4+3+3+3

Four plus three plus three plus three is not a secret safe combination, but code for our pipeline of flights at Ed Levin this Monday. With light conditions, while most people were scratching for lift, I got to check off some top launch skills, that everyone has in the bag already. Since no-one described their stalls yet, I'll take the chance to do it.

Some call it fun, but stall is scary. I was instructed to stall the glider fully on my second flight off the top, and obviously, I was kind of nervous about that. I negotiated mini-stalls to start with. I got to the LZ, and just slowed down the glider; until it nosed in, three times. That felt ok, and the air was so smooth that it seemed like a "safe" thing to do. That made me brave to really try it on my second flight. I checked the altitude by looking back at the 1200, and it was just a touch above me. Call it 100 ft, so I was counting on 1000-1100 ft below. Ok, here we go. Pushing the bar out was harder, as it pushed back at me, but not that strong of a push; I stretched my arms out as far as I can (for my arms that's not very far). I may have done it a bit too quickly; not sure, but the glider stopped flying, wavered and dove. It is when I was heading straight down, head down, feeling no tug in my harness, that I knew, ok this was stall. Please come up please. It did. I did pull in and checking my altitude attempted another quick one of those. My ears popped at least once. When I was finally out of that, I turned around and was still above the 600 ft hill. So these two stalls plus good old gravity cost me about 500 ft.  The 300-600 ridge was more fun this time, as I made two passes and actually enjoyed the bumps along the way.

Good job little falcon.

Wind: 5-8 mph, W, WNW? Very few bumps (clayble got one!), not too lifty.

Log:
cleanpants - 4 flights from 1750 ft
clayble - 3 flights, 1750 ft
papirtiger - 3 flights, 1750 ft
cookie girl - 3 flights, 1750 ft, stalls and 360 degree turns

cookies on top

After watching cookie girl's flawless first flight off the top, I followed her for a smooth sledride down, a warm-up flight for a much more interesting one. As I waited for the winds to cycle up launch, there seemed to be more and more activity in the air, and so I was pretty excited to try to get some lift out there. Though I felt like the bumps I got after launch were all turbulence, I was told by those on launch that it had seemed as though I was actively avoiding thermals, turning away from them instead of into them. This was, of course, not intentional, but more a reaction to the turbulence I experienced after launch, (I got bumped around quite a lot), and the fact that I felt like I was pretty close to the hill. Which apparently I wasn't, so that will go on my list of things to improve on for my next flight. I then headed over to the ridge, flying over the 900 and the 600, but not really getting much of anything before I was low enough to do laps between the 600' and the 300' hills, and this is when it got interesting. Doing small passes in between the hills I was maintaining pretty well for a long time, even though it was a little turbulent at times. Though I may not have been going up, the feeling of being able to (mostly) maintain my altitude, and also playing around with thermals was seriously addictive. I was also lucky enough to have a very helpful paraglider film my flight as he was flying above me (will post the video as he uploads it), who also confirmed that I had indeed had my longest flight to far. At 15 minutes, it was my first extended experience playing with thermals at Ed Levin, and the reason why I am compulsively checking the forecast trying to chase down the prefrontal days of the coming week. (Monday? Tuesday??)

The day was finished off with an amazing bbq setup in the LZ by Karl, (who also sponsored cookie girl off the top), and also some evidence that hanggliders will do anything to get that sensation of flying (as pictured below.)

(no racks were harmed in the taking of this picture.)

Winds: Mostly dead in the morning (perfect conditions for first flights), 5-10 south winds on launch for my second flight. (More like 5 though, pilots on top told me I would have had much better conditions had I launched just a little bit later.)

Log: cookie girl (1 flight, 1750), papirtiger (2 flights, 1750).

William's video of my launch and flight:

Now I become Death, the Destroyer of Weeds

The day started innocuously enough- I got to see cookie girl get her 10th flight from the 600' hill. A nice, smooth flight into nearly dead air and she was cleared to go to the top.

While she broke down her glider, I was busy breaking down something else. I brought a scythe with me on this flying trip (doesn't everyone?) and, with Stan, started an all-out-assault on the mustard plants in the LZ. Once the mustard plants had been conquered, we set our sights on a new foe- the grass growing in the Hang 4 spot. Make no mistake- this was a massive undertaking! Using a blade that was duller than a baseball bat, cutting the grass was no small feat (why, oh why did I talk Barry out of sharpening it??). I have no picture to show, because cookie girl neglected to take a photo of me while I was at the apex of my masculinity.

