Flying

USHGA Rated! Hurray!

USHGA
USHGA
Sunday was a fun-day for me! I passed my Hang-1 test, Hang-2 test, and Aero tow written tests. Then I soloed the Target hanglider at Sheets (It was fun, even if the trim was a bit off). Now I’m no longer rated a “Beginner”. I have my official USHGA Novice rating. Hurray! I love my sailplane, but I think I’ll keep flying these funny contraptions, too.

Now I have this urge to get rated as a tug pilot…When will it end? :p

Soaring Adventures

Grob 102
Grob 102
Woot! I went on a long long LONG cross-country Saturday… So long I ended up landing out on the way back, about 20 miles north of homebase. I still broke 100 miles, though! Woot!

Many thanks to the folks at Skyranch (I nice little grass strip that isn’t even on the sectional charts) for the use of a phone, a BIG bottle of gatorade, and letting me drool over their Stearman!

Best of luck to the alligator that made me land with a tail wind back at base. I hope you made it back to your own pond, big guy!

Note to self: next time pull out the camera, ya big dolt!

Aprils Fools

Grrr! Mother Nature played the worst April Fools joke on all of us poor suckers out at the Gliderport today… Pre-fontal weather, nice and hot, cloud streets like you wouldn’t believe,,,, we were all talking about cross-countries to Georgia and back… and when we went up…NOTHING. Crappy litter erratic cores that vanished in a turn… 8+ knot downdrafts everywhere…. Ah well, I STILL got to fly, just didn’t go anywhere… and a bad day flying beats a good day at work. :)
At least I finally got around to washing and waxing my baby, and re-taping all the gaps. She’s good to go for the next soaring day.

Learning to fly…again

Tandem
Tandem
I kept seeing hangliders in the air whenever I flew my sailplane. Temptation won out, and I stopped by the hanglider port on my way home from a day of soaring. Now I’m hooked on another sport, and I’m learning to fly hangliders, too.

A Dream Come True!

Grob 102
Grob 102
The happiest day of my life: After more than 10 years of waiting and longing, at long last I have my own plane. She’s a Grob 102 Standard Astir II, a standard class racing sailplane with goodies like retractable gear, water ballast, audio variometer, radio, etc. I flew her two hours on my maiden flight, andI hope to fly her in my first soaring competition over the Thanksgiving weekend