| 4/28/2007 |
0:00:29 |
Wills Wing Falcon 1 - 195 |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5020 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| First day back after 9 years. First scooter after several ground runs. Quick tow, no release. OK run, straight and level flight. Flared a bit early. |
| 4/28/2007 |
0:00:41 |
Wills Wing Falcon 1 - 195 |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5112 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2nd scooter tow at end of evening. Could have run a bit more on launch. Straight and level tow, released line. Flew straight ahead and landed nicely. Great first day back. |
| 5/19/2007 |
0:01:24 |
Wills Wing Falcon 1 - 195 |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5180 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| First flight of the day. Almost got pulled over on takeoff. Good tow but maybe a bit slow. Did several 90 degree turns. Good landing. |
| 5/19/2007 |
0:01:06 |
Wills Wing Falcon 1 - 195 |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5131 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Better (and longer) run on launch. Had to make a couple of small corrections to stay level. Did 180 off of tow then too low to get back into wind. Turned about 60 degrees and landed mostly downwind. Not enough flare. Slid on knees and wheels. |
| 5/26/2007 |
0:04:22 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5331 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Great first tow of the day. Towed up fairly high and was able to work several thermals. Not much gain but was able to stay up much longer than expected. Did a bunch of 360s. Played with bar positions and speeds. Did good setup for landing but ground skimmed a little cross. Flared too hard at end and dropped left wing a bunch. |
| 5/26/2007 |
0:02:44 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5230 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| What happened? Didn't run enough during takeoff but Mark pulled me up. Tried going prone during tow and had a bunch of issues so I waited until release. Didn't get to work as much lift. Setup aircraft approach. Rocked up early but left hands on base tube way too long. Got real slow coming in, almost stalled once or twice. Finally got hands up and flared too hard, too soon. Dropped left wing again. |
| 5/26/2007 |
0:03:00 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5282 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Much better takeoff. Still trouble going prone. Harness is too tight around hips. Just waited until off of tow. Did a couple of 360s and setup approach. Better hand position and speeds. Nice setup. Again flared too hard at end. Again, left wing dropped. |
| 5/26/2007 |
0:03:17 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5282 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Pretty the same as the previous flight. All went well. Good speeds, better flare timing but still dropping left wing. Looking down during flare instead of up. |
| 6/2/2007 |
0:00:15 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
CO - Arvada - Training Hill - Mid Launch |
CO - Arvada - Training Hill - LZ |
95 |
0 |
0 |
0.2 |
0 |
0 |
| First foot launch in 9 years. Ended up flying more than expected. Lots of moon walking. A little shakey on speeds since I was so close to ground the whole time and approach area slopes down just a bit. Dropped left wing on flare again. |
| 6/2/2007 |
0:00:20 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
CO - Arvada - Training Hill - Mid Launch |
CO - Arvada - Training Hill - LZ |
95 |
0 |
0 |
0.2 |
0 |
0 |
| Good launch. Two phase with 2nd because extra boost of speed. Kept up speed but hands were a little high during flight. Need to lower them after takeoff. Flared OK but still dropping left wing. Pushing too hard with right. |
| 6/3/2007 |
0:00:18 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
CO - Arvada - Training Hill - Mid Launch |
CO - Arvada - Training Hill - LZ |
95 |
0 |
0 |
0.2 |
0 |
0 |
| Great launch. Remembered to move hand lower on down tubes. Went through two small thermals. Dropped a bunch at back of 2nd. Got a little low while ground skimming. Put hands too high for flare. Still tight grip with left hand during flare. |
| 6/3/2007 |
0:00:18 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
CO - Arvada - Training Hill - Mid Launch |
CO - Arvada - Training Hill - LZ |
95 |
0 |
0 |
0.2 |
0 |
0 |
| Great launch in good cycle, nice lift shortly after launch. Good hand position. Head into LZ. Good speed, hands in good position, light touch. Flared late but evenly with light grip. No wing drop. The last several flights I was flaring with a tight grip of the left hand while the right was looser. |
| 8/18/2007 |
0:15:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Williams - Upper Launch |
CO - Williams - Lake LZ |
2326 |
10840 |
0 |
2.5 |
-807 |
591 |
| Artura, Dave, Bruce, Sean, and I. Setup by 11am. Cross from NW. 1st launch about 11:45. Clouds filling in. Hooked in, walked to launch, and took off about 12:30. Very little delay. Good launch. Flew through some lift toward the LZ. The plan was a sled ride. 1st real flight since new H2. Still at 9000' over Last Chance knob. Found a big easy thermal. Took it up 1800'. I could see over the back. But the sky was getting uglier and I was starting to feel the onsets of motion sickness. I headed in to land. I had a nice setup with a 2 step landing. Great to be back. |
| 8/26/2007 |
0:08:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Williams - Upper Launch |
CO - Williams - Lake LZ |
2326 |
10299 |
0 |
2.5 |
-807 |
98 |
| John and I camped out with the boys. It started to OD early. Two other piots showed up and took sled rides. I waited until later - it cleared up a bit - good for a sledder. I had a good launch - SSW @ 12. No lift. Headed out to the LZ. Tell tale showed south. Setup at the north end of the LZ. Tell tale showed light NW on final - downwind landing! Flared real hard. Rolled on wheels and knees - no whack. Oh well. |
| 8/31/2007 |
1:15:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Crawfords - Main Launch |
UT - Crawfords - Main LZ |
1421 |
9902 |
0 |
1.5 |
-591 |
807 |
| Ugly skies most of the day. Winds got real good about noon. We setup hoping for the sky to clear. Others showed up. Allen Sparks first. At 4pm I launched - 15 knot winds. I went right up - way cool. Jeff & Bruce flew and then Allen. Others showed up. Mark W., Kiernan, Andrew, Tyler, Tim. I flew along a lot of the ridge. After a while I starting feeling a bit yucky - and tired too. Working too hard. Looking around too much. Sore neck. I eventually decided to go land. Landed in field just south of lanuch. Got popped low on final but corrected OK. Needed little flare. But was looking down instead of on horizon. Flared a bit too high. Ballooned a bit and backward too. Came down OK but legs not ready and came down on control frame and knees with zero ground speed. Jeff got it on video. Pretty funny really. I was really tired and a bit motion sick. Need to work on relaxing more and control head movement. Overall it was a great flight. Worth the trip. |
| 9/1/2007 |
2:06:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Crawfords - Main Launch |
UT - Crawfords - Main LZ |
1421 |
9724 |
0 |
1.5 |
-591 |
394 |
| Another day waiting until later. John W showed up. Andrew launched first, then Keirnan, then Allen. Rest of us waited a few hours. Bruce finally went then I finally launched at 5pm. Blowing about 15 - good lift again. Eventually everyone else launched. Nine hang gliders at one point in the air. There were several flush cycles. I got down to 250 over launch a couple of times and then I would work back up. Had some trouble doing 360s. Kept diving on back side of thermals. Maybe I kept flying out the back? Lots of hawks and vultures. Great views. Fun wth all of the gliders in the air. Really had to clear all turns. Great thing was that I wasn't feeling too sick this flight despite all the 360s and looking around. But I was getting tired and sore. Eventually I chose to land after I was sure it was my longest flight. Flew out toward the river then setup a nice aircraft approach. Had a great landing with a few running steps. Landed short of goal. Bled off too much altitude on approach. Tired but not sick. Great day. |
| 9/3/2007 |
1:41:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Crawfords - Main Launch |
UT - Crawfords - Main LZ |
1421 |
9219 |
0 |
1.5 |
-492 |
