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FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - August 2012
Mother Woodside . . . and the weather looks soarable this afternoon.
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 22°C
Woodside Report - Damien got three more solo flights before it blew strong around 2 pm. He tried kiting but it was too gusty so he wrote & passed his Novice Exam. | We did 4 tandems today with Colleen & Denis' help and we have recruited a few new Novice students as a result. Colleen had a really nice thermalling tandem with a 16yo kid who want to take lessons soon. The last flights were getting choppy and a few frontals occurred on my tandem over the LZ even with good brake inputs so the wind was coming. Last solo flight was Kevin and he climbed to 1350 meters and cloudbase before heading out to the Ranch after an hour. We were overhearing Robin & Derek flying at Bridal and it was flyable but they encountered slow forward speeds as they got to 1500 meters. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Woodside & from the FlyBC August Album.
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|  21°C
Woodside Report - we started flying with Damien around 10:00 am when it started to cycle up the launch. | We were doing all the required tasks; Big Ears, Rear Riser steering, reverse launching, steering to avoid trees! Damien did one flight to Bill Best's LZ early on, and did a perfect approach. All the rest of the flights were to Eagle Ranch and he is mastering the approach but still no circle landings yet. We had Martin N & Kevin join us today but they left too early as it turned on around 4 pm and Damien was able to soar high above launch in the smoothest sweetest thermals. After 5 solos today he was burned out, too much sun & fun for one day. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Woodside & from the FlyBC August Album.
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|  17°C
Woodside Report - it was lonely on the hill for Damien today until Derek, Kevin & Martin N showed up. | Despite his loneliness, a few rain cells and a trip to Agassiz for his groceries . . . we were able to get him six solo flights today. And some of the flights took him above launch too. Kevin was the Rockstar today launching after 4 pm, getting above launch while others sunk out. Then top-landing. And relaunching and getting to 1000 meters on the North Cliffs, as theres relaunched and sunk out again. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Woodside & from the FlyBC August Album.
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| 24°C
Woodside Report - we headed to Heritage park to get Damien some more practice before tackling a solo at Woodside. He got 7 good flights down to the bottom on an Element II Large. He was looking great and even did 2 perfect reverse launches too! | Back to Woodside around noon and we headed up with Steve D and we had an awesome tandem flight getting up to 1100 meters and soaring effortlessly. After 45 minutes I had Damien fly us out to the Ranch arriving at 600 meters and a nice soft landing. After 2 pm we went back up to take Janice & Tiffany tandem and conditions had totally changed. Martin N flew off and was struggling to stay up on the South Knoll. Matt J had flown a bit earlier after installing the new Woodside Outhouse (thanks for that), and was soaring above launch but had to head out to retrieve his truck from Jonathon. Derek flew off with Tiffany and he soared for a few minutes heading out early? I launched a few minutes later with Janice and it was weirdly sinky on all course lines except for over the highway, so I took the scenic north route and opted not to land at the HG field as I had lots of height (or so I thought). As I approached Scary Corner I got parked and rather than risk a Chimp Creek Landing I landed north of the creek and we walked in. We tried later for a solo for Damien but it was too windy and even Martin N drove down. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Woodside & from the FlyBC August Album.  Miguel got a chance to test out his new APCO Mayday Light Reserve this weekend! And it worked well!
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| 24°C
Woodside Report - we headed to the Heritage Park Training Hill for a session with new student Damien, and he did pretty good considering the cross winds. | Then back to the Ranch around noon for tandems. I took another new student, Kelly, tandem and we had a really nice soaring flight climbing out from the lower clearcuts back to launch and above for 35 minutes. Nice landing conditions too! Damien drove down, and then I took him tandem and we had a windy launch and nice thermalling flight above launch at which point he got to fly the tandem out to the Ranch, another 40 minutes of airtime and a nice landing. Nickolai, Martin N, Steve D were also out and had nice flights. Derek, Kevin and Robin were heard over at Bridal and some soared and some sunk-out. It was a nice way to spend my Birthday; flying, hanging out with the grandkids by the campfire and dinner with my sweetie at the Golf Course! The Ozone Trickster: Official Video from Ozone Paragliders on Vimeo. FlyBC is now taking orders for the Trickster
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| 22°C
Woodside Tandemonium Report - the students failed to arrive as planned so we had a nice quiet day at the Ranch doing the last of three Groupon tandems thanks to Derek & Denis for helping out. | It got a bit windy around 3 pm and Bert made more money with Annette & Gary's outlandings than he did farming! The tandems made it in to the Ranch easily.
