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Powered Paragliding Vance Brand 605 & 606

What a nice afternoon.  Yesterday it took 2 hours to drive into Denver with heavy snow but today it’s 61 degrees and the field is soft and barely damp.

On the way to Vance Brand Airport I stopped at Boulder Municipal to see if they would let me fly there.  I approached a group of sky divers waiting for their ride outside the Executive Terminal and struck up a conversation.  Good guys.  Bruce told me he had never seen any of us flying in the area but didn’t seem against the idea.  There was very little activity and unless there was some bad history I thought there might be a chance.  I watched the sky divers take off and eventually met the lead instructor at the flight school, a friendly enough guy named Tracy.  The airport manager was out but he didn’t have any problems with me flying there.  When he called the manager I was told that there was a city ordinance against us basing at B.M. Airport but he was cool if I quietly took a few flights.
The air was a bit sketchy with little gusts blowing in every few minutes from the West.  B.M. Air is much closer to the Flat Irons and I was concerned with rotor from the hills and city so I decided to save it for another day when the conditions were calmer.  I chatted with the pilot of the skydiving plane for a few and set off to Vance Brand.
5 miles North it was much better.  The winds were 4 to 7 mph from the North West and there wasn’t a soul in sight.  I launched by the swoop pond and headed over to the High School.  While it was calm at the field it was very turbulent to the south.  I climbed to 500 feet and it got worse.  I climbed to 800 feet and it was worse still!  So… I descended back down to 100 feet and headed back to the field where I played around with the low and slow and practiced touch and goes on the new taxiway.  Eventually the air smoothed out and I enjoyed the glass of until the sun went behind the mountains.

Powered Paragliding #594 &. #595 Vance Brand

This was a great day.  We had a party last night and I woke up this morning feeling 70 years old.  Every joint hurt like I had spent the week bucking bales of hay.  I knew Robert was going to Vance Brand and wanted to go but had a hard time motivating.  BUT …. I managed to drag my butt of the couch and get out to the field by 2 pm.
The wind was 5 mph from the ESE and Robert was getting Zach (Mindy’s son) ready for his first flight.   Marek and Ty went up for a short flight and reported moderately bumpy air.  I set up by the swoop pond, to give myself a little more runway.  The wing came up clean and I carved it up for 20 minutes until my hands started to go numb from the cold.
The next  hour was spent trying to get Zach off the ground.  The wind had come down so the reverse that he had beem practicing was out.  I’ll give him credit for perserverence,  Zach wore the motor for 45 minutes and 8 or 10 attempts before he finally go up.  At first he was having a problem getting the motor up to full power, I’m not sure if it was a motor problem or his hand got between the lever and the grip.  Eventually that was straightened out and he had to deal with several attempts where the wing came up crooked.   I’m not going to second guess Robert but maybe it would have helped if he had him take off the motor after two aborts and reset the wing very carefully.  I’m not sure but I think if he did that and placed the motor where he wanted to be standing when he started it might have come up a little straighter.  It would also make each attempt ” THE ONE”.  It’s great to have a guy reset for you when you abort and it saves taking off the motor but it is hard to get positioned exactly right when the wing is pulled into position without the pilot seeing exactly where it is.   It just seemed a little rushed.  Never the less , he got off and landed well with the “first flight grin”.  I wasn’t able to get any stills but did video his first launch.  If I can get it on IMovie I’ll send it to him.

592 & 593

This is what will have to do for my 57th birthday flight.

57 Degrees … 7mph at the surface 20mph at 100 feet.  Easy quick launches.  Motor off landings.
Crabbed over to the High School and Elementary school.  Winds were switching and turned 120 degrees by the time I had landed for the next launch.  No set up required for the second launch because the wing came down perfectly to re inflate.

Nice but challenging flights

#578 Evening Flight at Vance Brand

What a nice Surprise.  Dawn and I were planning to go to the CSYC board meeting but after speaking with Bill I decided that it was not a necessity, saving us 2 hours on the road.  When I text ed Dawn the news she suggested that we go flying instead.  How nice…
So she came home early and we were at the airstrip by 5:30. The wind was brisk from the East which was a good thing.  Instead of launching at the East end where the weeds had been snagging my lines, I could move to the west side of the field where there was real grass.  I’d launched there before but it was rare.  I parked the truck on the North end and walked the wing out to the middle of the field giving me plenty of room to launch and clear the buildings and rotor on the East end.  Dawn and I did a radio check and she settled into the truck to get some  work done while I played.   Nice Lady ….

Nice air except for a ratty layer at 200 feet.  I flew over to the High school and doodled around for 30 minutes.  The wind was 15 mph from the East.  When I dropped down to 100 feet I was able to penetrate much better and made my way back to Vance Brand. 

Through the whole thing I hadn’t been able to hear Dawn on the radio and was getting pretty frustrated.  We had done several radio checks which checked out fine.  Eventually I was getting her transmissions but weak.  I think the plug into the radio is the problem and will work on it.  Some kind of a guard that keeps the plug from being disturbed.

When the air started getting trashy I flew west of the field and practiced touch and gos adjacent to the runway.  On one of them I saw a GA lining up for final,  I stayed south of the runway and we came in together.  VERY COOL.

Powered Paragliding Vance Brand 577

This morning was calm at Vance Brand. 

I arrived later than normal and was in a hurry to get set-up and launched before it got thermal.  The field was wet with dew and there was a thick haze to the east.  I was frustrated by the tough low weeds that kept hooking my lines during set-up and spent several minutes working to get them ready to fly free during inflation.
It didn’t work…. The first launch was aborted when the wing came up high on the right .  Probably some lines on the left were snagged.  I tried to recover the launch but was wasn’t worth the risk.
The second attempt was flawless.  I climbed to 1000 feet with smooth air all through the accent.  Returning to the field 40 minutes later I encountered some bumps at 400 feet as it was beginning to get thermal.
When I landed I took a wrap on the brakes and had enough flair authority to fly along the surface for several hundred yards under power.  Flying such a heavy unit makes this kind of fine control much harder.  It will be interesting to try it with the Eden III.

Powered Paragliding #576 Vance Brand

Yesterday was a no fly day.  I got to the field at 5 and set up at the west end.  The winds were light and I wasn’t in a hurry.  By the time I had put on my gear the winds had shifted to the north west which would have me launching over the runway.  Not a good idea.  Rather than drive the trike to the other end of the field I decided to wait and see what was going to happen.  The winds continued to shift north and I could see virga forming.  So … I laid down on the wing bag and waited some more.  10 minutes later a wind front came through that would have been horrible, had I been flying.  The wind was bouncing between 20 and 30 mph and bouncing between North and West.  I quickly bagged the wing and got it in the cab just as a short rain squall came through.  Who would have figured?  It looked so mild when I arrived. 

This morning was beautiful.  I set up by the skydiver tent and launched on the apron.  I was surprised to see that the wing was slightly wet … guess I didn’t get it bagged as quickly as I thought.  It came up slow and wanted to hang back but I stayed on the “A’s” and managed to get into the air.  It took about twice the distance I had expected but with plenty of room to clear the swoop pond.  Nice flight.