RobinHastings wrote:Saturday, March 5: This turned out to be a very fine late-winter day. Temperatures were low 70's, winds were mild and southwest, skies were a bit cloudy but not at all a threat. I went out to Mag Rim with Angel, a possible new pilot, and his girlfriend Rebecca. With Angel pushing and me pulling, we had the glider cart with my U2 on it up at launch in 5 minutes. Bill joined us up there shortly after I unzipped the glider bag, helped to set up, and then was my wire man at the nose for launch. I took off at 1:15 into smooth, lifting air, and quickly shot up to 50 feet over. I worked some lift around the launch area, got up to 200' over launch, and then headed southeast along the ridge. I found another good thermal near the highest point of the ridge, then lost it, after getting up to 5800 ft MSL. I couldn't find another thermal in time, so I finally set up a good, southwest approach into the Arroyo LZ. I passed 10 feet over the flag, and landed perfectly. I only had about 8 or 10 minutes in the air, but it sure was fun. I think that Angel and Rebecca were impressed. We all had lunch together at the Subway, and reached home by 3:30, in plenty of time for Angel to make it to the fitness class he teaches. All in all, another beautiful day in the Desert Southwest. -Robin
Angel, Rebecca, Robin Mag Rim.PNG (1.08 MiB) Viewed 3442 times
Robin, Robert, and I were the only ones to get free today and the forecast for the hospital hill (bunny hill) was great. The only problem was that the forecast wasn't so great during real time or from hindsight. (%#$@&<*^&%#$) Robert got his feet off the ground for one run. Mostly the wind was reverse & variable mixed with some down and swirling. Just wishing and hoping had surprisingly little effect on the wind so we pulled the pin and stomped off in disgust. Two days before a for sure blow out and the wind (&%$#) if we can believe Thursday's and Friday's forecast (*^&$%#@) we will have 8 to 11 from the NE Thursday. It looks like it will happen all around the surrounding area. Thank goodness we have so many sites here. But none NE! (Is there a NE site that we can get on that I forgot about?)
FRIDAY, MARCH 11: This was another good flying day in RGSA country. (Tomorrow will not be - "Some days, even the birds are walking!") Bill and I drove to Cox Field in Alamogordo and at noon met up with Jan Z. and with Jesse Cone, our driver. We reached Dry Canyon launch about 1:00 pm MST. (Hey, Daylight Savings Time begins again on Sunday!) The skies were clear, the temperature at launch was about 65 degrees, and the winds were right up the southwest ramp at 10 to 15 mph. Jan went first, from the PG launch at 1:30, and was quickly soaring his PG 1000 feet overhead as Bill and I set up our Wills Wing hang gliders. (Jan's highest today was about 9000 ft MSL, 2000 ft over launch.) Bill took off with Jesse on the nose wires at 2:30, by my watch, and I followed, with Jesse's help, about 10 minutes later. Bill wasn't sure how high he got today, but he was up for about 30 minutes, thermalling mostly out by the West Face. I launched well and shot up about 50 feet, cruised the ridge, and soon found a thermal to take me up to 8800 ft MSL. There was no shortage of lift today. Though the thermals were a bit punchy, we never hit any real turbulence, and they were generally pretty easy to work. I cruised out to the West Face eventually, staying mostly at 8000 or above, and finally decided, after 40 minutes, to head over to Cox Field, where Bill, Jan and Jesse were all visiting together on the grass. I asked Bill to coach my landing again (it worked great at the Guadalupes) and he told me to keep up the speed, there's a gradient, keep up your speed, KEEP UP YOUR SPEED! Well, I did - and I landed perfectly. I think everyone was highly impressed, my reputation being what it is. We said farewell to Jesse and then to Jan, got our gliders packed up at last, and had a bit of Chinese food on our way back home to Las Cruces. I stayed aloft for about 45 minutes, and could have had much more than that if I wanted to; Jan had about an hour and 40 minutes, and definitely had the flight of the day. It was a lovely, late-winter day, and one I'd like to remember in my older years (if I ever get to them). Be safe this weekend, everyone, and watch out for the winds tomorrow. -Robin
RobinHastings wrote:FRIDAY, MARCH 11: This was another good flying day in RGSA country. (Tomorrow will not be - "Some days, even the birds are walking!") Bill and I drove to Cox Field in Alamogordo and at noon met up with Jan Z. and with Jesse Cone, our driver. We reached Dry Canyon launch about 1:00 pm MST. (Hey, Daylight Savings Time begins again on Sunday!) The skies were clear, the temperature at launch was about 65 degrees, and the winds were right up the southwest ramp at 10 to 15 mph. Jan went first, from the PG launch at 1:30, and was quickly soaring his PG 1000 feet overhead as Bill and I set up our Wills Wing hang gliders. (Jan's highest today was about 9000 ft MSL, 2000 ft over launch.) Bill took off with Jesse on the nose wires at 2:30, by my watch, and I followed, with Jesse's help, about 10 minutes later. Bill wasn't sure how high he got today, but he was up for about 30 minutes, thermalling mostly out by the West Face. I launched well and shot up about 50 feet, cruised the ridge, and soon found a thermal to take me up to 8800 ft MSL. There was no shortage of lift today. Though the thermals were a bit punchy, we never hit any real turbulence, and they were generally pretty easy to work. I cruised out to the West Face eventually, staying mostly at 8000 or above, and finally decided, after 40 minutes, to head over to Cox Field, where Bill, Jan and Jesse were all visiting together on the grass. I asked Bill to coach my landing again (it worked great at the Guadalupes) and he told me to keep up the speed, there's a gradient, keep up your speed, KEEP UP YOUR SPEED! Well, I did - and I landed perfectly. I think everyone was highly impressed, my reputation being what it is. We said farewell to Jesse and then to Jan, got our gliders packed up at last, and had a bit of Chinese food on our way back home to Las Cruces. I stayed aloft for about 45 minutes, and could have had much more than that if I wanted to; Jan had about an hour and 40 minutes, and definitely had the flight of the day. It was a lovely, late-winter day, and one I'd like to remember in my older years (if I ever get to them). Be safe this weekend, everyone, and watch out for the winds tomorrow. -Robin
My computer froze up last night while editing this video and today I finally was able to restore the Movie Maker Application of the four hours of work I had done. Scenes somehow got out of sequence. So A bit of time travel is shown putting a flying segment on before the launch. You are okay! Don't call your therapist! I will take more care next time but I just want to be done with this post. I'm just going to leave it up with the rest of my mistakes. https://youtu.be/oq9vwdGTCqI
Jan has another video on the "Media," thread here on the RGSA Club Site Forum.
Join a National Hang Gliding Organization:US Hawks at ushawks.org View my rating at:US Hang Gliding Rating System Every human at every point in history has an opportunity to choose courage over cowardice. Look around and you will find that opportunity in your own time.
I never worry a lot about my landings. We always get one. So far we haven't left a pilot up there. But I do think I'm getting too old for full contact sports.
Too old for a full contact sport..PNG (529.29 KiB) Viewed 3351 times
It might be good at the hill across Lohman from the Mountain View Hospital Wed morning. Robin give me a call wed morning if your free. I would like to check out the 195 Falcon and test fly it for whenever any of the heaver new pilot want to try something that will lift them.
Bill, I'd love to see it fly, but I'm heading to Tucson on Wednesday. On the other hand, Friday also looks good for that hill, and I'll be back long before then. I'll call you when I get back! -Robin
One forecast is good for the bunny hill at the east end of Lohmann (sp) is NNW but Launch Code is showing WNW.-- So I'm hoping NNW @ 6 mph and dragging out the Falcon 195 for an inspection and test flight. If everything checks out any of the heaver new students can try it at the bottom of the hill. I'm going to insist on at least 3 mph of wind though.
But none NE! 
(Is there a NE site that we can get on that I forgot about?)