492 |
| One more (and last) late day. Light all day. We setup about noon. Tyler, Bruce, and I were all that were left. Tyler launched about 4:30 into the best cycle of the day. He didn't gain much but was staying up. I helped Bruce off. He launched into shadow and started sinking out. I got ready alone. Did solo hang check and walked to launch. Waited a bit for a better cycle. Figured it wasn't going to get any better so I picked up and went. Good launch. Headed south. No lift - slowly sinking. About to give up and do a 180 back toward the LZ. Hit small thermal and worked it up slowly back over launch height. Eventually caught a good thermal to 1500 over. Spent the whole flight fighting to stay up. Bruce had sledder but Tyler and I played cat and mouse being on top. Really had to scratch at times. Two times I got below launch and worked it back up. Very fun actually. Best part was not the slightest bit sick despite all the turns. I guess the cure is to fly a lot. I decided to go land just after seeing Tyler head out. I was getting tired. Did a nice aircraft approach. Got into ground effect - no wind. Lost focus looking at Bruce and Tyler. Flared way too late and belly slid. Bruised a knee but no whack. I was proud of my flight. Great trip. |
| 9/8/2007 |
0:55:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Willow - Main Launch |
CO - Willow - Main LZ |
1201 |
9117 |
0 |
1.4 |
-492 |
591 |
| Bruce and I arrived on launch about 2pm after walking the LZ. Finally setup after winds picked up. I helped him launch then I got ready - alone again - and walked to launch. Bruce was about 300 over. After a bit I decided to go. Took 2 steps and went straight up. I picked a strong cycle to launch in. Quickly got 200-300 over. But conditions got light with small thermals. Bruce and I didn't have much room to work lift being low, small thermals on small ridge. I got even with launch once. Shortly into the flight another guy showed up and setup. PG too. I was worried it would be too crowded with 3rd glider and a PG. It got lighter and lighter as the hang glider launched. After three more passes the PG launched. Bruce headed out and I wasn't far behind. The 3rd hang glider followed us out too. Got over the LZ with plenty of altitude. While losing altitude I was trying to get some nice pictures of Blue Mesa resevoir. I got distracted too long and suddenly found myself lower than I wanted on downwind. Did 180 onto final and had a real good landing. Another great flight. |
| 11/10/2007 |
0:08:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Villa Grove - Main Launch |
CO - Villa Grove - Main LZ |
1650 |
9701 |
0 |
1.9 |
-591 |
394 |
| Yes, that's right, 9 weeks since my last flight. Bummer. I met Fred, Shawn, Arturo, and JY in the LZ. We got all setup and Shawn went first. He got up after some work. Tom and Fred had extended sledders as well as Arturo. Jim had a great flight. I got on launch. I was surprised how calm I was not having flown in so long and my first flight here. A decent cycle came in. I picked up and went with little hesitation. It was a good launch. I hit a couple of small thermals. But they were too small for me. I headed toward the ridge with the blue flag. Again I hit some small thermals - not much though. I slowly headed along the ridge toward the aspens. Again I found little lift and decided to head to the LZ. I got there high enough to setup a nice aircraft approach with a southern final. I aimed toward the main area between the two roads and I came in nice and got into ground effect. There was some wind - maybe 5 knots. I flared just a hair late but got my feet under me and made a nice 2 step landing. All right! I was pleased overall. Good launch, OK flight, good landing. My eyes were down a bit though. Time to break down and try again. |
| 11/10/2007 |
1:17:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Villa Grove - Main Launch |
CO - Villa Grove - Main LZ |
1650 |
13451 |
0 |
1.9 |
-492 |
709 |
| Fred, Arturo, and I headed up for a second flight. Odds were good for a glass off. Some real nice cycles were coming through - better than earlier. Fred and Arturo launched and got up without too much work. That left me alone. I got on launch and waited for a good cycle. It came and I went. Another good launch. I found better left this time. The plan was to head left to the south face. Halfway there I found some lift I could work. I did a bunch of S-turns in what I could find. I was slowly going up. After a bit I continued heading east around to the south face. I flew pretty close to the trees - pretty cool but nervous. Ridge lift everywhere. I went back and forth for a while getting higher and higher up the ridge. The lift was everywhere. Soom I was at the top and still going up. I could see Fred and Arturo above me. Eventually I got up with them. The views were amazing. I took some pictures but it doesn't do it justice. And my hands were cold. Despite gloves and bar mitts the base tube was cold. I spent quite a while just boating around over 13k' from south of launch to a ways north of launch. Once or twice I got a bit too far back while lower and had zero ground speed at times. Have to watch that. I has some mild nausea during the flight - oh well. After a while I was tired, cold, and ready to come in. Fred and Arturo had landed already. I headed out over to the LZ still over 12k. I decided to just glide toward Villa Grove. I put on full VG and just glided west. Once I got down to 10k I turned around. It was so peaceful. The sun was low, the air was calm. Slowly worked down to setup a landing. No wind. And Fred radioed up he was going to film me. Great. I setup OK but high. I crossed the 2nd road and had lots of speed. Flared hard but no good. On my belly. Rolled on wheels. I was pinned under the rear flying wires and in a bunch of cactus. Ouch. Rotten way to end such an amazing flight. I was fine except for the cactus. It took a few minutes to get out from under the glider. After picking the needles out of me and my harness I broke down and finished loading the glider in the dark. What an amazing evening. |
| 11/11/2007 |
0:24:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Villa Grove - Main Launch |
CO - Villa Grove - Main LZ |
1650 |
10157 |
0 |
1.9 |
-591 |
709 |
| Today was different from yesterday. A few guys went earlier and couldn't get up. JY and I waited. I launched into a big thermal and gained a little. I headed east to the trees. I scratched quite a bit trying to get up. Back and forth. Some up, some down. Thought I lost it a few times but managed to stay up a while. JY eventually joined me. After a bit I was feeling nauseas and decided to give up. I headed out and setup a typical aircraft approach. Came up a bit short in the north sink hole area. Rolled on wheels too. I was wiped out and felt terrible. I unhooked and just layed under the glider for a while. Damn motion sickness. I didn't have my watch this flight. |
| 3/26/2008 |
0:13:00 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 225 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Tandem aerotow with Malcolm. 8am flight for first aerotow. Did fairly well staying in position. Malcolm was surprised it was my first tow. It was strange talking with someone while flying. Malcolm tested me by having the tug pilot do lots of turns. Did well overall. Got a little high or low a few times. Strange pushing out so far to climb back up. Finally hit the release but the V-line caught on the carabiner on the tow line. Weak leak broke before Malcolm could reach the secondary release. We then just boated around in the calm morning air. Malcolm had me do some turns to make sure I could fly. We then setup a nice approach for a planned wheel landing. Got a little wet during tow from the wet tow line - lots of dew. Great first flight. |
| 3/26/2008 |
0:11:00 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Five minutes after landing Malcolm called me over to hook into the other Falcon for my first solo aerotow. Wow. I wasn't expecting such a fast turn around. I found the helmet and climbed into the stirrup harness already hooked into the glider. I went prone then Malcolm went over safety and release procedures. They hooked up the tow line and away I went. This was an easier tow. Solo, smaller glider, and less turns. Released fine after a good tow. Some minor over correcting on tow but OK. Flight was basic sledder. Nice S-turn approach and turned onto final. Flared too late. Slid on chin and wheels but no whack. Cool! I got my aerotow sign-off by 8:30 on day 1. Dave (DbyD) was there too and he got his sign-off in one flight too. |
