Beautiful Cross Country 547 and 548 at Vance Brand

What a beautiful morning to fly with the Balloons!

There was absolutely no breeze at Vance Brand airport this morning.  The sky was clear and I could see one lone balloon at altitude off to the south.  After launching I noticed there were 3 others at low altitude east of the Boulder Reservoir.  I climbed to 500 feet and went to meet them.  There was a 10 mph breeze from the north and the Falcon picked up to 40+mph.   Smooth air all the way.
I did encounter a small fixed wing GA at the same altitude who was heading right at me.  He turned away 1000 yards off my nose.  It could have been that he did not see me until I started to bank away giving the wing more visible surface area.
The return was slow and it started to get bumpy when I dropped altitude to get out of the head wind so I climbed back up opting for the smoother air.   I cant really call it a cross country because I was only up about 40 minutes but it was 14 miles … 7 out and 7 back.
This weekend is the Fly In at Bubba’s.  Have a great time guys … I cannot make it this year.

#545 & #546 Vance Brand

I awoke early and decided to go for it.  The air was warm and still when I arrived at Vance Brand about 6 am.  The first launch was picture perfect.  I lined up on the dirt track and launched right down the runway.  There was a good strong breeze from the South West above 50 feet.   As I was setting up to land I noticed a couple of balloons to the south.  So I landed …. gassed … and set up to reach launch.
This one was a little different.  I didn’t damp the wing quick enough during the inflation and it folded up in a frontal.   I watched it in the mirror as it collapsed and fell behind.  I contemplated aborting the take off but I had plenty of room ahead and decided to see if I could save it.  I throttled down and rolled along for quite a long distance with half the wing but eventually  it inflated and I powered back up.  I was rolling over the grass and waiting for my speed to back up until I came adjacent to the swoop pond. Eventually I got off and went to chase the balloons.  There were 5 in the air with one playing very close to the ground.  Since he was the closest I headed that way and we danced together for a few minutes before I turned back toward the LZ.  I aborted the first landing attempt because the wing was oscillating.  I think it was the result of a hard turn as I descended through the temperature inversion.  Anyway it wasn’t settling down and rather than come in swinging I went around again and landed without trouble.
The balloon was landing east of the field so after packing my gear I drove over and said hello.  There was an FAA inspector who showed up shortly after I to do a “ramp inspection”.  The captain was an elderly gent who seemed a bit forgetful and I didn’t like the idea of the FAA guy quizzing him.  Or me!  I said a quick good by and was on my way back to the house.

http://www.mapmytracks.com/explore/embed/671486

#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

#543 Vance Brand

The take off was a little dicey.  Once again I was heading down the western “runway” right toward the picnic bench that I bounced off of a couple of months ago.  The air was still but I expect that I was in a bit of a downwind take off because of the speed of the trike. Just as I was about to abort the trike lifted off and I turned to the right and flew over the swoop pond. 
Once up, I turned to the south to chase the balloons Dawn and I saw on the way out.  There was only one left but I caught up with him and we flew together until he descended into an affluent neighborhood.  I was amazed to see him glide through the neighborhood at rooftop level even descending lower at times when he passed between houses.  On the east end of the community there was a large green space where he landed.
All I can think was that the guy either lived in the neighborhood or had good friends there!
It was a good flight with good air and beautiful skies.

Flight #543 Snowflake

Mike Bennett and I launched shortly after sunrise.  The thermal inversion was dramatic, at 100 feet or so the temp went up 10 degrees and the air turned to silk.  Mike had lent me a pair of his goggles which I was able to wear under the helmet and I was finally able to get a good seal on my earcups.  Gotta get me some!
Flew to Aurora Res and buzzed the marina.
Launch and landing was into 8 mph breeze.  The weld on the cage has broken at the previous repair.  I will fix it with duck tape and zip ties until I can arrange to get it welded.

#541 & #542 Vance Brand

I awoke at 4 am and couldn’t for the life of me get back to sleep so I packed up the rig and was at Vance Brand by 5:30.  It was perfectly calm and 60 degrees.  The first take off was perfect. The wing came up fast, I pulled some brake, slowed down and got everything stable then added power and launched.  The climb was about 250 ft/min and the air was smooth as butter.  After a couple of laps I noticed that I had neglected to put on the Fortrex and since there was somebody pulling into the field I cut power and set up for a landing.   It was a horrible landing.  I don’t know if my skills have degraded from not flying or I was not paying attention but I didn’t use enough brake and landed hard bouncing back up and moving way to fast. 
Robert Kitilla was there with a wanna be, we chatted about the virtue of buying a new wing and or motor vs. used.  I of course was on the side of buying new since a two stroke is going to fail sooner than later and Robert was pitching a new wing …. because … well because he sells new wings. 🙂
A few minutes later Marek arrived.    We embraced and spent a few minutes catching up.  His wife is leaving the work force to study radiology so he is going to be on a short financial leash for the next couple of years.  We both joked about flying wings that wouldn’t pass an inspection.

The second flight was a long cross country out toward Boulder Res.  I wasn’t proud of the launch because I touched down twice having let the wing oscillate.  If I had been patient and slowed down allowing the wing to steady up … it would have been a much prettier and safer launch.  
Once up Marek and I flew south to where there were 5 balloons flying.  We both picked the closest one and did a fly by.  They waved back in a friendly manner so I do not think they were concerned to have us in their airspace.

Marek is going to send some video …
All in all … it was good to be back in the air after such a long dry spell.