A Couple of Sled Runs

February 14, 2009
February 28, 2009

February 14:
We arrived at Alternator launch. Plenty of cumulus clouds over launch. I was sure we would be going up today... By the time we had set up, cloudbase dropped to below launch. The whole place was a soupy, muddy mess. The last thing either of us wanted to do was pack up and drive back down. We waited for over an hour for any window of visibility. We got our window. Flying just below the clouds around the west bowl, over the slide I had the bar pulled to my knees to maintain level flight. Lots of cloud suck! Sadly on the other side the thermals were small and weak. I was unable to stay in them. John, on the other hand managed to get an hour long flight out of them... As it turned out, we could have waited another 20 minutes or so and had much better conditions!

Airtime: 15 minutes

February 28
Things were looking pretty grey. We flew Eliminator. Winds were crossing out of the east. The air in front of launch was bumpy. I played it safe and headed straight for the LZ. I was sinking pretty fast. I had a mediocre launch and a mediocre landing. Nothing bad--just not great.

Airtime: 9 minutes