| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| Follow @flybc |
FlyBC "Site of the Day July 2017 Archive Page"
Woodside after 11 am
|
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@ 3000' in knots |
Rate °C/1000' Cloud Base in Meters |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7-31-17 |
 Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High around 30C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres It was outflow winds early and then switching to inflow around noon, so I had time to locate Degas and get him working while we packed for Revy. By the end of the day the students had 4 flights in various conditions with some ridge and thermal activity. Chris H is now past his 25 flight mark and wrote the P-2 exam today and is now a certified P-2 Pilot! The smoke came in from many fires as the outflow will persist and the Valley Temps are expected to hit +40C this week. 7-30-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres Eric, Alex, George all flew three good flights with some thermal activity but we had to stop flying around 2 pm. Too windy and gusty for safe flights. We did go back up at 7 pm and Colleen, Derek & I experienced a beautiful glass-off flight arriving over the Ranch at 1000 metres and still climbing so I suggested we land at the Golf Course for dinner.  I came over the Golf Course still climbing even over the Harrison River. Colleen flew downwind of the landing strip, while Derek went way upwind over Harrison Bay. I split the difference and came over the centere of the airstrip. Landing was very laminar with winds right down the runway. It was too strong for new student Alex and Lee decided to stand down too with his tandem although it was okay out in the air. Launch was a bit strong.  7-29-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres I had a quiet day with Alex, Patrick & Hayden flying. alex and Patrick are 3 flight experienced and Hayden was finishing off his last two flight for his P-2. We had only two flights as it got windy around 1 pm, and Hayden flew to Harvest for his graduation flight. The plan was for the tandems and others to fly that way too but only Derek and Hayden could climb out. But Derek saw Andrei heading to the HG LZ so he flowwed him in there as did Patrick when he got stuck in the wind. Later flights may have been possible but only after 7 pm. 7-23-17 to 07-28-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. High around 25C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres Degas ran the show from Monday to Thursday with many students while I was in the US.  Aircraft Ferry Report - I hopped on a jet to Chippewa Falls, MI to retrieve my Lil Buzzard Ultralight as the weather looked promising. I stayed in the fabulous pilot lounge at KCIU Genral Aviation Terminal as I arrived too late to get a motel. I met Dave the mechanic here and he took me out to the hangar I had stored the Buzzard in a few weeks back. He had done some maintenance on the tailwheel as it was not operating properly threatening to "ground loop" the plane at times landing and then after landing it would not center to go down the taxi way. I fueled up and headed out to Marquette MI, the next fuel stop about 2.5 hours away. Slow progress with a 15 knot headwind over not so hospitable terrain as I crossed the Hiawatha National Forest, and then several more forested areas. But there is always the roads in an emergency!  I landed nicely at Marquette Airport in about 100 feet to be told by tower that the FBO that sells fuel is 2 miles down the taxiway. This airport is a decommissioned B-52 Bomber Base so the runways are long. They said I could take off again to the end of the runway but it was gusty and the engine was running a bit rough. I thought it was due to using 100 Low Lead vs car gas, so I decided to taxi the 2 miles to the FBO. After fueling I checked the weather and it had picked up to 21 knots here at Marquette and there was rain on the horizon so I waited in the FBO lounge to see what was happening. I had only put 120 nm on the plane on this leg. The weather stayed bad so I got a rental car and drove into town and found a nice old hotel called the Landmark Inn right on Lake Superior. This part of town was the rich part of Marquette settled by mining tycoons. I found a nice meal and bedded down for the night as a thunderstorm rolled thru town. The next day I was out at the airport by 830 am. The rain had cleared, and the FBO pulled the Buzzard out of the hangar they rented me to keep it safe during the thunderstorm. I started it up and it was still running rough during the runup bat after warming up to green temps the Rotax 912 smoothed out. I was off and climbing thought 4000 feet enroute over another National Forest toward Ironwood County Airport for my next fuel stop, 114 nm and 2 hours enroute. I landed nicely into the wind and after touchdown the plane decided to take a 90 right turn off the runway, fortunately there was a paved apron right there and I spun around on that portion of the airstrip and the tailwheel was locked into a turn. I managed to free it with power and get the plane going down a taxiway to the FBO.  