Newsletter: January 2006 (Note: all external links open in a new window) Back to the newsletter
Hang Gliding News - Guy Harding
If anyone has any flights to share, don’t be afraid to write something up. Doesn’t have to be a big flight or a long article. Maybe just something you found interesting about a flight. But it would be great to hear of others experiences!
Anxiety and flying: Something we often don’t talk about, but something almost all of us feel to some degree in our flying carer. There is a good thread on the Oz report forum about this subject - Oct 24 I think.
Flying around the Wellington region
9 October
This day we went to fly the Tandem at Papawai and set the new wheels up on it. Sure enough the wind came up to more than what we like to fly the tandem in. After finishing off setting up the wheels (as always multiply how long you think it will take by 2.3 to get actual time) I decided not to waste the day and go for a solo tow. I had to fit this in amongst taking people up for a ride in the trike though.
The first tow saw me maintain for a while, but before long I was practising my landing technique. Nice in a 10 knot wind.
We had a late break for lunch then took some one else for a ride before I decided to try again. Gavin had decided to give it away for the day so Trev towed me up. By the time I was ready it must have been 3:30. There were a few more clouds above now but I didn’t hold much hope of getting up, so I dressed lightly. Always a sure way of getting to cloud base. Sure enough after getting off tow at 2000ft I found light lift and started circling. It probably took at least 10 minutes until it dawned on me that the cloud I was circling under was actually very long and extended past the eastern hills south of Kourau. It was probably developing as I was thermalling, but it wasn’t until it looked like sate highway one that I actually figured it out that a north westerly had pushed up against the day long southerly to produce this line of convergence.
I did wonder why after launching in the 10 knot southerly I hadn’t drifted more than 100m in the 10 minutes of thermalling.
So assuming the NW was going to be warmer than the S, I headed to the NW side of the convergence line, and was rewarded with a steady 2-300fpm climb while flying straight down the street. The ground speed also increased at this point and I found myself flying in a 20kph SW. Oh well just use it!
By this time I was at cloud base just over 4000ft and things were getting damn cold. Even my face started to ach. More like an ocean beach day. However it was the first thermal flight of the summer so I wasn’t about to give up that easily.
Whenever the lift got too strong or I was getting to close to the cloud I just headed to the S side of the street to find less lift or sink.
In the end I flew down the street for about 10km before deciding on an out and return as I had no ride or radio. It took a bit longer getting back with the head wind, but I still didn’t have to make a single turn. On getting back to the air field I had to hunt for some sink to get down. Everything was going up. A t-shirt and light jersey just weren’t cutting it and I needed to get down. I had been up around 4000ft for an hour with no relief from the cold.
The moral of the story of course is, if you want to stay up just wear a t-shirt!
Moral number 2 is, you never know what the day is going to turn on for you if you wait around long enough.
16 and 18 October
A southerly was forecast, but only a light one, alone with some good instability. The normal tow crew of Fraser, Gavin and myself headed for Papawai to haul the tandem up with the new wheels and maybe a few solo tows if the clouds looked good. When we got there we had a 10knot southerly gusting 15. Too strong for the tandem, and the sky was mostly OD’d with the odd big Cu. The other two were keen for some soaring, so we rang the south coast weather phone. 19kph @ 208 deg. Perfect for Whangamona. Getting down their, we saw that Grant and his crew of cronies were one step ahead of us, and already half rigged. That made 8-10 pilots for the day. Not bad for a season opener.
The sky was blue with 12-15 knots coming straight up the face. What more could you ask for?
After an hour of soaring, Grant sampled the strength of the lift at the west end, to see if he could top land at that end and get back up. Just strong enough to be comfortable. After seeing Grant get up again, Ian and myself gave it a go as well. I have wanted to find a site with a good top landing for years. And it’s been right under my nose all this time.
Actually, we flew here about a year ago, and after we had all landed Andrew put us all to shame by doing numerous top landings there. I thought it was too light. But was proved wrong.
The top landing here is as easy as it gets. It must be the best top landing spot in the country. You can go as far back as you like, it doesn’t really matter where on the plateau you land, and if you overshoot you just fly around again. Normal good landing technique should be practiced, i.e. doing your down wind, base, and final with GOOD SPEED!! (Thought I’d throw that one in, as I generally see far too many people wallow in at min sink or there abouts. Just for the record I almost died doing this once, so it’s a pet hate. But that’s another story).
After a few landings each we went back up to the original T.O and landed there (a little trickier as there is a fence to contend with and I don’t think the air flow is quite as smooth). Unfortunately after a bite to eat the wind started backing off. Grant and I took off again. I only just managed to get above the ridge which didn’t inspire confidence to those on the ground. So after scraping up enough height to top land again I got in before it got too light. All in all a very good day for a ridge soar!
Two days later, a Tuesday to be precise, I managed to get Craig B out. The theory was to try Climie as the wind was light and the Cus were tall. But on getting to Leos, we discovered what is becoming the all too familiar Climie curse: A moderate wind with some east in it. Bugger!
We ended up heading back to Whangamona. It had been a year since Craig last flew, so he was keen for some air time. The wind phone said 10kph @ 208deg. A bit light but a southerly was forecast.
Driving down there, it was absolutely calm (must have thought 100 times, why am I wasting fuel?) until a km from the beach, and even then it was only light. But with the big Cus inland, we figured the sea breeze HAD to come in.
When we got to the top it was already 8-10 knots. So soarable. And the glassy patches out to see were disappearing fast.
About this time Trev turned up with the Tandem. To fly it solo! With a healing knee he needs an excuse to fly with wheels! (The old schools a dieing breed, thank god.)
By the time we took off it was more like 10-15 and we got good height gains.
