A relaxing Sunday

Ok, so it's Monday. Despite the typical Monday Morning madness, to which I must attend shortly, I am actually feeling quite relaxed, thanks in large part to a very relaxing and fun Sunday.

Sunday morning I played with my pipsqueek while the missus went to yoga, then I went hang gliding.



The flight was quite fun, as I flew for a bit over two hours, was in the air with a bunch of friends, and got to a place I'd not reached before. My landing was as good as it's going to get and the time in the Landing Zone after was relaxing, as I watched other hang gliders and paragliders sink out of the skies.

It was the perfect way to burn off the stress of a couple of weeks with no break, per se. It only would have been better if the family could have been there, but pipsqueek can't go because she'd miss her nap. And the hippo and bunny with whom she sleeps would miss her.

In the time that it took to type this, I've had 2 clients call me with outages, one client that I owe a visit to call me, and a couple of domestic dramas to attend to.

I'm flying... in my mind.

Of hang gliding and segways

Talk about doubling your fun.

My realtor, who happens to be quite pretty and a lot of fun, was interested in watching hang gliding and offered to drive on a Friday. That's not the double part. The double part is our club's world-class, professional juggler brought out two Segways that he is going to incorporate into his act.

So, here's a video of a day that was just... too... fun.

http://www.johnwright.com/media/hg-segway4.wmv

Wright Brothers Week

The catalyst for my learning to fly was a trip out here by my brother, who has one solo under his belt, training in New Hampshire and once out here.

To thank him for getting me into this wonderful sport, I flew him out on freq. flier miles, put him up, fed him, and drove him to the hill 4 times. I am happy that it was a good break for him. As a university professor, he gets a lot of time off, but as a university professor with a big, beautiful house and beautiful family, he gets few deluxe, self-centered vacations. It was also the longest I had with him to myself in about 17 years. Growing up idolizing my big bro (not so much now, LOL), it was a lot of fun for me.

The flying was about average for spring at Andy Jackson. I got in 4 flights (he'd drive me for the early afternoon, then take a late avo lesson). It was nice to have a personal driver to take me to Crestline and to fly with my friend Ross and others.

It is a good thing he had 4 days of lessons booked. The first day was uneventful, as he just took a bunny hill lesson with Rob. The second day was pretty turbulent for a second solo and he was kinda shaken by it. Bear in mind all his flights had been either at the Morningside bunny hill or in winter conditions in California (only one previous tandem and one solo 7 months ago). Fortunately, he had good sled rides and landings the last two days.

I hope he keeps the momentum going through the summer.

Next year, I am going to require he stay longer if I pick up the flight. He's a lot of fun. My wife was bummed to see him go... and she usually tires of houseguests quickly.

All you can eat Wednesdays

Another Wednesday, another 2 1/2 hour flight.



Launched at 2:45, right as the winds were picking up... good thing my wireman has 31 years in the sport. They were about 20 then, on the way to 30... it was blowing out the thermals, it felt like the pockets of lift were based on the funky geography of Marshall... capped off by a tidy inversion layer at 5500 or so, shoving wind right down the canyons, resulting in insane sink for that much wind.

My flying friend, who's leaving soon for Missouri, wah, and I had a hard time penetrating against the wind. We did get a fun fly by where I was about 30 feet over him, sliding right, while he slid left. He should have stuck right, because he sunk out and landed around an hour and change. I caught lift off my lucky spot, the 750 launch, worked my way up, and basically flew wherever I wanted for the rest of the time.

I buzzed a Hummer that was shiny and new and testing out its four wheel drive... on a road I later drove my old Nissan Quest up. They stopped, opened the sunroof, and waved... and I got up the hill faster than they.

A crazy ass Spanish paraglider launched from the 750 and worked his way up the hill... flying backwards, before finally penetrating out and spinning down to the LZ. Wacky bastard.

I got tired around 150 minutes and came in for a running landing. I had to keep the airspeed high just to fly forward, so I figured the landing would be a bit of a barn burner. I ran about three steps before my feet actually made contact with the ground. It was a clean, unusual landing.

