Category: Uncategorized

688…. 689 … 690
I had a hard time getting out of bed but still made it to the field by 6:30.   It was a chilly 41degrees but there was no wind and the sky was clear.  The grass was soaking wet with morning dew and yesterday’s rain.  I didn’t feel like tromping around in the mud so I laid out the wing on the blacktop between the hangers heading west.   It is so nice to launch from a hard surface.
Good clean flight with lots of climb.
Later I came out and cracked off two more.  I landed in the middle of the field reset and launched.  Later looking at the video I realized that I had left the helmet cam on.   Maybe I’ll turn out a short how to….

10 more to 700 !

Our big plans for the weekend had to be cancelled so I took the opportunity Sat afternoon to get some air.

Gotta watch that cam buckle.
I had to reset after blowing a cross wind inflation and missed that the trim cam buckle had slipped below the hang point rings … again.  The wing came up crooked and I wrangled it  overhead and launched.  Almost immediately I recognized the problem as the wing turned left toward the manufacturing plant.  I was able to free it but had to fly with lots of right brake to stay over landable terrain and climb high enough to use both hands to work the cam through the ring.
Dumb Chute!
Once that was sorted out I chased the Balloons and did a fast tight turn around the one at my altitude.
I could probably fly a lot closer than I do but my proximity tolerance is about the same as my bump tolerance …. not too high.
When I landed I noticed that the nose wheel seemed a bit sloppy and upon inspection discovered that the hub was out of true and the castor had far too much play.  One gofer hole or hard landing and its going to be spitting bearings. So… I visited Harbor Freight and bought a new wheel which came with a caster assembly.

This was a very nice morning.  Warm and almost nil wind… Not a cloud in the sky.
Climb rate was below 100ft/min.  and the belt was squealing above 3200 rpm.
I put up with it and flew with the balloons for 20 minutes climbing to 8000 ft. then turned back to the field.  The return was noticeably different because rpms were below 3000, the machine was quiet and I was able to enjoy some of the smoothest air of the season.

When I arrived at Vance Brand there was a light breeze from the south so I flew around the hangers and did a short final to land by the truck.  At the last minute I decided to make it a touch and go where I experienced a very long run and very slow climb out.  The belt was screaming and I barely had the power to clear the southern fence.  This has to change!

Good morning.
EXCEPT … I did it again,. left the key in and had to jump the Falcon.  I’m getting good at it now.  I had walked the wing 200 yards away from the truck and was thinking about starting the motor and taxiing out to the wing and hooking it up with the motor running….. BUT reason took over and I did it the right (albeit risky) way with the motor off.
It rained last night and it has been hot hot so the air was humid and the density of altitude was probably around 10,000 ft.  .I was glad to have gone to the far end of the field because it was one long run to get airborne.  There were 4 balloons up but they were climbing above 9,000 feet and I didn’t feel like listening to the belt squeal while I climbed, so I made do with 6,000 feet and some wing practice.
The Eden III had come back from Paramotor city.  It’s all clean and crispy.You can’t even see where the repair was.  It seemed to want to pull to the left and I had to use trimmers to keep on course.  I’ll fly it a few more times before I call Michelle to see what she thinks.
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No Drama ….
I learned that when there is no wind the AAssists need to be tighter and because the attachment at the frame is on a ring the clip moves up on the circle as the wing inflates and comes overhead.  It doesn’t get so tight that it puts extra tension on the A lines.

The air was interesting on landing.  There was a cool downslope from the west on the surface and 10 degrees warmer from the East.  I had a hard time deciding which way to land.  Was the inversion so low that I would be downwind even after I touched down?  It turns out not and at about 5 feet I slowed down cones rabble as the wind passed through the layer suddenly going into the wind.

Two short flights.  It rained last night but the field was dry enough to lay out the wing.  This was the first flight since I shredded the Eden III.  The A Assists worked great and my shoulder was spared.  The winds were gusty but not too much to keep me from going for it.  
Strong currents in the air were pulling the POWER PLAY SWING all over the place.  The brakes felt mushy and I just wasn’t comfortable .   So… I landed and tried again when it seemed better…..it was not.

I put the Little Force into her slip yesterday.  There is some push back from CLSC but I don’t think that it will come to anything.  Who could turn away such a cute little orphan?  My prospective buyer backed out so I may be taking her home this fall.  Anyway, it was good to get out on the mini 12 again.