Woke up early. Joined some friends for a bike ride and then went off on my own and got in about 34 miles. Visited with another biking friend on the way home but wanted to get home to get my flying gear together for a flight. The wind was light early this morning.
The powered paragliding flight was interesting this morning. It was interesting from theperspective that the forecast was good but the kiting and the flight were quite different from what the forecast led me to believe. It was very bumpy, active air. This isn't what would have been expected from the forecasts that I checked.
The flight was really not a surprise at all. It was expected to be trashy from what was happening on the ground. WindAlert from WeatherFlow was checked and didn't show any significant gusting in Waukegan, Highland Park, Winnetka or Northbrook. Weather Brief was almost called but it wasn't. Kiting with the motor on idle was problematic. The wind was coming and going with some significant gusts but not too strong. The direction seemed to vary about 30 degrees or so also. My motor was on idle and it was run as little as possible on the ground so as to not disturb the people in the local area. The wing was brought up a few times and a cravat due to a line over had to be undone with the wing on the ground at one point. It was not flying in a steady breeze at all.
Eventually the wind stayed steady enough to launch. The launch was into sink. The climb out was quite slow. 400' AGL was obtained as quickly as possible and then I settled in at 500' a short time later. Again, some altitude was needed so as to not disturb the groundlings [a 'Jeff-Goin-ism' which I like] in the area. The wind was primarily out of the north. Very little forward speed was made at 500'. It was about a 4-5 on the 'bump scale'. Gusts would change the flight direction and the wing was tipping from side to side pretty suddenly from time to time. It wasn't too much fun. It was somewhat exhilarating. The decision to work my way back and land was made after a relatively short flight.
The trip to just downwind of my landing zone was fast. There are some tall trees downwind of my lz which is of a fair size. There are also some smaller trees upwind close to the parking area. The wind was gusting a bit out of the east as the descent was made to clear the taller downwind trees comfortably but leave as much of the field as possible for maneuvering to land. The idea was to feel out the air down low and fly low with power closer to the car depending on what the wind was doing down low. It worked out well. I was still getting bounced around a bit but there was not nearly as much rotor as I thought there might be. A nice landing was made not far from the car. It was a good flightby and a bit more interesting than anticipated.
Immediately after landing a black van pulled up and a man got out and approached me in the field. He was in a store parking lot in the area and was watching me fly. There was a huge number of grasshoppers in the field so I told him that my wing had to be moved out of the field asap to avoid them spewing acid into it and possibly making holes in my wing. He was very supportive of my flying and mentioned his interest in kiting and talked a bit about a 3 lobed blimp that the air force is developing. We talked about my flying gear and I mentioned www.cartercopters.com to him. He seemed in a bit of a hurry. He mentioned some plumbing job that he had to get back to and left a few minutes later.
If you haven't heard about Carter Copters I would strongly urge you to look it up. It is very cool. They are developing a modern, stable, jump, 4 place gyrocopter like, 'slowed rotor compound aircraft'. This aircraft uses rotor for vertical takeoff and landing, and can cruise at up to 500mph. It is simply awesome. Their 'Personal Air Vehicle' is designed for road use and then flight from a heliport. Let me know what you think after you have learned more about it.
Heading to the office to do some paperwork. It has piled up on me due to a busy schedule!
Minda and I went to 5pm Mass last evening at St. Mary's in Evanston. Both of us worked yesterday. Minda is working today so I can't 'play' all day!
My best to All of you always!
Dave
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