What would you do if your couldn't fly.

Arnie and I went to a Hindi wedding as honored guests

Dateline Nepal

This is the licence plate for a hit and run.

Dateline Nepal


Ok so the where in the world game is over. The crew in Nepal with Matty had their suspicions, some were sure I would show up at some point and others were less committal, but I don’t think anyone was surprised.

With the crew that is over here while I am “between work commitments” there could not be a better time for me to do this.

The picture on face book with Big Ben in the background was not as much a tell as I thought. I may have been the only person getting here via London. My travel task, like everyone’s was arduous: Early start to take the Airporter from Yakima. Good seat on bulkhead scored by being first in line, waiting most of the day for British Air to open the counter at 2:00pm. Flight out at 6:40pm on time to London, arrive with 9 hr lay over (time to take the tube into Westminster for the pic of the clock, back and on a second redeye to Deli India, 2 hour wait for 737 to Katmandu, and now it gets interesting.

In Katmandu at about 3:30 local time, Nepal is not just off set by x hours GMT but also by 45 min or 15 min depending on how you look at it. This place is actually out of a different time, and is a different world. The sites and sounds can not be described, they are completely other than anything I have ever experienced. The city itself is a seemingly unending maze of energy, a cacophony of attempts to sell and or make money amongst squallier, noise, signs, bodies moving about, cars, tractors, animals, children, and many motorbikes.

We drive on the other side of the road but the roads are so small that each encounter with the next vehicle begins with an apparent head-on followed by a negotiating honk of horns and then a near miss of 6 inches, Over and over and over. Amazing that this doesn’t happen more often:

I promised my cab driver in Pokhara I would try to get this hit and run up asap for his needs.

Good evidence but I don’t know if it will help his cause.

Back to the story – In Katmandu the attempt to find Matt’s recommended Guest House begins with the cab driver saying, Oh Yes Sir, No Problem and ends with a – “Just Let me Out where someone speaks English and there is a bed. This is a city without street names and endless Katmandu-ness.

Once my bags were in my room it was beginning to get dark and I learned my first lesson in Nepal. – always have a flashlight. The power is on based on a schedule, maybe. – No power for a while so out comes the flashlight and I head off on a walk looking for a restraint named ORK2. – I find it after another interesting story of looking about and trying to get a cell phone – Got one right quick and about 17$ US with 200 min or so. – Now I know why Matt said bring 4 passport photos. You need one for most official transactions.
The first went to the Entry Visa, second to Cell phone guy, third to Paraglider documents, and I have one for a souvenir for now until the Elephant trek guy needs one for Insurance.

I bought an Air ticket for the morning which was a bit of a mistake, but after a long wait at Katmandu airport, another experience that knocked me over I was in the air and then quickly setting down in Pokhara about 30 minutes later. – There Fish Tail element of the Hymilalias were out in stunning form – Incredible.

That’s all for now – Flights ok – I need to build bump tolerance following a spin/stall event 700 or so over the ridge on my first flight – All is well but back in the game later today. – All is well - Love you all –
P.

Crash in Pokhara

This is the licence plate for a hit and run.

It is cold - where to go?

Winter is the time one needs to get on a plane. I am one of the "lucky ones" who can leave anytime. - But where to go? - Late for the best of Valle De Bravo. - hmmm - All my buddies are headed to Nepal - hmmm - a little late to book that flight. - We will see - maybe OZ - I better make up my mind soon or it will be spring and my log book will be empty.
Any suggestions?
Preacher

More Rampart

Condition report: Thanks Matty, Gordon and Milroy for making the call (I actually don't know who got it started)- Those wanting advanced warning should have picked up my tweet just after I heard rumblings at 9 or 10 Sunday morning. - I don't tweet everything but if you follow me @ewpg you will get heads up on some great flying. - We met up at the Gold Creek bridge around 12:30 and rocked to launch to find two hangs set up and just about ready to go. (Tom and Brian) - Some snow on road but no problems whatsoever for any rig that can make the run when it is clear.

