Altinator Air Traffic

November 22, 2008

Well, Saturday was looking good weather-wise. Jen and I had plans in LA that night, so I had to get the wiener dog to the boarders once they'd opened, and meet John in the LZ as early as possible. I made it to the Cocopah LZ by 9:40. We loaded up John's truck and headed to launch.

John mentioned that there was supposed to be an event there that day, but launch was completely empty. Remembering the precarious walk from the parking area down to launch with an assembled glider--I suggested we try to set up quickly right at launch. Well--not long after I began setting up 3 vanloads of PG pilots arrived. There was room for them to use the East part of the launch--but a few did seem a bit annoyed...

The cycles were coming up the hill progressively stronger as I finished setting up. John was off first. I set my camcorder up on my keel. Knowing that it could record well over an hour before the battery died is nice. It allows me to start recording without worrying that I didn't hit the button just before launching. This would be my first flight with the new HD1010. I fiddled with the mount a bit--but I clearly didn't get it quite straight relative to the basetube.


Air Traffic: Santa Barbara 11/22/08 from henderthing on Vimeo.

I got some assistance from a PGer in turning my glider around, stepped up to launch, and went. It was immediately clear that there was more lift (meaning "some lift") compared to the last (and only) time I'd flown here before, so I headed west, towards the bowl to see if I could find any lift. I got bounced around a little and managed to lose altitude only very slowly--but after circling here and there for a while between launch and the foreground peak, I decided to head around the front of the peak. Conditions there were similar, there were spots of lift and if I circled--I would be rising during part of that circle. I just never seemed to be able to just go up. There were at least a dozen paragliders in the air along with a couple other HGs. There was John, and someone else giving a tandem flight. Looking around at all the other pilots was cool. It was a beautiful day. I was surprised at how low some PG pilots would let themselves get in front of that peak without heading to an LZ--but hey--what do I know? All in all it was a beautiful flight. Total airtime: 22 minutes. So I definitely found some lift--as my last flight here was 13 minutes long. I'm still anxious for that first time I launch here, and climb right up over launch--and keep climbing... I really want to look down on a 4000 ft peak from twice the altitude. Soon, I'm sure. Even on this flight, once I fly around the front ridge, the power line towers are visible below--and they look really tiny. I don't know why that's so satisfying, but it is.

I arrived at the LZ to find John still in the air, exploring around before he headed to his final approach. I watched him land from above, had some fun turning steeply to lose altitude and land myself. I again managed to oscillate wildly turning on to final. Sure enough--as soon as I opened my hands, it stopped. I can't believe I still do that.

Great day, all in all. Made it to LA on time and everything.

-m