180+

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.

---

Flights: 3; Duration: 3:36

Yaw, yaw, PIO

PIO - Pilot Induced Oscillation 

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.

---

Here is a video (with robot demo at the end):

And a few photos

Hey you, Robot. Don't touch my glider!

RAD - stupid name for a robot

Hello Sporty!

photos

Tanner-Hiller

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 :-)

---

Here are a few photos from this weekend.

and a short video http://youtu.be/5z6WcfuA0eQ

Chute Toss Practice

This year Nick Caci hosted another Chute Toss and Repack clinic.  It is always great to practice emergency procedures, and reserve parachute toss is not an exception. It helps that Nick has such a great setup in his barn, and he is not afraid to let a bunch of wild hang glider pilots to use it. Thank you, Nick!

And of course, once you toss a parachute, you need to repack it. Marilyn was there to help with that task. She offered to teach anyone to repack a parachute themselves, but I opted to let a professional do that... I'd rather have it done right. Thank you, Marilyn!

A few photos from the event: Chute Toss Practice 2015

I didn't shoot any videos this time, so here is a video from the last year -> Chute Toss Video

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Dreams of Summer

My new Wills Wing Sport 2 finally arrived. I wanted it all bright colors and it came out great. I know it will fade away eventually, but that's ok. It will be less bright yellow on the top surface after a couple of years in the sun.

I wish all that snow was gone now. I WANT TO FLY IT NOW!

...

I probably should call it Mantis :-)

 

I ordered this glider through Hang Glide New England. Thanks Rhett!

---

Flying Season of 2014

At the end of each year, Jon Atwood always creates a compilation video of his flying related activities. This year he inspired me to do the same.

Here is the result. 'Twas a very good year.

Fly high everybody, and happy winter! I hope 2015 is going to be amaaaazing!

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Bouncing Off the Dune

Finally, I got to fly at the Cape again. 2 other attempts this year didn't bring anything but hang waiting. The last one was a week ago and I couldn't even assemble my glider - the wind was that strong.  The leading edge on my glider is full of sand now.

...

This time, Natalia and I got to White Crest beach in Wellfleet around 11AM. Vitaly Pogrebnoy was already there assembling his glider. Tom Lanning pulled in as well. Since it was Friday, it looked like only 3 of us were going to represent hand gliding that day. There were quite a few paragliders already in the air, or ready to launch, though.

...

The wind was rather light, and, remembering my first launch at the Cape, I was worrying I wouldn't be able to fly.... and somehow, my worry materialized itself by my first flight being, again, a sledder. I self-launched at the cape for the first time, and I didn't do it right. I ended up launching in a not a very strong cycle, losing altitude immediately. I landed a quarter of mile later and was faced with a decision - breakdown the glider, or carry it back to the launch in hope that someone would help me to bring it up. I chose the second option.

Self-launching... (photo courtesy of Natalia K)

 ...and not flying far

It took me a while to walk the glider back, but when I got to the walkway that led to the top of the dune, Tom Peghiny saw my predicament, and he helped me to carry the glider up. I couldn't thank him enough. He also gave me some pointers on how to self-launch from the dune. I waited for a few paragliders to clear the launch and gave it another try.

Before my second launch, Tom and I talked about turning south (wind that day had some southern component to it), but when I started to launch, wind lifter my right wing, turning me to the north. I went with it, opting for a quicker turn in hope that it would position me closer to the ridge. And it worked. I glided away. I couldn't have been happier.

Tom P. assisting me on the second launch (photo courtesy of Natalia K)

...much better this time (photo courtesy of Natalia K)

  When I finally got into the air, it was at least 40 minutes since Tom Lanning and Vitaly launched. A mile or so down the shore, I saw that Tom was already on the ground, packing his Falcon.

Tom Lanning packing his Falcon.

I also saw Vitaly in the distance, still in the air. When I got to the gap where Tom had landed, wind seemed to picked up, and I had enough altitude to cross the gap. After crossing, I joined Vitaly on the next section of the dune.

I greeted Vitaly enthusiastically. It made me happy that we could share this experience. We had a couple of miles of that dune to ourselves.

Greeting Vitaly

We had a couple of miles of the dunes to ourselves.

I was able to cross another, a much wider, gap to the north.

Crossing...

Most of the time when I turned around, I ended up below the ridge. With some difficulty, I was able to make my way back to the ridge level.

Turning around often put me below the ridge.

Barely making it back to the ridge level, while Vitaly had plenty of altitude flying other direction.

Crossing wide gaps upwind was a challenge, too. A few times I had to turn around and wait for a better cycle, hoping it would bump me higher.

Crossing the gap again. This time upwind.

