Category: video

596 …. 597 …. 598 …. Vance Brand

This was another good one.  Dawn and I got to the field by 2:30 and the gang was already there.  Robert’s new student Patrick was going for his first flight and Marek was going to try out the trike buggy for the first time.  The wind was moderate from the North East and cycling between 3 and 8 mph about every 5 minutes.  I kited for awhile and Dawn played with Beau.  Robert worked with Patrick and we all waited for the air to settle down.
Marek was the first off and reported good air.  I set up behind Patrick and after a couple of attempts he was off .  My first launch was clean.  I had not flown the Eden III since the accident at Titan last fall.  Michelle had done a nice job repairing it and today the conditions were perfect to transition from the Power Play.  There was just enough wind to keep the wing from doing a frontal if the trike was slow to get rolling.  I set up with a slight chevron and the launch was clean.
The second flight was the same and so was the third.
Marek almost didn’t get off with a 24 m reflex and his climb was slow but he got a taste of trike flying and I won’t be surprised to see him flying with a friend on board real soon.
Patrick’s second flight was cut short when his throttle went into the prop while he was getting into his seat.  He landed out without further  damage or injuries.  When I spotted him and Robert in the field to the North I did a slow circle for the video.
Returning from the south I had to loiter a bit while a large stick of sky divers descended on the field.  It was too far out to make good video but in real life it was great

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10200234313287748

No Fly Day

John got in a great flight but I didn’t!

Perhaps I will expand on this at a later date but suffice to say that I didn’t fly.  The wing and I couldn’t get together on launch until it dived into the prop.  The damage was a broken line and a few small tears in the trailing edge on the top right side.  I think it fell back … popped forward and fell back again into the prop wash. The nose wheel came up then down then the rear right wheel lifted enough that I though that I was going over.  I killed power steered out of the tip but the prop didn’t wind down fast enough and caught the wing.  The right axle was bent but the fiberglass struts were not damaged.

Time to fly the PowerPlay for a bit.

John Sieb does a fly-by

Vance Brand 563 & 564

A hazy morning at Vance Brand. 



Moon Set 



 I arrived at 6:00am and it was still too dark to launch.  The air was still and moist and there wasn’t a soul moving at the airport.  I took my time setting up and took a minute to get familiar with the Go Pro.  There were a bunch of geese at the swoop pond and when the took off flapping and honking I took it as clearance to launch. 
Sun Rise
This was my 5th morning at Vance brand this week and I was feeling good.  Not a blown launch in the last several dozen flights and the Generac was running good.

Yesterday there weren’t any balloons but I was hoping they would be flying so I could take some video and I wasn’t disappointed.  I could see one flying low over the Gunbarrel neighborhood and 3 others inflating at the balloon port.  I made a beeline for the flyer who was beginning to ascend.  When I was 1000 yards out he was 300 feet above me I powered up and started to circle around him.   He must of seen me because he slowed his accent and allowed me to come level with him.  We waved and circled for awhile and I turned back to the LZ.

Heading back to the field there were several aircraft up.  A Bonanza heading South flew over and a ultralight circled about 100 yards off my wing.  The NEK Airborne were dropping 60 skydivers at a time with 3 planes.  I loitered to the South of the field until the sky divers were down and landed by the truck. 

I hadn’t planned to launch again but the ultra lite was doing touch and goes on the dirt strip along the South fence and the air was still good.  So I set up and launched.  This time I was getting allot of lift and was climbing at 350 ft./min.  Climbing to 2000ft AGL I shut down the motor and enjoyed the quiet for 10 minutes. At 500 feet I restarted and landed clean.

While I was packing up a fellow came over and introduced himself.  Craig Frank is a PPC and Light sport pilot.  He was waiting for the ultralight to land so that he could try it out. There were several PPC guys who were planning to fly later and he invited me to go along with him on his Six Shooter.  When the little single seat Quicksliver landed Craig introduced me to Barney.  Barney has just just rebuilt the Quicksilver and was planning to fly it to the Fly In in Fort Lupton the next day.  He briefed Craig who then climbed in and headed over to the main runway.  I chatted with Barney for a bit and watched the skydivers who were finishing their 3 jump of the morning.

After an hour and no sign of Craig I decided to go over to the other side of the airport to see if I could find my ride.  It didn’t take long to spot them.  They had the quicksliver on dollys and were wheeling it into Barney’s hanger.  I took a minute to figure out what was wrong with the picture but eventually I got it.  The wheels were missing and the landing struts were bent.  Craig had stalled 5 feet above the runway and pancaked.  He felt terrible and had decided to find a way … somehow.. to repair the plane so that Barney could fly it to the Fly In.  Barney is a fixture at Vance Brand and has been the Ultralight guru there for 20 years. 

The hanger is filled with Ultralight parts. and more than a couple broken planes.  We located some landing struts and determined the nose wheel was repairable.  The only thing missing was a set of axles.  Barney made a cal and 5 minutes later “Bob showed up.  Bob is a retired Mechanical Engineer and collector of small aircraft.  He offered to make a set of axles if we would follow him back to his home and work shop.

