Memorial Day weekend wasn't going to be a flyable one. All forecast websites were pretty much in sync, showing high winds on the ground around 15mph and 30-40 mhp at 3K and 6K. Not good for towing, not good for foot launching, questionable for practicing.
I went to Morningside anyway in hope that I could play just for a bit. When I got there, it was the most depressing picture of the site - not a single glider set up, and not a single student practicing. Oh well. Hang-waiting it is.
I spent time walking around, taking pictures, and, later in the evening, flying kites.
A couple of people, who set up their gliders at 450, launched around 5-6pm. Wind was still pretty strong, and required extra confidence and skill to fly. I wasn't even going to try. Maybe next week.
...
This (next) weekend didn't cooperate either. High winds and thunderstorms... * Sigh * ... I need to make some room for flying midweek, relying on weekends only, has a higher chance of staying on the ground. That thing called work consistently gets in the way...
Saturday forecast didn't look too exciting. 90% cloud cover, chance of rain. Winds aloft were forecasted on a strong side as well. But hey, if I don't go - I don't fly, so marginal forecast was gotta do. Plus, Tanner-Hiller was just an hour away.
I called up Rhett, and he was there for the weekend. I was on my way. I put all my camping gear in the truck so I wouldn't rush and have time to take an evening sledder. or two.
Rain didn't materialize, but strong winds were as predicted. I had to wait until 5pm to launch. And my wait was rewarded. Rhett towed me to 7000 feet AGL. We went between cloud streets at 3000', and spent another 15 minutes in smooth air getting all the way to 7K, where Rhett waved me off. That was going to be a majestic sledder for sure. I watched Rhett disappear behind the clouds below. I wasn't worrying too much about finding the airport, but it was unusual for a hang glider pilot to look at the clouds from above.
Tow above the clouds
High in the sky
I enjoyed the view for a bit, and then started to experiment with VG, different speeds to fly, and with stall at different VG settings. I expected no possibility of lift until I got to the cloud level, so nothing much there was for me to do for a few minutes.
Stall practice
Stall recovery
I found some lift when I got at the cloud level, but got too close to the clouds on every turn, so I bailed and glided away. I tried to find more lift below clouds, but with such low cloudbase didn't have much luck. I found some weak lift, gained another 300 feet and that was it - not much after that all the way to the ground.
Landing was less than graceful. I made a nice downwind-base-final approach, but misjudged my altitude and turned too low on final. In the video below, you can see I started transition my left arm to the downtube while I was still turning. Good thing it was an evening flight, and there was not much wind/turbulence. With all that excitement, I missed a flare window. Glider didn't have enough energy left to flare, and it piled on top of me, hitting the ground with the base bar. Not good, but wheels worked... this time.
....
This year Rhett had another tandem instructor to help Nick Caci. Anna Eppink drove all the way from California to take this job. Rhett wanted her to take a couple of tandem flights with a test dummy, er, I mean, another hang glider pilot. I was more than happy to be a tandem passenger again. And it was fun flying even though I wasn't the one controlling the glider. Rhett gave Anna a nice workout - tight turns, prop wash, boxing. She handled it like she was flying tandems all her life. Way to go, Anna!
180+
I camped at Tanner-Hiller, and spent next morning just relaxing and doing nothing. My glider was already set up, and I was just waiting for conditions to improve.
The day was progressing nicely, and by 12 o'clock cummies were everywhere. I saw Nick Caci gearing up for a launch, and I hurried to get my gear as well.
I launched 15 minutes behind Nick. Rhett dropped me around 2000' AGL in a nice thermal. It took me all the way to 3500'. But that was it. I just couldn't find anything else that was going up. Plenty of sink though. In 20 minutes - back on the ground.
I was about to beat myself up about my thermaling abilities, but then I saw that Nick landed as well. Ok, so it wasn't just me this time :-)
I immediately went for another try. Sky just looked too good to wait any longer. And again, Rhett dropped me off at 2K in a nice fat thermal. That took me to all the way to 5000' AGL. I was delighted. I didn't quite make it to the cloudbase, but I was climbing.
