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FlyBC "Site of the Day" - May/2012 Archive
Woodside
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 26°C
Savona Report - we started by heading to Ashcroft at 10 am for today's fun. | The guys all got a short flight off Coyote Hill to start out landing behind the Ashcroft Manor. The we headed to Savona and Oscar's Launch at noon, as the winds switched to SW. Arriving to find east winds so more Dump Soaring for a few flights, and then heading up to the high launch. Perfect cycles as Terry flew off to sample the air, landing at the bottom LZ. Then off went Nathan for a perfect launch and flight into the clearing below. Next was Sam with another perfect launch and he too landed at the Clearing wht his brother. David launched after waiting for the strengthening cycles to subside and was climbing everywhere test flying Lee's Discovery 3, having to do many circles over the valley to find sink. Last up was Tim and we had to wait a long time for a lull. When it lulled I said just kite it up and test the air and he had a nice solid controllable wing and he stepped off and climbed straight up about 300 meters over launch so I headed him to the Crash Pad and he was the only one to make it today. After we collected everyone we thought a bit of soaring at the Toilet Bowl would be fun but it got quite strong. SO strong that I was kiting the SCirroco 15 and got plucked into the air and had a fairly long soaring flight at 100 meters over the hill trying to find a snag-free place to top-land and I finally gave up and landed at the bottom. It was frickin' howling when I landed, and all the way home too. May is over and no Mayhem except for a few scary close calls in the valley! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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|  21°C
Savona Report - we arrived at Ashcroft to find the local winds quite gusty from the SW (25 kph+). | After collecting all our group we headed to Savona where we hoped it would be calmer. Arriving at the Dump Ridge at noon, we found East winds and nicely soarable conditions and the boys from SK & AB got their gear out and started flying. Sam started off with a 5 minute soar and a side hill landing, then everyone started flying and doing the same thing. Longest flights were 10 minutes before top-landing and most pilots pullled off 9 flights each! It never got strong, just steady winds with light thermals, while Ashcroft was still reporting SW gusts to 42 kph! When the winds started to abate on the Dump Ridge we moved to the Toilet Bowl Ridge and they got one more flight there before it got gusty here from the SW. A great day for the students! Nice sun and mellow conditions to practice ridge soaring and ridge rules. Reports from Woodside indicated that the forecast was all wrong and it was flyable there after 11 am, but these guys are going to be ridge soaring when they get home so this was a better use fo time for them for Day 4 for their training. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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|  17°C
Woodside Report - Woodside was launchable early in the morning starting at 8 am. The new group of students from SK & AB are amazing! | We logged four great flights for each of four students with the last three being soaring flights of up to 40 minutes. Martin N joined us for the last flight and it was pretty windy when he came out to land at the Ranch! We tried the last flight at 7 pm but it was too windy still with the water at Harrison Bridge white-capping. Tomorrow looks wet so we are heading to Ashcroft. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 14°C
Woodside Report - Woodside looked launchable early in the morning but by the time the guys arrived at 8 am it started raining and cloudbase dropped to 600 meters. | We bailed immediately and headed to Merritt via Hwy 5 and arrived on top of Sugarloaf Mountain to a nice stiff +15 kph breeze and Nathan, Sam, David & Tim got 3-4 real slope soaring flights with 60 minutes of hang-time and good landings. It soon got too strong even for the speed-wings so we headed to Princeton via the 97C (less than an hour). We saw little wind at Princeton so headed to Hedley where we grabbed a snack and headed up the Mascot Mine Road to launch. Nathan elected for a tandem for his first high flight so I took him for a little thermalling ride above launch for a few turns before letting him fly us out to the valley and the Church LZ. Estimated winds were 10-15 kph on launch and the landing field. We had a nice approach and landing and packed up as Terry launched the others. David flew out first on the large Element 2 and had a super nice 15 minute flight and super landing, followed by Sam and then Tim all with perfect landings in nice winds. The later flights were longer as it got more thermic and the winds picked up slightly but it was perfect for a first solo flight with many figure-8s and a nice aircraft approach into landing. We headed back to Woodside at 5 pm, hoping for an evening glass-off flight and arrived to launch at 7 pm to find it a bit gusty for new students, but the pros would have been soaring for sure! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 18°C
