Category: A good Read

When the Moron Speaks … Listen

Paul Anthem talks about meeting
“Monument Rotor”

Paul Anthem:

On the second morning of flying at Monument Valley in southern Utah four of us planned on flying together out to the monoliths and mesas so that professional paramotor photographer Franck Simmonet could get some photos.
“You don’t need to get close to the mesas” he said, “just stay close to me so that you are big in the frame”.
We launched into almost no wind. It could have been because we were in the wind shadow of the huge mesa beside the LZ. Whatever it was, as I flew out to the mountainous monuments, I was doomed to misjudge the winds.
The day before I had flown out to the large horse-shoe shaped area of monoliths and felt a few mild bumps when I was right in the middle and below the top of the mesas, some of which reach almost 1000 ft. Just about everyone was flying fairly close to the towering structures– but the wind was mild then.
Apparently, this day, the winds were much stronger AND I had completely misjudged the wind direction. I always stay away and above of the leeward side of any large obstruction but, as I slowly descended towards the largest mesa, I mistakenly thought I was on the windward side.
That’s when I heard Franck over the radio, “Go heighter, go heighter!” (Yes, I know it’s “higher” but he was saying “heighter”). By the time he radioed that warning I realized that I was NOT climbing very fast– in fact, I think I was sinking at full throttle.
Then, maybe 20 or 30 seconds later I felt my wing start to vibrate. This is not a very happy wing, I’m thinking. I can feel that I’m loosing brake pressure on the right side (the monolith was to my left several hundred feet). Franck and Matt are a few hundred feet above and behind me. My wing was deforming in such odd and obvious ways that it prompted Matt Witchlinski to radio his concern, “Paul, are you in some bad air ! ?”
I didn’t even try to answer. SOMETHING is going to happen soon, I thought. He had barely finished his sentence when my wing was smacked out of the air.
Now, I often play around with my wing and induce asymmetric collapses but the wing is STILL flying. This was nothing like that. My wing was batted down and folded up and I was falling instantly. It happened so fast all I had time to do was let off of the throttle and hope I didn’t fall into the wing.
The wing recovered with a few violent jerks as I checked the surge. I later learned that after seeing my predicament Franck and Matt instantly turned around to avoid the same fate– they didn’t get to see what happened next.
I’m pretty sure that Matt radioed back about ten seconds later to ask if I was alright. I didn’t answer. I was too busy concentrating and trying to control a wing that was dancing around and vibrating like I was on a drum. You know that feeling you get when you’ve vomited and you can feel it coming on again… I was waiting for it but nothing could have prepared me for the violent collapse that came next.
My wing was hit in the center and thrown back behind me and to the side. For a second I was laying back looking up at the sky. Then the balled up wing swung over to the other side and I was sideways. I dropped down and the wing swung me to the other side and on my back again. Then, next thing I know, it’s in front of me, below the horizon and smooshed up into a ball I could probably fit into my stuff sack. Well at least I can see the wing now. I drop under it again as I tense my arms in a braking position. The wing re-inflates with some rocking and surges, but thankfully, I’m flying again.
I look down and see that I still have several hundred feet of altitude. If I get hit again I might have to throw my reserve. I don’t want to do that while caught in a rotor with only jagged rocks and a cliff face below.
I don’t know if I can take another thrashing like that, I thought. I was lucky that I didn’t fall through the lines or get a major cravat… and I’m still being rocked.
I could feel that I was caught in the huge rotor- it was like a vortex. I couldn’t climb and I couldn’t get away from the monolith. The other guys had got away, maybe they can look back and see some way out. I pressed the radio button on my helmet,” I can’t get out! I’m stuck in the rotor! What should I do ?”
“Climb out”, they said.
“I can’t, it’s pushing me down!”
For a second, I considered going low but then decided that if I had another collapse like the last one that I wouldn’t recover in time. I thought about heading TOWARDS the mesa but decided that although it might get me under the down rotor, it might also suck me up and put me through the wringer again.
So I just kept at full throttle, heading away from the mesa, hands clenched on the brakes trying to keep the wing as stable as possible with every twitch and twist.
Finally, after what must have been 15 minutes, I felt the air smooth out and I started to climb again.
I headed straight back to the airport.
I had had my excitement for the day.

Paul is an accomplished pilot and the creator of the famous PPG for Morons Videos see more at:
http://ppgformorons.com/

Bill & Joe’s Excellent Adventure Day #8

We are
Pounding
West into the
Old Bahama Channel.

This morning, after a great breakfast of bacon and eggs, Bill and I had to decide if we should backtrack to Ragged Island or reach for the channel. Bill set up the ham radio and we tuned into the cruiser net. Captains were calling in from all over the Caribbean getting information on the weather and waves. The “No Rush” did not subscribe to this service but we were patient and after listening to 8 or 10 briefings we were able to discern that the N.N.E. winds were going to be with us for awhile.