After a coldie I saw a nice biwingwal guy at the club (H4 P2) kiting around the the LZ because he didnt' get off work in time to get his wing out. So, I drove him to the 750 to enjoy the sunset.

Then, my passenger bought me pizza and a Sam Adams at a stone fired pizza joint.

A good day.

2 and a half hours, wee.....

My flying day started off poorly. In high winds on Marshal, I turtled my wing by not following the advice of a ground handler. I straightened out a batten, checked the rest, and half an hour later and with the help of said handler, a paraglider pilot, I launched a lull of 20+ mph winds.

It was worth it. 2 1/2 hours of boating around later, I landed with cold hands and stiff knees in switchy winds.

In the middle, I found lift all over, and flew right next to two friends from the club in their Falcons, hooting and hollering. It was an all-you-can-eat day.

The track log looks like my daughter's work with the crayons.

Fun day at Marshall thanks to Mark Z.

Mark Z. PMed me and offered to be my driver if I wanted to meet him and drive out to San Berdoo together (he lives about 25 minutes South of me). Mark has been flying since the gliders were 18x18... he has some very interesting stories about the old times. Anyway, he wanted to see a Sport 2 as that is what he wants to get on his return to flying, but none were out.

Because of him, I got two flights in on a very good day. Thanks, bud!

The first flight was about 35 minutes. There were thermals everywhere, but the air was trashy, so it seemed like I was either in 500 fps up or down, not much in between. Here's the map of it:



When I fly out a bit before landing, that's when I got fairly close to McKenzie and Dave Aldrich on their tandem. They were boating around pretty efficiently.

I've gotta work on my thermalling techniques.

Knowing I had a ride up, I didn't sweat landing, so I got in another sled ride.

The most interesting part of this flight was that I was at the same height and about 300 yards away from another H2 in a falcon when we were both 600 feet above the LZ. He launched about 2 minutes before me. I managed to fly efficiently enough to get him about 100-150 below me (that's when I'm fying that long horizontal line above the LZ, he did an out to in approach). So, I was making a turn into my downwind leg as he was, I thought, turning onto final.

Then he did a 360 right above the house above the LZ. That changed everything, I was flying right at him at altitude (since I was flying fast on my typical approach). I boated up a bit and he came out of his 360... we passed left wing to left wing, with me about 75' to his left and 50' up. As soon as we passed, I turned toward base and started working on getting back on my glide path.

We landed about 5 seconds and 100' apart... the flight of the Falcons. I was very excited about the show we had put on for the large weekend crowd.

The best part: he never saw me!!!!

I laughed and told him he may want to work on his situational awareness on approach. Andy Jackson is a busy joint. Then I gave him a beer. Shame of it all is that he's moving to Missouri in a few months, so I am losing a fellow n00bie, but we are flying together on Wednesday. He's not as familiar with the site, having learned at Lookout.

Saturday was the semi-annual Crestline Soaring Society meeting. John, the regional director from Santa Barbara showed and presented Rob and Dianne with placques from the Foundation for Free Flight for, in essence, being the lynchpins that hold the place together. Owen Morse, a professional juggler (www.passingzone.com) and another pilot named Len got recognized for buying the ranch house above the LZ so that it would stay in friendly hands, allowing the club to expand its grass and training hills. As it cost over $500K, this is a hell of a leap of faith, that the club would adequately support the purchase! John also got to see the new, improved training hill in action, thanks to the tractor that the Foundation helped us buy. CSS is also on the hunt for a storage unit, the insulated type like at Wallaby, and needs to do some PR with San Bernardino to help fend off further development encroachments.

I brought a camp grill/stove and some brats and burgers and gave the "Scurvy Special" to anyone I recognized and/or had chatted with. No fruits or vegetables, just brats, burgers, Doritos and beer. I was happy to see the last of the food was eaten, so I didn't waste any.

The day, in terms of hang gliding, was perfect. The only fly in the ointment was getting back at 9:30 and finding that my web server had been down since I had left it Friday afternoon. Doh!!!! Turns out when I unplugged the data center monitor, the video card was a little loose and the server froze. Since I had just been on it, it didn't occur to me to test it from an independent machine. So, I took a 45 mile trip to downtown LA, tried to find parking near 1 Wilshire (*!$@! film crews had the place blocked off and packed ), and got my server all updated, tweaked and tested at midnight. My 350z had me back home 40 minutes and a few obscene gesture later.



