January 10, 2009
Met up at the Cocopah LZ with John. Arriving at launch, the view was pretty spectacular. Amazingly clear air--possibly a symptom of the Santa Ana winds, which were thankfully not blowing over the back at launch. While we were setting up at Alternator, a bunch of PG pilots set up and launched. No one was getting very high. We resigned ourselves to a likely sled run.
I took the opportunity to just practice some things I've been doing badly. I've had difficulty zipping/unzipping my harness while in flight because I keep trying to grab the cord too low. I also wanted to work on having more control of the glider with one hand free. Other items to be addressed: lighter touch all the time, less stress during my landing approach (unzip/transition to downtubes earlier in approach), develop a nice clean downwind/base/final approach pattern, more confidence in judging altitude before going on the downwind leg. All in all--I'd say I improved substantially in all these areas by simply giving them some attention. I'm anxious for all of these "best practices" to become second nature...
Airtime: 12 minutes
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Finally. an Eliminator to Parma Flight
January 3, 2009
I've been putting this off for quite some time. Eliminator appears to be the most popular launch for HGs in Santa Barbara. But launching from Eliminator means landing in Parma Park. I'd been to the LZ there only once before this day--and it was a little intimidating to this H2/near H3 pilot. So I've been putting it off and flying from Altinator, which has an easier LZ--although I will say that walking the glider down to launch at Altinator is quite precarious.
Well--Saturday, we decided to meet at the Altinator LZ. Jen came along to drive--and as it turned out--provide moral support. On the way over the San Marcos pass, it was clear we had a low cloudbase, but lots of tall cumulus clouds. It was not looking good from the LZ either. The cummies are great--and would indicate plenty of lift, but they were clearly lower than launch. We put the gliders on my truck and headed up to launch. Things didn't look much better there. The front peak was almost completely obscured by clouds. We could either sit there and wait for it to change, or we could head over to Eliminator, which is a few hundred feet lower and a few miles east.
When we arrived, there were 4 gliders set up. None of the pilots were local--but one happened to have been an instructor of mine up in Hollister and was taking a SoCal tour. He had never landed at Parma either but had just walked the LZ before going to launch. He had planned on taking a tandem passenger--but opted not to after seeing the LZ. John spent a couple minutes pointing out the features of the landing zone to me, and we watched one pilot who had just taken a sled ride down land in lower Parma. Conditions looked decent, so John started to set up. As I was trying to decide if I was ready to fly there, my old instructor kept talking about how small the LZ is. It really didn't help--but I decided I would launch. As I set up I was getting pretty nervous. I'd heard so many complaints about the Parma LZ.
Everyone launched. I shot John's launch, then put the camera on my keel. John and a visiting pilot managed to find some lift and stay up for a while. I hooked in, did a hang check with Jen's assistance, and took my place at launch. Eliminator is a really steep launch, which I like. It's a fun way to leave the ground. I flew the basic recommended flight plan over the power lines, over the "round house", and down the ridge towards the park. Every time I felt some turbulence, I got excited thinking this was going to be my elevator up--only to hear my vario tell me in its terse voice that I was in turbulent sink. It's an easy glide to the LZ so I just enjoyed the scenery, which is simultaneously beautiful and tragic. The flight path from Eliminator takes me directly over the western edge of the Tea Fire burn zone. As I looked below me from a 1500 feet or so above ground level, I could see magnificent mountain homes reduced to a piles of cinders while other upscale retreats remained untouched. I look around a little but had to make sure I had plenty of altitude for my first Parma landing.
My First Flight into Lower Parma from henderthing on Vimeo.
(click link for HD)
Arriving over the LZ with several hundred feet to spare, I finally found some lift over one of the houses. I circled 10 or 15 times for a net gain of only a couple hundred feet. Once I lost that buffer, I unzipped and got ready to land. What can I say about my approach? It was wonky. I did a U-turn onto final (no base leg--no good reason either) only to find myself still too high. So rather than level out of the U-turn, I added a steep, tight 360, which I exited on final with plenty of speed. This is where I made the same mistake from a few flights ago in Cayucos. While I had the bar pulled way in, I tried to move my hands to the downtubes. I seem to not realize that this will cause me to pop the nose every time. My nose popped up and to the left, causing me to gain altitude and lose airspeed. I yanked the DTs towards me and got back on course for a decent landing. The pilots who had previously landed were in the neighboring (upper) LZ watching the whole thing. They knew it was my first time and gave me a little cheer.
Overall a fun flight with some mistakes. The main thing is, I'm not averse to flying Eliminator anymore.
Airtime: 13 minutes
I've been putting this off for quite some time. Eliminator appears to be the most popular launch for HGs in Santa Barbara. But launching from Eliminator means landing in Parma Park. I'd been to the LZ there only once before this day--and it was a little intimidating to this H2/near H3 pilot. So I've been putting it off and flying from Altinator, which has an easier LZ--although I will say that walking the glider down to launch at Altinator is quite precarious.
Well--Saturday, we decided to meet at the Altinator LZ. Jen came along to drive--and as it turned out--provide moral support. On the way over the San Marcos pass, it was clear we had a low cloudbase, but lots of tall cumulus clouds. It was not looking good from the LZ either. The cummies are great--and would indicate plenty of lift, but they were clearly lower than launch. We put the gliders on my truck and headed up to launch. Things didn't look much better there. The front peak was almost completely obscured by clouds. We could either sit there and wait for it to change, or we could head over to Eliminator, which is a few hundred feet lower and a few miles east.
When we arrived, there were 4 gliders set up. None of the pilots were local--but one happened to have been an instructor of mine up in Hollister and was taking a SoCal tour. He had never landed at Parma either but had just walked the LZ before going to launch. He had planned on taking a tandem passenger--but opted not to after seeing the LZ. John spent a couple minutes pointing out the features of the landing zone to me, and we watched one pilot who had just taken a sled ride down land in lower Parma. Conditions looked decent, so John started to set up. As I was trying to decide if I was ready to fly there, my old instructor kept talking about how small the LZ is. It really didn't help--but I decided I would launch. As I set up I was getting pretty nervous. I'd heard so many complaints about the Parma LZ.
Everyone launched. I shot John's launch, then put the camera on my keel. John and a visiting pilot managed to find some lift and stay up for a while. I hooked in, did a hang check with Jen's assistance, and took my place at launch. Eliminator is a really steep launch, which I like. It's a fun way to leave the ground. I flew the basic recommended flight plan over the power lines, over the "round house", and down the ridge towards the park. Every time I felt some turbulence, I got excited thinking this was going to be my elevator up--only to hear my vario tell me in its terse voice that I was in turbulent sink. It's an easy glide to the LZ so I just enjoyed the scenery, which is simultaneously beautiful and tragic. The flight path from Eliminator takes me directly over the western edge of the Tea Fire burn zone. As I looked below me from a 1500 feet or so above ground level, I could see magnificent mountain homes reduced to a piles of cinders while other upscale retreats remained untouched. I look around a little but had to make sure I had plenty of altitude for my first Parma landing.
My First Flight into Lower Parma from henderthing on Vimeo.
(click link for HD)
Arriving over the LZ with several hundred feet to spare, I finally found some lift over one of the houses. I circled 10 or 15 times for a net gain of only a couple hundred feet. Once I lost that buffer, I unzipped and got ready to land. What can I say about my approach? It was wonky. I did a U-turn onto final (no base leg--no good reason either) only to find myself still too high. So rather than level out of the U-turn, I added a steep, tight 360, which I exited on final with plenty of speed. This is where I made the same mistake from a few flights ago in Cayucos. While I had the bar pulled way in, I tried to move my hands to the downtubes. I seem to not realize that this will cause me to pop the nose every time. My nose popped up and to the left, causing me to gain altitude and lose airspeed. I yanked the DTs towards me and got back on course for a decent landing. The pilots who had previously landed were in the neighboring (upper) LZ watching the whole thing. They knew it was my first time and gave me a little cheer.
Overall a fun flight with some mistakes. The main thing is, I'm not averse to flying Eliminator anymore.
Airtime: 13 minutes
First Flight of 2009 - Cayucos
January 2, 2009
NOAA was calling for peak winds of 14 mph at 1:00 pm. Seemed like a marginal call, as 14 would probably not be enough to soar and the last time we went with a similar forecast--it was dead. We decided to go for it anyway. Jen and I met John at the LZ and we headed up to the hill. By the time we got up there, it was blowing 22-31 mph. We gave John an assist at launch and he was off. There was no way I was going to launch my F3 in this wind. We watched John as he parked his glider into the wind. It was clear that he could penetrate with his double surface glider--but not by much. After waiting about 20 minutes, the wind had calmed down and I launched. I was able to get about 150 feet over launch but not much more. I flew around the hill for a while, circling over Jen and the truck.
Cayucos - January 2, 2008 from henderthing on Vimeo.
The weather was starting to change, and small wispy puffs of cloud were blowing beneath me. That's where I should have stayed. After about 10 minutes of playing at the hill, I decided to head south to the knob. I didn't arrive with enough altitude and had to land. Nice flight with an uneventful landing. Could've been longer though! Airtime: 12 minutes
I now have my 10 hours of airtime for my H3 rating (+7 minutes). Just gotta take that test.
NOAA was calling for peak winds of 14 mph at 1:00 pm. Seemed like a marginal call, as 14 would probably not be enough to soar and the last time we went with a similar forecast--it was dead. We decided to go for it anyway. Jen and I met John at the LZ and we headed up to the hill. By the time we got up there, it was blowing 22-31 mph. We gave John an assist at launch and he was off. There was no way I was going to launch my F3 in this wind. We watched John as he parked his glider into the wind. It was clear that he could penetrate with his double surface glider--but not by much. After waiting about 20 minutes, the wind had calmed down and I launched. I was able to get about 150 feet over launch but not much more. I flew around the hill for a while, circling over Jen and the truck.
Cayucos - January 2, 2008 from henderthing on Vimeo.
The weather was starting to change, and small wispy puffs of cloud were blowing beneath me. That's where I should have stayed. After about 10 minutes of playing at the hill, I decided to head south to the knob. I didn't arrive with enough altitude and had to land. Nice flight with an uneventful landing. Could've been longer though! Airtime: 12 minutes
I now have my 10 hours of airtime for my H3 rating (+7 minutes). Just gotta take that test.
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