France vs Cali 1:0

After successfully fulfilling Grandma-duty in Germany, i headed directly to France to join a bunch of Swedish pilots, mostly newbies. We spent a couple of days at Chindrieux, a beginner-friendly site where they could get as many sledders as they wanted (and some of us some nice thermal ridge soaring flights). As the rain approached, we decided to pack up camp and move southwards to Saint-André-les-Alpes - a great site! I had to do some fighting and convincing in order to be "allowed" to launch mid-day. 'Cause girls can't fly (of course, how could I have missed that?), and three years of flying is nothing (well, at least in Sweden). But then I had great flights together with the other more experienced pilots under a beautifully cloudy sky. I flew a rented Atlas, an old single surface glider with pretty poor performance, so unfortunately I wasn't really able to fly anywhere far from launch and LZ, but at least it handled nicely and didn't try to kill me...

Another rainy day came and we went on to the next site. Too late for my taste, we missed a day of flying because the guys weren't able to make up their minds in time and get out of bed in time to be at the flying sites when the winds were good. So we drove around trying to hit a bunch of different flying sites just to see the wind being either down or too strong and found a small, small ridge soaring site at night. I didn't really get any lift and decided I was nervous enough about the landing (a rocky, uneven, small ridge with trees all over it) to go land immediately while the others got a nice sunset flight.We then camped at Laragne, a real hang gliding mecka. At least 50% of the people at the camp site were HG pilots and the LZ was also directly there. Pretty nice... :) But Mistral was blowing, a strong northwind which made the site unlaunchable. We drove to Saint Vincent, a little town on top of a mountain with a castle and a small ridge. The main LZ is above launch and the place is crowded with PGs, so only a few of us got to launch into weak lift. Three pilots made the climb away from the ridge and over to the main mountain, while I and another pilot scrambled around at the ridge, trying to avoid the PGs and still staying up in hopes of eventually making it to the LZ. I tried for two hours without a single second of relaxation until I couldn't master the strength for turning and dodging PGs anymore and had to land in an angry farmer's field below. The prettiest place I've flown, I just wish I could have enjoyed it more.The next day, it was still pretty Mistral-windy, making our attempt to fly midday a bumpy, windy, turbulent, extended sled ride into a turbulent LZ. At night the wind had died down a little and turned to be perpendicular to the rim and I got the most beautiful flight so far in my flying career. Really smooth lift, both ridge and thermals. I took the last thermal up to cloud base at 8:30 pm and then just enjoyed the amazing view of the sunset over the Alps all around me as I glided over to the LZ and slowly circled away my altitude to land 10m from my tent after three hours in the air. :)The next, and our last, day, most local and visiting pilots launched mid-day for windy sledders as we had done the day before. Almost nobody seemed to be getting up so we decided to wait. After 4pm the day suddenly turned on, I launched and had no problem whatsoever to get up. Went straight to cloud base and had to make sure not to get too close and high to be sucked in as I flew around for about an hour. I eventually landed as the sky turned darker and darker and went back in the evening for a calmer ridge soaring flight. It wasn't quite as nice as the night before and my arms finally failed me, telling me that enough is enough and now we need a couple of weeks break before flying again. ;)I got 18h of flying in only 12 days, I got to fly with clouds as I've never really done before and managed to show some people that you don't need testicles to fly a hang glider. Well, I also got a mild concussion from jumping into the car door frame just as we were about to leave the place for a 27h-drive back home to Sweden. :p Here's a nice video summary which one of the pilots made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71HYjy4MNg4&feature=youtu.be


I'm in the blue and white glider with my light blue/yellow harness.Maybe we should meet in France to fly next spring?? :) Until then I'll hopefully have managed to buy myself a decent glider of my own...

Low Cloudbase at Hull

Cleanpants here. Went to Hull on July 16 with Karen, Ryan, Justine, and papirtiger, hoping to get a good day trip in. Just before we leave the night before, Kurtis, Jeremy, Bill (an east coast pilot now in the bay area), Andrew, Katie, and Azul (Katie's friend) decide to come as well. Anyway, in the morning, Karen, Jeremy, and Bill take a sled run and all of them do very well. They all came over the LZ very high, especially Karen (though she is very light on her glider).

At noontime, as I'm setting up, Barry, Mike L, and Angela show up, with a glider falling off the back of the truck. Fortunately, only the mylar inserts were damaged, which were going to be replaced anyway.

With conditions looking good, I decide to launch first. I realized that it had been a while since I'd played wind dummy. I used to do it all the time. Anyway, I launched and immediately made my way down the ridge. A combination of light lift and me hanging about 5"-6" higher than usual (and thus changing the feel of the glider) left me sinking out pretty quickly. Anyway, Jeremy was waiting on my report on the conditions so he could launch. I told Ryan that the conditions were mellow enough as I made my way to the house. Once I reached the house, I found choppy lift, but it was enough to get me back up the ridge. I made it back to the hairpin before Jeremy actually launched. Unfortunately, Jeremy didn't soar for very long- it takes time to learn how to thermal. After I landed, he told me that Justine offered him an apple on launch so he would have something to eat while waiting in the LZ.

