#904 Palm Bay

This was a good one.  I drove to Palm Bay where I was leaving the APCO with Joe Morris to give to Elisabeth when she gets back.  We met at Valkire Airport (including Rex who was bringing my Powerplay 250.  I cracked off a quick one with the Eden.  It was 8:30 and the air was starting to percolate.  The Eden was fine.

Blew Launch and Blended the Wing

I waited a week to write this one up because I’ve been trying to figure out what was the cause of a very expensive incident.  During the last few launches I’ve been having trouble with the lines getting bit during inflation.  Was it the keepers kicking out lines or perhaps it was the APCO Lift EZ doing some crazy dance where the outside lines were slack and getting grabbed while the center of the glider was going through the prop wash?  I’m still not sure what the problem is but I’ve decided it didn’t have anything to do with this incident.

Here is what happened.  The wing came up crooked and I pumped the brake to get it back on track, at the same time I was reducing thrust.  I expected the wing to overshoot but instead it did what APCO said it would, it went overhead and stopped. Then, because I was still decelerating, it stalled and fell into the paramotor.  I added power too late to get ahead of the wing and killed it only after the wing was being sucked into the hub.  Apparently it’s a fine line between having too much power and not enough when you are trying to stabilize an oscillating wing.  Too much and you get rolled, not enough and the wing  stalls.  Its also very possible it that there was a tail wind which would have stalled the wing almost as soon as I started to slow down.
One of the cons to flying at Shell Creek is that the vegetation on either side of the runway can make a wind shadow.  I had motored out to the LZ leaving my wind sock 100 yards away attached to the truck where it showed very light and variable air.  There could well have been a nice northern breeze just over my head and I didn’t catch it.  The airflow at the Parking area has it’s own issues, between buildings etc.
No matter how I analyze it ….pilot error.

There are no pictures because I wasn’t of a mind to document a perfect wing slashed to ribbons.

No Fly Day

This is the second line strike in a month.  I think it’s happening because the line keepers on the cage are holding the lines tightly together.  When the A’s are immediately tensioned they might be throwing other lines out of the keeper while they are still slack.  The outside may be very slack.  The chevron layout exacerbates this and one part of the cure may be to layout the wing in a slight curve.  Another thing I’m going to try is to inlay a zip tie inside the keeper so that the lines are laying in the crook instead of being gripped against the cage.

During inflation I heard or perhaps sensed the line strike.  I didn’t immediately abort and instead kept accelerating.  I looked at the lines and remarkably saw the damaged one.  It was intact but the sheath was severed.  That’s when I aborted.  On inspection I could have continued the flight.  The damaged line was the far outside Main D which does not carry a heavy load and is backed up by the brake lines.  However,  I could not have know at the time so it was the right thing to do.  

903 Almost a No Fly Day … Shell Creek Airpark

Today was the second day of Tony’s instruction.  Yesterday we did some ground school at the house and messed with the wing a bit.  I replaced a line and showed him how to pack and lay out the wing.

This morning we watched a great sunrise while I set up for launch.  
The first attempt was aborted when I felt/heard a prop strike a line.  The second was a sckitchy launch with some of the lines getting under the keepers.  Once up, I scanned the lines to check the previous day’s work and noticed that one of the mallions had the lines reversed and a brake line was under the main D that we replaced yesterday.  This wing has a tendency to break o-rings.  It may be the keeper and it my be that they are just old o-rings but it’s something to watch out for.
The third attempt was another abort due to prop strikes.  I couldn’t find any damage but will make a thorough inspection when I fix the twisted lines this afternoon.  I’m going to completely rebuild the keepers with heavy gauge coated wire and some foil tape to reduce friction where the lines rub against the outer ring.

Later, I swapped out the line I’d installed with Tony, addressed some denuded mallions and
corrected the brake line crossover. 
Note:  there is a great YOUTUBE video on how to install the O rings.  It’s easy to forget if you haven’t done it for awhile.

901 Yorkshire

Met up with Mike and Bob at the Yorkshire LZ at 6:30.  Bob wasted no time getting up and I followed shortly after.  The plan was to fly out to the Arcadia Airport and back but I hitched my horse to the wrong wagon.  I stayed with Bob after takeoff and we climbed to 2000 feet but instead of turning North Bob stayed within a 5 mile radius of our launch.  Mike on the other hand stayed low and made a beeline toward Arcadia.  

So….Bob and I played around the patch for 90 minutes in calm air.  Turns out he was having trouble with is motor and opted to stay close and practice maneuvers.  Mike completed his round trip including a pit stop at the airport in about 110 minutes.  All in all , a good way to start the day.

The Big 900

I awoke without an alarm at 5:00.  Not having prepared to fly but remembering the Strawberry moon and it being the first day of Summer, I decided this was a good excuse to crack off another century mark.  The wind was blowing from the North East at 8 mph with little gusts and puffs up to 13.  It was cool (67 degrees) so I pulled on fleece top and bottom with a wind breaker.

The launch was excellent.  The wing came up smartly and my run up was short and steady.  Once airborne I was climbing at 350fpm at 11 mph ground speed.  Wow!  I don’t usually get excited about things like that but this was really well above the average.
Flew slowly against the wind out to Track and Trails and fast back to the patch.  The landing was sweet.  It was a little bumpy on final but the touchdown was slick and there was enough wind to keep the wing up after I’d come to a full stop.  I sat in the trike and kited the wing for a couple of minutes before pulling break and calling it for the day.    Nice……

Strawberry Moon … Solstice and the first day of summer…. First Strawberry moon in 70 years.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/171765178
#900 from Joe Onofrio on Vimeo.

899 Shell Creek

Nice flight.  Surface breeze 7 at 100 feet it was 20.  Nothing dramatic.  It was a little like yesterday with the storms rolling in but the air wasn’t as turbulent.  I flew for 45 minutes and landed when the winds started to build.  Back on the surface it was very mellow.  I almost went back up but decided to save 

# 900 for a trophy flight.

898 Shell Creek

Don’t ya just hate it…..
When you launch into a perfectly beautiful sunrise, and discover,
its flyable, but its no…….. fun.

That was the 898 experience.  I set the alarm early so that I could get a chance at a trophy shot of the sunrise.  The weather report was for calm air at sunrise with winds and storms building rapidly after sun up.  It was blowing 8 at Placida and about that, at the house.  I figured it was coastal breeze and would be greatly diminished at Shell Creek.  Conditions at the field were 5 with an occasional puff from the West.  I set up for a crosswind launch heading South.   Nice inflation, good turn down the runway.  I launched in the wind shadow of the last tree bordering the runway.  When I passed the tree and flew into clear air, the wing moved aft and I climbed 300 plus ft/min, for about 3 seconds. Then I was in sink and back and forth all the way to 400 feet, where the wind was blowing 20 + mph steadily.  The bumps were down to a 2, on a scale of 5 and the wing was rock steady.   I wasn’t worried about collapse but if I wanted to avoid the bumps I had to stay above 300 feet where penetration was poor and predicted to get worse.
So…. I landed
Its all good.

894 – 897. Shell Creek

June 15, 2016 6:30am

894   Mike Lange and I flew out to the Wall Mart Distribution Center and parts North of the patch.

Cruising altitude 350 ft.
Time 58 minutes
Clear sky calm air

June 16,
Three flights

…. One long , two short

Low altitude
Watching the storm build to the south, I decided to stay close to the patch.  Conditions on the field were calm so when I landed I decided to do a little take off practice. 
It was raining and stormy the rest of the day