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!!!