What comes up, must come down. Very soon I lost 2000 feet, but found another climb that took me all the way to 6000'. And that was how I spend the rest of my flight. Spinning up, gliding down. Weak lift, strong lift, strong sink. I didn't set myself a goal to fly anywhere, so I was just practicing finding lift, and staying in it.
It also gave me an opportunity to experiment with thermaling at different VG settings. In one thermal, I was well centered and climbing with full VG on, banked at 45 degrees, making very tight circles. That was not something I could do in a Falcon.
Overall, it was a lot of fun. Good practice for sure. However, in 2 hours, I was really tired, and ready to land. Later, when I checked my tracklog, I counted 180+ circles in 2 hours. That is a lot of spinning, and it was my longest thermaling flight so far 2:07.
Everyone who launched after me had great long flights. With the sky looking as it was, I was surprised that only a few people showed up. Only 5 of us were flying.
This weekend I finally understood why Sport2 was not a novice glider. I obviously accepted that fact from the beginning, but when I started flying Sport2, everything was relatively the same. Even adverse yaw on landing that I experienced right away, wasn't too bad... until I flew in thermal, midday conditions. Holy smokes!
Let's start with the tow. It was a rather windy day. I picked a mild cycle, and coming out of the airport at Tanner-Hiller wasn't a problem. I kept glider in position and everything was as usual. Then, we cleared the trees, and a rollercoaster started. While I was trying to keep behind the plane in proper position, the glider would get away from me and oscillate from side to side. Then I remembered to relax, and everything would going smoothly for a second or two... and then another bump hit, and everything would start again. At 1600' AGL, I felt, it was going only worse - larger oscillation cycles, and more effort to fall in line and stay there. I got so frustrated, I released.
When I got back on the ground (no, I couldn't find anything that would get me up from that altitude), Rhett told that I was actually doing ok, and I should have stayed with it, and practice. He was pretty amused that I got pissed at myself and released off the tow. Well, at least I made someone to smile :-)
On the second tow, I stayed with it, trying not to overcontrol, and figuring out how to deal with yaw. Before my second launch, Nick told me to try changing pitch a bit to break oscillation. I tried that, and it worked. It also allowed me to relax more when things were going sideways. Rhett gave me a ride to 5K AGL. I kept PIO-ing and recovering until air became very smooth around 4K. In smooth air, towing was super easy. Glider was practically flying by itself.
On landing, I had a similar issue, I wanted extra speed for bumpy conditions, but as soon as I started speeding up, oscillation would start as well. I had to slow down to break the cycle. Touchdown was still amazingly easier than on Falcon, even with a bit of crosswind and thermal activity.
Overall, a great weekend of flying with Hang Glide New England. I learned a couple of things, and had fun. Later in the day, we also got a robotics demo, and one of the pilots was doing BBQ for everyone at the airport. BBQ after a day of flying - life is good.
Start of 2015 flying season was really slow for me. And by slow, I mean, I haven't flown since December. First, it was the weather, then it was a new job, and then just me not really wanting to fly my Falcon anymore. I got that crispy new Sport2 sitting in my garage. That was what I wanted to fly. But I wanted to take it to a training hill first... common sense and all.
And yet, finally, flying season opened up. May 1st was an opening day at Morningside, and Rhett (Hang Glide New England) was also at Tanner-Hiller preparing for Sunday's tandems.
May 1st was forecasted as a complete overcast with possible rain. But I didn't care. I was going to Tanner-Hiller airport on Friday with my new Sport2. Evening tow in calm air sounded like a good idea.
I got there around 1PM. Rhett and I had a lunch at Clover Hill Country Store and I started to assemble my glider. I always take my time even with Falcon, and Sport2 requires more time. Some things, like curved wingtips, are really tricky to set up for an untrained individual.
Nick Caci also came to get ready for tandem operation. He flies Sport2. He gave me a lot of good advice on assembling and breaking down this glider. Thank you, Nick!
By 5:30PM, my glider was all setup for a tow. Nick test flown it for me to make sure I wouldn't get any surprises. Now it was my turn.
Rhett made me to put a fin on the glider to make sure I handled the tow on a new glider well. Safety first. And here I was on the cart, under my new and very colorful wing... thinking... - "What the hell am I doing here? Am I sure I need this at all?". I took a few deep breaths, recalled how much fun it was when I was flying high in the sky, and yes, I was sure, slightly anxious and excited, but sure.
The tow was pretty uneventful. It was like riding a bike. My body remembered what to do. Towing my new Sporty was not harder than a Falcon. It was slightly different from my experience at Wallaby Ranch last year, though. There was more bar pressure and I had to work harder to keep glider behind the plane.
As the rest of the flight was concerned - it was a nice evening sledder in the gloomy skies. I experimented with VG, made a few turns, took a couple of glides, and I was ready to land. I setup my DBF approach, turned on the final... and realized I was still way too high. I made a few S-turns trying to lose the altitude. Nick on the ground was waving, trying to convey something to me. Later he explained, he was trying show me that I needed a couple of 360 turns there. That's how high I was. Out of practice... yes.
Coming in for landing
I saw that I was going long no matter what, so I accepted that, made a last S-turn and set the course on the final. I was a bit surprised when glider didn't want to point its nose straight. It felt like I was fighting turbulence that, I knew, wasn't there. Then I remembered - adverse yaw. All gliders exhibit this, but on Falcon it is barely noticeable. Eventually, glider dampened oscillation, and I landed well. This glider is so much easier to land (except for all that extra glide).
Overall I was happy - new glider worked well. I still remembered how to tow, fly and land. Perfect. Training hill and aerotow without fin was my plan for tomorrow. The weather was supposed be perfect, too.
Morningside
Natalia and I got to Morningside around 10am. By the time my glider was ready, conditions were very switchy, and no one wanted to fly. I definitely wanted something much easier to launch and land in. With the new glider I was worrying about a couple of things - how easy is it to launch in no wind, and how to land close enough to the bullseye.
Around 4pm things slowed down enough that I decided to give it a try. Josh gave me a ride to the top, and stayed with me to watch me launch. I took my time watching cycles. Thermals were still going through, and I wanted something more benign.
After sitting there for 10 minutes or so, off I went. Amazingly, Sport2 was super easy to launch. Even though I popped the nose a bit, recovery was quick, and the glider responded happily to my inputs. One thing less to worry about.
A spot landing, on the other hand, needed a lot of adjustment. I was landing from the south, and even though I made a turn on the other side of the pond, yet, I was still too high to hit the bullseye. Good thing there was a whole other field on the other side of the ditch. I landed well, but the field was super wet. Oh well, it's just water... um, I mean, mud.
An hour later, I went for a tow with Eric. No fin on the glider this time. Eric flies a faster tug, and I had to work harder to stay in position. I PIOed a couple of times, but recovered fast enough not to worry about a need for premature release. The flight was pretty good, too. I caught a weak thermal, and played with it for a few minutes. So far so good. I really enjoyed that glider.
For the landing I picked the airstip. I started setting up too high yet again, and noticed that steamers in the field were not showing the direction I wanted to land in. Since I still had plenty of altitude, I made a 360 above them, and at that point streamers were showing 90 degrees. So I proceeded with my original plan. When I was in the ground effect, I could see that I was landing downwind. Oh well, I was late with my flare, got pushed by downwind, and dropped the basebar, somewhat gently, on the ground. Good thing I had wheels. No damage done. At least, with all that circling, I landed close to the target.
...
We spent the rest of the evening socializing, and then went for a late dinner to Common Man Restaurant, where I took a few pictures of a nice sunset over the river. A fine conclusion to a nice day.
Common Man Restaurant, Claremont, NH
The next day I took another flight off 450'. Early in the morning, with no wind at all. This time I launched well, no problems. All felt great. Landing was from the north, and I allowed myself more room for the approach, so I wouldn't run into hard objects like other gliders or cars. I overcompensated, however, and barely made it over the ditch.
That was it as far as flying was concerned. I was considering to tow again, but the skies looked scary, and radar didn't look promising. Some other time... I hope.
Overall, very easy and relaxing weekend. I put a lot of my worries to rest about me not be able to handle this new glider. I really enjoyed a few short flights I already got on it. Sorry Falcon, you were good to me for a few years, but it's time for you to move on :-)
