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Hangola June 14 - 21, 2005

Flight Reports

On Tuesday, Tommy Thompson drove up from NC to buy my Falcon 225. We went over to High Rock so he could maybe fly it.

The hay had just been cut in the LZ. I thought y'all might want to know that.

Winds on top were pretty cross. Eddie was there with his glider assembled. After a few decent cycles, he decided to launch and had a great flight - looked like he got maybe 500 over or so.

We didn't have enough crew for Tommy or I, and neither of us were comfortable trying to fly High Rock in a cross wind, so I flew Zagi and enjoyed the view.

We visited with Emma and Harry for awhile.

Other stuff:

I drove to Ellenville last Saturday and picked up a pristine Falcon II Tandem . I'm taking the new Tandem (and my Moyes CSX, and PG) on the fifth annual Trip West 2005, departing tommorrow. Bruce Engen and I plan to be at the King Mountain meet next week, then pick Gary Smith up in Boise. I've been breathing O2 this afternoon, getting ready Wink

I'll post trip reports and links to photos.

'Spark

6/17/05 7:00am ET - Missouri, I-70 mile marker 139.

Internet connectivity on the road has been decent.

I set up a script to pull down the ADDS progcharts and wind forecast GIFs and stage them in a folder for sequenced viewing. It takes about 5 minutes to download progcharts and winds for 6k to 18k.

the script looks something like:
Code:
move winds\06k*.* winds\save

ECHO Getting 6k Winds WGET http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov/data/winds/ruc00hr_800_wind.gif
WGET http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov/data/winds/ruc09hr_800_wind.gif
WGET http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov/data/winds/ruc12hr_800_wind.gif

...

Based on Saturday's 'cast (and feedback from Mike C), we are headed for Salida, CO to fly Villa Grove.

Here are some photos of the site.
http://community.webshots.com/album/340876686XpbJBO

I'll try to get some photos from the air. More later.

'Spark

Highland looks MUCH better for today than what we found on Friday. Conditions pretty much sucked due to "Just too damn much wind". Tom Mc., Daniel B., Steve K., PK, Joe G., and Lauren and I showed up and all had brief flights except Joe who dove 14 miles down wind and Lauren who showed the good sense to not fly at all.

But it looks great for today with light NW winds and an excelent soaring forecast so come on out and we'll meet at the beach for cocktails.

Paul

Good day at Blue Sky. Crowd of about eight or nine fliers. Aerotows did well for the day. I tried four truck tows and managed two soaring flights of 13 and 33 min. Then did a late aero tow and managed 4800 over and an hour twenty which was good for me. Another good day for the Falcon. The cast included Craig S, Bill P, Daniel, Mike, Ray, Davis S, Jim K, and one other from North Carolina.

Joe

Nice little group for a nice little flight on a nice little hill. 6 pilots, all soared, all had fun. times about an hour, gains about 400/500. We didn't go to the moon but it was a lot better than NuttinHoney. Jess, John B., Glen R., Steve C., Don, and me................Bob.

I've been itching to do my first cross country flight and decided today was going to be the day. I towed up at Highland at 2:45 and cut off at 2100' since Windsor found a nice thermal for me. Of course, once I cut off it wasn't as nice as it seemed on tow, but I was able to fight with it up to 3600'. By now I was reaching the point of no return and decided to go for it. I pulled on full VG and flew downwind for about 10 minutes before finding more lift at 2100'. It was a small core but when I was able to stay in it I registered 650 up on my vario. I managed to stick with it to 4100' when the lift disappeared. This time when I took off downwind, I hit some major sink. A look at my vario showed 1000 down at one point, and even with veering slighly left or right, I couldn't find much better than 500 down.

Next thing I knew, I was at 1500', which is where I decided preflight that I was going to set up for landing. I found a nice, long field next to a highway with a dense row of trees on the other side. As I passed 1000', my 360's showed the wind was blowing 90 degrees off--which would put me right in the wind shadow of the trees. Thankfully, I already had a backup field picked out, so I pulled on full VG and made sure I had enough glide to cross the power lines on the way. I got to the field with plenty of room to spare. On my base I saw the most beautiful sight of the flight--a great big American flag confirming my estimations of wind direction. As I decended, it was also apparant that I picked a great field when I saw that it was all dirt with 1/4" high who knows what growing out of it. When I landed, I realized just how big the field was because it took me 5 minutes to carry my glider to the road while trying to avoid stepping on the crops. Thankfully, no irate landowner came out.

The distance turned out to be 10 miles--nothing earth shattering but I was thrilled, especially when I realized I had crossed the Delaware line. Thanks to everyone at Highland for all of your tips, advice, etc. for making my first XC safe and enjoyable!

Wow,
big day out there.... lots of familiar faces and a good looking sky. I arrived late as usual and figured that I may have missed the boat... but it seemed the big dogs were waiting and the brunt of the XC launchers went up around 2 - 2:30. I got up just before 3pm. I was supposed to hook up with Ed Balow, our newest XC pilot (Congrats Ed! I heard about your flight on my drive back... 5x longer than my first XC, nice. Wish I could have made it back to hear the story), but he had no radio and we were dropped off in different parts of the sky. I only caught a couple of glimpses of him as he went on glide from quite high about 5 miles downwind (east) of me.

I pinned off early and struggled slowly up to around 3000 - 3500' and then it came together nicely. Saw 600 fpm on the 15sec averager a couple times... climbed to 4800 or so and was off and running downwind and no one else in sight. The sky was filled with good looking cummies and decent streets, winds aloft were NW at about 12 or so. Good for a beach run and from the radio, I heard guys making good on that plan with climbs to over 6000'. I hopped a street to the north that pointed right at the beach and never really struggled until I got there. Was above 3000' all the way and a couple times got cold at 5500'. Saw 7.2 on the averager at one point (my personal second best) and had to stop my climb a couple times because I was lightly dressed. Flew over Milford and hit Slaughter Beach at around 3k. Actually got out over the water and the cummies were still popping... good climbs out there. The sea breeze convergence was right at the shore and lots of lift was on tap here... wow!

Heard Paul T heading south towards Ocean city and decided I'd better try to get further south. I was at 31 miles from Ridgely and turned SE and decided to try for Dewey Beach 20 miles SE. Got low north of Lewnes for the only time and then hooked a good one back to 5000' or so. On glide and one more good climb north of Rehobeth and I glided into Dewey Beach / Indian Beach at 2500' thawing out. I wanted to come in high to give myself time to discern the winds... a few weeks ago the beach bit me and Paris Williams with the sea breeze. It was strong NW at altitude but as I got lower I saw the moored boats all pointing SE and then finally a flag showing SE winds on the ground... just like last time. The sea breeze is pretty reliable I suppose. I landed over the top of a bunch of people just south of Dewey on Indian beach which is private. Many folks watched the show and came by to inquire. As it was a private beach I got a couple beers out of the deal and carried my glider to Rt 1 and the Dewey Beach Club for another Beer or two while waiting for the high priestess of HG to come get me. Lauren showed up with Mark Cav and we set off for a couple more long retrieves... Ask Lauren about her best "Deer in the headlights" imitation.

Finally back to Ridgely at 1 am and there's still a party going on! Cool... Had a grand day... great lift and my first beach flight. Special thanks to Paul and Lauren for the pickup again! The straight line flight covered was 47 miles from RDG, my second best and personal best alone!

NW 3-7
Dennis, Brian Vant-Hull, Shawn and I.
Arrived 10:30 coming straight in light.
Launched a little after 1. Dennis got about 20 min and maybe 700 over, shawn pulled an extendo, I had a luge ride to the main. Launched in to what I gather was the trash behind a thermal. Coming in around 5 and after running the whole ramp still had to dive it out. Not a bump all the way down the ridge. No problem making the main though. Finally the vario beeps when I'm starting my 360's down over the LZ. A 90 degree switch on final did not help but put it down nice for a 1 stepper. Brian elected to wait a little while after seeing my launch but still ended up with sled. Gregory (the Greek) shows and extendos at 3:30.Tuned on at 4 on Dennis's second flight....He was last seen 1500 over and climbing over the back. Dang, he was right it did open back up after a short OD.

Was thinking Bills but will probably go Kayaking today.

joe

I got to launch around1pm. The wind was crossing from the north. A straight cycle came in, and I took it.That was the sportiest air I have flown in yet.I started setting up over the primary,and hit this small powerful thermal that made my side wires SLAP. I managed to land with a no stepper by Brian's wind sock. I had fun! Shawn

> Ask Lauren about her best "Deer in the headlights" imitation.

When we picked up Paul (at 10 PM, with a 150 miles already on the odometer!) I wandered out into the field, into the darkness, so I could relieve myself while the boys loaded Paul's glider. A driver decided to pull out of his drive on the other side of the road at that exact moment, giving them a perfect view of my exposed, white ass. They thought this was great fun, and turned their headlights to keep me fully illuminated while they honked and yelled. I fell over trying to drag my shorts back over my butt. It's not good to try and dress rapidly in a corn field midway through peeing.

On a more serious note, I think Joe Gregor carries smoke bombs. Joe, can you give advice on how you attach them to your glider? Mine (my one lonely smoke bomb) has some velcro on it, but I am not sure if I would trust it to stay on in flight. I am quite confident in my ability to read wind direction 99 percent of the time, but it seems close to the ocean that the wind often changes direction at an extremely low altitude. I think a smoke bomb might prove useful in this instance. Even Paris was fooled a couple weeks ago.

Not that I have had success getting that close to the ocean yet. Yesterday was another good learning day for me. I am hugely grateful for my many mistakes so I can learn from them and not repeat them (grrrr).

One more note. I think I am getting a Litespeed S 3 glider, which is a brand new size for Moyes to make. I have had a Rotor harness ordered for some time, also, though it is questionable when it will arrive. Kevin Carter is the nicest person in the world and has helped to advise which options are more useful and which are not as important or desireable. Don't worry, I won't be flying either in Texas. I won't have enough time on them, if they even arrive that quickly. The staff at Highland and then Quest can help me transition into them throughout the winter, and make sure that I stay flying safely. I already have lots of hours on the Sport, though my only concern is that it is so easy I don't know if it has been of much value in preparing me for a better glider

Lauren

Saturday I arrived at Ridgely around 11:00am to great looking skys. Had decided to fly one of the Targets to get back into flying form. Highland sat in a big blue hole for most of the early afternoon. Streets were forming everywhere except for over the field. I launched around 2:00 with a pretty uneventful tow. Released towards the East end of the runway and tryed to work very small thermals. At just under a mile from the LZ I turned back towards and hit 1300 down sink. I felt like I was falling out of the sky. I probably averaged about 800 down all the way back to the field and was seriously concerned that I was going to come down short. Crossed over the powerlines at 400 and basically started my approach as I continued to sink out. Other pilots reported stronger winds aloft as well as horrible sink. Ended up with a 12 minute sled. Launched a second time around 4:00 with the goal to stay much closer to the field. Windsor dropped me in a fat thermal which I took to 5800MSL showing between 6-800 on the 15 second averager. I was drifting away from the field again and probably had another 700-1000 to cloudbase so I bailed and pointed back to the field. Pretty much dolphin flew on a cloudstreet until I was West of the field. Tried to catch the next cloud but I was sinking out pretty good and once again decided to bail back towards the field. Arrived with altitude to spare and had an uneventful landing. Ended up with just under an hour total time for the two flights and nailed both landings. It was a great day to get back in the saddle and it was great to see all the gang. Its nice to be back. See you all at the Fly-In next weekend.

Christopher

Blue Sky Saturday Reports
I got lazy last week, so today I will report on sequential Saturdays at Blue Sky in Manquin. Saturday June 11th I joined a very small crowd at Blue Sky. I think only 3 or 4 gliders were set up. Forecast was light wind from the north. Actual was a but stronger, but still with good direction right down the runway. I opted for truck tows, rigging my Ultrasport accordingly. I had to swap out a sidewire on the glider before flying (bent tang from my less than proper landing at Woodstock a few weeks ago), so I did not hit the truck until a bit after 3. Only got to 900' on the first tow, but did catch a brief puff of lift over the golf course, to qualify for a legitimate extendo. That encouraged me, so I hopped right back on. Two more tries had increasingly good pin off heights, of 945 and then 965, but even less thermal bumps on each in succession, With my landings going well, but the prospect of more sleds, I took time off to socialize and rest. Headed back to the truck shortly after 6. This time I hit 1150 and 1325 on the tows. Really nice altitude, but still pretty much nada in the way of lift. I declared 5 flights with improving tows and decent landings a good day. Bill Priday was flying AT, with a couple of nice flights, and Nick and Sandy were there with Nick flying and Sandy taking photos. About 3:30, Matthew and Karen had driven up, on their way home from the Outer Banks. both flew their hang gliders a few times, and then Matt tried a couple of truck tows with his paraglider. The three of us departed after 9:00, and stopped for dinner at Vinnie's in Manquin. home late, but a nice day.

