After my trip to Florida where I got a chance to fly WW Sport 2, my confidence level increased and I wanted to fly other sites. The problem was, most of them required H3 rating. I certainly didn't want to break any rules, so the priority for me for the season was to advance my rating. I had enough flying hours, all I needed was to pass a written test and a spot landing test. Spot landing is basically three consecutive landings within 50' of a spot after flights requiring turns on approach. Launching from 450 at Morningside was a perfect place to do the practice and the test. I still had a problem estimating how long my glide was going to be. I needed a lot of practice and some help.
So, again just like last year, I got to Morningside as soon as they opened for the season. I got 8 flights the very first day. I was getting better and better with DBF (downwind-base-final) approach and got a much better feel for where I was going to touch down. I went to Morningside every chance I got, but the weather didn't cooperate sometimes. I used one of rainy weekends to complete my written test. And other times, I squeezed in a few towing flights - at Morningside and Tanner-Hiller. My landings were still not perfect as I got almost no feel for flare, but I was consistently landing where I wanted... or at least close enough.
On a couple of other weekends, I asked David Baxter to observe me and give me some feedback. He gladly agreed. He gave me plenty of information on what I could improve and even flown my Falcon to show me how it was done. Good times. Thank you, David!
And finally, on Memorial Day weekend, I gathered enough confidence to go through with a spot landing test. I started early in the morning, practicing. Then later same day, Josh observed me landing near bullseye. I got one landing ~25' away from the target and another two closer to 50', but all in the required range. 8 flights off 450 total that day. Eric Meibos got me the paperwork for USHPA rating - I was all set to start exploring new sites.
Josh and I after I completed H3 spot landing test
The same day Dana Harris was doing spot landing for his H4. He passed as well. Congratulations, Dana!
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And of course, socializing with other pilots is always fun. On Saturday night, Ilya Rivkin and David Park were doing bbq and feeding hungry pilots - ribs and something tasty wrapped in bacon was on the menu. Life is good. Thank you guys! Here are a few photos -> Memorial Day Weekend At Morningside.
And here is a video from Memorial Day weekend - different pilots practicing spot landings:
My first aerotow at Morningside in 2014... Actually, it was the first aerotow of the season at Morningside. Eric Meibos (a tug pilot) wanted to open aerotowing with a more experienced pilot first, so Josh Laufer (an instructor at Morningside) test flown my Falcon before me, and only then I went. When we started to roll, the cart pulled to one side and I decided that I had enough speed to get out of the cart. I started to push out slightly, came up, and weak link snapped.
I recovered quickly and landed on my belly. No harm was done. Eric told me I should have stayed on the cart longer and bump-steer it if it pulled to one side. I've done exactly that on my next try and had no problem all the way to 2500' AGL. It was around 5PM and clear sky. I couldn't find anything that would bring me up, so my flight was a sledder. Around 24 minutes total, including the tow.
It's April already and flying at the Cape is closed in a week, so when I saw marginally good forecast for Friday - I was going. I picked up Krassi Kaltchev along the way and we got to White Crest beach around 10am.
Kevin Webb and Keith Beebe were already there. Then David Park pulled in as well. We all set up the gliders, but wind was too weak. No one was willing to risk a 30 feet sledder down the dunes.
Hangwaiting group
Normally, we would have tried to launch anyway, but after all winter storms, a walkway to the bottom of the dune was completely gone. That meant, if you land right away you would have to breakdown and hike to the next parking lot about a mile away.
Paragliders were using a rope to climb back up, but that would be a bit tricky with a 17' long package on your shoulders.
Paraglider flying to the north of launch. You can see a climbing rope going down the dune.
We all waited for something in 15+ mph range, but winds as measured at the top of the dune, were maxing out at 12mph. The forecast indicated a possibility of a slight increase in wind speed, but it never materialized.
Paragliders were teasing us from the air until we all decided to pack it around 5pm. Oh well, I was really looking forward to another day of beach flying, but mother nature had other plans. Till fall then.
I estimated different options on how to get to Wallaby Ranch from Massachusetts. For two of us (Natalia and I) it was slightly cheaper to drive than fly in, rent a glider, car, etc. Plus, it would allow us to stop on the way there, explore different places and take a few photos.
We loaded my truck, and got on the road early morning
Ready to roll
On the way down, we planned a two days trip, stopping in Savannah, Georgia.
Savannah is a beautiful town and we spent a few hours there taking pictures and playing tourists. I love photography, but my main goal was to fly. I would have loved to stay another day in Savannah, but vacation days were limited. As day progressed, I was getting restless, and wanted to get on the road. We needed to get to Wallaby Ranch before dark.
Savannah's Police Station
Downtown Savannah
Downtown Savannah
Welcome to Wallaby
Wallaby
We arrived to Wallaby at dusk. We hoped to rent one of the cabins, and skip camping in a tent, but everything was taken because of WW demo days. We only could get a cabin for the first night and we took that option to avoid setting up a tent in the dark.