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| 26°C
Woodside Report - we started with some training hill time with Dylan, Chris & Jenn at Heritage Park. Annette & John made an appearance too after not flying all year. | After 4-5 flights at Heritage Park we headed back to the Ranch after it switched to inflow. Not many pilots out for a sunny Saturday but the ones that came out had good flights: Mark T flew his PG for 3 hours, Denis & Tonya had a few top-landings. Colleen took Jenn tandem as this was her first day training, and Chris had already done a solo flight last September. As Colleen flew off she exclaimed about a wing & reserve in the clearcut. It was the remains of Miguel's spin into the trees after a great "hike & fly" flight from Mt. Cheam trying to climb out at Woodside with Tom M. Miguel was okay and by the time I drove down I located him near 1 km, and we put his gear in the truck and he sorted out the mess at the Ranch. After a quick repack he was ready to fly again. Thanks to APCO for a great light reserve, and for SupAir making a great deployment system in the SupAir Delight Harness. We had an awesome time reconnecting with friends at the Birthday Party and Head over Heels played a great set outdoors at Stonehenge. The stars were out and the sky was bequtiful! Thanks for all the gifts and food! Click here for more pictures from Miguel's flying fun at Woodside. Bridal Report - Derek & Alan were "duking it out" at Bridal. Crappy launch conditions, but good air once launched. Derek said he made it to 1700 meters on his new Rush III.
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| 20°C
Woodside Report - where the heck is everybody? Work, Holidays, too busy to fly? We went up for a tandem at 2 pm to take Sam for her flight and it was perfect conditions, Denis was at 1200 meters when we drove up and he was back on launch as we arrived as he top-landed. | Sam and I managed a 20 minute flight in light bubbles, and Denis and Gary K followed me out to the Ranch. Derek launched after the sun came out and got 45 minutes. Then I went back up for Cathy's tandem around 4 pm, and we had to wait for cycles strong enough to lift us off as she had weak ankles (wankles?). We managed a nice thermalling flight over the construction site (same place Derek got his climb), and we had a nice soft butt-skid landing to save her ankles again. Thanks to Colleen & Derek for driving. Don't forget to come and Party on Saturday nite!
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| 19°C
Woodside Report - Tom & Joe arrived early but by the time they got to the launch at 10 am, it was deemed too windy for Joe. It was launchable but the wind speeds might demand a trip to Harvest Market which was clouded in behind the South Knoll.
| By the time we drove to Chilliwack for shopping and oil changes it was stormy and very windy. Lost in Thin Air from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo. Brett in Sun Valley - Task 1 - sponsored by Ozone/FlyBC
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| 22°C
Revy Report - We had one last epic day with the SIV students in Revy. Low cloudbase until 10 am when Colleen took the crew up the mountain. | Chris P, Duncan, Bill, Matt were all that was left and we flew two SIV flights in thermic conditions so everyone was high when they arrived over the lake. Some fire fighting activity in the area so we had to send Bill on tandem with Duncan over to the Catherwood LZ, but we were on airband radio with them so there were no conflicts. The water level is constantly dropping on the Columbia so there should be lots of landable areas outside of the RC field soon. The boat was getting grounded every morning and this time was the worst requiring two of us to re-float it. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Revy. Woodside Report - Derek, Martin N, Martina, Tom Chromy & Joe Chromy went up to Woodside and flew. It got windy around 4 pm, so they quit flying until later and then they had beautiful glass-off flights til dark. Most said it was so good you could throw out a manhole cover and it would have stayed up. Some did not have such good luck?  Anarchist Report - Ya'll missing a great flying site with smooth mellow and bouyant air.