| 3/26/2008 |
0:17:10 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
3143 |
3317 |
3.1 |
-827 |
1102 |
| Back out after breakfast for a midday flight. Using my own harness this time. Winds about 8 knots with some thermals. First flight with new Flytec 6030 vario. Worked one thermal a bit after tow. Definitely more work midday to stay behind tug. Basically sled ride. Setup a little close to trees. Hit big sink and wasn't far enough out. Had to S-turn between top of two big trees - oops. OK landing on feet with a little run. |
| 3/26/2008 |
0:13:50 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
2339 |
2323 |
2.4 |
-709 |
630 |
| Back out after lunch. Much calmer. No thermals. Nice easy tow in smooth, boaty air. Nice landing setup but flare still a bit off. Great 1st day at Wallaby. Four flights. Great people. Curt, Dave, Axel. Talked with Wills Wing guys. I have a Sport 2 reserved for early the next morning. |
| 3/27/2008 |
0:12:10 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
1982 |
1965 |
2.2 |
-709 |
787 |
| Early morning flight on demo Sport 2 with the fin installed. Real calm conditions. Easy tow. Less bar pressure than the Falcon. Boated around in basic sledder. Nice flight. Good approach. Good landing on feet. |
| 3/27/2008 |
0:31:25 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
3225 |
5404 |
4.1 |
-945 |
1260 |
| |
| 3/27/2008 |
0:11:35 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
1781 |
1762 |
2.0 |
-551 |
591 |
| |
| 3/28/2008 |
0:11:15 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
2060 |
2044 |
2.9 |
-591 |
827 |
| |
| 3/29/2008 |
0:18:20 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
2943 |
2953 |
2.5 |
-709 |
1181 |
| |
| 3/29/2008 |
0:23:25 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
1745 |
2467 |
2.5 |
-512 |
1142 |
| |
| 3/30/2008 |
0:12:35 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
2047 |
2028 |
2.3 |
-551 |
650 |
| |
| 3/30/2008 |
0:12:55 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 195 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
1969 |
1965 |
2.2 |
-3346 |
3307 |
| |
| 4/25/2008 |
1:21:45 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Hurricane - Main Launch |
UT - Hurricane - Main LZ |
1073 |
5886 |
7881 |
3.0 |
-787 |
827 |
| |
| 4/27/2008 |
0:10:15 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
NV - Jean Lake Bed |
NV - Jean Lake Bed |
0 |
4219 |
1654 |
1.7 |
-669 |
1299 |
| First payout winch truck tow. |
| 4/27/2008 |
0:09:35 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
NV - Jean Lake Bed |
NV - Jean Lake Bed |
0 |
4173 |
1617 |
2.5 |
-945 |
906 |
| |
| 4/28/2008 |
0:21:25 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
NV - Table Top Main Launch |
NV - Cross Roads LZ |
1424 |
7142 |
2270 |
5.3 |
-1024 |
984 |
| |
| 5/17/2008 |
0:05:20 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Bennett - Scooter Towing |
CO - Bennett - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5531 |
243 |
0.0 |
-827 |
748 |
| |
| 5/17/2008 |
0:02:35 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Bennett - Scooter Towing |
CO - Bennett - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5827 |
528 |
0.6 |
-945 |
1142 |
| |
| 5/17/2008 |
0:02:10 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Bennett - Scooter Towing |
CO - Bennett - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5728 |
427 |
0.6 |
-630 |
1181 |
| |
| 5/25/2008 |
1:22:45 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Villa Grove - Main Launch |
CO - Villa Grove - Main LZ |
1650 |
13514 |
5673 |
15.2 |
-630 |
827 |
| This was a great flight. It was supposed to blow again so we got to launch before 10am. But it was too windy already. I ended up staying on launch the entire day along with many others. Several people left and came back later - the smart ones. I was about to give up when several people started setting up at 6pm despite the winds still blowing a good bit. Lemming time. I setup in record time (for me) by not bothering with any cameras, the O2, or one of my layers. Fred launched first about 6:40 and went up without turning. It was not blowing about 15-20 on launch. I suited up and headed to launch to be number 2 for the evening. I waited a bit for a straight cycle then ran a few step and caught the escelator. I headed to the south east going up the whole way. It didn't take long to get up. I made three or four passes on the SW facing slope and decided to cross the pass and head south to the Bat Cave. Above 13K the winds were strong - 25-30. I had a tough time making progress to the south. I stopped climbing at nearly 14K because I was worried the winds were too strong. I got a little lower hoping for lighter winds. I made it 2/3 of the way to the Bat Cave and decided to turn back due to the winds and lateness of the day. I should have finished. Turned out to be enough light. Anyway, I headed a bit into the valley and slowly lost some altitude. Then I decided to head back over launch and then climb up the face again to the ridge top. What great views with the snow on top of the peaks. I saw a few other gliders boating around. Eventually I headed out toward the LZ. I flew past the LZ a bit and slowly boated down. I was above 6 or so other gliders working their way down to land. Very cool sight. I heard on the radio that the LZ was showing signs of it going catabatic. Cool. Now I could land uphill toward the moutain. The guy that landed before me landed cross wind to the south. I setup to land going east into the light cat flow. I was high and did a real wide base that took me right over the top of all the gliders breaking down - pretty cool. I turned final into the wind and head for the cone. I touched down about 50 feet away. I had a good flare but didn't hold it long enough. I landed on my feet but the basetube came down hard and I dropped a knee to the ground - right onto a bunch of cactus. I have a knee full of big and small needles. What an amazing flight. I think 15 hang gliders flew and several paragliders too. It glassed off in a big way. Smiles everywhere. |
| 5/26/2008 |
0:20:50 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Villa Grove - Main Launch |
CO - Villa Grove - Main LZ |
1650 |
10879 |
1194 |
1.9 |
-748 |
591 |
| Left for launch about 5pm hoping it would let up like the night before. Fred, BJ, Wilbur, Allen, Shawn, and a few others were there. By the time we setup it was still blowing like crazy. A few guys took off during some lulls on launch but it was strong aloft. I finally decided to take a "sled ride" after 8pm, after sunet, just to avoid breaking down up top. I waited for a straight lull of 15 and launched. I was in an elevator ride up. After 500 feet I could see I was barely moving. I put on full VG and pulled the bar in. The vario was showing a ground speed in the low single digit and I was still going up. It was getting dark and all I wanted to do was get to the LZ. I flew faster. I stopped the climb and maintained a little ground speed. It took 15 minutes to penetrate out to the LZ. By then I was a little lower and the winds were calming down some. The LZ was actually light. SW at less than 10. I worked my way down and setup an approach into the wind. I aimed for the cone. I didn't go downwind enough. I passed the cone a bit, going ever so slightly downslope, with a lot of speed. I was approaching the road and associate little ditch. I flared too hard, popped up a little, paused, and finished as I came down on my feet. The basetube came down hard but not the nose. My landing was one of the better ones. Several whack. One downtube by Fred - he hit the ditch and stopped cold. But I think I was about 100 feet past the cone. Another dark breakdown at Villa. |
| 5/28/2008 |
0:36:20 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South Main Launch |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South Main Launch |
0 |
5410 |
840 |
1.1 |
-512 |
591 |
| Steve, JJ, Jeff, and I met at the south side setup area about 7am. There were a dozen paragliders boating around. We setup and waited for more wind. John Heiney, Ryan Voight, and Jeff O'brien were there as well as at least 1 or 2 others. Quite a hang glider turnout. Finally about 9am it was showing signs of getting better for us. The paragliders were thinning out. A few local HG flew and landed in the crowd. Finally the winds picked up and all the paragliders landed and all the hang gliders launched. It was actually getting a little thermally and bumpy. I did one mid flight top landing and walked back out to launch and went up again. Soon I did another top landing and went back to the setup area for a while. It was fun to fly the Point again and be able to do some top landings. |
