Bill Cummings wrote:Another thing I'm going to try is sticking on 18" battens between the last two tip battens on each wing. (Wills Wing Hang Gliders! We'll do the flapping so that you don't have to!) -- Old T shirt idea I have. In all fairness to Wills Wing my glider is a 2004. I'm using industrial adhesive Velcro to hold Lowes Hardware aluminum that is 1/16" thick by 1/2" by 18" long. Each time I fold up the glider I'll have to pull apart the battens held on with the Velcro.
A friend of mine found some very thin and very strong carbon fiber rods (maybe 1/8 inch diameter) and he cut a small hole in the trailing edge seam to slide them into the seam. It wasn't a Wills Wing glider, but he felt that it cut down on the flapping without adding much drag. He had to remove them for folding, but it wasn't too difficult to do.
Your mileage may vary!!
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.
TUESDAY, NOV. 21, 2017: This was a good day at Volcanic Peak. Bill Cummings and I left his house in Las Cruces about 10:00 am, and an hour later we were at the launch. Bill's WW Sport 2 and my WW U2-160 were ready to go by noon. However, the winds were not. Forecast was for strong winds throughout the day; they were just little zephyrs at noon. We worked on the launch ramp a bit as we waited. The temperature was about 75 degrees, a lot warmer than our past experience with the site would have indicated - generally, north winds out here signal a cold front coming in. We enjoyed the weather. And patience pays! By 1:00 pm the winds were starting to come in stronger, though crossed from the left, coming from north and northwest. I was suited up and ready by 1:30, standing on the ramp, and at 1:42 pm MST I had a good, straight cycle come in at 15 - 20 mph. I had a good launch and rose up a bit, went right and worked the ridge. With Bill's encouragement I got close enough to the hill to start getting some real ridge lift at last, and in two or three passes I was 100 feet over launch. From then on, it was a cakewalk; the winds were getting stronger and more and more northeasterly, and that lift got me up to 500 feet over launch (about 5000 ft MSL). Bill drove down to our LZ, which takes only 5 to 10 minutes, and was waiting there with the camera for my landing after 23 minutes of airtime. We tied my glider to a bush and headed right back up to the launch - winds in the LZ were north-northeast, 10 to 15 mph, and that looked like a gift we couldn't refuse. At 2:44 pm Bill got his own launch, into 20 mph coming straight in from the northeast. He barely got two steps, as best I could tell, and didn't make a turn as he rose like some holy ascension, higher and higher to a couple of hundred feet over the mountain. I headed right down, and worked on glider disassembly in the LZ while Bill cruised the ridge and, often, just hovered, trying not to get blown back too far. He got to over 500 feet above the launch. When he finally headed out to land it wasn't out of necessity; he could have been up there until sunset. He had to dump altitude to come down to the landing zone, and he made a fine return to Earth at 3:47 pm, for an hour and three minutes - a new site record for Volcanic Peak. We had both gliders on Bill's XTerra by 5:00 pm, just as the sun went under the horizon, and were back at Bill's home at 6:00. Not a bad day at all, especially for a bump only 375 feet high! -Robin
Hi, Frank. We have quite a few photos of the Volcanic Peak site. Just scroll back a few pages. I'm hoping to see some video and photos of our latest expedition there, when Bill can post them. -Robin
RobinHastings wrote:TUESDAY, NOV. 21, 2017: This was a good day at Volcanic Peak. Bill Cummings and I left his house in Las Cruces about 10:00 am, and an hour later we were at the launch. Bill's WW Sport 2 and my WW U2-160 were ready to go by noon. However, the winds were not. Forecast was for strong winds throughout the day; they were just little zephyrs at noon. We worked on the launch ramp a bit as we waited. The temperature was about 75 degrees, a lot warmer than our past experience with the site would have indicated - generally, north winds out here signal a cold front coming in. We enjoyed the weather. And patience pays! By 1:00 pm the winds were starting to come in stronger, though crossed from the left, coming from north and northwest. I was suited up and ready by 1:30, standing on the ramp, and at 1:42 pm MST I had a good, straight cycle come in at 15 - 20 mph. I had a good launch and rose up a bit, went right and worked the ridge. With Bill's encouragement I got close enough to the hill to start getting some real ridge lift at last, and in two or three passes I was 100 feet over launch. From then on, it was a cakewalk; the winds were getting stronger and more and more northeasterly, and that lift got me up to 500 feet over launch (about 5000 ft MSL). Bill drove down to our LZ, which takes only 5 to 10 minutes, and was waiting there with the camera for my landing after 23 minutes of airtime. We tied my glider to a bush and headed right back up to the launch - winds in the LZ were north-northeast, 10 to 15 mph, and that looked like a gift we couldn't refuse. At 2:44 pm Bill got his own launch, into 20 mph coming straight in from the northeast. He barely got two steps, as best I could tell, and didn't make a turn as he rose like some holy ascension, higher and higher to a couple of hundred feet over the mountain. I headed right down, and worked on glider disassembly in the LZ while Bill cruised the ridge and, often, just hovered, trying not to get blown back too far. He got to over 500 feet above the launch. When he finally headed out to land it wasn't out of necessity; he could have been up there until sunset. He had to dump altitude to come down to the landing zone, and he made a fine return to Earth at 3:47 pm, for an hour and three minutes - a new site record for Volcanic Peak. We had both gliders on Bill's XTerra by 5:00 pm, just as the sun went under the horizon, and were back at Bill's home at 6:00. Not a bad day at all, especially for a bump only 375 feet high! -Robin
