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FlyBC "Site of the Day" - May 2017 Archive Page
Woodside is looking better today according to the RASPs
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Rate °C/1000' Cloud Base in Meters |
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| 5-31-17 |
 Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. High around 20C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres New student Chris was in Ground School til 11 am, then on the training hill for 3 hours getting his forward launches tuned up. We had very light winds in the Eagle Ranch LZ today but enough for forward training. An un-named pilot flying a Red/Yellow Delta 3 was seen shopping for houses in Harrison Highlands, where he discovered the new student LZ! Chris got to come up and see some others fly off for a few flights before getting his first solo flight in around 6 pm. Bev offered to drive so I even got to fly the last flight of the day on our used Ozone Swift 4 L. Some light bubbles in front of launch to soar in, but no ridge lift as was forecast. 5-30-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy with afternoon showers or thunderstorms. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High around 20C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 40%. 2100 metres There was heavy rain in Chilliwack & Abby too, good for the crops. 5-29-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 31C. Winds light and variable. 2100 metres Here is last weekends shot of the day. Colleen taking a tandem passenger in to land. Thanks Mark aka FlyingOrange!  5-28-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 31C. Winds light and variable. 2100 metres We were rather busy with 7-8 students of various levels of skill. In the end of the day were were down to 4 students and as it was windy we sent them over the Harvest Market for giggles and their first XC. Bridal was good flying to 2000 meters according to Derek. Unfortunately one pilot never came home and Search & Rescue was called in around 4 am. Pilot was found around noon on the 29th after wandering around in the woods all night, folks should have SPOT or InReach Trackers. It was not this Pilot! The : Source II from Brett Hazlett on Vimeo. 5-27-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 29C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres We got 4 flights in for 7 students and many tandems too. Here is Colleen landng her Ozone SwiftMax tandem, copyright FlyingOrange.  The thermals were good mid-day as Dominik, Steve and Eugne all thermalled up high. We quit at 4 pm, as everyone looked pretty tired from the +29c heat. I am sure we could have flown til dark. Bridal was working as Derek & Nicloe summitted Cheam at 2003 metres. Highlight of the day was rounding up cows off Mill Road for our neighbour Bobby.  5-26-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 26C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres Micheal was finishing up his P-2 flights and got to 26 flights and made it to the Ranch despite the strong valley winds on his last flight. Bridal was working well til 8 pm according to Lee S. We went to Alex's XC Talk last night all the say into Surrey, and he had some great tips. Thanks for sharing your "secrets"! 5-25-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 23C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres It was a bit busy with many students getting close to their P-2 sign-offs and Endre & Micheal were doing great with awesome launches in light and stronger winds, and had hours of thermalling practice too. Many other visiting pilots were flying too from as far away as Iran! It was also a big day for Vlad & Ivan from Seattle as they got their first three high flights today after a gruelling 9 hours session on Heritage Park Hill last weekend. It got quite windy mid-day as forecast on the CanadaRASP but we only had one pilot end up in the HG LZ afte hitting a big sink patch (he was a P-2 not a student). Pilots at Bridal were handed some nice climbs to 1800 metres very near the big development over there, some chose not to fly as they thought it might OD but by 6 pm it was all gone. 5-24-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 17C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres 5-23-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plenty of sunshine. High 24C. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 km/h. 1100 metres There were some pretty big hay bales to navigate around as we got 60 1000 lb bales from the first cutting yesterday.  We also managed to get 2 flights in for Endre on his new Ozone Ultralight 4 and the last flight was smooth with a stronger wind layer at the bottom of the valley, and everyone else flying got in before it really blew hard at noon. The tree that had split and was blocking the Spotting Scope Webcam view of launch fell down during this afternoon's windstorm. 