Note the plates.

So what if my email (and that of a half dozen friends and clients) was down yesterday. I frikkin flew.

Wonderlift

Damn, I thought I saved my post yesterday, here goes:

I was supposed to work, but the winds looked strong and the sky clear. Good decision to play hooky; Marshall was going off.

Even a caveman could soar it. Or a newbie H2 in a Falcon. As a matter of fact, my biggest concern was penetration. The lift was banded ridge lift, with funky eddies, both up and down, and a lot of turbulence.

I set a couple of firsts and bests. This was my first flight where I got over launch (I mean directly over). It was my first flight over an hour (1:19). I had my highest altitude (6000' msl, 4300' AGL), fastest sustained climb (3000' in 5 minutes), and highest spike on my vario (1600 fpm).

Weeeeeeeeee...!

There were no "thermals" to speak of. There were pockets of great lift, but when I tried to circle in them, I'd get blown out of the back of them pretty quickly. Instead, I rode them the way that I would fly my RC gliders in strong lift, just trying to maintain pitch and roll to optimize lift.

By the time I got past 5500' on the wonderlift, I was worried about getting caught in a high band of wind that would push me behind the hill. I had the bar fully stuffed and was still climbing! Finally, I popped out of the front and circled around it back to more familiar turf. Since there were only 2 of us in the air, this was my windiest day, and discretion is the better part of valor, I am content with my decision, especially since I got another 50 minutes after bailing out of that band. It must have been part of a cold front rolling in. After about an hour, the turbulence and a bad burger from McD's were tag teaming my stomach, so I decided to head out to smoother air again, this time to no wonderlift.

Not the best day to be in a Falcon, but I landed it pretty easily, before the winds got even stronger. The wind graph showed it at 35 mph sustained about the time I landed.

What a fun day!

PS: Here's the flight:

Two flights... first thermal... embarassing overshoot

Saturday, I got two flights in, one 25 minutes and the other 35.

The 25 minute one, I had to land to pack up for the second trip up the hill. I launched, got slightly over launch, then went to check another spot... I scratched a bit, but came on down, as the lift disappeared once I got low enough to get into the haze. The winds were switchy on landing, and I worried about sink on base, but I greased the landing right down the middle of the LZ.

The next flight, launching at about 3:15, was better, except for the landing. I was afraid, at first, that I was going to be a sled driver. But, I managed to hook a thermal at 2600 ft to get me up to 3800... and then another mini-thermal. This was the first time I definitely caught a thermal, with edges and all that (I found myself circling in and out of it, adjusting to stay in).

It was a lot of fun, except for one thing: I started to get airsick from the turbulence. I was a little dehydrated as my van was not in the parking lot while I repacked... and my cooler was in it. A nice guy from Albuquerque drove it down from my 1 o'clock launch, as I drove his friend and him up to get their car. They are old school hang pilots working on their paragliding. Anyway, I didn't want to chuck in my helmet, so I got out from the hill and went for the ground.

I've never flown in thermals before and it affected my landing. Normally, I come in a little high and make up for it by diving like a madman for the LZ. Well, that doesn't work when there's a thermal behind the LZ. I had the damn bar stuffed and shot right over the LZ and damn near missed the overshoot, too. The peeps in the LZ heard me whistle by over their laughter and the whir of their video cameras. I flopped down in the weeds and came out to the side to give the "I'm okay" high signs. Bah.

Tomorrow, I'm taking landing lessons. Dockweiler Beach doesn't prepare you for landing at Andy Jackson.

Thermals are fun, but I am surprised at how much they bounced me around. On my approach, I had a hard time spotting the landing aids. Tomorrow, if I get two flights in, I'll make the first a sledder so I can focus on landing.

All in all, even with the weed whacking at the end, I am very happy to have had such a good day flying.