So… if we went to Ragged Island we would lose at least two days and I would miss my flight home. That was no problem, since there was no one waiting for me to return. About the only thing we would gain by going to Ragged Island would be a day of trailing seas and a break from the pounding we were getting on anchor. There just aren’t many options, we can’t go north and make the “Great Circle” over the Bahama Bank to Marathon, because the wind is all wrong for that. We can’t go south because Cuba is in the way. The only thing to do is, stay the course, sail to the narrows and hope we get lifted by a clocking wind. I would have loved to set foot on Bahamian soil again but that’s the breaks.

There is a commercial fishing boat a couple of miles to the west. They have deployed about ten small 2 man boats that are scattering around the bank. I’m not sure what they are fishing for but the process is interesting. They are using a diver who is being fed O2 through a compressor and hose system. The equipment looks old and beat. One boat came up to meet us but we were not able to communicate very well. I was too shy to try out my Spanish … just not feeling very extroverted today.

I’m starting to get into the rhythm. When it gets smooth and quiet… hang on… The bow will have finished it’s climb to the top of the wave and begin to drop. Then BANG, into the foot of the next wave… and it starts all over again.We will cross 5 or 6 waves between crashes and every third one is a bone shaker.
1420 hours Still working it. Course 279 degrees, steering by the wind and hoping it will turn by the time we get to the narrows. Right now it looks like we might be pinned. The seas are 6 – 8 feet and the wind is 22 kts. Outside the cabin house is loud, wet and windy. This boat is singing an anthem.

So far, we have traveled 766 nm.

2200 hours Just finished tonight’s movie Rolling Thunder. Bill predicted that the winds would start to turn shortly after dark and he was spot on. We are in the channel and have just enough lift to navigate. It’s going to be a saw tooth with the starboard tack favoring by a long shot.

I really enjoy these night watches, it is a different world and the boat takes on a new character.

Its pitch black , the clouds have obscured the moon and stars, the only visible objects are the instruments and the reflection of waves rolling away from the stern light. Its an illusion, but other senses seem heightened. A squeaking sheave in the boom that was hardly noticeable this afternoon sounds like a giant pissed off parrot. Voices on the marine radio are crystal clear and the wind in the rigging is singing a dirge. Every couple of minutes a wave breaks over the bow sending a bathtub full of water to crash against the front of the cabin house. Sounds are coming from everywhere..wood noise, fiberglass noise, water noise, mechanical and organic, without pause, not getting louder or softer, just going on and on. Below deck, the smells are stronger, ripening fruit, clothing that has been worn for too many days, wet bedding, they all combine into one big boat smell, that I perversely, really like.

0000 hours Bill is back on deck, time to go below and sleep. I wonder what tonight’s dream is going to be… should be good.

Bill & Joe’s Excellent Adventure Day #7

“Hold On”, Bill hollers… 5 seconds later the boat rolled 30 degrees to starboard. If the No Rush were a monohull instead of a catamaran it would be business as usual, but on this boat … not so much. Still, it wasn’t a big deal , just the biggest roll so far. Cruising cats don’t heel like a keel boat, but they do roll with the sea. So, when Bill hollered, I braced and as soon as the wave had passed I went on with what I was doing. Everything on deck and below stayed pretty much in place and there was no crashing or cursing from the galley. The big wave was more of a surprise, at worst an inconvenience, nothing more. Bill did catch a face full of seawater but we were used to that, it happened two or three times a night when we poked our heads above the pilot house to scan the horizon for other ships.

0600 hours We are reaching hard for the banks around Ragged Island. The front came in full force about 4:30. I had gone below about 0000 hours and Bill let me sleep until I woke at 0430. When I came up on deck the boat was hove to and losing ground at about 1.5 kts. Bill was stretched out on the port settee and I did the same on the starboard side until dawn.

0800 hours As soon as it was light enough to see without flashlights we put in the third reef and hauled in for a close reach to the narrows. We were overtaken by a big commercial freighter also heading for the mouth of the Old Bahama Channel and as he crossed our bow, plowing through the 8 foot seas…Bill and I looked at each other and knew it was going to be a long hard pull. Big wind and high seas, right on our nose.

1100 hours Three hours later and we had gained only 3 nm on the point where Bill had originally hove to. So… we changed tactics and turned the boat downwind toward Ragged Island. We held that course for about an hour and checked the chartplotter and the paper chart. The island was appealing, there is a small settlement that would be fun to explore. Unfortunately all the anchorages would be off the windward shore, not a good place to drop a hook. We didn’t know what the holding ground was and the wind wasn’t going to let up soon. So… we changed tactics and headed back into the wind. We steered toward a tongue of deep water that leads into the shallow banks above Ragged. The idea was that the banks to windward would calm the seas enough to give us safe passage, entering the shallows from the lea side. Had we tried to enter the banks directly from the windward side, the seas piling up on the shallow water would have been treacherous.