5-22-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 29C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres James logged 4 flight on the Blackhawk AirMax 125 before 11 am, but we wewre having air bubbles in the fuel system making it run too lean, so back to the shop. Meanwhile, it was perfect for Eugene and Marwan to do some solo paragliding flights while Colleen was working hard in 29C heat on the training hill. What a great coach she is and what a waste of her weekends, she would rather be gardening. Eugene & Marwan got 3 flights each but no thermals to be had for them, but Derek & Norm were "dukin' it out" for at least 90 minute in light lift. Bev even got to fly a few rounds dodging windrows as we are haying this weekend. The baling was completed after we fixed the AirMax 125 by replacing all the fuel lines and ditching the primer bulb and filter. Thanks to Brian H for the tip, apparently they have all had to do the same thing on their motors. James did three more flights and he is much happier with the throttle response now. 8 more flights to finish tomorrow morning, and he can go home with the required flights to achieve his Ultralight Rating. 5-21-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunny. High 21C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres  Colleen worked with Monte & Dominik on the training hill til 11 am too, and then we headed up to fly Woodside. It was quite busy on launch and the launch queue was very slow as Instructors had their students lay out wings in a line leaving no where for others to sort out their gear. Sort out your gear in the back and then move forward into the launch spot to launch. I was launching my students from the back to avoid the long wait, and they all did fine. Stefan, Dominik, Monte, AJ all flew several flights and it was quite stable for the first flight guys so they had easy approaches and landings. We did three runs today and then got back to paramotoring in the evening but it was still gusty and sinky due to thermal activity even at 7 pm, so we quit after 2 flights. 5-20-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy. High 21C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres We got James his first paramotor flight in today on the AirMax 125 and EONA L. He did very well on his first launch and landing and he got about 25 minutes of nice cruising before he landed for a break and then it got too thermic to try again. The West Coast Soaring Club had their May Fly-In today and the launch was very crowded but we managed to get two student rounds in before it got too strong for anyone to launch until after 730 pm. At one point there were about 30 gliders soaring Woodside with climbs to 1500 metres. Billy was test flying the Ozone Ultralite 4 and he won "New Pilot of the Month" award for an excellent thermal flight at noon! He took it home with him along with an OZO 26 harness.  Miles for May Alberta Report - Peter, Nicole & Alex are representing BC at the Miles for May Event near Rosalind AB just NE of Edmonton in nice open uncontrolled airspace. They are using a tow winch to get aloft and then looking for the best line for a open distance day. Alex and Peter headed south on nearly identical lines and here are their tracklogs for XCanada. Alex managed 340 kms for a new Canadian Open Distance Record. He was flying the new Gin Explorer EN-B glider which is remarkable.  Peter got over 300 kms that would have also been a record if Alex had not been in the air!  5-19-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy. High 21C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres Dennie was at the Ranch managing the students today, so I could celebrate Colleen's Birthday in Town, and we had a good day with getting her a new bike and jewelery. Dennie reported that James, AJ & Endre all got 4 flights and some great thermalling practice too. 5-18-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny this afternoon. High 19C. Winds light and variable. 1000 metres We had a smaller group of foor P-2 candidates today and they all did very well with Dean showing us how to thermal his paramotor wing, with about 2 hours of soaring today! Endre also had some amazing flights getting his new Ozone Ultralite 4 up to 1200 metres for two hours of airtime over 4 flights today.  I took Matthew tandem at 2 pm and we had some +5 m/s climbs to 1200 metres too, and the Ozone SwiftMax tandem proved to handle the turbulence very nicely! Matthew was a tall slim looking guy but he was in fact 215 lbs and it did not affect our climbrate at all in the strong lift. Good thing I had the students take a lunch break for this flight as it was quite strong. The last flight at 6 pm was still buoyant with some turbulence in the LZ for the students to deal with and they all landed softly and safely. Dust of the Universe Ozone Delta 3 Test Report - Ozone has finally released their Delta 3 certifying it as a C glider without collapse line. The glider stays as the older version with 6 aspect ratio, with all unsheathed lines . Launching the ML at 100 all up, showed a very easy inflation without any hang back or surge. I’ll try to show in the following test the difference between the Delta 2 ML and the new Delta 3 ML with some reference C gliders. In June I’ll receive the MS and will hopefully comment on it. In the air, the Delta 3 ML feels more comfortable to fly than the D2 ML . The structure feels very taught and compact overhead. The handling and the way to turn the glider is also improved on the Delta 3 ML but there a little bit of less feedback through the risers. The brake travel could be described as a bit medium to hard in pressure and moderate to short in reaction. The pilot has a nice authority on the brakes with fair precision and good agility. The pressure is