So off we went,  Bob has a wonderful shop complete with all the tools to machine just about whatever was needed.  While he worked on the axles I poked around and tried to absorb as much as I could.  His son stopped by and the four of us chatted about Bob’s aircraft.  I was taken by the Hovey Delta Hawk, a tiny little biplane that in another time I would have bought in a heartbeat.  Bob offered to sell it to me for $4,000 which shocked me but he was serious.  Wow a real airplane for $4,000!  Later I thought about it and figured that $4,000 was just the down payment.  By the time I got flight instruction and all that would be needed to keep the wonderful little plane it would be closer to $25,000.  Well I guy can dream.

Dawn and I planned to drive out to the fly in but the weather didn’t cooperate so we stayed home.  Sunday was no good because Obama was going to be speaking in Boulder and all but the big commercial flights were grounded.

#544 Snowflake

Nice day at snowflake, nothing amazing.  Except perhaps I finally was able to take a good video with the new Go Pro.  Cris tried out a new launching method using Mike and Nate as human A assists.  He did this because he has just had shoulder surgery and cannot stress the shoulder bringing up the wing.

I did get a chance to use the new Go Pro that Dawn gave me. Finally I can shoot HD video .  I can’t seem to upload it but that will come.  🙂
//www.youtube.com/get_player

Marks "Hilltop" at the Arvada RC park #507

Great site. Great flight!
Mark Johnson is moving to Hood River so he invited the flock to his “Hilltop” LZ for a farewell flight. 
Great Video by Mike Bennett
It’s off hwy 93 not too far from my soon to be new home in Louisville.  Where we took off was behind a recently built housing development.  A couple of the homeowners came out to watch and it looks like they are PPG friendly.  The area is a flat hilltop with steep drop offs on three sides.  The weeds are low but there is a scattering of prickly pear that I’m going to have to watch for.   This is probably going to be my new home field and it’s got a lot to offer.  Close enough to the foothills for hill flying with several lakes, a gravel pit. RC Park and not to far to do a cross country to Golden or Louisville.
Mike Bennett, Ty, Mark Johnson and I all took off on the first attempt and landed on our feet and wheels without incident.  

Flat Irons

RC Park



Pikes Peak Powered Paragliding Club visits The Flock

#487  #488
I got to the field at hour early and was just setting up for the second launch when Jerry and Robert pulled in.  Nice light breezes, blue sky and good friends.  Jerry brought his chase cam which he let Mike fly.
Ned’s perseverance paid off.  I have never seen a guy wear the paramotor as long as Ned, he never took it off after three failed attempts.  It’s hard to run with authority after  carrying 100 lbs for 12 minutes.  Finally he took a break and with Jerry Kerr’s coaching made a nice take off and 30 minutes later a nice landing.
I flew off to the Aurora Res. with the PP Sting.  When I came back I played around the patch for a bit and did a couple of touch and goes. 



Jerry enjoys the good air




PPPPG & the Flock




Snowflake




Chase cam




Ned finally sits down




Mike’s feeling good













#479 Snowflake



Blast off….No Kidding  !

Finally a March Flight… It was 43 degrees when I arrived at the field at 7:30.  The winds were out of the west blowing 12 gusting to 15.  Mike called and said that he was running late, I told him to take his time.  8:15… Mike and I were, “outstanding in our field”, watching the winds blow.
8:25… Wind shifts to the north and drops to 2-4
8:30… Mike launches
8:35….I launch   Gawd I love it when the weather Gods agree with the Internet!

My pronghorns were waiting for me and even though I throttled way down they were running hard.  We made a few turns together before I headed over to the gun range to see what was up.
//www.youtube.com/get_player
Its a race to the fence!



Mike Bennett carves a turn

The air was mostly good with some twitching.  It got worse above 500ft. so we both stayed low.  Just a nice day, no drama, no issues. 
Nuff Said



Taxi Practice for a new pilot

#461 & #462 Snowflake

Calm …Clear … and Cold
38 degrees but the air was as sweet as it gets. 

Mike and  I both got in two flights and I had a chance to try the radio.  It needs a little tweaking to be reliable but Mike did a great job getting it operational.  Both take offs and landings were good, I really liked the last landing I touched down way up the runway and did a long taxi to the truck

The weather looks to be bad for the next several days so I was glad to get this one in.

Trike has mid air with balloon

I will let the experts analyze this incident.  I was disapointed and revolted by the bashing from all quarters of the paraflying community.  I will say this…. I knew the pilot and flew with him and his son at the “Gathering”.  He was a healthy and mature pilot with a good conservative attitude toward flying.  While at first blush it is easy to assume the accident was the cause of careless or reckless flying, I prefer to believe that it was “just one of those things that could have happened to any one of us.  Of course mistakes were made but flying with other craft in the air adds risk.  If the pilot had more hours it might not have happened but all of us have been in situations that could have ….. should have bit us in the ass.

Thank God no one was killed

More later