Dave the mechanic had told me how to remove a cam to make the wheel lock to the rudder so after fueling, I took off the cam and diagnosed a primer leak problem that I found after fueling. I suspect the 100 LL fuel caused the primer plunger seal to leak and I was getting a steady trickle of fuel through that circuit causing the plane to run rich on the left cylinder bank. I had not way to fix it here so I took off again towards Bemidji airport another 220 nm SW.  Bemidji is a busy training field and I followed a Cessna 172 in on final and had a nice landing with the tailwheel working properly. The nice folks at the FBO here fueled me up and tied me down for the night and I stayed at a Quality Inn right on the airfield. The next morning I was out on the field at 730 am, hoping for a big day of flight and I decided not to wait for the mechanic to get in at 9 am to look at the primer. I headed off west toward Duluth and then on to Williston Montana. My next fuel stop was Devils Lake 165 nm west and I had another nice landing and topped up the tanks at a self serve gas pump. Tailwheel now fixed! The primer was leaking even more so I went to the local mechanic there and explained the problem. They did not have that style of primer unit so they suggested taking out the primer all together but they did not have the correct fittings so I borrowed a car and headed in to town to a car parts store and got an assortment of couplers. Back at the plane I removed the primer and checked for fuel leaks. Estimated wait time now 2 hours and I was back in the air with a smooth running motor! The roughness was a too rich mixture on the left bank. I headed west and came over Minot ND at around 5 pm, with a planned stop in Williston but my iPad running ForeFlight was showing heavy rain to west over Williston. I contacted Flight Servie through the tower at Minot and they advised a strong thunderstorm was in the area west for another 3 hours, so I decided to land at Minot to wait it out.  I refueled and tied the plane down and waited in the passenger lounge with a pilot from Calgary that had a sleek Lancair that goes 200 knots.  He left for Regina and I waited a few more hours before deciding the storm was not going to clear and got a hotel room for the night.  The next days plan was an early start and head west to Havre MT and then north to Lethbridge to clear customs. I was about 45 minutes into the trip when my groundspeed got really low as the headwinds picked up and it got bumpy at 10 am. The forecast winds were to be 190 degrees at 10 knots but it was more westerly and stronger so I made an inflight flight plan change to head to Regina as I saw storms painting the radar to the west. I was getting 85-90 knots inbound to Regina and the tower reported the active runway was 13, with winds from 190 at 17 gusting to 21 knots! Good thing the tailwheel is now working as I had a nice short landing in about 50 feet and a smooth exit off the runway. I had to wait for customs to come out to the field as the flight plan did not advise them of my arrival, but they were cool as I had to divert for weather.  After clearing customs I made a decision to tie the Buzzard down and take a WestJet back to Harrison Mills for the weekend and ready for the SIV in Revy August 1-7. The FBO can watch the Buzzard and I can go get it later when the weather improves. My neighbours in Regina look a bit faster than the Buzzard.  My total trip from Tuesday to Thursday was 950 nm, about halfway due to weather delays. About another 1000 nm to go.  7-22-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High 24C. Winds light and variable. 700 metres Cloudbase dropped several times but we managed to get Billy his final two flights to get his P-2 rating. It was drizzly and winds were light to tail wind most of the day but we finished up around 4 pm. I blame the Nationals for the weather change, as it always rains when a comp is organized at Lumby, Pemby or Quebec. It is Murphy's Law of Paragliding. 7-21-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Mainly cloudy. High 23C. Winds light and variable. 1000 metres We had two new students start, bot named George, and they both did extremely well on the training hill! Launch after launch they had perfect timing and control and they were both on SupAir EONA gliders. By noon they were ready to fly, and we did the landing briefing. We had a number of more experienced students flying to to show them the way, and the two Georges went last on the first round of flights. Colleen was in the LZ guiding students so I could focus on the launch duties. By the end of the day the students had 4 flights despite rain, drizzle and light winds. During the mid-day round, Kevin flew and got way above launch in some interesting places and logged well over an hour of airtime despite the grey skies.  7-20-17
|
