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).
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
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
Chapter one
http://vimeo.com/14930729
Chapter two
http://vimeo.com/14933473
Chapter three
http://vimeo.com/14933635
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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.
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.
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.
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 |
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. |
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