Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Advance into Advanced

Rankings, ratings, markings, grading... Why do I even care about rating? Just fly, be safe, have fun. Right? Maybe passing the test shows to your peers that you care enough about the sport? Maybe it is a way to prove to yourself that your skills advanced far enough that you can do things on demand, or under pressure? Whatever it is, I am not a rebel enough to ignore it completely.

...

I set a goal for myself to get H4 this year (advanced hang gliding rating). I thought, I would do it in the beginning of the season, but I had so much fun flying that rating-shmating didn't seem to matter at all. I got what I needed. Why care about some labels?

I dunno. As I was more and more comfortable with XC flying, and landing in some tiny obscure fields, I started thinking about passing the H4 test. Plus, Crystal was shaming me into it the way only Crystal can. I am too soft. Cannot handle peer pressure.

Anyhow, this Sunday (August 29th), I gave up. The day was gearing up a bit windy. I didn't really want to go anywhere, so H4 test seemed like a good idea. More challenging conditions even better - go big or go home.

H4 test consists of 2 parts - a spot landing test, and a written test. Spot landing always made me nervous. I never could hit a bullseye no matter how hard I tried. For this test, I had to hit the spot 3 times with average distance of 25 feet from the target (75, 0, 0 is acceptable :-) ) There was only one way to find out if I could.

The easiest way to do it was from aerotow. Eric towed me to 800' AGL so I had plenty of time to execute a proper approach. As soon as I pinned off, I felt a thermal picking me up... I made a couple of turns - yup, going up. Focus. Focus. Spot landing, not thermaling.

I left the thermal, and went to asses conditions on the ground. Wind direction, the best approach, etc. All went well, and I landed about 25 feet from a cone that Ilya set in some random place on the runway. Not too bad. Needed another 2 - the same or closer.



The second flight was even better. Thermals were trying to distract me again, but I stayed on target. Good approach... getting short again. Milked it, late of the flare, but a good landing about 10 feet from the cone! I can do it! I couldn't believe it myself, but I was getting what I needed.



Before the last flight, Eric, who was also rating me, told me not to try to land on the top of the cone, but rather show that I was in full control of the aircraft and execute my best landing, no matter the target. You got it, boss!

With the headwind I was getting, I was coming up yet short again. I could have milked it another 20 feet to be closer to the target, but if my rating official wanted me to do the best landing I could - this was what I was going to do... And I nailed a perfect no-stepper landing!

Thank you, Ilya, for filming all of this.



So this was done! Phew!

The conditions looked pretty good for a nice thermaling flight, but I opted to take a written test, just to be done with all of that rating nonsense.

In a couple of hours this was completed as well. Eric and I  had a nice discussion on the questions I got wrong. Then he filled the paperwork for USHPA. I was officially an advanced hang gliding pilot! Thank you, Eric!

I am glad I went through this, and it is behind me now. Not a fan of any kind of tests and examinations, but I admit, this has some value.  I want to thank every pilot I've met along the way - I learned from you, you made me a better pilot. Huge thanks to all my NE pilot friends - you gave me a lot of help and support over the years, and I wouldn't be where I am now without you


...

Now, a couple of new flying sites opened up for me. The one I really want to go to - Mt Washington. Hey, Weather Gods, can we have a nice easterly day soon?





Monday, August 22, 2016

Cloud Street

Another weekend - another 10-ish miles XC flight. Me from 2015 would feel strange to say it, but it seems silly to keep writing about those short flights. And even more interesting question is - why write at all. I am not entirely sure. I find it interesting to reflect on my new experiences. It's a place to put my "flight afterglow" energy.

Back to short flights. So far, each of those short flights is different. I learn and experience something new every time. This flight wasn't an exception.

....

Saturday, August 20th, 2016.

I haven't flown at Tanner-Hiller in more than a month. The forecast for Saturday was nothing exciting, but decent for August in New England - SE wind in the morning switching to S later in the day. 7mph on the ground. Low cloudbase (below 5K), and no strong lift.