Then yesterday, June 18, I was back at Blue Sky, expecting a switchy day with winds forecast to move form N to E. bit larger crowd on hand, which was good. Chuck from NC was flying his new Lightspeed S. Bill Priday and Nick back again. Ray Mitchell getting in some truck tows. Davis Straub took one AT launch in his ATOS and spent the afternoon way high (6K+, i heard) Mike on his Falcon had super flight, with a low save at 500' that he used to read 4K. Jim Kingsley may have had flight of the day for a flexwing, gone a long time (I missed his stats). I opted for aerotow this time, having had a satisfactory truck day the previous week. Also, it looked like low lift would be even less likely. Winds had switched more easterly, so Tex was pulling us off along the short runway in front of all the spectators. As I lifted from the cart on my first flight, I was immediately fighting a lot of yaw and squirrelly handling. Right away, I thought,"Crud! I forgot the fin!" Well, OK.. the first word might not have been "crud." Anyway, I got the glider under control, and spent the rest of the tow all over the sky behind Tex, and ready to pin off quickly if things got out of hand. The tow was uneventful, but stayed a challenge the whole time. I was thankful the air was benign. Once aloft, I was unsuccessful in doing more than maintaining for 5 minutes in the thermal Tex dropped me in. Only got to about 200' higher than pin off height, then lost the thermal and could not find it again. Daniel reported a similar experience on his flight, the next launch after mine. Back on the ground, I apologized to Tex for my wanderings in the sky behind him. He said I had done fine, relative to many other pulls he has made. Maybe so, but IU had concluded I would not make that error again. After a break and a chance to install the fin, I hopped back onto the cart. This time the the entire tow my glider was on rails. Not a bit of sway or oscillation, it looked like the tow line was a rigid rod instead of a string. Tex spotted Bill and Daniel playing under a cloud two fields away, so he pulled me over to join them. Nice idea, but I seemed unable to find their lift. At ~1600 AGL I turned back to the LZ, not wanting to squeak it in. Within couple of minutes after I touched down, Bill and Daniel both landed, too. Seems their lift was dissipating just as Tex added me to the gaggle. Oh, well. Of course, only a few minutes later, Joe Schad switched from truck to aero tow, and hit lift in that same area, working it for well over an hour. Timing is everything. Well, not everything - Joe is a dang fine thermal pilot, too. The flying was fun, and the company enjoyable at Blue Sky. And I have now (accidently) conducted the experiment I had been contemplating for over a year - AT a US sans fin. Yes, it is possible. No, I am not interested in doing it again.

Cragin

First, congratulations to John and Mark for their first land-on-the-sand beach flights. John had a great flight with Paris a couple weeks back but didn't quite make the water. Also, congrats to Ed for his first XC. Nice job Ed.

I had a great time chasing down and then flying with Dave Proctor. He launched a bit earlier and got high and went downwind ahead of me but with my gliders better numbers, I was able to catch up. We easily got to a point just west of Lewes, Del. and had to decide whether to head for the sand or go down the peninsula for more distance. Dave said he wanted the distance so we altered course and started crosswind to the south. Just north of Ocean City Dave got low and landed for a nice flight just short of 50 miles from Highland (probably quite a bit more with the dogleg).

By this time I had caught up with some high cirrus that was heavily shading the course to the south. Things looked better to the west and I decided to head that way and even considered trying to make it back to Highland but after flying about five miles into the strong upper level winds and checking my watch I decided I had no chance of making it home with the daylight I had left. Dave radioed from the ground to head to Virginia so I took his advice and continued south. My luck continued, though, because while I was trying to go up wind, the high cirrus cleared and the sky improved ahead of me. My flight south was fairly easy after that until I reached a point around the Virginia border where the peninsula gets really narrow and the marine air blowing in from the Bay shut down the lift. Any convergence area, if there was one, was well out over the sound and I didn't relish the idea of over flying that much water to see if lift existed out there so I went on glide to a landing near a small town called Atlantic. Just before landing I had a close brush (huge understatement) with some controlled air space. I'll tell you more about that later.

Landing was good but when I unhooked I noticed I was missing the left half of my horizontal tail fin. I had stuck my landing pretty well so I figured it had come loose then and I went back out where I had landed to pick it up. No such luck. It wasn't there? Then I remembered a strange vibration I had felt about halfway through the flight. It had made the glider seem to flutter and had made me quite nervous for a few minutes and then it stopped and I had forgotten about it after that. Apparently, the tail fin was working itself off of the spar it attaches to and was vibrating until it finally came completely loose. I had checked and tightened it prior to launch but I guess the small carbon and resin pimples that hold it on had popped loose and there was enough stress from the flight to pull it off. Strangely, the glider seemed to fly just fine with half a tail which seems odd due to the fact that the tail is a "flying surface" that is supposed to create at least some lift.

The only other negative was the late retrieve due to Lauren picking up our friends strung out along the Atlantic beaches before finding me. It sure was great to see them finally pull up in the dark and see everyone's happy faces. After finding a Pizza Hut open and stuffing our faces and drinking a brew or two we struggled back to Highland Aerosports around 1:00 AM where a few die hard partiers were still hanging out. Didn't get a lot of sleep but it was well worth it. (Except for having to purchase a new tail for my VX!)

After downloading my flight to my PC I found my straight line distance from Highland was 77.3 miles but the OLC (International on line hang gliding contest) scored it as a dog leg with a distance of 99.1 miles.

Paul T.

Paul Tjaden wrote:
First, congratulations to John and Mark for their first land-on-the-sand beach flights. John had a great flight with Paris a couple weeks back but didn't quite make the water. Also, congrats to Ed for his first XC. Nice job Ed.

Thanks Paul. My flight to Lewes was a total blast, I'm still grinning about it. Will do a write-up, but plan to give Scott first dibs in case he's looking for newsletter material.

MANY thanks to sky-goddess Lauren for being willing to swing east to include myself and John in what was a very long retrieve. I hope that the camaraderie of happy pilots helped make up in some small way for the inconvenience to both her and Paul. We really had fun at dinner and on the drive back: many laughs made the trip a lot shorter.

An exciting and full day that I will always remember!

--mark

6/19/05 11:16am US40 mile marker 164

No Internet connectivity. We made it into Denver by 5pm on Friday (about 26 hours) and visited Tim Denton, who assisted us in modifying the motorcycle rack so we could get in and out of the truck more easily.

Based on web forum messages from http:/www.rmhpa.org the Rocky Mountain Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, We cancelled our plans to go to Villa Grove. I spoke with a pilot who was willing to sponsor us on a flight from Steamboat Springs ski area, so we headed in that direction, arriving Saturday morning. Unfortunately, our sponsor did not arrive as planned, so we back-tracked an hour to Willams, a site overlooking Green Mountain reservoir on route 9 between Silverthorne and Kremmling.

Williams has two launches. The upper launch is at 10,200 msl, 2200 feet above the LZ. Arriving at the LZ (by the reservoir), we met several Denver-area pilots who had already flown, left the motorcycle and headed to the top with our new friends. Conditions had improved and several pilots flew. As we began to set up, winds began to cross and increase, so we waited for conditions to improve. Finally, a local decided to fly, so we 'suited up' and prepared to launch.

Bruce was first off and immediately was able to get above launch, eventually climbing to over 15000'msl. Other pilots (including me) were not so fortunate and most of us felt happy to be safe in the LZ. I encountered strong turbulence from the spines to the N of launch and encountered extended periods of sink exceeding 1000fpm down. I made it to the LZ with a few hundred feet and made a no-stepper landing at 8000'msl.