Last nite like most evenings here was 30 min of just sitting and relaxing in the harness above the lake taking pics and enjoying the view.
Oh well, least there is lotsa room up here - Pete
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| 28°C
Revy Report - we headed up the mountain an hour early and waited on top til 11 am to launch (the usual time) as it was cross & gusty. | Duncan, Gordon, Matt F, and Bill (back from yesterdays hard splashdown) all flew down landing at the RC Field. Alan P was flying a tandem and landed at Catherwood. We went back up and tested the lower launch at 4 kms, which has 550 meters of vertical right above Catherwood LZ and later arrival Chris P had his first Revy flight off here, following Matt. Duncan couldn't get off before the thunderstorm started barking at us and it started to spit. A huge storm blew through as we wrote exams, repacked Bill's reserve and tested the deployment of said reserve and finished debriefings at Brad's house. Another successful day in Revy! Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Revy. Woodside Report - gloat reports from Derek & Martin (1:30) flying in strong ridge lift at times getting 2-4 kph groundspeeds off bar on their Ozone Rush III ships! Roger posted a 1:45 flight on FB loving the air too! Click here for a great story about a new world record flight on an Ozone EnZo in Wyoming!
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| 28°C
SIV REPORT - We met at the RC Field at 10 am and headed straight up the mountain. | I drove straight down so the others could fly and helped Gordon & Matt throw some maneuvers, while we watched Bill try out the SCirroco. Bill was helping as a launch instructor and not being guided by me on this round. After last years debacle on Wouter's small acro glider, we should have known better! Bill did a stall (check), SAT (check), then spun the SAT and got a riser twist which was spiralling down fast and he didn't get the reserve out in time and he hit the water hard. He was out for a second and then started yelling as we got to him in the boat. By the time we got him in the boat he was okay but had signs of a concussion, so he went to the Revy Hospital via ambulance and he was released an hour later. Small gliders are much more dynamic and things can go bad fast. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Revy.
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| 31°C
Revy Report - we had 8 SIVers doing the "ragged nylon dance" and only Ben looked destined to get wet until he stalled out his cravatte and made it to the LZ dry! | Derek was the only free-flier and he went to Cartier and back, while some of the SIVers got to thermal above launch before doing maneuvers. Light winds despite a Thunderstorm warning, and we were finished by 6 pm. The group went up at 5 pm for a last glass-off flight and launched off the tram launch and scratched out a sweet 45 minute flight landing at the RC Field. Big smiles all around after that adventure. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Revy. Click here for Ozone News about 50+ top landers on Mont Blanc! Mont Blanc from Stéphane Boulenger on Vimeo. Lots of Gin, Niviuk, & Ozone Gliders on top of Mont Blanc . . .
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| 29°C
Revy Report - we started the SIV briefings on time and were soon heading up the Mountain for more fun.
| Four new SIV students and by the end of two flights everyone was spinning, spiralling & full-stalling perfectly! Student David launched with a big tangle and despite best efforts to get it out including full stalls, he was advised to do left turns over the LZ to land, so he spiralled his way into the water missing the landing field by mere meters! Student Matt almost did the same thing coming in a bit short but he walked the wing into the dry part of the RC Field. Alex & Nataliya showed up from Kelowna, as did Dave & Wendy and they were free-flying. Alex said he thought it was stable as he got reports from Mara & Golden of stable conditions but they were rewarded with +5 m/s lift all the way to 3000 meters. Wendy flew to Martha Creek Campground on her DHV I glider for more than +20 kms! We only did 2 flights today as it started to blow down by 5 pm. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Revy.
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| 29°C
SIV Report Day One - we had three students today: Duncan, David & Sean and they all had 2 SIV flights and one free flight at the end of the day. | I free flew the first flight with Chris D on speed wings and I was going up on my 16 metre, while he had to spiral to get into the ski runs. Perfect conditions with no wind on the lake for maneuvers.
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| 33°C
woodside Report - We flew Woodside all day and Denis managed to stay above launch frustrating David who badly wanted to thermal. | Then we loaded up and drove to Revelstoke for the week of SIV-ing.