slightly heavier and slightly less linear if i want to compare it to the Rush 4 for example. The Delta 3 ML was tested for four consecutive days, in turbulent choppy conditions and sometimes ‘spaghetti’ style conditions. I flew also next to the Delta 3 ML with a Cayenne 5 XS (80-95) and a Trango X-Race MS (80-100) in order to place and see the Delta 3 potential in terms of comfort, efficiency, and overall performance. In turbulent conditions, the Delta 3 ML showed me a high degree of comfort in turbulent air. I think this glider is built to give maximum comfort for the C category pilots. I can place it easily near the Sigma 8,9 and the Elan 1 in terms of comfort feel. In strong thermals the Delta 3 needs control as a moderate C glider. The sharp surges and movements that were in the Delta 2 are now gone, and replaced with a ‘smooth’ glider that pulls into thermals in a soft way even in strong ones. Usually some reference C gliders has some pitch movements before entering rough thermals. The profile used on the Delta 3 is one of the most efficient one for its ability to ‘slide’ into the airmass quite efficiently. And that’s the strongest point on the Delta 3. Climb rate in very weak ‘smooth’ thermals was the Delta 1 strong point. i still remember the leading edge biting through those tiny lifts especially on the MS size. The Delta 3 leading edge is tamer on those super weak thermals (+0.2 m/s) With little information through to feel that surge. I can say that an LM6 or a Delta 2 similarly loaded could be slightly floatier in those tiny thermals. The Delta 3 will hover a bit in the same position waiting for that (+0.4 m/s) to hook in and climb rapidly. Now, in difficult and turbulent conditions climbs on the Delta 3 are clearly seen as the D3 goes upward on every bubble ! The ability to cut through rough air and climb efficiently is as i described above clearly showed on the Delta 3. The leading edge doesn’t pitch back at all, and it doesn’t have a neutral pitch either. It has a very slight smooth pull into thermals, even in rough ones with an excellent comfort underneath and a very efficient climb. Glide in calm air and in moving air : Doing some glides ‘in calm air’ with the Delta 3 ML loaded at 105 next to a Mentor 5 S, Cayenne XS, Trango X-race gave me the following result. The Delta 3 ML has a very slight edge or the same glide angle at trim as the Cayenne 5 XS. (I don’t have a Cayenne M available). The Cayenne 5 XS loaded at 94 at 800 ASL, is now at full speed. Next to it the Delta 3 ML at 105 has a better glide angle probably (±0.3 ) in L/D at the same speed. The Delta 3 ML has more 4 cm pull to reach its top speed which showed me afterward a 16 km/h over trim. The pressure is similar to the Delta 2 and the top speed is fully usable. In turbulent air its easy to control the glider by the C risers. It’s not a Zeno in that matter, and the leading edge at full bar isn’t also as solid as the Zeno one. Back off 3 cm of travel, and surf turbulent air in a super cool mode ! Glide in moving conditions, showed me many times the Delta 3 ML ability to surfs the air efficiently and move upward. I’m totally convinced that the Delta 3 will be a strong tool to race on ridges going on long XC days. For example gliding next with a Mentor 5 showed a similar glide angle on the same line staying super close. But when the conditions are moving with lifts, the Delta 3 began to surf upward even though i was very close behind on the same line. Of course , the M5 is a B, but i’m just trying to show when those differences occurs. The Trango X-race is much more demanding fly, and also has slightly more overall glide and climb performance. The advantage the Delta 3 has is the ability to turn quickly into strong small bubbles that the Trango X-race would need slightly more time to settle in before going on a turn. Surges are converted quicker into climb on the D3. I just wished that the delta 3 had that subtle and linear handling found on the Trango -X-race, but the Delta 3 just turn on command. The difference between the Delta 2 M and the Delta 2 MS in handling was noticeable. So i’m waiting for the Delta 3 MS size to see what it will feel like. Ears are stable, but don’t open by themselves. They need a good pilot input to re-open them. Induced asymmetric collapses are a child play ! Holding the A riser I could easily fly to the other side just by pulling 5 cm of brakes or even turning my head … When the glider is half closed, the sink doesn’t increase much… Conclusion: In keeping the aspect ratio of 6.0, It was clear enough that Ozone wanted to offer a comfortable, easy to use, efficient XC glider. The new profile used on the Delta 3 works well in turbulent conditions. The overall gliding performance is slightly increased over the Alpina 2 but more when using the bar. The quality of efficient flying is well improved, letting the pilot concentrate on the scenery, task, and their XC routes. Cheers, Ziad 5-17-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 17C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1200 metres And the reality was that we could not see launch at 10 am, so we headed to Mission for a training hill session. Even though most have done high flights at Woodside or at Savona, the training hill flights are a great way to tuneup launch & landing skills repetitively. We did 5-6 flights in mild