| 5/28/2008 |
0:27:20 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South Main Launch |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South Main Launch |
0 |
5574 |
932 |
0.0 |
-35512 |
29862 |
| After taking a break for a bit and watching everyone pack up due to stronger winds I decided it was time to play. I had talked to a local about basetube lanches. I decided to give it a try. I hooked in and head to launch with Steve on my nose. It was blowing about 25mph. I just stayed on launch playing in the wind for a while. The basetube control was great. You can really pull in to get the nose down and you have great roll control. I went weightless several time playing in the wind. Eventually I decided to launch. I did some moon walking and hops and pushed out and went up. Can't do that at home. I boated around a while and decided to top land. I slowly walked back out to launch and played some more before deciding to launch again. Rinse, repeat. Another top landing and another launch. I did just a couple of passes and did one final top landing and went to the setup area. What a lot of fun that was. |
| 5/28/2008 |
0:10:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South Main Launch |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South LZ |
308 |
5289 |
243 |
0.2 |
-591 |
276 |
| We all ran various errands this afternoon and met back at the south side at 4:30. We setup and it was getting light. Steve and JJ flew. Steve went right down. JJ did a few passes and landed - both at the bottom. I managed to stay up for a few passes. One little thermal tried real hard to put me into the hill - I came close. I was hoping to make one more pass and top land but I got flushed. I tried getting back up but it wasn't to be. I stayed close to the hill and worked my way down to land. Small LZ close to the hill. I went a tiny further than I wanted but landed before the road with a good on the feet landing. Jeff flew shortly after in what seemed to be calm conditions yet he stayed up a few passes before joining us down at the bottom. Great day. Three cycles of flights today. Six launches and landings total today. |
| 5/30/2008 |
1:35:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Crawfords - Main Launch |
UT - Crawfords - Main LZ |
1421 |
8517 |
4022 |
5.4 |
-787 |
512 |
| JJ, Jeff, and I met in Randolph from SLC about 11:30am. The sky was terrible. The forecast was for 20% chance of TS but it looked way worse than that. We decided to give it until 5pm. So we had a nice long lunch and a milkshake. Eventually we headed over to the LZ and setup a wind sock and moved JJ's glider to my car. The sky was still full of clouds with scattered virga and rain in every direction. We headed up to launch about 3pm and gave JJ the tour. By 4 there was some minor hope in the sky. By 5pm it was looking much better. A lot more blue. The biggest cells were far off to the north or east and moving out. Two more were coming from the west heading our way. This was the test. They never got big and started to dissipate. OK, time to setup. By the time we were setup the sky was looking real nice but the winds started dying down - figures. Jeff would go first so I could then help JJ. I would go last. I figured these were going to be short flights since the wind seemed too light to soar much. I helped Jeff get off and to my surprise he was getting up nicely. By the time I got JJ down to launch Jeff was 200 over. JJ had a nice launch and he too was getting up. I quickly suited up and headed to launch. I waited a couple of minutes to get the strongest wind and off I went. Three more good launches. I headed south and slowly worked up. It took me a while to get as high as Jeff and JJ. But once I did I stayed above them most of the flight. The lift was a combination of light ridge and light, smooth thermals. I got 800 over twice circling in a thermal. But there were some flush cycles too. I got down to launch level twice before it cycled in again. A local paraglider pilot came out while we were all soaring. He left before we landed. Jeff had to land during one of the flush cycles. JJ got almost 2 hours in. I had to pee and decided to land early. I flew out over the valley a little then slowly setup an approach. I landed a tiny bit long than I had originally planned but it wasn't an issue. I was heading for a fence line but was down in time OK. I flared well but a spec too late. I landed on my feet but my base tube came down again. It was nearly sunset, again, but the sky and ridge looked great as we broke down. JJ landed a few minutes after me and did a big belly slide. The flight ended up being worth the wait. But it was nearly 10pm by the time JJ and I retreived the car from launch and got the gliders on the roof in the LZ. |
| 5/31/2008 |
0:56:55 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Williams - Lower Launch |
CO - Williams - Lake LZ |
1437 |
12034 |
3871 |
8.4 |
-709 |
709 |
| Met Allen, Roberto, Matt, Shawn, Arturo, and Tom in the LZ at 4pm after driving 6 hours from West of Green River, WY. We drove up to lower launch and there was little wind and some thermal cycles. We setup and Roberto was first to launch shortly after. We heard a guy from Wolcott say he was at 17,500'! Winds were a little cross and light but some OK cycles to launch in. I ended up being last and waited a few minutes for a good cycle. Everyone had a good launch and mine felt good too. I launched into a medium cycle and tried working the "ridge" right of launch. I wasn't getting too far but I stayed with it. I wasn't losing but I wasn't getting up much either. Slowly I started working my up the mountain face. The thermals weren't big enough to circle in. I mostly tried flying slowly back and forth as best as I could. I wasn't much more than 200 or 300 feet above the trees and power lines the whole time. But once I got downwind of the power lines I found some magic lift and rode it up to the ridge top without making a turn. I spent most of the flight above the ridge north of the radio tower staying between 11 and 12K. A first I could only see one glider in the distance but eventually Matt and Roberto was flying near me over the ridge. The other guys had all landed at the lake by now. The air was generally smooth with light thermals but they were small. Again I mostly flew back and forth only doing 1 good thermal climb. I decided to head toward upper launch and I got flushed. Down to launch level I decided to head out toward the lake following the line of small hills looking for lift. It was getting punchier with more sink than lift. I found the best lift over the LZ and managed to work a small thermal a few hundred feet before losing it. So I just boated around near the LZ over the water and Cow Creek until it was time to setup an approach. The wind was coming off of the dam at 6 or 7mph. So I boxed the field and did a modified DBF approach with my final being mostly into the wind. I landed real close to the point I picked out. I had a good flare and landed on my feet but as usual I didn't hold it up long enough and my base tube came down onto the ground. Great first flight at Williams for the year, especially after driving 6 hours. |
| 6/9/2008 |
0:08:20 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South Main Launch |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South Main Launch |
0 |
5404 |
384 |
0.0 |
-433 |
354 |
| Did a few passes. It was pretty thermally and I didn't get up to high. Decided to do a top landing but wasn't quite as high. Came in a little different and couldn't check my sideways motion enough. Base tube touched and my body bumped into the downtube. Bruised the heck out of my right arm. |
| 6/9/2008 |
0:05:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South Main Launch |
UT - Point of the Mountain - South Main Launch |
0 |
5289 |
217 |
0.0 |
-669 |
512 |
| Up for a quick hop. Got up higher and did a much better top landing this time. |
| 6/14/2008 |
0:21:10 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
0 |
299 |
456 |
2.6 |
-709 |
315 |