|  Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy with occasional rain showers. High 22C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 60%. 800 metres I awoke to heavy rain at 9 am, and after a few hours of a good soaking which the grass needed, the sun came out but it was blustery until 7 pm. There were heavy rains in Agassiz and Chilliwack as well. Much needed to get the forests cooled off and drop the fire hazards. 7-19-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 26C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1000 metres Some of them slept in and did not arrive for the first shuttle at 10 am, so they missed the first of three rounds today. The smoke had cleared out with inflow winds sending it back inland. Denis took Bianca tandem and they got to 1300 metres before heading to Harvest Market LZ with the other students. First trip over to Harvest for Chris H, and he did well except for misjudging the wind on approach and ended up in the far end of the LZ. Tip of the Day: Never turn your back to the wind, especially in stronger winds. You will not likely penetrate back upwind to get to your intended target. We shut down training from 3 pm and hoped to try again at 5 pm, but it was too gusty and strong as the front rolls in. I was in Chilliwack dropping off a shipment and it was howling there.The smoke had cleared out with inflow winds sending it back inland. See if you can see Brett H in this video of the recent PWC Competition in Serbia. World Cup Serbia Nish task 6 from Philippe Broers on Vimeo. 7-18-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1000 metres Just Chris & Doug were out and they had four really nice flights and we quit at 2 pm. Chris did some nice thermalling on the last three flights, making the EONA climb faster than some of the experienced pilots in the same air. Folks were flying Bridal when I drove past on the way to Chilliwack for an oil change and some glider shipments on the bus, not getting high but staying aloft for a few hours. 7-17-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 27C. Winds light and variable. 1300 metres Both were flying the EONA Ms and from the first forward inflation they had it figured out. I quit prompting them after 3 launches and they had perfect timing on the release & stabilization of the glider. We went up the mountain at 11 am so Chris could get a high flight (his 10th), and so the new guys could watch a launch and approach from on top. We then went down and got Dennie & the tandem passengers for our 1 pm tandem flight. It was quite smoky with outflow winds bringing smoke from the Harrison Lake fire and also a new fire in Boston Bar area. Dennie launched first into the smoke and it was quite lifty right to the inversion layer at 800 metres.  I launched the students and they had great launches and nice lift all the way to the Ranch where they had classic approaches and perfect landings. I launched with my passenger and we got high fast, just getting past the smoky layer a few times and then dropping back into the smoke but we had a nice flight with slow progress to the Ranch as the winds picked up. Later flights by experienced pilots were good with lumpy landings unless you landed by the old ProCircle. We went back up at 5 pm hoping for a nice glassoff flight for the new students but it wa quite windy as Alex W & Dennie took off and got parked a few times. Good time to build some decision-making criteria for new pilots ad they decided it was indeed a bit windy for them. 7-16-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sun and clouds mixed. High 21C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1200 metres The days started out weirdly, as we headed up at 8 :30 am it started to drizzle. We waited on launch and it got wwetter and then gustier. We decided it was not student friendly and called off the day and sent them all home. Then around 11 am it cleared up and the winds abated. Our tandems arrived without calling to check the weather so we heded up at noon and sent Dominik off on his new Rush 4 to cehck the air and it was thermic and soarable! Colleen took off with Marcel and was climbing nicely. I followed with Cheryl and we had an interesting launch. My glider came up and was nicely overhead when we got "hoovered" right off the carpet and straight up like a helicopter takeoff. When we cleared the lip of launch we went straight up and it was strong. We headed over the the South Knoll to soar and it was really good lift but it started to shade in and the lift was disipating so Colleen headed off the Harvest Market first as Dom & I worked the remaining bubbles of lift. We headed out a bit low but caught some nice lift along the way and arrived with nice altitude over Harvest LZ. Cheryl's hubbie was waiting at the Ranch so he came to get us. Later in the day Dennie & Linda, Bruce and Mark flew as we headed in to town and they had great lift in the glassoff. 7-15-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 24C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1200 metres And as forecast it blew out by noon, but we had 3 flights before it got too strong. We flew the students to Harvest Market on the last flight and Billy got the highest on his Ultralite 4 having to fly east cause he got too cold. He is almost finished at 23 flights now with some nice thermalling skills.  