Here are my Google Earth tracks (the first one has a wacky GPS error that shows as a spike to the Southwest).
http://johnwright.com/hanggliding/images/3-31-07-1.kmz
http://johnwright.com/hanggliding/images/3-31-07-1a.jpg
http://johnwright.com/hanggliding/images/3-31-07-1b.jpg
http://johnwright.com/hanggliding/images/3-31-07-2.kmz
http://johnwright.com/hanggliding/images/3-31-07-2a.jpg
http://johnwright.com/hanggliding/images/3-31-07-2b.jpg

H2 special at IHOP

Well, my last flight, about a week ago, was ok, but...

it could have been better.

It didn't start until 5 PM, as the shuttle left at 4 and it took me a while to get to the top. By then, thermal activity was about kaput and I was left with off angle ridge lift... not much I can do with that in my Falcon with my skills.

Then, on approach, the winds were SW, so I did a standard pattern. I came in a little steeply, so when I first checked bar pressure, I popped up. I readjusted and got back down. By then, two things happpened. First, I didn't have much speed left. Second, I had neglected to see that the wind was now due W and I was at a 45 degree crosswind.... With my slow speed, that gave the upwind wing more lift and I started to worry about landing hard on my bad left knee.

A woman had just gotten her first flight in after a long time off from a knee injury. That and a bit of tenderness in my old Navy-injured knee led me to decide:

Time to land on the wheels.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the grass and dirt marks on my harness say otherwise.

So, I am going to take another landing lesson from my instructor. There's a pretty big difference between Dockweiler and Andy Jackson in terms of wind and land gradient. Dockweiler has a nice smooth beach for winds to come across, 90 degrees of angle to launch from, ensuring headwinds if you want them, and a slight downslope. AJ has a slightly upslope landing and a significant gradient due to the elevated, rectangular LZ. Also, there are some pretty sharp little rocks that had me worried more about my knee than my gear.

On the bright side, the Crestline Soaring Society has a new tractor, so the 85' hill is in good shape, and my instructor has a new John Deere cart to carry gliders up the hill... so I don't have to hump them myself.

I have to remind myself that I made a decision to choose physical safety over pride in landing on my belly on a busy day. Given that I know what it's like to have a life-changing injury, I can live with that.

Gotta love spring

I am beat. I woke up this morning and hit the gym, doing some upper body work that included lotsa reps of light weights in exercises to build up the ol' hang gliding muscles.

I was not planning to fly, so I thought I'd start getting in shape for the summer thermals and soar-a-thons.

Then, at a client site, the emails started rolling through... winds good, lapse rates good, driver available. My gear was at home, home is 67 miles from the hill. I usually have my gear in my van, but not today, so I went home and got it... and switched cars to the Z cuzza I was going to have to hurry. I made it... 15 minutes after the noon meeting time.

5 of us loaded up and launched Crestline, a few more to Marshall. Crestline was strong getting stronger. It was a warm day for Spring.

I figured the combination of ridge lift and thermals meant it was time to explore. I got as far North as I've ever been at the site. Any further and I mighta gotten sucked into the Cajon pass venturi effect. I was glad I had my bags in my harness.

I went back down the ridge as far South as I've ever been, or at least as far South that low. Gliding out of there on a Falcon is a tall order, especially in strong headwinds. The narrow ridge lift band saved my ass, cuz the wind was blowing out thermals.

The two hour mark approached and my arms were tired, so I started heading to the LZ, only to find a pleasant surprise. A thermal at Marshall popped me up to 7,700'. Though, the winds and sink at that altitude kept me from translating that into much distance. I got sucked down under the inversion layer. I tagged the flags at CSUSB and turned to try to try to do a mile long downwind leg...

Not even close, I hooked the strongest thermal of the day at 700 feet over and took it back up over cloud.

Finally, I wanged and slipped and spun my down to a passable landing.

There were a few very nice Moyes wings in the LZ... the Sylmar boys were flying over. I watched George Stebbins land and got in my Z and made it home in time for a 6:00 appointment (15 minutes late). I checked messages on the way home... pesky clients... I had forgot to turn off my phone before launching and my ring tones were driving me nuts.

I picked the right day to blow off work. I had a 1:1 drive to flight ratio. Not bad.



Here's the track: