This young lady ...

... has a bright future. I happen to know her personally, so no, it's not photoshopped, but I think she did have two very skillful wire-persons.

Petrohan

This week, Tuesday through Thursday, I joined deltaclub.bg on their 4-day hang gliding training course in Petrohan. Petrohan is about 60-70 km northwest of Sofia. The training site we used features a large bowl surrounded by hills facing each and every direction of the wind. All great, except if the wind is whimsical on a given day, that results in walking in circles, climbing different hills every time, and generally getting a strenuous workout. All things good for a hang gliding student.

The hills slope up continuously, so any range of altitudes is available, depending on the student's level. All in all, we flew every day, we got rained on every day, and we saw majestic overdevelopment almost every day. Thankfully, the thunder was never too close. Add to that that I got to watch two games of the volleyball game in the local pub one night, and I'm a happy camper. Moreover, the students were awesome. The video below is dedicated to them!

Log:

150 ft hill - 2 flights on a Falcon 170

200 ft hill - 2 flights on a Falcon 170 (both within 2 meters of the goal!)

hang gliding in Bulgaria

Learned lots about flying in the BG skies this past weekend. Will spare you the politics, ask me if interested, but here's my experience on the hill:

A weekend with deltaclub.bg ... a typical day on the hill Saturday. We flew 50-foot-like grassy hill, facing exactly the wind direction of the moment. I borrowed all gear from them, unfortunately also helmet. I got two flights on a Falcon 170, and it went fine, but surely it was big for me. The only glider in my weight range was a K2, soooo I gave it a try. I had three flights total. The first two I had 6-9 mph wind and I could launch the thing fine, but I kept bobbing up and down at every little bump on the level part of the grass, as if I was pio-ing pitch. It was weird. I decided to wait for it to calm down completely, to give it another try. With almost no wind (1-2 mph) I found that not only I have trouble lifting the thing, but also my shoulders don't fit in the frame at all. The frame felt so large, that the only pivot could be my head! I waited for a puff to launch and the launch was fine. However, I still got that grasshopper move going, and soon I was at the end of the field, looking potentially at some bushes. Well, I "landed" before that, but was too nervous to do a proper flare, my wheels caught up in the grass, and I whacked. All my common sense came back to me when my head also "gently touched" the keel. I had had enough. [I am pretty confused about not having a stable pitch during the flight, the hill also had a gentle slope downwards which made things harder, but I still don't get it.] It has been five months and I shouldn't have launched a glider I can't lift with my shoulders, and K2 is not my cup of tea. 

We finished with a nice beer round at the local pub and I learned that this pub was special because it didn't care for our muddy and grassy pants and crazy hair. Apparently, you have to look good to go to most pubs here. 

Sunday it was blowing cross all day, so no one flew.

Some pictures.

And Vasilena launching and landing the K2 quite successfully. Woo-hoo ...




Log:

50 ft hill:
2 flights on a Falcon 170 (totally fine, but it's a big kite for me)
3 flights on a K2 (let's just say, lesson learned)
Oh wait, also .... first flight ever in Bulgaria, and first flight ever outside of California. That's a milestone.