My ultimate goal was to fly to Morningside (~67 miles straight line), but a more modest one was to make it to Orange airport (Orange, MA) - ~16 miles. I thought it was doable... if I could get to the cloudbase.

What I like about Tanner-Hiller is that this airport is just an hour away from my house. I can have a late lazy morning, and yet make it to the airport for an afternoon flight.

I was hoping that Crystal and Ilya would join me this time, but they bailed, claiming the wind direction was too cross. It was true, but the wind was light. I have flown at Tanner-Hiller a lot (80+ tows so far), so my tolerance for cross winds there is higher. Plus, I didn't think 5-7mph would make much difference at that location (in my experience anyway). But it is a longer drive for them, so they took an easier option. I can totally relate.

XC wise, I was on my own this time. Less fun, but if day worked - I was game.

When I pulled into the airport, the conditions were indeed too cross to launch safely:

Fine, fine. No more sarcasm. Conditions were perfect. Very light wind, or no wind at all on the ground. Decent looking clouds... maybe a bit overdeveloped so early in the afternoon. Looked like a pretty good day.

I took my time setting up, then went for a sandwich to Cloverhill Country Story (nice place, good people, good food). And finally launched around 1pm.

I stayed with the tug all the way up. With forecast like this, I wanted to have some altitude to play with. Rhett dropped me off at about 4K MSL. Very generous of him. There was lift, but I only made it to 4200 before it disappeared. A bit lower than forecasted, and way lower than the cloudbase.

The day was gearing up to be very challenging. Staying in lift was a lot of work. For the next hour I was jumping from cloud to cloud trying to work my way to at least 4500' MSL before making a go/no-go decision. It was exhausting. I got as low as 1700 MSL twice, and got back up to 3000 MSL. I was not in a mood going anywhere. I actually flew back to the airport for easy and fast landing option.

Meanwhile, south of the airport, dark clouds were forming. I didn't like the look of them, but a couple of other pilots were still under those clouds, I just took a mental note of it - "pay attention. no flying in rain, please".

In the previous post I mentioned that often my go/no-go decisions are impulsive. This time, I pretty much decided that I wasn't going anywhere... until I noticed a "strange" thing. Each time I would turn downwind, I'd get into better lift. Then, slow me (took just an hour), noticed that there was a pretty long cloud street, and I was trying hard to stay on a very edge of it. Interesting... What if try to fly under - it might work. So what if I was low, if this cloud street kept me there, I might even be able to come back if I didn't like it.

I was very tired trying to get to the clouds above me. I didn't like the darkness coming at me from the south, and so at 3500 MSL I set on a glide under that long cloudstreet pointing north.

Tom Lanning told me once that flying under a cloud street it's like riding waves. You go up and down, but on average you either climb or maintain. Indeed. it was just like that. For 4 miles I was flying straight, and slowly climbing up. By the time this cloud street stopped working I was at 4300 MSL, and no silly circling was needed. Way less tiring!

The street continued for a half more mile, and then there was a gap over the forest. I have crossed that forest before, but with much more altitude. I was confident I could cross it again. Wind helping me and all. In retrospect, I am not sure it was the best course of action. That forest below was obviously interrupting the lift line, maybe flying east was a better option. Tunnel vision took over, and I continued straight.

I made it under the clouds on the other side of the forest, but there were only hints of lift. Certainly nothing I managed to stay in. I could see my intermittent goal - Orange airport. It was still another 6 miles away, and even if I was at 4500' MSL, I would need fly over/around yet another forest with no LZs.

A few minutes later, I landed in the exact same spot where Jeff Curtis landed last time. 11 miles point to point. Not too bad...
XC Dance or something...

