Flying possibilities

[Bill Cummings]

Robin and I added four L brackets to the vertical yokes and 8 inch capture safeties (Bar safeties) to keep the base tube captured into each yoke.

L bracket braces & control bar retainer pin..JPG (89.89 KiB) Viewed 3261 times

Retaining pin capturing control bar..JPG (71.08 KiB) Viewed 3261 times

Finished transport yoke..JPG (38.89 KiB) Viewed 3261 times

[Bill Cummings]

History for El Paso up wind from Anapra, NM. It faces E or just a few degrees north of east.

El Paso to light for Anapra, NM Sunday for HG..JPG (41.77 KiB) Viewed 3260 times

For Dry Canyon history today Sunday. L&V. It faces SW.

Dry Canyon Sunday 11-8-15 L&V.JPG (42.79 KiB) Viewed 3260 times

[Bill Cummings]

RGSA/Hawks,
A HG/PG pilot, Andy "Iforgot" and driver, should be arriving or has already at Robin's house.
La Luz, NM (USA) takes a West to North direction and three different models are agreeing that it will be NNW 10 to 20 tomorrow.
Leaving here 10:30 there at noon.

La Luz, NM (USA) Wed. 11-11-15.PNG (18.53 KiB) Viewed 3250 times

[Bill Cummings]

This morning, updates on the weather forecast are showing
wind direction NNW going North from Wunderground and
NW from launch code. wind speeds are in the soarable range for La Luz, NM (USA).

[RobinHastings]

Wednesday, Nov. 11th (Veterans Day)
What a great day of flying! And at La Luz, no less, "The Sinkhole of the Southwest." My one regret is that Bill Cummings, our honored Vietnam War veteran, decided not to set up when we got to La Luz NW launch. Yes, it was light right then, but hey, we drove this far - even a sled run isn't bad... Bill and I were there with Andy Thompson, on safari from Kitty Hawk Kites in North Carolina, and Andy's girlfriend Isabel Freeman (our honored driver and expert photographer). Andy quickly set up his Wills Wing Fusion and I got ready to fly my Wills Wing U2. I launched first, into a good NW thermal cycle. Wow! I couldn't even run it out - one step, and I was shooting up 50 feet into the sky. Bill, who'd wired me off, instantly thought, "I shoulda been there." I worked the lift back and forth along the ridge, gaining about 200 feet, then found some thermals, both over the ridge and out in the bowl. Andy had trouble holding his left wing down at launch, then finally blasted off about 10 minutes after I did. We had a wonderful time in the air together, bobbing up and down from 6000 ft MSL (launch height) to 6500 and finally up to 7000, a couple of times. Oh, that was me at 7000. Andy cruised up to 9860 ft MSL, his highest flight ever - just a brightly colored speck of a glider, from my lowly perspective. It was a little chilly today, so at last I decided to head out towards the La Luz landing zone. I had plenty of altitude to clear the power lines, this time. I made a good north approach, with Isabel taking pictures and Bill guiding my way with a streamer and some fine advice about wind speeds. The touchdown was just about perfect. I had somehow timed it to come down at exactly one hour, landing at 3:37 pm MST. Andy did the same, putting it in with a perfect flare at the one-hour mark, right in front of the flags. Isabel looked impressed (she's almost a Hang 2 pilot herself) and Bill looked astounded, at least at me (he's seen me land before). It wasn't long before we had the gliders back on the truck, and soon after that we were at the Imperial Dynasty Chinese buffet, enjoying some of the best that Alamogordo offers. Driving home well after sunset, we paused in the middle of the Missile Range to look at the stars and the Milky Way for a moment, and contemplate what a wonderful universe we get to fly in.

Andy and Isabel will stay at Casa de Hastings a night or two, until they've had enough flying and are ready to move to other adventures further west. So far, so good!
-Robin

[Bill Cummings]

Robin, I'm seeing Anapra for tomorrow. What do you see? If we do Anapra can you leave from there later then teach? I can drive down and bring our two visiting pilots back to your place.

[RobinHastings]

Hi, Bill. I can certainly present the idea of Anapra to our visitors; it would give Isabel a chance to use a glider as well, if we take the Gemini. However, it looks a little light for soaring there; 8 mph on the ground isn't much. The Launch Code forecast and Weather Underground make Dry Canyon look like a good bet, despite the east winds elsewhere. They were pretty enthused about the flying in Alamogordo yesterday! (Well, so was I...)
-Robin

[Bill Cummings]

I made the mistake of thinking too light yesterday. Let me know.

[Bill Cummings]

Wednesday, Nov. 11th (Veterans Day)
What a great day of flying! And at La Luz, no less, "The Sinkhole of the Southwest." My one regret is that Bill Cummings, our honored Vietnam War veteran, decided not to set up when we got to La Luz NW launch. Yes, it was light right then, but hey, we drove this far - even a sled run isn't bad... Bill and I were there with Andy Thompson, on safari from Kitty Hawk Kites in North Carolina, and Andy's girlfriend Isabel Freeman (our honored driver and expert photographer). Andy quickly set up his Wills Wing Fusion and I got ready to fly my Wills Wing U2. I launched first, into a good NW thermal cycle. Wow! I couldn't even run it out - one step, and I was shooting up 50 feet into the sky. Bill, who'd wired me off, instantly thought, "I shoulda been there." I worked the lift back and forth along the ridge, gaining about 200 feet, then found some thermals, both over the ridge and out in the bowl. Andy had trouble holding his left wing down at launch, then finally blasted off about 10 minutes after I did. We had a wonderful time in the air together, bobbing up and down from 6000 ft MSL (launch height) to 6500 and finally up to 7000, a couple of times. Oh, that was me at 7000. Andy cruised up to 9860 ft MSL, his highest flight ever - just a brightly colored speck of a glider, from my lowly perspective. It was a little chilly today, so at last I decided to head out towards the La Luz landing zone. I had plenty of altitude to clear the power lines, this time. I made a good north approach, with Isabel taking pictures and Bill guiding my way with a streamer and some fine advice about wind speeds. The touchdown was just about perfect. I had somehow timed it to come down at exactly one hour, landing at 3:37 pm MST. Andy did the same, putting it in with a perfect flare at the one-hour mark, right in front of the flags. Isabel looked impressed (she's almost a Hang 2 pilot herself) and Bill looked astounded, at least at me (he's seen me land before). It wasn't long before we had the gliders back on the truck, and soon after that we were at the Imperial Dynasty Chinese buffet, enjoying some of the best that Alamogordo offers. Driving home well after sunset, we paused in the middle of the Missile Range to look at the stars and the Milky Way for a moment, and contemplate what a wonderful universe we get to fly in.

Andy and Isabel will stay at Casa de Hastings a night or two, until they've had enough flying and are ready to move to other adventures further west. So far, so good!
-Robin

-------------------------------------------
Andy called this morning and the day (Thursday 11-12-15) looks better as a hike day.
Anapra NM looks to be 6 to 7 ENE and E.
Dry Canyon looks okay but light then turning over the back late in the afternoon.
Only sitting here at my keyboard later today and looking at the recorded history will I be able to pick from crying or feeling smug.
I should have time to Edit Robin's one hour flight yesterday from my GoPro camera that I snuk/snuck/ sneeked/ (that doesn't seem to be a word??? - darn you spell checker!!) --- on his keel.

[Bill Cummings]

Wednesday, Nov. 11th (Veterans Day)
What a great day of flying! And at La Luz, no less, "The Sinkhole of the Southwest." My one regret is that Bill Cummings, our honored Vietnam War veteran, decided not to set up when we got to La Luz NW launch. Yes, it was light right then, but hey, we drove this far - even a sled run isn't bad... Bill and I were there with Andy Thompson, on safari from Kitty Hawk Kites in North Carolina, and Andy's girlfriend Isabel Freeman (our honored driver and expert photographer). Andy quickly set up his Wills Wing Fusion and I got ready to fly my Wills Wing U2. I launched first, into a good NW thermal cycle. Wow! I couldn't even run it out - one step, and I was shooting up 50 feet into the sky. Bill, who'd wired me off, instantly thought, "I shoulda been there." I worked the lift back and forth along the ridge, gaining about 200 feet, then found some thermals, both over the ridge and out in the bowl. Andy had trouble holding his left wing down at launch, then finally blasted off about 10 minutes after I did. We had a wonderful time in the air together, bobbing up and down from 6000 ft MSL (launch height) to 6500 and finally up to 7000, a couple of times. Oh, that was me at 7000. Andy cruised up to 9860 ft MSL, his highest flight ever - just a brightly colored speck of a glider, from my lowly perspective. It was a little chilly today, so at last I decided to head out towards the La Luz landing zone. I had plenty of altitude to clear the power lines, this time. I made a good north approach, with Isabel taking pictures and Bill guiding my way with a streamer and some fine advice about wind speeds. The touchdown was just about perfect. I had somehow timed it to come down at exactly one hour, landing at 3:37 pm MST. Andy did the same, putting it in with a perfect flare at the one-hour mark, right in front of the flags. Isabel looked impressed (she's almost a Hang 2 pilot herself) and Bill looked astounded, at least at me (he's seen me land before). It wasn't long before we had the gliders back on the truck, and soon after that we were at the Imperial Dynasty Chinese buffet, enjoying some of the best that Alamogordo offers. Driving home well after sunset, we paused in the middle of the Missile Range to look at the stars and the Milky Way for a moment, and contemplate what a wonderful universe we get to fly in.

Andy and Isabel will stay at Casa de Hastings a night or two, until they've had enough flying and are ready to move to other adventures further west. So far, so good!
-Robin

_______________________________________
I tried to embed Robin's flight last night but it didn't work. I think the high def selection I picked is too much for something to handle.
Below is the video of Robins flight at La Luz. If you have trouble with the video buffering try clicking on the little cog wheel at the bottom right of the youtube screen and click a lower "P" number from the drop down option.
Instead of HD or 720 select either 420, 360 or lower until the video can be viewed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--cGO4Qx6lU