Woodside Tandemonium Report - Woodside worked all day for tandems and for Matt on the third day of his training with little wind despite forecasts. | Martina, Colleen & I managed to perform 12 safe tandems during the day (4 each) starting at 11 am, and finishing by 5 pm. Colleen managed to soar on each flight give the Grouponers a great ride! Nice launch conditions all day with Matt completing 5 guided flights to bring his total up to 8 solo and 1 tandem flight so far. Meantime our new group of 4 pilots was training on the training hill with Colleen & Terry starting at 9 am, and by the end of the day they were reverse launching like pros! Solo flights tomorrow for sure if the rain holds off. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 26°C
Woodside Report - Woodside was launchable around 11 am, and we got Matt his first solo flights then. | Hardy was out trying to get finished off before Sweden at the end of the month, and got 5 flights. Two mini-XCs to Harvest and 2+ hours of airtime. Colleen, Martina and I were doing tandems while all the hot-dogs went XC towards Bridal. Reports of very high climbs and many Valley crossings with 4 making it back to Harvest Market from Elk. Reports from Bridal saying very strong lift anywhere near the mountain, and rough at 1500 meters. Beginner Pilots meet spring conditions: One pilot heading over to Bridal from Woodside got flushed on the wrong side of the ridge at the Lakes and had a mega-hike in the snow to get down the mountain, he is lucky to have gotten out by dark. When we got back from the Golf Course we saw Martin D's truck still in the parking lot? Last time we saw him he was high on the ridge having his best flight, but apparently he got too far back and landed in some trees near the Harrison River and had to self-rescue himself. We found him on the Dyke Road just after dark. See who has been flying around lately here in Canada. . Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album. Pembie Report - climbs to 3900 meters, XCs to Meager, Goat, Birkenhead, Duffy Lake Rd. Basically everywhere! - Nicole
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| 23°C
Woodside Report - Cache Creek was too far to drive for one day so we stayed at the Ranch. Conditions looked very good for Savona or Ashcroft ridge soaring though.
| It was not flyable until very late, and it would have been a sleddie, so we stayed on the ground building a new Paratoys Quad. Thanks to Derek for mowing the lawns again, as I was busy with other chores.
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| 17°C
Woodside Report - Woodside looked good from 11 am on with huge CU developing . . . but would it overdevelop?
| Derek took a load up at 1 pm, and the group was soon spread out around the east side of Woodside: Martina at Harvest Market, Guy at Seabird Island, Martin N at the Dykes (after trying bravely to make it back to Woodside), and Frederic calling in from Bear, Ludwig, Elk, and finally calling for a ride from Harvest at the end of his triangle. See who has been flying around lately here in Canada. . Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album. Bridal Report - The big booming cu that loomed over the Bridal ridge today almost caused me to deviate from my plan to enjoy a classic after school flight but I needed to fly and even to drive up and soak up the view was better than retreating to the closest decaf double double. I arrived on top to find Ihor, Gary, Pete, and Claudia also vacillating between packing it in and sticking it out. Gary sampled the air briefly finding it a bit bumpy and top-landed but within minutes of my arrival on launch the sky began to clear and launch conditions became perfect. I was in the air shortly after 4 and found a nice mellow thermal to turn in just SW of launch. Within short order Peter and I were each finding our way to the ridge. Initially, I was going to scoot over to Upper Launch for my annual top landing but soon I heard Pete announce that he was heading east so I began the chase following about 1 km behind. On the way we passed Fred who was boogying west after crossing from Woody. We were at Ludwig pretty quick, probably within 45 minutes, with generally smooth strong climbs and very little gnarliness, averaging about 1400-1500 meters, the wind switchable; mostly ne up high and more west at lower elevations. Pete left Ludwig before me, flying fast and wasting no time getting to the usual sweet spots at the Lakes and blasting on towards Lower Bridal. I hung back a bit a caught a great climb just east of Archibald that took me to 1700 m and from there I stayed almost at ridge height to Glora while Pete went with the Sammy approach and scunged lower meeting me for to pre Elk top up at Gloria. We booted over to Elk in the increasing west wind but arrived to find nice climbs to 1500 m on the north side of the mountain. And then it was a quick drive back to lower Bridal passing through late day lift and freshly forming cloud to see if top landing was possible as both of us had wheels on the launch ad no drivers. Initial reports from Claudia were that it might be lifty and windy so it was fingers crossed as I descended from 1200 meters after flying back from Elk. Turned out to be perfect and I touched down at 7 ish with a full camera and a bursting bladder. I'm glad I didn't bail. That double double was still waiting for me after the drive down - Kevin A
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| 14°C
Canim Lake Motoring Report - we were up in Canim Lake for paramotoring training up local guy Robert, and the winds allowed us to do 3-4 good launches and landings. His experience in powered parachutes made it an easy transition with the Paratoys LowBoy Quad.