Cycles were coming in west when we got to launch so I made a "rapid" departure following two botched launch attempts. The first Hang just couldn't quite scratch it out. (ten minutes too early, I figure) - I found lift very light early and with aggressive efforts, gain 20, loose 10ft. for the first 15 min to 25 min I was able to push back to the base of the ridge proper and up to about 5,000ft. From that point on it was nothing but lift in all the right places. Dave M and Matty beat me to the top of the ridge and then booked for the West side of the valley for one of several circuits.

By the time I made it back out to 1/2 way between launch and ALTA all 6 bags were making their appearance in the air, Heather, Gordon, Matty, Dave, Dave and Jeff and me (Dave), 3 Daves, what's with that, a very fine crew and everyone got as much cold as they wanted. I flew about until I had to come down due to an appointment back in Yakima at 6:00. Everyone could have flown easy an extra hour or so. We flew back in to ALTA and I think everyone busted 6k or better, I didn't get very high at ALTA, when I went back the valley was shady which kept things quiet until it opened up later. - The video is at about 1 hour into my flight. Boy do I love my mits. -

Bottom line, Cold, Beautiful, Lifty to Base at 6,500 or better. - Wisppys, Smooth and fun. - All bags landed at the bridge to the best of my knowledge.

Video is around 3 min, unedited and simply to provide a condition report
Preacher.

Lucky day

Rampart is one of the more challenging sites we fly and when winds are up it is down right dangerous.



I almost always rely on XC Skies ground level wind speeds. They were showing 7 mph, (I double, plus a little, that number for launch wind speed which gave me 14-17 on launch and for Rampart that is a way way no go prognosis) I would ever think to fly based on those number, revising strategy now. - But it was Saturday and Gail was working so with a gaggle of Hangs declaring their intent I figured why not check it out. Part of my reasoning was to build more data points in my own mountain WX synapses.




5 hangs in the end and when I walked up to paralaunch who did I find but Dave M. and Jeff Spear. - Yippee it was a lovely day. Max Altitude: 6060ft.

The Season is Wraping Up

or

I GUESS IT IS GOING TO BE A LONG LONG TIME

Over the next few days I will be doing some writing - Already have one article thumbnailed on safety issues and wing upgrades. - Stay tuned. -
For now just a quick fun one from this summers video archives.
Can you guess the pilot?

Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Rampart to Stevens pass, my first attempt. Conditions looked to be excellent for the effort. XC Skies was calling for lift to 11,400 to 12,000 on route with generally low pressure and South winds over the Cascade crest.

Up pass winds from both the West and East on the surface were to be 4 to 7mph. This is a little strong but you get that with good lift. The conditions on launch were a bit challenging - nothing new there, but a bit of a stronger East push kept us sitting on our hands until the West face really started to move. Until then we had cross winds out of the East.


3 minute video above, 1hr 45min below

When cycles started to come from the SW it was after 2:00. I really had hoped to get off by 1:00. Next time I think we will launch East just below the Hang launch.

Climb out was fast and easy and the crest was boaty and lifty. - Strong windy lift with undetermined, lea and windward sources were the name of the game all day. For one who is not use to mountain flying it was quite disconcerting to not have a clear read on either the direction of the lean of the thermals or their actual source. - After a couple of turns I could figure it out but I was never sure when they kicked off and some were as strong as 5.5 m/s up.

The view up there is just amazing but to give you an idea of the work involved I can honestly say that I spent almost no time looking about and almost all of my energy flying and working for best lift and line.

After my initial climb I got a nice lift in the bowl just south of Alta and then flew on a lift line just east of the peak. I didn't have to turn again until past Chikamin where I was back to ridge level. This is at the back end of the major bowl that you see when you look up valley from the freeway. From the freeway it looks like the last high hill but it is a ridge / bowl that has a S and SW face.