After flying for about half an hour we top landed at the cars for a bite and noticed the wind had freshened even more. So this time I convinced Craig to top land with me at the western end. This time there was ample lift. No worries about going down! We made absolute pigs of ourselves top landing. I lost count but probably did somewhere between 20-30. We had a ball, sometimes landing and sometime smoking over the ground and then back out over the cliff!
For someone who hadn’t flown for a long time, it was just what Craig wanted; plenty of T.O and landing practise. He was stoked!
It was now 4:30pm and the sea breeze was starting to back off. While on the ground Craig said he’d had enough and was going to land by the cars. I told him I’d do a couple more and then land back at the car. This time when we took off the wind had dropped by a third, probably in the space of 10 minutes. Thoughts of landings at the western end were replaced with struggling to get above ridge height and get enough height to land back at the car. (Something to be aware of if your flying their in a sea breeze). It took until the main T.O and hugging the ridge before I got above ridge height. Craig was a little further out and never really managed it. I got just enough height to land at the car, but Craig wasn’t as fortunate as the wind was backing off by the minute. He ended up one the beach.
Still, another great day out practising some very needed, but rusty skills, at a small but now not so insignificant ridge soaring site. I did more T.Os, setups (to land) and landings in one day than I normally do in an entire year.
Us Wellington pilots don’t get to fly much at all, and our landings in general leave a lot to be desired. So if you get the chance I encourage you to get down to Whangamona and improve on your T.O, set up and landing technique. It will give you a whole lot more confidence!
November 2 (Climie to Carterton 38.3km)
A dieing SW wind and a slowly clearing sky was enough to convince James, Brett and Craig B to join me for a fly at climie. We didn’t meet until 12:30 and the sky was only just starting to clear. But it was enough to get us up the hill. On top, a 10 knot SW wind gusting 15 had us rigging the gliders pronto.
James was first off just before 3pm and it didn’t take him long to get up off the house thermal. I was off next, but the house thermal wasn’t playing ball. Being 2-300ft below T.O I didn’t have much choice other than the triangle. But it didn’t disappoint with a solid 1000-1200fpm all the way to cloud base (4500ft). What a ripper! Couldn’t help but let out a ‘YeHaa’ while watching the ground fall from under me. (Must have been quite loud, because Craig and Brett herd it from the T.O).
Craig and Brett were soon off. Craig couldn’t find anything and landed soon after. I know that feeling!
After a near landing for me at the North end of Climie, the three of us took turns at gliding to Kiwi ranch. I went first and didn’t get anything worth climbing in until just past the Rimutaka rd. Being so low (5-700agl) it took a lot of scratching and searching to get a half decent climb. James didn’t quite have the glide and I saw his glider parked up just short of the turn off to Kiwi ranch. But he was happy with the flight. And looks to be thermalling very well for a novice pilot (time to do an intermediate rating I think! he spent more time above me than vice versa).
Brett was next. He came in to the valley he thought I was thermalling from, but it was the Pylon spine on the far side of the valley. I was looking down on him from 3000ft willing him to fly another 100m to the spine, but after searching the valley he turned 180 and headed to Kiwi ranch to land. If only we were on radio!
I continued climbing to 4000ft then went for a short glide toward Featherston to some straggly looking curtain cloud to see if anything was happening. It wasn’t, but when I looked back to Kiwi ranch I didn’t think I could glide back, especially with the 10kph SW. I think the cloud must have been the demarcation point for the moister air in the Wairarapa, because the cloud base went from 4500 to 3500. I continued gliding straight for Greytown, but needing at least another thermal to get there. There was a convergence line just south of Featherston. Nothing but blue to the south of it. But a reasonable number of cus between me and Greytown, if a little mushy looking. A slowish climb over the Tauherenikau river bed got me back to cloud base at 3500ft. I looked back at the cloud after gliding for a bit. It looked a lot better than when I was approaching it. My timing happened to be good.
Timing turned out to be ‘the’ issue for the rest of the flight. I could see three clouds lined up to, and past Greytown. They didn’t last that long, but as it turns out they did regenerate. I just had to get the timing right to be there when they did.
The first one before Greytown and the one above both lasted just long enough. As I left them they were starting to break up. The next one in the line looked to be at the start of Carterton. Above Grants house. But it started to break up just as I went on glide for it.
There weren’t any other clouds within reach, and I thought landing next to Grants house might be good for a coffee and a chat. It was now almost 5pm and I thought I’d find out how his day at work had gone.
My day at work looked to be coming to an end as well. I arrived over Grants house with about 700ft to spare and the cloud completely gone. There was a bare subdivision a couple of blocks away that looked like a good spot for a landing. I started doing a few turns so the Compeo could tell me which way the wind was coming from. It was light, but now a 5+kph NE. I got a couple of beeps on the western side of a turn and decided to take a wider swing in that direction. The couple of beeps turned into 100, then 200 and up to 400fpm at times, as I wound up from Grants ‘House’ thermal. The coffee would have to wait!
After climbing to 3000ft the thermal died on me. It was almost 5pm after all! So I went on another glide, into the NE wind this time, and to another cloud a couple of km north of Carterton. Half way there the cloud began to die and this time I thought my timing would be too far off. The cloud had all but gone when I arrived under it, and despite a couple off beeps from the vario, a quick search (only had 500ft to spare) didn’t reveal anything.
There was a good long paddock underneath and some nice leafy trees to show me the light wind and direction. It was a good landing into the light breeze. Always a nice way to cap off an excellent flight!
Checked the GPS for distance. 38.3 km from Climie. Not bad for the start of the season!
Pictures
31 Sept, Papawai. The easiest xc I’ve seen in a while, just follow the M1. It went all the way down to Bull Hill as well.... Unfortunately I was in the trike this day. And yes it was working well!
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