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FlyBC "Site of the Day" Archive Page - June/2011
Woodside should be flyable after 11 am
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Woodside Report - we were out at the Ranch by 11 am, waiting for 2 tandems and a new student to arrive and by 1 pm gave up and went to lunch. I guess they forgot? | Shayne went up for a Hike & Fly, but it turned out to be a Hike & Hike, because it was too strong for his liking. Better safe that sorry!
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Woodside Report - rained most of the day, but I was sick in bed with a cold and didn't notice the weather much . . . until the sun came out around 7 pm. | Some great shots taken on the weekend by Doug at Woodside
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Woodside Report - a quiet day at Woodside, 3 tandems, 4 student solo flights with one evening glassoff flight for Jon.Wouter & Martina tested out the new Gin Rebel Tandem with some acro! It started raining around 7 pm, but we were done and on the road by then.
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| A nice Video from Veracruz where Norm & I flew a few years ago - by Herminio  Woodside Report - a few desperados out today but Wouter & I didn't fly, instead we worked on building a new sidewalk around the perimeter of the barn. We started around 1 pm and had it all done, including leveling the Stonehenge Firepit area and filling in some low spots on the training hill by 6:30 pm (thanks Wouter!). Mosquitoes almost did us in as we worked when the wind quit blowing, nasty. Shayne logged two sleddies on his new Buzz Z3 having to wait for cycles, but he was happy to practice his approaches into the circle enjoying the new glide ratio! Biff's Mt. Cheam Report - Saturday, June 25th - 6:00 pm. After a cloudy, dismal day I checked the weather forecast and saw a clearing trend and light SW winds for Sunday morning. I'd been trying for weeks to get some time at altitude prior to next week's attempt to climb and fly from the top of Mt. Blanc in France. (Last month I skied to the top of Mt. Baker and became very ill at 9,000 from ascending too quickly.) Judy agreed to drive me up the Cheam road and after a lightning fast pack job, a stop at Tim’s for a sandwich and a long slow drive up the ever deteriorating road, I was dropped off at about 1250 meters, the snowline! BTW, there is a significant washout about halfway up the road that takes a lot of clearance to get through. I began hiking at 7:45 pm. It took about 45 minutes to walk to the normal parking lot (snow depth, 1-2 meters) and another half hour to get into the Spoon Lake Valley (snow depth 2 meters). From here I took the most direct route possible up a gully to rejoin the main route at the standard rest stop. Although there were obvious tracks going to the end of the road, I didn't see any sign of human traffic after that. I relentlessly kick-stepped up the mushy snow for an hour and a quarter, through clouds and diminishing light til I reached a level spot on the ridge about 70 meters from the summit. The time was 10:15 pm. There was still an orange glow on the horizon and I could make out the twinkling lights of the Fraser Valley through the mist. I dropped my gear, made a quick visit to the top and then went back and set up my camp which consisted of my wing, a piece of foam, a 7 oz bivy bag and a 1 ib sleeping bag. I kept my down jacket on through the night and was quite warm in spite of the layer of frost that developed on my gear overnight. I was awakened at 3:00 my radio beeping crazily as the battery died - I had left it on to ensure Judy got safely down the road and forgotten to turn it off. That was OK, because my iPhone was working perfectly.  Dawn came and with it the welcome, warm sun - and a surprisingly strong east wind. I ate the second half of my turkey club sandwich and began checking out the conditions, visiting the summit, the regular launch and the daunting east face with its accompanying cornice. ¨   The wind was a steady 20+ km/hr up the vast avalanche slope but more swirly on the low angle snow just below the summit.  I tried pulling up my wing for a half hour only to have it slide down the towards Spoon Lake, so I took a break and phoned Judy to let her know that I might have to walk down. Then I set my wing up about thirty meters from the east face and once it came up I slowly fought my way to the edge grateful for the microspikes on my boots that helped me dig closer and closer to the 1000 foot cliff. The wing felt very solid and sure enough as I reached the edge I stepped off smoothly and immediately began going up in BBS (baby bum smooth) lift.  I was able to get over the summit and spent about five minutes soaring the top of the mountain before setting my course to the northwest.  From here I was able to take pictures, phone Judy, post to Facebook and go with the flow, passing thousands of feet over lower Bridal Launch, over flying Annis and Gibson Roads and eventually setting down on the corner of Prest and Mcguire where Judy picked me up. From there it was about five minutes to Tim Horton's. Full circle and a welcome double-double. Ten hours at 7000 feet. Bring on Mt. Blanc - it is only twice the height! - Biff Romulus 
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Click on the picture for more pictures from today's flights as well as other June activitiesCheam Sleepover Report - Kevin A called pretty early from the peak of Mt. Cheam where he had a solo sleepover in the snow, before flying off to try and XC to Chilliwack. Woodside Tandemonium Report - we started flying at 10 am, and the last tandem and student flights landed at 8 pm. Wouter did 6 tandems, Jim did 5 tandems (and guided 4 students) and Colleen squeezed 1 tandem into her busy day of work/family visits as we had 12 people out for dinner. The students logged 5 decent flights today too, including a "sweet glassoff" flight for Sam and Steve (both nearing their certification completions). Reports of rough air at Bridal (+6 m/s ratty thermals and wind) did not materialize at Woodside and landings at the Ranch were non-eventful except a few gliders had tip tucks flying into Scary Corner (mostly new gliders folks weren't familiar with). Lots of HG action at Woodside too, with Jon O & Dave W doing tandems and some of the newer HGers were doing 2-3 flights too, including cousin Keith from Manitoba who is used to winch towing, and loves stepping off a mountain on his Eagle. I had some memorable tandems today including one "chunky" flight with mom Alex despite taking gravol. I had a few screamers as did Wouter, doing spirals over the Ranch!