We did some ground school sessions after lunch, and then headed back out to the Eagle Ranch LZ for some high wind kiting and the new students got really good at As & Cs reverse launching in +25 kph winds. It was a full day with most of the students leaving by 6 pm. 7-14-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres Matt D is almost finished his P-2 Course with 23 flights in the bag. He was last seen at 1100 metres over Woodside Launch in a nice climb. Chris and John W are hot on Matt's tail as they got 5 & 4 flights in respectively today. John left as we headed up for the last flight at 6 pm as he was exhausted. Good conditions for practising reverse launches when I took over at 3 pm, and the guys all did very well after a few false starts. It was hot and a long day of training for them all. Tomorrow looks windy so we are starting at 8 am. 7-13-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. High 23C. Winds light and variable. 1200 metres A group of 6 people came out for a stag party and did tandems with us and thanks to Derek, Colleen, Andrei, Denis & Dennie we got them all done at once and they had awesome soaring flights on the South Knoll. Here is Derek soaring right in front of launch.  Later flights with the students proved to have good thermals too, as newbie Brandon showed us all how to climb out in small lift at the South Knoll. The last flight of the day around 6 pm proved to be the best with Colleen taking Kenji tandem and they were up for over an hour trying to get down over the Fraser River upwind of the Ranch. 7-12-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High around 25C. Winds light and variable. 1000 metres Dennie & Denis were working with the students while I went to the US to pickup some paramotoring gear. It got too windy at Woodside for student flights after 3 pm, but a group went over to Bridal to fly and they did well. 7-11-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy skies. High 24C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 800 metres We started getting gear ready at 8 am, but the conditions were calm to tailwind on launch til 9 am, which is when we started first launches. Matt D and John W were here flying, and Denis started training Brandon on the training hill til noon. John managed 3 flights before he had to leave for family commitments, and Matt continued flying til 6 pm, at the end of the day he had logged 8 flights including some nice thermalling mid-day. Brandon started flying solo after noon and had 4 flights by the end of day too! Colleen & I managed to get away with the grandkids and go swimming in the Agassiz pool and it was nice to see some CU clouds in the sky after weeks of stable inverted air. We just got a shipment of SupAir Strike Harnesses in stock, these harnesses are designed for hike & fly fun, but are good all-around harnesses too. $950 USD or add $100 USD for the Trek Light Backpack combo. Strike Info here . We just got a shipment of Gin Genie Lite 2 Harnesses in stock, these harnesses are designed for XC flight. $1450 USD Genie 2 Info here . 7-10-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Increasing cloudiness early this morning. 30 percent chance of showers late this afternoon. Becoming windy this afternoon. High 24. Humidex 26. UV index 6 or high. 800 metres By 11 am it was too winfdy for student flights and the group here was brand new and had not been briefed on Harvest Market runs. Congrats to Gary who passed his P-2 exam today and now has the required 25 flights to become a certified P-2 pilot! 7-9-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sun and clouds mixed. High around 25C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 800 metres Denis took a new group of students to Mission after the winds in our field went too switchy for kiting, and they all did very well. I saw the HGers flying to Harvest after I returned from picking up the grandkids in Merritt around 3 pm. It was still gusty on launch just before dusk. 7-8-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 800 metres Six tandems later, and 5 student flight rounds and a few flights to Harvest Market were accomplished despite the winds. Thanks to Kevin, Andrei, Denis & Derek for the tandems while I herded students. 