"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
Leonardo da Vinci

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Go to the Clouds

Unclear how to interpret a myriad of weather data I asked the veteran sailplane pilot where to go. Expecting an analytical answer he said "go to the clouds." He went on to say "unless the clouds are not on your course line, in that case, go to the clouds." With this detailed plan I towed to the best looking cloud street in the foothills. Off tow at Indian Valley with East Park Reservoir above the right wing.
The veteran was right. There is lift below the clouds.
Nice flat bottom cumulous ran the ridge tops as shown by their shadows.
The foothills began dying late in the day as the valley turned on for some fun cloud hoping.
Soaring makes me smile.
After a couple hours of dancing beneath the clouds it was time for an 8 knot tailwind landing on 16 at Williams for a sporty finish to a wonderful day.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Lucifer Offers Redemption

With a less than stelar day in my attempt for airtime yesterday I awake after a full night sleep. I start today with a healthy breakfast, 4000 yard swim and a horoscope that reads "500 fpm lift to 5000 feet." Probably too optimistic but hey, what a difference a day makes. Winds are light out the back from the South-East at that Devil Mountain making for a long launch run at Juniper, but not strong enough to allow any demons into the air. In familiar territory I know just where to go for up air in these conditions.
There's thermals in them there hills. I bank it up.
Lift is light, cloud base is scraping launch, but it's wonderful in the air today.
I work everything I can, even into the lower foothills where the lift seems less effected by lee side wind.
With weak, low lift it's a 1000 footer day. I line up and squeek it in.
I radio my location to Teri and use aviation vernacular explaining my landing at this technical LZ. She calls back with concern, "a greaser is good, right?" I reply "YES...IT...IS"

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Not My Day

Occasionally, I have a day when every stop light is green after sleeping all night at the firehouse and karma is on my side. Today was not one of those days.


Off duty, after 48 hours on, I'm groggy. Due to a departing cold front I make no excuse. With caffeine jitters I drive through traffic over two bridges to Mount Tamalpias where the departing clouds should clear first. I arrive at launch to see my hole close in as fog grows thick. One more bridge and try number two for Fort Funston. A little more traffic, a detour, unfamiliar area, "hey weren't we just driving down this road?" Flying is no longer a desire today, it is now a quest. With gliders in the air I set up quick and get into the light smooth ridge lift at Fort Funston, finally.
Permission to buzz launch? Negative Ghost Rider the pattern is full.
For some reason the cliff seems to grow taller on every pass. It took a lot of effort to fly today, maybe just a couple more laps.
Possibly a bad turn or a couple days of firehouse cooking on my small wing but I'm beginning to think a top landing may not be possible anymore.
Mercy, that looks like a nice spot to land.
Not to waste my very dedicated driver at Funston; Teri made the jaunt down to the north end where Mike was kind enough to help carry out after my first opportunity to use the beach as an LZ.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Valley Shear in Winter

East wind in the Sacramento Valley and west wind on the Mendocino Mountains west slope indicated a shear line lie between. Today was a rare wintertime opportunity to find that shear which often occurs during the summer months. Unfortunately the shear was obscured in a moist air mass as I arrived at the gliderport excited to soar. The anxiety of seeing many sailplanes staged for launch as I impatiently waited at Williams Soaring became too much and I had to take "Juliet Hotel" the ASW-27B into the sky for a try.
I launched too early and got spooked on tow once into the multi layered sky, fearing IMC, prompting a low release. It was good takeoff and landing practice before conditions improved. Soon the sky scattered and it was time for a relight out to Three Sisters at 4000'. I worked wind blown lift in the foothills and then found that shear line as it moved east marked with a nice line of Cu.
Fortunately, there were some good pilots out today helping mark lift along the shear.
Eventually, the shear moved all the way to Williams and sparked off nice thermals in the unstable atmosphere.
I followed the shear as it crossed past the airport into the wet central valley.
Lift began dying, bases lowered and the wind shifted west at Williams. Time for negative flaps and a short upwind hop to the airport after a fun soaring flight following the classic valley shear.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Ed Levin Elusive Pre-Frontal Soaring

With southerly winds and a destabilizing atmosphere I tried to capture that elusive pre-frontal soaring flight at Ed Levin on my Sport 2.
The wind was marginal in strength and had an unfortunate east component, however it was smooth allowing me to tuck in close for some passes over launch.
With the crossing component and lulls in the wind I found myself back at launch level. Time to cash out and point this floater directly up wind so I can clear the 1500' foot hill and soar the bowl beyond which should be faced directly into the wind.
It was smooth and straight in the bowl but even weaker than the top. I fought the relentless force of gravity hard as I slowly descended. I eventually had to give in on a pre-frontal day which came so close to those magical flights when all the meteorological soaring parameters align in just the right way.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Presidents Day 2010 at Diablo

A large number of outdoor enthusiast enjoyed an unseasonably beautiful Presidents Day at Diablo. With the corresponding warm and stable air mass I was to be the only aviator amongst many hikers, cyclists and equestrians. After launching the Tower's upslope trickle it was clearly going to be a sledder all the way.
Many hikers doted the north side peaks and ridges. I enjoyed bewildering the groups with my shadow as they looked around believing they were all alone in the great outdoors.
Of course, I would give a friendly wave to the people that figured out that shadow.
Sooner or later I was bound to nail the Mitchell Canyon LZ. Today I set up just high enough to fly over that pesky ditch and pogo stick the uphill.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Nice Winter Day at Diablo

The weather man indicated perfect weather for this holiday weekend. I don't think the weather man is a soaring pilot but I can't imagine a better way to spend a nice winter day outdoors than hang gliding. We arrived at the Tower Launch to find the inversion hanging about 2500' scattered with clouds.
Gerry and I hoped to find some low thermals beneath the clouds as we launched the Towers.
We worked Eagle Peak but would immediately hit the inversion. A few mistakes would quickly put you into lower terrain to scratch hard. The nice day prevailed and we landed in the lush green grass at Mitchell Canyon as I again ran out my landing on the downhill portion due to the amazing power of "ditch suck."

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Short Field Landing Practice

Two holidays in one weekend, if you count Hallmark Day, brought many pilots to Williams Soaring on a beautiful and possibly soarable day in February. With low Cu over the valley I towed towards higher ground at Walker Ridge in the ASW-24B "Delta Romeo" where I found marginal lift and low bases.
It was either my hang gliding mentality or Rex's warning that "a land out is not an option today" but at 4500' and 20 miles out I decided to bail for the valley. I overflew the foothill's low clouds until I was close enough to the airport to sneak underneath the Cu and start working lift.
After milking low valley lift, it was time to land, with an extra challenge. A sailplane was stuck in the mud mid-field after veering off the narrow runway. I tried to hang on as long as I could but at some point a powerless aircraft has to land. With a truck unable to free the glider I came in with a steep approach touching down hard and fast with full airbrakes applied well past mid-field. I was relieved as I stopped this pretty plane before the end threshold without the belly and pavement meeting.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Diablo's Usual Suspects

With a late decicion to fly Diablo on another iffy winter weekday I expected my only flying companions to be of the feathered variety. I was pleasantly surprised when some of the usual suspects showed up at Juniper launch. Robert, Chris, Kevin and Mike are a pleasing group of expirienced pilots who display eclectic attributes which can be humbling. In weak conditions I was able to scratch around and maintain in areas for a time but eventually put down at my frequented LZ, the 1000 Footer. I don't believe anyone rose above launch today, but this group was able to soar low and long ending up at Blakes, Lime Ridge and the 1000 Footer for some impressive light thermal soaring. The beauty of flight is that much sweater when shared with a group of friends.
Punching off launch
Robert flies by Juniper with Walnut Creek in the background
Mike and Kevin wait for a cycle
Chris "The Big Guy" hits Full Throttle
My friend The Thousand Footer

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The Devil Shows His Teeth

If you fly Mount Diablo in varying conditions, often enough, you may end up downwind of a large mass of earth, allowing the Devil to reveal himself. Hopefully you don't get bit, instead just walk away with a little more respect as I did today.


With a brand new set of side wires and over eagerness I headed to Diablo. My wife and driver Teri, laughed aloud as I set up my Sport 2 in fog with the wind blowing lightly down at the Tower. I explained it would be OK as I had a new set of side wires. Soon the sun shined and cycles came up. The Tower often crosses 90 degrees right, but today it was gusty and occasionally would blow down. Having only flown 14 of the first 40 days this year, my eagerness was understandable and I did have new side wires. Once prone off launch the Devil came out of the mountain. I worked to keep it level as I rolled through 60 degrees of uncoordinated turns in big sink. I was on the lee side of Ransom Peak and headed for Bald Ridge unable to take pictures or zip up my harness. I cleared Bald by 100 feet and the air smoothed out, but I was low and unsure if I had the glide out. The first bailout was the Crossroads with absolutely nothing in front as shown below.
Fortunately, in clean air I found lift and worked cautiously to give myself breathing room. Once high enough to allow for sink I drifted downwind towards the ridge between Eagle and Twin Peaks. I anticipated the last bowl of this ridge shown below on the left, would provide lift as it faced into the wind.
The air was too textured to work in tight, but the ridge lift extended far enough out and provided a good thermal collector for soaring.
I was able to rise high enough to look back at the gnarly canyon on the North side of Bald Ridge and contemplate my over zealous attitude of the day.
The landing options on this side of the mountain are poor in east wind. I made a plan. The east side of Mount Zion known as the "Quarry," could provide enough lift for the tailwind to push me to Blake's with an uphill landing option. I headed to the "Quarry" which incidentally only works in east wind. With vertical rock walls the "Quarry" is a stimulating amphitheater of work trucks moving stone about. Unfortunately the lift went slightly higher than the summit before being blown apart. With enough lee side adventure for today, time for plan B, landing crosswind at Mitchell Canyon. The air was relatively smooth until the last 200 feet down near the Oak Trees, allowing the Devil to say his final goodbye as I ran out a bumpy crosswind landing dragging my right wing tip. I called the wind talker, 12 gusting from 8-20 East-North-East. Note to self for the future, DON'T FLY IN MODERATE LEE SIDE WIND WITH A STRONG LAPSE RATE.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Cloud Base Soaring at Diablo

With the Colts and Saints appearing in the most watched American television broadcast of the year, Super Bowl XLIV, I had a very difficult decision to make. I had to decide whether to soar a sailplane or hang glider. It was a tough call, but Gerry, Greg and I headed up Diablo. Robert, Ian, Mike O, Mike S and Bob arrived soon after. Once off the Tower Launch I found light smooth cloud suck, providing a playground between Ransom Peak and Bald Ridge. Base was typically 3600' but would occasionally rise above Diablo Peak.
Mike S and I had the clouds to ourselves for some time in this happy air. The large group decided to join in our fun and it was time to stay out of the white as we all took separate paths away from the mountain.
A low flyby over the hikers atop Eagle Peak provide no lift. So off to the flats to work some scattered thermals.
LZ's used today included the 1000 Footer, Blakes and the Plato. Although, I ended up on the down hill slope at Mitchell Canyon for the best Super Bowl Sunday ever.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

It is Still Winter at Diablo

On any given weekday the prospect of soaring conditions can be judged in direct correlation to the number of hang gliders atop my truck. On this Wednesday in winter Gerry, Mike and Kevin joined me for what must be, some good airtime. The winds looked good, the BLIP maps looked good and the sky looked really good as shown from the air, below.
Despite this indication I have to remember, IT IS STILL WINTER. With much anticipation we launched Juniper and found weak conditions. Gerry and Kevin made a valiant effort managing to squeak out every bit of up air they could find but ended up at the 1000 Footer. Mike and I were soon to join the party. Below Kevin and Gerry begin break down as I turn final.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Low Save at Diablo

Today, Phil the groundhog saw his shadow. Legend has it, six more weeks of winter lie ahead. Because the National Weather Service's climate prediction super computers are about as accurate as Phil, I need to practice some weak winter soaring, for this is likely the future until mid-March. I launched Juniper and quickly scratched down the west side of Diablo finding myself low over the 1000 Footer LZ.
At about 500' AGL I felt a tug on my harness, which was not my zipper pull I was planning on opening in the near future. The vario spiked at almost 100 fpm up. It took a lot of work and several minutes but now I was 50' higher. I used my most unused skill, patience, and sure enough I was able to climb out to cloud base which was at 2600' here away from the mountain.
Sure days with fat lift and high bases are the flights legends are made of. However, a low save in weak conditions and being able to look back, about even with launch, are some of the biggest rewards in soaring.
After maintaining under these clouds for half an hour it was time to head somewhere. With the typical low winter cloud bases it would be a stretch, but they doted the way towards Blakes and Lime Ridge LZs. Unfortunately they were classic Cumulous Fakus and I quickly retreated for my trusty 1000 Footer bailout. Again at 500' the vario sang but this time after several minutes of hard work I was a little lower and it was time to to give the LZ the respect it deserves.