Another great job of video editing, Bill. Why, the casual observer might actually believe that we know what we're doing! Let's see if we can fly at Little Floridas or Dry Canyon, tomorrow or Saturday. Aren't the holidays wonderful? Happy Thanksgiving to you and to Terry! -Robin
TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2018: Wow! It sure has been a while since we posted anything about Volcanic Peak. Bill Cummings and I started out the day with towing in mind, on the Exit 116 road west of Las Cruces. Light, variable winds squashed that idea, though, so we shifted our focus and wound up checking out the road to Volcanic Peak. Unlike our last expedition, a month or more back, it was not flooded this time (though I won't guarantee that by this Saturday - we're supposed to get substantial rain). We were able to drive all the way to the turnoff, and then up all the way to launch. However, we could see that the rains had surely been there! So we did our due diligence, and maintained the site. The launch was groomed, some bushes were trimmed, and on the way back down we did some serious road work, clearing three culverts of rocks and sand so that the water could drain without ruining the road. Back in the flatlands, we worked on the various little dams that force arroyos to dump their silt where we want it, smoothing out the ruts. We made it home by 5:00 pm - no airtime today, but a day well spent nevertheless. Robin
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018: This was supposed to be a flying day. It didn't turn out that way, but it was an interesting one anyway. Bill Cummings and I drove up to Volcanic Peak today, starting out about 9:00 am MDT. We had a spectacular rainstorm in Las Cruces on Tuesday afternoon and evening, and our way up the mountain today certainly involved a detour or two around substantial bogs and minor lakes. But we arrived by 10:30, and were all set with our gliders by 12:30 - looking for the forecasted northeast winds. What we got instead were random puffs of barely moving air, though I will admit that the temperature was pleasant. Skies were amazingly clear, too, considering what Tuesday had brought. After an hour of kicking rocks, we finally decided to put the gliders back into the bags. We were halfway done with that when the construction crew arrived, three friendly guys in a big white pickup truck, ready to upgrade the AT&T tower behind the fence by our launch. And what was keeping them from working? Well, it wasn't me and Bill. Inside the fence were TWO diamondback rattlesnakes. And, as these men pointed out, that's not all of them - they'd seen five, at least, the day before. Can they kill them? No. Against company policy. (These guys are out from Dallas, staying in a motel day after day at company expense.) Can they "Just work around them!" as the company suggested? Not on your life - or, more likely, theirs. So the snakes will stay until we can figure out something to do with them. Bill and I drove down the hill at 2:30 pm, and all was well on our end of things when we made it home before 4:00. No airtime this time around, but at least the day was lovely and the snakes were calm.
Hope to see everyone at tomorrow night's meeting! 1501 Aspen Avenue, Las Cruces, NM, about 7:00 pm. Bring your ideas and concerns! -Robin 575-541-5744
RobinHastings wrote:FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018: This was supposed to be a flying day. It didn't turn out that way, but it was an interesting one anyway. Bill Cummings and I drove up to Volcanic Peak today, starting out about 9:00 am MDT. We had a spectacular rainstorm in Las Cruces on Tuesday afternoon and evening, and our way up the mountain today certainly involved a detour or two around substantial bogs and minor lakes. But we arrived by 10:30, and were all set with our gliders by 12:30 - looking for the forecasted northeast winds. What we got instead were random puffs of barely moving air, though I will admit that the temperature was pleasant. Skies were amazingly clear, too, considering what Tuesday had brought. After an hour of kicking rocks, we finally decided to put the gliders back into the bags. We were halfway done with that when the construction crew arrived, three friendly guys in a big white pickup truck, ready to upgrade the AT&T tower behind the fence by our launch. And what was keeping them from working? Well, it wasn't me and Bill. Inside the fence were TWO diamondback rattlesnakes. And, as these men pointed out, that's not all of them - they'd seen five, at least, the day before. Can they kill them? No. Against company policy. (These guys are out from Dallas, staying in a motel day after day at company expense.) Can they "Just work around them!" as the company suggested? Not on your life - or, more likely, theirs. So the snakes will stay until we can figure out something to do with them. Bill and I drove down the hill at 2:30 pm, and all was well on our end of things when we made it home before 4:00. No airtime this time around, but at least the day was lovely and the snakes were calm.
Hope to see everyone at tomorrow night's meeting! 1501 Aspen Avenue, Las Cruces, NM, about 7:00 pm. Bring your ideas and concerns! -Robin 575-541-5744