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Woodside Report - it rained hard all morning, so we cancelled all the tandems and students, but by noon it was flyable and we saw an un-named group up on launch kiting and they finally flew off around 2 pm. | We rounded up a group of desperados and went up around 4 pm, and only Thomm managed to stay up - crediting his new Mantra M4. Later on the second trip up, the Suburban wouldn't start on launch so I flew down to get the Suzuki and tools and Keith dived underneath and removed the starter which we managed to get working for the drive down by dark.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from today's Merritt soaring as well as other June activitiesMerritt Report - Wouter and I left town for Merritt early meeting Ryan up at the Merritt Info Centre at 10 am.. It was already windy by 10 am, but we headed up Sugerloaf Mountain fast and when we arrived on launch it was pretty breezy so out came the Bullet XT-16 speed wing and Wouter's 18 meter acro wing. It was easily soarable on the Nikita 2 but the XT-16 was only getting Ryan some bunny hops. Later Lee S arrived but there was no way he was taking his Discovery 3 out! I too only brought normal sized wings, and I was regretting not bringing Colleen's XS Addict II. We moved to another steeper ridge for XT-16 fun, and Wouter & Ryan both flew down a few times. By the time we arrived back at Woodside around 6 pm, it had cleared up and we went up to install the new WCSC Woodside sign and Michael (HG) logged a sledder. It was marginally soarable for PG at that time. Click on the picture above to see a tow winch that is for sale, payout model with gas rewind. Tested by Calgary pilots, but not much use to us here. $1000 CDN Pemberton Report - Jon O was doing HG tandems with Dave W and they got 2 sessions, with the last flights being pretty gusty in the LZ. No paragliders flew apparently, so it was a good thing we didn't travel up there today.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from today's chores as well as other June activitiesWoodside Report - I arrived at 1 pm to wash the Suburban, compound out the tree scratches and start installing the new decals/logos on the Suburban when it started to rain. Curses, I had to move into the barn but the light was good and the job went quickly. The new logos designed by James Friesen look fabulous! I had a meeting with a marketing group promoting Harrison Mills attractions at the Sasquatch Inn at 3:30 pm and it was still raining, and by 6 pm it was coming down hard. Ryan said it was flyable early on but I was in the US shipping gear so I missed the window.
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Woodside Report - we started at 10 am, and got Jonathon 2 solo flights before it blew out. Also, Wouter and I took two lovely ladies tandem just around 1 pm and after 30 minutes of soaring in front of launch I headed out with lots of height but had only enough altitude for one turn into the circle. Wouter just cleared the fence to land on the east boundary of the Ranch. | About 12 pilots were still in the air when we packed up and one by one they headed out to Riverside, except Tonya who hung in longer than even the HGers and we saw her parked over Hwy 7 not making the Ranch. Bert talked to her later and was mad because he thought she was sneaking away without paying the Outlanding Fee of $20. She was actually lost trying to get out because the grass is so tall. Folks: If you want to make it out to the Ranch in high winds there is only one approach that works! Do not try to head to the Ranch directly, you must head over the new Construction Zone first. Or go to Bill Best's field slightly downwind of the Ranch. 
Later pilots flew Bridal but it was pretty windy. Wouter said he logged 1:30 on his Nikita2 18 meter wing, a good wing choice today. Click here for more pictures from today's flying fun in Cochrane on an R11 as well as other June activities We have an Addict II Large in stock with 2 seasons flying on it. Certification report shows 145 seconds porosity rating vs 288 seconds for new cloth so lots of life left. $1600 CDN.
