FlyBC "Site of the Day" - December 2004 Archives/2004
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| /1000' (very stable) | 3400 ft. |
Woodside Report - very gusty north winds, no flying here!
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| /1000' (very stable) 2500 ft.
Woodside Report - there was a flyable window around noon, but no pilot reports.
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| /1000' (very stable) 3300 ft.
Woodside Report - rained all day. The most dangerous part of the drive home was coming over Woodside Mountain from Agassiz (very foggy from 100 feet above the valley).
| Pura Vida Flying Video Review - GW Meadows of Aeros fame, created a video of Costa Rica flying featuring Chris Muller, Bo Hagewood and Kari Castle. Great scenery, very nice location and great flying scenes. Bo could take some acting lessons. You can get this video from Muller Windsports at 403-932-6760.
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| /1000' (very stable) 3300 ft.
Woodside Report - it certainly looked flyable at Woodside later just at dusk. Even at 10:00 pm it was still in-flow wind and bright moonlight. Good thing I didn't have a driver!
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| /1000' (very stable) 3300 ft.
Sumas Report - Rob S was installing the gate key lock box and hiked into launch to check out conditions, and he said it was definitely soarable but on the strong side for PGs. Also very strong in the old #3 RD LZ on his way down. No other pilots were out.
| Elk Report - Ivan reported that 9 pilots hiked Elk Mtn., initially they were faced with tail wind conditions at launch, then it started to trickle up and everyone was able to launch. Sled rides with some turbulence on landing from the NE winds but they all flew!
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| /1000' (very unstable) 33000 ft.
Ashcroft Report - still snowing.
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| /1000' (very stable) 33000 ft.
Ashcroft Report - windy from every direction, and snowing lightly so we didn't even take the gliders out to kite.
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| /1000' (very stable) 2300 ft.
Woodside Report - we were out around 2:30 pm, and it looked flyable. Launch was open, no wind and no rain. But no pilots.
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| /1000' (very stable) 2300 ft.
Woodside Report - another beautiful day the Fraser Valley in December. Colleen saw a red Advance flying out into the sunset around 4:30 pm, but we don't know who it was? I received an email that Purolator could not fly at all the night before due to a heavy snowstorm in Indiana, so we are very lucky to be flying at all.
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| /1000' (very stable) 2300 ft.
Woodside Report - Jeffrey Miller said he got 45 minutes soaring at Woodside with Andy and others, then sled rides after that.
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| /1000' (stable) 2300 ft.
Woodside Report - looked pretty stable from Vancouver, no pireps but I am sure Andy and Justin were flying all day long.
| Belated Halloween Fly-In Pics - two very famous local pilots featured below! 
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| /1000' (stable) 2300 ft.
Woodside Report - it was a late start for me after two consecutive parties until 3:30 am!
Most know I usually fall asleep by 9:00 pm. The plan was to sneak in a flight before heading to work.
Good sky conditions at 8:00 am, in-flow winds so up I went. Met Justin at the bottom and he came up too. I made him wind dummy, in case it wasn't soarable. He launched and climbed to 700 meters, just below cloudbase quickly so I fumbled my way into the air and we were soon soaring together in front of the developing cloud banks. After 30 minutes of soaring, I top-landed to drive the Suburban down as Justin flew out to land due to cold fingers. Andy picked him up and they went on a mini-XC over to Harvest Market later. Then the day skunked out, with low clouds and rain later.
| Blanchard Report - Lee, Petr and Ivan headed to Blanchard and met a local pilot who drove them partway up to the logging. The road is still closed to traffic. They hiked up and flew flor a bit sinking slowly and then it turned on and they were above launch. Total airtime 30 minutes plus.
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| /1000' (stable) 2300 ft.
Woodside Report - we didn't even wake up 'til noon after the party lasted way too long, I am not used to staying up past 9:00 pm. But we didn't miss any flying. Gerry, Don and Greg were up at launch for 2 hours waiting for it to calm enough for HGing, and that never happened. Even later in the evening, there were 25 KM+ gusts rolling through Eagle Ranch. Monday looks better for winds.
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| /1000' (stable) 2300 ft.
Woodside Report - we were out to set up the Party after 4:00 pm, because reports from the Ranch said it was "socked in and ugly all day".
| We had a great turn-out for the party with 40 pilots from WA state and local coming to dance and talk. The pot-luck food was fantastic (special mention to Norm and Bev for bringing the big Spring salmon in for everyone), Garry brought some great tunes and got everyone dancing, everyone partied until 3:00 am! The weather cleared up later and the stars and moonight lit up the landing zone in a magical way that could only be enjoyed one way . . . . under canopy! 