Right now…I’m in my nest, curled up with pillows. I just finished the movie Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure on the laptop. Bill calls me up when it’s time to tack, otherwise I’m content listening to The Beatles White album on the IPod or the “mystery music” coming from the boat. Both of us have been hearing music when no music is being played. It’s weird… Bill says he hears Opera and I hear everything from heavy metal to slow ballads. Just now I could swear that I heard a steel drum playing “Stand By Your Man”. There is huge variety of sounds coming from the boat… swishing water along the hulls, bangs and thumps from the waves, the generator humming… all mixing together making a grey noise that my mind is turning into something familiar. I kind of like the playlist my brain is creating from chaos.

1245 hours Bill must not be happy with the progress that we are making because he just started the motor.
1400 hours Still on motor the seas are pounding us.
1730 hours At anchor somewhere on the banks west of Ragged Island. It didn’t get as shallow as the charts promised but what can you expect from a chart that is based on a survey from the British Admiralty in 1845. (No lie… it says so right on the legend!)
2000 hours On the Banks I put out a fishing hook … just because… We lounged around reading and watching the sky. The winds are still high (18kts) but the seas are down thanks to the shallows. We are still bouncing around and it’s far from an ideal anchorage but it beats the hell out of the big rollers of deep water. We are in 35 feet of water which is a bit deep for the scope and the anchor did drag a little but seems to be holding fine now. It’s comfortable for us even if it is a bit blowy forward. Thank God there are no wives aboard or we would be in the endless anchor debate.

Time to watch “The Big Labowsky”
North of the Cuban coast and a long way from anywhere

Bill & Joe’s excellent Adventure Day 6

0030 It just doesn’t get any better …
Full moon and steady winds at our back. The boat is surfing along at 6 kts and there is nothing but open ocean for hundreds of miles ahead. To starboard, I can see Matthewtown glittering on the Northwestern tip of great Iguana Island. The village is about a mile across and can’t be more than 200 people. Ah well …maybe next time. I guess the same goes for Guantanamo it’s only 122nm. off my port bow… another day and maybe another Regime.

Yesterday was good, after Bill and I cobbled together a new mainsheet system we cooked dogs for lunch. I slept first, and the dreams just kept on coming, this one was about some “event at the library”, everybody seemed to know each other and were happy. Later we watched a movie and played cards. No Worries on No Rush. We talked about what to do and where to go when we get to Key West. Skipper says I get to pick the itinerary and hints that he would like to see The Dry Tortuga, he thinks there is some good snorkeling around there. I’ve seen it… but it was after a long slow sail from Marathon and nobody felt like getting into the water that day. So if he wants to keep going west after Key West…I’m good with it.

Dinner was a great beef stew made from scratch. While Bill was cooking I hung out on the bow and took pictures. The clouds parted just before sunset.

After Dinner Bill had some serious pain in his lower back. He had mentioned having Kidney stones a few years ago and the location was right. So… Bill took a Vicadin and went below. Fifteen minutes later I screwed up a wind shift and before I could get the boat straightened out he was back on deck saying the cramps had gone and he was feeling fine. I told him the problem must be menstrual and we both laughed. It was troubling… but there wasn’t anything I could do about it and I figured that if things went to hell I could set course for Guantanamo and call for help on 16. I’m sure we would have assistance in short order.

There was a good display of bioluminescence in the wake. The movie was Three Feathers about British troops fighting in Sudan during the late 1800s.
When the wind picked up right after dark we put a reef in the main and the boat settled right down. I stayed on deck until we saw the beacon on Grand Iguana.
0240 hours 6 nm southwest of Matthewtown. The winds are starting to increase and the cloud cover is lower and thick. I ducked below and cleaned up the dishes from last nights feast. When I came up I let out the main and tightened the preventer. It was all good … time to catch up on my murder mystery.
0500 hours Bill is up and I’m ready for sleep.
1145 hours We have been Wing on Wing since midday yesterday only having to switch sails once. The seas are down I so I used the opportunity to open the foreward hatches on my side of the boat. It was getting a bit ripe in there.
1800hours Bill made chicken with Bell pepper wraps for lunch. There has been no change in wind direction but it is starting to build. We are expecting it to begin clocking from east to south and then from the southwest which is going to make for a bumpy night. Spent the afternoon reading. Just for the heck of it I put out the fishing gear …no joy.
2100hours Storm at Sea

Bill and I were playing cards, the seas were 2-3 feet and coming from astern, as they had been all day. We were talking about putting a reef in the main and watching the clouds thicken ahead… Suddenly Bill put down his cards and said, “Lets do it RIGHT NOW”.
So… we reefed the main and furled the jib. As we finished the wind died and we could see a rain squall approaching from the Northwest. When it hit it shifted to the north. The best way to make good time in these condition was to motor and.. so we did.
Dinner was great, Pasta Bolognese, which we ate quickly. The weather was looking like it was going to get worse. We were still several hours from the narrows but the skys ahead were very dark. There was a midsized yacht tracking us on the starboard we kept an eye on it until it sped up and crossed our bow.