conditions and we only had two tree landings! Amanda was here for her first day and she is very small (under 90 lbs) and the Ultralite 4 was perfect for her as she flew off the right side launch at Heritage Park. The hill was not launchable until the Park Board took out an ailing apple tree. We headed back to Woodside when I could see launch was open on our webcam using the MyDlink App on my phone. We had a lot of students. New students AJ & Amanda, Jaime, Jose, Bianca, James, Endre, Dean were all keen to fly and Dennie was here helping me out so we needed 2 trucks to get our group up to launch. Amanda went tandem with Dennie and they had a really long flight outlasting all the other solo pilots out today, perfect for Amanda to feel the air and understand the approach. AJ got his first high flights today on the SupAir EONA L, this glider has a large weight range of 100-130 kgs and AJ loads it up to the top and it performed very well as he was able to catch some thermals and came out with lots of altitude. Everyone did very well and we managed to get 2 flights in before 7:30 pm to end the day off. Amanda was the last one off launch and she did well on her first solo flight.  Ozone News Release - lots of new stuff is coming! ULTRALITE 4 is now available, 150g lighter than the Ultralite 3 with better performance, such as more speed, we think this is a worthy successor. We now have 21 & 23 sizes in stock for demo flights. Ozone Ultralite 4 info here. Thanks to Brad for the Video! 5-16-17
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|  Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. Thunder possible. High 12C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. 1200 metres We did find a dry period around 4 pm to head to Mission so James could get a few low flights in, but we got rained on there soon after arriving. 5-15-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain for the afternoon. High 11C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near 6mm. 700 metres We decided the Interior Weather was too wet for a 5 hour roadtrip early in the day and later looks at the Interior Radar confirmed that it would have been a wasted trip, Merritt - Cache Creek - Savona was in the rain all day. 5-14-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun this morning followed by increasing clouds with showers developing this afternoon. High around 15C. Winds W at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 40%. 1200 metres We went back up at 11 am and it was soarable, with vultures buzzing launch. Kelly got his last three flights leading up to his 25th and graduating flight today!  Stefan is on his 2nd day here and he is already thermalling like a pro, enjoying the Ultralite 4 lightweight glider.  Norm joined us on his first Ozone Delta 3 flight and he had no problems staying up on it. He says it is "very efficient in finding lift".  It has a unique shape of the wingtips, and later flight around 5 pm with Derek & Norm "duking it out" showed Norm had a better climb rate. Derek is usually "top of the stack" on his Swift 4, but not today. More flight tests to come. We got new student James (an aspiring paramotorist from Thunder Bay), his first high flight after a session in Mission and on the Eagle Ranch Training Hill. 5-13-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunshine and clouds mixed. High around 15C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1300 metres The first flight was a light wind sleddie to wake up the guys. The second flight got exciting as Hayden took off and went straight up to 1300 metres and the towering CU near Woodside made him pull "big ears" until he could fly around it towards Riverside and then out to the Ranch where he hovered for 30 minutes until he found a shadowy bit of ground to descend in. Meanwhile the others found normal sink to land at the Ranch.  He said he learned more in that flight than all the previous 13 flights. We then got a rain cell moving through the area so Colleen and I broke away and had lunch in Agassiz, a rare treat on a busy day. The students stayed in the Barn Classroom and watched videos. Then around 3 pm it opened up and we started flying again after watching Pedro, Brian & Micheal fly off on Hanggliders. We got three more soaring flights completed with Colleen joining the guys for the last one. Here is Robert on his last flight flying a SupAir EONA L here before heading back to Edmonton.  5-12-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Overcast with rain showers at times. Thunder possible. High 14C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. 1200 metres Good launch conditions right away and I launched Robert, Kelly & Tom as new student Stefan watched. There were CUs popping near the south knoll at this time and the students got to enjoy some light lift. We went back up immediately and on this flight the students were thermalling to the NW in nice smooth lift. Chris G joined us on this flight on his Ozone Mojo4 M (which is now up for sale here).  