Chickamin faces S and I had to push past it to its West face to begin to pick up my next lift. It was slow to develop but eventually really took off and was my first climb that had a strong SW to NE lean to it. This one sucked me farther into tiger country which was good and bad. It was forcing me to make a call and with the extra lean I began to imagine valley winds in the back of my mind.



Flying high in the mountains is easy, the big problem is at the end of the day and you have to make your calls way before you have all the information. This leaning thermal told me that the West winds were winning and going to pick up. - I was facing a push now to the North that had about 20k left (though I didn't know the distance for sure).

I was certain I could make the next transition to Chimney Rock having over 9,000ft at Lema Two. But it was becoming the point of no return and I just didn't have the guts or other apparati required to continue on. I was already at a point where I wasn't certain I could make it back but thought I could. In hind-sight I should have pushed on.

Back to the challenge of valley winds. - When you get low they can be very strong and I was worried that if I got stuck in big sink I would not only have limited landing options but they would involve major winds based on the lean of my last thermal. So I turned about and ran like a little scared kid hiding from the bully.

The return was quite nice, though I wanted to go West side of Mt. Thompson, but again didn't have the guts. I dove in for the lea side ride back to the mid section of Alta where I knew safe lift was waiting, assuring me of the LZ.


ALTA ALMOST HOME

It was there that I caught the best lifter of the day cranking all the way to 10,300 or so. On the way past the summit I chatted with a hiker who had a dog. Didn't get the dog's name though. (6,250ft) From Alta I pushed West along the crest over Snoqualmie peak and on to Granite Mountain thinking about making a run for North Bend. I was at 6,500 when I decide to play nice and join the crew back at the cars and turned back to land about 3k West of Hyak. (parked in West winds by the way)

I don't know if I would have made it back to Mailbox, the Winds at ridge level were not bad and the sun was baking the ridge between Bandera and Mailbox so I figure it should have been easy but those are more might-have-beens. It was a great day of flying.

Next time, maybe.

Preacher

Short video of Mt. Si from the air

Mini Adventure to Switch Ridge

Always fun to try a new launch. A site near Imbler Oregon was on Doc's bucket list and with high pressure dominating the region, well why not.

We trundled up our wives for retrieve adventures celebrating Doc's Birthday and Gail's and my Anniversary (29 year for both). We hooked up with an old school local hang for a site-O and we committed aviation. Doc got about 35k and I came up 10 short of that. - Nice lift to around 7,500.



A lovely day. - We still have to find a less frustrating launch however. We will be doing this again, the place is just 2 hrs from the Tri-Cities and sets up lovely from NW to SW.


Dreaded T-Boomers were well South - we kept our eye on them Dr W.

P
(Switch Ridge is the name I gave the launch - Switchy cycles made for a very frustrating launch - fake straight up, then blown launch with a North cycle, then same to the South, then finally straight in again and off into the sky - 4 or 5 wing setups on a hot and steep slope)

Planning an adventure

Tomorrow Doc, Mag, Gail and I will head for a spot east of Pendelton for a bit of mountain flying. The T-boomers that set up are due to line up sw to ne on a track that should give us nice lift out in front.
The boomers are due to reduce later in the afternoon so we should be fine regarding OD. - We will see.

Random Ramblings from the Red Rock Race

Flying at the Nationals here in Utah has been a mixed bag so far. – The “practice” day was split into a short afternoon shake out flight and an amazing glass off. Monroe is a wonderful site with big air. Thermals are quite strong and plentiful. I had sustained lift to 5 and 6 m/s which is 1,000 to 1200 feet per minute up. The thermals and edges were nice but the transition prior to entering the thermals were extremely sinky and often quite turbulent. In addition there were bullets mixed in so I got quite a ride when down low. (not a good idea)

The launch is also quite far back in the hills and if you don’t get up it is quite a long glide before you get out over the valley floor some 5-6000 feet below. I think it may be a good mile or two.

The place is just very BIG.