When morning arrived, we got coffee and breakfast (food was excellent, by the way), I filled out all necessary papers so I could fly there and ... Winds were blowing 25-30 miles on the surface. No flying.
Winds were supposed to die down around 3-4PM, and the next day a storm was predicted in the evening - high winds, rain, thunderstorms. It looked like not much flying was in the cards for me.
Good Morning Wallaby!
Xmass Tree
Our camp... Next to a Tom's ALiner camper.
Forecast held for the day and by 4:30PM a line of pilots to be towed up formed at one side of the ranch.
In line for a tow
I was really impressed how efficient operation at Wallaby was. Three tugs were constantly towing people up. Staff on the ground was assisting with carts retrieval, and getting pilots back in the tow line after they landed.
I had 3 flights with the first one being a sledder, seconds being an extended sledder, and on the third one I played with a weak thermal for 20 minutes. I couldn't have been happier. I eventually lost that thermal, and couldn't find a replacement, but still, if you followed my posts from 2013, it was a huge progress for me.
I logged about 1.5 hours that day, and got my confidence back for a demo flight the next morning. The only thing that slightly worried me was landings. Flare on Falcon was still a mystery to me, and on two of my landings I ended up on my knees. Not a big deal, but not a confidence inspiring result either.
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The day ended with great food and live music. A good company made it all even better. A few people I knew traveled for the event as well - Tom Lanning, Peter Judge, and Matt Carr.
Dinner bell
Live music is on
Peter Judge
Amy and Tom Lanning
Matt Carr
Sport 2
The next morning, I grabbed my helmet and harness and went looking for Steve Pearson, Wills Wing designer who was in charge of the event. There were a couple of people in front of me who wanted to try Sport 2 as well. It was an early morning and overcast, so the flights were short, and I didn't have to wait too long before it was my turn. Steve adjusted a hang loop for me, gave me a few pointers on use of VG, and off I went.
As soon as the glider lifted out of the cart, my worries all disappeared. This glider was so easy to tow, it was practically flying on its own. When I released, I played with the glider at different VG settings. In calm morning air, the glider was super easy to control. It was turning by just thinking about it.
Then came time to land. I forgot to mention that Ryan Voight was running a landings clinic. He setup a camera, and told everyone who wanted to participate - simply land next to it. You'd be observed, filmed, and critiqued later on.
To land there, I felt I had to setup my approach much lower over the trees than I was comfortable with, so I knew I was going long, but better safe than sorry. Anyway, on my first landing, I left quarter of VG on, made a few S-turns to lose altitude, and went on a long final. I was surprised how easy the glider responded to my inputs, and how much easier it was for me to feel the glider in ground effect. I was still a tad late with my flare, but overall it felt much easier to land than Falcon. I was all smiles and giggles - I wanted this glider. No, I NEEDED this glider. NOW!
One of the guys from the ground crew commented that I wasn't towing right behind the plane, and I should go for another run, and fix it. I didn't really feel like my first tow was that bad but hey, I was up for another flight in that great glider. There were no other pilots wanting to test fly Sport2 so I immediately went for another flight. It felt even better the second time around. Now I needed to get $5K. ASAP :-)
Landing demo Sport 2 (photo courtesy of Ryan Voight)
I spent afternoon listening to Ryan and Paul Voight discussing different aspects of landing a glider. Ryan presented a lot of video evidence for every point he was making. It was educational. Then he reviewed videos he took earlier in the morning. He gave me a few suggestions on how to improve my landings, also how to change final approach for better spot landing. That part was important to me as I eventually was going for H3 rating that has a spot landing test.
Ryan Voight
Non-flying fun
That was it for my flying in Florida. The rest of the day was all overcast, a perfect weather for sledders, and not the one to play with thermals. I didn't feel like taking another short tow in a Falcon, so we hiked around Wallaby Ranch property instead:
Wallaby Ranch trails
The next day, as forecasted, huge storm rolled in. The wind was so strong, it took down the big tent outside that was set for the Wills Wing sponsored party. And a lightning struck ground maybe 300 yards from cafeteria where everyone was weathering the storm. A bit later, Mitch Shipley found a few pieces of sand baked by lightning
Baked sand
Before the storm, we packed our tent and checked into a hotel a few miles away. We also spent time driving around, trying exotic food, and just playing tourists. Once I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere, I was enjoying taking photos.
Alligator's tail. Tastes like chicken.
Osprey at Boyd Hill Nature Park, St Pete, Florida
And of course - an alligator (Boyd Hill Nature Park)
St Pete at night
Back Home
On the way back, New England met us with another storm. This one was much colder with white stuff falling out of the sky
In March, Nick Caci invited everyone to his spacious hangar to practice throwing a reserve parachute. Parachute needs to be repacked regularly as time to full inflation increases the longer chute stays folded. And every seconds counts if your are falling out of the sky. Time to deploy reserve parachute also depends how fast you can throw it. So it was a perfect time to practice tossing a reserve.
