My Life is a Cliche

Have you ever felt like your life is a cliche? I don't often, but Sunday afternoon I fell head first into a couple of notable hang gliding cliches. The end result comes down to several fractures in my nose, a moderately cool looking black eye, a healthy slice of humble pie, and some lessons I'll not soon forget.

It was Sunday. The first day of the Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge. Other than that fact it was unremarkable. We decided it would be a good day to get a sled run or two in. Mitch decided to set up his electric scooter tow rig in the LZ to help people get familiar with the technology before his landing clinic scheduled for later in the week. I flew... it was nice. Contrary to expectations I didn't have a stone cold sledder but was able to stretch it out for an extra 5 minutes in a little thermal over the LZ. Top it off with a very nice landing and I was feeling good. I walked up to where Mitch was running tows from and watched what was going on. A friend was about to tow up using an aerotow dolly. His tow went well and was unremarkable. He pinned off over the middle of the LZ and that's when it started to go weird. I'm not here to tell his story, but suffice it to say that he ended his flight with a less than beautiful landing... I imagine some stitches were needed. After the dust cleared Mitch stepped up and asked "Who's next?" Enter cliche #1

There are Old Pilots, and Bold Pilots, but Few who are Both. 

I didn't hesitate to step forward. After all, I certainly wasn't going to do what that last guy did.... and I have wanted to try this for a long time. Never mind that the wind is alternating between calm and lightly tailing.... never mind that I've never done a static tow before. After all, I've seen this on youtube, how hard can it be? 

I rigged up my tow release and stepped into position. We decided to try a foot launch. I have been eager to give this a go ever since I first learned about it. I was really looking forward to the landing clinic and I hoped to get a jump on the game by starting today. Mitch gave me a ground school lesson on how it's done. He explained the differences between Static Tow launches and mountain launches. I understood what he was telling me. Launching is all about Angle of Attack. The theory is always the same, however the implementation differs. I am ready... I shout "GO! GO! GO!". Mitch echoes my shout and starts pulling the line. I run. I run some more. Still running. Just as the glider starts to lift off my shoulders I feel the line tension increase and it's as if the hand of God grabbed my by the chest and pulled me through the control frame. Enter cliche #2

Never Land On Your Face.

My feet struggle to keep pace but I just can't run that fast. I begin to fall forward... and that's when time slowed down. As I fell the base bar touched earth, dug in, and the power whack commenced. I watched the nose of the glider come down in front of me like a white curtain. It seemed to take about 4 seconds for it to fill my vision. During that time I watched my left hand come in front of me to break my fall. I watched the ground slowly swing up to meet my face. I flinched away and felt my helmet hit the dirt. I actually had enough time to think "Oh, that wasn't bad at all". I thought the crash was over... I honestly did. Then my face hit the dirt and the weight and momentum of my body behind it squashed my right eye socket into the ground.

Then time returned to it's ordinary pace. I felt fine. I didn't think I was hurt at all. I knew that my spine and neck were fine... it all happened so slow I didn't even question it. I also knew that I was going to have a heck of a bruise on my right eye. I raised an arm to signal to the crew that I was OK, and began to get up. James, Mitch, and Ollie showed up right about then and told me to just sit still. Right about that same time blood started gushing out my nose.     Oh.       bugger.

Angels were with me. In particular, Marie the Amazing. She brought me a towel. She sat and made chit chat while blood streamed out of my face. As the background noise of people packing up droned on I sat in a surreal space grounded by Marie's conversation and the occasional reassurance of The James Dean. Cliche #3.... this time a good one:

The Hang Gliding Community is Awesome. 

Many, many thanks to everyone who helped me out, tried to make me feel better, cleaned up my blood, broke down my glider, brought me ice, and generally took the time to make my life better during a down moment.

So what happened? Everyone I've spoke to has had an opinion. This is the nature of pilots to dissect an event... try and glean any tiny bit of truth from it that can be had. We all live with our choice to pursue this sport. It is dangerous. I think it makes us feel better to try and understand 'what went wrong' when somebody screws up because it will, hopefully, prevent the same thing from happening to us.

So here's my technical analysis. I had my angle of attack too low. I would have been flying sooner if I had gotten the nose up a little and when Mitch had fed the last bit of juice I would have flown smoothly away from the hill. I believe that 3 years of mountain launch experience has conditioned me to keep my nose down... always keep it down. If it starts to go bad get the nose down even more!! It didn't help that I was using a release configured for aerotow, designed to assist with keeping the nose down on those fast tows. Nor did it help that we were towing downhill which added further to the forces pulling the nose down.

However there's a much more important lesson to walk away with. When learning a new skill, approach it cautiously, and ease into it with an incremental progression. I was attempting to launch using a method I had never tried before. The wind was working against us. The field was crowded and smaller than ideal. I was flying my intermediate level glider. I was brimming with confidence. In retrospect, I only gave these factors a glancing consideration. I was a fool! It's humiliating. I don't mind making a technical error... hey we all do sometimes. A gross and obvious lapse in judgement is something I have difficulty accepting about myself. These kinds of mistakes have serious consequences in the world of aviation.

So that's my story. Time to reassess. Time to dial down the brashness and remember cliche #4:

You Will Be Able To Fly For The Rest Of Your Life. Make Sure It's A Long One. 

Landing Reflections

I guess some people just need a little push. I suppose I am one of those. I have been flying close to three years now and have never landed out. All of my cross country flights have been 'out and returns'. Then came my adventure a couple of weeks ago... there's nothing like jumping in at the deep end!

The forecast conditions were ripe for a trip down to The Point and back. Strong winds early picking up a little bit during the afternoon and only dropping off late in the day. Ideal! With some sunshine we should get some nice thermals to keep it spicy but basically it looked like an all day soar-until-you're sore kind of forecast.

3 minutes and 1000' into the flight

When we arrived at launch the wind was light. Lighter than forecast. We started setting up confident that it would pick up soon. Sure enough, before I was ready to launch it had picked up to the point of being a fail-safe ridge soaring day. I launched and started climbing quite rapidly. I shouted in glee. Within 3 minutes I was 1000' over and feeling great! I didn't hesitate but pushed North towards the point immediately.

My plan was to get to the point, then turn around and head back south meeting up with everyone else part way. I'd then turn around and fly with them the rest of the way to the point one or two more times. There was lift everywhere and I was leaving the climbs before reaching the top because I knew I had it in the bag... or so I thought.

About 2/3 of the way there I noticed that I was slipping down in altitude to ridge-lift height. No problem, I thought, the ridge is going to be working all day! Well, the forecast was one thing but the reality something else. Within 10 minutes it went from BANGIN! to flat. Without much warning I found myself clinging to scraps of light lift right at ridge height just hoping that it was a temporary lull. If conditions picked up again soon, I could still make it back to the LZ.

No Dice

The thing about flying to the point is, there are really nice LZs all the way. Big sprawling pastures are the norm... that is until the last little bit. The last couple of miles out there is only one field which is at the Chattanooga Nature Center... more specifically something they call Reflections Riding. This riding has a horse pasture in it. It's not very big... it's basically just big enough to put a hang glider down into. When flying to the point, we always have our eye on that tiny looking patch of grass and we always hope it doesn't come to that. I'd scoped out the field on a previous visit with Zoe and I knew it was very do-able.  It would require a precise approach and the margin for error is slim.

LZ right over my helmet

A closer look

As I turned away from the ridge and pointed my nose at Reflections Riding I wasted no time getting my legs out of my harness, into the full upright position, and my VG set at 1/4. I didn't want to have to think about anything other than setting up a perfect approach and getting on the ground safely. I arrived with enough altitude for a single 360 to survey the area. Given the forecast conditions of the day I was relieved to see absolutely no wind blowing across the field. This allowed me to set up my approach from the ideal direction without any concerns for possible mechanical turbulence from the surrounding trees.

On final... the ducks disperse

I flew southwest, over the creek. A Great Blue Heron startled and flew along the waters surface. I gently banked onto my base leg heading over the pond. Then I pulled into a steep diving turn over the pond, cutting between the trees on either side that serve as a gateway to a good landing. Entering ground effect just past the debris pile I know I had it nailed. Wait for it... wait for it... flare! And I'm down. It was as good a landing as I could have hoped for.

This one distracts me as an ominous shadow approaches my camera...

Then the residents of the field stopped by... 3 horses. 3 very curious horses who weren't above trying out the flavor of glider fabric, or camera casing either! When the staff of the Nature Center arrived they couldn't have been friendlier. They helped me pull my glider over the fence and away from the teeth of the equine welcoming committee.