The past two days have been thunder storm days and the gust fronts yesterday were quite impressive. Big CUnims all over the joint with massive cloud structures sitting right on top of launch and over the hills in the region.

The first day of the comp was a nice flight but my head was only half in the game so I left the race before the start and headed back to HQ. – My mind was on my father who ended up in the hospital during the flight. – He is doing well now but at the time I couldn’t focus on the race. –

I was about 5,000 feet or more over HQ and figured I would give the Anti-G another run. My flight deck makes a perfect holding spot for the Anti-G. It fits well and extracts without a problem. A quick toss over my left shoulder and it is deployed. – This time I took two drives into deeper spirals and sustained 8 m/s or 1,500 ft/min down. – I could have held that indefinitely and will try to push it even deeper next time. – At 1,500 down the pressure on the drogue increases and it felt like I was pulling 2 or 2.5G’s (no way of knowing that one.)



With the increased pressure on the drogue the knot that attaches the apex retraction line to the “retraction handle” popped through the guide grommet. This was not a big deal but it made it so I couldn’t retract the apex and the drogue remained deployed. – Once on the ground it was easy to fix and were it to happen again I could easily fix it in the air now that I know what the pop was. My solution at the time was to just bring the drogue in and stow it in my jacket.

As part of the two day no fly we had longer pilot meetings where there was extended discussion regarding pilot safety and the dynamics that allow us or may cause us to be at greater risk. – The consensus has been that while 2liners may pose some problems in terms of their recovery characteristics they are by no means “THE” problem. We talked about task planning and the competition pilot mind set. Serial vs Comp wings and what might happen depending on various ruling body decisions. Nothing has been resolve but it was good conversation.

Big Flight off Tibbitts

Saturday was a call! - Tibbitts looked best for launch winds and it worked. - A slow start due to issue on the hill took an hour but that let the flats develop so it was likely a blessing in disguise.

Once again I have to thank Dr. David Wheeler for much of the flights success. - He is one of the site gurus and knew right where to go for the river crossing. -

I will post a longer recount of the flight but for now the high points were:

1. flying team with Dave for most the day.
2. Getting up and out from Tibbitts and making that call
3. a mega low save just short of Brewster on the flats
4. Big gift boomers over deep bandlands
5. gliding in and getting out of a locked encampment with Dogs.

I will fill in the details on these stories and more but just one for now.
The mega low save happened after I sent Dave on as I wasn't getting any and the day was late near the end of the flats. - I got up but then got drilled again and was comming in about 1 mile in from the rim in flat flat flat country. I was over a dirt plowed field and was hoping to make a green field just over some low power lines to the West of me. - On final death glide I noted a small dust devil forming to my 9 O'clock. Small it was but its dust was still higher than I was. Then another and another and a line of Dust devils set up perpendicular to my path but one field to my right.

Trying to explain why there were 4 mini Dust devils off to my right all in a line the line concept took over and I figured "convergence" (rim lift vs East Flow). If this was correct then it should continue over the field I was headed for only it was green so no dust. - Hang on this could be bad - flying low into this kind of lift, well anyway - very active flying and sure enough rather than turning on final I turned into a cranker that took me to 8,000ft msl. - And it was off to the races - transitioned over the river and into the high bad lands. - Then on glide with a 17 mph tail wind with nice lifters when needed. -
Amazing gifted flight.
Dave continued on but didn't get as fortunate in the badlands and landed half way to Omak or so. - Great flying with you Dave - And thanks

Forgot to mention: New Personal Best and Site Record 135.3k or 85 miles.

BTW we shared the air with at least 12 Sailplanes - 2 made close hauled fly bys.
Preacher

On TV

Deb Did it!

LOSING IT FOR FLIGHT

Am I crazy or what? - At age 52 I have finally tipped over the edge of obsession. Never before in all those years have I EVER gone on a diet. - As a kid I was bony thin. - I got married and put on 15 lbs and over the next 30 years added maybe .5lbs of fat and .25 of muscle a year or so till I landed at 240lbs.