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| /1000' (stable) 2800 ft.
Woodside Report -
Beeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuteeeeffullllll day to be out today ! Fog all the way out and the sun shining at Woodside. When I arrived with a mystery pilot at around noon, Andy had already had two flights.
Launch conditions quickly changed to cross after Andy launched but waited for a lull. The only beep I heard was a wingover coming into land but very buoyant and smooth. Flew hands off after leaving the mountain and arrived over Eagle Ranch high over the sandbars.
When I landed, I looked up and Andy had already Zoomed up with Norm for another flight.We headed back up and flew again, Andy had to go to town so had to call the day short at four flights.( This guy can,t get enough airtime)
No beeps but fun factor 10 out of 10 ! - Thomm M
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| /1000' (stable) 3200 ft.
Woodside Report - it looked flyable, but no reports rec'd.
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| /1000' (stable) 2500 ft.
Woodside Report - Andy and Jim M flew three flights in light, crosswind conditions (difficult launching). Not soarable despite 12 knot forecast winds.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3200 ft.
Victoria Report - I was working but it got sunny later in the day, but very strong West Winds. Maybe the Beauforts would have worked.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3200 ft.
Vancouver Report - rain all day.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3200 ft.
Woodside Report - wind gusts to 70 km/hr all day. Even driving out to the field to find the big windsock was difficult.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3200 ft.
Woodside Report - despite having lots of chores to do, we headed out to the Ranch for a noon start. When we arrived Justin and Darren had already flown one flight with Andy. We heard from Rob S that it was perfect launch conditions and we headed up. As we were driving up we heard Rob exclaiming that he was climbing!
| Soon we had Andy, Rob, Colleen, Gerry L, Alan, Martin (Atos) and several other gliders all climbing or sinking at various points in their flights. Norm claimed to have arrived too late as he experienced serious gravitational pull. When I was experiencing some light air early in my flight I top-landed to wait for it to build, but it didn't flush anyone at that point. Flight times ranged from 0:12 - 2:00, not bad for December 11! And judging from Sunday's forecast it was the only day to fly for a week.
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| /1000' (unstable) 3200 ft.
Woodside Report - rain all day, mudslide on Hwy #1 between Hope & Spences Bridge, another mudslide on the Upper Levels Hwy. It is going to be a wet winter!
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| /1000' (unstable) 3200 ft.
Woodside Report - Colleen went running in the rain and when she returned to the Ranch, Martina showed up and talked her into going flying. Andy and Derek were flying into Eagle Ranch. It was sunny by the time they got to launch and everyone flew, with Derek logging 15 minutes more than the ladies.
| Brick Ville Report - I was surfing the channels late last night and saw our own Robin Sather on Channel 4, displaying the Lego creations his club developed. website was www.brickville.ca if I remember correctly. Robin even got a haircut for the event!
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| /1000' (unstable) 1600 ft.
Vancouver Report - rain, rain, rain!
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| /1000' (unstable) 1600 ft.
Vancouver Report - wet and windy all day.
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| /1000' (unstable) 1600 ft.
Woodside Report - rain and snow all day, east wind at Bridal LZ. Weekend long range looks good for Saturday/Sunday. Rare that we get good weekends and rain during the week (good for work productivity, not so good for airtime).
| Blanchard WA Report - local pilots returning from California decided to fly Blanchard (Bellingham) today and were turned back on the drive up to launch as loggers have constructed a skidding tower on the roadway and are not allowing vehicle traffic past that point. You can probably hike up from the bottom off Chuckanut Drive. Too bad, as some great soaring has been had this time of the year at Blanchard, low elevation, close to sea breezes, nice fat laminar air.
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| /1000' (unstable) 4500 ft.
Woodside Gloat Report - as early as 6:00 am launch was clear of cloud and it looked beautiful with fresh snow on the
mountain. When Justin, Darren and Julie arrived we loaded up the truck and headed up fully expecting to hike part of the way
to launch but we were able to drive right in. | Strong launch conditions, and I was voted most likely to fly first but I forgot my flight suit as I thought I was driving. I raced back down and was back at launch dressed much warmer within 30 minutes and was there to watch Tom C do a wild tandem launch followed by Colleen who immediately hit cloudbase (500 meters above launch). Justin launched and hit the deck early but before we could launch Darren the clouds enveloped launch as we heard Colleen telling us she had to head out to the Ranch to escape the clouds after 45 minutes of nice soaring. We killed time kiting in the fog, and as it cleared Darren launched and had a nice soaring flight but he got cold so he headed to the Ranch, but as he got lower it warmed up and he felt like more so he flew back to the mountain and climbed out back to launch height for a total flight time over 1:45! Not bad for his 30th flight. Julie and I launched tandem just after Andy, but in front of Joseph and we watched Justin relaunch from the air, then Norm and we had about 7 wings in the air After 1:15 Julie was starting to shiver pretty hard, so I flew out to the Ranch followed by Justin, Darren and Andy all with big grins! Not a bad day, where was everybody? Christmas Shopping? Honduras Report - Hi Gang, I've been working so much lately that I didn't get much flying in for a while, until 2 wks ago. My flying buddy Christian and I went to Yuscaran and each had 2 flights. First flights in turbulent and a little gusty conditions were short, about 20 minutes all the while pointed to the landing zone. On the second launch things looked better. We quickly climbed out above the top of the mountain soaring a hundred meters or so over cell towers there for almost an hour before heading out to the landing. I was wishing I had my camera with me as the views were amazing. Blue skies with CU and green mountains and waterfalls. We were of course dressed in the usual T shirts-ha ha. I needed a realy good flight here as I hadn't had much luck in a while. Apparently Nov. is normally the windiest month of the year here and it should start to mellow out now we are in Dec. On Saturday I am flying in the festival in yuscaran, I'll let you know if the weather allows and try again to send pictures. Regards, Jeffrey
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| /1000' (stable) 1900 ft.
Woodside Report - no flying, it was raining very hard . . . but we managed to get the ceiling in the barn drywalled with great teamwork from Andy, Garry, Brent L, Thomm, Justin, Colleen, and Norm.
It was very warm in the lounge when we were finished closing the ceiling in, with the new fireplace stoked up with wood waste,
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| /1000' (stable) 2700 ft.
Woodside Report - No pilot reports but it looked soarable all day based on the NOAA reports.
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| /1000' (stable) 2700 ft.
Woodside Report - Not too many flyable windows at Woodside today.
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| /1000' (stable) 2700 ft.
Woodside Report - Andy dropped by to help me unload drywall and later I took him, Ivan and Larry up for a few flights. Beautiful launch conditions, nice blue sky, small thermals popping off. Abbotsford was in cloud all day.
| Tomorrow is gonna rain and be cold, except in the Pilot's Lounge in the barn! Note new fieplace is now operational. Built to code with zero clearance chimney, it is heating the barn nicely for the work party Saturday to install the ceiling drywall.  |
November 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain. We installed a fireplace in the barn to keep pilots warm between winter flights.
October 2004 Site of the Day archives more record rain, but sweet soaring between showers. Many new students signed up and making quick progress. We missed the Women's Fly In for the first time in 9 years, and there was some interesting flying on the Sunday!
September 2004 Site of the Day archives rainiest September on record for the first 3 weeks, made flying difficult. But Alan and others logged some pretty nice flights later in the month. Lots of student tandems for both Colleen and Jim.
August 2004 Site of the Day archives Great Maneuver/SIV/ACRO course at Mara. Jack got wet! Some great soaring at Woodside. Norm made it 68 km from Mara to King Eddie, Derek made it from Lumby to Enderby the opposite direction for 67 kms. We also did our BC roadtrip from Ashcroft to New Denver, and flew everyday.
July 2004 Site of the Day archives the Willi was on at Golden. We missed the mayhem due to work and school commitments but Norm did a great job representing the West Coast.
June 2004 Site of the Day archives Canadian Nationals came off with many great rounds. Pemberton-Whistler Championships were blown out most days so we headed to Cornwall.
May 2004 Site of the Day archives great flying at Woodside and Bridal. We held a very successful SIV Course at Mara Lake, and hope to run another one in August if they keep the forests open.
April 2004 Site of the Day archives good flying in the Valley. The Fraser Valley Cross Country PG Series was successssful.
March 2004 Site of the Day archives Nicole won in Brazil, otherwise the month sucked for flying time.
February 2004 Site of the Day archives some local flights extended to an hour with vigourous scratching above the trees. Good paramotor month.
January 2004 Site of the Day archives Mexican road trip yielded 20 hours of flight and a wet Canadian January kept most local pilots on the ground.
December 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew a few times but it got really cold at the end of the month as we prepared for a gala New Year's Party for 40 of our close personal friends and neighbours.