Nick had an old glider hanging from the ceiling where a test subject would get hooked-in, and a few friendly pilots would start shaking and spinning the glider, simulating a catastrophic aircraft failure. That's when you'd pull the reserve's handle, and throw it as far as you could. Simple and doesn't take long, but essential to practice it once in a while. For some pilots, it revealed a failure of equipment, too. For example, Carlos couldn't pull his reserve out at all. Velcro was completely stuck shut. It's a good thing we had that practice - better to find out that something is off while you are safely on the ground.
Here is a video with various pilots practicing the toss.
Everyone had a great time. Big thanks to Nick for hosting this and Marilyn for repacking our reserves. I am so ready to fly!
Marilyn shows how it's done
To start flying season early this year, I am going to drive to Florida at the end of March for Wills Wing demo days. I'll do some aerotowing, and finally, try that Sport 2. This should be fun... if weather doesn't prove me wrong...
On Friday, I got a text from Rhett - "Forecast looks decent...hard to believe...tomorrow...". Perfect, I was definitely going. It's been almost a month since my last aerotow, and 3 weeks since my last flight at Wellfleet. Due to weather not cooperating on weekends, and life getting in the way, I didn't go flying all that time. I was a bit worrying if I got rusty.
I got to Tanner-Hiller around 10am, and was ready to launch by 11am. My first flight put my worries to rest. I still remembered how to tow and fly. Good! But I still could not find thermals or stay in them... Well, maybe next year.
First flight. Tom Lanning assisting with my launch.
My second tow later in the day was really bumpy. It made me happy that I handled it well. It was like riding a bike... just had to remember not to get complacent. Complacency kills in this sport.
In the afternoon, more pilots started to pull in. It's amazing how good this day was. Warm, sunny - summer like. Probably last weekend like this before cold weather rolled in.
My landings were adequate. I still struggled with a flare and proper hand placement, but there was some breeze coming in LZ and I didn't have to flare hard to land well.
A perfect day of flying in November. Great way to close my 2013 flying season. This season was a mixed bag, but I didn't hurt myself, my glider still flies, I learned a lot, met a lot of new people, and I had a lot of fun. I hope the next year will be even better.
Among all goals that I set for myself in 2013 was to do dune/beach flying. It is similar to ridge soaring that I've already experienced, but different in several ways. First, airflow from the ocean is laminar, and second, if wind is not strong - all flying is done pretty close to the ground. I felt confident that I could do it, but anxious, too, as I've never done that kind of flying before.
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Wellfleet (Cape Cod) was finally open for flying, and forecast was perfect for Sunday, October 13th.
When I got there, my anxiety eased a bit as there were plenty of people, and some of them I even knew. I was sure I'd get plenty of help and advice.
I set my glider up, got ready, and Phil, Carlos and Mike Abdullah helped me to get the glider to the launch. They coached me through the sequence and off I went. I had that naive thought in my mind that if wind is there, there is no way for me to sink out. But, as I learned, there were still different cycles, and wind's strength varied.
I picked a not very good cycle, and I didn't turn aggressively to position myself in the lift band. I was sinking out... My brain, however, refused to accept it for some weird reason.
Here is a video from my first attempt, and as you can see I didn't even get my feet out until 3 feet off the ground. Wheels hit the sand, and I went right through the control frame, but fortunately didn't bend anything, and didn't hurt myself.
I needed a reset. I carried my glider back to the bottom of walkway leading to the top of dune. Mike helped me to carry the glider up so no need to breakdown and setup again.
I gave it another go. This time, I waited for a stronger cycle, turned sooner - and up I went! Exciting!
It took me some time to relax and stop being stressed about the ground being so close. Gradually, I was getting the hang of positioning glider in the lift band, and working my way around other hang gliders, and paragliders.
I started really enjoying the experience. People walking on the beach would look up and I would wave. Lovely.
After a few passes in front of the launch, I got tired of all paraglider traffic. It was a bit too stressful to pay attention to so many elements at the same time. I decided to see how far I can fly along the shore.
Flying north wasn't an option for me that day. Each time I would get to a gap, I wouldn't have enough altitude to cross it. I went south. A few miles and 40 minutes later I saw a lighthouse and much wider gap that I didn't know if any glider could cross. I turned around and made it all the way back to the launch. Then repeated all that again. Two hours later, I started to get hungry, and decided to land while I was still doing great. For the first time in my flying, I landed because I wanted to, and not because I had to. Excellent!
Great day of coastal flying. Cannot wait to go back.
Big thanks to Michael Abdullah, Phil, Carlos and a few others whose names I don't know, who helped me that day. You guys are awesome!
Video of my successful launch (courtesy of Natalia K)