7-7-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunny. High 26C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 800 metres Nima was ridge soaring in nice lift, so we got Cam ready for his first solo and he had a great launch and was also soaring with Nima. He headed out high probably over 1000 metres, and as he got to the Harrison Highlands, he started to get parked. There was a windy layer at around 300 metres and he was in it but kept a good course. He landed next to the Maple Tree as there was no way to penetrate the layer of wind. He had an awesome flight and a short walk to the Ranch. We did not launch Stefan after seeing that layer, and Nima was still aloft as we got Derek & my tandem ready. I ballasted Derek & Mylene off after a long wait for a lull and they soared the South Knoll for a bit before heading to Harvest Market. Nima followed them east as he had never been briefed on that LZ. I got a nice lull too after a 10 minute wait and I was off and soaring with Jo, we got a really good boost right off launch in a strong thermal that was pushing us up & back. Oddly just as I saw with Derek just before us, the South Knoll had wind from the SW and the trees were bouncing but no ridge lift? Derek did not make the normal Harvest LZ and was instead on a field next to the dyke with Nima and Wilko (a Hong Kong Pilot) ao we landed with them to save the retrieve hassles as Norm & Bev were driving. After that the winds got even stronger so we had a ground school session and looked at the various RASP products we use to predict the day. At 4 pm we headed to the Agassiz Rec Centre to kite and Stefan & Cam got really good at reverse kiting & launching. 7-6-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 31C. Winds light and variable. 800 metres Josef S was out getting tuned up after a 16 year hiatus, and flew the Mojo 5 demo because he was afraid his 20 year old Fun2FLy glider might not fly anymore! Linda and Ryan were out after work and they flew their HGs into the Ranch, with Dennie as their driver. Derek, Kevin, Dennie, Norm flew Bridal and got 3 hours of soaring but it was hard to get up to 1000 metres. 7-5-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunny. High near 30C. Winds light and variable. 800 metres Chase is up to 22 flights now and it going to transition to Paramotor soon. Maciej got 5 solo flights in today and is self-landing now, and has a powerful launch! Other folks were out either flying tandems or solo flights and the lift was mellow and good for students despite the hazy conditions caused by the Harrison Lake fire. Alan reported in at 1300 metres at Bridal near the Saddle. I drove to Savona mid-day to retrieve our travel trailer, and got turned around at Cherry Creek due to a wildfire there too. I was rerouted back through Logan Lake and Tunkwa Lake backroads so it added an hour to the trip. I checked DriveBC when I left at 3:30 pm and it was all clear on Hwy 5 & Hwy 1 but the fire started at 4:30 pm so there was no warnings about fire closures. It is tinder dry in the Kamloops area. 7-4-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Mainly sunny. High 27C. Winds light and variable. 800 metres Zack & Nelson had a great day with 5 big flights and Zack got some great themalling sessions in on the SupAir Leaf. These "Leafs" are proving to be great thermalling ships and very stable at the same time. We have them in regular and light versions right now. There was an inversion layer but we were able to break through it on most flights. Reports from Bridal had folks going to Ludwig and back with little head wind, as CanadaRASP had predicted. Out last flight had lots of wind on Harrsion Bay and on launch, but the boys were well over 700 metres over the Ranch and the landngs were smooth despite lots of wind on the ground. 7-3-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy. High 23C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1000 metres The Van held together after I did a backyard repair on the suspension crossmember yesterday. We had Jacek & Monica & Matthew training today, and Colleen & I had a tandem each to do at 1 pm and the conditions were amazing. Puffy CUs forming to let you know where the cores were. Matthew was showing us all how to thermal on his new Gin Atlas on his third flight, outclimbing everyone else in the air as his dad Jan flew under him and ended up landing before Matthew. I let Miriam fly the tandem and she was outclimbing Denis on his tandem, without any guidance from the backseat. It did get windy around 2:30 pm, so we snuck away to get the correct starter for the Bronco. Back at 6 pm for the glass-off flight and Martin N, Derek, Norm, Bev & Colleen all flew off Woodside in still strong conditions with a plan to land at Harvest. Monica was not feeling that confident in finding Harvest and reports of trashy landing conditions at the Ranch made here stay on the ground, but she had two really nice flights today. I had to get gas in Agassiz and everyone was still in the air as I returned to Harvest to pick them up.  Sad news from Wisconsin as news of a plane crash with 6 fatalities as a Cessna 421 (Medium Twin) went down after discussing a "weather anomoly" with Flight Service. The weather forecast in the Great Lakes Area was bad for this weekend, hence my deciding to come home and wait for some clearing before going back to retrieve my Lil Buzzard airplane. The #1 cause for airplane accidents is the weather. You can't beat Mother Nature. 