By the way, I also had a 25+ minute soaring flight at Ed Levin. :-P

My first flight of the day was a nice, extended sled run. It was blowing a little hard on launch (~10 mph), but I think it was a little stronger when cookie girl tried launching after me. My second flight was amazing, by my standards. The winds were already strong when I got to the top, so I set up as quickly as I could and was first of that batch to launch (though Karl was already in the air ~15 minutes). I launched into smooth 14.999 mph winds, and found immediate lift once I cleared the hill. After launching, I looked right and saw Karl do a smart 180 away from me to give me space. I decided I didn't want to fly in traffic (it was about to get ALOT busier near launch), so I flew to the 900' hill. I found small bubbles of lift, but once I neared the 900' hill a thermal elevated me by 300'- at least! Then, I would do 360's, explore a little, and then go back to the thermal if I ever wanted to go up. I eventually got too low, so I soared between the 300' and 600' hills until I landed. Not my best landing because my wings weren't level when I wanted to flare. Second time that's happened- I'll have to work on that.

Weather: South all day, 10-15 mph, prefrontal, soarable

Log: cleanpants - 2 flights off the top, second 25 minutes!; cookie girl - 600' flight 10

Almost Died Today ;)

From tripping in holes in the ground to sliding half-way down a hill in my car, the most dangerous part of hang-gliding can be found while still on the ground. For instance, I stared into the glassy eyes of death this morning, when I put my hand on a rock that was a few inches away from an angry (huge!) rattlesnake. cookie girl has a photo of it. I found it, or rather, it found me as I was climbing the 600' hill to meet up with Daniel and cookie girl. I grabbed hold of a rock to help climb up the hill when I heard an awful hiss. I immediately jumped back because I didn't know what kind of snake it was. People tried to convince me it was a harmless variety of snake until we heard the rattle.

In terms of flying, I had a pretty good day. It started out with an early flight from the top. Daniel had me going from one end of the hill to the other looking for the perfect launch. In the end, dead wind is dead wind and I launched from the most convenient spot. It was a smooth flight with a perfect landing. I also had a flight from the 600' hill, but that one saw lots of sink and a little bit of turbulence.

Cookie girl also had two flights today, from the 600' hill; but was cheated out of a third by Marianne (Wanda's cousin, the marine layer that regularly shoots the 600'). She can describe her flights better than I can, but she had at least one perfect landing and she flew well enough to convince an observer to sponsor her off the top.

Wind: 8-10-15 mph, W cycles to NW cycles steady through the day. A bit bumpy. Gusting above 20 after 3 pm.
Log: cleanpants (1 flight off the top, 1 flight off the 600'); cookie girl (600' flights 8 and 9).

And here's our best rattle-shot (click on the picture for the real size):

cookie girl is back

To the training hill that is. After a month of no 600 flights, "my parachute opened" (well no no no, not that way) today. Forecast was light, S at 7 mph turning to W at 10 mph, sunny. Cleanpants took off first, and set the first flight, for a cloudy, west, slightly cross (WNW) launch, at maybe 7 mph. First 600' flight in new harness worked out fine! My flight was fairly uneventful too, I stayed on top of the road, and came back all the way to the steps for the final approach. 

Then it got interesting. The clouds lifted and sock started dancing from east to west, albeit not too strongly. Cleanpants had a nice flight, but wind changed on him on final, and he landed (beautifully) 90 degrees cross. 

By the time I was at the west launch, the wind died and started looking slightly south. That made us change our mind and try the mid-launch, which was showing signs of wind rolling up. LZ and 300' socks lined up south, great. Another 30 seconds to hang check again. Wind sock behind us still good, wind in face still good. The LZ and 300' socks though started to veer west. This is when I launched. Technically my launch spot showed all good signs for a good launch, but as soon as I launched that west wind arrived and blew me east ... In my mind bumping while still going slow and close to the hill equals rotating, flipping and who knows what - so I kept up with the glider and launched east. Recovered. But picked the wrong launch spot. Lesson down. From there on I closed back on the ridge to the 300' and started going up, bumped around like a feather. For most of the flight I tried creative tricks to lose altitude. Playing with the bar, yanking the bar, eventually I kicked out to add some drag. It felt as if I kept doing turns on the hill, I'd get out of the park .... Kicking out worked. Sock was still west, so that eventful flight had a peaceful end....

Log:
Cleanpants - first 2 flights from 600' in new harness
cookie girl - 600' flights 6 and 7

That's right! That east sock is changing any minute now ...

It's all fun and games until someone gets amnesia

Dunlap ramp

Forecast: Calm northwest winds, chance of rain/snow friday and sunday. In other words: bring your spacesuit because it's gonna be f***ing freezing.

4 students, two pilots and one instructor headed out to Dunlap, which was to be the site of our first mountain flight.

The plan was to get early morning flights and possibly a late afternoon flights to avoid strong and unpredictable winds (which Dunlap is known for) so we made plans to get up early.

