FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - November/2005
Quote of the Day: "Birthdays are good for you. Studies show that the people who have the most live the longest."
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| /1000' (standard) | 2550 feet |
Fraser Valley Report - it looked like there was a flyable window around 3:00 pm. No pireps.
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| /1000' (standard) 2550 feet
Fraser Valley Report - Derek said it was blowing +30 knots in the Skagit, and there wasn't much moving except snowplows in the city.
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| /1000' (standard) 2550 feet
Woodside Report - east winds all day up to 18 knots. Snow started around 8:00 pm, time to start chaining up to get to launch.
| Honduras Gloat Report - It was election weekend in Honduras and though I was warned by our company’s security department not to travel, I knew there would be a lot of hot air around. The conditions this last week have been the best I’ve seen so far and very unusual for this time of year. It is usually very windy. I had one flight on Saturday flying out over the valley, basically just wandering from one thermal to the next checking out my new wing in the thermals. With much of my flying over the village, by the time I came in to land it was literally full of children. I made a very entertaining demonstration of a hot landing in the very thermic conditions to every ones delight. I went back up the mountain but the time we reached the launch it was in the shade (east facing) so we hiked back down. Yesterday Christian was also flying. We launched at ten thirty, Christian getting about twenty minutes before landing and I flew for forty five heading downwind in the valley and landing after 5kms. Straight back up to launch arriving at 2pm before the sun left. Launch close together and flew straight out to the valley in leeside wind. Not much lift until we got away from the mountain and then I noticed a group of vultures and we were away. Ended up with a beautiful ride down the valley, passing over two villages and then beyond. The scenery was absolutely beautiful in the afternoon light. The mountains are green after several months with plenty of rain and the valley is a mix of corn, sugar cane which is flowering, and other crops. I hate to say it, but all this with nothing more than the usual T-shirt. I can’t wait for next weekend! - Regards, Jeffrey
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| /1000' (standard) 2635 feet
Woodside Report - the day started out ugly, with rain and occasional snow. Then the sun came out making chores seem easier despite being sick (still can't talk - a blessing some say).
| I was feeling sorry for myself so I asked Colleen to drive me up for a flight, the windsock showing 10-15 kms straight in! The road is icy from the last few turns, the normal spots that ice up. We made it in the Van barely (bald tires need replacing), and parked at the top parking instead of driving in. Nice launching conditions but a bit north, a bit lifty in places but basically a sledder in calm air. No one else was out, so back to chores getting the barn ready for the Party December 10th. 
Picture shot in flight today. Lovely red sky in the west.
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| /1000' (standard) 2680 feet
Woodside Report - we arrived after noon and drove through snow, hail and light rain from Dewdney
to the Ranch. Barry and Darren were waiting out the weather so we warmed up the barn. Andy showed up and said he was at launch around 10:00 am when the cell blew in. He said it was very gusty and cold, so he headed down.
Later, Barry flew a sled-ride and Darren drove down. There was 2" of slippery snow on the road requiring 4x4.
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| /1000' (standard) 2680 feet
Woodside Report - an optomistic forecast by Environment Canada soon turned ugly and I changed the call to Stay Home when it was obvious it was not going to improve.
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - despite all the warnings, the wind never picked up at Woodside. Mostly clear skies all day. No pireps.
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - the fog that is hanging over Vancouver hasn't affected the Fraser Valley. Again yesterday, it was bright blue skies and a few pilots flying Woodside. When I checked the winds in Agassiz around 11:00 am, they were gusting 46 kms - 55 kms per hour from NE so I thought the day was done, but when I arrived at the Ranch at 2:00 pm, I saw someone thermalling by the South Knoll and Ivan was heading up to fly.
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Picture of Jeffrey's new Zoom in the Honduras AP News, November 23, 2005 - BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli soldiers clashed with Hezbollah guerrillas Wednesday to cover the escape of an Israeli hang glider who had inadvertently floated into Lebanon and landed across the border, security officials said. The clash occurred hours after Israel dropped thousands of anti-Hezbollah leaflets over Lebanon, and two days after a cross-border shootout that saw some of the heaviest fighting in years. Hezbollah's Al-Manar television reported that guerrillas engaged an Israeli army unit that had crossed the Lebanese border. But Israeli security officials said their troops opened fire to help an Israeli civilian who had inadvertently flown into Lebanon in a hang glider. The Israeli troops opened a gate in the border fence to let the hang glider pilot run back into Israel, the security officials said, adding that the Israeli troops did not enter Lebanon. The guerrillas apparently were trying to capture the Israeli, who would have been a prize asset for Hezbollah in future negotiations for a prisoner exchange with Israel. On Monday, Hezbollah attacked Israeli military posts on the southern Lebanese border, provoking Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling. Four guerrillas were killed and 11 Israeli soldiers wounded in the fighting. Lebanese security officials said the hang glider must have been blown off course by the wind. They said the incident occurred in the Meiss el-Jabal area. The officials on both sides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Earlier Wednesday, Israeli planes dropped thousands of leaflets denouncing Hezbollah over Lebanon's capital of Beirut and its southern province in an attempt to galvanize the Lebanese people against the guerrilla group. "Hezbollah is causing enormous harm to Lebanon," the leaflets said in Arabic, adding that Israel is determined to protect its citizens. editors note: apparently this pilot is an APCO Test Pilot. It makes our outlandings look pretty tame!