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Woodside Report - a pretty busy day at Woodside even though it was mid-week. At one point this afternoon there were about 15 paragliders and 2 hanggliders over Woodside, with some heading east towards Hope, and one heading west to St. Benny. | Ryan K hung out around here all day and logged 5:30 with a top-landing at Woodside to offer to drive a truck down, but we already had a retrieve crew so he relaunched into the glass-off. Click here to see what Woodside offered up today for those on Leonardo. New student Jonathon logged 2 solo flights today, after much kiting on launch after everyone left. I headed up the wrong road to retrieve Al who out-landed near Banjo, and after I found him, we had a very late set of tandems landing just before 9 pm as the sun set to end the day. Bridal Report - Stellar day out in the sky today. Launched from lower Bridal at 4 pm with the goal of making it over to Elk where Eddy, Larry, Ivan, Carl, and Steve were having a wild Solstice party with rock music, wild women, sausage and booze. Got to Elk pretty quickly and waved to the revellers but got scared off by their obvious lack of clothing. Went back to Gloria, got really high and decided to give the guys another try. This time I flew over them and hit one of those big Ass Elk thermals that took me to 1700 m and scared me off again back to Gloria. I flew back and top landed at Upper Bridal for a pee and a snack. Took off and flew back to Elk finally landing to the whoops and cheers of the men on the mountain. A cold can of beer and a sausage sandwich were thrust into my hands and Ivan kept offering me the contents of his special silver flask. I enjoyed their company for about half and hour and while I was preparing to launch Sammy and Daryl flew by. I took off with a tough little piece of Elk Salal tied into my wing tip but as there was very little deformation, and even less I could do about it, I hooked a nice thermal, took it to 1700 m and headed east stopping at upper bridal in a thermal between two clouds where I hit 2000 m. Swollen with sky lust I went next to Cheam, on to the Lakes, out to Klaus and Monica's house and back to upper launch to fly with Daryl who had wisely opted to launch drunk in a 7 k tailwind from Elk rather than accepting Ivan's offer of sharing a sleeping bag. I landed for the last time as the sun set behind Woodside at 9:00 pm. Daryl and I celebrated at the Jolly Miller Pub but our thoughts were with the Elk Boys who have, between them hiked and flown the mountain 1600 times. Berg Heil Boys! - Kevin A
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Click on the picture for more pictures from today's flying fun as well as other June activitiesWoodside Report - we started flying at 11 am as the grass was too wet to kite for new student Jonathon. Jonathon & I went tandem early. We went back up with Ryan, Denis, Martin N and Denis flew Martin N as part of his tandem certification course. Later Ryan took Denis tandem for his certification. Jonathon and I then went kiting for a few hours while others went flying, but it never really turned on til later. I took Randy tandem around noon while Jonathon took a lunch break and we had a few thermals but it was short. Randy flew most of the flight and I landed the ship near the training hill, where we tripped over each other in the tall grass (hopefully it will be mowed this week!). A large tour group from San Francisco area are here with Kurt N as tour guide, and they had a couple of nice flights mid-day and then a beautiful glass-off flight with them and many locals climbing high and staying in the air til after 8 pm. Jonathon & I were kiting on launch but he didn't feel confident enough to launch so more tandems and kiting tomorrow for him. Ozone R11 SWEEPS PWC AUSTRIA The Men’s and Women’s podium at the PWC Austria last week was filled entirely by Ozone Pilots! The top 4 overall spots went to Ozone with 7 out of the top 10 flying R11s. Alex Hofer took top honors with Jacques Fournier and Josef Brandner in second and third places. The women’s podium was headed by Regula Strasser with Elisa Houdry in second and Seiko Fukuoka Naville in third. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, only one task was valid. However, the R11 pilots all seemed entirely satisfied with their new wings and everyone is looking forward to Piedrahita, where the World Championship Title will be battled for in July. The Ozone Team would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of the pilots who have chosen to fly Ozone this year. We are honored by the great number of high level comp pilots who are flying R11s and we look forward to the rest of the competition season. With so many top pilots all flying the same competition wing as newer competition pilots, the playing field has truly been “leveled” and sponsored factory team pilots no longer have a special advantage from prototype wings. We love the spirit of this game and look forward to seeing more Ozone podiums in the future. Cheers from all the Team.
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Woodside Report - low cloud base all day, we saw launch for 10 seconds. Even Blanchard was in clouds. |
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Woodside Report - we thought it was going to clear up enough to fly around 5 pm, but we saw launch for a split-second and then a cold air mass moved in and cloudbase dropped below the lower launch switchback. |
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Click on the picture for more pictures from today's flying fun as well as other June activitiesWoodside Report - we started around 9:30 am, and Wouter took Patricia (Tish) tandem in very light winds and the day was started. Students Rob M, George and Steve were out and Rob got 5 more solos for a toal of 10 solos and two tandems in three days. His reverse launches are a thing of beauty and he progressed off the Element onto the Rush II today. Steve had awesome forward launches and George had some pretty good launches today too! George also had a bailout swamp adventure when he hit huge sink and we didn`t want to risk him making it over the ridge. ps: the bailout is very wet far from the highway! Wouter took the DesSCent 15 for a flight and landed in Joe`s backyard, and actually climbed a bit on it! We also did 6 more tandems today ending at 6:30 pm with Stephanie & Aaron who went tandem for their anniversary. Last flights we landed at the ProCircle in NW winds, very smooth right in the circle. The grass in Eagle Ranch is now nearing 2 meters height in places so circle landings are definitely preferred. The hay can`t be cut until we get 5 days of warm weather . . . good luck! Lots of pilots out today hoping for sunny breaks but it never happened, other groups at Bridal also avoided the sun and at best extended sled rides ensued around the Valley.