The students all landed pretty much right in the circle and were packed up by the time we headed down after kiting with Stefan on launch. The third flight started around noon, and there were rain cells out near Sumas that looked threatening. One passed us heading to wards Agassiz and the other one looked like it would move North to Chehalis, but it stayed stationary over Harrison Mills and unloaded just after the students packed up. We did some ground school and Brian H wrote his exam, now that he has +25 paragliding flight to add to his +600 paramotor flights he qualifies as a P-2 pilot. Exam marking for Kelly and Brian while the others watched videos, congrats to both for passing the P-2 exam. Everytime the sun would come out, I got excited and headed out to check the weather and got rained on. We headed towards Mission to do some training hill stuff but the monsoon there had us turn back and call the rest of the day off. 5-11-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Showers and thundershowers this morning, then overcast during the afternoon with occasional rain. High near 15C. Winds W at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 90%. 600 metres We had a small bit of drizzle this morning but by noon it was a monsoon near Chilliwack. Dangerous driving conditions for sure on Hwy 1. Good timing for the rain as our corn field to the west is now seeded in Orchard Grass so the seeds needed rain to germinate, and the new grass is going to look so nice for landings. Rest assured that landing at Eagle Ranch is always free to our loyal customers. 5-10-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 22C. Winds light and variable. 1200 metres But that did not stop the students from logging five more flights with some incredible circle landings in light winds. We had Robert, Kelly, Andre and Om here flying today. The Instructor Candidates did a great job of coaching at launch while I manned the LZ guiding duties and lawn mowing. Om decided to focus on paramotor launching and we tried a used Dudek Nucleon paramotor wing for kiting and tossed it after 2 tries, instead using the SupAir EONA M (a far easier wing to launch and fly). Once we got Om clipped in to the EONA M he had good launches and was off and flying on the Blackhawk Airmax 125. He had unfortunately turned down the radio volume so he could not hear me encouraging him to go high and far, so he landed instead to sort out the radios. We then took out the Kangook MZ100 and he liked that configuration better, lighter frame and smaller harness fit him better as he is only 140 lbs.  He had another great launch and flew around for 20 minutes waiting for the others to land, and he burned very little fuel as the EONA is so efficient. At the end of day, most of the students had five logged flights and the new HPAC student log books are working well as I saw students dutifully filling in their flights and exercises at the end of each flight. On the last flight Linda flew her new Falcon Hangglider off Woodside in a sled ride landing here at the Ranch, with a perfect approacch & landing (what a keener). Om left with his new SupAir EONA M/Ozone Oxygen I harness and is saving pennies for the Kangook motor too! Today was the sixth & final day of our Instructor/Tandem Course and the Instructors all did an amazing job of training new students from Ground School Lessons to actual flying exercises and finally supervising exam writing sessions. We had 13 attendees, some doing re-certs and others that were new to the Instructor Program. These new Instructors are the liveblood of our sport . . . spreading the word and adding more pilots to the mix. 5-9-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sunshine and a few clouds. High 21C. Winds light and variable. 1200 metres We managed to get 3 student rounds in before it got too strong. New students Andre and Declan joined our existing group and integrated quite well, getting 3 flights in as well as did Kelly & Robert. Robert had a first flight today with a failed radio and landed right in the centre of the circle, this due to our system of flight preparation (making sure the students know the approach and their role in controlling the approach). Here is Declan on his third flight today, going straight up all the way out to Eagle Ranch where landings are always free for students & clients of FlyBC.  5-8-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. Becoming windy this afternoon. High 16. UV index 4 or moderate. 800 metres The RASP also looked rather lame lift-wise, but it turned out that neither were true. New student Kelly spent yesterday ground handling and went tandem with Xavier for his first flight last night as it was too windy for first solos. And he was ready to fly today on his own! His first launch went brilliantly on his new Niviuk Koyot 2. Video here thanks to Tony Later he was seen way above launch thermalling with Martin N.  Another new student, Robert for Edmonton, arrived at 9 am and was ground school prepped along with Kelly while we were waiting for wind on the hill. Later in the day Robert was deemed ready to fly after many hours of kiting and going over the landing briefing presentation one more time. By the end of the day Robert had three solos and Kelly and Marwan logged five solo flights, a pretty big day! This is what the mountain looked like today after the clouds cleared. We are so fortunate to have this in our backyard! ' Derek, Martin and others got to over 1400 metres despite the lame RASP predictions.  Meanwhile, over on Vancouver Island Hunter and Clair were flying at Prevost and they had a really sweet day. Hunter is flying an Ozone Swift 4 that he bought last year while training with us at FlyBC. Cloud Surfing from Hunter Viator on Vimeo. 