I carried the glider to the edge of the field I landed in, and barely had a chance to get out of my harness as my phone rang. Rhett was calling to ask how I was doing. A gust front hit Tanner-Hiller 20 minutes after I disappeared, and Rhett was worrying if I got hit by that. All pilots that stayed at the airport scrambled to land. There were some exciting landings. With winds hitting 25mph, 2 pilots on Falcons couldn't make it back to the airport. Everyone landed safely, no serious damage was done. I missed that whole thing completely. The gust front never caught up with me. That's because my Green Sporty is super fast! Right?

Rhett asked me if I needed a retrieval. Of course! Apparently Jeff Curtis also got to the airport after I already launched. He was safely on the ground and more than willing to drive and get me. Awesome! I just finished breaking down my glider as Jeff already pulled in.

What a day! I couldn't have planned it any better, and as usual, I haven't planned it at all. I just wished there were a few more people flying XC with me...

Flight time: 1h 34m
Flight tracklog:

PS

This flight put me over 100 hours of total flight time. It doesn't sound like a lot especially divided by number of years I am flying, but for a weekend flying warrior - it is a pretty good number. 60 of those hours are in the last two seasons. Oh, and every minute in the air feels like an adventure. Immediate. In the moment. Real. 

Monday, August 8, 2016

Don't look back

Big part of cross-country free flying is psychological. It's all in pilot's attitude. If you don't think you are going to make it to the next cloud, or find that invisible thermal - you are not going to. Of course, the other way is not guaranteed either. Meaning, if you think you are going to make it, it might be not so. And yet, leaving safety of a familiar site behind is always the very first step. No XC flying is going to happen without it.

Do I have enough altitude? Is the cloud I flying toward to going to work when I get there? Is there a bailout LZ? Those things that are running through my mind when I am about to make that decision. However, my observational/analytical skills are still rather rudimentary, and a final decision is often simply impulsive... hopefully based on some experience, but impulsive nevertheless.

...
Friday, August 5th, 2016

After taking another morning test flight on my speedy Combat, I started breaking the glider down with intention to take an afternoon flight on my Green Sporty. It's nice to have a few gliders to choose from, I guess.

It was Friday. I was pretty much alone at the setup area. But soon Ilya showed up and Mike Holmes as well. The more the merrier.

I wasn't particularly planning on any XC adventures. Didn't even check weather carefully. Just wind direction and speed. I'd get whatever was there, or just boat around. It's Friday, and I am not working. Win-win either way.

By 2pm my Combat was in the bag, and Sport was all setup and ready to fly. Ilya launched first. He optimistically reported that lift was everywhere. Well, great, return the tug ASAP, please.

When I launched, the ride wasn't as bumpy as I expected. Not too promising. Nick Caci was towing. We pulled through some lift over the sandpit south of Morningside. It wasn't anything crazy, so I stayed put. Plus Nick didn't try to circle in it. I mentally marked the place - might come back to it later.

But Nick turned around and towed me back north-east, missing that lifty area all together. Oh well. I pinned off in zero sink, and considered flying upwind to the sandpit, but saw Ilya circling NE of the hill. He was reporting some weak lift. I set on a glide toward him.

By the time I got there, it wasn't working. Ilya was in full search mode, 500' below me.  3000' MSL doesn't give you a lot of time. All I was getting was zero sink. Not a single complete turn in lift. Lift was indeed everywhere, just not big enough.

The sky, on the other hand, looked much better farther downwind. The closest cloud street was a couple of miles away, and, for all I knew about the clouds - it was working much better over there.

Since Ilya and I were flying together, I should have broadcasted my intentions, but that thought didn't even cross my mind. I was about to commit to a very questionable thing, with very questionable landing options below me... I guess, I wasn't completely sure in my decision so I kept quiet.

Ilya noticed that I was gone by the time I covered half the distance. He was lower than me, and decided against following.