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Click on the picture for more pictures from today's flying fun as well as other June activitiesWoodside Report - Rob M arrived at 800 am, and we went up the mountain immediately, just Rob and I. I was concerned that the SW winds would be too strong later for his first flights and he worked hard the last two days on ground handling to get ready for this flight (plus enduring two tandems with Wouter). We arrived at launch for perfect 15 kph winds straight in and steady. Rob laid out his Element II and expertly clipped in and was ready for his first solo launch. He did an expert reverse launch and was soon soaring above launch before heading to the Ranch for a perfect landing - 30 minutes later! We arrived at the bottom to greet the other new students starting today - George & Steve. They both came up this round for tandems with Martina & Wouter while I watched Rob launch again, again perfectly in nice reversible conditions (lighter than at 8 am). Rob went up for a third flight while Wouter & Martina did the training hill duty with George & Steve. Denis brought out John M as his tandem practice victim today and they had 2 nice launches towards his tandem rating. Rob was back on launch for flight number 4 as a bunch of desperados arrived after 130 pm, hoping for the "sunny with cloudy periods" to arrive but mostly we had cloudy conditions and the winds got lighter as the day wore on. Alex & Nicole took off and were soon at 1000 meters "cloud surfing" doing speed runs to test the speed and glide on Alex's M4 vs the Avax XC3. We spent an hour on the training hill, getting Steve & George tuned up and Rob switched to a Rush 2 for his 5th flight coming up soon. Meanwhile Miguel & Norm were drooling over their new gliders and were coming up to launch with us to test fly them. Rob S arrived and was also drooling over his M4 on launch. Unfortunately the last flights were extended sledders for Rob and others. Around 4 pm we were back on launch for Rob's 5th flight today and he had another brilliant reverse launch on the Rush 2, then it was George's turn for his first solo. We did a few practice inflations and then we committed and George was in the air! A bit heavy on the brakes but after that he settled into a nice flight with a perfect approach aided by Wouter on the ground. Steve was up next and no practice infations for him, perfect inflation and he got plucked off the ground before the end of the carpet and he was airborne too. He also tested the brake travel a bit much but Elements can take that pressure! He too had a nice approach but forgot the part about flaring so he butt-skidded in on landing but right in the circle first time! Another teachable moment. We ended the day early at the Sasquatch Inn for beer and nachos. Back at the Ranch I decided to light the bonfire as it was getting too big and was rather ugly with all the construction junk, but apparently there is a fire ban in Kent District as the fire truck arrived within 10 minutes! They were out on a road trip testing out the new tanker truck when they spotted the blaze and we had to extinguish the fire. No ticket though! Odd there is a fire ban when it has been raining steady for 3 months?
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Woodside Desperado Report - it took a long time for the rain and clouds to leave Woodside and despite two trips up the mountain between 2 and 4 pm, I judged it too strong for new student Rob. Pemberton weather looked far better all day but we were already at Woodside. | The last attempt at 4 pm looked launchable but perhaps a bit strong on the descent to the Ranch, we always have tomorrow. Woodside Desperado Report #2 -The Desperados are back! Since we haven't turned our cable back on after our trip we decided to go flying...the sun had come out & the neighbour's booing told us how the game was going anyway. I volunteered to drive Derek up since he has to work tomorrow and he was rewarded with a beautiful soaring flight. Mother Woodside delivers again :) Martina Click here to see Derek over Woodside as well as other June activities .
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Woodside Report - we started flying at 10 am and had three good flights with several tandems. We kept worrying about the wind forecast so we quit at 330 pm, but it never got really windy even around 4 pm. Maybe we could have got Rob's first solos in safely but we don't push the limits here? | Click here to see my latest grandkid, born while I was training today as well as other June activities .
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Woodside-Sumas WA-Hope-Chilliwack Report - I headed to Chilliwack to drop off gear shipments to Greyhound and avoided rain, Sumas WA was windy and dry when I went down there to pick up some more gear, but on the way thru Hope heading to the Coquihalla I turned back due to heavy rains causing ``hydro-planing``. | Back at the Ranch it got sunny again and very windy as Michael was trying to work on his HG at the Parking Lot and he had to take it down. It was dry enough by 6 pm to mow the circles and the pathway out to the LZ for our esteemed clients!. Belated Video from Tapalpa, Jalisco State, Mexico (one of our favourite sites) - by Taco Bob.