 I played with that section of the shore for maybe 15-20 minutes and, to make things more interesting, decided to see if I could fly it all the way to the southern lighthouse.I crossed all the gaps toward the launch, sang a song for Tom Lanning while flying over him, and set toward the lighthouse.

Over the launch. Going south.

Over the launch. Going south.

All was going rather well for a few miles, but while flying over Marconi beach, I suddenly started losing altitude and barely had time to get my legs out of the harness.

A few miles south. Positioned nicely over the ridge.

40 seconds later - flushed

The ground is coming up fast

I only made it halfway to the lighthouse and just like that my flight was over. Good thing I landed only a couple hundred yards from the Marconi beach parking. If I could get a ride, I wouldn't had to walk too far.

The next order of business was to get me that ride back. I tried to call Natalia on the phone and over the radio. No signal on the phone. No reply over the radio. I had to go all the way up and then I was able to call for help. Natalia picked me up soon after.

Eagle has landed. Calling for help. 

Going to Marconi beach parking. (photo courtesy of Natalia K)

Not a bad day on the beach. Not bad at all. Considering that it was December in New England - I had nothing to complain about.

---

Flights: 2; Duration: 0:38

Just Drop The Bomb

Competition

Morningside was celebrating its 40th anniversary on Columbus day weekend.  Plenty of activities were planned including some friendly competitions. I am not into competition much, but I decided to give it a try. The first one was a spot landing competition,  and one can always use more spot landing practice. Another part of the competition included a "bomb" drop. I signed up for that as well.

On Saturday, I got one flight off 450 just to practice. Then there was a Plaque Dedication ceremony (more photos from the event -> Columbus Day Weekend at Morningside)

And then the competition started... Spot landing got combined with a bomb drop competition. And to make things go faster, or make it harder, not sure which, we had to do it all from 250 foot launch. Basically - launch off 250', drop a "bomb" on some spot marked at 150' launch (a bomb is a small toy with a competitor's number on it) , proceed to the LZ and land in the bullseye...  on your feet. Easy... not. It actually looked pretty intimidating to me as there was not much altitude for any variation.

On my first attempt (we got 2 tries total) I turned toward 150 launch as soon as I was in the air. I ended up with probably 20-30' over the target. Dropped the bomb, but it didn't go anywhere close to the spot. No points. I didn't get any points on my spot landing either. I got too fixated on landing in the bullseye, and flared early, overshot the spot anyway, and whacked. No points.

When I got up for my second attempt, I figured, I would turn slightly away from the target first, to drop the altitude to a more manageable level where I can almost put my "bomb" into the bucket. That "almost" almost worked, except that I undershot. That wouldn't be a problem if I abandoned the bomb drop and just went on with a safe turn. But I got completely fixated on the goal. I was going to make that target, dammit! Common sense won eventually, but almost when it was too late. I was four feet off the ground when I finally threw the bomb in the general direction of the target, and initiated a turn.

The apex of the turn was just a few feet off the target. The only thing that saved me was... luck, and the fact that the target was placed close to the slope. When I turned, I got a bit more ground clearance, but my left wing was scrapping the hill. It touched the ground twice and I was totally in "I am about to cartwheel" mode. Luckily, it didn't happen. I proceeded to put more space between me and terraferma as slope was dropping away from me.

After that I was in total "just don't make it worse" mode. No spot landing - just land it safely. Since I didn't have much altitude to play with, I didn't make enough of a turn to get close to the bullseye. Rather opposite, I was landing close to all the parked gliders. I recalled all my motorcycling training - you go where you look - I was looking away from all those gliders. I didn't flare much, just ran my landing out, and was, to the last moment, concentrating to run away from the parked gliders. Amazingly, it worked. I didn't make things worse. I think, the bag with my luck just got a bit lighter... not sure if the bag with my skill got heavier, but one can hope... At least, my caution/awareness level increased - competition became secondary.

The competition continued on Sunday. The longest glide. Again, we launched from 250, had to cross the road, fly above a marker on the other side, turn down the runway, and glide along the runway as far as possible. The conditions were variable, and I could see people making questionable decisions after hitting some sink, and barely making it across the road. When I launched, I could see that my glide was not long enough to make the first turn. I abandoned the run and practiced a spot landing instead. I should have done the same on Saturday...

Here is a video of my target fixated bomb drop. Watch the glider shake a couple of times after I clear the target.... that is my left wing touching the ground.

---

Party

Saturday night there was a party in celebration of Morningside 40th anniversary.  Rob and Sandy Jacobs organized the whole thing. They built a "coliseum" (it's on the left in the photo below)

they brought catering, music band, and finished the night with very impressive fireworks. I think, that was the best firework display I have seen.