As for myself, there was no turning back at that point. 3 miles later, I lost only 900 feet. Flying downwind is much better for glide ratio. There was no way I could have made it back upwind, though. 2100 MSL, probably ~1500 AGL. I was looking at a couple of tiny fields to land in. There were a few big fields too, but it looked like they had full size corn in them.

Before I could contemplate my willingness to land in tiny fields - I felt air shaking my glider. The vario confirmed as much - we were going up. Slowly. A few turns in 100 to 200 FPM, then it turned on to 400FPM. Phew! My landing options just expanded.

While climbing, I was also drifting NE. I crossed route 12 while still working that thermal. 4500' MSL. Not too bad all things considered.

Climb was fizzling out. Clouds were another 500' above me. I decided to glide under clouds, while still in lift. That's where my observational skills malfunctioned.

Looking at the tracklog, I didn't go directly downwind, effectively falling out of that cloud street. But I saw another one, and I was hoping to find lift there as well. And there was some, just for a few turns. I lost it... and I lost that confidence that took me thus far.
Camera points in the downwind direction. I picked cloud on the very right. Probably missing the whole cloud street opportunity.
Just like I mentioned before, the big part of XC flying is psychological. Again, checking the video and the tracklog, I gained 300', lost the thermal, and instead of working on finding that thermal, or another one - I started to panic - "getting low, a lot of forest around. Oh look - an airport! Let's go there". Interesting part was though, I was at 3200 MSL, 200' higher than my previous 'no return' decision.

And (no surprise there) just like magic, my XC flight was done. I did make it to the airport. It was east of my position, so I had to fly crosswind to get there. I arrived with ~800' AGL to spare (1300' MSL but the ground kept raising up). There was some thermal right above the airstip, but it was only good for 400 feet. I landed. Broke down the glider, and waited in a nice air-conditioned room (pilots lounge) for my rescue to arrive.

Happy pilot at a proper LZ. The best LZ a free flier can get.
Obligatory XC dance

Ilya picked me up. Very much appreciated, brother! His flight was over soon after I left. There was just no strong lift over Morningside.

...

To conclude - I got another one-and-done XC. I didn't expect to have an XC flight at all, so I wasn't too upset. The flight was plenty exciting! But it was short. 44 minutes total flight time. 10 miles point to point distance. I just hope that I started noticing what my decision making process was lacking. I am pretty sure, I could have covered more distance if I was more observant and less panicky. But, I made a safe decision to get to a nice LZ. I live to f(l)ight another day. No shame in that.

Here is the recording of this flight:

Combat Challenge

Need for Speed

Higher performance machines. It's hard to resist the lure. It's not like Sport Class gliders don't offer enough free flight fun, but the next shiny thing is out there. It calls my name.

...

I wasn't completely sure why I was coming back to the subject of topless gliders. I didn't really need one. Not yet. I still had too much fun with my Green Sporty.... but I test flown a T2C. I handled it. I wanted to challenge myself. Plus, of course, all top dogs are flying those wings. It's irresistible. It's inevitable.

T2C flight at Wallaby earlier this year, left me a bit indifferent. So that thought came and went. Tom Lanning, however, planted a seed in my hang-gliding-brain that I might like Aeros Combat better. Randy Brown was selling his, and he was brave enough to let me test fly it. The price was right, too, and the colors... the colors were right in my green color scheme! I couldn't resist. Gotta get that bug out of my brain!

First Combat

Randy came to Morningside on Sunday night. We waited for conditions to calm down. I wasn't really nervous, but a bit anxious. It is a mean looking glider after all.
Rolling to the starting position (photo by Crystal Wolfe)

6PM. Winds mostly died down. I rolled to the starting line. The tug waved its elevators at me. Ready to roll! "It's just a glider", I kept reminding myself. Liftoff - all was well. 50 feet up... Geez! Why am I going sideways to the left? I gave the glider some input to the right. Now it was sideways to the right. I was PIO-ing like crazy!