November 2003 Site of the Day archives windy and wet with the odd good soaring day, not many pilots out these days.
October 2003 Site of the Day archives Women's Fly In was great fun, some good soaring days mid-month, most of the students are signed off.
September 2003 Site of the Day archives good conditions until the last days of the month when it got stable. Most days were flyable at Woodside or Bridal.
August 2003 Site of the Day archives Forest closures made the end of the month a non-flying period unless you headed to Blanchard. FlyBC SIV 2003 was a great success with 9 stunt pilots and no deployments or crashes.
July 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most days early at Woodside until it got windy, then over to Bridal. Good Golden flying reports from the "Willi".
June 2003 Site of the Day archives we flew most weekdays at Bridal, Woodside worked most weekends. Bridal Air Races had one great day with only two tree landings!
May 2003 Site of the Day archives not a great weather month on the coast, especially on the weekends but a few pilots managed to get some great airtime at Bridal. The Nationals were held in Lumby and it didn't rain!
April 2003 Site of the Day archives rain for 28 of 30 April days, but we managed to get a few flights in between showers. Even the golfers were complaining!
March 2003 Site of the Day archives some high spring flights in early March, but not a great weather month. Still no HPAC Insurance!
February 2003 Site of the Day archives some nice long spring flights in late February. HPAC Insurance expired on Feb 14, so many pilots stayed home instead of getting USHGA coverage.
January 2003 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month in BC so we bailed and headed to Tapalpa Mexico for three weeks. Norm and Lucille had a great XC flight the first day we arrived.
December 2002 Site of the Day archives lots of rain all month.
November 2002 Site of the Day archives not a great flying month, lots of rain in the beginning and then super stable and inverted for the balance of the month. Even the Savona Road Trip wasn't that great. Looking forward to Mexico!
October 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable some days, great fun at the Women's Fly In 2002 in Chelan. Allan logged 15 hours and only flew a few days. Most of the students are ready for signoff soon to get ready for Mexico trips!
September 2002 Site of the Day archives Still soarable most everyday! Some scary incidents at Woodside. Fun flying at Ashcroft.
August 2002 Site of the Day archives More spring-like days with super lapse rates, great fun up-country at Revelstoke and Mara, with some good XCs for all.
July 2002 Site of the Day archives Some spring-like days with super lapse rates, but still rather wet at times.
June 2002 Site of the Day archives another rainy and windy month with great lapse rates, some great flights at Bridal with some getting above Cheam Peak. The Club Cup was nearly rained out but they got one valid task in on Sunday June 30.
May 2002 Site of the Day archives an extremely rainy month with the more spring mayhem, another reserve deployment at Lil Nick and a pilot crashed at the top of Deroche Mountain, uninjured but with a ripped glider and long hike down the mountain. Colleen placed 5th place at the Canadian PG Nationals in rainy Lumby!
April 2002 Site of the Day archives a rainy month with the usual spring mayhem, one reserve deployment at Woodside and a pilot hit a parked car at Bridal LZ, fracturing his leg.
March 2002 Site of the Day archives a few great days days with lots of snow and rain mixed in.
February 2002 Site of the Day archives two epic days already (4.5 hours and 2.5 hours!).
January 2002 Site of the Day archives Mexico vacation shots, some local flying but it was wet on the coast.
December 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, wettest December on record, some good days sprinkled thru the month.
November 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, had some good days at Woodside +2 hours, lots of rain later in the month.
October 2001 Site of the Day archives pretty stable locally, but great flying at Chelan at the Women's Fly In.
September 2001 Site of the Day archives starting to get pretty stable, more sled rides forecast for October.
Aug 2001 Site of the Day archives Mara, Bridal, till some great flights locally
July 2001 Site of the Day archives Road Trip Month, Golden, Mara, points east!
June 2001 Site of the Day archives Great Month, 3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower! Some getting up to 6 hours in a single flight!
May 2001 Site of the Day archives Unstable Month, 2-3 hours of airtime for some pilots every time they flew Bridal Lower!
April 2001 Site of the Day archives Rainy Month, not as much airtime for some pilots
March 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring has Sprung!
February 2001 Site of the Day archives Spring is in the Air!
January 2001 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Flying Trip
December 2000 Site of the Day archives
November 2000 Site of the Day archives (great month for airtime!)
October 2000 Site of the Day archives
September 2000 Site of the Day archives
July - August 2000 Site of the Day archives
June 2000 Site of the Day archives
March - May 2000 Site of the Day archives
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