The night was pitch black and it was impossible to make out the horizon. It’s like being inside a bowl of India ink. We turned off the running lights for a second and you couldn’t even see the bow. I have never experienced such “blackness. Later the bioluminescence started up with a variation on last night.. Tonight it was a green cloud with brighter globs of light within. Amazing! Again we turned off the running lights and all the instruments. WOW…The only thing visible were little green flashes coming from our wake and bow wave. WOW… I stood on the transom steps and imagined it was the view of our universe from a million light years away.

Bill suspects the front is Northwest and will be on us about midnight, right now we are in the convergence and it’s strangely calm.
2100 hours Just before Bill went below he suggested that I disconnect the Garmin C-176 from the boat’s power just in case the storm knocks out the chart plotter. The lightning started from the NW but now it’s across the entire starboard side with an occasional flash to port probably from smaller storm cells. It would have been great to check it on the radar but it decided to be our latest mechanical issue and went down yesterday.

2300 hours I’m a little spooked…probably for no good reason but this is new to me. As the front approached the air became super saturated. Everything was wet. we are still motorsailing but the jib is out and we trimmed the main to starboard. Bill is up. Time to get some sleep it’s going to be a long night.

Monument Valley 09 Saturday

Mo made it in late last night and gave the briefing…thanks Mo…

Conditions were wonderful, light breezes made for easy take-offs. I launched from halfway down the runway to avoid yesterday’s mistake…and I switched to the PowerPlay Sting. What a difference! The climb was much better; I locked the throttle at 80%, hooked up the foot steering and headed over to the park. The rig was climbing at 130 ft/min and with a strong tailwind …moving fast. I figured that if I had a hard time penetrating on the way home, I would go low and if that wasn’t enough, I could land out and hitch a ride back.

Jeff and the Boys (Ivan Mo Uri Mark)

Photo by Faith Wesstrom
There were wings all over the place, some were heading into the valley and others were coming from the North after visiting the seven sisters and possibly rounding Brigham’s Tomb. After clearing Gouldings, I flew south along the highway and crossed over Wetherill Mesa into the Valley of the Gods, three miles south of the visitors center. It was spectacular. I was surrounded by a labyrinth of massive buttes and delicate spires towering a thousand feet above the desert floor. After doing a couple of big slow circles I turned North past the Camel and Elephant Buttes until I reached the West Mitten where I turned back towards Gouldings. At 2500AGL the best speed was 5 mph at 2000AGL it was up to 10mph and at 500ft I was clipping along at 18mph.

Photo by Faith Wesstrom

When I got back to the field there was a plane circling the LZ waiting for everybody to clear the runway. I positioned myself at 500 ft just north of the airstrip so that I would be well inside of the flight pattern and out of the way. There was a truck sitting right in the middle and I was hoping that he knew there was a plane waiting to land. It took entirely too long, with the foot steering engaged and the throttle set to cruise I circled for at least 15 minutes. Eventually the runway was cleared and I landed with a long low and slow run up the runway. This was the best flight so far.

Photo by Faith Wesstrom

After Lunch a bunch of us piled into the pick-up and went for a tour of Navajo Tribal Park. We had a great time stopping at the various outlooks and pointing out places where we had been and planned to go and taking the obligatory,“We were there”, pictures. All of us agreed that the monuments looked allot bigger from the ground but scarier from the air. I was astounded when Jeff told me that he was anxious flying close to these massive and unchanging structures because I felt the same way. We both knew that they couldn’t “suck you in” but at the same time it took force of will to fly right up to the wall of something so huge and unsympathetic.

Csaba Lemak

Seeing the monuments from the ground was a real eye opener. For one thing, I realized that if I were ever forced to make an emergency landing, I had better be able to glide to a road, because it would be almost impossible find smooth patch amidst all the skree. Not to mention the difficulty in pushing the Rig to a place where I could be picked up.

Faith and Ola Wesstrom

That evening we met at Gouldings for the Big Dinner.

