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.

Palm Bay PAL Fly-In

PAL Palm Bay Fly In



Dawn and I flew into Tampa for the weekend.  She had a seminar to attend and I was privileged to come  along for the ride.   On Saturday morning I took the rental car and drove across Florida to Palm Bay for the2 annual  Pal Fly-In. It was good to see Jeff ,Leon ,Ray Eric and Elisabeth ….CC, Tim Gaskins and Marty Hathaway and several others.

Small RCA cars that could go 100 mph+.   Very cool
 Leon’s new frame that,accepts wheels.        Very Very Cool
Ray’s new water cooled motor.                      Very cool and light
The PPG DANCE.    OK … we’ll maybe not so much the PPG DANCE

Breezy  but flyable…. The inland waterway is not too far ( 1 Mile)and the ocean is obtainable (2 miles).  It would be a great place for the Falcon.  I dont know how high I would have to climb to cross the inland waterway but looking at Martin Hathaway’s photos … It would have been Epic.

Photography by Martin Hathaway 

Frontal on Trike Launch Flight 601

Cool Evening 43 degrees.  Robert Kitilla … Ryan …. And I.
The wing started to fold up on takeoff but I was able to slow down taxi until it reenflated and stabilized.
Flew for just under an hour finishing with all three us us in the air.  The new south taxi way is layed and is just perfect to practice touch and goes.  Swoop pond is dry and also good but the surface is a bit soft.

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

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