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - another foggy day in Vancouver but flyable all day at Woodside.
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - despite fog in the City all day, the Woodside Webcam showed sunny skies.
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - weather was good all day Sunday, quite a few sled rides in sunny skies.
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - cycles were coming in at launch from 9:00 am, so everyone who wanted a sledder had one. About 20 pilots out, each flying at least one flight. Some flew 7 flights (Andy), Mia flew 3.5 (after launching with a line snagged on her harness and flying half the flight with half the wing - she recovered it nicely). Students Gary and Annette flew 4 and 3 flights respectively. New student Henrik bagged his first solo flight before dark. Then on to the Sasquatch Inn for the Liar's Club Meeting after flying (actually no one bragged about length of flights, just the number of flights as it was totally stable all day).
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Picture by Martin Henry
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - Just about to drive up to launch at the road off the highway and ran into Kelly. She got naked and changed out of her work clothes and loaded up her wing and we drove up!
Andy was in the air as we drove up and reported as we expected, sledorama. | Launch was very fickle and could not decide what way it wanted to blow up.Andy arrived back up just when I was about to launch and before you could say BOO he was launching right behind me. Some bumps, but for the most part flew hands off. Drove up and did it again, difficult launch conditions with Northery and Easterly components but grabbed a window with Derek launching right behind me, sledding down to your place. Better than working !!!! Ran into Mark F with the ORIGINAL loggers from the infamous Bridal lower launch" named after them" at the Sasquatch for a couple of beers.They are back with the flying itch, so expect to see them at a site near you !! - Thomm
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - clearing in the mid-afternoon, and thru the evening until the fog rolled in.
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - cloudbase lifted enough to fly, no pireps however.
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| /1000' (inverted) 3500 feet
Woodside Report - it didn't start raining until 5:00 pm, some north wind, no pireps.
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| /1000' (unstable) 4000 feet
Woodside Report - Andy, Kevin A, and Ivan were able to fly and actually get above launch for some time today around 2:30 pm. After that it blew down and Jack and Ihor got nothing but tailwind until they drove down. Apparently the road is quite a mess a few hundred meters from the bottom, 4x4 only at this time |
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| /1000' (stable) 2400 feet
Woodside Report - very windy and rain most of the day. Snow on the Coquihalla Hwy and in many Interior Communities.
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| /1000' (stable) 2400 feet
Woodside Report -
Arrived at about 12:30 or so . . . Blowing up at 10km, gusting to 22, temp 4 C with very dark squall approaching from the SW. Flyable window but no one around. | Had a nap in the truck for an hour to see if any change and it changed to about 20 kms northerly but clearly down at about 300 metres the clouds were blowing from the SE quite strong. Sprinkles and cold, so drove back down carefully avoiding the "quicksand" created by Joe's van near the bottom where he got stuck. It looks like an underground stream is bubbling up right in the middle of the road - Thomm McE 
Joe's stuck truck shot by Sheila on November 11/05 on Woodside Mountain Road
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| /1000' (stable) 2400 feet
Vancouver Report - rain and wind until 4:00 pm, then some sunny breaks. But it didn't make it to the valley I suspect.
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| /1000' (stable) 2400 feet
Woodside Report - socked in at launch most of the day, and windy. No pilots seen out flying.
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| /1000' (stable) 2400 feet
Vancouver Report - wet and windy in town.
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| /1000' (stable) 2400 feet
Vancouver Report - a wet day indeed. Looks like the rest of the seven day forecast is wet also, including the Interior. Time to start making travel plans south. |
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| /1000' (stable) 2900 feet
Woodside Report - Denis, Derek, Justin and Andy were flying Woodside today. A mixed bag of weather and conditions were reported, and I was wishing I could have broken free to come out as the CUs were forming nicely in Vancouver. Derek thought Justin got around 30 minutes, Denis sent me this shot from launch and a few from in air where he got above launch so it was better than forecast.
