Category: Uncategorized

Powered Paragliding … My New Home Field

This is the way is is supposed to be!  I woke with the dawn, had a cup of java and loaded the rig.  2 minutes later I was unloading at my new field.  Thanks to Buz it had been freshly mowed and cleared,  this was as good or better than launching at Titan.  The wind was light from the south and other than a few straw bales to avoid, there was plenty of room.  The launch was fast but smooth.  When the surface is good, this trike can roll. 
Wow! What a great site, Boulder to the West, the mesa below and lots of good scenery…  country estates, ponds and lakes, and the flat tops.    Best of all … plenty of alternate LZs if I got in trouble.  I stayed up about an hour first at 1000 feet and then some low and slow over the mesa.  To finish off, I buzzed the neighborhood and landed downwind facing the truck.  It was no problem to let the wing fly and “Power Kite”, back to the truck.

Titan. #508

Q and I slept on the boat last night so we were close to the field at dawn.  What a beautiful sunrise!  I slipped out of bed and as quietly as possible, raised the anchor and motored back to the marina all the while shooting pictures of the eastern horizon.  It was one of those maroon and orange sunrises with just enough cloud to paint a masterpiece.
John was at the field when I arrived and we both took off quickly.  The air was mostly good with a few areas of down slope turbulence.  I stayed up 45 minutes flying in the park and over the marina.

Powered Paragliding Colorado #506

Titan
While I was in the area I ran up to Dorr Michigan and visited with Terry Lutke,  designer and builder of the Falcon 4 stroke.  We had a nice lunch and chatted about the pros and cons of training.  I left encouraged but thoughtful about the right way to train prospective PPG pilots.



Terry’s new two seater headed for the Pacific Rim



Q set the alarm for 5:15 and I awoke if a fog but managed to get on the road by 5:30 and was at the apartment and loaded by 6:40.  The conditions at the field were perfect, with a light wind from the south south west.  I’d left the key in the ignition after the last flight which had drained the battery while I was out of town so I drove to the north end of the field and set-up so that I could jump start the Falcon with the truck. 
The launch was fine but I did have to use a little brake and nurse it until  I’d gained a few feet of altitude.  Once up, I noticed that the air was moderately bumpy and the wind was shifting toward the west so I stayed near the patch and avoided the rotor that would be generated by the foothills. 
Often when the wind starts this type of shift an hour after sunrise it also picks up dramatically.  If it was from the south it might be hard to get back from the lake and if it was from the west it would be turbulent so I decided to land after 30 minutes and came in for a nice powered landing.
The Power Play has probably 450 to 500 hours and I’m concerned that it is suffering from high porosity or line shrinkage.  When initiating a turn it either jumps into the turn or is slow to start and then jumps into the turn.  It doesn’t seem as stable overhead either flying too far back or forward.  It might be that the air was more active that I thought and I was concerned for nothing but after talking with John Fetz this morning I’ve decided to stretch the lines and do a oral porosity test.

# 504 Dingy Night

First Evening Flight of the summer
At Five O’Clock I was watching the winds at Chatfield.  It was blowing hard at the apartment but it was showing 4 to 0 at the South Chatfield.  I was torn, looking out from my balcony I saw alot of wind blown clouds to the east,  toward Chatfield it wasn’t so bad. BUT… I was thinking that the air was going to be unstable.  I texted Mike with no response but John Sieb called back and agreed to meet at Titan at 7:00.

 When we arrived at the field the winds were light from the South.  John launched first planning to fly over to the castle at Daniels Park.  He would be traveling cross wind and if the winds acted as we expected would have a nice slide back to the LZ.  I launch 10 minutes later and headed over to the park to check out the dingy races.  The air was smooth  with a mild southerly breeze.

 There they were having a perfect floater. No wind on the lake at all.  I was feeling 8 to 10 at 300 feet but the air was smooth.

 After 30 minutes of watching the dingys and overflying the campground it started to get twitchy.  The wing was being swung hard left and right.  So… I started to head back to the LZ.  The last ten minutes were very active flying.  It was especially bad over by the inlet where winds from the cut were mixing with the air from the flats.  I turned back to the East and bounced my way back toward the LZ where the landing was without event.  It was mixing at 100 feet and had shifted from SSE to WSW but had settled down as I came in to land. 

John wasn’t back but I decided to head over to the lake to say hi to the dingy racers.  When I got there the winds were hard from the North.  I spent a few minutes chatting with Robert Kline and Bob Maloff and because I was sure John would have to land out headed back to the truck to check in. He called a few minutes later having successfully landed at Titan in 15 mph winds.  It was all good.