| First ever flight at Fort Funston. Worked the ridge for a while and decided to top land. I setup a nice approach and went on final. I kept gliding and gliding right into the launch area. Next thing I know I needed to launch so I took a step or two and went back up. I did another pass or two and tried again. This time I setup a little further back and did just fine. Nice on the feet landing. |
| 6/14/2008 |
0:15:55 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
0 |
262 |
269 |
1.8 |
-591 |
157 |
| Back up for a few more laps. Did another top landing but did a light nose over whack on the landing near the path. |
| 6/14/2008 |
0:33:35 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
0 |
328 |
643 |
1.9 |
-551 |
276 |
| This flight had some interesting moments starting with the launch. I let the glider fly me. I let the glider pull me off the launch and it could have been ugly. I didn't have much airspeed and the right wing was dropping as I went off the edge. Somehow I leveled the wings and got some airspeed. In the end I saved it and got flying on the ridge.I spent the next 30 minutes boating back and forth. I had one close call. I did a 180 on the south end of the ridge. There was another glider following me. He was far enough behind and out from the ridge enough. I did a tight 180 and staying to his right. I think I surprised him cause he turned toward me at first then turned away. I had him in sight the whole time.I was ready to land and waited for a good clearing. I turned over the bushes by launch and started a nice right hand pattern. I did my 180 and got onto final. Just as I rocked up I was surprised to see another glider on final too. He was to my right with his wingtip just a few feet from mine. Holy cow! I did was I could to get a little further away. We both touched down near the path less than 10 feet apart. We talked after. He didn't see me until he was on final as well. We saw each other on the last pass but didn't realize each other was landing. He went a little further south and did a left hand pattern. For us to end up with him on my right our paths had to have crossed. Who knows how close we came to colliding.I could have flown all day but I was wiped out from still being sick. |
| 6/15/2008 |
1:16:30 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
0 |
381 |
1558 |
1.9 |
-748 |
315 |
| Yesterday wiped me out due to this darn sinus infection. Despite great conditions today I just didn't have it in me to fly. I didn't get up until almost noon. Bummer. I went out to my car about 2:30 to get something and was worn out when I got back to the room. At 4:30 I couldn't take it anymore and decided to head over to Funston. I was actually feeling more alive. When I got there I saw a bunch of gliders setup and several in the air. The ceiling was at about 700'. I heard some stories of guys graying out heading to Westlake.I setup and was feeling pretty good. I dressed warmer than yesterday. It was quite chilly (low 50s) and breezy. The wind was straight out of the west at 15-20. I suited up, hooked in, and walked out to launch. Remembering yesterday's near disaster launch I was really on top of this one. Due to the wind I did a nice, fun moon-walk launch.I spent the next 80 minutes enjoying nice ridge lift on the Pacific ocean. It was fatter than yesterday but not quite as smooth. Nothing to complain about of course. I flew with about 4-6 gliders at any given time including a rigid. I also got fairly close to a hawk a couple of times. The beach was looking pretty small today - not a good day to land down there.I finally got around to getting my camera out of my new camera pouch on the side of my harness. I got it out OK but I couldn't get it back in. In the process I pulled the pocket off of the harness (it was held on with velcro) and dropped it on the cliff face. Luckily the camera was safety tied and I still had it. But it was hanging down and I didn't want to land that way. I spent some time stuffing it in another pocket and making sure my zipper pull wasn't tangled. Oh well.Not wanting to over do it today I decided to land before I got too tired. I ensured the landing area was truly clear and I setup a nice left hand approach and did a fun, floaty, no stepper landing and walked over to the setup area to break down.I felt a bit tired but not overly so. I'm hopeful that I'm on the mend and will be able to fly Monday without any issue. |
| 6/16/2008 |
0:41:15 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
0 |
489 |
1257 |
2.1 |
-433 |
315 |
| Another fun day at Funston. I made it to the setup area about 12:30 today - I'm getting better. There were only a few gliders there and one flying - but that would change. It was another overcast, low ceiling day. I haven't seen the sun since the middle of last week.I setup, dressed warm, and hooked in. I walked out to launch determined to have a good solid launch. It was blowing straight in again but it was about 18 or so. As I got close to launch the glider started to pull me forward. Not again. At least my wings were level. I took over and ran off with a nice launch. It just wasn't quite started by me. I did the usual passes back and forth along the ridge for 30 minutes. Several others showed up while I was flying. Not yesterday's crowd but a good turnout for a Monday. I decided to land and made sure it was all clear and I did a nice left hand pattern with a fun no stepper. I had good speed on final. You can tell you need the extra speed because I got bumped a bit as I descended. |
| 6/16/2008 |
0:34:35 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
0 |
528 |
1089 |
2.6 |
-669 |
354 |
| I relaxed for about an hour and decided to go up again. This time I decided to launch using the basetube method. This worked out real well. I had much more control this time. I'm really sold on this technique for strong wind ridge launches.So this was another 30 minutes of boating around in the big fat coastal air. One interesting thing this time around though. Near the North end of the ridge I hit a stronger spot of lift and decided to work it. There wasn't anyone else nearby so I had some space. I did a few 180s. I had been mostly about 225 feet above launch. I was now 300 and still going up. A few more 180s and I broke 400 over. At about 430 over, and still going up, I started seeing some whispies. Uh oh! I pulled in fast and dove down. At first I wasn't going down. Cloud suck! But I did some slipping turns and pulled in more and got back down to 200 over. Now that I safely out it was cool. I never got back up that high the rest of the day. This fun stint was ended with another great, easy no step landing. I'm getting spoiled with the fat, high wind landings. |
| 6/16/2008 |
1:03:10 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
CA - Fort Funston - Main Launch |
0 |
463 |
1913 |
3.6 |
-591 |
394 |
| After a half hour rest I decided to go up for a third time. I used the basetube launch again. So much easier. I spent another hour enjoying the views (despite the low ceiling). I did a few high speed runs and played with various turns. No good bird encounters today - oh well. It was getting cold. I was dressed warmer than some of my high altitude mountain flights. Time for one more landing. I got already for the usual setup. Another guy was landing ahead of me. I followed him in with plenty of distance. One more great landing.What a fun day. Two hours of airtime. A trip to the clouds. Three great landings. It doesn't get much better than this.I asked a couple of locals over the course of the day how today (and the last 2 days) rated compared to typical Fort Funston days. I didn't know if these were so-so days or amazing days. As it turns out both guys rated today a 9.5 and a 10. The 9.5 was due to the lower ceiling. After a slow start last week these last three days have really turned on and been great. |
| 6/30/2008 |
0:08:45 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Lookout - Main Launch |
CO - Lookout - Main LZ |
1017 |
6785 |
7 |
0.7 |
-551 |
118 |
| First flight at Lookout. I did a walk through with Rich then headed up with Rich and BJ and several paraglider pilots. The wind was light but generally straight in. I finally hooked in and waited for a little more wind since my last several flights were at sea level in strong wind. But it was getting late and staying light so I took the next light cycle. I had a real good strong launch - yeah. I had the hill to myself and worked the hill as best as I could. It was slightly bouyant which gave me a slightly extended sled ride. I just did pass after pass slowly sinking down. I watched for the land marks to setup an approach. In the end I did one too many passes before turning final. I was pretty low over the trees and ditch before getting to the LZ. I did a small, shallow turn to get pointed more up the hill then settled in for the flare. Too late. Nothing left. I did a gentle wheel roll as I tried to flare. Overall a good first Lookout flight. Mark gave me some really good post flight analysis on my approach. Hopefully I can make use of it soon. |