Into the truck and down the hill we went. Ola looked very comfortable sitting in the buggy and Faith was riding shotgun as the token lady but I worried that I was going to lose either Ivan or Uri off the back, fortunately I remembered the speed bumps and we made it without incident. At dinner I had the ribs which I wish I’d tried sooner because it was by far the best dish on the menu. Sitting with Johnny Fetz, Chad and Greg Bishop, we talked about next year and things we wanted to do. I really hadn’t thought about “non-organizing” it again but listening to the gang …it sounds like allot of people are talking about coming back and doing it again.
After the meal I got up and said a very few words, thanking everybody and inviting them to come back next year. Someday I’m going to surprise them and prepare a real speech but for now the minimalist thing was working for me. One thing for sure it was much more satisfying that the last time when I had a pilot down and no one knew his condition.
After dinner we hung for about an hour and told hanger stories. It was a hoot to see Jeff sitting with John Black and Mo. The atmosphere was celebratory, just about everyone got one “EPIC” flight and no one was injured.
Eventually it broke up into lots of little parties. I made the rounds and visited a couple of them; the campfire discussion was in full swing with Russ, Faith, Ola, Ivan, Johnny, Uri, Chad and a few others. Tonight’s topic was wing design, what’s new, what’s being developed… and… Government interference in the Ultraflight World, the good bad and ugly. Russ had an abundance of firewood so the fire was high and accommodated the large group nicely.

Down at the Bachelor’s Quarters there was a rowdy game of Texas hold-em. Csaba and John Black were going at it hard and heavy while the guys who had donated to the cause looked on with great big smiles. The happiest guy was Jim King who had seen god earlier in the day when he got pinned to the earth by a running paramotor. Story is, that Jerry had fixed him a couple of Margaritas before dinner and he was feeling no pain. At Bob’s RV the “Acro Film Festival” was winding down. I was almost bowled over by Ivan when he staggered out of the RV… heading to bed…too tuckered for any more carousing.

Beery on Monument Valley 09

Post by Beery Miller:
I’ve got some photos I have posted up on the <http://www.txwingnuts.com/> website that I took while on the way to Monument Valley from Houston, at Monument Valley, and some of the surrounding areas of Monument Valley.

Myself, I flew about 3 hours at Monument Valley. I had 4 flights, the first 3 averaged about 1 hour. The Sunday morning flight, Jeff Goin and Faith caught on video as I launched uphill towards the mesa, cleared the fence by about 3 feet,tried to make a left (eastern) turn, and then did not have enough power to climb from the sink due to some rotor and was dumped from about 5 feet at the edge of the road. Fortunately, the car stopped. Poor choice on my part to launch in the first place. That was Jeff Goin’s first incident Sunday morning he referenced on

http://www.footflyer.com./

I caught some good video of Luke from Quebec and a couple of pilots out in the monuments, flipped the camera upside down to make it look like John Fetz had flipped his trike , two pilots attempting to launch at the same time and colliding on the ground, captured a bunch of other blooper performances,captured several instructional moments where pilots were transferring their wisdom to help others improve their skills, and other entertaining moments. I also went around and shot some video from various perspectives of the valley including one spot from a dry river bed, ten miles off the main road and after the “gravel” road ended. Myself, even though I didn’t consume but 3 gallons of the 20 gallons of Avgas I took, the trip was well worth it. They call it God’s Country. The ground perspective would have made it almost satisfying in of itself, however theflights above the monuments were the icing to the cake.

Monument Valley is a trip every pilot should make sometime in their lifetime. There were a number of pilots that didn’t successfully launch on the trip as it is indeed an advanced launch site. I watch two pilots, one on Saturday nightand another Sunday morning take major sink at the end of the runway. Both walked away, one needing a new spark plug boot, the other needing a new cage. The potential for winds, thermals, rotors, the high altitude, ground hazards for launching, and terrain is not a place for an inexperienced pilot. Even though I have close to 1000 hours of flying in my 5 years, it did not prepare me. Not once was I able to successfully do a forward inflation as either the wing would catch on something or I didn’t have the speed to keep the wing loaded. Coming from sea-level beach flying altitude to an LZ one mile high was part of the issue. Anyways, many thanks to Joe for arranging the event. It was great meeting old friends and meeting people behind their usernames like John Fetz, Lance, Brian, Delia, Ola, Faith, Luke, Ron Nolan, Stann, Jeff Goin,John Black, Jerry Kerr, Sky King, Mo, Sean, George, Joe, and so many others. Oh, and watch out if you ever play Texas Hold’m with Jerry, John, or SkyKing. They funded part of their trip from me.

Beery

Jeff Goin on Monument Valley 09

Jeff Goin
Photo by Faith Wesstrom
Post by Jeff Goin:
It’s breathtaking. You can easily see why film crews found this a perfect backdrop for so many John Wayne and other westerns. They had to love it when Technicolor replaces monochrome. Red rocks and others mix light and shadow in ways that our mind’s eye paint as art. Beautiful art. And its amazing to see it all from the variable perch of our little 3d machines. Unfortunately, that freedom comes at a price. I pulled in well after the morning but pilots reported that it was quite bumpy at Gouldings, where we launch from, as early as 9am. That’s not surprising since a west wind aloft was spilling over the huge mesa just to our west. But those pilots who went out early reported good conditions and gorgeous flights.What a diverse group of pilots. Pilots are here from as far away as Eastern Canada and Florida and I suspect that they are not disappointed. In spite of challenging flying conditions, it’s tough not to appreciate the place–especially with the beautiful weather tossing up brilliant blue skies that interact so well with this incredible terrain.Friday afternoon I was anxious to get in the air. By 5pm pilots were getting their gear positioned all over the aircraft parking area and runway but it was still quite gusty, ranging almost calm to 15 mph. I watched some of the kiting and it was telling. Not yet. By 6pm I figured that, even though it was still kind of gusty, at least the thermals would be diminished and I launched. The best way to launch a paramotor in switchy conditions, in my opinion, is to consider it a two part process. Get the wing up and moving nicely then, when all is well, go for it. Don’t linger in the run since inflation and running are the most vulnerable times, but take stock of your readiness for flight before committing. Running briskly, wing overhead and tracking, then power up using necessary but minimum brake inputs. Sometimes locations make this assessment period very brief, especially in zip wind.Not long after launching it became obvious I probably shouldn’t have. The wind aloft was westerly and much stronger than anticipated, curling over that huge mesa a half-mile to the west. I headed east towards the monuments and away from the rotor. Wow. What a sight! Two other pilots joined me and I did get some video and pictures in spite of nearly continuous level 2 bumps. The video will be nearly worthless but some of the stills worked out. Meanwhile, back at the field, there was some minor trauma when a trike pilot got wind-whacked and flipped over with the usual damage and a scraped up arm. Pavement is not forgiving. Other pilots wisely watched the shenanigans and decided against flying.The strong west wind also meant that I would be taking a long time to come back so I returned pretty early. I’m trying out the Ozone Viper 2 and appreciated having the reflex available. I came down to find a reasonably smooth altitude and motored in. It wouldn’t be pretty near the airport with nearly the same turbulence as when I left so chose to land farther away from where I took off and come in under power. Landing with power gives you more control in shifty air but at some extra risk of damaging the gear. Good thing I had the power because on short final a gust tried to dump me but a good goose of Mr. Black Devil at the last minute averted what could have been a firm arrival. I was happy to be down. Others launched with varying results. One pilot got airborne only to be dumped just a bit before the fence. He wisely chose land and reset instead of pressing on in hope of clearing the fence.Landings were even more exciting. One pilot took 3 approaches before finally getting a good window and setting down nicely. Another came in power off, got lifted then dumped and landed so hard that he tumbled, bending his cage. He’s an extremely experienced flyer who just got weather-whacked. This place, in this wind condition, is not very forgiving. Three pilots didn’t make it back because there were unable to penetrate so they landed out. Good move.I’m glad to have gotten my one flight, and it was spectacular, but it was not an ideal choice. If the wind is like that again I’ll just do video taping from the ground! Morning beckons and is supposed to be better. Winds are typically oozing down the runway, forcing an uphill launch but I’ll take that over turbulence any day.

Saturday Oct 11 Ah, now this is more like it! Morning was perfect and nearly everybody flew. It was tough launching uphill with shifting light winds but, once aloft, many pilots made the monument trek as did I. Good thing, by the way, my exhaust bolts were safety wired in. Wow, now this is some amazing scenery. Calling them monuments is right on.It’s weird how spooky being next to, and just over, these monoliths is. I mean its not like they’re going to suck you in, especially given the relatively mellow conditions. They look so hard, so utterly unconcerned about my wellness, so unforgiving of any misstep. I held the brakes just a bit tighter. It took a couple circuits before I’d let go to snap pictures.It wasn’t perfectly smooth, by any measure, but 2-level bumps are smooth relative to the sharp nastiness of yesterday evenings flights. That this is an airport became abundantly clear when an airplane, coming in for a landing, had to abandon his approach due to a bunch of gliders on the runway–trikes getting ready to launch. He circled for probably 5 minutes while everyone pulled off to make room. An easterly breeze made everything quite smooth for launch and landing, perfect for trying stuff out. I tried out Chad’s Miniplane with Mo’s Spice. That’s my all-time favorite combination. I also tried his 19 meter “ultralight” wing which was incredible. Mo tried it too. Six foot something Mo Sheldon weighs about 185 pounds and he was tasking a Top 80 with hefting around on a 19 meter wing at 6000 foot density altitude. Hmmm, I thought, that won’t be a stellar climb. But at least he was launching uphill. Mind you, the climb was pretty marginal, there was a steady 5 to 8 mph breeze and Mo knows his way around a wing. But still it was impressive. I had a pretty decent climb rate on my flight of the wing but I’m 35 pounds lighter, too. That wing weighs a grand total of 5 pounds. Five. The risers look like clothes lines. Talk about easy inflating, though! The evening was a bust. Once I found out the winds were again coming over the back I begged off flying altogether and, in fact, didn’t even get my wing out. Surprisingly, several pilots flew in spite of all that. One pilot took a 40 percent collapse just over the airport and I happened to be videotaping. “Happened” isn’t exactly right since I figured there was a pretty high likelihood of badness which was why I was taping. A 40% collapse, without any cravats, is very benign as long as the pilot doesn’t overreact. Thankfully, he didn’t and came around, rather suddenly, for an uneventful landing. One other piece of excitement was a pilot who landed at the other end of the runway and got whacked just as he was running it out. He fell and his throttle hand mashed into the dirt such that the motor stuck on half power or so. We saw the landing but not the fall. John Black sped down there in his truck, saw what was happening, couldn’t get the kill switch, so he reached in and yanked off the spark plug. Nice going.When this airport is in wind shadow, not surprisingly, it’s no fun to be flying. That’s why I, and most others, didn’t go up. Plus, I’d had a great morning flight, why go bounce around in this. Saturday night we all gathered at Goulding’s restaurant and told lies. It was a great time. Sunday morning, as I write this, promises to be nice early but, with winds forecast to be strong over the back by noon, I’m going to stay pretty close if I fly at all. It’s been a great trip, I’ve had 5 flights, and could easily end it on this most happy of notes. There is the matter of my now fully fueled motor…

Sunday Summary: A gorgeous sunrise belied the unsavory swirls aloft. Southwesterly winds put us, again, in rotor. I had no interest in it—been there, got the T-shirt, didn’t like its fit. Joe Onofrio sent up a helium balloon and, surprisingly, it didn’t look as bad as we feared and, even I agreed that it probably wasn’t dangerous but wouldn’t be smooth and, with a forecast strong wind at noon, feared that conditions could suddenly grow teeth. When one intrepid pilot did elect to launch I got the camera. The good one, with the big lens and good stabilization. Sure enough, I was treated to show. He did a nice launch, barely cleared the fence then landed (well, kinda whacked) into the hill just south of us. Neither he nor his equipment suffered any damage beyond a flight suit tear but it wasn’t a good start to the morning. That put a damper on launches for a while but then we noticed that there wasn’t anything sharp to the wind although it occasionally did gradual changes to the opposite direction. Yup, better time that one right! Then John Black starting playing around with his quad, inflating and taxi/kiting up to the ramp, turning around, taxiing down the runway and finally launching into a short flight. It was an exquisite display of what’s possible with good throttle and wing control. You’ve got to keep enough airspeed over the wing and lead your turns. When he offered it up to me I jumped at the chance. What a hoot. I did one run up to the ramp with a 180, came around between the guys and launched down the runway. God that’s cool. No potholes, either.A digression on Quads I saw some extreme examples of the incredible stability offered by low CG quads. John’s Paracruiser was the most graphic, though. When another pilot was taxiing it, he got into some turbulence which started him swinging left/right. He lifted off and wound up hitting the pavement sideways, skidding to a stop. Had that been a trike or a anything with a higher CG, it would rolled immediately. In fact, there were two trikes that rolled and were damaged. But John’s and another similar unit, which endured highly tipful encounters, just skidded around.Both incidents that I saw would have tipped most trikes. Mind you, I like trikes and, for experienced pilots, they’re fine. Quads have drawbacks, too, of course, namely in rough terrain because the wheels hit bumps unevenly. But overall, the evidence is overwhelming that you’re less likely to flip a low CG quad than a trike. And of course it makes sense given their broader overall base. Trikes can be improved, of course, by having a low CG and wide rear wheel base, but, all things being otherwise equal, quads are the best tool for beginners learning wheels.Eventually other pilots launched into increasing turbulence and all landed after collecting too many bumps in too little time. One pilot got into enough turbulence that he decided to land a quarter-mile down the runway. His last 40 feet was rapid, pounding in hard enough to wreck the cage and prop. That was hard to watch. He didn’t add power and didn’t flare until way too late. Fortunately he was fine and hopefully will be able to get his gear repaired since he’s part of a French group visiting here. Wish I could speak French! I’d love to welcome them in the same way I felt welcomed in France. Language barriers suck. Rusty was among the last to fly, putting on a great show of foot dragging and generally playing around. He’s the one who built this incredible green motor home that mated a 1950’s truck to a GMC motor home and has a matching trailer. Overall, it was an incredible experience. Just being here is worth it. Thanks so much to Joe Onofrio, the “non-organizer” as he calls himself, for getting us all together. It has etched out a fine memory that will, no doubt, enjoy frequent visits.

Sky King Talks about Monument Valley

Sky King
Photo by Beery Miller
…I, Sky King of Austin, Texas, arrived home Monday evening after a great road trip to Monument Valley, which was “non-organized” by fellow pilot Joe Onofrio,the Italian piano dealer and former horse wrangler from Colorado. Thanks, Joe,for putting it together and getting permission for the rest of us to fly over such a stunning landscape.—Beery stated it in a previous post, but the view from the ground alone is worth the drive. Then to be able to fly over the famous rock formations, most of them standing 1000 feet or more from the desert floor, was truly a privilege.—Launching and landing from a corner between two rotor-causing rock formations400 feet tall or more was challenging, even for the more skilled pilots attending. I felt lucky to have been able to launch three times (I lost count ofmy attempts). But as Jeff Goin says, it’s all about risk & reward, and at Monument Valley the reward definitely justifies the risk. That’s just my opinion.—A few pilots suffered bruises and scrapes, but no one was injured seriously that I know of. I fell down fairly hard in a sticker patch Saturday afternoon after landing hot and off-balance at the end of the runway in trashy air — I should not have launched in the first place — and became pinned to the dirt under a spinning prop until John Black arrived and carefully reached in to disable my motor by jerking the spark plug wire out. Thanks again, John. Right behind him were Beery, who helped pack up and return my gear, and Nurse Sue from Albuquerque, whose hug made the crash-landing worth it — remember, risk &reward. Later that evening I tried to get another hug by telling her my leg still hurt. It didn’t work.—My starter rope failed to retract Friday morning, and pilot Mark of St. George,Utah, an actual mechanic, fixed it by rebuilding one of the paw springs that had malfunctioned. Then Saturday after my tumble in the desert, Olaf of Indiana and John Fetz, the old man in the sky, working together, fixed a broken kill-switchconnector and repaired the spark plug wire with a part from Beery. Much obliged to you guys.—Besides the activities at the flight line I learned some great poker lessons from Colorado lawman Jerry Kerr and Chabba the Hungarian. Also Sean, Beery and John Black. Captain Black — (by the way, during this fly-in I learned that Black actually was a captain on an offshore fishing boat) — won the six-manno-limit hold-em tournament Saturday night. Don’t get too excited. The winner-take-all jackpot, which at the end was a heads-up contest between Black and Chabba, totaled a net of $50.—I drove back to Austin Sunday and Monday smiling about the great memories created at Monument Valley. Next up: Galveston, Texas on Oct. 23. Beery, I’ll give you a chance to win your money back. Assuming Kim will give you permission to play. — SKY KING..

#352 & #353 Chatfield …Power on Landings

God made Days off for days like today!

The season is changing and it’s happening all too fast. Now days, when I get to the field at 6:00am, it’s O’Dark Thirty. Plenty of time to finish that Rock Star and let the caffeine get into the blood stream. It had been partly clouding all night and this morning was hazy and 55 degrees
The wind was SSW variable 4 to 7 which meant I had a slight uphill grade and rotor from the “Club House”. The wing came up fast and the buggy had stopped rolling after the first two feet, I was able to add a little “foot power”, but the wing stalled and fell to the left, by now, I was starting to roll, so I added right brake and watched the wing swing to the right until the tip was about 6 feet above the ground. Now some left brake and this time it centered and was rock solid over head. Small wing Heavy trike… The Eden III is easy to muscle around because it’s smaller, lighter material and more responsive than the Power Play. I don’t think this would have tipped the Trike Buggy Basic but I’m sure that I would have felt the trike start to lift on one side. Because of the extended wheelbase and low and heavy CG, the Thumper is incredibly forgiving. When the wing was about 40 percent loaded the “side pull “was just discernible.

When the wing is oscillating like that it’s a good time to be looking up at the glider. 🙂 The mirror is great for some pilots, but it tends to take up too much of my attention and I lose the big picture. The climb out was slow, which was made worse because the surface was sloping upward. Once up, it was mostly smooth air. The winds were flowing in a circle, clockwise around the area. I could fly downwind along the western edge of the park and still be downwind on the east side of the park coming home. The neat thing was that the area around the Balloon Port was calm, because it is inside the circle. I watched two balloons go up and hang right over the Port, they didn’t move 20 feet except vertically the whole time they were in the air.

I took some shots of the Marina, landed power on and practiced the low and slow. Then took a brake and did it again. The overcast had damped any thermal activity…I could have flown for two more hours it was that good!

Chad…Please bring some different length hang straps and help me dial in these wings for the Thumper Bullet.
1. Measure the current straps and Riser position in relationship to the hang point rings

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.