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| 26°C
Woodside Report - we started kiting at the Ranch in +35 km winds. | Then bailed and headed to Ashcroft Manor to fly students off Coyote Ridge. After one flight there it turned SW, so on to Savona for 2 more flights including Oscar's high launch. Students attending: David Yu, Julian, Chris P, George & Alison. Then home to arrive back at the Ranch at midnight! A typical day for the hardest working paragliding instructor in the Universe! Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Savona & from the FlyBC August Album. Women falls into hole in Harrison Highlands Construction Site - when we were flying yesterday at Woodside there was a MediVac Chopper seen landing at the construction site while Derek & Gary were flying. Here is what went on.
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| 26°C
Woodside Report - George and David both logged three solo flights today with David's first Woodside solo taking him to 1300 metres around 12:30 pm! | I took Alison for 2 tandems preparing her for her solo flights later this week. Jim T was here from Calgary and also Ian W from Victoria otherwise we had the Mountian to ourselves until later when Derek & Gary P went soaring. Ozone/FlyBC Sponsored Pilot Brett Hazlett at the PG Nationals
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| 28°C
Woodside Report - I had three new students start today: George, Alison & David and we started at Heritage Park at 10 am getting 4-5 flights down the slope. | We then headed to Woodside to do tandems with them and David's many cousins in from Hong Kong & LA. In the end I did 6 tandems including our driver Peter's late tandem. Some soaring flights were had by locals Martin N (1:30) and some un-identified Island pilots. We didn't get the students a solo flight today but tomorrow looks promising. Revelstoke Report Either the weather in Revy has been unbelievably good lately or all the local pilots have stepped up the game a notch. After our flight over the Selkirks last week, Dave, Dave and I went for it again.  Over Sir Donald Mountain on the way to Golden - Picture by Jeff Bellis This time we pulled it off.........to varying degrees. Sproule, pulled off the greatest low save in history to make it over the Dogtooths and land in Nicholson (in Golden).  Over Sir Donald Mountain on the way to Golden - Picture by Jeff Bellis I made it over the Dogtooths only to be unceremoniously dragged out of the sky by some evil sink/downflow/witchcraft and landed just north of the Ski Hill in Laing Creek. Edgar was leading the race for low save king with his low level tour of Albert and then landed 'on CP rail property east of Revelstoke' near rogers pass. And today it sounds like Al is on his way to Golden. Pretty cool to finally see big flights routinely in Revelstoke. Revy is quite the place for XC, routes in all directions, a mega launch, and awesome alpine scenery. Looking forward to more pilots coming to fly some new lines in the mtns around here. .......well maybe after we fly them first! - Jeff Bellis
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| 30°C
Woodside Report - we started flying the new students: Ben, Darryl & Dylan at 10 am, and by 7 pm we had completed 4 really good solo flights at the best training launch in Canada - Woodside. | No excessive winds, nice smooth thermals to play in, easy glides out to Eagle Ranch and no traffic on launch as everyone is away at the Nationals or on holidays. Colleen & I did 2 tandems each, and Derek is back in great form doing 2 tandems himself with a friend on his new Ozone Magnum 2. Colleen & Derek both had great soaring flights on their tandem flights. While Bridal is working well for experienced pilots, I feel Woodside has always been the safest place to train newbies. We take the students to Bridal after they reach the 20 flight mark, and can negotiate a smaller landing field and cross wind launch. PG Nationals Results - Results here after 5 tasks. Lots of local names in the top spots: Andrew, Frederic, Nicole, and Igor battling some of the best from the US and Europe. Revy to Golden Report - Today, following in the wake of Jeff, David Sproule, and Dave, I flew across the Selkirks, not quite to Golden but a great flight nonetheless. Always wanted to fly my paraglider over Rogers Pass, and now I've done it! - Alan Polster (on an Ozone Alpina) FlyBC is invading Reveltoke this weekend for our annual SIV Course and hopefully some great XC flights too.
