Road Trip to Crestline Day 7 - Drive Home

Rick M — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:27:10 GMT

I set the alarm for 7am figuring I would be on the road by 8 and home about 1am. But I didn't sleep well and I got woken up by a bunch of noises a bit after 5am. In a very unusual step for me I decided to just get up and go. So at 5:30am I was packing and loading the car. I checked out and hit the road at 6:10am with what gas I had in the car.

One advantage of leaving so early was that is was cool and there wasn't any traffic jams. The downside was I couldn't stop yawning and I had trouble keeping my eyes open. But I woke up eventually, sort of. I was worried about driving through Vegas midday but I got there about 9:30 or so and it was clouded over so it wasn't too warm. The real heat was in Utah. Cloudless desert and midday.

I had an easy, uneventful drive home. My biggest worry, as with all of these long drives, it where to stop for gas next. I like to maximize each tank to minimize stops. But the Garmin GPS I have has no fuel planning features so it's always a guess on when and where to stop. I did mess up once and found the sudden need to stop for gas at one of those middle-of-nowhere type places that you know will be charging a bit more for gas. This place was between Baker, CA and the NV border. I pulled in and was shocked to see regular unleaded was $5.56 a gallon! A full dollar more than the rest of CA was charging. I got 2 gallons so I could make it to the next major area - what a rip off.

There was far less construction heading home than on the trip out. Not until I got to CO did I have a lane closure. Sunset hit as I was going through Glennwood Canyon, CO. Same timing as my return from Las Vegas a few months ago. It's very pretty in there at sunset.

I pulled into my garage at 10:50pm - 15.75 hours after leaving the hotel in San Bernardino, CA. I was wiped out.

No more long trips planned until the TTC in late September. I think I'll be staying in Colorado until then. Though a trip to Utah can't be ruled out.

Until next time...

Road Trip to Crestline Day 6 - Last Crestline Flight

Rick M — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:18:03 GMT

One last Crestline flight for this trip. Dave, Dusty, Stein, and a couple of others went up on the 4pm McShuttle. It was looking like a typical day but being a bit later the thermals were weaker. I was the last to take-off (again) and spent the first part of the flight working light lift on the main ridge near launch. Dave did a close pass with me. It was cool having him so close but at the same time I was nervous. Eventually I decided to give Billboard a try. I got there about 200 over launch which is about even there. I hit a raspy thermal that was doing weird things to my glider. It took me a couple of shots at it before I figured it out and started going up. I maxed out at about 600 over and was looking over at Pine. Two gliders had gone over there. I started to head that way and 10 seconds later I chickened out and decided to play on Marshall instead. I spent the rest of the flight having fun staying up in light lift. I flew all over the Marshall/Regionals area hitting little spots of lift here and there. It was a lot of fun and more mellow being late in the day. I eventually decided to head out. The sun was blocked now by a big cloud and I thought it might shutdown. But to my surprise it stayed fairly lifty the whole time I head out over the LZ. I just boated around near the LZ slowly sinking my way down. I finally got low enough to setup my approach. I used the VASI on my downwind. I was right on the glide slope but my base wasn't close enough to the hill so I was a bit high as I turned final. I did two S-Turns and overflew the spot. I leveled out, bled off the speed, and did my best landing of the trip - yeah! What a great way to end a fun flight and a great trip.

This trip has been so wonderful - well worth the long drive getting here. I'm just amazed at how consistent this site is. I've never been to a site where the wind blows straight in everyday, all day. I had 5 days of excellent flying. Except for maybe the first day I landed by choice each day, not when I sunk out. I definitely need to work out some. I landed because I was worn out.

The LZ here is a joy. Nice grass, nice shade structure. The CSS folks have a special place (and they know it). If you have never flown here please make a plan to do so. There is another fly-in this September.

Thanks everyone.

Road Trip to Crestline Day 5 - Crestline Flight #4

Rick M — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:37:27 GMT

Another fabulous day of flying at Crestline. The winds were a little lighter today and the thermals were booming again at times. Another day of landing when I wanted and not when I had to. I was the last one off amongst the 1:30 crowd. I launched into another boomer of a thermal. I was almost 600 over in less than two minutes. I was higher than most other gliders right off. Of course it didn't stay that way. I stayed in the general area of launch for about 25 minutes plus one pass over to Billboard. Not much. I decided to head over toward Marshall as there were lots of gliders (both types) getting up over there. At 400 over launch I head over to Marshall. Once there I was sinking out and thinking of landing. But then I hit a boomer and got a great ride up. with a gain of about 1500 feet. But I was getting tired and decided to land. I left the mountain and flew over toward the college. I flew straight through some great lift but wasn't trying to get up at all. I boated over the college and worked my way down to land. I came in hot and flared a spec too soon and didn't hold my flare as usual. On my feet but the control frame came down hard. But it was a fun flight with Dave, Brian, Glenn, and lots of locals.

Brian and Glenn headed back up North after today's flying. I am very glad to have had the chance to fly with them the last few days. They are good guys and I hope to see them again soon. Plus it was fun watching Brian nearly overshoot the LZ today - good save Noman!

Road Trip to Crestline Day 4 - CSS Fly-in

Rick M — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:49:38 GMT

What a great day this was. There were so many pilots here today. I heard there were 70 hang gliding landings plus dozens of paragliding flights. I was on the 2pm shuttle ride to Crestline launch. When we got to the top it was an amazing site. Dozens of gliders all setup with dozens more in the air. There was no where to setup but soon many of those pilots took off and made room for the next wave of us.

Given the issues I had the last two days with crowded airspace I was a little worried today since there were 10 times the number of people in the air. Some guys were doing low, high speed passes right in front of launch, while people were lined up to take-off. That was lame in my opinion. Mitch was out doing loops and other crazy stuff. Pretty wild to watch.

I helped DayDreamer and another guy launch then got into my own harness and walked out to launch. Happily by this time the airspace around launch was quite cleared out. The lift was really good today so the sky wasn't nearly as crowded despite there being so many more gliders. It was blowing real strong on launch when I got there so I a few minutes for a slight lull. I picked up and launched. Within seconds I was on an elevator straight up. Yeehaa!

I spent the next 80 minutes playing in some big thermals getting as high as 1200 over launch. It was a fun time riding the thermals with so many gliders. At one point a helicopter came nearby. Too close for me. I bugged out a bit until it cleared out. About an hour into the flight I started getting drizzled on. The sky didn't look too bad - one grey cloud. But I was worried about it getting uglier and 50 gliders all trying to land at once. I left Billboard at about 6000 feet and headed toward Marshall.

I was in light drizzle on the way out. When I got to Marshall there were a lot of hang gliders and paragliders boating around and the LZ was full of gliders - quite a site. The drizzle stopped and it didn't appear everyone was bugging out. The sky wasn't getting worse so I decided to stay a little longer. I was getting tired so my plan was to just boat around and slowly head on down. I flew through several thermals and gained without even trying.

I headed out over the college south of the LZ. I started planning my approach by figuring out where other gliders were. I also had a bomb drop to plan. I found the traffic ahead of me and worked my way down. At 700 feet I suddenly saw another glider at my altitude - where did he come from? I then hit a small thermal they kept me up enough to let the other guy head in first. I then flew over the bomb drop target and dropped my sand bag. It didn't look like I was going to be on the LZ at all but I later found it on the outer circle - quite a surprise.

After dropping the sand bag I did my approach. I did a wide downwind to lose a little more altitude. Plus the wind was strong from the west. Plus the glider ahead of me was near the spot. I came in with a lot of speed into the wind so my base leg was really my final. The glider ahead of me was asked to move to his right - perfect. I came in with my wing tip just over from his as I headed for the spot. I did a small S-turn since I was a tiny bit high for the spot. This combined with my speed and the other glider nearby left me trying to land a bit distracted. I got popped a little as I transitioned to the downtubes then floated down in the wind. Just as I was to flare my right wing dropped just a little so my flare was crooked. I landed on my feet but my wing tip and control frame hit the ground. Oh well. This was my first bomb drop and spot landing contest. I was at least near the outer circle on both.

I carried over to the break down area where there were dozens of gliders. So many people. A lot of kids and SO's were sitting and playing. I hadn't eaten lunch and dinner was being served. I broke down my glider then finally had a chance to get some food. I had a great meal sitting with some locals and then later chatting with SG and GTPowell a bit.

After the awards (spot landings, bomb drops, and glide distance) the crowd started to thin out. I hung out with several folks on this list until nearly 10pm and headed back to the hotel. What a wonderful day. There is another CSS Fly-in in September. I suggest you make that one or next year's July Fly-in. It's a great time.

Some pictures:

Road Trip to Crestline Day 3 - Another Crestline Flight

Rick M — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:36:48 GMT

Another nice day with lots of pilots. I launched into a nice breeze and tried to work the light ridge lift but there were too many gliders for my comfort. I couldn't really get in the lift band - a lot like yesterday. I eventually headed toward the billboard but I was low and couldn't get up. As I sunk out I headed out toward the Marshall area. I ended up working some nice thermals up about 1000' before finally losing it. It was bumpy. The thermals were small and I went over the falls a couple of times and got kicked around some. Eventually I decided to head in to land. I had plenty of altitude and slowly came down to the east of the LZ. I suddenly realized I was getting too low and was pretty far out. I made a straight line to the base of the training slope thinking I wasn't going to make the LZ. But I somehow did and had a real nice no stepper next to the spot circle. It was fun flying with several folks on this list including DbyD, KK, Noman, and DayDreamer along with several locals.

Crestline is quite a site. The flying weather is consistent, the LZ is beautiful with all the grass and shade structure. These guys are spoiled rotten.

Here's some landing pics:

DesignByDave

KnumbKnuts

Noman

Noman seconds later

Road Trip to Crestline Day 2 - First Crestline Flight

Rick M — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:38:08 GMT

I called Rob McKenzie at 7:30am to get a ride. The plan was to head up at 3pm. But I found out the Wills Wing guys were going to be at Andy Jackson so I headed over there to watch some test flights.

I headed back over there at 2:30 and met some of the locals then loaded up with several other guys for the ride up to Crestline. The road up is quite amazing - the way it is built into the side of the mountain. When we got to the launch area it was blowing in quite a bit.

We all setup and people started flying. I was one of the last few to launch. The sky near launch had quite a few gliders in it. The lift was light and most guys were only getting a 100' or so above launch. I launched and got into the mix. It was quite a free-for-all. I couldn't stay in as close as I wanted due to the crowds so I was having trouble staying up.

I left the main area in front of launch and headed to the right not finding much. After getting 400 below launch I decided to head out. Found very little on the way out. Once in between Marshall and the LZ I found some small thermals. I was able to extend my flight some but I couldn't stay in the thermals enough to be too effective. Plus I was tired and my arms were worn out. I eventually got low enough to think about an approach. I boated around to the north of the LZ until it appeared to be time head in. My downwind was fairly far away so I had a long base leg. I had lots of speed to help bleed off my altitude. I turned final and got fully upright. I was heading for the spot. I noticed the flags were showing wind from the south so I did a shallow turn a bit more into the wind. Like my first Lookout flight this bled off a lot of my energy and I found it was time to flare suddenly. I was still 10 feet up. I did my usual flare and floated down. I landed with a no stepper near the spot but the glider came down on the basetube lightly because I didn't hold the glider up. Bad habit I need to break. Overall it was OK. I had a good launch and good approach. The flare was weak and my soaring skills weren't too good today. I was worn out from the previous day's long drive.

Road Trip to Crestline Day 1 - Denver to San Bernardino

Rick M — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:51:56 GMT

I left Denver about 9:05am MDT and arrived at the hotel in San Bernardino (S.B. from now on) at 11:45pm PDT - nearly 16 hours. Exactly 15 hours actual driving time. In a car without A/C it was hot. Driving through Las Vegas at about 8pm left me feeling like the expression "Hotter than Hell" was actually true.

The good news was the drive was totally uneventful. There was a lot of construction though. Closed lanes on I-70 in Colorado and Utah. Closed lanes on I-15 in Nevada and California. Only one caused any delay and even that was only 5 or so minutes.

The only construction problem was when I was 2 miles from the hotel. I got off of I-215 (or I guess you strange CA folks would say "the 215") and the turn I was supposed to make had me on a closed road. So I kept going and the updated GPS direction took me to another closed road. One more change had me back on I-215 then right back off. Finally made it. Figures this would happen when I'm the most tired, it's the most dark, and I'm so close to the end.

Not a big deal. I checked in and got some sleep. Looking forward to 5 or 6 full days of flying. Stay tuned.

Road Trip to SF - Day 12 - POTM and Home

Rick M — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:49:50 GMT

We met at 7am for breakfast then headed over to the south side of POTM. A few paragliders were getting sledders but there wasn't too much wind. A few guys started setting up hang gliders. I wasn't in a rush. It was looking too good and it was supposed to turn north later. But a while later it seemed to be picking up so I decided to setup. Bad idea. By 11:30 it still hadn't gotten any good so we all broke down. Day Dreamer and another guy took sledders to the bottom but the rest of us packed up. A whole bunch of us headed out to lunch. It was almost 3pm by the time we left the restaurant. It was blowing north a bit. I dropped MysticWizard and his son off at the hotel and I drove up to the north side. No one was there but it was blowing in nicely. Not quite soarable but looking good. I walked around a bit. They are making good progress on the new park. Soon some other pilots started showing up. Several of us setup in anticipation of a repeat of the night before (which I was there for). Radwhacker and Sicko Wayne showed up along with several other pilots.

Soon the paragliders were there too. One or two tried to fly. One couldn't stay up. Eventually one of the hang gliders gave it a shot, then another. Both top landed after only getting up about 80 feet. And that's how it went. At 7:30 I gave up and broke down. Second time for the day having not flown.

I loaded up the car, said some goodbyes and hit the road. My plan was to drive to Rock Springs, WY and finish the drive to Denver on Friday. An hour into the drive I decided to go the whole way straight through. The GPS was showing a 4:45am arrival at home - 8 hours total. It was a long night but I made it with only one stop. I pulled into the garage on fumes as the sun started coming up. I went straight to bed and slept until noon.

Road Trip to SF - Day 11 - Driving SF to SLC

Rick M — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:38:39 GMT

I pulled out of Daly City about 9:45am and arrived in Draper, UT at 10:45pm - exactly 12 hours with the time zone change. It was a long but uneventful drive. I made my first stop just a few miles east of Reno. Just before my stop I passed several police cars each having someone pulled over. As I was passing the 3rd and last police car the cop suddenly looks at me and waves me to pull over. What!? I'm only doing 70 in the 75. Being the chump that I am, I pull over and stop on the shoulder about 100 yds down the road. The guy already has another car pulled over so I figure I might be there a bit waiting my turn. I can't even guess why he pulled me over. So I use the time to dig out my registration and insurance info. Uh, Oh. My insurance card expired last week. I have insurance, just no card to prove it. Just as I'm discovering this the officer knocks on my window and quickly states that I was NOT who he wanted to pull over, it was some other car. He then quickly tore off down the highway. Yeah. So I got going and pulled off the next exit for food and gas.

After a short stop I was about to pull back onto I-80 when two hitchhikers jumped up holding a sign saying "CO". They immediately noticed my Colorado license plate and got real excited. I don't know why but I decided to pull over and give them a ride. I told them I was only going to SLC but they were happy to get that far. They were an interesting couple of guys. They just met 20 minutes earlier and just both happen to be going to Colorado - two different places though. Other than them needing a shower and deodorant it was a pleasant drive with some interesting stories and rounds of jokes.

I arrived at the hotel in SLC and 15 minutes later I met several guys from here - Noman, Day Dreamer, and WillMRX. I would later see MysticWizard as well.

Road Trip to SF - Day 10 - Hang Waiting

Rick M — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:07:15 GMT

I woke up to clear blue skies - and little wind. OK, I'd rather it be cold, and low ceilings - at least there was wind. I showed up at Funston about 12:30. Two people had setup. A few others were just milling about. It was straight in but too light. It showed signs of getting better. Eventually it blew in enough for three or four guys to make a couple of passes then land. But that was about it. It did get a little stronger but turned southwest. I finally left about 6:30 having spent the day BSing with the local pilots. Wednesday will be a travel day - SF to SLC.

Road Trip to SF - Day 9 - Even more Funston

Rick M — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:11:03 GMT

Another fun day at Funston. I made it to the setup area about 12:30 today - I'm getting better. There were only a few gliders there and one flying - but that would change. It was another overcast, low ceiling day. I haven't seen the sun since the middle of last week.

I setup, dressed warm, and hooked in. I walked out to launch determined to have a good solid launch. It was blowing straight in again but it was about 18 or so. As I got close to launch the glider started to pull me forward. Not again. At least my wings were level. I took over and ran off with a nice launch. It just wasn't quite started by me. I did the usual passes back and forth along the ridge for 30 minutes. Several others showed up while I was flying. Not yesterday's crowd but a good turnout for a Monday. I decided to land and made sure it was all clear and I did a nice left hand pattern with a fun no stepper. I had good speed on final. You can tell you need the extra speed because I got bumped a bit as I descended.

I relaxed for about an hour and decided to go up again. This time I decided to launch using the basetube method. This worked out real well. I had much more control this time. I'm really sold on this technique for strong wind ridge launches.

So this was another 30 minutes of boating around in the big fat coastal air. One interesting thing this time around though. Near the North end of the ridge I hit a stronger spot of lift and decided to work it. There wasn't anyone else nearby so I had some space. I did a few 180s. I had been mostly about 225 feet above launch. I was now 300 and still going up. A few more 180s and I broke 400 over. At about 430 over, and still going up, I started seeing some whispies. Uh oh! I pulled in fast and dove down. At first I wasn't going down. Cloud suck! But I did some slipping turns and pulled in more and got back down to 200 over. Now that I safely out it was cool. I never got back up that high the rest of the day. This fun stint was ended with another great, easy no step landing. I'm getting spoiled with the fat, high wind landings.

After a half hour rest I decided to go up for a third time. I used the basetube launch again. So much easier. I spent another hour enjoying the views (despite the low ceiling). I did a few high speed runs and played with various turns. No good bird encounters today - oh well. It was getting cold. I was dressed warmer than some of my high altitude mountain flights. Time for one more landing. I got already for the usual setup. Another guy was landing ahead of me. I followed him in with plenty of distance. One more great landing.

What a fun day. Two hours of airtime. A trip to the clouds. Three great landings. It doesn't get much better than this.

I asked a couple of locals over the course of the day how today (and the last 2 days) rated compared to typical Fort Funston days. I didn't know if these were so-so days or amazing days. As it turns out both guys rated today a 9.5 and a 10. The 9.5 was due to the lower ceiling. After a slow start last week these last three days have really turned on and been great.

Road Trip to SF - Day 8 - More Funston

Rick M — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:23:20 GMT

Yesterday wiped me out due to this darn sinus infection. Despite great conditions today I just didn't have it in me to fly. I didn't get up until almost noon. Bummer. I went out to my car about 2:30 to get something and was worn out when I got back to the room. At 4:30 I couldn't take it anymore and decided to head over to Funston. I was actually feeling more alive. When I got there I saw a bunch of gliders setup and several in the air. The ceiling was at about 700'. I heard some stories of guys graying out heading to Westlake.

I setup and was feeling pretty good. I dressed warmer than yesterday. It was quite chilly (low 50s) and breezy. The wind was straight out of the west at 15-20. I suited up, hooked in, and walked out to launch. Remembering yesterday's near disaster launch I was really on top of this one. Due to the wind I did a nice, fun moon-walk launch.

I spent the next 80 minutes enjoying nice ridge lift on the Pacific ocean. It was fatter than yesterday but not quite as smooth. Nothing to complain about of course. I flew with about 4-6 gliders at any given time including a rigid. I also got fairly close to a hawk a couple of times. The beach was looking pretty small today - not a good day to land down there.

I finally got around to getting my camera out of my new camera pouch on the side of my harness. I got it out OK but I couldn't get it back in. In the process I pulled the pocket off of the harness (it was held on with velcro) and dropped it on the cliff face. Luckily the camera was safety tied and I still had it. But it was hanging down and I didn't want to land that way. I spent some time stuffing it in another pocket and making sure my zipper pull wasn't tangled. Oh well.

Not wanting to over do it today I decided to land before I got too tired. I ensured the landing area was truly clear and I setup a nice left hand approach and did a fun, floaty, no stepper landing and walked over to the setup area to break down.

I felt a bit tired but not overly so. I'm hopeful that I'm on the mend and will be able to fly Monday without any issue.

Road Trip to SF - Day 7 - Flying Funston

Rick M — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:51:30 GMT

The sinus infection kept me sleeping a lot and resting at the hotel. But this morning I woke up feeling a little better and having some energy. I checked the webcam and people were flying at the Fort. I headed over there about 11:30 after taking my time getting ready. There were quite a few gliders setup with half a dozen in the air. I took my time setting up and talking with a few of the locals.

I got all suited up and headed over to launch. It was blowing straight in about 15 or so. I waited for a good clearing and off I went. I worked the ridge a bit and decided to do my first top landing. I did a nice setup but it turned out to be a tiny bit to close. I glided on final right to the edge and kept going. I ended up taking a step or two and launched again. After another pass I did another approach and had a nice landing.

Later a did another round that ended in a less graceful landing. This one ended up being a light whack on the nose. No harm done.

My third round for the day was the eventful round. It started off with a bad launch. I let the glider fly me instead of the other way around. I was standing on launch. The glider was off my arms flying in the wind. I was waiting for a good clear spot when the glider started pulling my forward. I didn't do enough to stop it. As I drifted forward the right wing started to drop. Uh oh. I finally took over. I shifted my weight to level the wings and I started to run. In the end I got off fairly uneventfully but I was not happy with myself. I generally have good strong launches. I can't let things like this happen.

Once in the air I spent some time working the ridge. There were 6 other gliders in the air with some landing and some taking off. It was a fun time.

But I was getting tired (I'm still sick) so I decided to land. I had to wait a pass or two for gliders and people to be clear enough. I had my opening and did a right hand approach starting over the bushes by the setup area. I turned 180 onto final and came across a huge surprise. There was another glider on final just 3 feet off of my wingtip. Holy crap - how did this happen? We ended up landing at the same time less than 10 feet apart. Turns out we did opposite approaches at the same time with neither of us seeing each other until on final. Close but harm done. We talked together after and neither of us felt we screwed up. But we both agreed to keep a better eye out from now on.

Overall it was a great day. I could have flown all day but I was wiped out so I left while it was still nice. Hopefully Sunday brings more of the same but without the close calls.

Road Trip to SF - Days 5 & 6 - No Flying

Rick M — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:03:20 GMT

Thursday I spent most of the day napping. I checked the webcam a few times. It looked like some flying happened later in the day but not much.

Friday was mostly sunny except the coast was socked in - all day. No one flew that I could tell. I was still doing a lot of napping.

Road Trip to SF - Day 4 - Hospital Visit

Rick M — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:49:00 GMT

[ Mood: Sleepy ]
So it's 3:30am and I just got back from the hospital. It's not what you're thinking. I didn't fly today. Since I've been under the weather a bit and Tuesday wore me out from all the high wind driving I slept in late Wednesday. When I finally was ready there was no wind. I sat around a bit, had lunch and eventually drove over to Fort Funston. My main reason for going over there was to walk the beach. I've only seen the Pacific ocean 3 times in my life.

As the day wore on I was starting to feel worse. I went back to the hotel mid afternoon and vegged out all day. At least it wasn't flyable - I wasn't missing anything.

My head was getting worse and worse. I couldn't sleep. So finally about 2am I gave up and went to the hospital. My suspicions were on the money - I have a sinus infection. So the next few days I will be taking antibiotics and pain meds. I took the first round a few minutes ago. I'm hoping to kill time for the drugs to kick in so I can sleep. I'm exhausted. I'll probably read this later and discover it's not in English.

So how's your vacation?

Road Trip to SF - Day 3 - Driving: Elko to San Francisco

Rick M — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:24:58 GMT

The word of the day is "wind". Too much wind. And strong, and cross, and gusty. Not a lot of fun driving today. 9 hours with stops. And there was a lot of wind. And it seems half of I-80 is under construction.

I left Elko, NV about 9:30am and arrived at the hotel about 6:30pm. I checked-in and dropped off some gear then drove straight to Fort Funston - about 2.5 miles away. They were having their monthly club meeting at 7:30. It seemed like a good way to get all signed up and meet some of the guys.

Wednesday isn't looking too good for flying the Fort or McClure. Some guys are heading up to Hull. I may join them but it's a 3-4 hour drive. I'm only going if I can get a ride. I'm just too burned out on driving.

So tonight I play catch-up. Tomorrow may be a good day to relax, get some rest, and do a little sight seeing in the area. Maybe I'll rent a bicycle. No wait, that's not rest.

Road Trip to SF - Day 2 - Some flying, some driving

Rick M — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:18:33 GMT

I've been a little under the weather the last few days (of course, I'm on a trip) so I didn't get up too early to fly. Plus I didn't get in until 2:30am and I didn't sleep well.

I arrived at the Point about 10:30am. Two hang gliders were flying around on the south side. It was breezy and getting thermally. I setup slowly and finally head out to launch. No one was flying at the moment. I used my new found basetube launch technique and went up for a short flight. It was punchy and I was tired so I only flew about 5 or 10 minutes. I wasn't very high so I tried to top land before I got lower. Due to my height my setup was not as I hoped. I was closer to the face of the ridge than I'm used to and I couldn't turn enough to check my sideways drift. I came down drifting to the right a little. My base tube touched the ground and the glider stopped my body had some momentum. Not a lot but just enough to slam my arm into the back of the downtube. Ouch. No whack. The glider is fine. And I'm fine except for a rather large bruise. Oh well. Lesson learned. After a couple of minutes I walked back out to launch and went up for some more. I did two or three passes and worked a thermal up 200 feet and decided to land. This one was much better and more like I'm used to. I landed this one just fine. I walked over to the setup area and tied up my glider.

This would be all the flying I would do today at the Point. It was getting close to noon and everyone else was packing up. I was talking with Ryan Voight and Jeff O'brien. They, and a few others, were going to Inspiration that afternoon. Hmmmm. Do I join them or get on the road? I decided to join the fun and see a new sight.

We met in the LZ at 2pm and we loaded up Jeff's car and drove to launch. There was a guy already setup when we arrived up top. It wasn't looking great. It was strong and crossing from the left (South) a ways but we were hopeful. So we setup.

Bruce launched first and didn't get much more than an extended sledder to the "bail out" LZ. A while later Greg launched and was able to work some lift but never got up. He made it out to the soccer field LZ. Jeff launched shortly after Greg. He did a little better but didn't get up too much either.

Shad and I were waiting for it to get better. By 5pm we were thinking of giving it until 6. Shad got a call and had to bolt. I decided to break down and hit the road. The winds were strong and rather cross. Ryan broke down Shad's glider then we drove the trucks down and I hit the road.

Thanks guys for the tour.

I made it to Elko, NV arriving at about 11pm (now Pacific time). I was wiped out. It's supposed to be windy Tuesday and I have a hotel reservation in San Francisco so I'm going to drive straight through. No Slide Tuesday.

Road Trip to SF - Day 1 - Denver to SLC

Rick M — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:00:44 GMT

I left Denver about 5pm and arrived in SLC about 2:30am. Ugh, I'm tired. I need to get up and fly at the Point of the Mountain in the morning. Here's the tentative plan for the trip:

Mon 9th: POTM, then drive to Reno.
Tue 10th: Maybe fly Slide, drive to San Francisco.
Wed 11th - Wed 18th: Fly Fort Funston and McClure. Possible other sites.
Thu 19th - Fri 20th: Drive back to Denver.
Sat 21st: Fly to Jersey with my son to visit my family.

Road Trip to Las Vegas - Day 5 - 1st

Rick M — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:59:19 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
After waiting around the house all morning we finally made the decision to head to Good Springs. When we (Radwhacker, Ron, and I) arrived it was blowing over the back. Ron decided to fly his paraglider off of the backside launch. He had a nice little flight. Rad and I picked him up at the bottom and we then headed over to Table Top.

After a bumpy ride up to launch we were greeted with nice straight in winds. Rad and I setup our hang gliders while Ron took a nap. Ron was kind enough to drive for us. By the time we were ready it was about 3pm. Some high clouds were around so we were a little worried of things getting shut down.

Rad launched first off of the nice ramp. He got off after a step and a half and was working the ridge lift waiting for a thermal to come through. I hooked in as soon as he launched and Ron helped me over to the ramp. The wind picked up a bit so I waited a couple of minutes for it to let up a bit. Shortly it did. I got to the end of the flat part of the ramp. I picked up and yelled "Clear". Ron moved out of the way and I dove down the ramp getting a real nice launch in on my very first ramp launch. I quickly got above launch in the ridge lift.

I made two passes between launch and the bowl to the left when I hit a thermal. Rad was still working the ridge as well. I started going up nicely. I gained about 500 feet when I noticed Rad heading in my direction. He must have liked what I had and wanted some for himself too.

I kept circling and kept going up. by the time I was about 1500' over launch Rad had gotten up close. I maxed out at about 2,220' over. Somehow Rad had blown past me and was still going up when I lost the thermal. I went from "Yippee! I'm doing great" to "How the f#@$ did he blow past me like that?" in a matter of two minutes.

Now I had a big decision. Do I head back toward the ridge and try to find another thermal and risk sinking out to the less desirable LZ with a long turn-around, or do I head over the back and head for the "cross-roads" LZ that we had walked and talked about earlier? I was a little higher than the suggested altitude to head over the back so I decided to go for it. My first time to leave the comfort of a ridge and a primary, out front, LZ.

I could see the LZ at this point and realized I had it made on glide unless I hit massive sink the whole way. Happily I only had big sink briefly. I found no lift on the way out at all. I arrived over the LZ with a 1000' or more. So I boated around looking for lift and planning my approach once I got low enough to see the nearest flag.

The LZ had telephone poles near one side. Two sides had roads close by. The LZ was a small clearing surrounded by a lot of small bushes and plants. But it was plenty big enough to land in if I didn't screw up the approach. I setup a wide aircraft approach. Once on downwind I made adjustments and made a tight base to correct the fact I was wider and lower than ideal. I turned onto final and landed just fine near the edge of the clearing. I landed on my feet but didn't take an extra needed step. The glider settled down on the base tube and just barely came over onto the nose. I'm not sure if the nose touched or not. It may have but very lightly.

So my first over the back and my first ramp launch came to a successful ending. Ron showed up shortly after. Once we loaded my glider on the truck we went off chasing Rad who was having a great flight dodging airline jets heading into Sin City. I'll leave his flight story for him to tell.

So in the end I guess you can call this my first XC flight. Straight line distance from launch to LZ was 3.65 miles. The whole flight was only 15 minutes or so. I rode one thermal up 2,300 feet. While I would have loved to find more thermals, stay up longer, and go farther, I'm quite happy with the day and the flight. Small steps lead to bigger ones.

Road Trip to Las Vegas - Day 4 - Truck Towing

Rick M — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:54:46 GMT

We woke up in Vegas to more strong winds. But there was reason to hope it would lighten up later in the day. About 1pm we decided to head to the Jean Lake Bed to do some payout winch truck towing. Radwhacker and I were met with Ron, Wayne, and Carl. Ron is Rad's next door neighbor. He's a biwingual pilot and instructor and all around nice guy. Great person to have living next door.

By the time we arrived and setup the thermals were about gone. We had a good time but all of the flights were mostly sled rides. This was a new experience for me not having done this sort of towing before. Rad went first then Wayne. I got ready and headed to the cart. We went over all the details and I was set to go. I gave the "go to cruise" command and Ron headed down the lake bed in the truck. Moments later I started rolling in the dolly - just like aero towing. I got to speed and let go of the handles and shot up into the air.

You tow at a much higher nose angle than aero towing so it takes some effort to not pull in too much. I was pulled in too much at the beginning but got better as the tow went on. It's easier to PIO when pulled in because you are flying too fast. I also over corrected a few times to get the wings level. Overall it was a good first tow and I released once Ron got to the end of the lake bed.

Once off tow I needed to pull in a bunch since you are so nose high and gravity is now along a much different vector. No big deal but you need to remember to pull in right away. I did a 180 and headed back in the general direction of the gang on the ground. There was no lift at all to be found so I just boated around and setup a nice approach. The wind was blowing in nicely and I was able to pull off a nice no step landing.

I walked back and got right back on the dolly and went up for another tow. This 2nd tow went a little better. I had better pitch position and only over controlled a little. But again, there was little lift to be found though I made a couple of 360's near the landing area. I did a bunch of S-turns and turned on final. I turned too high and boated further than I wanted. No problem due to the immense LZ but I'm trying to work on my spot landings for my H3.

Shortly after Ron and Carl towed up in their paragliders for some sled rides. We all had some beers as we broke down and we got to hear some interesting flying stories.

Thanks a lot to Ron and the gang for getting me in the air today. The forecast is looking good for flying one of the mountain sites south of Las Vegas on Monday.

Here's a few shots of our own Radwhacker - he didn't earn his nickname today

Road Trip to Las Vegas - Day 3 - Blown Out

Rick M — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:29:13 GMT

Our first day in Las Vegas was met with lots of dust and wind despite a forecast for light winds. Given the direction we headed out to a dry lake bed used for towing. Most of the time we were there you couldn't see too far. LOTS of dust blowing around. But you sure could see the thermals well. So after sitting around for a couple of hours we decided it wasn't going to get any better.

Radwhacker discovered he was missing a tip wand from his last flight. So he and I drove to the CA state line (about 15 miles) and picked up the wand. We then went on an LZ tour of the two likely sites we would be flying when the wind cooperated. All the LZs are interesting. Lots of Joshua trees, Yucca plants, and other small desert fauna. The LZs are basically small area with no Joshua trees. Anyone used to big grassy LZs would not be happy here

The launches (which we didn't drive up to) are at the top of desolate mountains. It's a humbling area to be in. There is NOTHING around for miles. You better have water with you if you land out at all.

Rad then took me to a little biker bar down the road a bit. It was pretty busy. They have a BBQ a lot of weekends. We had filling lunch and headed back into town. We had a relaxing evening eating some really good pizza and watching "Hell Boy".

The forecast for Sunday isn't looking too good - more strong winds. Time will tell.

Road Trip to Las Vegas - Day 2 - Flying Hurricane

Rick M — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:29:33 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
Spark and I left Richfield, UT this morning and drove to Cedar City, UT with a plan to fly the "K-Mart" site. But it's not a K-Mart anymore, it's a Staples. We setup a windsock in the LZ and got a weather update. They were calling for 10-20 out of the west. But most important, launch may not have been reachable due to snow. So we decided to head down to Hurricane after all and try to fly there. So we retrieved the windsock and headed down to Hurricane.

The main LZ is almost gone now. There is a gravel pit and houses. We drove around a while and found a nice field just to the north, almost directly below Molly's Nipple. So we left Spark's car by the field with some streamers and we headed to launch in my car. It's takes a while to drive from the LZ to launch. Maybe 45 minutes. The road is 2WD except for a short stretch near the top that requires 4WD low and some clearance. My little 4-door Suzuki Sidekick did OK. As we climbed up the hill I was surprised to see a pickup behind us with 3 gliders on the roof - cool.

We got to launch and were greeted by Bruce, Greg, and Chad (I think it's Chad) from the greater SLC area. They had just arrived today as well. We walked to launch and it was straight in at 15. Perfect. We all quickly setup, too quickly really. There was talk of it getting stronger later. Being the least experienced pilot I didn't want to launch last and Bruce was kind enough to wait for me. The other three launched just before I was ready.

I let all of this rushing get in my way. I misplaced my sunglasses and had to borrow Bruce's at the last minute. My motion sickness "watch" went dead. Crap. This isn't going to be good. I had spare batteries in the car but no time to deal with them. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast 6 hours earlier. At least I had my camelback on me for in-flight water.

So I got hooked in and walked to launch with Bruce on the nose. It was pretty manageable so I didn't really need any help but was glad he was there just in case. I got into position and picked up the glider for my first foot launch since early November. It felt good and the wind was straight in. I yelled "Clear!" and took 1 and half steps before I was flying and going up. I made a left turn climbing a bit then I hit sink. And more sink. And I think some more sink.

I was now 400 feet below launch turning in the direction of the LZ thinking I was done after just a couple of minutes. But I stayed in close to the ridge. Just about when I was going to leave the ridge to setup an approach I felt the nose go up. The vario started beeping. OK, work it. I did a bunch of 180's in the lift. Soon I was even with launch again - Yippee! Still going up. Now I could do 360's. I rode this wonderful thermal up to 1650' over launch. I was way higher than the other three guys in the air. Bruce launched just about this time. I was so much happier than a few minutes ago.

But just as suddenly the thermal was gone and now I was in big sink again. I sunk back down to a few hundred over and found another thermal. There was no ridge lift to be found. It was a thermal only day. For the next hour I worked from as low as 300 below launch up to about 1,000 over launch. I never got nearly as high as the first thermal got me. A couple of guys headed pretty far south on the ridge. One mentioned getting to the AZ border. I never went more than 1/2 mile south of launch. I was too worried about sinking out and not making our primary LZ.

About 30 minutes into the flight I got the first hints of minor nausea kicking in. I did my best to minimize head movements. But about an hour into the flight three of us were low and close so I needed to look around a lot while trying to work what lift I could find. At about 500' above launch I did one too many quick head movements and what little was in my stomach made a mad dash for the exit. Oh what fun this is. I need to clean my helmet some. Luckily there was little in me but water. I actually felt a little better after the purge. I ended up flying for 20 more minutes before I was just too tired to try anymore. It was a punchy day. My shoulders were really tired. I had no energy left from not eating. And of course I had just been sick.

So I left the ridge and headed out the short distance to the LZ. The tell tales were showing light winds out of the SW. I made a nice approach and aimed for the corner of the field. I got into ground effect and could tell I had a little wind. I did a light flare and did a wonderful two step landing. I was very happy about that. And I landed very close to were I was aiming. I need to get my spots in for my H3 so this was good practice. Greg landing a couple minutes after me followed seconds later by Spark. Bruce was a few minutes later. A while later Chad called on the phone saying he top landed back near the corral. One less car to retrieve.

So we packed up, loaded Spark's car and headed back up to get my car. It was 6pm by the time we got back up there. It was glassing off. Launch was straight in at 15 and smooth. Oh well. We were too tired at this point and we had to drive to Las Vegas. So we headed down to get dinner. We ended up stopping in Saint George instead for a quick bite. We then finished the drive to Las Vegas. I arrived at Radwhacker's house about 9:15 PDT.

Despite getting sick and all the other little things I am very happy about today's flight. It wasn't an easy day. The much more seasoned pilot's were commenting on getting turned toward the hill a few times and fighting the thermals a bit. I experienced the same and was very glad to hear it wasn't just me. Saturday's plan it to do some towing in Las Vegas and Sunday looks like a good mountain flying day near Las Vegas. Until then - enjoy.

Road Trip to Las Vegas - Day 1 - Driving to Utah

Rick M — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:29:57 GMT

A few weeks ago I decided to head to Utah to fly for a few days. After some planning it was decided to meet some folks at Hurricane for the weekend. Pilots from Las Vegas, Denver, and SLC where thinking of going. But as it got close it was determined the winds weren't going to be cooperative. I was also thinking of heading to SLC to get a day or two at the Point. But SLC was getting rain and snow.

So the plan was updated to head from Denver to Las Vegas with a stop in Cedar City. Today Spark and I hit the road leaving Denver about noon. We drove out I-70 and stopped for the night in Richfield, UT. The forecast is looking good for a flight in Cedar City tomorrow.

The drive went through some beautiful areas including the Glennwood Canyon, Colorado and Green River, UT. But the winds were tough all day. Strong cross winds most of the drive. I had the steering wheel turned 30-40 degrees just to drive straight.

So let's hope for some good conditions tomorrow. It's been almost 4 weeks since I flew at Wallaby.

Wallaby Ranch Report

Rick M — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:16:08 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
I arrived in Orlando Tuesday night (the 25th). This trip corresponded with the 11th annual Wills Wing Demo days at Wallaby. Since I had never aerotowed I wanted to get there early in the morning since it was most likely going to be busy. I signed in at about 7:45 and headed out to the flight line with the morning gang. At about 8:10 I was hooked in with Malcolm in the big tandem glider. The tow to 2000' AGL went real well. So well that Malcolm signaled the tug pilot to really give me a good checkout. Lots of S-turns to make sure I could keep following. I got a little low at one point and had to really push out - full arm extension - very unnatural feeling but you can't stall under tow pushing straight out. We released and had an issue. The v-line wrapped around the carabiner but before Malcolm could reach the secondary release the weak link at my shoulder broke and we were free and clear. We then had a nice sled ride down to a smooth, on the wheels landing.

5 minutes later I was being called to hook in again for my solo flight! This was unexpected but good news. I was now in a Falcon 2 195 solo. As I lay there prone getting ready my heart began thumping a bit more. The tug took the slack out of the line and away I went. I had a great tow. It was actually easier solo in the 195 than tandem in the 225. My tow went quite well. I released and had a nice sled ride down to the LZ. After Malcolm saw me a few minutes later he shook my hand and said congrats! Cool. It was only 8:40am on my first day. I was originally hoping to be at this point by the end of Friday.

During the rest of the day and through Sunday (the 30th) I managed 10 more flights for a total of 12. Six on the Falcon and six on a Sport 2 - first with a fin and then the rest without. The midday tows were, shall I say, interesting. We had some good lift and it was a lot of work to stay in position. My vario recorded 1300fpm on the 5sec averager on some flights.

Overall it was an amazing week. 650 tows in 4 days. The Wills Wing folks did some great evening presentations showing movies and slides of the early days. It truly amazes me that anyone survived the early 70s in this sport.

Wallaby is an amazing place. I've never been anywhere like it. So many hang gliders, so many pilots. Everyone was great. Noobs hanging out with sky gods. What a great sport.

Now that the big event is over it is a lot less busy here. It's been pretty breezy so no one has flown today (Mon 31st) and it was shutdown at 10am yesterday. I think everyone is just worn out from a great week.

I've met so many people. I shared a condo with several HG.org folks: Lobido, DesignByDave, RadWacker, Axepro, and PilotGuy. You never know what to expect sharing a house with people you've never met but it worked out great. We had a wonderful time. I met so many others as well that I'm not going to even try to list them all. I also ran into some old friends I haven't seen in a dozen years too.

This whole trip far exceeded my expectations (which were high )

It's very likely I'll be back for another Demo Days event. Malcolm is going to be hard pressed to top this year.

Here's a shot of me on tow:

And here are some of my roomies:

Test flew a WW Sport 2 155 today

Rick M — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:50:24 GMT

It's been four weeks since my last lesson but today it all worked out. It was hot at the tow field today. It hit 100 today and we are starting at 5000' so the density altitude was about 8500'. Since I hadn't flown in a while I did a tow on the school Falcon 195. The tow went well though I wasn't as relaxed as I should have been. I headed back and setup a landing. There was a huge gradient today so keeping on speed was important. I got on final OK and waited for the flare. I ended up flaring a little early and a bit too hard. I climbed a bit and didn't hold it enough but came down OK on my feet. Less than ideal but not too bad.

I decided I wanted to do another tow on the Falcon before I tried out the Sport 2. My next tow was much more relaxed and my landing was better.

Steve (a new hang 2 now shopping for a glider) was also trying out the Sport 2. We ended up taking turns towing up the Sport 2.

On my first tow the conditions were getting good. Thermals was kicking through the field. I waited for a good cycle and went. I had a pretty good tow up to about 500 feet. I made a few small over corrections during the tow but nothing that got out of control. I flew through two big thermal on tow and ended up releasing in the sink - oops. I was able to get a few 360s in some lift. The double surface Sport 2 definitely turns a bit different than the big falcon I've been flying but it's a good different. I came in and setup a nice approach and stuck the landing. I was ready to write a check before I even unhooked.

I did another tow a bit later and went through a HUGE thermal seconds after my feet left the ground. I gained a bit on that one then hit a second big thermal 20 seconds later. I signaled for a release and turned. I managed two 360s before I lost it but I gained a good bit. I flew back toward the launch area with still 400 feet. I setup into the wind and flew right over everyone - pretty cool. Nailed a real good landing. I was easily landing this glider much better than the Falcon.

I have little doubt I will be buying this glider. It's used but it has less than ONE hour on it. The current owner is too heavy for the 155 and is getting a 175. I'm on the top end of the 155 but I am actively working on moving down the weight range a bit. So far (two flights) I love it.

Hopefully I'll get a few more flights on it tomorrow.

Enjoy,
Rick

A weekend at the training hill

Rick M — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 04:12:18 GMT

Due to the forecast winds this weekend we had two days at the only training hill in the greater Denver area. I was looking forward to getting some "real" foot launches. All my training lessons so far have been scooter towing in a field where the nearest hill is 30 miles away.

We met at the hill about 9am and had to wait for the winds to turn around as forecasted. We setup in the LZ and then we did a walk through of the LZ and appropriate approaches given the slope and nearby ditches. Besides myself there were two other students. Steve who is basically a new Hang 2 just waiting to get a glider and another guy, Kyle. He's just 16 and just a bit past his Hang 1. We all hiked our gliders up the hill. This particular hill has two "high" launches. One about 75' AGL and the other is about 150' AGL. Steve went first. Since I hadn't foot launched on a hill in 9 years I wanted someone else to be the wind dummy.

After Steve got the glider back up and Kyle got a flight it was my turn. I was a little nervous. Not too much but I was wondering if my first hill launch in so long should be lower down the hill. The hill isn't very steep either. And at 5500' MSL you need to run well. Mark had me walk down the hill a bit to a shallow part to basically run and do some "moon walking".

I got all setup and waited for a nice little breeze. I picked up the glider, got it balanced easy enough, yelled "CLEAR!", "LAUNCHING!", and then did the usual walk, jog, run. It wasn't before long I was moon walking and then weightless. Despite the shallow slope I managed to get off the ground more than I expected so I did a very shallow turn about 30 degrees to the left and head more toward the main LZ. I never got more than a couple of feet off of the ground but my glide slope and the hill slope were the same until I got to the bottom. Soon I was near the bottom and preparing to land. I flared a little late but was able to get my feet under me and run the landing out OK. I dropped the left wing tip again.

Overall it was a good flight. My launch was pretty good. Good speed, good pitch control. Between having to foot launch the scooter tows and having done all those foot launches years ago I had no trouble.

I carried the glider back up the hill and later got a second flight launching from were everyone else started. This launch was interesting. I started off just fine but didn't quite get to top running speed. Mark yelled something about going faster and I kicked it into high gear. That really did the trick. I got off just fine and the extra speed really helped. Again I floated down toward the LZ and setup the landing. Good speed but I never brought my hands down on the downtubes. They were still at launch position so my speed and roll control were slightly reduced. I rounded out and flared. Again I dropped the left wing.

Due to building thunderstorms we had to call it a day before I could get a 3rd flight. Overall I was quite happy with the day. I had good launches. I just need to work on my flare timing - it was a little late today. But mostly I need to work on using a looser grip during the flare. It appears that I am holding tight with the left hand during my flare and that's causing the wing drops.

We met at 9am again Sunday and the wind was already real nice. There were four of us today. Steve and I again and two guys I hadn't met before. Another Steve who learned by aerotowing in Florida. He has never foot launched before so he spent the day low on the hill ground handling and doing short runs. I believe it was harder for him than he expected. He commented on it being much more technical. But since he now lives in Colorado he has to learn to foot launch or he will rarely get to fly. The 4th guy, Ron had his own glider. I'm not sure of his situation. He spent the day low on hill with Ron. I didn't get to talk to him much though.

Steve and I hiked our gliders up the hill. I did two flights from the 75' foot launch. Steve managed 3 from the 150' launch. My two flights went quite well. Both my launches were really strong. Mark was quite pleased with that. My first landing suffered from the usual left wing drop. Mark reminded me of using a light grip during the flare. My second landing went real well. I remembered the light grip and magically the flare went great. No dropped wing - finally. Now I just need to remember that every time.

The thunderstorms built even quicker today and we had to break down at noon today. So I managed to get 4 good flat slope hill launches in. I was quite pleased with how it all went. Of course there is still work to be done but I'm getting there.

I can't fly next weekend so I have a two week wait. I just may have to take a day off during the week and get a lesson in.

Oh what fun this is.

Enjoy,
Rick

Lesson 3

Rick M — Sun, 27 May 2007 03:17:50 GMT

Today turned out to be a great day. I was able to get four scooter tows in. The winds were stronger today, averaging about 10 knots. It was also a day full of thermals. Mark layed out a lot of line today so we could get nice high tows straight into the wind. The first tow of the morning was done by an experience pilot. He towed up to about 400' and was able to work some light thermals for an extended sled ride. The 2nd tow was a student on the verge of getting his Hang 2. He had a nice tow but has no thermal experience so he landed in short order.

Next was my turn. As a reminder I'm back after a nine year break. I've had 4 tows over the last 4 weeks and those were in little wind. Today I had 10+ knot winds. I got all ready and waited for a good cycle. It smoothed out a bit after a few minutes of waiting and I launched. Mark towed me up to about 300+ feet. After release I tried getting into the stirrup harness but was having some issues. I just flew (number one rule - no matter what else is going on - fly the glider). I did a big 180 to head back were I started. The plan was to fly back, setup an approach, and land without having to walk so far back to the setup area.

Shortly after the first 180 I hit a thermal and decided to give it a shot. I was high enogh and worse case I would have to land further upwind in the big field. I managed to do a couple 360's. Far from perfect but at least I remembered how. In the end I managed to work several small thermals and stayed up for over 4 minutes. Not too bad for a 300' tow. I turned in both directions for practice. I played with bar positions and speeds a bit. Definitely rusty but it was working.

Finally I had to setup an approach. I was able to finally get into the harness all the way so at this point I rocked up nice and early, pulled in a bit and setup into the wind. I ended on final in ground effect a bit cross to the wind and I flared a bit too hard for the conditions but overall I did OK. I was stoked. What a way to start the day.

Everyone was excited and happy for me. Not as much as I was of course

It turned out to be a productive day. There were 20 tows before we had to break down quickly for a fast approaching thunder storm.

My second flight wasn't nearly as good. I tried going prone in the harness during tow this time and had big problems. I couldn't work any thermals this time and quickly came in and setup an approach. Except this time I forgot all kinds of things. I rocked up early but left my hands on the base tube way too long. I nearly stalled twice due to poor control and bad hand position. And again I flared way too hard. Mark gave me a good talking to about my mistakes. Oops. OK, I learned a lot on that.

My next two flights went much better. I still had harness problems but I was OK with that - nothing critical - I just waited until I was off tow to go prone. I worked a little lift but the thermals weren't as good as the day went on - kind of strange. Both of the remaining landings were much better. Better hand position and better speed control. Mark, and well as me, was much happier and was glad to see my return to normal.

I've been talking with Mark about a glider. He is getting a used Sport 2 in soon. It only has 15 hours on it. The owner wants the bigger version so he's selling his. I'm at the top end of the weight range for the mid size one but I'm hoping to drop a few pounds. I'm also at the low end of the range for the big one. In Colorado I'd rather be at the high end than the low end of a glider.

I've also ordered a new Quantum 440 (I believe) to replace my 1979 vintage chute. Mark thinks another 3 good lessons and I should be ready to be turned loose with my renewed Hang 2. I'm in no rush so we shall see how it goes.

I'm just so happy to be back in this amazing sport again.

Here's a video showing 3 of my four flights (my third flight wasn't recorded).

Link

Until next time.

Rick

I be turnin'

Rick M — Sun, 20 May 2007 05:37:36 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
I know I said I wouldn't be able to train for a few weeks but I managed to get out anyway. The plan was to meet at the scooter towing site at 7am. By the time a few of us arrived and we got all setup it was closer to 8:30. I did two ground runs to get warmed up. Both went very well. There were two guys that were on their third lesson and were hoping for their first tows today. After they got in some ground runs it was time for the scooter.

Mark, our instructor, called me out to get ready. Cool, my first tow in three weeks and the first for the day. The wind was real light and variable today. I put on a school stirrup harness, radio, hook knife, and headed to the glider.

I reviewed the tow commands with Mark since it's been a few weeks. I did a hang check and got all hooked up to the tow line. Mark and I talked about the flight plan. He was going to tow me up high enough to get some turns in and set up a landing. OK, I haven't made a turn in over 9 years but I remember how.

Mark got the scooter going, released the brake, and then it was up to me. The wind was straight and light. I picked up the glider and quickly got it balanced. Clear! Slack! Tension! I took two steps and darn near got pulled out of my shoes. The tow pressure was much stronger than the last time I went. I got off OK but I was a bit behind the glider for a few seconds. Once off of the ground I did a nice steady tow.

Mark pulled me as far as he could and I released. I was about 150-200' up. Mark mentioned over the radio that I flew the glider a bit slow on tow and reminded me to keep up the airspeed. I did a wide 180 degree turn back toward where I started. Quickly I needed to turn back into the wind for landing. I did about a 120 degree turn. At that point I was too low to safely finish the turn. I leveled out and setup for the landing.

Since the wind was so light being a bit cross wasn't an issue. I got down into ground effect and let the speed bleed off. I got my hands up nice and high and at just the right time I flared and landed with just a few steps. All right! What a great way to start the day.

A few of the newer folks got short tows. Once of them got into a turn and landed strange. He was fine but he did put a heck of a bend in one of the downtubes.

Shortly before I was to get my next turn the wind started to switch as expected so we spent the next hour swapping ends.

Eventually it was my turn again and I did all the usual setup. It was mid day and warm. We were getting some light cycles coming through so I new the tow would require some more corrections. Mark and I talked about the first tow and the take-off I had. He assured me that he would use less pressure - which also meant a lot more running.

He wasn't kidding. I really worked for this launch but it was a good one. I also kept the bar in a bit better this time while towing up. I went through two small thermals and had to work a little to keep straight and level. No big deal but I had to pay attention. This was a little shorter tow due to how everything got setup after swapping ends.

I released and did a 180 degree turn. Most of the turn was in sink so I was a bit lower this time heading back to the start. I knew I was now too low for a 180 back into the wind so I opted for a 90 degree turn. Unfortunately the wind had shifted a bit and I was now fully committed to a real downwind landing.

I knew what to expect. The ground would be whizzing by but I still needed to ignore it and fly the glider at the proper air speed and then flare at the proper time - all while ignoring the green blur under me. At what was probably 1 second or two too late I flared but not well enough. I was still cruising. I was expecting to whack in pretty hard but luckily I kept the control frame out enough and ended up sliding on my knees while the glider rolled on the wheels.

I was fine and so was the glider. After talking with Mark he was actually quite pleased with two things I did. First he liked that I was wise enough not to attempt a full 180 degree turn as low as I was. Second, he liked that I recognized my downwind situation and that I flew the glider at the proper air speeds, not ground speed.

Later in the day I was hooking in for a third tow when the winds starting switching again. We had two big cells growing near us and they were starting to effect things. Mark made the right decision to call it a day and we packed everything up.

All in all I'm happy with today. I got two nice tows. I still need lots of practice but that's the whole point of taking lessons again. Weather permitting I will be back out next weekend - at least one day anyway.

Here's a video of my two tows:

Link

Enjoy

Another lesson cut short by weather

Rick M — Sat, 12 May 2007 23:29:51 GMT

I got a few good ground runs in but we all had to pack up in a hurry as the winds quickly picked up from some scattered thunderstorms. Maybe next week.

Weathered Out

Rick M — Sun, 06 May 2007 13:46:52 GMT

I was due to have my next round of lessons this weekend but the weather gods had other ideas. It rained a lot yesterday so the lesson was canceled. Today is starting off real nice but all the local training sites are too wet and it's supposed to get too windy this afternoon.

The worst part is my schedule doesn't allow me to even try the next two weekends so I have to wait another three weeks before I can try again - on top of the week I just waited. Ugh, I just realized that that is Memorial day weekend. I hope my instructor is teaching then.

Oh well, patience is a virtue. Yeah, right.

Video of my first day back

Rick M — Tue, 01 May 2007 05:27:02 GMT

Just thought I would add a link to a YouTube video I made from this past Saturday.

Link

Nice People

Rick M — Tue, 01 May 2007 05:15:50 GMT

After reflecting on this past weekend I am reminded of one of the great things about hang gliding - the great people. I met 8 or 9 new pilots this weekend out at the training field. Everyone was great. Obviously we all have a common interest so that helps a lot. Need help with a hang check - no problem, just ask. Have a question - just ask. The more seasoned pilots are more than happy to give advice or answer questions. During lulls we got to hear all kinds of exaggerated flying stories

Oh what fun.

Day Two

Rick M — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 05:08:24 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
The plan for Sunday was to meet at the same place at 11:30. The weather and winds were to be a bit different today. I had a heck of a time getting out of bed Sunday morning. I was tired and really stiff. After being up a few hours and moving about I was feeling a lot better. The outsides of my arms were the worst part. I wasn't looking forward to resting a glider on my arms today. But I was really looking forward to some great tows today. Maybe even work on a small turn or two.

I arrived at the field a little late - 12:00. Everyone was just BS'ing around the trunk. I hadn't missed anything yet. There was one guy from yesterday and eventually four new people. One was a rusty 20+ year pilot I recognized him from my first go around years ago.

