691 …. 692 … 693. Tortuga

Good flights
One turtle when the AAssists failed.  No damage.
I forgot the wind sock and did a cross wind landing and take off as a result.   The slight breeze wind shifted 240 degrees after my first launch.
Changed oil and overfilled.  Result in loss of  350 RPM …running fine now.
Said good bye to the balloons for the season.  It’s going to be cold tomorrow and possibly snow the next day.

Three flight day

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 !

686 & 687

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

Nice flights … Two clean launches … I am back on the brakes when the wing is overhead and it’s all good.
Only Drama was when one of the skydivers had to pull his reserve when the main failed.

Flood of 2013 #682 -685

Flight 682 and 683
Last week we received 12 inches of rain in 3 days.  Boulder Longmont and Loveland got hammered.   The Sylvandale was devastated.
The first day after the flood I went out to the field but it was still too wet to launch.
Yesterday I got in a sunset flight with no drama and this morning, the same except for some bumps.

//player.vimeo.com/video/75102121 Flight To Lyons … Flood of Sept 2012 from Joe Onofrio on Vimeo.

684
This was a good one.  I launched at 6:00 and flew for an hour.  There was plenty of gas so I followed the St Vrain River upstream to Lyons which has been evacuated due to contaminated water and flooded roads.

685
Calm clear morning.  I flew up the south St Vrain Creek and saw the flood damage.  The only notable moment was a long long taxi before the wing had inflated and stabilized overhead

Lazy Launch makes for NO Fly Day

Everything was perfect.  
The weather was beautiful with blue skies and a light breeze.

Beau was tied to the wind sock and I was ready to go.  No cam and only the Garmin to distract me.  The wing came up quick, I didn’t feel the momentary, “push me pull you”,  when the wing is fully in the prop wash.  I checked the mirror and there it was fully overhead and looking good. I was at full power and decided to go for it.  Next thing I see in the mirror that the wing is going frontal and before I could pull some brake the lines were in the prop and it was all over.  
I was lazy, I should have pulled enough brake to feel the wing as soon as it passed through the prop wash. The A Assists were tight but not any tighter than the last few launches.  They might have contributed to the frontal though. Whatever … The cage is bent in 3 places and I have several lines to replace.  It’s a good thing I’ve scheduled Wednesday afternoon to do welding with Mike Bennett.  We are going to replace the nose wheel and now we will repair the cage as well. 
Just as I was finished packing up, Marek showed up with Robert.  We motored over to the South West end of the field and Marek set up to do some foot drags in the swoop pond.  On his first attempt he got in a little too deep and submarine d.  Luckily there was no damage to man or machine.  At least nothing a little time in the sun couldn’t cure. 
Not a good morning for flying but it was nice to see the guys. 

#681 Vance Brand

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.

#679 Vance Brand

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!

Vance Brand # 678

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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