I am not much into partying, but I had a lot of fun taking photos of everyone having fun :-) My new camera with a very fast lens performed well considering I didn't use flash, and lights in the coliseum were very dim.

Here is a couple of videos taken by the same camera:

Johnny Szarek's  six year old daughter Siena sings the National Anthem

Everyone launches sky lanterns. It's magical to see so many of them to float away into the night skies

A night to remember!

---

Here is an article posted on Morningside website -> http://flymorningside.kittyhawk.com/events/40th-anniversary-celebration/

A complete photo album from this weekend can be viewed here -> Columbus Day Weekend at Morningside

Critical Mass

Flying season was progressing nicely. New sites, new challenges. But I haven't even thought about any sort of competition, especially not while flying a Falcon....

I don't remember already what made me look. Probably people discussing who signed up this year. But I checked the rules for Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2014 and it wasn't so much a competition, but more a training camp for wannabe cross-country pilots. They even had handicap points for single surface gliders. Hm... Why the hell not, I thought. I wanted to learn how to fly cross-country, and I wanted to have more training. I didn't care much about competition part, so I didn't mind to come back with no points at all.

And then September came fast. It was time to drive to Tennessee and get challenged.... I won't describe in all the details what days were like, and what the competition was all about. JJ had done it nicely here (and part 2 here). I'll just vent for a teeny-weeny bit about my impression of the event...

....

First thing was to get there. JJ offered to share a ride. Jeff C and I joined him on the way down. JJ had a small wagon - Pontiac Vibe. Small engine. Manual transmission. This poor thing was really struggling with all the load - 3 people, 3 gliders, and a lot of camping gear. It required constant downshifting on even very slight up-hills. It was tiring. Since we left Friday evening and arrived around 10am the next morning - I personally was tired and in no mood to do any kind of flying. I mean, I could, but it wouldn't be as safe and fun. So when we got to Whitwell later Saturday afternoon, I just observed. A good thing too, because a sledder the next day required my full attention - I cleared the wires over the church LZ with only 100' to spare (you can see it in the video below). That would be a bit too much excitement for my tired brain.

So, for the first part, a few things that I would have done differently the next time around - I should leave early morning, and have a full night sleep before flying. Take an extra day off...

...

The other thing, this year competition was later in the year than usual. The conditions were very light. To stay afloat required skills I didn't have. Having a single surface glider made things even more challenging. People were struggling even with topless gliders. I couldn't have known that before I signed up as I had no experience with the site, but... having sledders only,  killed a lot of enjoyment of the event. I didn't care much about points, but I didn't expect not to be able to get above the ridge even for a minute or two.

What else?...  My expectations of  "training" camp was naively optimistic. I guess, as a freshly graduated H3, I expected more handholding, but in reality it was just normal flying days - with a task at hand if you could do it. If not, well... not.

Tom Lanning signed up as well. He's done this event for many years, but he enjoys it anyway. He was the obvious choice for our team captain. Tom put a lot of effort in making us to think for ourselves. In my case, I only started to appreciate what he was doing when we were done flying. Yes, I am a slow learner, and remember that part about handholding expectation? :-)

I am not sure if I can do better next time, but at least, now I got some idea on how to improve things... at least I hope so.

...

As to the event itself, it was not very smoothly executed. It felt more like a relaxed flying party than a competition/training event. A few old timers mentioned that it wasn't always so. It all worked out in the end though. And maybe next time it will be improved.

Team Critical Mass (photo courtesy of Lee Minardi) 

Tom Lanning, Vitaly Pogrebnoy, JJ Cote, Max Kotchouro, Jeff Curtis

If, after reading all that venting above, you want to ask  "So, Max, was it all just a waste of time?".  No! Not at all.

I had an opportunity to learn from people who achieved a lot in hang gliding. You hear those names from the day you start learning how to hang glide - Dennis Pagen, Mike Barber, Mitch Shipley and many others. A couple of lectures were particularly useful. Also, I got to fly two new sites. I wish those flights were longer, but the experience of learning a new site and launching from it - it is a very valuable thing for a pilot.

And of course, non-flying fun made it a great vacation. Great food, great company, amazing nature. Every morning I would wake up to a new shapes of clouds filling the valley. Great place to be for an aspiring photographer :-).

Anyway, I hope to do it again someday, or just spend a week of flying at TTT with no competition involved. It is an amazing place.

Here are a few, mosly non-flying, photos -> TTT Challenge 2014 Photo album

And a video collage of my flying TTT frustration:

Whitwell launch (video courtesy of Lee Minardi)

Launching from Henson Gap ramp (video courtesy of Lee Minardi)