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| 28°C
Woodside Report - we had three new students arrive and I took them straight to Heritage Park for kiting and small flights as there was no wind in the Ranch LZ. | After 7 flights each Ben, Dylan & Daryll looked pretty good! Good coaching and awesome Ozone gliders made the difference! I had a few tandems to do so Thomm offered to drive while Colleen worked with the students on reverse launch skills. Then around 4 pm, we took the students up for their first fights and they did perfect launches and text book approaches into the circle! Ben & Daryll had to leave early, and missed the last nice glass-off flight but Dylan had one more flight, while Colleen took another new student for a tandem (a comp tandem for a SAR Member from Abbotsford who starts lessons on Monday). We overheard Alan, Ihor & Ian flying Bridal and it sounded pretty good there. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Woodside & from the FlyBC August Album. Revy to Golden Report - Pretty stoked to fly my paraglider from Revelstoke over the Selkirk Mountains (and Rogers Pass) twice in a week. Thermalling over 12,000' above all the favorite peaks and surfing up Mt Sir Donald's W Face. Yesterday made it across the Purcell Mountains as well, all the way to Golden. Some moments of really rough thermal air providing some rodeo flying, and almost sinking out deep in the Purcells, but Copperstain Mountain came through with one last breath of hot air and sent me up and over to Golden. Wouldn't want to go down in East Grizzly Creek!! - Dave Sproule (flying an Ozone Delta . . . yeah baby!)
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| 25°C
Cochrane Report - we headed out to the farm Duncan had located west of Cochrane, out of airspace and near some nice rolling hills. Unfortunately it was too gusty so we just kited for a while before heading to lunch. | I had some errands to run, so I headed in to town and met the guys later at the farm around 5:30 pm. Duncan got in the air once before I headed home to Harrison Mills. I arrived at noon to prepare for a tandem with Eve and Colleen drove for us. Nasty, strong, punchy thermals near launch due to the inversion and just as punchy in the Ranch LZ when we landed around 2 pm.
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| 25°C
Calgary Report - Nice visit with Mom and sisters over breakfast.
| Quads delivered and built. Winds too high in the am so I visited with Vincene and bought some student gear. Back to the paramotor field in the late afternoon and Duncan had a few tries and he got in the air finally just around 7 pm. They are going to try South Calgary Airfield this week, where I used to fly my Piper J-3 over 30 years ago. Pemby PG Nats Report - They ran a task, many in goal including FlyBC Sponsored Pilot Brett Hazlett! Yay!
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| 25°C
Road Report Agassiz - Revy - Cochrane - headed to Revy and Calgary for a few days, | Left the Ranch at 4:30 am and rolled into Revy at around 9:30 am, to check out the RC Field LZ and it as still pretty flooded but usable for our FlyBC SIV 2012 Course on August 17-23. I arrived into Cochrane around 3:30 pm to deliver Duncan & Gord's quads and build them and we were hoping to get them tested but a huge storm came thru which brought lightning and possible tornadoes. Hopefully we test fly tomorrow. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Woodside & from the FlyBC August Album.
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| 30°C
Pemberton Report - No task run in Pemberton today out of respect for a fallen pilot who was in the competition heading to the goal field when he got caught in a gust front and ended up in the Lillooett River. Search & Rescue was called out and the pilot was found the next day 500 meters down stream. | Whistler Question article here.
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| 27°C
Woodside Report - I decided it was a good day to fix the broken rudder pedals on the MiniMax, and I fabricated a new bracket to hold the pedals which are made from 1/4" plywood rather than relying on the screws that eventually pulled threw on the left pedal. | After installing the pedals, I took the MiniMax out for a taxi test and it was running so well I took it for a short test flight. Nice takeoff and circuit, but I got some corn-suck on final and bent one landing gear and broke the prop! Fortunately Cynthia was here to video the event. I was so worried my excessive speed as indicated on the Airspeed Indicator that I came in too low & slow, as the MiniMax can land in 100' easily and we have 750'. Doh! At least the damage is easily repaired as it is a wooden landing strut, and the prop is also wood from GSC Systems in Vernon ($200 plus shipping). A teachable moment. Now I have something to do when I am bored. Thomm & Cynthia went up for a flight on Woodside around 1 pm, and managed to "scratch-out" 25 minutes as it clouded over. On the retrieve drive they encountered rain but no storms. Brad took Manolo & Daniel for a Mt. Cheam Hike & Fly on Monday.
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| 33°C
Woodside Report - We were flying today at 1 pm for 1 tandem flight for a Birthday Present for Alex from Slovenia. Nice inversion at launch height and nice cycles so lets go flying. | We scratched out 18 minutes in front of launch and almost didn't make the Ranch when Alex decided to do a right turn over the construction site and flew back towards launch! We did make it with enough height to turn into the wind and hit the circle however. Not nearly as exciting as Pemby with 4 reserve tosses and a tree landing on Day 1 of the Paragliding Nationals. The task was called despite 20 pilots in goal after a 70+ km task. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Woodside & from the FlyBC August Album.
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| 32°C
Woodside Report - we had an odd day, staying overnight at Bowen Island for a Birthday Party then a leisurely ferry ride back to the mainland in the morning instead of racing around getting students geared up. | We did some chores until Megan & the kids arrived and it was so hot we went to Kilby Beach for an hour and waded in the Harrison River to cool off. Derek flew in from Woodside just before dark and the mosquitoes were bad on launch and in the LZ, but he says he is "lovin' his new Rush III". Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Woodside & from the FlyBC August Album.
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| 29°C
Woodside Paramotor Report - we left the Ranch at noon after taking Sam for a dual flight on C-IJWX using the new runway which is perfectly aligned with the SE flows in our field. Sam's dad is considering a new Paratoys Quad and wanted to see it flying. | Bridal Report - Derek is back in the saddle flying his new Ozone Rush III at Bridal for five hours, including a sweet top-landing! Welcome back!
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| 22°C
Woodside Report - we started flying the students around 10 am as Colleen took Chris B, Chris P and Mike B up while I was coming back from Sumas where I picked up a huge shipment of paramotors and paragliding stuff. | While Colleen went up the hill with the foot-launchers, I prepped the Quad to show Kerry and gang how it flew, but a low tire jinxed the demo flights, but I fixed the problem between flights and we will try again tomorrow. First launches off Woodside were a bit wild as the wind had not yet established as inflow. I was in the LZ for the landings but was not really needed as everyone did the classic approach into the Ranch. Second launches were more exciting as Mike B swooped thru a tree but just hit is with his harness. Follwed by Chris B over controlling himself into the trees to the right of launch. Chris P posted on FaceBook within minutes a picture of Chris B in the trees with the quote: "Paralogging did not go well today". Chris B was out of the tree and his wing rescued within minutes and he was then into the air for a beautiful soaring flight. We had a total of 4 flights today for the students and the last 3 were soaring flights adding of the required airtime of 4 hours needed for HPAC Certification. And we were done by 5 pm. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun at Woodside & from the FlyBC August Album.
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| 24°C
Woodside Report - We had an awesome day today and got our 4 newest students their first solo flights today! | We spent Monday and Tuesday on the ground, training hard on forward & reverse launches and many tandem flights and they were ready to solo today: Sam (16 yo), Mark (56 yo), Phyllis (52 yo) and our youngest ever Royce (12 yo) all had two perfect solo flights each. Royce had the nicest launches and he has a total feel for the glider doing the correct brake inputs on launch and in flight before I can even suggest them! He was flying the new Ozone Mojo4 we received a week ago and he made it look super-fun! As it got too windy we sent them home and started working with the 2 Chris's in the LZ and in Mission on the Heritage Park Hill and we went up after 6 pm and Colleen flew a tandem down and we decided to head home after we saw it take her 30 minutes to get to the Ranch although her passenger got a great flight flying a tour of Harrison Mills from the Fraser to the Harrison and back to the Ranch. The landing looked like she was pretty busy as there was +30 kph wind from the south at some levels and it was blowing +20 kph from the north on the ground??? |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports click to select the month and year you wish to review.
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Box 79, Harrison Mills, BC Canada V0M 1L0 Mobile: 604-618-5467 Skype: flybcpg E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail |