Rite of Passage

http://vimeo.com/17699223

This Tuesday I accomplished a goal that has been on my radar for some time. I flew to The Point! The Point is the very tip of Lookout Mountain overlooking the Tennessee River at Chattanooga. It is a beautiful spot much adored by sight seers for it's views and it's history. I'm here to tell you that you've not seen The Point until you've seen it from 1000' over! Flying to the point is something that is done frequently from Lookout Mountain Flight Park, one of my home sites. It is not a highly challenging route, although it does have some technical aspects. There are pilots who will fly to The Point and back multiple times in a single flight!

So why was this Rite of Passage for me? I believe there is a critical step in the development of a hang glider pilot when you come to terms with the idea of landing out. Landing out means landing in a field other than a designated landing zone (LZ). A hang glider can be landed just about anywhere there's a field free from obstructions, and if you're planning on doing any cross country flying (XC) then you're going to be landing out. However there are many pilots who never reach that point. Landing out safely not only requires solid landing skills, but it also requires the ability to judge a field's size and terrain and vegetation from the air, determine the wind direction, and other more subtle skills that you don't learn landing in proper LZs. Flying is full of awe and wonder and challenge, and for some flying within range of a known, cared for, wind-socked LZ is adventure enough. For others the thrill of flying off into the unknown in search of new terrain, new lift, and of course, new LZs adds a completely new dimension to the art of hang gliding.







I've considered making this trip to The Point once or twice before. There always came a moment when I realized that if I flew any further I would be out of range of the designated LZ. At that point there was an invisible tether that held me back. Perhaps, I  mused, I am one of the first category of pilots, the ones who are happy boating around in the known? However this past Tuesday when that moment came I felt no hesitation at all! I looked ahead and saw some big fields and thought "Yeah, I could land that no problem.", and just like that, I had stepped through the door.

Hang gliding is a very dynamic activity. It can be at once transcendent and thrilling... heavenly and frightening. It requires that you constantly evaluate where you are, and where you are going. You cannot drift aimlessly into hang gliding. If you wish to keep growing as a pilot you must do so with focus, passion, and determination. This is not a sport that requires great physical prowess, nor does it require special intelligence.

What is does require is heart, and courage, and a willingness to take measured risks in the quest for higher heights. In my short time flying (just over 1 year now) I have been stretched, challenged, uplifted, and at least once pounded by my desire to master free flight. I am a much happier person because of it. More fulfilled.





I am constantly surprised by one simple facet of flying... it doesn't ever become normal, or mundane. Every time you start to get comfortable with flying, there is something waiting to lift you up to a whole new level.... and after all, isn't that The Point?

Glorious Day

My Brother Chris drove into town on Friday night. He was with me during my first days training last summer but had to go back to Pittsburgh to finish college and stuff like that. He was hooked from the get go like me but was forced by circumstance to wait until now to return and continue his training.

We go out to the hills on Saturday morning and his first launch was superb... landed on the wheels though I could see him push out hesitantly at what would have been the perfect flare moment. Starting with his second flight he landed every one on his feet... at least half have been very pretty 0-1 steppers. What a jerk!! By the end of the day Saturday he had completed his small hill tasks and started working the big hill. After his first flight on the big hill he was smiling from ear to ear. It's amazing how great those first 5 seconds of flight time feel! By the end of the day on Sunday he was doing well on his turns... work that he will continue to practice today. He appears to be something of an HG prodigy and his skills are far in advance of mine when I was at his stage of the game. The forecast is looking very favorable for the rest of the week and I am hopeful that he may mountain launch before he has to head back north on Sunday. Once again, let me say YOU SUCK CHRIS! :) I caught a couple of snippets using my phone:




The afternoon on Saturday was shaping up to be really nice for soaring. Almost entirely blue but pilots were launching and while no one was soaring the air had lift and it was still early. I flew at about 1PM and found almost nothing until over the LZ. I hovered in place waiting for the thermal to pass before going in to land. Chris arrived with the truck before I had finished breaking down and by 2:30 I was launching again. This time there was lots of lift everywhere. I thrashed around in front of launch never getting higher than 100' over and never getting lower than 200' under. I'm sure I looked like a fool flying into and out of a whole bunch of ratty lift that a more experience pilot would have taken to the top. I was nervous about flying so close to the ridge especially given that the lift was all being blown back towards the ridge so each 360 turn brought me closer to the trees. Eventually I got pushed down and out over the valley. Over a little hill beside a hay field (a known thermal trigger) I found some decent lift and was able to get into the core of the thermal. Within minutes I had ridden it back up and over launch and was well established at about 2 grand over launch height. There is something undescribable about the feeling I get when I hook that first thermal and watch the launch slowly get small beneath me... it's sublime!!

I flew around for a while never getting lower than about 2k over and maxing out around 3400' over launch. Then I was passing down the ridge when I saw a bald eagle flying well below me. I started tracking along behind and above him enjoy the scenery when he started coring a thermal and rising up closer. I didn't feel the lift, but I started circling above him. Just before he reached my altitude the thermal reached me as well and we started climbing together. A couple of more 360's and he was level with me circling directly across from me in the lift. He stuck with me for a couple more turns ending by doing a wing over (showing me some impressive talons), tucking his wings and burning off and away down-wind fast! What an experience! I am still in awe of the beauty and majesty of this bird and flying with him like that is not something I will soon forget!!!

Soon after I notice a glider out over the valley higher than me and still climbing. I burn over there and sure enough I start to go up. I'm averaging 600fps (feet per second) up but there's this one little core of 900fps that I keep hitting... to small to center in it but I hit it at the same part of my 360 turn each time... fun! I top out at 4400' over launch, which is 6400 MSL (mean sea level). Guess what? New personal best!!

After that I float around in the valley for a while just enjoying being more than a mile AGL (above ground level). By the time I get back to the ridge it has become ridge soarable and a bunch of people are starting to launch. I know my brother is waiting in the LZ (landing zone) so I head in to land. An hour and a half of heaven including flying with an eagle and the highest I've ever been in a hang glider.

What a day for the Edwards brothers!!!

H3

Got my H3 on Tuesday, September 21st.


It was supposed to be a glorious day. The report was calling for climbs in excess of 9000' MSL. I sold my soul and risked losing both my wife and my job to get down to Lookout Mountain to try it on. Conditions looked really fantastic all day and as I was driving down there I was feeling very warm and optimistic. About 5 minutes out from the launch I noticed some  darker looking clouds. Within 10 minutes of showing up at launch we heard the first peals of thunder and about 30 minutes later it was pouring buckets! Oops... there go my hopes for the day, washed down the drain.

At about 5:00 the rain cleared away and by 6:00 they had gotten out the planes to begin aerotow operations. I was only lacking 2 spot landings to fulfill the requirements for my H3 so I jumped in line to aerotow. My first landing was a beauty! No stepper just inside the line. One more to go and the pressure is building. By the second tow the air was starting to get rowdy. No worries, the last 300' were still pretty smooth. I come in a little high so I stuff the bar and bring it to the ground as fast as I can. I enter ground effect at speed and start to glide... and glide... and glide. There goes the spot.... now flare.... BINGO!!!! Perfect landing inside the ring and I've done it!!! I give a big ol' Tennessee shout of triumph and go over to share the moment with some friends. It was 13 months and 2 weeks ago that I took my first mountain flight as a newly minted H2 (novice pilot). Now, 122 flights later I have been certified as an H3 (intermediate pilot).

Utah Video

I finally finished editing the videos from the Utah trip. Me and several other pilots all pooled our raw video before we left so I ended up with about 80 gig of video files from a variety of different perspectives. It made for a very entertaining set of videos! Far more interesting than the usual single camera, single angle style of video's that I'm used to. It was really difficult for me to trim the hours and hours of great flying over picturesque Utah down and in the end I still had a 15 minute long video. To make it easier to upload and download I broke it into three separate chapters... I hope you enjoy them!

Chapter one
http://vimeo.com/14930729

Chapter two
http://vimeo.com/14933473

Chapter three
http://vimeo.com/14933635

Goodbye Utah... until we meet again.

Well, I'm late in posting this. Life has a way of catching up with you fast when you return home from vacation! When last I blogged we had finished waiting around at Commodore all day Sunday but had never had the chance to fly. Monday was our final day and we had high hopes for a wonderful day at a site called both Crawfords and Randolph. I'm still falling asleep at night dreaming of this magical flight. It went down like this:

The forecast for Monday was looking ideal. The southerly winds that had been plaguing us were to pass and a nice northerly flow was going to come in offering some welcome instability and the perfect conditions for launching and soaring at Randolph. We finally got a decent night sleep and met up as a group at Ryan's place at about 11AM. On the way to the site we had to make a pit stop at the airport where Shadd allowed us to drool over the jets he flies for a living... lucky dog!

We made it out to the Randolph site by about 2:00 and proceeded to set up eagerly. Conditions looked a bit light but the afternoon was still warm and we had high hopes.

The view of launch at Crawfords from the LZ

As the hours ticked by first one, then two, then three, then four pilots flew and could not stay up. Our high hopes were turning to despair. We waited for hours just hoping that the valley would start to lift and we would have a chance to soar this epic site. Finally as the sun was dipping low there were only three of us left who had not flown... me, Brandon, and Ringo. The three Southern boys. I finally decided that I might as well launch because in less than an hour it was going to get dark and I'd rather break down while there was some light left. I launched... turned right... and headed down the ridge. Something strange is happening... I'm not going down... I'm not going up... I'm staying right there at launch altitude. Ryan comes onto the radio and says "Paul, you're above launch. I THINK IT'S GLASSING OFF!!!" Sure enough, on my return pass I came back about 40' over launch and was slowly climbing higher.

Both Brandon and Ringo launched soon after me all of us seeking to make the most of our final moments in the air in Utah. Words cannot describe the nature of this flight. Having built our hopes up all morning, then having lost all hope in the evening, and finally discovering that we were in fact soaring after all led to a kind of dizzy euphoria. More than that however was the fact that this was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. The full moon was rising up behind launch while the glorious sunset was progressing in front of us. The air we were flying in was so absolutely smooth that you could literally float around hands off with confidence! As the minutes passed the lift slowly grew until it peaked at about 400' over launch.

Three Amigos Over Randolph

We flew around as long as we could. With the air as smooth as it was we could play really close together. Brandon had more tolerance for it than me so I let him fly around me while I just maintained a steady course. Finally I decided that it was dark enough and headed out toward the LZ to land.

Utah was good to us. Even though conditions were not ideal, we still flew many times over our 5 days there. 3 new sites, 4 new LZs (top and bottom at the South Side). 7 flights and over 4 hours of air time. The country there is rugged and beautiful. I was left with the feeling that this is what free flying is meant to be... you and your hang glider alone in the vast expanse of mountains and air. The people of Utah were generous and enthusiastic about having us around... like family welcoming us home more than strangers welcoming guests into their lives for a time. I know I will make this trip again. Hopefully next time the weather will treat us better and we can taste some of that high altitude air!

As for me, this is a trip I will remember for a long long time both awake and in my dreams.

Off into the sunset... till next year.

Mighty Mouse

Another blown out day. As we have done every day in Utah so far we headed out to the South Side in the morning. The air was strong and chunky. Turbulent and kind of nasty. A couple of local pilots flew but we were advised against it and so we just hung out for a while. We had already set up so Ryan and Shad took the opportunity to show us how to flat pack a glider. Ryan also repaired my leading edge from the day before.

Shad and Brandon flat-packing

The forecast called for more ridiculously strong winds and rain so we made the call to head over to Ryan's place for some classroom instruction.

L to R:  Zack, Dan, Brandon, and Ringo

Ryan went over our launch videos from Camels in detail offering tips and advice. We then viewed some footage he had on his computer of landings and spent some time picking apart different landings for educational purposes. Ryan then showed us a bunch of his camera mounts for hang gliders and then suggested that we do a parachute repack so we can see how it's done. Ringo volunteered and off we went. Little did we know what was in store.

First we harnessed Ringo up and hung him from the tree. We shook him around to simulate a broken glider and he threw his shoot. Well done! Then we carried his chute down to the basement where we started to unfold it. As soon as we busted it out we noticed a kind of smell.... once we started opening the chute we figured out the source.

I can't imagine what Ringo must have felt flying all those months with the putrid stench of death in hist nostrils. Of course... he isn't called Ringo anymore. He shall henceforth be known as Mighty Mouse!!!!

That was pretty much it for Sunday. Ryan's Fiancee Desiree proved that she is the second coolest woman alive (second to my Karina) by cooking us dinner and then discussing hang gliding and beer with us while we ate. This marks the official end of the clinic with Ryan and let me tell you, it was worth it! Ryan and the Wings Over Wasatch crew are not only highly knowledgeable but they are also extremely accommodating. Every part of our trip has been well planned, well executed, and a total blast to be a part of! I hope to be able to come back and visit these guys again soon.

Even though the clinic is officially done we have one more day in Utah. Of course, Ryan and Shad are meeting up with us and taking us to a site called Randolph. The forecast is looking ideal and we are all excited about getting some more big air this afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Big Air

Utah is known for it's big air. Usually this refers to kick ass thermals that can take you  like a rocket up to heights sublime. While we did get to experience some of Utah's big air, unfortunately it was the other kind... the kind that blows at 40MPH out of the South all day long for 2 days straight!! :( When we arrived at the South Side Saturday Morning it was looking decent. We all got set up and most of us flew. The air was rowdy though and I was feeling tired... a combination of jet lag, lack of sleep, and 3 hours of flying the day before. As I was putting the final touches on my glider and getting psyched up to fly a local pilot blew his approach and landed nearly on top of me!!! His right wingtip came down on my left wing tip. WTF DUDE!!!!! That's my glider!!!!!!

This incident combined with everything else kind of put me off of flying the South Side on this day. On the bright side no less than three local pilots gave my wing a thorough inspection afterwards further affirming the fact that these Utah people are generous beyond the scope of normalcy. In the end I decided to save my energy for the epic flight I had planned for the evening.

We headed out to Commodore in the afternoon. Commodore is another high mountain site. It's a bit more rugged being out in the desert. It has the feeling of being the kind of place you wouldn't want to have a bad landing out because it could be years before anyone came across your dried, bleached bones.

Commodore Launch As Seen From The LZ

Another thrilling ride up a mountain track brought us to launch. A large rocky meadow looking out over the vast expanse of desert!

The View of the LZ From Launch at Commodore

The scene on launch was not encouraging. The wind was blowing in quite briskly. When I say brisk I'm talking about 31 MPH!!! What's worse it was gusting. Lulls would die down to 0MPH and in an instant you would get slammed in the face with another 30MPH gust. We waited...

... and waited...

... but the wind never slacked off. We had some great conversations and told some stories. Ryan and Shad shared a ton of thermal lore and mountain flying tips and we threw stones at an old tin can.

I should have taken that morning flight at the South Side...

Moonrise over the Oquirrh Mountains

Camels

Settung up on the South Side

The clinic officially started on Friday the 20th. We arrived at the south side to find conditions looking good and building nicely. The trick at the South Side is for the wind to get strong enough that the Paragliders don't want to fly it but not getting too strong that the hang gliders can fly it. We had a perfect morning for this and I flew for an hour and forty minutes on three different flights with three top landings.... and I only turtled once!!

That afternoon we headed out to Camels.... our first mountain launch site.  Here is our first view of Launch from the car... on the left of the frame just to the right of the fluffy white cloud.

The day looked promising and our hopes were high. The drive up the mountain was thrilling... we don't have roads like that in Tennessee! I must admit that when we first stepped onto launch my heart skipped a beat. Partly due to excitement and partly due to fear.

Standing on Launch at Camels

A launch this high is not something I've experienced before. I just had to remind myself that launching from 3000' is no different from launching at 1300' except that you have a lot more time to find a thermal on the way down. We waiting for the evening air to smooth out and started punching out. The first guy to launch when straight up (almost literally) and the mad rush to get harnessed up and out into the lift began. I had an awesome 40 minute flight getting to about 1000' over launch. I've got tons of video from the flight that I'll share later when I'm home.

Everyone had a great flight and we all ended up in the landing zone together with huge smiles and a sense that all is right with the world.

Brandon and Dan in the LZ with Launch in the background

It's hard to describe but there's something about hang gliding in the mountains here that is just right... this is flying as it is meant to be. As an east coast boy and an east coast pilot I just can't get enough of these mountainous views and big skies. I'd say my first Utah mountain experience is something that will stay with me for a lifetime.

Flying the Legendary South Side

We finally got out to the Point of the Mountain South Side this morning. It was looking really good while we set up but by the time we were clear to launch the conditions had died down and it was no longer soarable. The South Side is only a few hundred feet high but eventually we decided to take a sledder. Not a legendary first flight in Utah, lasted about a minute, but nonetheless a flight. As we were breaking down our gliders a mighty rain blew in and drenched us all quite thoroughly!!

Drying Wings

Sunny South Side

We grabbed some lunch and by the time we were finished the sun had returned and all the clouds that had followed us since arrival burned off in the next 20 minutes. Awesome. Back to the south side. Flew the South Side properly getting about 20 minutes of soaring. It was a new experience for me flying with Paragliders and I must admit I didn't like it. They fly a lot different than hang gliders and I found it difficult to predict where they were going to go next. I'm sure I could adapt given time by I hope I never have to :)

Lots O' PGs

The day ended well with a rosy glow both in me and on the mountains. Having gotten 2 flights today I fee pretty satisfied. Tomorrow is going to be awesome with sunny skies predicted and our first trip to the mountains in the afternoon. Can't wait!!!

Utah here I come!!

About 6 months ago a pilot and HG business owner (http://www.wingsoverwasatch.com) was advertising a mountain clinic he was hosting in the fabulous mountains around Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah is famous for it's awe inspiring hang gliding sites and consistent conditions. I asked if it would be appropriate for newer pilots to which he answered "No". However he did offer to cut me a deal if I could organize enough other new-ish pilots to fill a clinic geared toward our skill level and needs.

Tube Sock

 

 

 

I took this up with great enthusiasm and within a few weeks had gotten together enough people to make the trip happen. The H2 mountain tour was scheduled for August 20th through the 22nd, but because of family concerns it didn't look as if I was going to be able to attend! Then some magic happened. First I was offered to attend the clinic at a discount. Then a local pilot offered to let me and others stay at his place free of charge. Then a flying buddy of mine locally offered to donate plane tickets as he has more sky miles than he knows what to do with. Wait a minute, you mean all I have to do is show up and fly? WHAT!?!?!!

Stuffing....

That's right... the fates rolled out the red carpet and with all of this positive flow working in my direction my family was convinced that maybe I had better go ahead and make this trip. Since that day I have been thinking about this trip nearly every day for 5 months. Now the trip is right around the corner. However before I myself make the trip I had to ship my glider there. I could have opted to bring my bird on the plane, but this course is fraught with danger and opportunities for mishap. Instead, with a little help from my friends, I opted to ship via an industrial shipping company.

Screwing...

Our gliders flew out on Thursday. We will fly out on Wednesday the 18th... in just 3 days! The photos feature my mate Brandon.... he of abundant sky-miles, effusive generosity, and exhaustive shipping know how. All that and mad flying skillz too!

Bye bye loves... see you in Salt Lake

Utah, here I come!!!

All is not lost!

When I was a toddler my grandma told my parents that "If this boy doesn't grow up to be a pilot then something's wrong with this world."

Well, there are many things wrong with this world but all is not lost. It took me much longer than planned, but finally at age 36 I became a pilot and have been pursuing that dream of ultimate freedom across the skies ever since.

Watch my first flight

With luck, my daughter will show this blog to her friends in 10 years and they'll all talk about what an awesome dad I am! At the very least I'll have a place to make a record of my adventures... a record that I can use to help me remember that, even though we live in challenging times, one can still find inspiration and joy and the fulfilment of lifelong dreams!