At the end of each flying season I am back down to 225 from to the lack of lunch and regular hikes in the heat of the day.

This year is different - I need to be at 225 or 220 at the start of the season so I can fit into my new weight class "L" on the M4. - 120k is top end and at the moment 227lbs I am at 130k all up.

My hope it to be down to 125k for my first flight. - We will see.
All I have done to loose my first 13lbs was to cut out beer, bread, and candy. - LOW Carb ho.

Personal Best- 6hr 40min, 81miles

The doldrums and frozen winds of winter have abated and the flowers and thermals of spring are rising from the desert floor. For those of us fortunate enough to fly this month we have found amazing clouds at the top of most of our climbs.

And it has been those clouds and the associated lift that have been different from prior years.

This spring the air at cloud base has been very, very cold. Our spring flying started almost a month earlier than last year. When we look at April 2010 in our league flying, there was only one flight of significance in all of April. This year, however, there have been nearly 20 flights worth more than 100 points on Leonardo. We have been very fortunate to have a number of exciting days and a lot of great flights.

In the midst of this month, I was fortunate enough to get my longest flight ever, both in terms of distance and duration. The setup for the flight actually began two days prior when I decided to take a chance on a somewhat windy forecast for Chelan on a Sunday afternoon. I arrived at launch around 1 o'clock, there were three or four other pilots standing about contemplating the conditions. I don't think I have ever spent as much time on a launch considering the go no-go decision. The sky was menacing, and, as I have learned, springtime skies change very rapidly. This sky seemed to have the potential to blow up at any moment. The cumulus clouds were changing rapidly; the winds on launch where near maximum.


On the one hand, I really wanted to be up in those clouds to see if the lift was good or not. On the other hand, I was afraid of being blown over the back and rotored behind the towers. After a great deal of consternation and discussion, I made ready a launch to Lakeside. Penetration was not a problem; but lift was not particularly prevalent. I eventually left the high wind bowl soaring experience in preference for a landing at Lone Pine. On the way down, I pushed to the West seeking lift and finding none until I set up for a Lone Pine landing at which point the LZ provided a cranker to 6,500 and subsequent lifting line to McNeil Canyon. All this is being recounted as a foundational report for crazy spring clouds. I didn't get to cloud base that day; but with the wind being strong and everything being as bad as it might have been the air was benign. I had been fearful of being sucked into oblivion; yet those massive clouds were mostly frosty mists of fluffy puff. Very cold upper air creates very big clouds that actually have rather minimal lift potential. It was the new understanding that I took into the big flight day on the next Tuesday.

Watching the weather on Monday for what looked to be a very active Tuesday took my emotions and thoughts to a height where I was almost unable to sleep Monday night. Initially it was difficult to get my flying partners to even commit to flying Tuesday. The weather just looked to active. But I made assurances or rather promises that it would be just fine, and a group of seven were finally aligned to assault Baldy midweek.

While big fluffy puffs of cold cloud did not present danger in terms of lift, they did present the potential for precipitation and overdevelopment which can shut down lift. Because of this I encouraged my partners to get to the hill as early as possible. Our earliest prior launch had been one o'clock, and I hoped to be on launch before 11. The best I was able to negotiate was rock at 11, and so it was plus about 10 min.

We drove as fast as we could to the top of the hill, and as we were climbing I was looking about at these massive and threatening clouds thinking I've got to get off the hill. I am not sure, but I bet my buddies were thinking what I had thought on Sunday, "damn I don't know if I want to fly in that." This was my advantage; I had flown in it and knew it would be fine. I was able to leap into the air without the normal cautious mental preparation and launch decision cogitation and associated expenditure of time.

