Month: September 2009

I saw God Today #350 & #351 Chatfield

Lucky guy

Intermediate syndrome is an affliction that usually affects a pilot after 40 or 50 flights, or whenever they first start to feel good about their abilities.

It’s characterized by over confidence in both man and machine and it usually leads to a blunder that endangers life. It could present itself in any number of ways… an error in judgement, or a bad reaction to Mother Nature. It might be technique or a mechanical issue. Whatever the cause, if the pilot survives the incident…he should think real hard about either quitting or redoubling his efforts to improve.

It might be time to go to a maneuvers clinic or have some quality radio time with a good coach. It’s absolutely a good day to go over the machine and wing with a fine tooth comb.

Optimistically, there is an epiphany that stays with the pilot for the rest of their career, because on that day… the bag of luck is now half empty and the bag of experience is not yet full.

When I realized that my life was being supported by a glorified key

chain and some thin 1/2 inch webbing…

I thanked the Creator that I was still alive.

Then I looked for the best way,

to proceed to earth…

as directly as possible.

I’m still shaking my head trying to figure out how it happened.I attached the riser on the left side to the cheap plastic beaner that I use for the foot steering instead of connecting to the heavy stainless beaner that ties the wing to the buggy. I didn’t realize my mistake until I noticed that the foot steering cable was pressing against my left side. When I saw that the rig was being supported by a glorified key chain and thin 1/2 inch webbing…I couldn’t believe that I was still alive. Not only was the beaner unrated and not designed to carry a load, the loop it was attached to was loaded against the stitching. There were two places where a failure was imminent. Looking at the materials it should have failed when I loaded the wing before take-off …and… I wish it had. It would have been more dramatic and made a bigger impression but it wouldn’t have killed me. As it was a non-incident, I hope that the magnitude of the error sticks with me.

I had to get down …right now! I was 400 feet AGL and about the correct distance to glide back to the field, so I did a slow flat turn toward the field and landed without incident.

What were the causes that lead to this huge goof ?

1. I had switched to the Eden III which does not require the extra loop of webbing to get the hangpoint right. When it is configured this way the hangpoint loops are not long enough to reach the normal keeper on the bullet bars. So…I end up attaching the beaner to a loop on the foot steering for transport.

2. I must not have had enough coffee because it is almost impossible to imagine an alert mind attaching a plastic carabiner to the riser. It is so much more difficult to thread the correct carabiner that it should have set off alarms when that slim plastic beaner tip slipped through the loop so easily. The length was about right and when I pulled on the riser to take out any slack, it pulled the hangpoint loop just as if it were correctly attached.

I thought perhaps I should move the foot steering forward on the bullet bars to get them away from the hang point straps, but I don’t think I’ll do that. Having the webbing behind my shoulders is cleaner and I doubt I’ll ever look at the foot steering again without remembering the day I hung from a cheap 2 inch plastic carabiner.

This is the first real stupid mistake I’ve made in PPG and certainly the first one that endangered my life! I was deeply affected by the experience, and it was heavy on my mind for several days. I will strive to learn from this and be a more responsible pilot.

I vote for better pilot.

#348 & #349 Chatfield

This was an evening that just didn’t gel.

Conditions were good, light winds warm temp. It looked to be a perfect evening but I wasn’t comfortable in the air. My first launch looked like hell. As soon as I left the earth, the wing ( 28m Eden III ), was pulled hard to the left and then to the right. As I gained altitude it got bumpier and after a few laps around the field I landed. The second flight was a repeat of the first. I got the impression that no matter where I went …it was going to be turbulent.
Greg and Marek on the other hand stayed below 100 feet and they found the air to be just fine. I watched Greg yank and bank, practice swoops and dives and I just couldn’t figure why I found it to be so ratty.
The gradient had me beat.

Pre-Flight

Changed wire on Tach with smaller ga. It seems to be reading much faster and more accurately

Question for Terry
Motor is mounted to the frame with two bolts. There are two other spaces available, is this as you want it?.

IVO Prop is “flexing” about 1 1/2″ at Idle. Chad has used a GSC (?) adjustable and likes it.
Terry is looking into the Warp Drive Prop. Maybe at MV I’ll get the chance to try a different prop.

Tightened up the Reserve Harness. it was getting sloppy.