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Woodside Report - we had an awesome day flying Woodside today starting at 10 am. | Wouter & I took Scott & Vic up for their first solos early and they got off clean and had nice flights into the Ranch on the new Ozone Element II trainer gliders. We went back up immediately and relaunched the guys and they had a nice thermalling flight on solo #2 after which we did our first tandems and they were nice soaring flights "duking it out" over launch for 30 minutes before landing at the Ranch. Back up again and we got Steve and the boys flight #3 and the wind didn't materialize as forecasted. Yippee! Flight #3 had everyone soaring again, but no winds. I took Megan for the last tandem of the day and we had no problem climbing out high as she weighed about 45 kilos. One last flight for the day for the boys and we were done flying by 5 pm. Pretty good day all around here at Woodside. Chelan Report - Matt J reports getting 66 kms north of Chelan to land just short of Omak WA. No flights up on Leonardo yet from the Canuck Team of Al, Matt, Nicole & Alex R. Click here to see what the World offered up today for those on Leonardo. Lumby Air Races Report - So yesterday basically OD'd on us, so it was a one-task comp, with Andrew and I finishing 1 - 2. We flew all 3 days, with 1 spectacular day - pretty standard Lumby weekend - it's all good! - Robin Lumby Air Races Report - Lumby Report Part 2: In the end we had only one task, but got one or more flights in every day. Apres-flying food and party were excellent. Many thanks to Randy and the other organizers and volunteers! PS: If you don’t want to swim with the big fish (and fly against comp wings, brakes attached or not…), Airwave Sport 4 (ENB) placed 1st and 2nd (preliminary results) in Standard Class (one of them placing 4th in the Open, outflying many higher rated wings ;-) Claudia/Peter Comp results
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Woodside Report - we had Vic & Scott out for a 2 day beginner course and they kited hard all day as it was too strog for their first solo flights. | Scott did go tandem with Wouter and they had a nice early flight. Thomm McE and Gerry L launched early and had brilliant flights soaring for 1.5 hours getting to 1000 meters and freezing. Later we took Victor & Brad for Groupon Birthday tandems and it was very soarable climbing easily to 1000 meters. We launched Stev mid-day for his 25th flight and he climbed high and we pre-planned for a Harvest landing. He had no problems making it to Harvest Market leaving at 1100 meters. Then I took Amanda for her tandem that she purchased 2 years ago (but couldn't complete due to a car accident injury). We elected to head to Harvest Market due to the wind strength. Last flight of the day included Wouter trying out the Delta S, Cynthia on her longest flight ever, Gary P, Steve on his 26th flight and they soared for 1 hour + Click here for more pictures from today's Woodside fun as well as other June activities . Bridal Report - Martin N was flying his new Rush III L for 45 minutes and avoiding rain cells which dumped rain on launch several times. Gary P flew after Martin and got an extended sledder. Lumby Air Races Report - Team Ozone sits 1 and 2 so far! Yesterday was a "practice day" but today was full-on! Only Andrew and I made goal, he on his spanky new Mantra M4, and me with my Mantra M3. (Also, big thanks go out to Claudio for losing a brake line while in the lead, and dirting early ... ;-) Tomorrow should be interesting! - Robin
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Woodside Report - I was at the Ranch til noon and it was flyable, but too many chores to get ready for the weekend. Light winds, no sun and cloudy all day. |
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Woodside Report - four desperados out today: Louise, Shayne, Martin N, and Eric G. | Click here for more pictures from today's Woodside fun as well as other June activities . Eric was picking up his new Rush 3, Lousie cruising thru town to head to Lumby and the others just "jonesing" for a flight. It was inverted and light conditions at launch but everyone flew and had a smooth flight into the Ranch. Frank, a local sailplane pilot, arrived on launch on his motorbike to watch and showed me his videos of thermalling around with Martin H and some PG pilots a few weeks ago over Woodside, Hicks and Bear. He also showed me his LK8000 flight computer software running on a Magllan Roadmate GPS, very slick and free! Rob's Mexican Weather Report - We went on a bit of a road trip today up to El Paso and then back. At one point there were 6 dust devils on 1/8th of the horizon. Lots of flying potential here if you land before 1 pm since it gets windy in the afternoons. All that is required is to pioneer some launches - Rob S (doing missionary work in Mexico for his church with no glider).
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Woodside Report - Colleen took Rene tandem for her WCSC BFAR Replacement tandem today and they had a nice soaring flight for 45 minutes launching before noon. FlyBC sponsored 5 of these WCSC Tandems which sold for $140 of which 100% of the funds went into the WCSC Bank Account to fund site maintenance, and other projects. | Some other independent tandem operators also donated some tandems to the WCSC, thanks for the support! Later Wouter and I took Mike & Sarah tandem and despite cloudy skies, we had an awesome thermal session, getting to the clouds at around 1200 meters. Easy launching and super-smooth air and nice landing conditions all day. Shane was out demo-ing the Buzz Z3 and ended up taking it home after 3 flights. Some reports of high winds around the valley never materialized for us.
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Valley Report - gusty with rain all morning, but it looked better later on the Webcam. No Pireps. | Scroll down to Saturday to see Kevin's Tandemonium Video from the Stag Party Participants, always above a certain ATOS!
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Click on the picture for more pictures from today's Woodside fun as well as other June activities. There are some new pictures uploaded from a previous month taken by a professional photograper, scroll thru to see pictures on a very busy Woodside day. Woodside Report - Steven came out from Holland to fly tandem with us so "Fred" took him for the first flight. They had a nice soaring flight getting high fast as Steven flew the tandem. Pretty windy already by noon so we headed to Bridal to fly Caroline & Rafael. I had left Tom Chromy and Thomm McE on launch when Fred launched the first tandem and drove down. Later Thomm couldn't launch as it got too strong forcing Tom Chromy to fly out to the Ranch to retrieve him, and apparently it was pretty windy on the way out. Michael offered to drive taking pressure off us trying to topland to retrieve at Bridal as we were re-rigging his reserve and he couldn't fly anyway til that was done. Much appreciated! When we arrived Martin N had launched and was complaining about the high winds and "chunkiness of the air" but we persevered and drove up. "Fred" launched first with Rafael and they climbed fast, and Caroline clipped in with me to hopefully show her a normal launch after last Sunday's "drag-fest" when we got dragged off Woodside in a gust. This time was perfect with no drama! and we were climbing too to the West. Pretty strong especially with a 55 kg passenger on a 41 meter tandem, but we could move towards Upper Bridal. After 20 minutes, I was sensing it was going to get windier so I suggested we fly out for a safe landing as we weren't getting anywhere XC. A few spirals and we were soon settting up over the newly expanded LZ. Perfect landing and no problem killing the wing either. "Fred" and Rafael landed nicely too just getting one wild gust on final. A visiting German pilot was following afterwards and had a collapse which he over-controlled and he was soon cascading into a mini-SIV course over the golf course and the wing just started to fly as he crashlanded on his back. No injuries, but he was extremely lucky! A few other solo pilots came in and got pushed back a bit but had safe landings.
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Woodside Report - another busy day for us at the Ranch. 7 tandems. 4 students logging 4 flights each. Two Sams came out so there was some radio confusion. Sam D in the wheelchair had two flights getting above launch both times. Lots of shuttles up the hill with thanks to Bev and Cynthia for driving for us a few times! | Good thermals but not getting very high as the wind and stability kept the thermals capped. We never stopped flying til 6:30 pm, when dinner at the Sandpiper Golf Course called. Pemberton Report - Got up to Pemby on Sat with Greg, and Sun Nic came up. Sat was a bit stable feeling with some bullets but it was possible to climb out. Once up it was quite reasonable, only a few high cu far off, I got to 2600 over towards Saxifrage. Dennis was running the Monkey Races and they had a good 60km task with valley crossings and out to Goat Mtn. Sunday Jim, Reto, and Greg choppered up Currie early. Greg Swooped down while Jim and Reto climbed one of the summits before flying off as well. I hiked the new trail up to launch which is very direct, Sadan and I did it in an hour and a quarter. Thanks Nigel and the PVTA for this. It worked again despite feeling and looking stable. I went across the valley and went up Miller Creek a ways, nice flying on the other side of the valley. The Monkey Races had another well called task to Pizzle point down Lilloet lake and back. The west wind just stopped completion for 4 pilots or so while on glide for the LZ. Couple of arboreal paraglider roosting events but both pilots unharmed and back quickly. Good flying, try the Mile One cafe across from the PetroCan - Alex R
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Click on the picture for more pictures from today's Woodside fun as well as other June activitiesWoodside Tandemonium Report - we had Aaron T come out with 14 of his close buds for his Stag Party and 10 of them went tandem with us. Thanks to the FlyBC Tandem Team - Kevin, Brad, Colleen, Jim and Fred (new tandem pilot) we were able to get them all finished in a few hours. The second round of tandems were soaring flights and it was nice seeing all those Magnums out at once! Tandemonium@FlyBC from Kevin Ault on Vimeo. Mid-day got everyone at Woodside in the air at once, but no one got high. Al & Martin H "duked it out" for over 2 hours and never left the fishbowl. We only had one student out today, I guess everyone thought it would be too leeside? But Trevor did well with help from Thomm on launch first time and Colleen got his thermalling for flight #2 and he had a good 1 hr+ soaring flight around 5 pm. But he made himself airsick so he didn`t do a third flight. Others out at 5 pm said they were getting +5 m/s climbs. Reports of a tree landing at Bridal started to come out around 8 pm, but no facts yet.
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Woodside Report - Woodside delivered for many happy pilots. Some of the `hangies` even came back up for a second flight. | Denis was seen touching the clouds at 1400 meters, John M was very happy too. New pilot flying an Icaro Nikita II was throwing down some acro moves, staying up on an 18 meter wing for over an hour. Thomm was ``orgazmic`` after flying his new Ozone Mantra M4 this afternoon. So was Andrew on his Wills Wing Falcon III when he was out-thermalling Jon O! Sam was out but we never got a decent enough cycle to roll him off launch, always too SE or just plain lame. Maybe Sunday. Several pilots flew Bridal and had mixed results. Alan tested a new wing and got an hour, Kevin had 2 hours launching much later. Hard launching conditions in the lee.
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Woodside Report - I was heading to Agassiz this morning when I saw many emergency vehicles at Joe's place at the foot of Woodside. I pulled over to see what was going on and here is what I found.
My 3 tandems arrived on time at 11:30 am, we completed the paperwork and headed up to launch immediately. | It was windy already, and there were hints of the northerly gusts that hit us on Sunday so I was very cautious as we clipped in Ashley. Her friends were holding the wing down but it was pretty strong so we unclipped and waited for 20 minutes to see what was going to happen and it never settled down. We packed the wing and they went to lunch at Kilby Farm for an hour while I did a Miracle Valley tour with Al checking out a new possible launch and access road. When we arrived back at the Ranch, I saw Jon O, Roger and team on launch assessing HG conditions and they came back down saying it was too strong for them. The ladies went home and are re-booking next week. Brett Hazlett's R11 Report - Brett got his new R11 right after the PWC in Korea, but sent some pictures of it's unveiling in Calgary. Brett's R11 Photos here.
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Woodside Report - I was down in the States getting some gliders and didn't get back to the Ranch til 2 pm, but it looked flyable all day at Woodside. Oddly, it was raining almost everywhere else. | |
FlyBC Paragliding Past Site of the Day Reports
April 2011 Site of the Day archives - many long XCs in the Fraser valley by many pilots, and we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights between rain storms and snow storms.
March 2011 Site of the Day archives - got home from 2 glorious months in Mexico & New Zealand to try to fly in the Valley, but due to rain & snow we roadtripped to the Ashcroft area many times to get flights.