5-7-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Mainly sunny. High 14. UV index 6 or high. 1400 metres Kim & Tom both got finished today, just their paperwork to send in and they both gained over 15 hours of airtime during their training and both are very good thermal pilots. New student Kelly was kiting most of the day working with Xavier & Lee in the LZ and the training hill. New Instructor/Tandem Candidates were flying practice tandems in pretty strong conditions getting used to 41 metres of cloth in the stronger cycles. Jason was flying his APCO Play 42 here with Terry as ballast.  Mukunda was flying Brad M's gear practicing his tandem skills and launching forward launches in the strong inflow cycles like a pro!  Flight of the Day honors go to Alex R flying from Bridal doing a reverse Raymont Challenge, taking off from Bridal then heading to Elk before crossing the Valley to Woodside and then to Green Hil and on to Ludwig landing at the Bridal LZ.  We went up the mountain at 7 pm, after hearing Dennie taking off with a tandem and getting high. We waited sometime as had Dennie and Craig launched and then Mukinda. We were packing up when Ky took off and was going backwards apparently forgeting to hook up her speedbar. She must have gotten it reconnected as she did make it to Eagle Ranch before sunset. Tip of the Day: Preflight checks include doing up the speedbar and having it easily accessible right after launch. Add velcro straps to your harness to hold the bar ready for use. 5-6-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 14C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1400 metres We were doing a reserve repack seminar in the Barn while it rained and we repacked about 10 reserves. We also found some packed improperly which were fixed and some repacked in proper containers. Once the sun came out we headed up to Launch to get the required practice tandems and some student flights. Conditions were good around Woodside but to the west it was ugly. There was a threatening cell over Sumas which bypassed us towards Hope. The tandem candidates had very nice launches in +20 kph winds, as did Kim M who is close to becoming a P-2, just 5 more flights. We went back up and flew around 2 pm and it was getting stronger as the RASP predicted.  Guy flew his new Ozone Zeno and was the last one to launch on this round. Denis had top-landed and said the air was rather rough. Mike M took Kim over to Harvest Market on her second flight after an hour of soaring in front of launch. We headed to dinner in Harrison Hotsprings, and when we returned we heard stories of great glassoff flights. 5-5-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Showers. Risk of a thunderstorm early this morning. Local amount 15 to 25 mm. Becoming windy late this morning. Temperature steady near 13. UV index 3 or moderate. 900 metres Fourteen participants here at FlyBC were attending the seminar and we covered glider trim and maintenance, Ground School Preparation and Tools, Risk Management and Limits. Here are the four teams preparing their student presentations.  We did some line replacements on a student glider using our glider rack.  We also measured the trim of matching Magnum 2 - 41 tandem gliders and found them to be well within tolerances. 5-4-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Mostly sunny early, then thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 26C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. 2500 metres But today showed the difference between forecast & reality. We did some morning introductions and briefings in the Barn Classroom, and then sent students to the training hill with new instructors while we were waiting for the outflow to diminish.  We had Gerrit, Clayton, Martin & Micah here today, not newbies but rather accomplished students with an excess of 15 flights and solid skills so it was easy for the new instructor candidates to work with them. By noon the first truckloads headed up the mountain, and we got the students Flight #1 for the day.  After the students got a few flights I kept Gerrit & Clayton on the ground to practice paramotor flights once we got some wind in the LZ. Another odd day for LZ winds as we had NW wind in the field. As the students came in for flight #3, Clayton got his first motoring flight not geting that high as he had trouble getting into the seat despite my instructions. So he came back in to land in light winds to adjsut the harness. He had the leg straps too loose, which was a simple fix. Next up was Gerrit and he strapped on the Blackhawk AirMax 125 Paramotor and when we got a nice 10-15 kph of wind he was off and flying in the seat and he flew around for 20 minutes staying out of the way of the other pilots. He did have a burble in the powerband that we traced back to an air leak in the fuel filter, which was fixed upon landing. Clayton got the next paramotor flight and he got really high, much higher than launch in the North winds. He was probably the only one to get above launch as it was very stable today.  