So there you have it. Having turned down opportunities to land out in larger, easier fields on earlier flights I had finally been forced into it by fickle conditions. What's more I had landed a fairly tight field and had done so with precision and grace. It was just what I needed to get over whatever unspoken blockage was keeping me close to home. I felt elated, and proud, and my confidence was boosted quite a bit.

To watch a video of this flight, go to Landing Reflections on Vimeo

Higher

Monday, August 22nd at Lookout Mountain. Forecast was for N winds at 11MPH. We're in the midst of a little draught which, coupled with some Northerly cold fronts rolling in, has been good for the thermal outlook. Arrived in the LZ at about 1:00 and met up with Brandon and James. Conditions up top already looked really good so we hurried up, and once we got there it looked GREAT so we set up right away. For such a nice day, there was only one other pilot.... Steve.

Steve launched first. Great launch but the air looked rough. He was getting his butt handed to him for the first couple of minutes. After that he was approximately 400' over and it seemed to smooth out. He was climbing fast. I launched second, about 10 minutes later, and didn't have nearly the amount of turbulence that Steve got. I quickly ascended in ridge lift and in less than a minute had hooked the first thermal which would take me to about 2k over. James launched right after I did but I was already skying out when he got off. Brandon had to wait through a gusty cycle and couldn't get launched for about 10 minutes.

It was a blustery day. The wind was blowing about 10-20 mph anywhere from NW to NNE depending on your altitude. The thermals were strong. I saw moments of 900 feet per minute and 600 fpm on the averager was the norm. Despite their strength, the thermals didn't have the kind of cohesive cores I would expect. You could climb fast and well for 1500 feet and then it would slow down to 100 fpm. Look around for a bit and you could often find the core again somewhere else. It may be that the thermal drift was snaky because of the varying winds at altitude?

Anyway, once I got up there was no going down. There were clouds everywhere and almost every one of them had lift under them. I got up to about 4k, then 5k. At about 20 minutes into the flight I hooked a nice smooth thermal at about 5k and it carried me up through 6k before it started to peter out. My previous best was 6400' and I really wanted to break it so I clung to that area hoping to reconnect with the core even though the lift had all but gone. I went into a clover leaf search pattern. I hit mighty sink for a moment and was down around 5500' and losing fast.... just as I was running to escape that I hit the core again.... YEE HAAWWWW a nice strong climb about 500 fpm all the way to cloud base at just over 7k!!! I eventually had to run out of it because I was right up in the cloud. There wasn't evidence of cloud suck as the lift got progressively weaker the higher I got... although I was still climbing at an average of 300 fpm when I finally pulled VG and ran for the patch of sun.

It was over an hour before I got below 6k after that. I experienced every kind of thermal there is from light to strong, wide to narrow, smooth to rodeo. It was a kind of thermalling smorgasbord where you never had to be without lift... it was just a matter of finding the good lift pockets in the middle of the pervasive light lift of the day.

Total flight time was about 3 hours. After the first 1h 30m of epic fun things calmed a bit, got smoother, and it became harder to find thermals that would take us above 6k. I would have loved to have flown longer as the day was glassing off and getting smooth by then. Would have been fun to practice wing overs and just enjoy floating around but I was getting fatigued and knew that I should land while I had the energy to do it right. Three hours seems to be my cutoff point. I need to build more flying muscle so I can stay up longer!

There was a bizarre reverse wind gradient in the LZ I had never seen before. I'm guessing there must have been a thermal lifting off? It was quite smooth until about 300', then it got quite turbulent until about 50' and then it was just a strong, consistent head wind right down to the ground. I haven't experienced landing conditions like that since flying the South Side, POM. Easy to pull a no-stepper in that kind of wind, so I did.

All in all it was one of my best flights! I got higher than I've ever been before. I had a huge amount of fun riding those thermals. I can never find words to adequately describe the feelings I have during and after such flights. Imagine a combination of the feeling you get after a profound spiritual experience mixed up with the excitement and adrenaline of a roller coaster ride. Add to that the strong personal feeling of pride and accomplishment that come with excelling at something you've worked hard to perfect and you will begin to understand what it's like for me.

In short, it's good.

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