I thought I had a pretty good handle on that towing thing. Nothing should have surprised me anymore, but this glider have. It was way too sensitive for my rough inputs. I couldn't get it under control... Well, I eventually did, more or less. But PIO-ing hasn't stopped all the way up.

As I released from the tug, all senses too rattled to enjoy the rest of the flight. I kept thinking - "I don't need this glider. It's too much".

But, after all, I was flying a new very cool looking machine, and I managed to pay some attention to how this super-ship handled. I played with different VG settings and speeds. The glider flew well, and responded to my inputs without an issue.

The landing went well, too. I overshot the target by 100 yards, and almost ended up in a ditch, but flew over it, flared still a bit high, and parachuted down. The glider settled on top of me, and I dropped the basebar. No whack though.
On final (photo by Crystal Wolfe)

I carried the glider back to the breakdown area, and Randy asked me how it was. I just said "Sorry, this is too much for me. Not buying it". That's how I felt at the moment, still trying to get over (in my mind) disastrous tow.

A few days later, I couldn't get that flight out of my mind... I handled the tow even though I PIOed. I knew I could tow well. I knew I could do much better. It was just a question of adjusting my technique. I landed it OK. It's a very unique glider. It flies well. The price is right. And it's a challenge. Challenge accepted! And, of course, the colors match my theme pretty close. The only reservation I had was about not having a dealer near where I live (Highland Aerosports, official Aeros dealer, went out of business). But then again, those things can be resolved. I was sure.

Combat Training 

The following week I drove to MFP Friday night with intention to take an evening flight. Nick Caci was towing. He told me that he would tow me after tandems were done around 7:30pm. Perfect.

When I was finally ready to launch, the conditions were ideal for my second do-over flight. No wind on the ground at all.

Focus! (photo by Crystal Wolfe)
Ready to roll (photo by Crystal Wolfe)

Takeoff. I kept reminding to myself - "small inputs. let the glider fly". All was going well for the first 50 feet, 100 feet, 300 feet. I didn't PIO! If anything, I was happy that I got my towing mojo back.


Liftoff (photo by Ilya Rivkin)

Towing (photo by Ilya Rivkin)

Now that I had towing under control. I concentrated on flying the glider. I flew toward the river, then made a high speed jump downwind, flying over route 12. My vario was showing 60mph ground speed,  and 160 FPM sinc rate. Awesome!

I landed, but that didn't go exactly well. Something was different when I felt it was time to flare. I was a tad late, but the glider started going up. The only problem was - right wing dropped, and I whacked. Damn!
Whack! (photo by Ilya Rivkin)

I took another flight, and then another one in the morning. Both landings weren't good. Other pilots gave a lot of input on what I was doing wrong. The consensus was that I was rounding out too high, and as a result flying too slow by the time I got into the ground effect.

I also got into a habit of pumping the bar, feeling how glider responded. That wasn't an issue on a Sport, but I would lose flaring authority on Combat by doing that.

Never Ending Combat...

This is an ongoing process. I am not in a rush to fly this glider the way I fly my Sport. By now, I had a few more flights on Combat - landings are still a challenge. The good thing, I started noticing what I am doing wrong on the Sport as well. That is the first step to make my landings better.

Done for the night


My tows also improved on my trusted Sporty. I don't try to over control it anymore. Sporty never cared that much either way, but it's better to do things right. I also experimented with towing and landing Sporty at full VG. That was pretty easy, actually. Midday conditions and all. Sporty, even at full VG is a very forgiving and easy to fly/land glider...

Anyway, I am glad I have an opportunity to fly this super-wing. Learning more about flying different types of gliders is a fascinating and a very intense process. I hope, eventually, I get comfortable enough with the Combat to turn it into an ultimate XC machine. The way it was with its previous owners. Not setting any time frames, and I will keep two gliders for a long while. Still plenty to learn on The Green Sporty, too.

Getting ready (photo by Crystal Wolfe)