| We scoped out some new motoring fields too for future visits. We kept finding ticks from our hike in the woods yesterday. Wear a hat in the forest around here. We are planning another tour to take the Chief and a few other band members tandem and possibly to do a solo course if the coastal weather looks bad some weekend.
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| 12°C
Canim Lake Report - Canim Lake was too windy for paramotoring so I obtained permission from the Chief to fly off the meadows behind the Band Offices.
| We had to hike in 15 minutes to a nice ridge, got there to soarable winds and by the time I got laid out it blew down. When I got a cycle I stepped off into the air and had a sleddie. The Band says pilots used to fly here 20 years ago and were often seen disappearing into the clouds.
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|  15°C
Woodside Report - heavy rains all day so I headed up to Canim Lake after noon.
| Fly safe! Check your pins, and lines carefully! And check your buddy's stuff too! A message from a long time flier: "I wonder if people are getting the message about being a little safer. In my last 3 days of flying I have seen 3 incidents. One crash into a very tall tree at Blanchard WA, likely from scratching too low in a turbulent area, one reserve deployment at BJ (also in WA), likely from thermalling in strong leeside rotory conditions, and yesterday another reserve toss at Pemberton, also likely from trying to thermal in sketchy lee side conditions. Luckily no one was hurt in any of the above." - a concerned un-named observer.
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| 18°C
Nicola Report - we headed up to Spences Bridge after tandems and had a nice Birthday Party for Colleen at her sister's house on the Nicola River. Then some of the partiers went rafting on the river. | Apparently the rain held off long enough for a few desperadoes to fly sleddies at Woodside around 1 pm. There has been a professional photographer hanging out at Woodside lately snapping pictures, and he sent me a disc with many of you launching and flying. If you want some copies of his work his phone number is on the gallery link below. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 19°C
Woodside Report - we had an awesome day with 6 great tandem passengers and excellent conditions.
| Tought day on trucks as 2 broken shocks happened on the Suburban, and one shock mount on the Suzuki. All in one day, maybe we should pave the road up Woodside? My last tandem with Matt was in strong lift, duking it out with Denis (and Hailey) on their tandem. We didn't get much higher than 1200 meters, but apparently others didn't either at that time. Some awesome XC flights yesterday from Woodside. See who has been flying around lately here in Canada. .
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| 13°C
Canim Lake Report - we were flying paramotors at Canim Lake BC today as I delivered a Paratoys Quad to Robert.
| He did not feel comfortable test flying it as it was brand new and the MZ34 motor had not even been sparked up yet, so I had the honours of flying out of his friend's backyard a few times. The MZ34 ran flawlessly, good thing as the field was tight and the winds a bit swirly over the trees and I did a few circuits to break the motor in. We decided it was too windy for Robert's first solos, so after some kiting we packed up and headed home.
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| 18°C
Woodside Report - we were flying Woodside today again at 7:30 am. Hardy & Carl bagged 4 flights by noon and by then it was way too windy for anything but high wind ground handling on a speed wing.
| Nice CUs were forming but the winds made it hard to track the thermals due to the tilt. When the guys went to lunch, I was driving to Chilliwack when I came upon a traffic accident at Ashton Road & Hwy 7 that had just occured between a pickup and a Ford Focus. I extricated the driver of the pickup and got him to safety, and then I removed the passenger from the car because the truck look like it was going to burst into flames. Unfortunately the elderly driver of the car was already in cardiac arrest and 2 other first aiders worked on him until the ambulance arrived and he didn't make it. Life is short, give someone a hug today! Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 21°C
Woodside Report - we were flying Woodside today at7:30 am. I only had Carl here today and he was able to complete some great flights and new skills including his first reverse launches, and had logged 4 flights by noon!
| He then went kiting with Terry at the Agassiz Rec Centre til 5 pm. We regrouped and headed up the mountain at 7:30 pm after Andrew & Morgan had flown their HGs and had great flights, but it was definitely too strong for Shane or Carl.  Woodside Report - If you could pass along my thanks to Shane for his patience and kindness today I would appreciate it. He looked ready to fly before we were done setting up, but for what ever reason he did not. I think both Morgan and I owe him a lift up to launch next time he needs one, or a retrieve. We gave Shane a short intro to wire assist training (sorry, no certificate for this one) on my wing before I launched. We did this because wind speed was a bit on the edge of Morgan's comfort zone and he wanted to launch with an assist but wanted to wait to see if it calmed down a bit. I wanted to launch earlier, so Shane proved to be a great help in this regard. Morgan got off about 20 minutes after I did. It was his first flight off the season, understandable, his caution. I then thought I would be sharing my airspace with Shane, but he never launched. It was perfect conditions. Smooth light lift. Winds might have been about 20kph +/- , surely not too strong for a PG?? I had my Freedom with me. It "stays up" better than the Falcon. It was a bit of an effort to get from 2000 to 2300 feet with some up and some down, but over 2300 feet it was slow but steady up all the way to 3200+, when I decided I had enough and headed away from the mountain. My vario kept beeping up. It was hard to get down. Flying anywhere over the mountain at 3000+ feet the vario kept up a slow but steady up beep. I decided to fly over the river, mostly maintaining (better than going up I thought, it was getting late and I had enough, but finally found down over your property. Still it took a while to get down. Once, at 2000 ft, I swung back to the mountain , just to see, and flew over the clearcut south of the Duncan field. The vario started beeping again. Curiosity satisfied I left the mountain again and continued my effort to land. Thanks to the stubborn conditions, I think I managed to break the 1 hour barrier, something I have had no real intention or desire of doing. The smooth conditions made it pleasant and tolerable as I didn't get tired trying to thermal. The air got real ratty at about 700-800 feet down to about 200 feet over the Duncans fields, I do not know why. Wind at the LZ seemed to be light to about 10 KPH when I landed (maybe 6:30 pm). It might have touched 15-20 kph for as spell when I was in the Best field taking down my secondary windsock about 7:30 pm. Frickin cows in the Duncan field got cow gob and a grass/manure stained hoof mark on my wing. No damage done. Thanks for the advice and that Sumas wind-talker link, I do not like flying so "alone" with no one around with better experience and the surrounding air so empty. Great confidence booster knowing what conditions are with the wind talker, even if a bit removed from Woodside - Andrew Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 25°C
Woodside Report - we were flying Woodside today, just after 10 am and it was already getting windy as Carl logged his third high flight with Terry in the LZ guiding him in.
| Nice launch conditions but it was getting choppy early. Martin N came up and was the wind technician for the second flight around 11am and he wasn't in the air more than 3 minutes when he mentioned he was heading to Harvest Market. Definitely not student conditions for Carl! We drove down to find Martin but Derek found him first. Off to the Sasquatch for lunch and a debrief and a recheck of the winds confirmed the rest of the day to be a kiting day in the Eagle Ranch LZ for Carl. We are going to start very early tomorrow morning to beat the winds hopefully. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 28°C
Woodside Report - Mike & Stefan decided to camp on launch last night and fly down in the morning.
