Flying possibilities

[Bill Cummings]

Wa Hoooo!
My Youtube password was finally reset and recognized.
https://youtu.be/t20B0It5mrA

[Bill Cummings]

RGSA/Hawks,
Robin looked ahead to the weather models for this coming weekend of November 7th through 8th 2015. He is telling me things look good for flying.
He may have in fact actually said that but I know for sure that is what I wanted to hear.

Mike says he will be good for either or both days.
Patrick H. C. (PG) from up north is thinking about coming down to race up Dry Canyon with us.

So far Sunday is looking more promising than Saturday but the weekend is a good ways out yet. With any luck both days will work. I may even camp overnight at Alamogordo.
Does WalMart allow overnight parking in their lot? They do here in Las Cruces, NM (USA).
Tomorrow, Thursday, I’m going to try and edit my hour flight at Magdalena Rim just NW of Las Cruces.
I’ll edit in the take off, a little flying, and the perfect landing of course then embed it in the RGSA/Hawks forum.
So get everything done and out of the way in case you have to fly all weekend.

[Bill Cummings]

Drat! I viewed some of my hour flight at the house with Robin when my GoPro was hooked to my Dell but today I spaced out and deleted the GoPro memory thinking I had transferred the flight to the lap top. You will just have to take my word for it that the landing was text book. The launch was the same.
"What a drag it is to be old."
Be sure and give my glider the Buddy Check and me the Hang Check before I run off the ramp.

[Bill Cummings]

Robin,
Mike had two reasons for hauling his trailer to Gray Hill in the recent past.
One reason would have had us returning a set up glider to the top of Gray Hill without the need to knock the glider down for transport.

The road up proved to be too rough for his trailer due to the lack of adequate suspension that included shock absorbers.

Now I’m reminded of my first thought to have you and I equip my (Actually DC’s) luggage carrier rack that plugs into the drawbar/trailer hitch receiver.

With you and I making wood chocks to hold the control bar. We could then fasten the nose of the glider to the roof rack of my Xterra. Next make a padded nose over stop to prevent damage to the roof of the vehicle.

Today this idea came back to me when I realized that there was a NNE wind that would be good for our hill north of the Mountain View Hospital right here in town.
We could four wheel drive the set up glider up our NNE facing hill while getting fat and lazy or at least not winded after 8 flights apiece.

Of course you would have to put up with my obsessive compulsive need to make this transport system FAST mounting the glider and FAST off loading the glider.

Absolutely forbidden would be draping straps over the control bar that take too much time in preparation for transport when cinching or tying and un-cinching or un-tying.
It would have to be a push in/pull out pins that capture the control bar in a padded yoke.
It would also require an AMAZINGLY fast hook up and release of the gliders nose.

It would be so wonderfully convenient that the first guy to say, “Don’t bother to load it. I’ll just carry it up,” We would simply backhand him and send him on his way as a person too stupid to be a club member.
As he walks off in shame we could call him an IDIOT! (Complete and total.)

So, wadduhya think? Is this a project for your wood shop?

[RobinHastings]

Hi, Bill. Give me a better look at it, but, yeah, I could probably build that. Meanwhile, how about flying this weekend? Keighley's willing to be our driver.
-Robin

[Bill Cummings]

RGSA/Hawks,
I called Mike and Lee to see if they wanted to go but Lee had company and thought the wind on the ground would be gusting to over 20 mph tomorrow.

Mike said he didn’t want to go tomorrow since to him it looked to if-y.

I checked the weather again and for Deming it was strong easterly flow, for Las Cruces it was east but not so strong and over east of Dry Canyon Alamogordo at Artesia, NM it was almost straight east most of all Saturday. Only at Alamogordo was it showing SW past noon.

So Robin and I will check again in the morning to see what the update is for Anapra, NM down on the Mexican border (and I do mean ON the border.)

[Bill Cummings]

We've had a steady flow from the North all last night.
Not East like I thought it would be.

El Paso 11-5-2015.JPG (50.8 KiB) Viewed 3297 times

[Bill Cummings]

RGSA/Hawks,
The forecast for Anapra,NM arrived late is seems. I was expecting east much earlier in the day but it stayed north all night and around noon it started turning east at about 16 mph.

So with all that strong east noon and on I’m thinking that the good direction on the ground in Alamogordo, NM (USA) (SW) could well have had some turbulence above the launch ramp.
Artesia NM would be interesting to look at the history but my browser just crashed while trying to load it.

Sunday tomorrow at Anapra looks east all day.

good Sunday - Anapra, NM.JPG (35.7 KiB) Viewed 3294 times

[Bill Cummings]

As Robin and I thought we had a bad wind direction for today so we decided to work on a "Set Up Glider Transport Platform."
We unfastened the teeter totter part of his demo platform from the fulcrum bar and set aside the baseboard.
Next we set the teeter totter into Dave Church's luggage hauling platform and bolted it on with bolts down through the expanded metal.
I made some eight inch long Aluminum pins that can be slid into the base bar yokes to keep the base tube fastened into the yoke.
We will be able to tie the nose of the glider to the luggage rack on the roof of my Xterra.
We will then be able to drive the set up glider back up the hill for another flight.

Glider transport platform..PNG (1.14 MiB) Viewed 3293 times

Glider transport platform side view..PNG (931.53 KiB) Viewed 3293 times

Now I'm wondering why I never tried to drive of the face of Anapra in four wheel drive.

[Bill Cummings]

Gordo 11-8-15.JPG (31.74 KiB) Viewed 3291 times

I'll drive.

El Paso 11-8-15 W. Underground.JPG (29.56 KiB) Viewed 3291 times

Too light!