#346 & #347 Titan

Calm at Dawn….
Sunrise brought a South East wind. I launched with the Eden III. It was mildly bumpy but not to bad so I decided to go for it. I stayed up for 40 minutes and took a few shots of the marina. There was a steady wind across most of the surface, and possibly more there than at 1000 feet AGL. The RC Airport had one car in the lot and no sign of anybody getting ready to fly. Someday I would love to do a touch and go on their runway. Maybe I can bribe the gatekeeper! 🙂 When I got back to the field the wind had shifted to South West and bumpy. At 100 feet the wing started to oscillate but it corrected in time for a safe 3 point landing.

Steve pulled in right after I landed and he convinced me to go up again. The launch was just the way I liked it. I was able to get allot of speed on the smooth surface and when the wings was fully loaded and begging to fly I popped some brake and zoomed into the sky. It remind me of launching at Monument Valley last summer. Gawd I love a good runway!

It was swinging me all over the place so I landed after about 10 minutes. Even then, I aborted the first landing when the wind shifted 180 degrees. Steve went up and flew another 30 minutes. He said if you go directly west it’s calm over there. I’ll have to remember that.

#344 & #345 Titan

The summer of 09 finished with a flourish…

I’m sitting at my desk… in the shop with the garage door open listening to a huge “Big Drop” rainstorm. The air is cooling and I think our string of perfect days is about to be broken. Wow… 14 flights at 5 different sites in 12 days and except for a couple they were 40 minutes or more. In the last week, I’ve reunited with guys I haven’t seen in years and flown with some new guys just getting started. We have lost LZ’s and gained new ones and even reclaimed an old favorite that everybody thought was lost forever.

This morning I was at Titan before civil twilight, like yesterday it was very calm and built slowly as the sun came up. When it was light enough to launch the wind was blowing 8mph from the SW. This is the first time I have flown the Eden since I busted some lines ant Vance Brand. I took off with John Sieb spotting to make sure the buggy would roll out properly. It did but the wing swung to the left with a nasty cravat in the tip. I got it overhead and taxied for a good 100 feet until I was able to pumped it out. I remember the same thing happining at the Salton Sea, I think it had something to do with the chevron set up and the lightness of the fabric. Next time I’ll pay mor attention to the tips during the set-up.
The winds aloft were very different from the surface, not so much bouncy as switchy. I was being swung and pulled by errant currents. I tried changing altitude but found it was the same everywhere I went. So…after 20 minutes of being played like a puppet I decided to land and wait a bit.

Twenty minutes later it seemed to mellow so I went up again and this time it was bad in the first 100 feet. I stayed maybe 10 minutes and called it good for the day. Meanwhile John had taken off to the East and was going counter clockwise around the lake. Greg showed up, took off and didn’t return for an hour and three quarters. I have to relearn this site. When the wind is SW or W it is best to go east over the open fields then turn in to the park. The west end of the park is going to be calm normally and expect it to get ratty returning west of the LZ. If I’d paid attention I think I could have found smoother air.

While I was waiting for him to return I wandered around the field and thought about my early days here. The first really great launch after the first Salton Sea. I’d run harder than ever before and when I launched it was like a rocket. Two Hundred feet a minute right off the ground! The time I let off the throttle getting into my seat and dived to the earth only to power up and swoop back up from 10 feet. The time I took off with the wing oscillating and how I swung back under and almost clipped the earth at high speed sideways. While I was walking around I stumbled into the site of my last footlaunch and found a big piece of prop from the crash. I brought it home as a keepsake and am looking at it now.

At 9:30 Greg came in, landing vertically in 15 mph winds. While we packed up a pick-up came into the field and Greg & I thought for sure we were busted. Until I saw that there was a paramotor on the back. It was Steve the firefighter who lives across from Titan. We stood around for a long time and caught up. The best news was that Rush Soccer had sold the field and it was now part of the Shay Home development that is 7 years off. We might be flying here for a long long time!!

#341 #342 #343 Snowflake

Perfect conditions… Early bird gets the glass
Wrangler Dan goes after the Antelope


After I decided to quit for the morning Dan Paul and John continued. I should have as well because the thermals that would be expected didn’t start until almost ten. Ramon was out of the action so he stood around and kited. I used the opportunity to take out the Eden III and replaced the lines that were cut over a month ago. Maybe I’ll use it tomorrow when I fly at chatfield.

About 9:30 John arrived in a red Myata instead of flying. He had gone down with a slipping belt about 5 miles out and had to hitch a ride back to the LZ.


The two stroke demon was out in force this weekend
1. John lands right after take off with power loss
2.Greg lands out by the corn maze with motor out
3.Ramon brakes cord on pull start
4.John lands 7 miles out with slipped belt.

#340 Titan Chatfield Stealth Launch

Chatfield….Home Sweet Home !

It was O’ dark thirty when I pulled in and set up. Paul arrived at 6 followed by Greg.
I forgot how nice this LZ is. The hay has been cut, it’s flat and no bumps. What a pleasure to launch from. I took off right away, to the Marina, to shoot a few pictures, and then worked my way around the lake to the corn maze. There were 4 balloons that launched but it was too late for us to fly with them. Next time.
On the way out I saw a pilot go down over by Santa Fe and Titan. It turned out to be John Sieb who was still having trouble with his motor. Craig also had trouble…motor out somewhere…his wife picked him up. Those guys with the two strokes have all the fun!
We all launched and enjoyed mostly smooth air. Paul was dealing with high winds at 2500 but I was fine at 2000.

Density of Altitude

A surprisingly accurate rule of thumb (usually any error will be less than200-300 feet) for determining the density altitude is easy to remember. For each10-degrees Fahrenheit above standard temperature at any particular elevation,add 600 feet to the field elevation. (And, conversely for each 10-degrees Fbelow standard temperature, subtract 600 feet from the field elevation.)Standard temperature at sea level is 59-degrees Fahrenheit. For elevations abovesea level, subtract 3.5 degrees per thousand feet of elevation from the sealevel temperature of 59 degrees.For example, at Jackson, Wyoming the elevation is 6,444. Multiply 6.444 times3.5 for 22.55. Subtract this from 59 (59-22.55) for 36.45. The standardtemperature at Jackson is 36.5 degrees. If the existing temperature is 80degrees, subtract (80-36.5 = 43.5). Divide this difference by 10 degrees (foreach 10-degrees F above standard), and multiply 4.35 times 600 (600 feet per 10degrees) which equals 2,610. Add 2,610 to the field elevation (6,444) for adensity altitude of 9,054. Under the existing conditions (of our example), theairplane will perform as it would on a standard day at 9,054 feet elevation

#338 Simms & #339 South of Dicks

Two Flight Two Site Day

It was dead calm at 6am while I drove circles in the field trying to find the spot where the grass was low and the tumble weeds were scarce. The moon was setting behind the mountains and the cross on the hill was beautiful! As the sun got closer to the horizon the wind came up and I waited in the truck for 40 minutes till it came down enough for a good safe launch. I had to use the small American Flags for wind socks because I had forgotten my big one. Not to easy to spot when I’m trying to land but they worked well as long as I was sitting.
The launch was normal and the air was fairly smooth. The wind was switching from west to nil to East so there were patches of turbulence that moved around rather than hanging over a particular spot on the Earth. The temp dropped 3 degrees after the wind came up and didn’t start to warm until 7:15. I was starting to get chilled and headed back to the field where I saw an unknown SUV with a paramotor pull in next to my truck. I came in surprisingly hot when what I thought was no wind turned out to be a tail wind. No Worries.
The other pilot was John Sieb and if it had been a little earlier I would have gone back up with him. There was a balloon flying over by the Hog Backs that I had missed and lucky John was going up to play with him. I packed up after he made the longest take off run of his life….:)
Unfortunately the 2 stroke demon bit and he landed after 5 minutes with a loss of power.
The second flight was at a new site a mile north of Dicks. We were asked to leave by the local police at Dicks…They sent us ( Dan, Paul, Paul, Ramon and Me) to the other site where we were met by the Security of the adjacent Mall. We tapped danced and were given permission to get a flight in. The winds were NNW between 5 and 8. I literally Popped up when the wind picked up during the run out. The air was not allot of fun but I did several laps before doing a touch and go and landing. On final I was having a difficult time holding a smooth glide. I would drop 10 feet return to normal glide and drop again. I was still able to set down where I wanted but it was more challenging. beautiful sly with the skyline of Denver in the sunset and a huge full moon rising in the East. I would have loved to take some pictures but it was active flying and I didn’t feel comfortable going no hands.
I was glad we were moved because the goat head thorns were at their dry worst over at Dicks but the new field was clear with just some 1 foot weeds scattered about. They are grading the area so it won’t be flyable for long. Interesting that the graded area is 6 inches of really fine powder. I hope it gets packed before the next big rain.