7-2-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 26C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 700 metres Conditions were quite inverted today but some folks got above launch for a brief period. After noon it was too windy for students, and Denis did 2 tandems for us and had to land at Harvest for the second tandem. I had a catastrophic car failure day with the Van with a broken suspension crossmember for a week ago that we just diagnosed, and the Bronco starter seized up on launch and Lee had to come and tow me out. It would not even bump-start as the starter bendix was engaged and jamming the ring gear. The Van is now repaired partially and should work for a few trips until I can get it in for some proper welding. The Bronco starter we bought is not quite the right fit but some filing should get it installed, just too many mosquitoes to do it when it is not hot and windy. There is a forest fire burning 20 kms NE of the town and people are advised to stay clear.  7-1-17
|
| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy. High 23C. Winds SW at 5 to 10 km/h. 700 metres There were thunderstorms and significant convective activity warnings all over the mid-west for the rest of the weekend and early next week, so I jumped on a Delta flight out of KCIU. I flew a tandem around 4 pm, and we thought it was going to be very windy but arrived to light launch conditions as Dennie launched his new Mentor 5 and had a slow climb. I took new student Paul on the SwiftMax tandem and we had to wait for cycles and worked hard to stay aloft and the best lift was at the South Knoll. After 20 minutes the lift was dissipating so we headed towards Harvest Market and it was light tailwind and no lift along the way so I picked a nice hayfield this side of the railway tracks. Again, light winds in the field as we landed?? Hmmm?? It really looked strong on the trees in Harrison Mills as we headed up but apparently it had dropped quite a bit. Richard and Dennie made it to Harvest LZ, but were also complaining that the lift had dropped off too. I overheard Mike & Kim over at Bridal and they were working hard to stay up there too. 2016 in Review - we had our busiest season every in 20 years! Thanks to all of you that supported us in 2016! We started out in January with our biggest Mexican Tour with many guests improving their skills at El Toro, Pelican Bay Soaring Site, Colima and Tapalpa. February brought us more Tour guests with me returning to Canada on March 1 to start lessons. March brought on some great spring conditions with some excellent XC flights in the Faser Valley. April brought out many new student pilots and we had up to 7 per day requiring some additional manpower to help out with Degas in Mission with newbies while I was sending students off Woodside. April enjoyed the first tree-landing of the season as an un-named P-2 pilot 360ed himself into a 200' tree just before dark. May brought out many pilots doing XC flights from Benny to Woodside. This site was improved in 2016 with WCSC & BCHPA funds so we are going to take advancing students there in 2017. We also ran our Annual FlyBC Instructor Course and had many new candidates working with our students. We had to go to Coyote & Mara many times to avoid the weather. June was an awesome month and we had many signed off P-2 students by now. Thanks to all who helped us get them through their courses! July was a productive month but also brought some sad news as a local Bellingham Pilot who had flown Blanchard hundreds of times had a fatal crash while paragliding on a mellow day. TJ had been flying since 2000 and had created a Weather Page that was very useful in predicting the conditions. August took us to Mara Lake for our Annual SIV Course and we had 25 participants over 10 days with only a few wet wings. Either we are getting better at guiding, or the gliders are getting safer, or the pilots are doing more studying prior to the Course . . . or all three but it is a pleasure to put pilots through the maneuvers and see them cain confidence in their gear. September was flyable most days but we did do the odd road trip to Merritt and Coyote. I think we are up to 200 flyable days now. We also had one weekend closed to students and pilots at Eagle Ranch while we married off Aaron & Christy! October turned out to be a complete bust as it rained everyday, as did November. Odd as this is usually our busiest training time. It was okay because we had planned a trip to Australia anyway, but I felt bad for the students that did not get finished in 2016. December was also bad weather-wise with record snow falls, so I went to Mexico to get our winter condo ready for the winter season, and Derek & Norm & I had some nice flights. Thanks again to the 40+ students we signed off in 2016. Thanks also to the pilots that bought a record number of gliders from Gin, Ozone & SupAir from us in 2016. Stay safe in 2017, and we will be here to support you in your flying endeavours. |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports click to select the month and year you wish to review.
|
1253 Kilby Road, Harrison Mills, BC V0M 1L0 Cell: 604-618-5467 E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail |