FlyBC's Paragliding Site of the Day October 2018 Archive Page - from the Universe's Largest Paragliding Centre :-)

Date	Site	Forecast	Winds @ 3000' in knots	Lapse Rate °C/1000' Cloud Base in Meters	Comments
10-31-18	FlyBC is closed due to rain	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers this morning. High 12. UV index 1 or low.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Monsoon Report - FlyBC was closed and it was too wet for any chores.
10-30-18	FlyBC is hoping to get a few flights at Woodside today between showers	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers this morning. High 12. UV index 1 or low.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - we started flying at noon as soon as the clouds lifted and it was soarable. Lucas had two soaring flights on the Nova Mentor 3 demo, and he got well above launch both times. In fact, he got so high he had to pull "big ears" to descend before he got "whited out". The second flight had quite strong cycles but the Savona practice days prepared Lucas well for the conditions today. Check off: Soaring Rules, Soaring Techniques, Descent Techniques, Strong Wind Launches.
10-29-18	FlyBC is hoping to get a few flights at Woodside today between showers.	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Showers ending early this morning then mainly cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers this afternoon. High 12. UV index 1 or low.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was open today at 10 am, hoping to get a few flights before it rains. And we did get two flights in with Lucas, our sole student today as he closes in on 15 flights. By the time Lucas had packed up from the last flight it was starting to drizzle so we called the day.
10-27-18	FlyBC is open today at 8 am for a road trip, meet us in Ashcroft	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers this afternoon. Wind east 30 km/h becoming southwest 30 this afternoon. High 12.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Roadtrip Report - we did an Interior Road Trip to Ashcroft & Savona and it was very productive. By the end of the day Kyle & Lucas got between 8 and 9 flights. Kyle stopped for a sandwich while Lucas had one extra flight.
10-27-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for flying	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Increasing cloudiness. Rain beginning this afternoon. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 13. UV index 2 or low.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - we had great kiting winds in the LZ today but lots of NE wind on launch. Justin K flew down at 1130 and had a great flight until he hit Scary Corner. He did not like the air over the LZ! We kited til 430 pm, and when we thought it was blowing up the mountain, we headed up to see +30 kph cycles over the back. Easy choice to not wait.
10-26-18	FlyBC is open today at 9 am for ground school but it is too windy in BC to fly anywhere so we are staying home	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Rain ending late this afternoon then cloudy. Becoming windy this afternoon. High 14.	240° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was open today at 9 am, for ground school only til noon. It rained hard all day so just did some indoor chores and worked on the bus.
10-25-18	FlyBC is open today at 9 am for lessons, heading east if it rains	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Rain. Amount 10 to 20 mm. High 12.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 700 metres	Coyote Report - we were flying by noon up in Cache Creek area avoiding the coastal rains. We arrived to sunny skies and almost soarable NE winds which lasted all day. Clark, Peter & Wayne met us up there and Lucas (here for Day 1) & Brad (Day 5) also drove up with me in the new bus. We had three rounds of flights and quit flying around 4 pm, so we could get back before dark. Nice flying from everyone with just a few aborts and a couple of small incidents flying off course into gulleys, etc.
10-24-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for lessons, Bev is available for shuttles until Oct 27th	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: 30% Precip. / 0.00 mm AM Showers. High 13C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 1300 metres	Woodside Report - we had a great day, the first one in a few weeks with inflow winds. Brad & Archer are doing great and they had three high flights, with a paramotor flight each on the BlackHawk 125 Lite motor with fancy carbon fiber prop. They did perfectly on the paramotor training flight, which we expect after 18 free flights with good form. Later we were joined by Derek & Dennie who climbed out on the South Knoll. Dennie is "Falling in Love" with his new AirDesign Volt 3! October has been a great month for training.
10-23-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for lessons, Bev is available for shuttles until Oct 27th	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 21. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - we were doing ground school sessions on the effect of wind on glide ratios and the use of speed bar. This in case the winds pick up as forecasted today. We went up the hill at noon and we had 3 students flying and launching well in light cycles. Martin, Sam and others waited until we got back up for round 2 as there was no lift. Archer, Brad & Andrew flew off again and only Brad got any bubbles. I drove down and Martin was still not laid out. I collected the students and we were headed back up to what I hoped were soarable conditions and we saw Sam parked over Hwy 7 getting buffetted around before he turned and landed at the HG LZ. Martin was already in the ground in the same LZ. A perfect example of "getting parked" in +30 kph of wind. After that the rest of the gang on launch waited and waited they finally had to drive down as it turned SE and unlaunchable. I took the students to Mission and they kited for two hours and got 3-4 flights off the hill too. The RASP was wrong today with the wind layers down low being higher and no wind on launch.
10-22-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for lessons, Bev is available for shuttles until Oct 27th	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 21. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - outflow did stop by noon. Dennie was in charge on top launching the 5-6 students we had today. No lift but perfect conditions for perfecting the aircraft approach. Colleen & I did two tandems in light conditions but the passengers loved the ride as they have done some training hill flights in Germany but never had a high flight. Archer was here for his first day of training and had a great first landing. Four flights for the students today and it was very light at launch and they had awesome launches and landings.
10-21-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for lessons, Bev is available for shuttles until Oct 27th	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 21. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was open today at 10 am, outflow should have stopped by noon but it was more like 2 pm before we could launch so we stayed in the Eagle Ranch LZ kiting in South winds?? We had nine students and they were kiting well in the south flows, odd because it was blowing +20 kh from the North in Agassiz. We focussed on reverse launches in the LZ and everyone caught on quite quickly. We took two van loads up at 2 pm and had to wait for cycles. Andrei and a tandem passenger had been up on launch since noon, so we didn't miss anything. The new Bus is working well with a DuraMax diesel to get up the hill with lots of power. It was a busy scene on launch today. When we got Colleen ready for her tandem we had to wait for a launchable cycle and she and Moritz were off. I got ready with Julie and we had one abort when my helmet caught a line, but the next cycle we were off and running hard to get off the ground in light winds. Julie flew the entire flight and we only hit a few bumps in the smooth autumn air. Great student conditions if Dennie can get them all off before it turns leeside again. Dennie did in fact get 8 of the 9 students airborne and they all had great approaches and landings, some for the first time in the air. Only Andrew was denied but he took lots of video of his brother and others which should soon be published here. Meanwhile the gloat reports from Mt. Cheam Saturday were coming in with 2500 metre climbs and long glises out to the Rosedale High School to vote in the Chilliwack election. Mt Cheam from Jonathan Pettersen on Vimeo.
10-20-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for lessons, Bev is available for shuttles until Oct 27th	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 21. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was open today at 10 am, and we had five new students arrive on top of the three already in their P-2 lesson rotation. Dennie took the latter three to launch at 11 am, while I worked with the newbies in the Eagle Ranch LZ in perfect conditions with 10-15 kph of SE wind. All five did very well right away, and were ready to launch by 1 pm. They also got to see many great landing approaches while they were kiting, formulating the procedures in their minds. We had a tandem at 2 pm, so Colleen took Bernice while Dennie and I wrangled the students on top. Light lift meant Colleen would be in the LZ to receive the new students on their first landing. This photo shows the inversion late in the day. We did three student rounds finishing up at 530 pm, as the cycles died off but everyone did very well today! Dennie got to fly his new airDesign Volt3 custom colored wing three time tooday, and this is Jacel & Dennie racing to the LZ on full bar! Good thing I got the new Bus back from the spring shop for Saturday as we had the Van & Bus full on each run up the mountain.
10-19-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for lessons, Bev is available for shuttles until Oct 27th	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 21. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - we had a great day with the students, who all flew 4 flights with varied approaches as there was no wind in the air, but great SE wind in the LZ. Winds on top were light earlier but we had reversible cycles after flight #2. Newest student Kyle prefers launching reverse so he did all his launches that way regardless of the wind, which worked because he was on the Atom 3 L. Andrew is attempting to catch up to Geordon who got signed off while Andrew was travelling in Korea for work, and he logged four more great flights on our used Buzz Z4 ML today. Andrew is working on an electric paramotor using his drone engineering knowledge and we are eager to see it fly.
10-18-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for paramotor lessons	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 21. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - we had new student Kyle start his solo training after a nice tandem last weekend with Colleen. Kyle and I spent 2 hours in the LZ kiting in perfect East winds and he is a strong launcher! After a rest and a landing briefing, we headed up the hill with a full Van of students and P-2 pilots and arrived to nice cycles for a change. Kyle launched first to test the air for the others! We did three rounds of flights and the last flight was reverse launchable, so Kyle did his first reverse launch beautifully. We also had John W trying out his new Parajet Light Cage and he had a great flight climbing up to launch to check the wind for us. Fortunately, we did not video his landing! LOL!
10-17-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for paramotor lessons, Bev is available for shuttles until Oct 27th	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 21. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was open today at 10 am, and hoping the outflow would stop by noon. It was flyable by 1 pm, with very light cycles, but everyone had great launches and easy flights. The wind in the LZ was nice for reverse kiting between flights.
10-16-18	FlyBC is open today at 10 am for paramotor lessons, Bev is available for shuttles until Oct 27th	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 21. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Mt Cheam Report - Alex R and gang headed up Cheam while we were waiting for the outflow to subside. While I was launching students on 146.415 MHZ I overheard the folks getting high at Cheam. They topped out at 2800 metres and flew to Brad H's farm. Meanwhile the pilots at Woodside were getting extended sleddies in the inversion.
10-15-18	FlyBC is closed today for errands	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High near 20C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was closed today doing errands, and the outflow didn't stop til 3 pm. Bev shuttled a gang up Woodside with Jacek flying his new Ozone Alpina 3. Carlos, Rob H, Bev all flew too with Norm driving down as it looked too stable. Jacek managed a 16 minute flight though.
10-14-18	FlyBC is open after 10 am	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 18C. Winds light and variable.	240° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - we started the day doing ground handling with Kalina, who has done some kiting with her boyfriend. She was kiting the Ozone Atom 3 Small and doing a fantastic job right away. We spent about two hours out in the LZ while eaiting for the outflow to abate on launch. We then went into the classroom for an intensive landing briefing with pictures and video. By now there were 12 pilots waiting around to fly and Kalina & Thierry were the only students today so I had a light load. When we got up to launch there was another school getting ready to launch a first flight and we had good cycles. Thierry launched first and did a nice reverse launch after practiing in the LZ all weekend. Kalina got to the launch spot and did a perfect forward launch. Colleen was in the LZ and guided her in. We went back up at 2 pm to take Don for his birthday tandem. Colleen got the honours of taking Don tandem, flying the Ozone Swiftmax tandem because Do is a bigger guy. With launch quite cluttered with gliders and other students, I had Kalina launch from the backmost section of launch and she did very well again. We went up one last time to help people retrieve their trucks and Colleen flew solo trying yet another harness (because I sold her Delight 2 to Bev). Colleen stayed in the air, so I guided Kalina's third landing from launch. Kalina ended up with three high flights on her first day. She is planning to go to Mexico in November so we need to get her signed off soon!
10-13-18	FlyBC is closed due to NE winds	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. High 17C. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 km/h.	040° @ 20	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was closed due to the NE winds. So we worked on the new shuttle rig, removing the wheelchair lift and some low hanging accessories. Thanks to Bev & Norm for the manual labour. The bus is headed to the shop for a 3 inch lift and a factory skidplate for the oil pan on Thursday. Amazingly, some folks flew Pemby where the outflow must have been light as they flew to Goat and back.
10-12-18	FlyBC is open at 10 am for students and shuttles	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this morning. High 17. UV index 4 or moderate.	240° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1000 metres	Woodside Report - we had five students and another 10-12 pilots flying Woodside today. We had low cloudbase at noon, but we flew and some students got to practice big-ears for the first time. By 5 pm we had done 3 rounds and the students were getting tired so we shut it down.
10-11-18	FlyBC is open at noon Tuesday for towing or ground handling but it looks too windy from the NE for flying until after 2 pm	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mostly Sunny. High 16C. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 km/h.	040° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1100 metres	Woodside Report - we were open at 2 pm and we arrived to see 6 gliders high over Woodside. By the time we got organized to take students and a tandem up to fly, most of the pilots were on the ground. Colleen took Fatima tandem on the new Gin Osprey Tandem, and they did some thermalling over the South Knoll in the light lift. Students Sean (28 flights) and Ryan (2 flights) took off after Colleen and Ryan found some thermals to play in. Sean has enough flights and hours but still has to write his P-2 Exam before he can be signed off. Shaun G and Derek K stayed aloft for 1:30 in the light lift, working hard.
10-10-18	FlyBC is open at noon Tuesday for towing or ground handling but it looks too windy from the NE for flying	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Clearing in the morning. Fog patches dissipating in the morning. High 18. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 1500 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was open at noon but we expected the outflow to be too strong to fly Woodside. I made it back from Pemby at 10 am into Chilliwack after a gorgeous flight along Harrison Lake in the cessna 337 after overnighting in Pemby. We did get a few flights off around 3 pm with Martin N, Denham & Tom G flying in the outflow but it was not student friendly so Michael just had to kite today.
10-9-18	FlyBC is open at noon Tuesday for towing or ground handling but it looks too windy from the NE for flying	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Clearing in the morning. Fog patches dissipating in the morning. High 18. UV index 3 or moderate.	040° @ 15	-3.0°C (unstable) 1500 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was open at noon but had outflow too strong to fly Woodside. So I instead fired up the Skymaster and flew a load of gear up to Pemberton. I arrived just at 630 pm as legal sunset arrived and tied up for the night and stayed at the fabulous PemHo Inn. There was also no one to get fuel from at the airport so I did not want to risk flying back on 1/2 tanks. Another 32 minute flight up to Pemby from Chilliwack.
10-8-18	FlyBC is closed until Tuesday due to rain and family time	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 14. UV index 1 or low.	250° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was closed due to the rain. Cloudbase was at 50 metres when we arrived at the Ranch.
10-7-18	FlyBC is closed until Tuesday due to rain and family time	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this morning. High 14. UV index 1 or low.	250° @ 5	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - FlyBC was closed due to the rain. We drove up to Spences Bridge to have Turkey Dinner and it was raining there too.
10-6-18	FlyBC is open at 10 am for business but it looks like outflow til noon	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly Sunny. High 19. UV index 3 or moderate.	250° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1100 metres	Chilliwack to Pemby Report - Derek & I hopped in the Cessna T337B and flew to Pemberton to drop off some gear to Guy H. It was clear and sunny at CYCW when we left. We flew straight north along Harrison Lake and it was smooth despite the strong north winds on the lake. There is new snow enroute after the last cold front moved thru the region. As we got further north there was ground fog in the valleys. The flight time north was calculated at 33 minutes and we were on time over Lilooett Lake South but could just see bits of the lake thru the fog. Further north we could see the Mt Curry Lands and it was sunny and clear there. But as we got closer to Pemby Airport it was solid fog layers. We did some passes over launch and waited for the fog to clear but after three passes it was clearly not safe to land as we could see the numbers on Runway 25 but not further west. After the passes we texted Guy that we were bailing and headed south back to CYCW. On our approach to CYCW we flew over Evans Road and Martin N's house. This is the output track from our ADSB-out transponder captured by FlightAware. Woodside Report - when we arrived back at Eagle Ranch, the parking lot was filling up. I only had a few students today so it was mostly shuttling other pilots up as Michael & Sean are doing well with their progress and don't need much attention getting setup on launch. We did three runs and Michael was out-climbing some other experienced pilots and he is vario-less at this point. The Leaf Light he is flying is perfectly loaded at his weight. Sean launched his second launch and got away clean and we turned to help Michael get ready when we heard over the radio "I am okay in a tree below launch" from Sean! Apparently he decided to do a 360 close to launch and hit sink and ended up in the clearcut below unscathed and was getting his wing out of a tree. Tip of the Day - never 360 close to terrain or trees. Always use Figure-8s so you can plan your escape. I say this so often that I think it will sink in, but apparently some folks have to learn the hard way! Meanwhile, other pilots were getting 2 hours of airtime and some were top-landing to warm up. A great day all around!
10-5-18	FlyBC is open at 10 am for business but it looks drizzly and wet til late in the day.	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers late this morning and this afternoon. High 14. UV index 3 or moderate.	250° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 800 metres	Woodside Report - it was raining lightly all day at Woodside.
10-4-18	FlyBC is open at 10 am for flights	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Mainly sunny. High 15. UV index 3 or moderate.	250° @ 10	-3.0°C (unstable) 1200 metres	Woodside Report - we opened up at 10 am but it was kiting time until noon as we had mild outflow on launch. Once the cycles started up pilots were launching and staying up. Derek, Norm & Martin N logged over three hours of airtime. Students were enjoying hour long flights under Dennie's expert guidance while I was in the LZ landing the newbies. The 2 Martin's both top-landed to drive trucks down. New student Ryan from Chilliwack got his first two solo flights in today! He spent most of the day on the training hill showing his wife how to kite and then sent flying with her watching from both top and bottom during his flights. Even Colleen got to fly after a long day of conference calls, but the last flight was mostly light bubbles of lift. Meanwhile our roving Instructor's Kevin & Brad are enjoying a few weeks in France where they visited Ozone and went flying with the Ozone Team.
10-3-18	FlyBC is closed until Wednesday for lessons	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Sunny. North wind 10-15 k. Temperature steady near 13. UV index 1 or low.	250° @ 2	-3.0°C (unstable) 300 metres	XC Report - FlyBC was closed today due to outflow winds. But I did fly the Skymaster to Grand Forks to pick up a buyer for the Lil Buzzard. Left Chilliwack at 830 am and rolled into Grand Forks at 940 am, for a 1:10 flight over snow covered peaks. We headed straight back and arrived in Chilliwack at 10:50 am, and it was still windy near Harrison Lake.
10-2-18	FlyBC is closed until Wednesday for lessons	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Rain. Amount 15 to 25 mm. Temperature steady near 13. UV index 1 or low.	250° @ 2	-3.0°C (unstable) 300 metres	Rain Report - FlyBC is closed today due to heavy rains.
10-1-18	FlyBC is closed until Wednesday for lessons	Woodside Forecast Harrison Mills Forecast: Rain. Amount 15 to 25 mm. Temperature steady near 13. UV index 1 or low.	250° @ 2	-3.0°C (unstable) 300 metres	Rain Report - FlyBC was closed today due to heavy rains.