Flying possibilities

[Bill Cummings]

Looks like H-5 conditions..PNG (91.4 KiB) Viewed 3441 times

[Bill Cummings]

This may well be the second time that I decided to be a, "Now Show," at the Mesquite sand hill due to strong winds recorded around the area as well as forecast winds being too high.
The strange part is that records show the Mesquite area NOT blown out.
First things look bad to the NNW of Misquite, NM about 15 to 20 miles away in Las Cruces.

Looks like H-5 conditions..PNG (91.4 KiB) Viewed 3439 times

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Also in Deming to the west about 70 miles.

KDMN Deming, NM 1-15-16.PNG (12.23 KiB) Viewed 3439 times

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History in Las Cruces at the airport.

KLRU Las Cruces, NM 1-15-16.PNG (25.92 KiB) Viewed 3439 times

But here is what is showing at Mesquite, NM.

Misquite, NM 1-15-16.PNG (34.99 KiB) Viewed 3439 times

Which turn out to be good conditions.
I'll just have to wait for Robin's post since he and David drove to Mesquite, NM.

[RobinHastings]

Friday, January 15th:
Conditions in Mesquite were calm until about 11:30. Then we started getting winds out of the west-northwest at about 5-8 mph. Good speed for training, but not an optimal direction for this site; we bagged the glider about then. We got there at 10:00 and quickly set up the Gemini 134; David got in one short flight, and his roommate Jason got several, too, as he went from running on the flats to running downhill (unhooked) to gradually launching, hooked in, from further and further up. Like David, he does gymnastics, and is in excellent physical shape. Jason's best flight was about 5 seconds long, from about 40 feet up the sandy hill. A pretty good day, all in all. We finished up with lunch in Mesquite, where the food was excellent and abundant. If all works out, we'll try to do some more mentoring on Sunday.
-Robin

[Bill Cummings]

The bunny hill near the hospital is looking good on the forecast.

[RobinHastings]

SUNDAY MENTORING SESSION:
Today (Jan. 17) Bill Cummings and I were able to continue our mentoring with potential pilots David and Nathan. Despite winds that were light and variable (and then, cross) we got a decent session in this afternoon, at the Hospital Training Hill in Las Cruces. Nathan and his wife Melissa arrived from Alamogordo shortly after David, at 2:00 pm. We were able to get David some launches from the top of the hill. He did well, working on his flares on landing. Nathan, too, did well. We started him running down the hill, then running with the glider, then running IN the glider; in several short flights, from halfway up the hill, he got his feet off the ground and landed well. We finished up by having Nathan, and then Melissa, learn to control a glider while in the See-Saw Simulator. I'm sure that Bill will have some video and photos of the process. A new addition to our teaching tools is the BT4 platform on Bill's Xterra; with it we were able to transport our fully assembled Gemini 134 up to the top of the hill without the slogging effort involved in carrying it on foot. The weather was lovely, the company was great, and I'd be confident in describing this as another good day in Southern New Mexico. Stay tuned...
-Robin
PS - Winds were light and variable - while the forecast was for 10-15 mph out of the north. Short term forecasts, at that! You can't trust anybody, these days...

[Bill Cummings]

SUNDAY MENTORING SESSION:
Today (Jan. 17) Bill Cummings and I were able to continue our mentoring with potential pilots David and Nathan. Despite winds that were light and variable (and then, cross) we got a decent session in this afternoon, at the Hospital Training Hill in Las Cruces. Nathan and his wife Melissa arrived from Alamogordo shortly after David, at 2:00 pm. We were able to get David some launches from the top of the hill. He did well, working on his flares on landing. Nathan, too, did well. We started him running down the hill, then running with the glider, then running IN the glider; in several short flights, from halfway up the hill, he got his feet off the ground and landed well. We finished up by having Nathan, and then Melissa, learn to control a glider while in the See-Saw Simulator. I'm sure that Bill will have some video and photos of the process. A new addition to our teaching tools is the BT4 platform on Bill's Xterra; with it we were able to transport our fully assembled Gemini 134 up to the top of the hill without the slogging effort involved in carrying it on foot. The weather was lovely, the company was great, and I'd be confident in describing this as another good day in Southern New Mexico. Stay tuned...
-Robin
PS - Winds were light and variable - while the forecast was for 10-15 mph out of the north. Short term forecasts, at that! You can't trust anybody, these days...

https://youtu.be/nzr7wjH4HKs

[Bob Kuczewski]

Way to go RGSA!!!
      ... and you too David and Nathan.

Here's the apex of the video ...

David with his feet in the Air!!

Nathan_Feet_in_the_Air.png (144.56 KiB) Viewed 3414 times

The shadow tells the tale ... Feet in the Air!!!

Nice work!!!

[RobinHastings]

Actually, the guy wearing the black tank top, with his feet in the air, is David. Nathan did get just a tiny bit airborne, though, which is great! The winds were not cooperating, and he still made it into the air, if very briefly. We're hoping for another session this weekend.
-Robin

[Bill Cummings]

Robin and I made some improvements on our, Hang Gliding, Platform Launch (PL), check list and went to the west side of Las Cruces, NM (USA) to practice.
We recorded or nine practice runs for later review for any weaknesses or errors during our PL launch procedure.
We will do the PL later with a hang glider but at this stage we will not use a tow line or a winch/reel.
For the near future we will only practice launch and landing.
The road in this video is only a practice road since it has too much brush on either side of the road for landing a hang glider.
The height attained with this type of recreation will be about 30 to 50 feet above the ground.
https://youtu.be/STgH67yqGS0

[Bill Cummings]

Robin and I seeing the forecast with winds from the north and getting a little of that but mostly L&V decided there wasn't enough time to drive to La Luz to fly and be back in time for his math class.
We practiced Platform Launching (PL) again today.
Between us today we did 17 simulated P.L.'s
The session seemed to me to not go as well as it really did. However the video testimony made a liar out of me. The only fog was me not sleeping well last night, aborting for one helicopter, one truck, and forgetting to start the digital voice recorder right away. - (our black box). We did catch it all on the GoPro camera.

We thought the release failed but we had rigged it up poorly for the simulation and could not hear it release but it most likely would have under real launching conditions.

With more than 50 simulated practice runs we are physically doing it correctly for the last 26 runs. Check list verbiage strayed from verbatim a time or two but didn't affect the rolling launch simulation.
Our schedules may not match up for hang gliding until Feb. 10th or about there.