502 Titan

Another Good One. 
There was a 3 mph wind from the SSW and the clouds were thick to the East.
 The humidity was  high,  it had rained most of the evening, making the surface slippery and the hay wet. Since the air was saturated the runout was long, but the field had been freshly mowed and was smooth as a babys butt, so I stayed off the brakes and let the wing decide when it was time to fly.  The air was mixing over the field but as soon as I turned toward Chatfield Res. it smoothed out like butter.  I leveled off at 500 feet and cruised over to the marina.  There was absolutely no one around, none of the staff not even a fisherman so I dropped down to 100 feet and enjoyed the ” low and slow”. 
An hour later people started stirring at the campground,  I did a flyby and was surprised that about half of the people I saw didn’t didn’t even notice me.  It speaks well of the Falcon and the quiet Generac 4 stroke.   There was one person at the RC Park, he wasn’t flying so I took the opportunity to make a close pass at the runway.  I have always wanted to land or do a touch-n-go, and today would have been perfect but rather than ruffle feathers, I waved and decided to stop in on my way home to see what the reception would be.  Over by the south inlet I saw that there were several pools in full algae bloom, vivid, almost neon green.  It was nice to go over there without a down slope breeze from the canyon bouncing me around.  I wasn’t weaving through the trees but it was one of the lowest continuous flights in this machine and  for sure at this location. 
After landing, while I was unhooking the wing I was startled to notice that my lines has dozens of cuts in the sheath.  I couldn’t imagine what would have damaged them so badly and was thinking it was the end of the Powerplay until I got close and was engulfed by thousands of tiny “no-see-ums”.  They had come together near the motor and were landing on everything.  What looked like cuts were really just little pilots taking a break.  It reminded me of a time in Utah when my sailboat had been encrusted by the tiny things and I couldn’t see light through the portholes.
Thousands of tiny fliers

At the RC Park I met John Lipe who invited me to fly on Sept 17th for a BBQ and to possibly do a demo flight.  He is going to see if he can clear it with the Rangers.
It was one of the best flights of the season. I listened to a mix of movie classics and tooled around for a good 90 minutes. The rain must have scared everybody off, there were no balloons and only one or two boats on the lake. I felt like I had the whole park to myself. A very peaceful and mellow flight.

#490 #491 Titan

Another one just like the last one !  
Nil winds, Blue sky, and smooth air. 

I launched at 6:00am and headed right off to where a balloon was descending at the north end of the lake.  By the time I had crossed the inlet he had climbed 1500 feet and I powered up to meet them.  This guy didn’t seem concerned by me flying around so I did a couple of circles around him and passed above and below.   When I was above I took care not to pass directly over to avoid getting bumped by his exhaust.  They were waving and taking pictures when I departed with an hard banking dive.
My issues with electronics is ongoing.  I charged the camera battery last night and forgot to put it back this morning.  Unplugged it from the wall, just didn’t put it back in the camera  DUH ?  I did have the GPS and that was a good thing! 
The second flight was a short one just to get one more on the log.  I would like to do my 500th flight at the Fly-In.
Issues
1)  The risers are coming apart again.  Stichlines repaired them last month because they were becoming unstiched where the trim buckle pulls down.  This time I’m going to do it my self and wrap it with wax thread so that there is a spot for the buckle.
2)  Mike needs to weld the spot on the inner hoop on the left side.
3) Both back tires are losing air.
4) The kill switch needs to have the button glued to keep it from pressing down into the grip.
5)The throttle lever is blocking with the toggle handle.  new lever is probably the only fix.

#481 Titan

It was blowing
8 to 10 knots SE and gusty when I got to the field.  Yesterday it was six layers cold at the lake, tonight it was 67 degrees…. You have got to love spring in colorado.

3 layer cold
6 layer cold
I unloaded and was sitting on the tailgate when John Sieb showed up.  We chatted for 20 minutes when John decided to go for it.   Beautiful high wind reverse!  10 minutes later it was cycling lower and I set up.  During a lull I launched.  The wing came up and stabilized overhead but the buggy wasn’t rolling.  I did a little shrug and got moving.  The climb was weak just like last time at snowflake.  RPMs are good so I’m thinking it had to do with the throttle being restricted from opening all the way.  It might be as simple as the velcro is interfering with the toggle and I’m not able to squeeze the throttle lever all the way.



home field


The are was pretty turbulent below 300 feet but above it was just blowing.  I didn’t travel very far from the patch and when I did get north of Titan I was barely it was a chore to get back. The landing was very steep and when I touched down there was no roll except to roll back a few feet while I deflated the wing.
John came crabbing back from the East and also had a no step landing.
Good flights … no damage to men or equipment.
Now it’s time to get ready to fly with Eric and the Orlando boys.