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Woodside shot by Denis on November 7/05, proof that you can fly in November despite the forecasts Blanchard Report - no pireps but the Bellingham WebCam looked good. Below is a sample of the NOAA report showing soarable conditions all afternoon. 5 PM (22) Nov 07 46.9 (8.3) 35.1 (1.7) 29.93 (1013) W 7 4 PM (21) Nov 07 46.9 (8.3) 37.9 (3.3) 29.93 (1013) S 12 3 PM (20) Nov 07 46 (8) 37 (3) 29.93 (1013) S 14 2 PM (19) Nov 07 45.0 (7.2) 37.0 (2.8) 29.92 (1013) S 13 1 PM (18) Nov 07 43.0 (6.1) 36.0 (2.2) 29.91 (1012) S 13
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| /1000' (stable) 2900 feet
Woodside Report - a mixed bag of weather today at Woodside. It was raining hard at 5:00 am, and the snowline was down to launch level at 2200 feet. We went to launch around 22:30 and Dennis was launching while Jan K was getting ready. Then Jan launched and it started to snow and hail lightly, as Dennis top-landed to wait out the squall. Jan flew out to Riverside as I was getting ready (bagging his November 2005 flight as he claims to have flown every month for the past 85 months).
| I had laid out my Keara and was clipped in as a few more bands of light hail/snow/rain passed thru launch. When it cleared I had one wet, heavy wing but it was windy enough to launch and I climbed immediately to cloudbase (850 meters). It was great fun dodging the developing clouds and I went out front out the cloudbank and was soaring and getting higher out there. Big Ears came in handy many times to maintain VFR. 
Woodside Clouds shot by Jim on November 6/05 I flew thru more snow, some small hail and rain lower and when I reached the bailout at 600 meters I caught a smooth thermal while I was trying to talk Alan into coming over and gained 200 meters hands-off talking on the radio before making a huge approach over the river and landing by Stonehenge at the Ranch. My tandem passenger Henrik arrived at 1:30 pm, and we all headed up for a flight. I launched in what was measured as 26 kms/hour on Alex W's windmeter and we were off and climbing fast. We also had to keep Big Ears on at times to maintain VFR, but we were soon in clear air at 1050 meters by the North Cliffs flying with 25 eagles and 3 feet of snow below us. Unfortunately Henrik was not dressed very warm so we could only spend 45 minutes soaring, but we were treated to a show as pilots were getting dragged on launch. We landed at the Ranch in nice south winds to warm up. 
Woodside Tandem shot by Colleen on November 6/05 Later, Norm flew and climbed to 1200 meters before also flying out to thaw after 45 minutes. Speed bar needed to penetrate out later.
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| /1000' (stable) 2900 feet
Woodside Report - we decided it looked flyable around 1:00 pm; so Barry, Colleen and I headed up Woodside and arrived to a beautiful view of snow-capped mountains (snowline at 2500 feet) and the valley below obscured by a thin layer of clouds. The forecast 16 knots of soarble wind never materialized so we went down to the clearcut to gather a load of firewood while it cleared up. Unfortunately, 20 minutes later when we got back to launch, the sky was clear but it was blowing over the back at 10 km+. Maybe tomorrow will work?
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Woodside view shot by Colleen on November 5/05
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| /1000' (stable) 2900 feet
Vancouver Report - good day to stay in and get a video! | Chelan Report - I can't believe how lucky the Women's Fly In attendees were this year! See attached Chelan WebCam shot this morning below, it looks like 6" of snow fell yesterday (or more). 
Live Web Cam Capture on November 5/05
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| /1000' (stable) 2900 feet
Vancouver Report - rainy and windy all day, gusts to 70 kms per hour in Delta!
| Women's Fly In Reports - just when Garry H, Delvin and Alex R think it is time to come out of hiding . . . a wave of new Websites surface! Nicole's Site, click thru to Nicole's Women's Fly In 2005 links Ernie Friesen's Site Nancy Kennedy's Site Chris Amondsen's Picture Galleries Kingsley Wood/s Pictures There is a new webcam service in Chelan. Chelan Web Cam where you can take control of the Camera and zoom up to the Butte to see your friends flying when you decided to stay home!
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| /1000' (stable) 2900 feet
Vancouver Report - it rained on and off in the morning and cleared in the afternoon. Ocassional looks at the Woodside WebCam showed it looked flyable - no pireps.
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| /1000' (stable) 2900 feet
A wet day in town, if you get bored you can click on the FlyBC Weather Links and click on the new Chelan Web Cam link to see what it is like in Chelan WA (live controllable camera).
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| /1000' (unstable) 3100 feet
Vancouver Report - windy and light rain at times, turned to heavy rain later. No pireps from the valley and Alan was not optomistic for the balance of November either. Looks like Kamloops or Hedley will be the place to fly this weekend.
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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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