Tom's flying outings

[TomG]

    Exercise Laragne Leap, Laragne.
Day 1
After a nice relaxed start to the day our small group of Me,  Mick, and Spock (token army guy) headed out to St Vincent in the hope of it  being sheltered enough from the Mistral to be flyable. On arrival at the Astroturf  takeoff there was a slight breeze wafting up the hill under an overcast sky.  After site briefs we launched and headed off on what was to be one of two  extended top to bottoms, finding zeros over the cables at the end of the ridge.  After the third flight the wind switched to blow over the back so we canned it  for the day and headed back.
Total airtime   25 min.


Day 2
With Jerry, the fourth member of the team who arrived late  on day 1 we headed hopefully to St Vincent with a strong mistral blowing only  to find it unflyable so we retired to spend the afternoon in Gap.
 
Day 3
Back again to St Vincent and on arrival we were greeted by a  light breeze up the ridge so quickly got set up and we all launched only to  find strong sink sending us down the 1600ft to the lakeside bottom landing in  just 6 minutes! After lunch we took off again to find much better conditions  allowing some weak climbs up to 1300ft ATO before it shut down sending all to  the bottom. Back on top again I followed the others off in to seemingly good  air only to sink out while everyone else floated around in the evening sun.
Total airtime 1h 45
 
Day 4
With the remains of the mistral still blowing in the valleys  we headed again to St Vincent to find perfect conditions. After waiting our  turn on the busy takeoff We enjoyed some good flying and climbs with Spock able  to practice his thermalling techniques in the smooth lift before landing for a  late lunch.  On the next flight I missed  the  climb which got Mick on to the foot  of the dormillouse but I soon got another and was able to soar up towards the frost  covered top of this impressive mountain as the wind picked up a bit before the  lift died and I headed back to warm up in the van.  Another flight followed in the weakening  evening lift  allowing me to take a load  of photos, unfortunately I overshot my top landing and thought I was headed for  the bottom but managed to scratch back up to make a successful landing much to  the our surprise as all the others flying had gone down!
Total airtime 3h 15
 
Day 5
Mistral now gone we went to Chabre under clear skies and nil  wind. We all launched for a TTB and enjoyed a slightly lumpy glide down.  Unfortunately this was to be all we were to do for the rest of the day as the  lift failed to materialise. However one upside was that on the last flight I  was able to make a photo shoot formation flight with Mick.
Total airtime 35min
Day 6
With a forecast for very light winds we headed to Aspres  only to find it blow out, so after much deliberation headed to Chabre to find  people already getting good climbs. A quick discussion set a task to a point  some 7km down the ridge and back to the Laragne landing field. Taking off after  Mick I headed off getting a good climb only to see Mick and Jerry sinking out,  so I scuttled back to launch as I watched Jerry land and Mick disappear down  the ridge. Another climb saw me head off again and make the turnpoint with  ease, but no sign of Mick. The run back was more challenging as I dropped down  to ridge height in the shaded out valley before finally sinking below takeoff  and bottom landing for 17.9km On landing I found out Mick a had a good climb  and gone over the back for the first time in his flying career and landed for  15km in the valley behind. A great end to the week for all.
My tracklog is at http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/392761
Total airtime 1h 15

[TomG]

15-08-2010 Preseli North, N14-16
Arrived at lunch time to meet the crowd of Pembrokeshire PG and Stevie G on the hill waiting for it to pick up a bit more. Got set up quickly when the students showed it to be good but I ended up halfway down the hill. A later attempt was better being rewarded with some scrappy climbs to the east of TO only going to 400ft until I got a good steady climb up to 800ft where it started getting stronger and sucky so I ran away back to the ridge where it had gone light again. Had another flight later on but it was scratchy all the time, finally finishing with a long glide out to the road and lift up to my car by Steve, thanks!

[TomG]

30-07-2010 Rhossili, W 15-20
Arrived just after !2:30 conveniently at the same time as Dave Tregaskis who was to be my tandem HG pilot for the day. We took off from the pimple and were soon floating around at 1000ft where I was able to take control, its a lot more physical controlling them than it is a PG. After about 45 mins we toplanded for a break and chat with the other pilots before taking off for another half hour.
As Dave had another passenger waiting I went down to the beach and enjoyed 30 mins playing on the dunes finishing off with some wingovery type things! I also did a bit of ground handling using thw wing like a kite to do some massive skids! Thanks to the kite surfer who came running to my apparent aid as I slid steadily down the beach and Dave for hang gliding.

[TomG]

27-06-2010 Darley Moor, SW 10
During the week an opportunity presented itself for a tandem hang glide from Airways, so duly met up with my pilot nice and early for the drive down. On arrival it was quite busy, but luckily they had got the RAF glider out and rigged ready for us. I opted to go last, thinking that I would get a decent length of flight and all was looking good as the last one landed after half an hour.
After clipping in and getting used to lying down we were off behind the tug for teh slow ride up to 2500ft in quite rough air the glider easily soaking up all the bumps. Unfortunately my hopes of a good flight were dashed as the local area seemed to have become a massive sink hole, putting us on the deck again after only 15 mins. Still it was enough to confirm the hang gliding is a must do thing for me!

[TomG]

05-06-2010 Rhossili WNW 5-15
Arrived to see loads in the air with good height but during the walk up it switched off and all had landed by the time I got to the pimple, so carried on to the top. Set up and groundhandled for a bit before making a few short scratchy hops in front of T/O until it picked up a bit when I scooted off round the bowl then got tossed about a bit in some very rough air. Waited a bit untill I saw some getting good height over the cliffs and joined them for a good hour floating about with wisps of orographic forming. It died off again so I went back to short hops from the top, until I was forced down to the pimple by somone taking off in front of me. Met Nick with the tandem so when I picked up we went for a spin, landing after a while for me to swap to the pilot position. I surprised myself by making a reasonable launch in the strongish breeze, must be beginners luck.
With the breeze strenghtening we landed and I went up for a last few minutes before heading down for a smooth landing in the overflow car park followed by Viv who seemed to be having some trouble getting down.
Thanks must go to Steve though for giving my car a jump start!

[TomG]

03-06-2010 Bryncaws, ESE 10 - 20
Arrived to see people in the air and more on takeoff. Quickly unpacked and groundhandled for a few minutes before taking off in to light air. After a short while it started to pick up, I was able to find some good climbs over the trees taking me to near base. A nice line had formed and I was able to push well out to the other side of the valley taking a fast smooth climb to 2300ft over the old mine, unfortunately on pushing on I was rewarded with sink and on passing 1000ft ATO decided to scoot back to the ridge to avoid being decked in the valley. More good climbs were found to base in the strong wind so I used the height to push beyond the south end of the ridge.
All in all a good day with 3hrs flying followed by a nice chat in the pub after.
Video to follow soon.

[TomG]

31-05-2010 Neighbours farm, S 0 - 5

Having rebuilt my paramotors carb and got it running well went out to my neighbours biggest field to give this powered flying thing a go. A couple of quick inflations without the motor showed what little air there was was smooth, I hooked up the motor. I managed to get away on my second forward launch, skimming low before climbing out rapidly for a circuit of the field culminating in a no step landing. AWESOME.

Total airtime, ooh about two minutes!!

[TomG]

09-05-2010 Corndon, NE 10 - 15.

Another new site for round 5 of the BCC and a reasonably local one at that, allowed a liesurely start for the 11:00 briefing where open distance was called. Luckily there werent many pilots this time as it is a small site without much dynamic lift making us rely on the strong spriglike cycles that were coming through. A lot of short hops followed until I got away in a very strong rough climb with people having collapses all around me, leaving me on my own to drift over the back at a base just over 2000ft ATO. A smoothish glide followed until I connected with a bird marked thermal on the edge of the spreadout getting me back up to base. A frustratingly sinky glide soon had me looking for a low save, trying a few ploughed field and flocks of birds but nothing materialised putting me on the deck after 14.2k
Hopefully with the rest of the teams scores weve fortified our 2nd place in the comp.

[TomG]

18-04-2010 Blorenge, variable, light.

The site for the second day of the BCC was to be Blorenge, a site that I had not flown before. The forecast was for the day to shut down around 13:00 so an early start was in order. People were launching and scratching around and some were getting good height with some heading out towards sugerloaf and seemingly getting good climbs again. I delayed as it was very busy but after a while took the plunge and gained a few hundered feet before losing it and landing back on top after finding it a bit dodgy in the crowded lift. People were launching in waves some going down and some staying up. As expected it soon shut down properly and gliders could be seen scattered in several fields around castle meadows. Eventually it was my turn and an initially sinky glide turned in to near zeros allowing me to arrive with a good margin to join in the pattern over waitrose having some difficulty losing the last bit of height on finals for a perfect landing.
All in all not a particularly rewarding day but good to experience a new site.
There will be a video from the weekend at some point when I can sort out some editing software!

As promised a video is at

BCC 18-04-10.wmv

[TomG]

17-04-2010 Talybont, variable, light.

Met up with the rest of the RAF team at abergavenny for the BCC site choice and a car swap before heading off to the hill and the long walk up. On takeoff we were briefed for an open distance with two turnpoints to enable a triangle if we wanted as the drift was virtually non existant. We opted to move round in to the main bowl and set up there as it seemed to be providing the better lift from what we had seen from those going early. I waited ages for what seemed like a good cycle and launched with four others in to a poorly defined thermal the soon formed in to two smooth cores, mine going slightly higher than the other gliders in the other core to 2500ft ATO in a totally blue sky. We all set off towards Pen y Fan I took a more notherly line and was surprised to find very little sink and smooth air. On arrival with a good few hundered feet above the peak I saw loads of gliders scattered around the south east bowl so went over the saddle to run down a spine towards brecon. I got a short lived and rought thermal just over the saddle that gave me a bit extra height for what would be a slightly sinky glide to the end of the spine when I ran in to very strong sink. Realising I wasnt going to make anywhere near Brecon I diverted out towards the nearest road, landing in a small unofficial campsite for 10km and half an hours flying. It may not seem much but at last I've flown over South Wales' highest peak 

[TomG]

09-04-2010 Fan Gyhirich, variable.
Parked up at the middle gate around 10:30 to walk the rest of the way only to find the wind from the north in to the bowl, I was very tempted to launch there but though it may be a bit light so carried on up. Probably just as well I did, as on arrival at the top it was blowing gently from the west, so mooched in that direction to meet Phil parawaiting. Took my time to unpack and groundhandled in what felt like dead air in the few gust that came through, before going for a few short hops. Around 14:30 the breeze became more constant with small thermals going to 250ft ATO then dieing, to be replaced by sink. The legendary 4 o'clocker came early while I was having a rest so quickly got back in the air to be sucked up to 650ft before losing it and pushing out over the valley, arriving back at the hill 200ft below TO, luckily managed to scratch back up. Meanwhile my two companions had landed to pack up, so I wafted around for a while trying to get enough height to fly back to my car. My efforts were rewarded with some kites marking lift towards the north end taking me to 350 ATO where it reduced to zeros, wafting me between 300 and 350 for about 5 mins, gently drifting back towards Heol Senny before coming in to something more organised taking me to 1200ATO. Enjoyed a lovely long glide down noticing as I flew a square over my landing area that the wind was still north, made a perfect landing on a dry patch by the track. As I was driving down I couldnt help thinking that the sky looked better than it had done all day, wondering if that lift had been my ticket to Pen Y Fan at last....

[TomG]

03-04-2010 Bryncaws, ESE 12

Arrived at T/O with Nick to see two others in the air in what seemed like good lift. Quickly rigged but by then the lift seemed to have weakened forcing the other two to top land. Groundhandled for a bit untill it seemed ok then went for a quick two beats before squeeking in on top. Second time was better and I went round towards the trees followed by Nick who carried on over the trees. On seeing him in good lift I followed, playing in some weak thermally things to just over 400ft ATO. After half an hour rain was felt so a quick dash back to a top landing and shelter was executed.

[TomG]

21-03-2010 RAF Cosford, WSW 10
Arrived at a very busy small gliding club bright and eafrly to help out with getting set up for the day. Had my first two launches around 10:00 in smoothish air to get a feel for the surroundings and the glider having not flown since October, I was surprised to find it all came back very quickly. Had another three launches around 15:00 in the last of the thermals, managing to gain a few more minutes airtime before heading back down for the tricky approach between the hangers and the "glass wall" separating us from the powered aircraft sharing the field.
Good to be back in the air again, even if only for a longest flight of 9 mins!

[TomG]

20-02-2010 Rhossili WSW 10
Arrived to see no one flying so took my time to walk up. Spent a bit of time catching up with some old people err friends while waiting for the wind to fill in.
Eventually Ivor showed us it was doable so I enjoyed a few short hops in front of the top T/O before following a few people across the bowl to the far slopes where the lift was better. I was a bit crowded in the light lift but the odd weak thermal giving some good vertical separation.
In all a good hour to blow away the cobwebs.