It was that move, made possible by my experience on Sunday, that made all the difference on Tuesday. When we arrived on launch, there was a light northerly flow which normally switches around Southwest at about that time of the day. There was also a large cloud drifting our way from the Northwest. It had the potential to shut everything down. In very short order, I was ready to launch and with the last puffs of the northerly flow I made it off the hill. I made two or three passes on the north side gaining only a little bit before I dove over to the Southwest thermic generator. I knew there would be turbulence in this transition, but I was surprised by the size of the frontal I took as I passed through what I figured was rotor wash from the North slope. My happy little DHV2 handled the event without concern; but it was a little low for my comfort. A quick turn to the right and the house thermal just down ridge provided its normal energetic lift to 7,000 feet or so.


On Glide To Menashtash

The big cloud to the Northwest was drawing closer, and I was at the top of lift leaning towards Menashtash - so it was on glide for me. I had a nice lift line to exit 11. I found the thermal there a little difficult to track down; but once I found it, it worked just fine right up against the boundary of the firing range. Again, I say thank you to Dr. Wheeler for his map in my Garmin. It kept me clear of airspace violations at least my body, if not my wingtip. At one point right at the corner my best guess is that I was 13 feet away from airspace violation, but I was crabbing so my wingtip may have stayed clear. In any event, the track was clear; so I posted the flight.


Menashtash to the Boylston's over Badger pocket was fairly lifty with a thermal mid-crossing; and again and airspace "catch me if you can" along the northern edge of the pocket.

Snow on Baldy



Badger Pocket

I had one or two good lifts crossing to the windmills; but when I got to the other side of I-90, I just missed the thermal which is usually easy to catch. Down, down, down I went in the big sink that is often associated with being near big lift. Right over the windmills, down through the windmills and down below the windmills until I was scratching at 180 feet off the deck. The windmill towers are 222 feet high and their blades have a circumference of about 260 feet. The windmill save was one of the coolest parts of the flight. I'm sure I was at least 150 feet away from the blades. They didn't seem too close; but they were close nonetheless.


Clouds looking East



Down to the Windmills






The Clouds didn't look promising enough to cross the Big Badlands North to Wenatchee

The climb out and subsequent climbs to cloud base were actually fairly straightforward. I chose northerly terrain as I moved closer to the Columbia. I find that the lift generated off the valleys to the North more consistent and easier to find. By the time I got to the Columbia I had found wonderful lift all the way to cloud base, and I crossed about a mile and a half north of the bridge.


Bundled up and Still Cold

Now the cold began to set in. I can't say for sure, but someone said it was to be 8 degrees at base. If this is the case, then wind chill put the experience at -12. All I know is that with a down jacket and long-johns, my legs were violently and uncontrollably shaking due to the cold.
On the other side of the Columbia there was a very large cloud. As I watched it grow I could see dust devils in the fields below and to the south of it. At this point during the day, as expected, there was a light flow from the South.
It was fairly easy to find lift under the large cloud on the flats to the east of the bridge, and I got up high again. At this point, it was a matter of flying the clouds, and they were reasonably easy to work. Although if you look at my track, you'll see that there was a bit of meandering. After leaving the large cloud east of the bridge, the best of the clouds that I could see and get to were to my South, and the winds were not particularly oppressive, so South it was.

Big Cloud acros the Columbia

Just prior to the crossing of the Columbia my video died so there are no more vids or pics to share, sorry about that.

At one point I did sink out and began to look for terrain features which might indicate lift triggers. I noted a fairly sharp bend in the road and wondered to myself, "why does the road bend there?" This was the first time I clearly realized that bends in the road in the midst of the flatlands indicate terrain anomalies also known as lift triggers(duuhhh.) And so it was that I got the next climb from the bend in the road.

By this point I was about halfway to Saddle Mountain. Immediately to the North of Saddle, running its entire 10 to 15 mile length, are sloping badlands that have a southerly face that generate nice lift. On my way to them I floated, above an unplanted crop circle and drifted into lift coming up out of one of the ravines from the badlands. This West to East badland terrain feature carried me 10 miles east.