As for the rest of the day, I did laps up and down the ridge. I made it to launch somewhere between 3-5 times. I reached cloudbase a couple times, and I saw whispies forming beneath me. Mike L tells me that he touched a cloud for the first time- a major goal he had been working towards! Congrats!! I eventually made up over Lower Launch, but I couldn't get any higher because the cloudbase was soooo low (~6500'). I had been hoping to fly over the peak....but that will have to wait until later in the summer.

After about 2.5 hours, I was getting pretty tired, especially since I was hanging higher. I changed my hang height in the hope it would help with my flare authority. Apparently, all year I had been flying so low that my parachute could rest on my base tube if I were to go fully prone. I hadn't even realized it! But I did notice my bad landings. I was actually considering going back to the Pulse, which I landed perfectly. Anyway, hanging higher meant it was harder to control the glider, and it got me tired quicker, so I went to land. I eventually got 2 hrs 50 min out of the flight. Not a bad flight for me- I look forward to the next one!

A different safety margin (probably good to not do what I did either)

So having been asked to contribute.....(this is mike L btw)

I had a pretty epic scratchfest at hull on saturday a week ago (and it looks like ill be going back there tomorrow). So here's how it went. Judge for yourself how bad my judgement was then (I am pretty much totally wasted now so whatever).

I launch. Not much lift at launch. Leave launch to red spot. Not much lift at red spot. Leave red spot toward switchbacks. Not much left at switchbacks. (Leon has already landed--didn't find anything and I am seeing why). Leave switchbacks toward house.

I finally find a thermal at a couple dead trees adjacent to a mild valley near the house (above and northeast of it actually). So I need to decide, will I stay up in this? I either go toward the rest of the house ridge or straight for the knob/LZ (airstrip) and I don't have a lot of time to make my choice as it is obvious to me that, if this lift is like the rest of the day so far, it sucks ass. So I decide I'll try to thermal in it instead of heading out.

One of the things that pushed me in that direction was my knowledge of the glider. The Sonic I fly now has a lot in common with the MarkIV I used to fly and pulses generally but, in addition to an improved max glide ratio has something far more important: It will turn smoothly and well-coordinated in almost any condition, including a stall. So when my nose enters a thermal and the 'correct' technique on some gliders may be to pull in to max glide or greater and then turn, I can just push out and left or right and begin thermalling immediately as the handling on my glider up to stall is perfectly acceptable.

So there I am, somewhat low but still with acceptable turning height, near the house and entering a thermal (weakly but its there). Do i leave? No, fuck that, I turn. And then I turn again. And again. And then I realize a fascinating reality: I am gaining elevation but getting CLOSER to the hill since the thermal is both weak and slanted. Well, I think to myself, that kinda sucks. But at the end I return to my original longitudinal/latitudinal location and see I am indeed higher despite and height lost in the return to the horizontal location I had been at previously. So I thermal again. And again. Always coming back to the same thermal ( a weak one but one that was there) and always turning back toward the LZ when falling out of it. In the end, after 1.5 hours, "it got easier"; I got high enough on the ridge behind the house that I decided to make a 4-hop or so trip from the house to the red spot.

I got to the red spot and was thermalling comfortably but when I tried crossing the fingers to the launch bowl could not find lift. I eventually got back up over the red spot but could not get above launch so I said fuck it and headed toward the knob/LZ. I crossed the knob with over 1000' of clearance (my scratching paid off in the end!) and landed comfortably in the airstrip a bit later, followed by some tasty beer.

I fucked up my landing the next day but thankfully Leon was there to grad by glider and turn it around..........lift in the LZ for the lolz.

-ML

Hat Creek and the Bionic Badass

It's been a thoughtful few days since our annual Hat Creek adventure as I recover from my fractured humerus in my left arm. 10 screws and a metal plate and I have now joined the elite and exclusive "club of broken arms the name of which I forget". I was not exactly angling to join any time soon.

Positives:

*Wonderful support from friends and the hang gliding community
*Shorter recovery period as I didn't break any joints
*Wicked, cool scar
*Bionic woman
*Random people tell me how awesome it is that I broke my arm hang gliding and not something lame like slipping on a curb
*Get to slow down
*Cute PT named Max
*Prescription to drink a lot of hot chocolate, and consume other milk products e.g. ice cream!

Negatives:
*Need not dwell on.

So, what the bleep happened? I had been enjoying a glorious glassoff flight, completely magical with the launch and traffic not worrisome, as I patiently waited for a few pilots to go land in the main LZ so I could observe their approaches. After about an hour, I was deciding between the two LZs, thinking the small LZ would be a good choice (less traffic), but I hadn't yet landed in the main LZ and I wanted to try that if I could. My height was above launch before I started heading out to the main LZ so I knew I had the glide, but as I was cruising along, I noticed 2 other gliders coming in at roughly the same time. This unnerved me a bit, but I held it together, did a tiny box (just shy of being too low), to get my glider into the wind (the wind sock was showing a slight breeze, but I now know it was relatively insignificant), and came in on approach. Initially, I was pulled in, but for some reason (read - mistake), I didn't keep the pressure on and as I came towards the ground I tried to run it out with out much of a flare, and the wheel caught on a lava rock, and I didn't let go. My nose didn't hit so observers thought it was a belly landing and relatively benign. I assure you it was not. It was bad luck and simply a mistake for not going fast, rounding out, and flaring as hard as I could. Some of us end up learning the hard way.

Another item of note: radios:

Honestly, if Dan had had his radio (he had loaned it to a H2 pilot) and I had mine turned on (was on my person), he would have gotten on and told me to speed up on final. Would I have hurt my arm then? Maybe, maybe not. Lesson learned: it behooves us to have our radios on just in case we need that extra bit of coaching now and again.

I need not go into the sordid details of getting to the hospital and all that, but I do want to send a big THANK YOU to all of those who helped, in particular Dan (sorry I couldn't enjoy the post flight beer you were bringing me), Henrik, Eric, Justine, Gergana, Anthony, Karen, Zach, and I'm sure others who helped. Thank you from the bottom of my heart - you guys are awesome.

Flight Log:

Aircurls - 3 flights, 1 hour, 58 minutes

'bout that safety margin

Subtitle: Don't do as I did.

I learned a cheap lesson this Monday. Really cheap. My lesson is done, but I'm adding my two cents here so you don't do as I did. I am the analyzing type, so post-crashing, there are two things that worried me - shock of the crash itself, but most importantly not understanding why it happened. 

I think I made 2.5 transgressions, each progressively worse. First off, I was really affected by aircurl's unfortunate landing the day before. Perhaps she wasn't going fast enough on final, she knows best, but she broke an arm, as she belly landed. I didn't have a better landing that day, but simply let go, or maybe my base tube did not catch, so I lucked out. The next day I kept thinking about that on launch, and kept picturing the landing sequence, and was quite nervous. That's the 0.5. You could say if I didn't want to land, I shouldn't have launched. I thought about that, and decided to launch to beat the fear, get it out of the way early. You could go either way here I think. It wasn't so wrong to launch, we are often afraid of things. I could have been more communicative though, and sought a bit of encouragement from my fellow pilots on launch. 

So I launched (I think a good launch), and had a good flight. Flew for about an hour, and got above 6000'. After about an hour I started sinking out, while still on the ridge. I made a few passes back and forth, thinking, "I've got LZ1 in my pocket, I can afford to try to get up. If I manage to climb back to launch, I'll attempt the glide to LZ2." I couldn't get back up to launch after 3 passes, even though I stayed close to the hill. I was now perhaps 30-50 ft below launch. Ok, time to land. This is where I made my first full judgement error. Not sure why - mind not clear? Being below launch, I should have just shot for LZ1. Now I could still see LZ2, and I let myself think there's a possibility out there. I decided to try flying towards LZ2, and check my altitude half-way and turn back if it looks impossible. 

Alright, let me emphasize, I think I knew LZ2 was a far stretch, but I attempted just in case. I can now see how that's a bit warped. Can't count on getting up along the way.

Well, that was an error in judgement but it wasn't grave yet. It is ok to fly forward and turn back if you see that you can't make it. But that only works if you continuously check your altitude. I looked back once. When I was half-way. That was mistake number 2, and ultimately the one that put me on the hill. By the time I looked back, LZ1 was far and surrounded by tall trees, and LZ2 was still too far yet. I chose the rocks and sparse trees on the hill, over the tall trees around LZ1. The rest happened fast. I avoided a tall tree, then sped up a bit, as if it was a true final approach, didn't flare because I was scared that the boulders will break my legs, and then in the end I let the glider take it. Hit small lava rocks, a dead tree and two bushes. The only thing on my mind during my crash approach was "let go let go let go let go let go". Best part of the story. I got away with a bruised left leg and no glider damage.

So the takeaway, learned for almost free:

0.5: It's ok if you didn't launch. Even if you flew in 6000 miles from Europe last week, and then you drove 5 hours, oh wait 9,  to get here. 

1: Just take the LZ that you can safely make. Can't count on lift on the way to your landing zone. That's the safety margin.

2: Always continuously check your altitude when gliding far. Not every now and then. Not half-way.

And yeah, let go.