After coaxing him down to land, Gerrit got another flight and he was cruising all over Harrison Mills too enjoying the freedom of power. At the end of the day the last group of pilots got the students off in light tailwinds, easy as they were flying Ozone Ultralite 4 gliders! These gliders inflate so easily, grat for long hike up flights on tight launches. By 6 pm, the first sounds of thunder echoed through the Valley and lightning was observed over Chilliwack. A very long day but very productive with 4 paramotor flights for the new paramotor students, and 6 solo flights for the P-2 students. Happy Whitehorse customer Ksenia got her new gear and will soon be flying the Yukon skies!  5-3-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Rain ending this afternoon then cloudy. High 16. Cache Creek Forecast: Cloudy. A few showers early this morning. Wind east 20 km/h. High 22. UV index 5 or moderate. 2200 metres We met at 8 am at the Ranch and did a weather briefing and concluded that the temperature/dewpoint spread was very close all day which was resulting in a very low cloudbase or maybe 200 metres. The winds looked okay but "no visibility" means "no fly" and I am sure the students have had enough ground school for now. We left at 9 am heading north on Hwy 1 and by Hope cloudbase had risen but it was still raining. By Boston Bar the sky was brighter but still some drizzle. Thanks to modern technology we could keep checking out the Interior Radar which provides a one hour loop of the conditions/precip. All the way to Ashcroft it was light rain in places and when we arrived at Coyote Hill the winds were perfect and the sun was trying to come out. After a drive to the LZ to point out obstacles and preffered approach path, we headed up to the top. Winds on top were reversible but too light to soar and we got off the first round of flights for 4 students. Markus was kiting on top working on his reverse technique and missed round one, but he was looking like a "rock star" once he got the technique down. The students were doing great and got 5 high flights in with some nearly soarable flights and great landings. Around 5 pm we arrived to find the winds had picked up to nearly 20 kph! The past two Kamloops Reports had winds gusting to E 41 kph, so I was on the watch for approaching gusts but it stayed pretty safe so the students launched. First off was Clayton and he got a few passes but went too far north and slid out of the lift band.  Micah went off next and got some nice lift right away flying the SupAir EONA S. Steven was off next on the Ozone Ultralite 4 - 21 and he was getting great altitude.  Instructor Candidate Andrew launched his Rush 3 and was soaring with the students cheering them on as the observed perfect ridge etiquette. I was working with Markus showing him how to control with the C's and it got stronger and stronger on launch so we bagged his wing while everyone soared. Steve was the first one to top-land back behind the Van. With some briefing Micah also top-landed right on launch! We were packed up and back on the road to Woodside by 6:30 pm. We arrived to outflow winds at Woodside and the sun was close to setting so we headed straight to the Ranch to debrief. Six more flights for the logbooks with Soaring Signoffs and Top Landing Signoffs in hand. What a great day! SupAir Leaf Light Test Report - I had the opportunity to test fly the Leaflight on Woodside on May 2. It was the end of a very nice day of thermal flying that turned into smooth ridge lift at day's end. When I arrived at launch there was still some wind coming up but the soaring pilots were all sinking out. The leaflight has nice, well-coloured, sheathed lines, perfect for sorting and avoiding tangles and twigs. At 3.4 kg for the size S, I flew at about 95 kg (75-95 kg weight range). I really liked the solid risers that flared at the connection loop to prevent it from sliding down the carabiners. The brake handles are quite thick and comfortably padded as well. The glider launched perfectly coming up in a light cycle and was easy to control.  The first thing I noticed was how light the brake pressure was, even lighter than my Alpina 2 which also has light pressure. The glider used a little more brake but turns were well coordinated and smooth as I cruised back and forth on the ridge. The second thing I noticed was how "talky" the wing was considering how heavily loaded it was. I could feel lots as it moved through the different types of air and was able to get a few week climbs as the day's lift ended. The speed seemed comparable to my Alpina 2 although I was really trying to stay up so I didn't test the speed system much. When I did, it required a good push to initiate. The glide and sink rate were fine as I began the glide out over Lenami's cut where you don't want to get too low. Landing the LL was easy with great speed control and a nice easy flare into the circle. This glider would make an excellent travel/ hiking wing and is just an all round winner for general flying - KVA 5-2-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 18C. Winds light and variable. 900 metres We started flying at 10 am and we had 6 to 7 students depending on time of day as students were dropping in after working the morning. Bev even got a flight in today but no XC.  Derek claimed to have gotten to 1600 metres over Woodside but most complained that when they got to 1200 metres the NE winds starting rocking them around. It got so busy that I had to use the Bronco to shuttle students up as the Van was full, first official trip up Woodside and she hauled up the hill with no problems, and crawled out of launch with not a slip!  Highlights of the day included Micah learning how to thermal, with a little coaching and then staying up on the third and forth flights for over an hour on one of our EONA gliders. The fifth flight of the day had nice glassoff conditions and everyone got off fast despite very light conditions. Thanks to Dennie & Andrew for being instructors today, while I lounged around on my Quad watching the landings.  Here someone captured Dennie guiding some students from the top.  Alex R got the flight of the day from Lil Nic, making it past Woodside and over to Bridal and almost back to Riverside. Nice given the weak conditions in the Valley. James was on Alex's heel most of the flight and he ended up back in Riverside after getting to Agassiz Mtn.  5-1-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy. A few showers beginning in the morning and ending in the afternoon. Temperature steady near 9. 900 metres We did a great ground school session in the Barn complete with simulator practice. Then around 1 pm the skies opened up and I headed up the mountain with Micah, Gerrit and Chris G. We arrived to rain drops on the launch, but Dennie was kiting hard with the other 5 students on the Eagle Ranch LZ. No rain on the ground but the clouds close to launch were precipitating. We waited in the Van and the skies opened up and we got some "big ears" practice in for Micah and others to aid in cloud avoidance.  We did another round of flights after this one and the air just got liftier but cloudbase rose to 1100 metres. I checked out the student progress in the LZ and all the newbies were kiting and reversing with great skill. Conditions were perfect for kiting and for the others landing with 10-15 kph of SE breeze. After a landing briefing, we took the entire load of students up and conditions were perfect for forward or reverse launching. New students Max & Clayton got their first solo flights in, but as Jon H got ready it got gusty and cross and he had too many attempts and was getting frazzled. I normally stick to my "3 tries and then bag it" routine but it seemd like he was going to get it when the clouds dropped too low for safe flights. Clayton here just after launching was soon at 1100 metres without a turn as it was quite lifty.  Jon, Gerrit and Markus were denied the last flight of the day but they are here all week so they will catch up soon. 2016 in Review - we had our busiest season every in 20 years! Thanks to all of you that supported us in 2016! We started out in January with our biggest Mexican Tour with many guests improving their skills at El Toro, Pelican Bay Soaring Site, Colima and Tapalpa. February brought us more Tour guests with me returning to Canada on March 1 to start lessons. March brought on some great spring conditions with some excellent XC flights in the Faser Valley. April brought out many new student pilots and we had up to 7 per day requiring some additional manpower to help out with Degas in Mission with newbies while I was sending students off Woodside. April enjoyed the first tree-landing of the season as an un-named P-2 pilot 360ed himself into a 200' tree just before dark. May brought out many pilots doing XC flights from Benny to Woodside. This site was improved in 2016 with WCSC & BCHPA funds so we are going to take advancing students there in 2017. We also ran our Annual FlyBC Instructor Course and had many new candidates working with our students. We had to go to Coyote & Mara many times to avoid the weather. June was an awesome month and we had many signed off P-2 students by now. Thanks to all who helped us get them through their courses! July was a productive month but also brought some sad news as a local Bellingham Pilot who had flown Blanchard hundreds of times had a fatal crash while paragliding on a mellow day. TJ had been flying since 2000 and had created a Weather Page that was very useful in predicting the conditions. August took us to Mara Lake for our Annual SIV Course and we had 25 participants over 10 days with only a few wet wings. Either we are getting better at guiding, or the gliders are getting safer, or the pilots are doing more studying prior to the Course . . . or all three but it is a pleasure to put pilots through the maneuvers and see them cain confidence in their gear. September was flyable most days but we did do the odd road trip to Merritt and Coyote. I think we are up to 200 flyable days now. We also had one weekend closed to students and pilots at Eagle Ranch while we married off Aaron & Christy! October turned out to be a complete bust as it rained everyday, as did November. Odd as this is usually our busiest training time. It was okay because we had planned a trip to Australia anyway, but I felt bad for the students that did not get finished in 2016. December was also bad weather-wise with record snow falls, so I went to Mexico to get our winter condo ready for the winter season, and Derek & Norm & I had some nice flights. Thanks again to the 40+ students we signed off in 2016. Thanks also to the pilots that bought a record number of gliders from Gin, Ozone & SupAir from us in 2016. Stay safe in 2017, and we will be here to support you in your flying endeavours. |
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1253 Kilby Road, Harrison Mills, BC V0M 1L0 Cell: 604-618-5467 E-Mail: FlyBC E-Mail |