February 2011 Site of the Day archives - last days of the Mexico Tour went very well and then I headed to New Zealand to meet Colleen in Auckland and we had a great time flying there for 2 weeks.
January 2011 Site of the Day archives - Mexico Tour went very well with 8 attendees getting great airtime and safe guidance from us at FlyBC.
December 2010 Site of the Day archives - weather was so bad in BC, that Colleen and I had to book 5 days in LA to get a flight.
November 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights at Woodside, and a really cold cold snap that limited flying for a week or more.
October 2010 Site of the Day archives - we had some sweet soaring flights in October at Woodside, and Robin flew to Hope in less than an hour!.
September 2010 Site of the Day archives - the wettest September in history had us running up to Savona and points east to fly, but we "got-er-done".
August 2010 Site of the Day archives - unstable conditions made for some great days at Benny and Woodside. Al & I had a Delta Day with me stealing Colleen's Small Delta and he on a Large one and we went over the back to Seabird on a strong day.
July 2010 Site of the Day archives - fantastic road trip to Revelstoke for 11 days of SIV Training and super weather.
June 2010 Site of the Day archives - wettest June on record so road trips to Savona a few times. Deltas are rolling in now!
May 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in the Valley.
April 2010 Site of the Day archives - worst April in years weatherwise but we managed to do some awesome tandem groups and some nice flights with Justin, Nicole and Norm flying to Mission late in the month.
March 2010 Site of the Day archives - Crappy weather in the US on my return trip from Mexico. But when I arrived back at the Ranch there were some great days soaring Woodside.
February 2010 Site of the Day archives - super flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs. The locals were already flying at Mother Woodside back in BC due to the warm weather!
January 2010 Site of the Day archives - nice flying in Mexico for the FlyBC Mexican Tours. Good XCs.
December 2009 Site of the Day archives - our first time in Mexico for a full December and we flew everyday. 40-50 km XCs from Tapalpa.
November 2009 Site of the Day archives - very few flights as we had record rains and high winds.
October 2009 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly-In in Chelan WA with the Barbie Theme, took first place honours again! More good soaring flights of 2 hours plus on special days.
September 2009 Site of the Day archives - more decent flying weather with a few road trips to escape wind by heading to Savona.
August 2009 Site of the Day archives - best flying conditions in years with little rain. My first hike up Cheam with pals went well.
July 2009 Site of the Day archives - the FlyBC SIV in Revelstoke was a blast, 280 SIV flights and only one wet pilot intentionally that is. Jeremy wished he had landed in the water.
June 2009 Site of the Day archives - dry all month locally so lots of flying, Al has been test flying the new ShotGun launch near Stave Lake having great flights out to Woodside.
May 2009 Site of the Day archives - local flying is getting great with nice XC's! Bridal was working well. The new bathroom was installed in the Barn at Eagle Ranch enriching the FlyBC experience.
April 2009 Site of the Day archives - we escaped the local weather by flying in New Zealand for 3 weeks. We will be heading back soon!
March 2009 Site of the Day archives - we were flying locally in snow, relying on Derek's sleds and chains on the 'Mog to get up Woodside.
February 2009 Site of the Day archives - the Worlds PG Championships in Mexico was hard work for the Canucks, the tasks and speeds were unreal.
January 2009 Site of the Day archives - Manzanillo, Mexico was a BLAST, many new sites flown and we have a new tour Destination for 2010.
December 2008 Site of the Day archives - the annual FlyBC Christmas Party was a cold success with Head over Heels entertaining us all night. And we left early for Manzanillo, Mexico on Dec 28th.
November 2008 Site of the Day archives - some soaring between rain storms, and it was pretty dry in Agassiz.
October 2008 Site of the Day archives - we went ot the Women's Fly In on Chelan for the annual Halloween Costume Fly-In, great conditions there to offset the wet month on the West Coast. Steve Fosset's crash site was found in Nevada after a year of searching.
September 2008 Site of the Day archives - great student conditions at Woodside and Bridal all month, with 10 students getting signed off this month, a record.
August 2008 Site of the Day archives - our second SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke (except for a few water landings and minor injuries). Wet all month at Woodside except the weekends.
July 2008 Site of the Day archives - our first SIV Course of the 2008 season went well at Sale Mountain near Revelstoke.
June 2008 Site of the Day archives - a few good soaring days at Bridal, lots of new students this month.
May 2008 Site of the Day archives - the cost of gas is keeping pilots at home and the weather isn't helping either. One good XC in May for me, leaving Woodside with Norm and Martin H and ending up at Elk at 1600 meters before landing by Hopyard Hill. 3 hours and 85 kms later by the GPS.
April 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years but we flew every day we could.
March 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow and still hiking to launch at Woodside! But some major airtime for the locals committed to coming out to fly.
February 2008 Site of the Day archives - more snow in BC than I can remember in 25 years of living here. We are still hiking to launch at Woodside!
January 2008 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico and logged many hours of airtime, while it snowed heavily in BC.
December 2007 Site of the Day archives - worst weather in years so we went to Mexico on Dec 29th for three weeks.
November 2007 Site of the Day archives - Colleen and I went to California to fly the new Falcon A-16 Advanced Ultralight prototype and it flew very well. Some good soaring days at Woodside, some folks were still trying to fly Bridal but that is a waste of time this late in the season.
October 2007 Site of the Day archives - mid-air at Woodside caused Martin H some paraglider damage, some great soarable days. The Women's Fly In was a success with the Canuck Team taking top spot for the theme of "Celebrities in Rehab".
September 2007 Site of the Day archives - we re-discovered and flew 'Horsefly' Launch for the first time, some mayhem at Woodside due to tree-suck, lots of good soaring in afternoon glassoffs, a great Indian Summer until late in the month when the rains came early. Derek, Martina, Robin and Diane went to Europe. Kirill went to Australia for a paramotor Fly-In.
August 2007 Site of the Day archives - fun two weeks at Mara Lake, followed by steady flying at Woodside and Bridal, making up for the dismal spring and summer.
July 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights at Bridal, some mayhem at Woodside from visiting pilots.
June 2007 Site of the Day archives - more crappy weather on the weekends. Some awesome flights between showers as Norm and Thomm flew to Mission on the last day of the month.
May 2007 Site of the Day archives - flyable every weekday, but the Fraser Valley XC Comp got crappy weather on the weekends, although it was student flyable.
April 2007 Site of the Day archives - good flights are starting. Some complete triangles from Woodside to Bridal and back, some "musical triangles" from others.
March 2007 Site of the Day archives - fifth month of crappy weather on the Coast. We went to Santa Barbara for some flights, and to dry out. Some good days were also recorded locally.
Febuary 2007 Site of the Day archives - fourth month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we stayed in Mexico.
January 2007 Site of the Day archives - third month of crappy weather on the Coast. So we went to Mexico to fly Colima, Tapalpa, and San Marcos, while Brad and gang headed to Tenacingo, Mexico.
December 2006 Site of the Day archives - more ugly weather on the Coast. Severe winds damaged trees and property so not much flying happened. Some good flight reports from local PGers travelling world-wide.
November 2006 Site of the Day archives - the wettest November on record. We flew a few good flights but mostly we were rained out.
October 2006 Site of the Day archives - lots of good days with 3-4 hours airtime. The Women's Fly-In was on again in Chelan with about 18 Canucks, and a good day Saturday with 85 registered pilots.
September 2006 Site of the Day archives - still soarable in the Fraser Valley, little or no rain. Colleen is back flying! Some mayhem in the valley.
August 2006 Site of the Day archives - a great flying month everywhere, we had a super successful SIV clinic at Mara Lake with everyone SAT-ing and heli-ing.
July 2006 Site of the Day archives - road trip to Lumby, then on the 8th Colleen spun in below Gloria cancelling her summer plans (but she is recuperating well).
June 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Valley dried out, and we flew most days and every weekend.
May 2006 Site of the Day archives - more rain that ever imagined in the Fraser Valley. Very few soaring flights and even less XC.
April 2006 Site of the Day archives - the Easter Bunny was "run over" on Kilby Road, plus the train wreck on April 1.
March 2006 Site of the Day archives - a new pilot was born, Chloe. We also flew a few days between showers, some long flights up to 4 hours. A few Out & Return Flights to Deroche and Bear.
February 2006 Site of the Day archives - another wet month with some soarable days (2).
January 2006 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South for great Mexican or Chilean flying.
December 2005 Site of the Day archives - some flying on Elk and Woodside, smart pilots headed South.
November 2005 Site of the Day archives - rain, snow and not much flying.
October 2005 Site of the Day archives - Women's Fly In in Chelan yielded two soarable days before the snows hit.
September 2005 Site of the Day archives - dry most of the month. Some great 4 hour flights at Woodside getting to cloudbase most days. Three crash-landings in the same clearcut by pilots scratching too low, but no injuries.
August 2005 Site of the Day archives - road trips to the Interior gave us an opportunity to rag out some gliders at FlyBC SIV 2005 (Part II). Also a great road trip to Savona.
July 2005 Site of the Day archives - good flying all month, no rain but some windy days shut us down. The Willi started in Golden with a few good days, but one tragedy as Charles Warren perished in a crash near Harrogate.
June 2005 Site of the Day archives - too much rain, but good days to fly between showers.
May 2005 Site of the Day archives - our Instructor/Tandem seminar yielded some good flying. Our May 2005 SIV Clinic had a good turnout, with many wet wings/pilots! Many nice flights at Woodside and Bridal, with some long "out & returns" at Bridal.
April 2005 Site of the Day archives - some great soaring at Woodside and Bridal. Sad news from the US Hanggliding Nationals as Chris Muller crashes at goal.
March 2005 Site of the Day archives - we had to head out of town to Savona a few weekends due to wet weather on the Coast. Wetter than normal according to Environment Canada.
February 2005 Site of the Day archives - some good soaring despite early time of year. Flights as long as 3 hours at Woodside, some good flights at Whidbey Island for first timers, too!
January 2005 Site of the Day archives road trips to Mexico, not much flying locally due to strong north winds and rain. Record rain kept Eagle Ranch quite wet for kiting.
December 2004 Site of the Day archives a dry month with some good soaring including a fantastic day on Dec. 11 where we thermalled for 2+ hours!
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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