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Hangola April 1 - 7, 2005

Flight Reports

Lot of haze, weak sunshine, light ne. But surprisingly nice. Nada on tow so I am thinking "shucks --sled city". But at about 1700 to the east of the field we started going up good. I saw 1300 on the upanddowno'meter and pinned off. Turned out to be pretty sweet. Didn't get real high -- 2500 only. But got up there, again over the junkyard and then SW of the field. Betcha I got at least 40 mins before it really started clouding up and shut down.

One of the gliders that Jim mentioned having been tossed around by the dusty that came through yesterday was my new ATOS. I had arrived late and all the tie downs were in use. As Jim mentioned, it was a zero wind day, hazy and virtually NO thermal activity but I still didn't want to leave my new pride and joy untied so I did what I THOUGHT was the right thing and screwed a dog tie tightly into the ground and tied it securely. I had decided to work on my landing skills with Kevin and was just hooking into a flex wing that Kevin thought would be better to start with when suddenly all Hell broke loose. The huge wing of my new toy caught the twisting wind and the dog tie tore from the ground like it was stuck in jello. I can't describe the horrible feeling of helplessly watching my beautiful new glider flip through the air and onto it's back. Damage was a small tear in the fabric of the leading edge and minor, repairable damage to a carbon fiber down tube. Considering what COLD have happened, I was quite lucky. These things are kinda fragile and it might have been totally destroyed. Anyway, guess it was a cheap lesson. Thought I had it covered but obviously, not well enough. A lesson I won't soon forget!!

Paul

OK, I've had a couple of nice flights on the beast and thought I'd make a brief pilot report. Wednesday was a blue day with very light wind and decent thermal activity to about 3800. Tow was a bit roudy but easy to handle (this thing follows the tug with very little effort). There was a large gaggle over the field but I really wanted to figure out it's thermalling characteristics before mixing it up with 15 other pilots. So I lost 1000 feet trying to find a thermal of my own before finally giving up and flying into the melee. Not to worry, it handled brilliantly and quickly climbed through the other wings. It DOES have a different feel that takes a while to get used to but it's not even slightly difficult to fly. I logged three and a half hours on that flight (think I had the FOD) and had NO sore muscles to complain about later. I liked that part a lot!

Today, we had fairly strong winds of 10 to 15 and a promising forecast. Several pilots decided to go downwind hoping for a big one. Launch was VERY roudy but once again, I just held on and the glider folllowed the tug like a puppy on a leash. Climbed quckly in choppy lift to 4200 but lost 700 of that waiting on others to get up. Guess I should have just headed out but I wanted some help in finding the lift. Won't bore you with too many details. After 28 miles downwind, I got concerned about possible storms and knowing it might take me forever to break down (I've been keeping it in a hanger all set up so hadn't broken down yet) I decided to try to run back upwind to Quest. Didn't work and I decked it after only 4 miles back. Think I had the second best distance. Ron Gleason kicked my butt flying his ATOS V. Kevin had to relight so decided to go a slightly different route. Think his flight was about the same as mine but I believe he ended his early hoping for some food by landing at Russel Browns home. Alas Lorie wasn't home so no food.

The really amazing thing about the VX is it's glide. Yeah, it climbs well but the glide kinda cleans out your sinuses. I have been climbing with about fifteen to twenty degrees of flaps which yields about 25 to 28 mph at trim. When you go on glide, you release the flap string, take a deep breath and hold on tight while you quickly accellerate to 50 mph at trim speed. With the tail wind today, I was cruising over the turnpike with a ground speed of over 70 mph and passing some of the slower cars. I haven't had the balls to pull in for any more speed yet. As a matter of fact, I usually maintain a bit of push on the bar to keep it down to 45 or so. And the crazy thing is the sink only goes down to about 350!

Bad part is I've been having some trouble landing it but today was good. Think my landing lesson yesterday with Kevin was money well spent.

Sorry, Guess I said I'd keep it short. More info later. Looking forward to seeing some of you for the clinic next week!

Paul

...sorry to hear about your low pressure lows.

We arrived Saturday to blown out conditions. Tjadens saved the day by bringing over a portable bbq feast. Today Alek and I both flew. I bumbled into a lonely thermal and flew for 34 minutes. Alek sledded as did a lot of other folks. Paul had the flight of the day at an hour. I'm a little tipsy right now so I'm not sure how mellifluous I am. Went out on the town with a few locals and other foreigners like us. 8 guys and 2 women, not a bad ratio for hang gliding. Smile 8 guys came back to the bunk house, 2 women went home. Looking forward to a promising flying day tomorrow.

Best to all,
Daniel and Alek

I flew the last couple of days. I am finally back on my Sport. The first day the wind was blustery and west again, just like when I wrecked. Actually the wind wasn't nearly as strong but I was plenty nervous. I didn't tow that well and finally reminded myself to HOLD STILL. Not much lift, farted around for minute. Bellied in the landing. Except for weak links, I have NEVER done this on the Sport. I felt totally disgusted with myself.

So I did a pattern tow immediately again. I was better off of the cart and towed fine, had a great landing. I think I didn't have enough speed on final the first time to cut through the gradient and have enough energy left to pop me up.

Yesterday the wind was East (still not a great direction) and the pilots complained that the air was rough. I had a lovely early flight of about a half hour. I felt very pleased to find the lift by feel (it was blue) and by spotting a bird. I think I was the only pilot in the air. Nice tow, nice landing; I feel like myself again. Weird how you can get clenched up when you scare yourself. I missed the stronger, higher lift that the later day produced since I had to go teach (riding) -- I just had a little time to get in the air. I heard lots of people enjoyed long flights late.

Actually I think the incident was really a great thing because it has taught me how to control my glider better. Has led to much introspection and discussions of what to do at altitude if my glider pitches up in big air more than I can control (go sideways, grab a downtube). I am practicing the speed of my reaction, too, if a link breaks and my glider tries to pitch up violently. I am not pulling in to release the forces before I release on tow, so I can practice, and the tug pilots are going to help me simulate what happens (throttle up the plane before I release) so I can build muscle memory at altitude. So I am really lucky that this happened; it might save my life later.

I am also learning to not anticipate how great the day might be or not. I keep myself up all night with big dreams. Get all nervous getting ready. Much better for my brain to just relax. I keep envisioning success, but I am trying to just take each flight for what it is and be ready to go if the day warrants it. If it is not good I can't make it good. If it is good, well, I just might do OK.

Wishing you good weather and puffy cummies.

Lauren

ok day on Dickey Ridge despite the fact that it was blowing SE. Dickey's is a west site. What on earth were we doing at Dickey's? Inquiring minds. Anyway, I think I did pretty good all things considered. Got 1200 over and 40 mins. Pete Schuman showed up late and did even better. It was rotory and nasty close in. Both of us tried to hit trees a few times before we got smart and and moved away from the mtn. if you can see the abcission layers you are too close.

Betcha it would have been a great Daniel Mtn day. Anybody fly there?.

Ah, almost one in the morning, and neither Paul or I can sleep. I accomplished my longest XC, but it was one of the shortest accomplished today. It is hard to ignore the bitter taste of my 20 miles when I think of what might of been, but I need to remember the golden eagle (we think that's what it was) that flew ten feet from me while a bald eagle circled below with some other bird of prey. I was just one of the birds, a big red and black one, only OK at climbing.

I need to remember the joy of finally rising high enough to cross the dreaded unlandable area by Mascotte. The laughs I had -- after landing -- when 40 cows stood at attention and slowly crept close to my glider. I tried to turn Griffin into the wind again so it would be easier to hump her over to the trail I landed near, and I allowed her sail to be caught by a gust. She flipped over and all the cows bolted. The monster has awoken! Run! Griffin got a little tear in her sail, not too bad.

I discovered that my "road" (so labeled by my GPS) led straight to the prison. I waited by its gates, cell phone clutched in my hand, while visitors waved and screamed at me. Hi boys.

Jamie (the man Jamie, rigid pilot) picked me up, and helped my carry my glider and harness out the mile or so I had flown behind a locked gate.

The fun began then. We heard the best flight was 80 miles or so, and that everyone had returned home. No word from Paul. I figured he was dead since it was 5 PM, cloudless, and we had driven all the way to Gainesville in hopes of raising him on the radio. Too bad, I thought. I will miss him.

Well. Paul flew 150 miles. No kidding. Kev broke the Florida record at well over 200 miles. Jim Rooney flew 100 miles -- on his 3rd XC. The bastard.

So mixed with all this joy for these guys is this wish for doing more myself. This is natural, and good, I think, to expect more from yourself. Except it can make you forget the good things.

When I got home a half an hour ago, I opened up my Chronicle of the Horse magazine. I was saddened to see my very good old friend Col Wimert had died. But he was 85 and had Parkinson's and has been so sick for a couple of years. I was engrossed reading about him and thinking about him. How he used to want to take Paul's mare, LadyHawke, foxhunting, and how after he got kind of crazy how he would buy horses on a whim if he wasn't carefully watched.

Then I got to the next column. It reported my friend Beale Morris just died, from a sudden illness. She lived next door to me for years and we used to water ski and eat together besides ride. She was a famous event rider. Her mother, Lana Dupont, was the first woman ever allowed to ride in the Olympics in eventing because she was so good they couldn't keep her out. Beale was 34 years old. Young, vibrant, very fit. She had her first child maybe 6 months ago. I can't believe she was stolen from us like this. I guess we need to call Neil.

So this is the reminder. You better grab those days, because you don't know how many you will have. I didn't do the big stuff today but I played the game. I flew with the big brown bird.

We are so lucky to have the opportunities we have. Don't give them away.

Lauren

For weeks now, we have watched the Dr Jack's forecasts change from spectacular to dismal as the future (one or two days out) forecast became the current (today) forecast. Yesterday was no exception. Checking the soaring forecast yesterday AM, I saw that the promised "go to Georgia" day had once again mysteriously changed to a " maybe we can make it to Ocala". Only this time....the bastard was wrong! Thinking there was no hurry, Lauren went off to ride her horse and I leisurely went to Quest to set up my wing. About the time I got set up, I noticed the sky had started filling with Q's in these nice straight lines. Then I found grains of sand nestled between my leading edge and my sail and had to take my right wing half apart to clean them out and stop any potential sail damage. While doing this several of the best pilots, including Kevin, launched and headed north at around 11:00. By the time Lauren arrived with the rest of our gear I figured the opportunity for a really big flight was lost so we decided to fly together and I thought I could possibly help her get a bit further. We launched around 12:30 and I actually think I was more of a hindrance as I tried to radio control her flight for the first 20 miles where the limited glide on her wing put her on the ground. I offered to land with her but she knew the correct answer and told me she was fine and that I should "fly to Georgia". I remember at the time thinking, Oh sure, with luck I might make another 20 miles or so.

The clouds had flattened a bit and the streets were not so well defined but they were working and I headed towards Ocala with a huge blue hole to my right and good clouds on my left. It was a bit tricky here because following the clouds put me west of a good course line and over LOTS of trees but I tip toed along the edge of the blue sky and watched my GPS tick off the miles past my old personal best of 45 miles and beyond the Ocala airport that I over flew about a mile east and at 3,500 feet. The clouds continued to dry up and about 75 miles from Quest they were pretty much gone. At this point, without any friends to help find lift, I thought my chances of going much further were not good. But the winds at my back were still strong and luck was on my side as I continued to find solid lift of 200 to as much as 500 up interspersed with huge areas of massive sink. My new ATOS, with its incredible glide and speed really helped here.

Just south of Gainesville, there is a huge area of swamp to cross with very few LZs before or after it. As I approached this area, I knew I'd need lots of altitude to attempt the crossing and I was way too low. I headed to one of the last possible LZs thinking again that I was done but as I cruised over the truck stop next to my field a boomer rocked my wing and I quickly climbed to 5,500 just when I needed it most. The crossing was then uneventful and as I approached Gainesville I flew back into some nice, helpful clouds and continued along.

About this time (85 miles out) I started thinking I just might get my hundred miler and was, once again, watching the miles tick off when suddenly my GPS shut down. For a couple of minutes I tried to re-start it but then realized my 5030 was low on batteries and it had shut down the satelite reciever to save enough to continue to run my vario function. The GPS had quit at 94 miles and soon I knew I must have made the magic number but it was still early and the sky just kept getting better. It was around this time that I found my strongest lift (790 on the averager) and highest climb (6,069 feet). It was also when I was getting my butt kicked by some really gnarly thermals that would swing from momentary 1,000 up to 400 down. Maybe I was just on the edge of some big ones but some of this didn't seem to have a smooth center. The sky was starting to change with high sirus so maybe it was a convergence layer.

When I saw I-10 slide by I started to think that Georgia might actually be a possibility. Pretty much just kept on doing what I'd been doing until the high layer above started shutting it all down around a small town called Jasper. I might have held on for a couple of more miles but there were VERY few LZs and I was pretty exhausted. Guess it was good that I didn't know I was just 10.6 miles from the border or I might have been tempted to do something stupid. Landed in the only decent field around about a mile off I-75 and called my rather frantic wife who was certain I was lying dead in a field somewhere. She was unaware that Kevin had flown 210 miles, setting a new flex wing Florida record, and Jim Rooney had knocked off a cool 109 or so on a Combat. Most the other pilots had considerably shorter flights and she figured I probably couldn't still be in the air. She and our new best friend, Jamie, were waiting in Gainesville for my call and were at my LZ by the time I had packed up. While loading my gear, we got a very excited call from Kevin telling us of his spectacular flight. Really excited for him but it sure kept my head from getting too big over my paltry 147 miles on a rigid. Found out about Rooney on the way home and we back tracked about 30 miles to pick him up. He was pretty happy to see us as we rolled up at about 9:30 in the dark. Made it back to Quest at 11:30 and briefly celebrated with Kevin before crawling home to my nice, soft bed.

A sidebar: I hate to have dry mouth and get dehydrated while flying and always carry a camel back even if only a very short flight is expected. Well, as I was hurrying to get launched, I didn't notice the hose from my water supply had slipped down the back of my harness and I couldn't reach it in flight. Four hours and forty seven minutes in the air without a drink was a long time! Bet I don't make that mistake again for a while.

Hope your spring flying gets good soon,

Paul

Spring just comes a little earlier here... we were all airhorney as hell when the South winds showed up to usher us out of the feild. It had been 3 weeks of sucky weather before that. Spring will come soon and we'll all be skying out and going far.

Jim

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This page last updated April 7, 2005