Monday, October 17, 2016

Leaf peeping anxiety

October is beautiful time of the year in Vermont. Many people visit the state to enjoy colorful views that nature preparing for winter has to offer. There is no better vantage point for leaf peeping than from the sky. And no better way to experience it than free flying in mountains.
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Saturday forecast was pretty good for that kind of flying. Not a good thermal day (rarity that late in the season), but ridge soaring was a possibility.

In the morning at Morningside

With all those beautiful thoughts I still found a way to be anxious about upcoming flying day. It's not like being anxious is my favorite thing, and, if necessary, I don't shy away from experiences that require a healthy dose of anxiety. By now, I've launched hang gliders hundreds of times, but every time is different. And if there is a new element at play - anxiety level is even higher.
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Leaf peeping flight was gearing up to be one of those new experiences. I felt I was ready to do some mountain flying on my Combat. My first foot launch, and my first mountain flight on that glider. No better place to do this than West Rutland, Vermont. It's a very forgiving site and is a go-to place for new H2s/P2s to experience their first mount flight.

Light days is when paragliders shine

I've launched at West Rutland quite a few times. I had great soaring flights here, and my longest flight was here as well. All that didn't stop me from being nervous like hell.

In the setup area

I managed to ignore most of that rattly feeling until it was time to hook-in. I paused and took a moment to breathe to calm my nerves. Then, standing on the edge of the ramp, I let a pre-launch routine to take over, pushing out the new, high performance aspect of this launch out of my focus. 

Check wind direction, wait for a good cycle, balance the wing, keep the nose down.... "Clear!". I made the first step, and accelerated down the ramp. The glider effortlessly floated away from the mountain.

I turned right, flying along the ridge, keeping my airspeed up. Most likely higher than I had to. I still had rather low hours on this glider, and I wasn't going to take any chances. "Don't get too close to the terrain. You are not in your Sport", I kept reminding myself. 

The day was very light. Not a high performance glider day. In fact, a few pilots on T2Cs that launched before me, couldn't stay up for long. Thus, I didn't expect much.

As I was flying down the ridge, I couldn't feel any strong lift to turn in. I was probably (and most likely) a bit tense, too. A few hundred yards later, I had a decision to make - turn around and try the ridge again, or go out and look elsewhere. I picked the latter. One step at a time. There will be another day. 

Just as expected, I didn't find anything away from the ridge. Made a couple of 360 degree turns here and there, but couldn't go up. It was time to box the LZ and land.

I gave myself plenty of room so I wouldn't go too long, and as I was making my final turn, I got dumped much faster than I thought I would. I didn't make a hard slipping turn, so maybe it was just sinking air. No matter. No time to ponder - pull-in and get ready to land.... except I was going short now. I didn't think I would ever go short in that glider, but it was happening. My flight path was through a dry corn field with dry corn stalks, probably 5 feet high. Not a nice place to land in. 

I slowed down for early ground effect, stayed prone, trying to extend my glide just a bit. I made it to the edge of the corn field, kicked the top of the stalks with my feet while I was transitioning, and flared hard as I was about to hit the ground. It worked. It was probably the best landing I got on this glider so far (except for going short part). The flare wasn't perfect as I dropped the bar, but I didn't whack. Good.

in the main LZ
So even though this flight was really short, I was happy with it. I am slowly gaining confidence with this high performance machine. Hopefully, in a season or two I'll get my Combat skills to the level I can be content with. Time will tell.



PS. About that leaf peeping thing... um, well, I did sort of enjoy the views from launch for a couple of hours, but my flight wasn't long enough to appreciate them from the air. Oh well, priorities, priorities.... I got what I came for. I left leaf peeping marveling to gentler souls.


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