| 7/4/2008 |
0:06:45 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Lookout - Main Launch |
CO - Lookout - Main LZ |
1017 |
6900 |
144 |
1.1 |
-669 |
472 |
| Allen gave me a ride up. I was the only HG pilot this afternoon but there were several PG pilots waiting around. I launched into a fairly straight cycle and got off in a few steps. It turned straight south after I launched. One PG launched just before me. I followed him a little around to the south but I was nervous about staying too far back there so I mostly did a pass or two out front. I hit a few small bumps. The air was rolly probably due to the south wind. I got popped a few times as I worked down to setup a landing. I was more worried about landing than trying to stay up. I turned final much higher than Monday, maybe a tiny bit too high. I pulled in a lot of speed to deal with the rolly air and to lose some altitude. I got down into ground effect and the air smoothed out nicely. I rocked up fully, found the down tubes and waited to flare. I was going up the hill nicely and watched as the bushes got closer. But the uphill slowed me down just right. I flared hard and held it. Did a great no stepper on my feet. Yeah! |
| 7/10/2008 |
0:35:40 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Crestline - Main Launch |
CA - Andy Jackson |
3497 |
5328 |
558 |
4.9 |
-669 |
630 |
| First flight at Crestline. Flew with Dave and 7 other guys. The wind was blowing in but it was only marginally soarable. Small little thermals that were hard to stay in. It was hard to work the lift due to the number of pilots. I left the main area in front of launch and headed to the right not finding much. After getting 400 below launch I decided to head out. Found very little on the way out. Once in between Marshall and the LZ I found some small thermals. I was able to extend my flight some but I couldn't stay in the thermals enough to be too effective. Plus I was tired and my arms were worn out. I eventually got low enough to think about an approach. I boated around to the north of the LZ until it appeared to be time head in. My downwind was fairly far away so I had a long base leg. I had lots of speed to help bleed off my altitude. I turned final and got fully upright. I was heading for the spot. I noticed the flags were showing wind from the south so I did a shallow turn a bit more into the wind. Like my first Lookout flight this bled off a lot of my energy and I found it was time to flare suddenly. I was still 10 feet up. I did my usual flare and floated down. I landed with a no stepper near the spot but the glider came down on the basetube lightly because I didn't hold the glider up. Bad habit I need to break. Overall it was OK. I had a good launch and good approach. The flare was weak and my soaring skills weren't too good today. I was worn out from the previous day's long drive. |
| 7/11/2008 |
0:40:30 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Crestline - Main Launch |
CA - Andy Jackson |
3497 |
5236 |
1473 |
5.2 |
-630 |
709 |
| Another nice day with lots of pilots. I launched into a nice breeze and tried to work the light ridge lift but there were too many gliders for my comfort. I couldn't really get in the lift band. I eventually headed toward the billboard but I was low and couldn't get up. As I sunk out I headed out toward the Marshall area. I ended up working some nice thermals up about 1000' before finally losing it. It was bumpy. The thermals were small and I went over the falls a couple of times and got kicked around some. Eventually I decided to head in to land. I had plenty of altitude and slowly came down to the east of the LZ. I suddenly realized I was getting too low and was pretty far out. I made a straight line to the base of the training slope thinking I wasn't going to make the LZ. But I somehow did and had a real nice no stepper next to the spot circle. |
| 7/12/2008 |
1:18:15 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Crestline - Main Launch |
CA - Andy Jackson |
3497 |
6296 |
4163 |
7.8 |
-748 |
787 |
| CSS Fly-in. What a day. There must have been 50 hang gliders plus a whole bunch of paragliders. When I arrived at the setup area it was packed. Gliders everywhere in the air. By the time I launched the gliders had cleared from the area near launch. Right off of launch I hit a big elevator ride up. There were some big booming thermals today. Lots of great lift. Ended the flight a bomb drop and spot landing. Neither went too well. What a great day. Amazing number of people, great food, great flying. |
| 7/13/2008 |
1:06:55 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Crestline - Main Launch |
CA - Andy Jackson |
3497 |
5840 |
4281 |
6.9 |
-787 |
827 |
| Another fabulous day of flying at Crestline. The winds were a little lighter today and the thermals were booming again at times. Another day of landing when I wanted and not when I had to. I was the last one off amongst the 1:30 crowd. I launched into another boomer of a thermal. I was almost 600 over in less than two minutes. I was higher than most other gliders right off. Of course it didn't stay that way. I stayed in the general area of launch for about 25 minutes plus one pass over to Billboard. Not much. I decided to head over toward Marshall as there were lots of glider (both types) getting up over there. At 400 over I head over. Once there I was sinking out and thinking of landing. But then I hit a boomer and got a great ride up. with a gain of about 1300 feet. But I was getting tired and decided to land. I left the moutain and flew over toward the college. I flew straight through some great lift but wasn't trying to get up at all. I boated over the college and worked my way down to land. I came in hot and flared a spec too soon and didn't hold my flare as usual. On my feet but the control frame came down hard. But it was a fun flight with Dave, Brian, Glenn, and lots of locals. |
| 7/14/2008 |
1:18:10 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CA - Crestline - Main Launch |
CA - Andy Jackson |
3497 |
5902 |
2743 |
7.0 |
-709 |
827 |
| One last Crestline flight for this trip. Dave, Dusty, Johan, and a couple of others went up on the 4pm McShuttle. It was looking like a typical day but being a bit later the thermals were weaker. I was the last to take-off (again) and spent the first part of the flight working light lift on the main ridge near launch. Dave did a close pass with me. It was cool having him so close but at the same time I was nervous. Eventually I decided to give Billboard a try. I got there about 200 over launch which is about even there. I hit a raspy thermal that was doing weird things to my glider. It took me a couple of shots at it before I figured it out and started going up. I maxed out at about 600 over and was looking over at Pine. Two gliders had gone over there. I started to head that way and 10 seconds later I chickened out and decided to play on Marshall instead. I spent the rest of the flight having fun staying up in light lift. I flew all over the Marshall/Regionals area hitting little spots of lift here and there. It was a lot of fun and more mellow being late in the day. I eventually decided to head out. The sun was blocked now by a big cloud and I thought it might shutdown. But to my surprise it stayed fairly lifty the whole time I head out over the LZ. I just boated around near the LZ slowly sinking my way down. I finally got low enough to setup my approach. I used the VASI on my downwind. I was right on the glide slope but my base wasn't close enough to the hill so I was a bit high as I turned final. I did two S-Turns and overflew the spot. I leveled out, bled off the speed, and did my best landing of the trip - yeah! What a great way to end a fun flight and a great trip. |
| 9/7/2008 |
0:11:10 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Villa Grove - Main Launch |
CO - Villa Grove - Main LZ |
1650 |
9806 |
279 |
2.8 |
-787 |
630 |
| |
| 9/8/2008 |
1:13:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
UT - Crawfords - Main Launch |
UT - Crawfords - Main LZ |
1421 |
8451 |
1791 |
8.9 |
-709 |
394 |
| After driving straight from Denver I met Rich, Bruce, JJ, and Jeff in Randolph. We then drove over to the LZ and carpooled up to launch. It was blowing in nice. It was getting late. The limiting factor was probably going to be light and not lift. We all got off fine and boated around. There was virtually no thermal lift, just light ridge lift. As the sun setted the view was beautiful. You could see a rainbow color effect on the entire horizon - all the way around. It was so quiet and peaceful. It's flights like this that make hang gliding so special. The LZ was in full shadow so it was time to land. We all landed in the LZ below launch. There was basically no wind. A very memorable evening. |
| 9/24/2008 |
0:46:10 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Williams - Lower Launch |
CO - Williams - Postage Stamp |
1611 |
10266 |
2480 |
4.2 |
-827 |
827 |
| Today was a scratch fest. I never got up but I worked really hard trying. I am quite pleased with how long I was able to stay up given what I had to work with. The group of us launched in three different cycles. The guys that went first got up after a bit of work. Me and another guy went in the second round. Both of our flights were similar. The group that launched later basically had sled rides. I spent a good portion of the flight over the trees to the north of lower launch. Once or twice I thought I was done. I headed over to the Dinosaur and worked some lift over there. This was the first time I ever worked the Dinosaur. Both of us were over there at one point and we both worked a thermal up and back toward launch. This got me back up above the trees to the north of launch. I finally hit some lift over the trees that I thought might get me up. But I was drifting back more than going up and I started to worry about making it back out front if I got flushed. So close but too risky. Shortly after getting out front again I lost all the lift. I headed back over to the Dinosaur but there was nothing this time. I was tired and decided to following the hills out to the postage stamp. The other guy had landed just a few minutes earlier. I wasn't sure I would make it all the way out but in the end I was just fine. I did a mostly straight in approach into the postage stamp LZ and had a real nice landing. Fun, rewarding flight. |
| 9/27/2008 |
0:08:35 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
TN - Hensons Gap Ramp |
TN - Hensons Gap Main LZ |
1457 |
2300 |
13 |
2.6 |
-669 |
118 |
| |
| 9/28/2008 |
0:09:20 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
TN - Hensons Gap Ramp |
TN - Hensons Gap Main LZ |
1457 |
2297 |
26 |
2.2 |
-787 |
276 |
| |
| 9/29/2008 |
0:30:50 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
TN - Hensons Gap Ramp |
TN - Hensons Gap Main LZ |
1457 |
2575 |
548 |
2.7 |
-591 |
236 |
| |
| 9/30/2008 |
1:07:45 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
TN - Hensons Gap Ramp |
TN - Outlanding 1 |
1506 |
4144 |
3488 |
4.8 |
-748 |
591 |
| My first real XC flight! 5.5 miles from launch to landing according to Google Earth. It was a busy flight. Everybody was up about the same time all scratching in the light lift. After a few passes on the ridge I finally got up in a nice thermal. The rest of the team headed out before I topped out. I lost the first one but found another and got a little higher. Then the bottom fell out. I got absolutely flushed to below lauch height. What the heck! I lost 2300' in the next 10 minutes. I was dtermined not to give up. I scratched out front were it was a lot more crowded. I found a small thermal and started turning. I made a lot turns with minimal gain but at least I wasn't going down. A few others tried to join me but they didn't stay long. I think I was hoggin it. Then I lost that and fond another. This one finally got me back up to launch - literally. I was real close to launch. I got 200' or so above the ridge and made the decision to just go for it toward the goal. Part way down the ridge I worked a thermal for a bit with a few other guys. After lots of trying I only gained 200' and lost it. So back on my way. I wasn't finding any more lift so I just followed the ridge. I came up to some power lines and crossed them a little lower than I'd like. At this point I had to start angling out into the valley as I was sinking. I started looking at all of the fields. There were a lot of choices. But I kept going. I then picked a field and flew straight away from the ridge. As I got closer I could see someone else in the field. At least I wouldn't be alone. I had worked out the rough wind direction from some clues I saw as I was heading out. As I was setting up my approach the guy on the ground pointed out the wind direction. Happily it matched was I had figured out already. I came in real nice with good speed and had a great landing. Yippee! Turns out there was a second guy here too. I was quite happy. It wasn't much but it was the furthest I have ever gone and it was the first time I ever landind in a field without planning it out ahead of time. Of course I had one of the guys take my picture in front of my glider. |
| 9/30/2008 |
0:27:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
TN - Hensons Gap Ramp |
TN - Hensons Gap Main LZ |
1457 |
2730 |
1066 |
4.1 |
-787 |
472 |
| |
| 10/2/2008 |
0:43:05 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
TN - Hensons Gap Ramp |
TN - Hensons Gap Main LZ |
1457 |
2759 |
1926 |
3.5 |
-630 |
512 |
| |
| 10/2/2008 |
0:13:50 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
TN - Hensons Gap Ramp |
TN - Hensons Gap Main LZ |
1457 |
2372 |
207 |
2.3 |
-551 |
315 |
| |
| 10/3/2008 |
0:11:30 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
TN - Hensons Gap Ramp |
TN - Hensons Gap Main LZ |
1457 |
2303 |
200 |
1.9 |
-591 |
315 |
| |
| 10/4/2008 |
0:07:40 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
TN - Hensons Gap Ramp |
TN - Hensons Gap Main LZ |
1457 |
2303 |
13 |
3.7 |
-669 |
354 |
| |
| 10/18/2008 |
1:48:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Villa Grove - Main Launch |
CO - Villa Grove - Main LZ |
1650 |
13219 |
6742 |
37.1 |
-33701 |
33701 |
| Another great evening glass off at Villa Grove. Everybody that flew this evening got up - amazing. Another "land because it's getting dark" flight. It didn't take too long to get up to the ridge top. I worked the southern facing slops basically ridge soaring the thermals. I out climbed one or two other gliders - that was fun. I spent the rest of the flight enjoying the great scenery with 16 or so other pilots. Gliders everywhere but spread out over miles of mountains. It was cool up top. Glad I was dressed warm. I put my visor down for a while to help keep my nose from running too much since I was using my O2. I don't like having the visor down. No wind and it makes me feel a little claustrophobic. But it does make it warmer. When I finally decided to leave the mountain I thought I would fly out toward the town of Villa Grove and see how far I could go before needing to turn back toward the LZ. I was at about 11,800' when even with the LZ on the way out. I glided about half way to town when I decided to turn around. I definitely could have made it to town and landed. I could have gone a bit further and still made it back to the main LZ. The plan was to land near Larry's house. I so totally blew my approach and setup way too far away. I missed the LZ by a lot - like 1,000'. Thank goodness you can land just about anywhere out there. I don't know what I was thinking. I just went WAY too far downwind thinking I had a lot of altitude to lose. At least it was a real good landing. I broke down alone as it got dark and set my glider next to the road and walked over to Larry's for the party. Other than my approach it was a great flight with gorgous views with lots of other pilots. Fun times for sure. |
| 2/28/2009 |
0:02:45 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
CO - Markhams - Scooter Towing |
0 |
5413 |
469 |
1.3 |
-21654 |
19429 |
| First flight of the year. Did real nice scooter tow launch after a couple of ground runs. Smooth tow in calm conditions. Released from tow and headed back to west end of field. Bled some altitude over powerlines then setup approach into wind. Weak flare, didn't hold it. Very lightly nosed over. Mark said I had tight grip on downtube. Wings weren't level in flare as a result. |
| 3/31/2009 |
0:13:00 |