About 15 miles West of Othello, I needed to choose between staying on the Badlands or tracking east-northeast with the farmlands. While the Badlands offered potentially better lift, they are also part of a wildlife refuge. I was concerned about landing in prohibited land space and voiding my flight. The farmland also had slightly better clouds set up over them; so I went east-northeast. The lift was reasonable; but it felt like the day was ending.

As I neared the end of the farmland bounded by more badlands to the east, I found myself setting up for a landing. I hadn't yet chosen a field; but was looking for one when I noted that in the next field to the east, three seagulls were soaring in a very large circle and rising. Now I have been saved by raptors, eagles, hawks, crows and such but never by a brace and a half of seagulls.

My seagull thermal was a nice big one to 7,000 or better and definitely enough to clear the rather menacing looking badlands to the East before the safety of the fields of Othello.
The badlands were lifty and a line to Othello cost little. The city itself provided my last big climb. By this point in time, I had been in the air over five hours and my brain was beginning to fry, my ability to focus had waned and I just tried to float.

For some reason my biggest concern was the Spokane airspace some 80 miles away. I really had not considered going due east on this track, and hadn't placed in my mind the reality that Spokane was not a concern. Following this last big climb was a gentle slide to about 1,500 to 2,000 over where the equivalent of a late afternoon glass off provided a consistent continuing lift that held my flight level until it finally died off some 20 miles past the settlement.

I landed in a very nice, unprepared field right next to the road which had been my guide to the East. A press of the SPOT and a call to my friends resulted in the news that retrieved was on its way. Ten minutes of walking and a ten minute hitchhike ride got me to the truck stop where a 20 ounce beer quenched my thirst as I anticipated reunion with the living. Chris and Frank arrived right on schedule, and we enjoyed a nice meal at a bar in Othello.

Long flights like this make for very long, late retrieves, and without friends it would be very difficult to endure. Getting a big flight changes things in my head (just a bit, that is what to shoot for and all) but I expect I'll be on the hill this Friday to try for it all over again.

Quick note - 1:11am - Othello and beyond

Super big thanks to Frank and Chris for driving out to pick me up. It is a great feeling knowing friends are on their way even before you land. Kudos gentlemen
Yesterday was a great day to fly if you got into the air and away from the hill early. - Luck had it that I did and it was amazing. = After my quick exit the winds died on the hill and the snow began to fall messing with the minds and plans of the whole crew.

Well I don't know for sure about minds being messed with but I am certain it messed up the plans. Anyway, the thumbnail is: 6hrs 40min and 130km (81 miles for our friends in Rio Linda.) Leo gave me 149km xc miles with all the turns and such. - 6714H was open helping me get to Ryegrass. You will see I needed all the help I could get on that transition. (see video)

I had a supper lucky save during landing set-up at the Windmills. Near froze to death with temps around 8 degree at max altitude adding wind chill figure -12 on glide leaving the top of lift or at some points just cruising the cloud base. I stayed clear of clouds - never even whispied but definitely based it several times near 9,000ft.



- I will post a blow by blow in a day or two but for the immediate satisfaction of the curious here is the track log and a fun video of the windmills close up.

Once again I would never have been able to fly the route without Dr. Wheeler's wonder map for Garmin keeping me clear of the fireing center air space. Easly 30 feet to spare. Thanks David. -

My Flight on Leo
Off to bed now
Dave

Good early Spring day

Amazing Day - Lots lots lots of CU - OD to the west. - tricky to get off Saddle together- most of the crew was 45 min or so after my launch - I got off in an early lull. - But they caught up. - Thermals reported by everyone - very skinny snake like - hard to stay with them - seldom to base then look for another one. - Lots of good pilots were dusted early with a massive sky. -

That was a key challenge and why Conrad's flight was so special - It was very tricky flying - Steve P. took an aggressive pitch and ended up ridge soaring the hills due south of the Dam, - top landing twice in a valiant effort to repeat his Vol Bivi exploits in Nepal. - (unsuccessful)