| I awoke at 6 am to update the SiteoftheDay Page and saw Agassiz was blowing from the NE at up to 42 kph! Not likely we will fly until noon with the outflow. Apparently it was good at launch though as the guys waited and watched the cycles and they were airborne by 6 am and rewarded with a sled-ride to the Ranch. I started training with new student Carl from Invermere, first 1 hour ground school in the Classroom, and then to the training hill where he was a natural from the start. It does help somewhat to start with a brand-new Ozone Element 2, but one still needs to feel the wing and Carl was doing very well as we spent two hours there while Terry went up and launched the students and retrieved Mike's van. It was now 11:30 am and my noon tandem arrived and we did the briefings and headed up the hill. After launching Mike & Stefan, I took Stephanie tandem and we climbed to 1000 meters quickly as her hubby drove down. We spent 25 minutes thermalling above Woodside and it was smooth and scenic. We landed softly in the circle and packed up to head up the hill again for the students. By now Carl was ready for his mandatory Woodside tandem and it was too hot to kite anymore. Derek drove for us, thanks again. I launched Mike & Stefan again and they thermalled a bit getting above launch and were headed out to the Ranch when we launched tandem. Really nice cycles today as we floated off and started climbing thru 980 meters with ease. +2 m/s lift all over the face of Woodside. After I got us high I gave the controls to Carl and he was very smooth getting us to the Maple Tree and a great approach into the LZ. Nice standup landing just shy of the circle. It was now his turn to solo, so back up the mountain and it was time for Stefan & Mike to be the wind techs for Carl. They launched and thermalled around as I launched Carl. It was a bit dicy as he tried to stop with a good wing and he floated off with full brakes, thanks Ozone for making the Element 2! He had a great approach with enough height for 3 figure 8's and a perfect aircraft approach and stand-up landing near the circle. Sam D arrived from Whistler so we headed up in his truck rather than moving his wheelchair and stuff into my truck and I launched him into some nice cycles and gave the guys a show, He was thermalling around too and the guys joined him. Carl had a perfect launch this time, but it was a bit windier and Carl had time for just the aircraft approach on solo #2. Very productive day! Mike is now signed off, Stefan only needs a few more exercises, Carl now has 3 flights after only one day and Terry is nearly finished his Apprentice Hours to qualify as an Instructor. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album. Bridal Report - we decided on not going to Bridal as we heard Alan was struggling to get high, but it turned out he broke thru 1700 meters later and had 3 hours of soaring. Benny Report - Alex & Al flew St Benedict today after some stuck truck action. They got to 1500 meters, not high for that Valley and went over the back to Norrish Creek where Nicole found them. Lots of snow up there still. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 27°C
Woodside Report - we started launching at Woodside around 10 am. Thomm noticed an abnormality today as Colleen was launching students, and Jim was working in the garden? Freaky friday but it was really Sunday?
| We managed 4-5 flights per student and the last flights were nice smooth soaring flights getting just above launch. Martina & I did a tandem around 1 pm, and we were getting high above launch in a nice thermal together. My last tandem with Eddie was also very nice climbing above launch and bussing over Julian's head as he took pictures of his brother flying tandem. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album. Click here for pictures from a NS client soaring in Eastern Canada.
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| 26°C
Woodside Report - we were flying Woodside today, but it had to wait til noon due to outflow winds. The students were not disappointed! We managed 4 solo flights with Randy, Stefan, Hardy & Julian.
| Two of the 4 flights were soaring flights and Hardy got about 2.5 hours soaring today as did Randy. The others probably logged 1.5 hours. I did two tandems during the day and we were 50/50 for stand-up landings, as Kate landed on her feet. Mark Tulloch's repack clinic netted 21 repacks and all proceeds are going to the Lenami Godinez Memorial Scholarship Fund. Thanks to Martin, Martina, Rob S, Doug, and others who helped repack. Martin & Mark got to go flying at 5 pm, and they and the students were rewarded with an hour long Woodside Glass-off to 1200 meters with everyone boating over launch. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album. Bridal Report - after some had short flights at Woodside, they bailed for Bridal and we heard reports of folks over 1800 meters there. Some also just got some soaring above launch but it was flyable there too. Pembie Report - Sat Pembie pi rep. Climbs to 2700m. Kevin and I did triangles to Duffy Lake Rd, Joffrey, Lilloet Lake, Currie. Maybe 60-70 km? Peter, Andrew, and Fred did Spindrift and return 90km. Back in Vancouver now. Will upload tracklogs from past two days tomorrow. - Nicole & Alex See who has been flying around lately here in Canada. .
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| 20°C
Woodside Report - we were flying Woodside today as early as 9:30 am, despite outflow valley winds.
| I had 4 very enthusiastic students this morning but by 5 pm, I had worn them out with 4-5 flight each and some thermalling too! Newest student SteveZ from SK, got his first 2 solo flights after 2 days of ground school and even got to thermal on flight #2 on the Element 2 L. Quite a natural pilot. The XC Posse was out minus Alex & Nicole who chose Pembie this weekend. Al led the way to Mt St. Benny and back, some tried to cross to Bridal but Bear was not working. Ask Tonya for details. Alan D brought Rob S back to the Ranch from Herrling Island, and then Rob did the retrieve run for others. Tom C and Andrew were doing practice tandems later and Andrew got to try out his new Magnum II. For those looking for a new pod harness - see the picture link below for the new SupAir Skypper hanging in the simulator. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album. Pembie Report - Alex, Nicole and Kevin A went to Pemberton and were rewarded with nice flights to 2700 meters. They made it to near Meager Creek and back for a 90 km O&R flight. Others went east to Lillooett Lake. Kevin's first flight here since 1997.
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| 15°C
Woodside Report - we went up at 8:30 am to fly Woodside today, and Terry was our Wind Technician and he had a long flight with lots of inflow wind to fight to the LZ with and interesting landing. We did not send the students after that flight! | We gathered everyone up and headed to Bridal and the winds there looked much calmer and we did the landing briefing for all. As we were doing the briefing, we noticed a growing cell to the west was closing in on us, and the winds picked up very fast. Cloudbase dropped to launch level and we were heading back to Woodside as it started to spit. Back at the Ranch, Martin N was waiting and we arrived to see the winds in the field had diminished but launch still looked pretty wild with the windsocks on top doing the Salmon Dance. We waited til 3:30 pm, when Brad too Martin N tandem as part of his recert course, followed by John M and Mike B (now up to 17 flights). They had an awesome flight with thermals and ridge lift and Mike had to fly out cause he was cold after an hour. His new vario was reading peak climbs of 800 ft/min, but smooth lift everywhere with nice landings. We went back up after Dennon flew out with Terry guiding him in for landing. Brad took new student Julian for another great flight staying aloft for 45 minutes. Mike got one more flight around 7:00 pm. A semi-successful day with lots of weather delays but we got 2 flights in, and they were good flights too. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 14°C
Woodside Report - it wasn't good for kiting at Mission's Heritage Park cause it was too cross, so we stayed at the Ranch to kite all day. It was always too strong to even consider driving up to launch.
| More tractors repairs as Terry worked with the students in the LZ, yesterday the steering broke and Terry welded it up. Today I finally finished fixing the brush mower for the inevitable blackberry mowing we have to do each spring and fall. Good chore day with +30 kph winds ripping through the trees. We were kiting the SCirroco and the Prima 22 today to keep the students safe. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 19°C
Woodside Report - we were up on launch at 9:30 am, and after Terry flew down to check the air we decided it was way too windy for Dennon's second solo flight.
| When the tandems showed up at 11 am, we went up to launch but our "knees were knockin" cause it was way too strong by then. The students had a fun kiting session at the Ranch for several hours in the afternoon. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 22°C
Woodside Report - we were out kiting on the training hill with students as conditions on launch deteriorated to tailwind. | We spent some time in the classroom creating a pilot checklist and have the first drafts finished and available as laminated cards that can be attached to your harness. The back side of the card has an emergency response checklist too. These cards are free courtesy of FlyBC. Joe was over from the Sunshine Coast gloating about his 1.5 hour Elphinstone flight with Ian and Fred this past weekend. Joe was the first off Woodside today and as usual floated like a butterfly despite the light lift. I took Ariel (a commercial pilot) for a nice thermalling flight "duking it out" with Andrew & Frederic on their practice tandem flight. We landed nicely in the circle dodging Guy as we came in on final. We went back up around 6 pm with Randy & Dennon; who have had the required ground school, tandem flights and orientations to prepare them for a Woodside flight and we finally were rewarded with some up cycles. They both got in the air nicely and had really buoyant flights landing nicely in the Ranch LZ under guidance from Frederic & Terry. A good day was had by all. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 18°C
Woodside Report - we flew many tandem flights for our Instructor/Tandem Candidates today. Some of the tandem flights were over 2 hours long!
| Woodside is getting back to normal with a super crowded launch mid-day. Lots of gliders in the air of all kinds including a sailplane from Hope thermalling around 1400 meters with Alex R. Colleen flew new student Dennon down around 1 pm, preparing him for solo flights. Many students kiting in the LZ including tandems. Then Martina & I took a nice couple tandem flying around 3 pm, when it was too thermic for Stefan. Stefan ultimately got 3 high flights including a self-guided spot landing on his last flight with Andrew & Frederic as witnesses after their tandem flight. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 13°C
Cinco de Mayo report - we are in the middle of our Annual Instructor/Tandem Certification Course at Eagle Ranch. Anyone can join as we do our safety checklist work later this afternoon.
| We had an awesome day with Ground School Sessions in the Barn (in the rain) til noon, when many went to join the Lenami Memorial held at the 1 km road. While the others were at the Memorial, Bill & Terry spent and hour getting new student Stefan trained up in kiting in the big circle in the field. When the others came back they were tandem kiting the big gliders in south winds (a bit gusty but good practice). Around 3 pm the winds were judged to be flyable and 2 trucks loaded up and we headed up to Launch. Peter was the wind technician and started soaring, so Andrew and a few others went solo to test the air out for the tandems. I had Susan come out for a tandem and I took off with her in a lull and we were soaring for 15 minutes before I headed out, not going very fast. We started out with 25 kph groundspeed up high and as we got lower we went to 14 kph, and then 9 kph at the Duncan's and ultimately parked all the way into the Ranch. As I went on to final at 15 meters, the bottom dropped out near Scary Corner and we were on the ground in a second followed by a stylish PLF. She loved the flight! I suggested the others might like Harvest Market better, and they all flew off that way quite high. Brad came in with Stefan and had a good landing about 15 minutes after us. We retrieved the Harvest group, and went back up 2 more times and the Instructor/Tandem Candidates all took a tandem flight twice. And finally Stefan got his first solo flight at 8 am, and he got to ridge soar for 15 minutes before heading out to a perfect landing guided by Colleen. We thought we were going to have to drive back up to retrieve Andrew's car, but Claudia got in a top-landing just before dark! The debrief was late past 9 pm, but a great 12 hour day of lessons for all. We also tried out the New Zealand clip-in "remove before flight" device and it works with ease. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 11°C
Instructor Course Report - the Annual Instructor/Tandem Certification Course at Eagle Ranch is going well and we finished great safety checklist work later this afternoon.
| The rain stopped around 2 pm and we were able to do tandem kiting with three teams of new recruits at the Eagle Ranch LZ in spicy winds. Scott Watwood showed us the New Zealand required "remove before flight" device that is used for PG & HG tandems, and could be used for solo checks too. It is featured on the FlyBC May Album link below. We then headed up the mountain and managed to get Jim O off and Frederic & Bill on tandem between showers, but the air looked too chunky for most so we headed back to do more seminar work. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album.
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| 10°C
Woodside Report - we are running our Annual Instructor/Tandem Certification Course at Eagle Ranch and it actually looked good enough to do some practice tandems at noon so we loaded up but by the time we got to the launch road it started spitting.
| Back to the classroom for Ground School Presentations from the new Instructor Candidates for the balance of the day and we worked until 7:00 pm. A great group of pilots had many great new safety ideas.
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| 12°C
Woodside Report - while some folks are getting cold feet to go for tandems already, Lynda showed up on schedule and was itching to go flying today.
| We headed up the mountain around 1 pm; with a few wind techs including Denis, Ihor, Martin, Martina, Kevin and Jack. We had Denis launch first into kinda lame cycles but he climbed out quickly. Lynda and I launched right after Denis following very long safety check. We too climbed out and it was smooth despite some pretty good climbs. We were going to drop a lilac branch over the Lenami Memorial Site, but it dropped off as Lynda ran off launch. We got above launch but the minute we headed north to the memorial we started to sink out. Nice 20 minute flight with a smooth landing in south winds at the Ranch. She now wants to come back with all her friends. Click here for more pictures from the FlyBC May Album. After flying Ihor, Martin N and I broke a new trail into the memorial site and later Thomm & Cynthia worked on planting the cherry tree Thomm brought out. At the Sasquatch later, we started getting texts of a crash at Prevost on the Island involving SAR and a PGer with broken ankles. Also a search on at Herrling Island, WTF!
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| 12°C
Woodside Report - it was raining hard so a good day to prep the Barn for the Instructor/Tandem Course.
| I spent a long time today being interviewed by CBC TV regarding our Instructional Standards and it was featured on the 11 pm news, but just a snippet of what I said. Article here. Developments just keep looking worse for the pilot-in-command. |
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