August 2012 – Page 2 – Powered Paragliding. A most Personal form of Flight

What a beautiful morning to fly with the Balloons!

There was absolutely no breeze at Vance Brand airport this morning. The sky was clear and I could see one lone balloon at altitude off to the south. After launching I noticed there were 3 others at low altitude east of the Boulder Reservoir. I climbed to 500 feet and went to meet them. There was a 10 mph breeze from the north and the Falcon picked up to 40+mph. Smooth air all the way.

I did encounter a small fixed wing GA at the same altitude who was heading right at me. He turned away 1000 yards off my nose. It could have been that he did not see me until I started to bank away giving the wing more visible surface area.

The return was slow and it started to get bumpy when I dropped altitude to get out of the head wind so I climbed back up opting for the smoother air. I cant really call it a cross country because I was only up about 40 minutes but it was 14 miles … 7 out and 7 back.

This weekend is the Fly In at Bubba’s. Have a great time guys … I cannot make it this year.

I awoke early and decided to go for it. The air was warm and still when I arrived at Vance Brand about 6 am. The first launch was picture perfect. I lined up on the dirt track and launched right down the runway. There was a good strong breeze from the South West above 50 feet. As I was setting up to land I noticed a couple of balloons to the south. So I landed …. gassed … and set up to reach launch.
This one was a little different. I didn’t damp the wing quick enough during the inflation and it folded up in a frontal. I watched it in the mirror as it collapsed and fell behind. I contemplated aborting the take off but I had plenty of room ahead and decided to see if I could save it. I throttled down and rolled along for quite a long distance with half the wing but eventually it inflated and I powered back up. I was rolling over the grass and waiting for my speed to back up until I came adjacent to the swoop pond. Eventually I got off and went to chase the balloons. There were 5 in the air with one playing very close to the ground. Since he was the closest I headed that way and we danced together for a few minutes before I turned back toward the LZ. I aborted the first landing attempt because the wing was oscillating. I think it was the result of a hard turn as I descended through the temperature inversion. Anyway it wasn’t settling down and rather than come in swinging I went around again and landed without trouble.
The balloon was landing east of the field so after packing my gear I drove over and said hello. There was an FAA inspector who showed up shortly after I to do a “ramp inspection”. The captain was an elderly gent who seemed a bit forgetful and I didn’t like the idea of the FAA guy quizzing him. Or me! I said a quick good by and was on my way back to the house.