Opening Day

Lee and Peter met Jeff and I at my place for the relatively short drive to Hang Glide New England in central Massachusetts.  Although I have been flying a lot, today was my first flight this year in New England.  Also, it was the first time several months that I wasn't racing XC.

Rhett dropped me off in a weak, but consistent, climb to the south and I stayed relatively high for the next couple hours.  I shared several climbs with Peter J and Max.  A mature bald eagle climbed with us; at times coming in real close.

Max

Max and his new green machine

I played over the hills to the east until Lee mentioned he had a good climb just north of the field.

A bit later, Anna, rocking her new glider, joined the climb and I got to see what her glider looks like in the air.  Sweet.

Anna

Anna

Anna

Anna, Matt, and I shared a lazy climb to the south of the field before Anna left to prepare for tandem flights.

Matt

I slowly drifted downward towards a landing when I spotted Max at the same altitude preparing to land.  I quickly dove in to give him more room and ended up on final a bit too high with a tailwind and whacked onto the asphalt.  Ouch.  I ended up scuffing my knee and my once-shiney new glider.  Sigh.  Not the way I wanted to end my first flight back at home.

Max wrote about the day on his blog.

Flights: 1, Duration: 2:32

Green

I took a break from paragliding lessons and made the short trip to Tanner-Hiller airport and Hang Glide New England in central Massachusetts.

A fun group showed up to soak-in the last days of summer.  The early birds had satisfying flights but the later group was having trouble staying airborne in spite of the great looking sky.

I followed Rhett in the green tug down the runway and into the air.

I soaked in the green all around me knowing that in a month it would red and yellow; and after that brown, grey, and then white.

I enjoy the tow behind Rhett and this was no exception.  We climbed under a welcoming sky with the Quabbin Reservoir as the backdrop.

It was soon time to release and find my own climb.

Thanks to the tall tow, I was circling in spotty lift soon after.  I jumped from cloud to cloud like a kid skipping through puddles.

It was all so easy until it wasn't.  I missed a couple climbs and then had to make a long glide back to the field.  I arrived as Rhett was bringing another pilot to the playground.

I dabbled around in broken lift but eventually wandered back to the field for the expected landing.

Luckily, I stumbled into a climb right over the runway and slowly climbed and drifted away to the southwest.

The thermal faded before I reached base.  I flew around the field looking for my next salvation but either it wasn't there or it was hiding quite well.

Rhett waited, ready to go, while I flew in over him to land mid-field.  I quickly jogged off the field and they took as I walked back to the staging area.

Summer is too short in these parts and I was glad to squeeze in another day before the stable cool air of autumn rolled in.

Flights: 1, Duration: 1:11

Hanging On

By the time I got going this morning, flying with Hang Glide New England at Tanner-Hiller Airport was the only reasonable choice.  I was also, thankfully, waiting on Jeff Curtis and John Beckley.  John's car broke down yesterday and Jeff graciously picked up John even though it was out-of-his-way.

A gaggle of gliders were ready for flight when we arrived and we watched pilots take extended sledders while we rigged and suited up.  I stayed on tow behind Rhett Radford longer than usual trying to ensure I had every opportunity to stay aloft.  I waved goodbye, released, and settled into a weak, but consistent and pleasant, climb.

I went round and round long enough for Rhett to tow Jeff up and then over me.  That's cheating!  ;-)

Too bad the climb was fading away.  I moved northeast to where Peter Judge was slowing climbing.  Jeff joined us and we all topped out.

My glider has the best glide of the three so I zipped off to the northwest to a cloud that was surely working.

Except it wasn't.  The three of us dabbled in broken lift with mixed results, but it was soon time for Peter and Jeff to return to the field.

The two of them scratched around the field before landing while I stumbled into a weak climb where a sailplane pilot joined me.

After climbing back to the top floor the sailplane pilot headed northeast, presumably towards the gliderport at Sterling, and I lazily headed back to Tanner-Hiller.  I stopped several times for weak short-lived climbs but didn't find anything productive.

I found choppy and buoyant air over a mulch-making operation that I thought was my ticket out.  However, after a lot of searching I concluded either I wasn't good enough to find the main core or that the rising air was just strong enough to keep me from descending.  (John had the same experience during his flight).

I half-heartedly continued the search for another climb as I cruised over the homes and businesses to the west of the field.  I watched Rhett tow another pilot up, crossed paths with Dana Harris when he returned from the south, and then took a long downwind-base-final approach into the field.

Rhett towing (lower center)

Dana

I hurried when I realized Dana and I would be landing at the same time.  Dana flew overhead moments after I landed.  (Listen for his greeting at the end of the video below).

We socialized before heading out to get ice cream and then back to my place.  From there Jeff headed out while I gave John a lift home.

It wasn't an epic day of flying, but it was still fun and challenging trying to "hang on".

Flights: 1, Duration: 1:20

Convergence

Even though I knew Peter and Lee were going flying at Tanner-Hiller airport with Hang Glide New England in Barre Massachusetts, I decided to stay home and cut up trees that were blown over during a recent severe thunderstorm.  The trees fell into an area thick with poison ivy so I needed to take a break mid-day for a shower before getting lunch and returning to work.  After showering I noticed cumulus starting to form, something the morning forecast said wouldn't happen.  I quickly decided I had enough chain saws, firewood, and poison ivy and decided to go flying.

Tanner-Hiller is the only place close enough (around 1 hour drive) that I can leave home after noon and still have a soaring flight.  I sped along the tree-lined country roads, past stone walls and rocky fields, arriving early enough that I even launched before Lee!

Rhett dropped me in a weak climb southeast of the airport that slowly dissipated.  I was returning to the airfield when I stumbled into a solid climb to base.

It became obvious during the climb why my previous climb fizzled away; the unexpected clouds were forming over a convergence line that was slowing moving eastward away from the airfield.

Looking back west towards the airfield

Although the sky looked gorgeous downwind to the southeast, we were blocked by controlled airspace at Worcester, I had no retrieve driver, and I had plans to attend an outdoor evening concert with Amy.  I just HAD to look the other way.  ;-)

Looking southeast, downwind towards Worcester

I spent most of the flight dancing around at cloudbase on the western edge of the convergence line.

I stayed as long as I could and still make it back to the airport.  I cruised south along the line and then turned west towards a wispy forming in the blue.  Peter joined me in a broken climb before we both returned to the field.

Peter (lower center)

I played with a couple quickly drifting climbs with two other pilots before landing back at the field.  I packed up, helped Matt adjust his new harness, and sped back along the country roads to catch the second half of the concert under a full moon with Amy.

Flights: 1, Duration: 2:23

Tanner-Hiller

Spring in New England has been unusually mild by all accounts this year, including temperature, rainfall, and wind.  It has been painful watching cumulus clouds drift far overhead in light winds and warm air as the snow slowly melts off our mountain sites.  So I was excited to hear Rhett was firing up Hang Glide New England for the season at Tanner-Hiller airport in central Massachusetts last weekend.

I picked up Randy on the other side of town Sunday morning before returning home to pick up Jeff before starting our relatively short 1 hour drive.  John, Nick, and Nolle where already there when we arrived.  Max, Peter, and another half dozen pilots dribbled in as we rigged.

Nick and Nolle launched and managed to stay airborne.  Peter flew on Friday and kept emphasizing how cold it was at base (21F / -6C).  I put on every layer I could and still squeeze into the harness and then waddled out to the tow line.  Peter reported climbing at 700 fpm (3.5m/s) as I got ready to launch.

As usual, the tow behind Rhett was civilized; maybe a bit too civilized.  Aside from a strong surge at the end of the runway, we didn't come across anything else interesting until we bumped into something around 1800 feet (550m).  I released, climbed for a couple turns, and then sank out.  I essentially had a sled ride back to the field for a whopping 11 minute flight.  I landed mid-field to avoid turbulence.  Of course, I just about died of overheating on the long walk back.  Meanwhile Peter reported he was at 7500 feet (2280m).  Thanks Peter.

John essentially repeated my performance a few minutes later.  Randy was up next.  Like Peter, he immediately found a climb to base and was soon flying off to the north on a course we talked over beforehand.  A few minutes later Peter, who had fallen from grace, landed.

John, Peter, and I talked with Matt and others while we waited for the other pilots to get their first tow before giving it another go.  It was almost 4pm before I was rolling down the field again behind Rhett.  This time I stayed on for a full tow and still almost landed before finding a weak, but reliable, climb downwind of the field.

Climbing with a "local" off my wing

Given that Randy was somewhere downwind and Jeff already landed out, it began to look like I was the driver for the day.  That meant I needed to land back at the field and my car.  It wasn't my plan for the day, but hey, I was flying a new glider in good conditions with friends ... not exactly torture.

I flew over Jeff's landing field before returning to the field to watch Peter and several other pilots land.  I was getting low and planning my approach when I noticed a helicopter hovering up and down the runway that showed no signs of leaving.  Peter warned me on the radio, but I don't have an engine and when its time to land "its time to land"!  I did everything I could to delay my approach and stumbled into a strong climb upwind of the field that solved the problem.

The climb took me right back to base at 7000 feet (2133m) under a fantastic cloud street that stretched far to the north.

It was really late, but how could I resist running that thing?  Thoughts of getting back home at 6am the next morning is how!  (After some reflection, I should have thrown convenience under the bus and gone for it.)

I settled for evening views of the sun dancing on the Quabbin Reservoir and shadows creeping across rocky fields nestled between treed hillsides.

I capped the evening with 12 miles (20 km) of whistling high speed glides in relatively smooth but buoyant air.

Jeff, who found a ride to the airport, and Nick, who landed upwind in Ware, watched my active but fine landing in breezy conditions.

As I quickly packed up in fading daylight, we discovered Randy had landed 72 miles (116 km) away near Concord, New Hampshire.  After a few words with Bob and Rhett, Jeff and I drove to Barre to pick up his glider and then to my place where he left his car.  Meanwhile, Randy found a ride partway home to Chelmsford with Ilya and Krassi who were returning from a flying weekend at Morningside.  I met them for a late dinner before dropping Randy off at his place and returning home around midnight.

Check out the details of Randy's sweet flight on his blog Iron Man Hang-Gliding.

Flights: 2, Duration: 2:30