Saturday morning we met up with Connie Locke, who owns the launch ramp, and later Dan Fleming, who owns the LZ. Now usually there is a lot of politics involved with flying sites, but this situation was pretty much the most complicated one I'd encountered so far, so I won't go into it more than that. Anyway, as we had signed our waivers (*cough*) and paid our annual fees, we were set to go, about an hour behind schedule.

Winds were coming pretty much straight up the ramp as we had set up, and so we watched our wind dummy do a pretty sledride down the mountain before we launched ourselves. I was second to launch, and had an amazing flight, even though I was distracted towards the end after the previous pilot to launch made an unfortunate 'connection' with a tree in the LZ.

I will probably be hunted down if I go into details, but I will say that both tree and pilot not only survived the encounter, but are doing fine, and that amnesia is arguably the most hilarious consequence of headtrauma, ever.

Finished the day off with the 'Pinehurst experience' which included prime rib, pool and first-class jukebox DJs.

And, for those pilots who did not launch Saturday, Sunday morning was beautiful and clear with calm winds for launching the ramp (though we had to wait through some crosswinds from the south), and everyone got a flight in.

Flight log: two flights (one much better than the other) and all in all a great weekend.

Woke up monday morning with a mean hangover and a Hot Topic-esque skull tattoo on my chest. Oh, and pics are one the way, left my camera in Big Mama. You will have to settle for this one (the glamorous crew sporting fake tattoos and duct-taped plastic shotguns at Pizza Hut in Medesto) as you wait.

spring break flying

Saturday:

Forecast: Calm winds in the morning, NW in the afternoon.

Woke up at 7.30, called the windtalker and found out that it was blowing NE and gusting up to 20 at the top of Ed Levin. It was spring break however, so we figured we didn't have anything better to do, and after a short discussion to convince Cleanpants that it was worth it, we ended up going out.

It was unlaunchable on top as we made it out, but there was a light south west wind blowing up the midlaunch on the 600, so we decided to to get a flight in there first. I ended up launching in nearly dead, did not hit any lift of any sort along the way, and sank like a rock. Had to make my first turn before I got to the 300, the second one right after, and still ended up landing a little short of the H4 spot. Shortest flight from the 600 ever.

After we had all landed, conditions on top had started to die down, so with the help of one of Ed Levin's wonderful observers we made it to the top, where we were met by weak SW winds. We all got one flight each trying to thermal over the farmhouse, all getting a little longer flights than usual.

Sunday:

Forecast: SE 5-7 to SW in the afternoon.

Unlike many days at Ed Levin where you basically only share the park with some horses and the occasional hiker, this was a day where you had to fight for parking. Everyone who usually flies Ed Levin was out this day, hoping that it would be soarable. Which may not have been the case, but it was still gave most students the best flights from the top to far.

Log: Flight #8,9 and 10 from the top, and a signoff to launch with only a H3 sponsor.

..currently praying to Wanda that it will be good enough to go to Dunlap this saturday.

1750

Saturday:

Forecast: NNW, 3-8 mph. 30 % chance of showers before 4 pm. (Don't ask why we decided to go out this day.)

Actual weather at Ed Levin: Everything from south to SW to west, windspeeds ranging from dead to 8 mph. Smooth air with a little bit of lift from the 600.

Log: 4 flights from the 600, clearing me to launch from the top!

Which brings us to Sunday:

Forecast: SSW, 5-9 mph - and here's the shocker: forecast was actually right. Crazy, right?

Day started out straight west, gusting north and making it too cross for the 600 and not too many places for us to launch at the top (which was also below cloudbase). Then suddenly, the winds turn, clouds clear and the sky opens up for four students to get their first flight off the top of Ed Levin. Winds are blowing pretty strong up there, from 10 - 15, which gives us an easy job of launching (and also a lot of lift), as well as an interesting flight down.

Log: 2 flights from the 1750. SW winds, first one a little bumpy, the second one a lot smoother and with a lot more lift.

Current mood: Ecstatic.

Anthony looking down on the lake.

the last day of february

Horoscope: NW to W, 3-10 mph on Saturday, S, SE, SW 3-10 mph on Sunday morning.

Our horoscope was somehow mostly right this time. Our first and only launch was in dead to light wind.

One bumpy ride for all with some thermals? and some south fighting the predominant west because it was so light in the morning. Road to the six was still muddy - so we hiked the gliders. This is half-way up.

Taking a breather at launch:

Log: 1 flight off the six, light but bumpy ride, SW wind.

------------

Quick picturepost from the 2nd chick:

Horses are no longer a problem, but we did run into a couple of mean-looking cows hiking up to the 600'.

Speaking of hiking up hills, Sunday's efforts had me dreaming of this:

A short, bumpy car ride later and you are on top of the hill again, ready to launch. Ingenious.