We all found it almost impossible to make it to base - some lift was screaming, some gentle - I had one full on waterfall 4 k over launch. - Just a great day - On retrieve Randy picked me and Steve TBo up in a chase effort to catch Conrad - we caught him in south Sunnyside and chased the afternoon away all the way to OR. -

Steve P had nice maps in his Big Rig that allowed us to assist as the big C slid into home, just inside legal air space. - Three great low saves - we watched two of them - He can tell the rest

The XC season is off and Running - Until Conrad posts I get to hold his first place cup. - But he IS in the lead - Make sure you post all your flights - top 6 per pilot per month all season long - Build a pile-o-points and see where you end up. If your not on Leonardo then sign up, it is free - If you need help figuring out how to post flights give me a ring and I can help. - If you post flights to LEO but don't find your flights as part of league please e-mail me your leonardo pilots name and I will add you to the NW league List - Remember only US flights count - A part of any flight must be at some point in US Airspace to count.

Last Year's Final Standings:
All the best - Great Crew today and great assist from ground spotter who helped with retrieve. Thanks

Conrad may be home late.

Sorry about the 911 from Steve - don't know what happened but it was distracting in the air and at least one local responder left a note that they were looking. - Don't know the story but would love to hear it.

Preacher.

Pequeños huevos

So, - this was the deal, - 1:00 P.M. - As Jeff and I got to launch we had light cycles inbound from S to SSE - There was a light to medium light cirrus layer and a fair Cu development at around 5,500 to 6k. As we arrived there were three nice cu and 3 corresponding shadows between Baldy and exit 11. - By the time we were set to launch - 5 - 10 min or less the full flats between Baldy and 11 were totally shadowed out.

In front of Baldy we had a small blocking/shadow creating set of Cu-s - Timing was the trick -- there looked to be an opportunity in 5-10 min. with openings expected as the clouds in front looked to slide east for a bit. - This was the case - We both launched into nice easy cycles and pushing right out front caught 100-300 up 1/2 way out to the airport.

Lift wasn't super solid but was regular enough that we didn't go down. - Winds were S not SW and that effected the lift / thermal shapes.

After a few minutes of play we were up and over the towers and as the core took us up the clouds over the flats to the NE were very dark. Nothing was above us directly but at about 4500 to 5000 I took a whack on the right and felt my wing dragging me up and to the left. - Looking East the clouds were obviously very lifty but not friendly looking - we would have had to go lea side as the windward side of the street was in firing range airspace. To the West we had verga and snow between Uptanum ridge and Mt. Clemmons.

The combination of dicey potential - a windward wack aka rowdy air - rapid changing conditions and being between fronts on the day was enough for me and I pulled in my ears and headed west to clear sky. - I continued to climb for a 2-3 minute or so which confirmed my decision. - Jeff followed my lead and we landed by his rig.

Fun stuff - Bigger balls than mine were needed to make the run - I am sure it could have been done - but I keep hearing Gordon's words: "I could have died" and Mer's "That wasn't any fun" when I look at making runs at big ass streets with certain but rowdy lift.

Spring time is energetic and changes very quickly - It all dropped out by 3:30.

P

Doc Icarus

The good Doctor, Curt, Gary and I spent Friday afternoon playing the ridge at Eagle Butte. A great deal of my first flight was spent parked in trashy air but the high wind disabling technique worked great to finish off my vertical approach and landing.

Method as follows. -
1. Identify left A riser at 50 feet over
2. 5 feet over with toggles in hands grab your left A riser
3. The instant you touch down make a sweeping move with both hands down and to the left creating a left side frontal with your A riser and a full stall with your RIGHT brake. In the same move spin your body around to the right and move quickly to the wing.

It is a bit like a self defense move. It causes the wing to fold in half on its self with the top half nose down so even if it catches wind it just lays in a lump.

The wing drops non-dynamicaly so there is no injury to the leading edge.

Try it next time you find yourself landing in high winds.