As we folded our wings, I could hear Bruce on the radio, complaining that he could not lose altitude. He reported that he was able get down to 12.5k, but was unable to prevent climbing back above 14k. The winds in the LZ had switched 180 degrees and were blowing from the NE (towards the reservoir). Eventually, after strenuous effort, Bruce was able to descend below 11k and finally landed with us, making an an approach over the water and executing a perfect no-step landing, a few feet from water's edge.

We camped on top that night, but decided to drive north towards Crawford Mt near Randolph Utah. We are currently enroute.

Photos at - http://community.webshots.com/album/370938176uzSaIf

More later.

'Spark

What a great day at the Ridge! Wish I could have flown on Saturday but had other duties to attend to. Had to make up for it today as best I could while father's day was in full swing.

The tow parks looked to be blown out at least for my falcon-eering so I met up at OR with John Middleton who had in impressive group of pilots out on the field - some students - quite strong; others brushing off the winter's dust or trying out new wings.

I believe it was blowing about 12-15 for most of the afternoon. It started out a good strong NE almost right up the slot, but after all the ground handling runs and hauling the glider up the slot a couple times, it turned more easterly.

I had 6 flights (first was 3/4 of the way up to test the conditions) and the rest from the top. I didn't get my second wind until the 4th trip up to the top with my glider. The wind was strong enough for me to roll my glider uphill to the top with the nose rope for several trips - that spared my arms for flying ( this is a trick I learned from Spark; currently aka "the Western Traveller".)

One flight in particular there seemed to be quite a bit of sink and rotor off the trees on the left, but waiting for the better cycles made a difference, and by 4 pm the breeze had steadied and wasn't gusting so much. 4 of my landings were at least decent, one whirled me around on the ground, and one sank me into the LZ rather surprisingly and I rolled. Several folk had difficulty in the LZ, whether upper field or lower, but only one broken downtube out of the bunch (not mine).

Thanks to John for his continued support , critiques, and advice. What a beautiful day to fly the OR; not too hot, and enough breeze to fly the gliders especially for the students who were all getting up off the ground and having very good flights (you know those encouraging kind which actually get you high enough so you feel like you are flying instead of skiing the slope?). And excellent (and much needed) FL and Landing practice for me. -Linda B.

6/19/05 11:40pm - Salt Lake City

We drove to Randolph, Utah to find millions of mosquitos (think West Nile Virus) and winds that were 45 degrees cross and quite strong, so we headed to the Point of the Mountain. Dave Gibson was soaring the hill in when we arrived and several other pilots were ready to launch. Winds were 20+ and cross from the W. I spent some time chatting with Dave Beardsley, who is also planning on attending the King Mountain meet.

Bruce flew his U2 for awhile and made a nice landing on top. He offered to let me fly it and I couldn't refuse. After I launched, conditions changed ... winds got lighter and more westerly. After getting trashed by rotor at the west end of the ridge, I was able to scrape myself up from below launch and top-landed the U2 Smile Winds died even more and the other three HG pilots who were flying landed below.

I pulled out my PG and managed to squeak a short flight in, top landed, kited and relaunched, finally landing below.

Not a stellar day, but we flew and soared for awhile.

We will camp on the south side of the Point and I plan to fly my new Falcon Tandem in the morning. We may head up to King afterward.

I've posted photos of the point at http://community.webshots.com/album/370938176uzSaIf

More later.

'Spark

Taught a first time student yesterday on the fabulous scooter tow system that Steve and Tex built for me. In the last two hours of the class he got 7 flights at 15 to 25 ft agl for a thousand feet down the runway! Definitely the fastest and easiest way to train students to fly solo, IMO, though I augment the scooter training with foot-launching and tandems periodically. One of the best things about the scooter system is that a skilled instructor can assist the pilot in the progress of the flight by varying the pressures with a "light touch" that the lowend torque of a scooter gives them.

marc

6/20/2005 10:56am - Salt Lake City, Utah

I awakened early and assembled the Tandem Falcon at about 7am. Winds were 10-13, but didn't build as I expected. I made a few passes and landed below, a no-stepper. Bruce took some photos.

http://community.webshots.com/album/370938176uzSaIf

Right now we are headed to Lowes to buy a drill bit. My tip wand got stuck on my *new wing* and I had to cut it off (with a file). I'll swap ends, but still need to drill the hole. I hate making repairs on a new wing after my first flight and perfect landing : ( One tip wand will be 1.5" shorter. Don't tell anyone.,

We will probably head N to Moore, Idaho and King Mountain today.

More later.

'Spark

An awesome day for boat tows. And I just can't express the "coolness" factor in being able to set up in my back yard and have Gregg come by, mount my Falcon on his boat, make a couple of traditional tows (1,350' and 1570', respectively) with extendo's -- landing north of an island in 3-1/2 feet of water and then end my flying day by landing in the marina at my home on the third and last tow.

Gregg and Jack, as usual, provided expert winch and boat handling. Wind was a bit "switchy" which caused me to go to the "back-up" plan while setting up for landing in the marina. Three flags near my home were each showing different wind directions. Using the floats (versus the pontoons) is much less forgiving -- actually requiring decent landing tecnique? Landing upwind really is highly recommended with the floats so when I noticed my landing "trajectory" was covering way too much horizontal distance relative to the vertical drop, I knew I was setting up for a downwind landing -- at which point I abandoned that strategy, set up for a low 180 and actually did land into the wind with sufficient altitude and plenty of open water to add to the safety factor.

An extra "bonus" on the day was when another pilot borrowed my Falcon to fly & film. He's producing a music video to comemorate his 50th birthday in which, of course, he is the star of the video. He's also the musician (four instruments), vocal, lyrics writer (some admittedly "stolen"), producer, editor, etc etc. Other activities in the video will include him motorcycling, sky diving and scuba diving. Wish I could recall all the lyics to the song he's written but the first bit was something like "I sometimes wonder what life would be if I had kept my feet upon the ground."

[second report, Thu, 23 Jun 2005 ]

Here are a few photos from my last Boat Tow outing -- for those of you who may be curious about the set-up.

#1 = Set-up area (my back yard) and LZ (marina)
#2 = Installing floats on control bar. 5000' of Spectra line on winch (under blue cover)
#3 = Yep, that's a life jacket under the harness. And although it's not a full-face helmet -- any change in that mug has to be an improvement! :-)
#4 = Last landing of the day in the marina (sorry about that "focus" thingy

Link to photos, thanks to Ralph:
http://community.webshots.com/album/377075937ZLxVVb

As Linda indicated Oregon Ridge was pretty nice. A foreign PG pilot flying there got incredible lift (the highest I have seen) on one flight as he was approaching the pavilion and had to do turns in the lower landing area to prevent running out of landing room! He told me it un-nerved him a little for flying a training hill, so his next few flights were a little lower on the hill. A photographer from the Times was there taking pictures of us all though I don't know if any made it into the article. All my students had a good time but several of us got some screwy air in or approaching the lower landing area. Sure was nice temps for training and flying. Alan Hobner showed up and flew an old Seahawk a couple of times. It was great having Linda (thanks for the beverages) flying with us. Ken Swingle who had not flown since last fall was demonstrating that he hadn't forgot how to fly and did a good job on his 5 flights.

john middleton

Tuesday, 6/21/2005 - 3:49pm - Moore Idaho
We drove from Salt Lake City to Moore Idaho on Monday. The King meet organizers have provided a very useful CD with annotated aerial photos of the four XC routes used during the competition. On the way to Moore, we followed Route 4 and visited the 'Bonus LZs' along the route. You get extra points for landing at a Bonus LZ (and it is safer).

I took photos along the way. There are some pretty spectacular views around here. When we arrived in Moore at meet headquarters (the town park), the shower truck had already been set up! After 4 days on the road, it was a welcome sight.

This morning, we headed up the mountain so I could get an early PG flight, but winds were blowing from the east. I took a bunch of photos from the King upper and lower launches, and from the Coyote launch across the canyon.

We have a cold front approaching, so weather will be sketchy for awhile. I am hoping to get an evening flight, weather permitting. The meet starts tomorrow morning.

We actually have internet connectivity in Moore!.

Photos for yesterday and today are at http://community.webshots.com/album/370938176uzSaIf

More later. 'Spark

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This page last updated June 26, 2005