Eventually we started to setup all the gliders and Mark layed out the tow line. By the time we finished setting up the wind shifted about 60 degrees so Mark decided to shift the tow direction to match. Meanwhile I decided to do some ground runs. Ugh, that hurts my arms. I did about 4 or 5 ground runs with a harness. Each one was better than yesterday. I know I was getting better because I wasn't working as hard as yesterday. Mark was really pleased with what he saw.

Only three or four tows took place during all this time. The wind decided to shift again and was another 60 degrees cross from the new setup. And this was the worst possible direction for the field. It's the shortest length with telephone lines on the upwind side. The few flights that did happen were during lulls with real light cross winds.

Mark was about to call it a day at 4:30 when we all agreed to wait 30 minutes more. Why not, we've been waiting 3 hours already - what's another 30 minutes.

About 25 minutes later it got real good. Two people did nice tows and I was to be up next. And then it settled back into the cross wind again and it was up to 10 knots. Too much for me at this point. It lulled to about 5 knots and 60 degrees cross. Mark had me get into position for a practice ground run in the cross wind to see how I could handle it. I actually did a great run. the glider yawed a bunch into the wind but I handled it properly and kept going in the right direction. Mark was very pleased with what he saw so we headed back to do it for real.

Of course by the time I was ready to go the wind had picked up again. After 10 minutes Mark called it a day. Bummer. It never did get better again so it turned out be the right call.

After we finished packing up we did the usual wrap up with each person. Despite being disappointed I didn't get a tow today I was quite pleased with my ground runs. And so was Mark. He was real happy with my day.

I'm scheduled to try again this coming weekend weather permitting. So think good thoughts and dream of great tows.

Until next week . . .

Getting back into hang gliding

Rick M — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 04:45:13 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
First a little background. Back in 1993 I moved to Colorado from the east coast. A few months later I was driving through Golden and I saw a hang glider or two flying over Lookout (it's actually Mt. Zion). That was enough for me. I went home, dug out the phone book (pre Internet) and found a listing for "Golden Wings" in Golden, CO. A week later I was on the training hill. My first lesson was June 5, 1993. I got my H2 on August 31, 1993 after a combination of 58 foot launches and dolly tows. I flew the next 4 seasons and took my last flight on October 18, 1997. I managed to rack up a very meager 32 hours over 131 flights post H2. Flying in Colorado is challenging for a very conservative H2.

I gave up hang gliding for lots of reasons. I burned my self out - going too often on days that weren't flyable. I have issues with motion sickness. There were a few other small factors too. In the end they all added up to moving on to other things.

In March of 1999 I starting training for a private pilots license which I got in August of 1999. I've since logged about 325 hours in small planes.

Now let's jump ahead to April 14th, 2007. A buddy of mine, John, called me up. He was going hang gliding the next day (he's been flying gliders for well over 20 years.) with two other guys and they needed a driver. I decided to tag along. We went to a site I had never been to before - Villa Grove, CO. Launch is at 9,600' in the San Luis valley along the Sangre De Cristo range. It's a beautiful site. Well, after watching the three of them fly for a few hours several thousand feet above launch I really started to recall how much I loved the idea of flying.

A few days later I contacted my former instructor, Mark Windsheimer. Golden Wings shut down many years ago but Mark has been teaching in one form or another all along. He's doing it solo these days. It was great to talk to him again. I told him I wanted to get back into the sport. I had dreams like I could just run off of a mountain like I had just done it a week earlier but I knew better. I wanted to start all over and do it right.

Due to my schedule the first lesson I could attend would be over the weekend of April 28 and 29, 2007. That was 11 days away. I couldn't wait. So I filled the time doing what I could. I dug out all of my old gear. I still have my harness (a custom made pod made by L/D), a 20 gore 1979 vintage chute, a transceiver, vario (Ball M-19e), and helmet. I donated my previous glider (a WW EuroSport 167) to the "Wings Over the Rockies" museum. I believe it is still hanging from the ceiling.

By Friday the 27th I was like a kid on Christmas eve. I was so excited I couldn't sleep. The plan was to meet at the towing site at 11am. The site is a farm about 35 miles northeast of Denver. Mark does a lot of scooter towing at this site. It's actually a huge field used by some ultra lights with three crossing grass strips. The forecast was looking pretty good. Clear skies all day, 75 degrees, and light winds out of the south east.

I arrived right at 11. Mark showed up a couple of minutes later with all his gear. In the end 5 other people showed up. One was a first time guy (essentially, he took a lesson or two 20 years ago). Another guy is real close to getting his H2. The other three were "real" pilots who hadn't flown since last fall and wanted to shake off some rust.

We spent the next two hours getting all the gear setup. This included Mark working with Dave (the new guy) and I doing a very detailed setup of a glider. I remembered a lot of it but it was a great reminder of all the details. The wind was about non-existent at this time.

Dave and I took turns doing some ground runs with a Falcon 195. No harness, just a helmet. Boy, am I out of shape. I'm glad there were no hills. It was enough work running on flat ground. Boy was I rusty. I ended up doing about 7 ground runs with no harness. Each was getting better but I was tired.

Soon I put on a training harness and hooked in. Dave and I then took turns doing runs hooked in with a harness. Mark did a quick demo. Amazing. He took half a dozen steps and let go of the glider as he kept running. The glider flew perfectly as he ran along - hands off. Needless to say I had to work a lot harder. In the end I did about 4 or 5 more ground runs with the harness. I was getting real good at it. Eyes on the horizon, walk, jog, run. Long strides. Hips to the base tube. Good angle of attack. Good flare.

The winds were getting a little better as the day wore on. All the other guys were getting some nice scooter tows. The better pilots were getting towed up about 300 feet or more. Enough to release, do a standard pattern and land.

After a while Mark said to get ready. Oh yeah! My first scooter tow. I was hoping this was going to happen. We spent a bunch of time going through all the procedures and commands. Mark is very safety conscious. He really knows his stuff. He has a lot of control with the scooter tow setup. The plan was to launch just like all my runs so far except the tow line would provide enough speed to lift the glider. The flight was to be short. Launch, keep the wings level, keep the speed up, then settle down and land. Don't mess with the release, don't try to turn.

I was quite excited. After a practice tow (Mark simply holding the line and pulling me) I hooked in for real. We connected the bridle to the weak link and Mark sat at the controls of the scooter tow. The wind was straight in at about 5 knots. I lifted the glider and got it balanced. I yelled "clear" (command 1). I yelled "slack" (command 2) and Mark pulled the line enough to remove the slack. I took a deep breath and I yelled the 3rd and last command - "tension". At that time I started to walk and Mark turned on the tow. Walk, jog, run. Eyes on the horizon. Speed building and I'm quickly off of the ground - yipee! I expected a ten second flight being my first one. But I was doing a great job (if I do say so my self) keeping the glider level and in a straight line. Seeing this Mark decided to let me keep going a bit. I reached about 60' and was in the air for 30 seconds. It seemed longer I felt Mark release the tow and I glided toward the ground. I kept my speed up and got into ground effect. As I slowed I did a flare - too soon. I relaxed a second and finished the flare. I did a couple of running steps and stopped. Outstanding. I was psyched. What a great first tow after a nine year break from flying hang gliders. I walked back (long walk with the glider) and I had a serious problem with permagrin

Mark and I talked about the flight. He was really pleased but not nearly as much as I was. I was so happy.

After a break and a few other tows from other guys I was up again. It was getting late. It was almost 7pm. I was to be the last tow. Mark and I discussed the next tow. It was to be just like the last one but a bit higher and further - assuming I was doing well. I was to also release the tow line this time. But I was still to just glide and land straight ahead. No turns. OK, works for me. Same as before - clear, slack, tension, walk, jog, run. The launch wasn't quite as good the second time. I let the glider get ahead of me just a bit but I got off OK and flew perfectly straight with level wings. Mark towed me up to about 100' feet and I was up for 40 seconds. I released the tow line when Mark dumped all the pressure. I then did a nice little glide down to a great two step (Ok, maybe three) landing. I let out a big howl. I was stoked. What a great way to end the day.

We broke down and then Mark went around the group talking about everything that happened that day. He talked with each pilot about the good and not so good things they did. Mark is awesome about talking about what each person did. We all learned a lot just discussing it all. By the time we left it was getting dark.

I was so happy but I was wiped out. Like I said, I'm not in shape. My legs were tired, my arms were tired, I was tired. And I need to be back the next day for more fun. It hurts to even look at my arms where the downtubes rest. What a great day. I made some new friends and I got to fly. Does it get much better than that?

To be continued . . .