Wills Wing Falcon 2 - 225 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Tandem with Stevie. Did fairly well despite bumpy air but very glad I did a tandem. Got a little low a few times. |
| 4/1/2009 |
0:11:00 |
Wills Wing Falcon 3 - 195 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| There was a bit of wind today. A bit more work to stay behind Dragonfly. Strong winds aloft but real smooth. Parked nose into the wind at trim I was flying backwards. A few small clouds/fog was moving in down at 500 feet. Then I noticed it was getting a lot thicker upwind. Hmmmm. Maybe I better get down before I lose the ground. I pulled the bar in and dropped down fast. I got down to cloud level just about as a wall of gray was at my location. I went to trim and leveled the wings preparing for the whiteout. It was a little bumpy in the cloud and it felt like I was going to crash into this giant gray wall in the sky. But the cloud engulfed me and I was just able to see the ground looking straight down. I pulled in a bit and quickly descended below the cloud layer. There was a lot less wind down low and I set up a nice approach and had a good landing. That was really cool. I wish I has the camera for that one. |
| 4/1/2009 |
0:11:00 |
Wills Wing Sport 2 - 155 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Last tow before lunch. Sport 2 with fin. Sky was building in places. It spit a few drops of rain here and there but was mostly behind us. The glider has a mylar leading edge. The tow was work but I did OK. Once I got off tow I didn't care for the sky too much. There was a wall of rain out to the northeast so it was not really heading our way but why take chances. It was getting thermally and I spiraled to get down. There were two other gliders in the air below me doing the same. We all landing within a minute of each other. My landing went pretty well. |
| 4/4/2009 |
0:12:00 |
Wills Wing U2 - 160 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| First tow and flight on a U2. I used a fin in calm conditions. The two went really well. The glider tows very nice. I had a nice boaty flight trying a few different VG positions and flying with the bar at full arm extension. It goes fast with little bar pressure. The bar really moves back at higher VG settings. I setup a long approach. The glider really glides and I went pretty long on final. I waited way to long to flare. When I felt the bar push back I tried to flare but it was too late. I rolled on the wheels and slid on my knees and chute. Wet grass and scraped knees. Oh well, I'll get it. Great flight and glider. I think I'm going to like mine. |
| 4/4/2009 |
0:12:00 |
Wills Wing U2 - 160 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Since the last flight went so well I decided to take the fin off. It was still mostly smooth. The tow went terrible. I was PIO'ing like crazy. At least the first half of the tow I was way overcontrolling the glider in roll. I kept saying to myself to relax and bump correct. I got it under control briefly but even the second half was rough. Near the beginning I tried to release and missed so I just kept going. Finally off tow I relaxed (mostly) and flew. Much like the last flight I tested the glider by doing turns at 1/4 and 1/2 VG. Played with speed a bit. Did a nice approach with a long final. This time I flared earlier but still not soon enough. I landed on my feet but one wing was starting to drop, I wasn't looking up enough and I didn't extend my arms up enough. |
| 4/4/2009 |
0:53:45 |
Wills Wing U2 - 160 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
3110 |
5584 |
26.5 |
-866 |
984 |
| After breakfast one of the other guys beat me to the U2 160 so I waited my turn to get an afternoon flight. As it turned out this worked well in my favor. I got the glider back and was hooked in around 1:00. I put the fin back on - I didn't want a repeat of the last tow and it was getting a lot more thermally. I was reminded the sky was getting crowded. People were really starting to stay up and there were a dozen gliders in the air by now.My tow up went really well despite the thermally conditions. I was a lot more relaxed and made much better bump corrections. After release I got a good look around and saw a couple of gliders a bit above me circling. They were also further upwind. I drove around looking for lift not wanting to get too far away. I still have leash syndrome and I still don't have a good feel for the glide on the U2 after only 2 short flights. I gave up on trying to find the thermal these other guys were in and decided to glide closer to the Wallaby field.But soon my vario (finally put it on the glider thankfully) was beeping a little. It was wasn't long before I was gaining in a light thermal. Five minutes later I was in a death gaggle with 20 gliders spread out over hundreds of feet of altitude. I think every glider in the sky was in this one big thermal. Most, including me, were doing left turns. One key exception was a guy at my altitude going right. Come on, pay attention. It was crazy. At one point I had 4 gliders within a 100 feet of me going around. Sport 2's, ATOS's, and everything in between. Crazy but cool at the same time. My head was on a big swivel trying to keep track of anyone near me. People kept coming into and out of the thermal. I occassionaly had to leave the thermal and come back in due to another glider or just from flying out of it. All the other gliders made it real easy to find again though.At about 2600 MSL we were topped out and scattering to find another. I was a bit tired of doing left turns and being in such a crowd so I went off by myself back toward the orange grove. Everyone else was finding another thermal near the one I just left. I suddenly had the sky to myself and did a couple of right turns just for the sake of it.Then I smelled orange. Yummm. Thermal. Boom. My vario started screaming at over 600 fpm with periods of near 800. I was going up great - and all by myself. I found this thermal at about 2000 MSL and topped out at 3200. And I was still the only one in it. When I topped out I could see almost everyone else in another death gaggle but I was 600-700 feet above the top guy - how cool was this?! As I moved on I saw an ATOS heading my way down low and a few others starting to notice.I also noticed my flight time. It was about 45 minutes at this point and I knew two other guys were waiting for the glider. So being the nice guy I am I decided I should head in to land. So I spent the next 10 minutes slowly going down. It was too bad because I flew through some more nice thermals. But it was now time to focus on an approach and landing.I was planning on the same basic approach and landing. But as I got low I saw another glider a little lower setting up and he then did something I didn't expect. He setup to land in a completely different way and direction. Then I finally took a good look at the flags and sure enough the wind was 90 cross from what they were towing and everyone else was landing. So I followed this other guy's lead and landed into the wind. It was more of a walk but a better landing. I had a decent flare and landed on my feet OK. Still need more work of course.After a bit I got the glider on a cart and wheeled it over to the staging area. 30 seconds later, literally, Malcolm moved everyone to the east side of the grounds. The glider was in someone else's hands now. But I helped the Wills' guys move a glider. The least I could do for all they do for us. Then I had to walk all the way back to near were I landed to get my harness.I was grinning big time. What a fun flight. After the switch the gliders were coming down in droves and most were whacking. It was carnage. I guess it got trashy. My timing was pretty fortunate. Fun times for sure. |
| 4/4/2009 |
0:15:40 |
Wills Wing U2 - 160 |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
FL - Wallaby Ranch |
0 |
2585 |
2569 |
7.7 |
-551 |
669 |
| After waiting for three other guys to fly the U2 160 after lunch I finally got my turn. It was after 7pm and there were only a few people left waiting to tow. Since it was late and calm I decided to try again without the fin. This tow went great. No PIO at all. Yeah! It was a simple sled ride. And that was fine. My goal was a good tow and landing. I just boated around as I slowly descended. I setup a nice approach and landed right next to the glider tie down area. Several people were there watching. I almost waited too long to flare and just got my feet under me and ran a few stops for a good landing. Fourth flight of the day. |