Flyblog: Flying

More airtime

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 20:53:22 GMT

Yesterday I got fed up with working and seeing such great weather outside. Out with Dave and we had almost the whole range to ourselves. A bit tricky to get up at first - quite cyclic - then rough as anything over Colonna, but then got up to 2100m over Nudo (blown north) and rather than head north and not get back decided to go for Campo dei Fiori. Got there - just - below ridge height, -5m/s for the last km...

After crusing there a bit, up to 1950m with a sailplane, again getting blown back, then out over to between Sangiano and Cardana, back to Sasso where it was +2m/s in the ridge lift alone... out over the Laveno harbour to get down, 2h30 and a reasonable landing (lots of steps...). Didn't feel destroyed either: combination of air sick pills and the electric shock therapy seems to work well.

Thu, 10 Jun 2004 11:47:49 GMT

Decent enough flight in bumpy conditions last Sunday. 2h20 with lots of sink between thermals, climbs usual 2 to 4 m/s up, but several pilots went down crossing valleys. I had a big climb out (850m) from low down in the Brusciatta, but only to just under 1750m. I didn't go further than Nudo, seeing a few coming back low low low from Colonna. Finally I got a bit bored and tried going out in front, got to 1950m, and then spent the best part of 45mins thermalling over Cardana and Bogno.

By contrast, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and today have all been fantastic flying days...

Out and about

Sun, 30 May 2004 12:13:50 GMT

Finally a spot of reasonable weather and some flights. Both about the same track, off to Pian, San Martino and Sangiano. Topped out at 1800m both times. Nice flights, about 30km XC but still haven't got 8hrs yet this year! Only five flight so far...

Have to check out my VG (too stiff since I changed uprights) and also repack the chute. And the stinger elastic has gone.

Sun, 25 Apr 2004 14:59:54 GMT

Forgot to add a little flight at Easter: good height, basically a 3 thermal flight though, over to Sacre Monte becuase there was a snow storm towards Sette Termine and Lema, then over home, back to Sasso, up to 1800m. At this point Campo dei Fiori started to produce a rain storm, I headed out over home again, and came into land because it started looking a bit heavy. 1h36min.

Alpine accidents

Sun, 25 Apr 2004 10:41:28 GMT

There's been some discussion on some rather shocking looking stats concerning alpine acidents in 2003. Putting aside the conspiracy theory that it's just a way of getting students for various magazine contributor's alpine flying courses ;-) I have of course my own opinion...

Just to remind you, I'm British, I learnt to fly a HG in the UK in the late '80s. I redid my entire course here in Italy in 1999, and fly mostly "foothills" 1200m high on the southern edge of the alps in Northern Italy. Flying is seriously different here. I recall a trip to Annecy (rather similar to here) in my 2nd (British) season, and realise now I knew nothing about what flying in mountains meant.

First on the stats: in Italy, about 1/1000 members is killed each year, about the same for HG and PG, so pretty much the same as the BHPA stats. This is about double the level of sailplane pilots, and to put it into perspective is a bit more than three times for accidental death rate for an average person (i.e., something like 1/3,300 people are killed in a year through general accidental death), or about the same risk as driving 50,000km annually on Italian roads... A friend of mine fought an insurance case (PG accident, badly damaged ankle/foot) so we researched these figures pretty well. 50 deaths in 2003 in the alps doesn't really tell us much, since we don't know the population of pilots, but could be believable.

As for an analysis of the accident causes: none of the things commonly listed as "accident causes" are that - they are a situation a pilot got into through bad judgement. In my opinion, most days I fly, cloudsuck is there. Strong sink is nearly always predictable. Turbulence exists over the back of every mountain (but which side is the back?). An analysis of the accidents would be useful, to remind us all the banal kind of mistakes that lead to these incidents. But turbulence, sink and wind are not causes of accidents. We always fly with some of the these elements - indeed, we rely on them.

Second: is flying in the alps more dangerous than the UK? In my opinion, if you know when to fly, NO. Definitely not. I would say my 40hours/year here are in fact safer than when I flew in the UK, sometimes in marginal conditions because of desperation with my "addicition" - getting just half the airtime per year. Many of the classic problems faced in the UK - flying low to the ground in windy conditions springs to mind - are not faced on the right days in the Alps. The question is, which are the right days?

The answer is quite simple - ones without wind. Or put differently, windy days in the Alps are never safe days. And you can pretty much work out when these are, especially given the abundance of information on the web (my main two sources for here: pressure difference across the alps (equals wind speed and turbulence) http://www.soaringwetter.ch/sg/adiff.html, and a specialised forecast for pilots again from Sitwzerland http://www.meteosvizzera.ch/it/Professione/Aviazione/vololibero.shtml; sorry, they are in Italian and German...). A statistic: I fly about 30 to 35 flights a year, mostly at weekends, and maybe only once or twice a year do I go out to fly and return home without doing so (compare that to a UK pilot's parawaiting stats). It is remarkably simple these days to forecast which days will be good ones.

Wind in the Alps is a killer, causes massive turbulence, and a pilot who is not used to turbulence will find the going scary and possibily fatal. My last flight here wasn't that exceptional for the spring, but I still registered +5/-8m/s on my vario. I landed when I saw a developing storm 6km away (over a mountain I just flew past 45mins before), I was at 1800m (1500m agl) and decided it was getting a bit too good (I spiraled down from 700m agl when the following 10km glide had only lost me 600m). It's this kind of decision making that keeps you out of the danger.

At 6pm the same day (I took off at 2.30pm, landed just after 4pm) there were PGs at 2000m over our club. And no danger in sight. A wonderful flight for a load of pilots who waited out for smooth evening air.

Typical mistakes by lowland pilots who don't have alpine knowledge:

- thinking they need wind. The only wind you need in the alps is thermal generated, and it can still be very strong.

- thinking they need to fly early: in fact superb flights can be had at 7pm. Don't fly at 2pm unless you have got the experience and are completely on top of your wing.

- not being prepared for the exposure: suddenly ending up 2000m (or more) AGL can freak you out. Be prepared, know where you want to go, know how to get down.

- XC: mountain XC has a high exposure level; again, psychologically, you can get freaked out when you are 30km from home, alone on a mountain.

- not realising that a cloud can go from +4 to +8 in a matter of seconds. On a PG (I very occasionally fly one) I never go closer than 300m, and even on my HG I only go near CB on benign, stable days.

- reading XC Mag too much: sites like St Andre and Laragne are superb XC sites for very experienced pilots, but very strong - valley winds, strong thermals. There are plenty of lesser sites offering great conditions. Or fly very late. Or both. Note Steve Pearson's and Gerard Thevenot's comments at the bottom of the XCMag web article: http://www.xcmag.com/Spinner/read/article.cfm?id=1134, as they point out it's not the conditions that are the problem.

There are lots of small things too: All the classic problems of new sites also mean that danger is there. Of course there is obvious stuff like valley winds (so landings aren't in the direction you think they will be) etc to consider.

It's ironic, but most of my fellow Italian pilots won't ridgesoar. They think top landings are for expert gurus only. They won't fly close to the hill. They prefer nil-wind landings (British HG pilots usually dread them, since they top land in wind 95% of the time). This is only because they don't have that experience... it's all relative. You can come to the Alps and fly safely, but you need a different reference set. You can get that safely through a guided course, or going regularly to a club-based site (from this perspective, Laragne and St Andre are good) and taking local advice seriously.

Hanging around

Sun, 28 Mar 2004 19:09:37 GMT

First decent spring day to fall on a weekend. The forecast looked OK except base was likely to be a bit low, as air was humid.

Got to the club at 1pm to find the navetta loaded already with 9 hg's... and I didn't have the right boots for the mud on top of Nudo so back to the house and then the 2pm minibus up. Finally took off at 3.25 into the bad part of a cycle, worked around to Nudo but it was quite broken and didn't get anything good until I got over Nudo TO and then a slow 1.5 - 2 m to 1600m. Decided to head forward as it was quite bumpy, by this time it was already clear I was underdressed for the cold.

Over to Sasso quite high, leave at 1350m for Picutz, and get there to find Erik coming back from Cardana, slowly, quite low. I continue but turn back and follow him to Sasso, but I get the lee thermal from Picutz and climb up to 1100m again in +1. Decide to return to Nudo, but I get a good climb on the east spur of Sasso out to 1650m, so go south again, this time cruise through Picutz at 1350m, and the clouds over Cardana look good. Indeed, I get +2 to over 1500m there a couple of times, head out over Bogno, Besozzo Sup and generally float around for over 20mins before deciding I'm getting real cold now and head for home.

Almost screwed up the landing since I figured it was switching, but when I came in for a west wind, there wasn't much and it even seemed to have swung NW... my eyes were streaming from the cold wind, I was a bit fast, missed an upright... but got it 3rd or 4th attempt. In the end just had to time the flare right, push real hard - and every came good. Next time I think I'll just come in for a South landing unless it is consistently West. 1h25m, remember another layer next time.

First 2004 flight

Sun, 21 Mar 2004 18:27:39 GMT

Spring is late here and also the weekends have seen the worst weather. Today wasn't good, overdeveloped but actually with some sun coming through occasionally. Usually I wouldn't have bothered but since I hadn't flown since November - even a top to bottom was worthwhile.

Arrived just in time to get the minibus up - four HG's. Nudo TO was a bit muddy but I got rigged quick enough, double check everything and take off into what looks like bouyant air - most of the PG's seem to be hanging around in weak lift. After a short climb with everyone above the Brusciatta, I guess that the dynamic lift round in front of Nudo will work, and round I go. Everyone catches on and we have fun in +1 to +2 up to cb about 250m above TO. After a couple of "speed runs" to get a feel for the glider's handling with VG on, I try to cross over to Colonna but I would get there real low, so turn around. Back to Nudo, up to the summit again, and then cb comes down and the peak goes in the cloud. Time to head for Sasso; it's buoyant there too and even 2.5m up - I cruise out after a PG who's heading for Picutz, I get beyond Sangiano and I'm still at 900m: I decide to head back for Nudo, VG on full at best glide, I lose about 200m for a long glide (4km?) before arriving back at Sasso and after climbing in weak lift I get back up to the restaurant, head out and wind down to land for a bit over an hour's flight. Nice flight, beautiful views when you have to fly low over the wooded mountainsides.

How to use your Garmin GPS

Sat, 21 Feb 2004 13:07:12 GMT

For touring around, at least. Mine's an eTrex Vista, this is how I use it:

First get some decent software. I use SeeYou, but there are others. Make sure you get 3-D views etc - that's what you want it for, to see yourself spiraling up in some great thermal.

Then set your waypoints to be meaningful landmarks for you - LZ's, take off points, your next XC distance target, mountain peaks. Digitise them and get them onto the GPS. Don't load 100's otherwise you'll have a hell of a job selecting them in the air... give them meaningful names, too, not just "102AZX".

Make sure you have the track set to a level that will work for you. I guess you have around a 10,000 point memory, so either set it for a few seconds (3 or 4) or just auto (that's what I use for my eTrex Vista). On auto 3 hours of XC seems to be around 5,000 points.

Waypoints: put LZs in at their mean sea level (MSL) height (or more correctly WGS84 ellipsoidal height, there can be quite a difference in some places). I fly mountainous areas, so I put my other waypoints mostly as peaks, so again I use MSL. This means that when I make a valley crossing to a peak, I have the glide angle required to reach that peak. I guess that for flying in the plains, one would add a standard margin above the way point but I don't have that experience.

I use the map display as a thermal tracker, so I set the zoom to be 120m or so, then I can see the 360's - and judge if I fall out of the back, wind direction, drift, etc. Turn off the "snap to roads" so the display is normal. I set the map display so up screen is the direction I fly (in other words, the screen turns if I do). This seems much more natural - it is a flight instrument, not a map.

For XC flight, I switch to the "trip computer" display, which I have set up with the most meaningful fields: ground speed, glide angle, glide angle to destination, altitude, time to destination, distance to destination, destination name, etc. I can't remember all, but skip through the choice list and you'll get the idea. I use the glide angle to destination to decide if I go on glide as I'm climbing in a thermal (I also have this displayed on the map screen), and to judge if I am winning or losing on the glide.

In flight I generally choose my next waypoint depending upon the conditions, clouds, etc. This means its easier to use the favourites list for the waypoints, or choose from the "nearest" function. You need some practice to do this. The 76S will be better than the eTrex because the buttons are bigger.

Make sure you have it working, the memory clean, and the track recording, during your pre-flight check. Then after you land, stop the track and then switch off. When I get home, I download via G7toWin (even though SeeYou can read directly) and save the IGC file. SeeYou is then able to do all the stats (flight time, etc) automatically and you have nothing else to do but sit back in an armchair and enjoy your flight...

First posted by me here on the Oz forum, Feb 2004

PGing again

Sun, 12 Oct 2003 18:12:54 GMT

Yesterday I missed a pretty epic autumn day. Wasn't sure today would be HG or PG, in the end it was overcast this morning so I decided for the latter. Off to the training field and alone did a couple of take offs which went fine.

Took off at 3pm from Nudo: down to the Brusciatta and into a thermal and up quite fast to around 1300m (no altimeter, I didn't get the GPS mounting sorted out yet). Over to Nudo and up high, in fact the lift was pretty strong and I didn't fancy too much getting under the Cu's. Manfred was flying around in a Swift, sharing a thermal wasn't particularly comfortable. All in all, easy to get up and around, not too much wind.

Flew around there a bit and then over into the valley to land in 4 strada. I'm still a bit nervous on landing, a bit too much pendulum and I seem to come down, rather than forward. But it's all so slow that it's really not an issue.

2003, what sort of year?

Tue, 30 Sep 2003 19:32:58 GMT

Time to look back on the year a bit. The season is not really over, but the major flights are. All the more so since Sasso di Ferro is closed for the time being.

January saw a couple of short flights, still getting used to the Litesport, certainly the 2nd flight was limited because I was still getting the handling sorted.

February: great start on the 1st with a flight to San Martino, 1700m, effortless but freezing. But then I nearly hit a warehouse doing 200m in ground effect, bent two ZOOM uprights and bruised my ribs.

That had me not using the HG 'till March, because I needed two uprights (plus we went skiing, etc.). I had a good preparatory flight, then a shortish flight with another whack - more due to conditions than glider, I think. Nevertheless, by now I was beginning as usual to get anxious for the year's big flight(s).

Which of course came in April, on the 13th everything comes good and I go to Tamaro and back, at last. 2h45 makes it also my longest time in the air, as well as distance (75km OR). Basically it was technically straightforward - exposure at 2400m under a large Cu over the Swiss border, alone, was more the issue. Five days later I do 50km with ceiling at 1850 (blue?), then a few days later anotehr 47km OR and a 35km triangle over in front, out to Bogno. Four flights each of >2hrs. Excellent.

May saw us in Annecy, but the weather was crap, and so was the flying. Felt I did OK on the last day when all the other HGs went down except me and Phil. Got three decent flights in at Laveno, of course, including getting out over Besozzo (first time).

June was still OK - can be dodgy, and although Tamaro never seemed on (for me) I had some good ones, nearly three hours one day, going everywhere (local). July had me going out a bit further, but my best opportunity was spoilt by feeling sick over Sette Termine at >2000m. Things never got that good again, I didn't fly at all through August due to holidays 8-( and so things as they are today with a couple of decent flights in September; of course the day (6th) I was getting back into it (after the six week break) I just did Sette Termine and Cardana, everyone else did Monte Generoso, Cento Valle etc...

On the Litesport then, 34h14min flying for 24 flights, with another 2h50 on the PG (3 flights so far), a Relax, and a Target. I might just scrape 40 hours this year, last year was 43 flights for 41h40; this year a better flight to time ratio.

Personal bests: yes, this year, like each one so far, was a step forward. The glider is great, but here people can't quite understand why I bought it. The performance increase was really noticeable. The flying style I like. Landings great, although approach is very flat.

Hanging around

Sun, 21 Sep 2003 18:47:31 GMT

More literally than figuratively. Not such a bad flight considering it was pretty heavily inverted at 1400m or so. Off at 3pm, after it started to break through, climbed out OK with Ivan and his daughter - and then they seemed to head down. I went up to 1350, across to Nudo, and after a short wait got to 1580m. Made it to Colonna and then back to Sasso low - but that was fun - and then out again. The SW breeze had come in as forecast, and it was difficult to progress out front. Half the guys who were rigging when I left were already packed up and gone... nearly 2 hours flying.

PG deploys silk and goes down

Tue, 16 Sep 2003 19:15:58 GMT

Dave managed to persuade Sara to look after the kids, Ciska was away. We steal off a bit late but by 3 I'm ready to go. Off the ramp into an elevator, smooth though and two 360's later I was whooping 50m over Dave's head as he stuffed battens. Up I go to the usual 1350m or so and across to the Brusciatta.

2/3rds of the way there, and I see what looks like a PG under an emergency parachute, the coloured one mostly deflated and rotating round. Getting closer indeed it is, someone under a white pull-down-apex. Now, the zone under Monte Nudo is all trees, mostly chestnut and beech, on various slopes, some very steep (cliffs and gullies, in fact). There aren't really any paths visible from the air, and few clearings. So whichever way this one went, it was a tree landing of sorts, with maybe a 50m drop if it went wrong. In the end it drifted towards me (west) and just cleared the main spine coming down from the Nudo take off, onto the steeper side of the Brusciatta in a bowl. It then swirled around in a "nice" vortex, just remaining away from the slope until finally it headed into the trees, the emergency chute deflating quickly and then both bags of washing entering rather faster as the pilot obviously cascaded a bit between two trees rather than hitting one crown or another. Finally the canopies appeared to catch and all went still.

I was already pulling in, I was probably 500m away when this happened, so I headed over fast and started circling above looking for movement (none). Couldn't see the pilot. No one else came to look. No people running down from take off. I got maybe down to 100m overhead then I decided to head up the ridge and try and see what people at take off were doing. I just went straight up, lift was ample, and came over them about 30m. Despite my waving, no one moved... headed back down the ridge again, into the bowl and this time decide I have to get low. Again nothing.

I take my radio out, I had it with me but idiotically not turned on, no headset (never again). I'm in a +2m/s up trying to dial in the preset frequencies (at least those were set), calling "prova radio prova radio". Finally I pick up someone asking for information on the deployment, plus someone replying they didn't know exactly where it was, maybe they were on Sasso di Ferro. I manage to get in, but probably I sounded rather fraught, I'm spinning with one hand on the control bar, the other hand shoving the radio up the inside of my helmet trying to speak and listen. (In addition I'd forgotten to rotate the dingle-dangle on the hang point, so I had rather stiff roll response.)

I give the position best I can, explain I can't see the pilot nor any movement, and by the time that is over I've climbed - incidentally - 300m and I'm much too high, over 1300m. And starting to feel sick... I head off out into the valley, get down near 1000m and make one really low pass through the rather turbulent bowl. Again nothing.

At this point I consider going back to the club - but for what? Maybe better to wait here, if someone heads down from TO, at least I could guide them. But there's no movement. And no one else is coming in for a look...

So I try and climb. The Brusciatta is too rough so I leave and head round to Nudo, low. Not any better there, cycle has changed, I head back and across to Sasso. But I'm nearly vomiting now... cinnarizine is obviously crap. After fighting at Sasso for a bit, two choppers come in so I decide to land like everyone else. ('Course I have to search for sink to get down from 900m to 250m in the LZ.)

I'm feeling sick, and psychologically disturbed by the deployment. But two hours later the pilot is in the landing field explaining her voluntary decision to deploy due to a lack of control (entangled lines?). She looks and sounds in a better state than me... What a gamble. 100m further out in the bowl and she landed on a 100m cliff... crazy.

It's not a "reserve" chute. It's an emergency chute. Did she think she would have more control on the emergency chute vs. the PG with tangled lines?

Lessons for me:

always put the headset on. Tune to the most common frequency, or that of your buddies. Maybe leave radio on.
don't expect my fellow club members to chase after me and rescue me.
get the clubhouse telephone number
stick to the airsick drugs I know
revise better communication protocol for emergencies
to get position, fly over and press "mark" on the GPS. The position screen will appear on the Garmin and then I can radio in the exact coordinate.

But let's hope I don't see another deployment for a while.

Dave of course went over 2 grand and flew 2 hours. We've still never managed a flight together.

Finally, flight Saturday 6th

Sun, 07 Sep 2003 07:43:38 GMT

Finally weather and weekend come together. Despite poor forecast, by midday it looks very good. By 2h15 I'm rigged and at the Laveno launch, only Andrea crash and another guy there when I rigged. Off into a sink cycle, which I survive and pick up a +3-4 thermal a litle out in front, up to 1400m and Brusciatta. Another series of climbs to around 1800m at Nudo, then over to Colonna. I'm staying high, 1600m around there, but on the glides I'm feeling out the glider a bit, six weeks since I've flown.

Up to 2100m with a PG (well, he climbed through me at 2100m... so it was weak there) and then decide to head for Sette Termine, 8km away. I notice my GPS doesn't work any more; oh well, this was intended to be an easy day out, and I'm not dropping too fast. There's a PG already on route, I follow him off to the side, his glide is surprisingly good. Two sailplanes mark that the cloud at Sette Termine is working, I enter at 1600m and work the +2.5-3 up to 2100, decide to head back. probably 40mins into the flight now.

Arrive at San Martino high (1600m) and over Colonna there's a big thermal, +4m, I take it 2200m and there's a few PGs, two HGs and a couple of sailplanes in it too. I head south, first for Forte Orino but change my mind since there's only a PG on the wrong side going down, so I just cruise over Gemonio etc back home. I try the GPS and it turns back on... amazing glide angles displayed. Get over the house at 1400m, but there hasn't been a hint of a thermal (I'm probably too high) and I head for Sasso to arrive easily high enough to get up. Buoyant everywhere, of course, I buzz the restaurant, ente a 2.5m up thermal and loop up a couple of 100m in about two 360's...

But I'm tired and a bit sore, so I head in to land, lose my height, come in nice, wind switching a bit and flare slightly late so drop the A-frame. Very nice flight but with the performance I can get from this wing I can get pretty anxious: my physical and mental condition doesn't meet the challenge.

Armchair flying

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 18:25:35 GMT

20 July, hang glider out of action (more on that another day) so decide it's time for an evening flight on the PG.

Missed my morning practice session, so turn up at 3.30 at the LZ and ask Craig to see me through a couple of test launches. Those go OK, I decide that I can give the real thing a go; turns out we'll go to Nudo, Erik's there as well as Craig. Andrea says he'll see me off but in the end says to me "just get Erik to keep a look out". What with that and the flat radio battery... well, wasn't much supervision anyway... got too high for that.

Erik indeed sees me off at 5.25pm, I wasn't sure it was a good one and sat down too quickly but he said it was fine. Then off to the Brusciatta, where I slowly find a thermal and climb out to maybe 1200m or so, enough to get back over launch. Already feel satisfied with that but there's more to come. Looks like the bowl is working all the way round to the summit, so round I go, soaring the thermal dynamic lift off the face, round in front of the summit but as high as the "tabellone". After a while I cruise round again to the Brusciatta, again well over TO height.

At the "Y", it's working again, and my Sonic vario starts to scream... turn hard, lean hard, and up up up I go. I get to the inversion layer, which turns out to be 1700m (no altimeter, that was Craig and Erik's high point too, next time I'll take the GPS 12 to give me that and ground speed) and then after floating around there in the abundant lift go for Sasso. Get there high and climb up and down some, never really getting much below the TO there, once up to 1400m or so. Climb up with both Craig and Erik: what a crack to be able to shout to the other pilot in a thermal! Fun...

After an hour or so I decide that it's time to head out, and get down. However, the PCL landing field isn't the easiest in an Easterly, and there are houses and a ditch to slalom; I get a bit nervous, go real short - again - and end up dropping the last two metres and doing a PDL or whatever it's called. Well, roll over on the ground, chute over my head and crash. But there's no aluminium to break... So all goes well, I'm down, another 1h15 minutes PG airtime, went higher than Craig will get for years back in the UK, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

BTW, the Edel Atlas did everything I could want at this moment - climbed great, turned well, trusty and stable. Don't think I've been ripped off there.

12 July, enjoy. No sick.

Sun, 13 Jul 2003 14:46:55 GMT

Typical good July day, small Cu's with CB at around 1600m, rough in the mountains and cool in the plains; visibility pretty poor, maybe 2km. Out yesterday, 2.30 TO. Heavy... up fast 4up with Panino over at East end of Sasso, then out for a cloud over Cittiglio - no dice, head for Nudo summit, and hit a whale of a thermal and climb up with Andrea Crash to 1550m, nearly CB. Head out back over Cittiglio and Gemonio but again it's not working well and take refuge back on Sasso. After a few climbs off to Gemonio again - that's were the clouds are - and hit zero, but I'm committed now and the only escape is Picutz. Get down to 850 before it picks up, and climb out to 1600m.

From here the road is clear and I head for Cardana, going over at 1200 and now it's bouyant: head over to Monvalle and climb up 350m to about 1375m, head for Bogno. Small four seater aeroplane goes under me about 200m below as I thermal up; I'm in the aerobatics box so for a moment I thought he was going start his show but instead he heads over to the other side of the lake.

Decide I can't get further without risking landing out, so I head back. Make it to Sasso easily (well, 600m) and climb out to 1550m again, head off this time for Reno and the lake. Float around, pick the buoyant air, testing the glide (seems to glide badly with VG 2/3rds on, but great with full on) and checking out the swimming pools a km below.

Back to the club were I get setup a bit wrong, enter too low and have to slalom some trees to get into the LZ... not good, but the landing itself fine, run a bit but easy enough. 2h20mins, 25km trig again, but who cares...

Airsick again...

Sun, 13 Jul 2003 10:37:16 GMT

6th July looks good and Dave and I go off for what should be a good one. TO a bit late (3ish) though in retrospect probably wasn't a bad thing - it's getting warm here, and the thermals last well into the evening now. It's rock and roll in the early afternoon.

I'm off into good lift and swoop take off for the grockels' videos. Cross to the Brusciatta lowish, and then track round at ridge height to Nudo summit (as Erik says, why bother climbing first when it's like this?). Up in rough 3up to 1600m but there's a big cloud built up SW of the summit, so I leave to move out to work the lift under it: that's smoother and at 2150 leave for Pian, there's no cloud over San Martino and anyway I'm high.

There's a sailplane 2km to the NNE of Pian working the wispy cloud, I join him on the inside at 1850 (about 100m below him) and try to keep the angular velocity equal; but he's badly centred and in the end I go tighter and climb through. At 2100m I leave, still below CB but I'm high enough for Sette Termine, I'm 2km of the 6km crossing anyway. I head for another cloud about 1km W of Sette Termine, I'm not sure it's going to work because at Lema a Cumulus Congestus has just blasted off with a clear NW behind it (I'm arriving from the South), and to the West it's seems to be blowing East but there are no clouds over Sette Termine...

I get under the cloud, a bit relieved, and it's working. Ironically, I'm looking 2km down into the valley below for landing spots... Anxiety attack? You bet. What to do? I've just completed a 15:1 glide across the valley and arrived at a working cloud at 1850m, I'll take the cloud to 2300m... what am I worried about?

My stomach. Yes, I'm feeling cold, sick, and I can't concentrate. I can't work out which way to fly, Sette Termine summit? Or Lema, more than 8km away? Eventually I force myself to leave north, but after a km I turn back (seeing a sailplane scratching at Lema didn't help, but in fact the cumulus capping Lema to Tamaro looked quite threatening... I literally didn't have the stomach for it).

My anxiety driven search for landing field is revealed as just that when I arrive back at San Martino at 1700m (enough to glide from Sette Termine back to the club without turning, therefore). I abandon a rough 2up at Colonna and cross to Nudo, and get a 4up to 1800m. I spot Dave above me (on his dual, alone) heading for Campo so go after him, but he's just playing around and here there's a stiff southerly, so I also quit half way after I find that I'm not making the required 10:1 glide. Back to Nudo and I get low at the Brusciatta (900m) before I pick up a thermal halfway to Sasso and climb out to 1650; I head off to Cardana, following a line that seems to work and get down below 1000m but get a nice thermal over my house. At 1350m, head off SE towards Besozzo, get over Craig's house (he's already back and sees me :-) before drifing back to the club and landing.

It turns out to be a 36km triangle, over two hours in the air. But I'm annoyed I feel sick again; must be taking the drugs too late. And my enjoyment and concentration in the first hour is killed by that.

Sun, 29 Jun 2003 14:21:25 GMT

This weekend no flying but last week shortish flight (1h15) where I struggled against the inversion layer at 1500m. Finally gave up because I started feeling queasy, maybe the CamelBak in flight is not such a great idea (but just check out where this guy went on the same day, 22 June...)

Craig made it to 2000m, and Erik to Sette Termine and back - me just to San Martino and over Cardana (yeah just a triangle a touch short of 25km, that counts as routine now). I was a bit philisophical learning that two para's made it Graddicioli and back...

Monday, not Sunday... more of the same

Tue, 10 Jun 2003 10:09:11 GMT

Bank holiday Monday, just as well since it was a very nice day (let's give it 8/10).

I arrived at TO at 1pm to find a few keen Germans and a Swiss guy rather disappointed with the conditions (it was too early). I was off at 2pm, up and out quite quickly, over to Nudo to hang around for Craig. Max and Cristian don't make it... but for me it was a fairly typical start. By now I was up at 1500m before I got low over Nudo TO and then picked up a nice thermal. We got out quite high in the end, but this was now an hour into the flight, and my plans to fly to Tamaro (it had looked that good) were obviously out the window.

Leaving West of Nudo TO at nearly 2000m, I head for Colonna but it's sinking... I arrive at 1400m, just an 8:1 glide. I scrape and get under the summit before climbing out, then head for a cloud towards Pian - dissapates before I get there. Back to San Martino where I find the other two La Mouettes have gone off to Val Ganna - good decision, the cloud is building there. I get high again, CB at 2000m, then head for Sette Termine, but half way I chicken out because the glide isn't great and there aren't any good clouds. One of the La Mouettes is coming back, low.

Again up to 1800, out over Cuvio, trying to catch some small clouds, but I can't get enough upwind, so I retreat back to Nudo. On the way, get a good one, up to 1800m, and since I'm a km or so out I head for Campo dei Fiori. I make it OK and arrive at 1400m or so, along to the observatory, but the clouds either are out in front or behind the ridge: it's not working well. Back to Forte Orino, climb a bit to 1300m and go... circle twice in weak lift drifting north and the strategy works, I arrive at Nudo at 900m. Glide over the flanks of Nudo back to Sasso, climb up and the usual uncoordinated attempts at wing-overs over the restaurant.

Wind myself down behind Picurtz, it's a 2h53min flight, but I'm feeling in good shape, apart from a tad hungry and slightly queasy stomach. 30km FAI triangle, just by chance, but I won't be submitting any speed claims...

Nice clouds, but thunder storm comes in

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 19:59:29 GMT

Took off late today, there was always a chance of thunder storms but the clouds looked just too good. Away at 3.30pm, nice and bouyant and after climbing to CB over Sasso (1400m) I moved out under the rather dense Cu's in front. The one over Picutz disappered as I got there, and I just didn't want to go back and there was a nice one out over Cardana so even though I was getting low (900m) I went for it, carefully. Gradually pulled into 1-up, then saw some birds soaring high so went further south to them, up to CB again. A goodish Cu over Gemonio, under that but it wasn't working to strong: but then the Cu over Mottarone was becoming CNimbus so I headed back to the club, wound down.

Landing: NE (a first!) into a light wind, came in tree height in the SE corner and took 2/3rds of the field, great flare though.

More of the same.

Sun, 01 Jun 2003 18:19:01 GMT

Just begins to show my blase' attitude now with these local flights: 24th May I was off and away quite fast up to 1450m over Sasso, over to Nudo and 1st thermal up to nearly CB at 2250m. Straight to Pian - 1800m - and not finding much I went for San Martino picking up a bit of height north of Colonna. At S. Martino I turned at 1650m and just turned for Nudo, where back up to 2070m and across to Forte Orino, picking a bit of a thermal on the away, unusually. I arrived high enough, but it wasn't booming and after going a bit down the ridge, back to Forte Orino which I left at just under 1600m. This was easily high enough to get back to Nudo, getting my thermal at 1350m and back up to 1850m, along the Pizzione and across the restaurant at a bit over 1500m Off to Cardana, which I reach at 1150m after going to 1650m over Picutz, then back to the Club and land. 1h52 of fun.

31 May was also fun but shorter. I take off late (nearly 3.20) and it's looking quite tricky still. After 10mins I hook a great thermal to 1650m, unusual for Sasso, and cross to Nudo, but on the way there are people climbing south of the Brusciatta so I go to join them. I climb maybe a 100m then optimistically go for another glider and a cloud a kilometer south - which dissipates before I get there. I'm bored of the ridge so head again south (I'm still at 1300m) so I go SW towards Cittiglio and the higher glider, who keeps climbing. I get some +1 before a sailplane comes in 1km SSE below me and starts a circle, so I go for it. I get there, it's a weak core, and he heads off for Campo after just two 360's... I'm now below 1000m in zero lift, so I have to hang with it. Which is just as well, as 10mins later I'm at 1800m after some nice steady 2 to 3 up...

I head for Besozzo, I can see the pool now where Ciska and the kids are. There are even a few clouds on the way... at 1450m over Besozzo I turn back, head down the railway line and hit a weak thermal over Cardana (Robert is at home but doesn't see me). Back to Sasso and I arrive at the fire break, ridge-soar up till the thermals start and them dive the restaurant. Just my luck - a guy with his camera has me in focus so I hit a wing over and just keep it up as he pulls his friends out from under the portico... fun. 1h25 of it.

Sunday as usual

Mon, 19 May 2003 10:22:40 GMT

Another nice Sunday. Ceiling was 1750m or so (800m above TO) and I made the journey from Sasso to San Martino twice - second time was sweeter, thermal above the Chapel as high as I got all day. quite a lot of 3 to 5 m/s up, over two hours. Craig followed me across to Colonna the 2nd time, I zoomed over his sail at 80kph and took off for San Martino: he saw me climbing, followed and found nothing, landed in Cuvio. Bit unnecessary to add that I managed a 38km OR (if you count going twice round the circuit), two hours in the air. Nice landing, but I'm a bit wary still after the cross wind dump a few months ago.

Who wants a floater?

Sat, 10 May 2003 09:20:29 GMT

Rich had brought out a Target and persuaded Icaro to let me take out a Relax for him. My opinion, FWIW: the Relax was a very cute machine. The Target flops and looks like a PG on a frame. And flies a bit like one too. I only did one sled ride on each, but the Relax is a just what an aspiring pilot should look for - direct, easy to fly and land, very nice.

I met someone who reads my Blog!

Sat, 10 May 2003 09:17:40 GMT

Should say hello to the lads from Dublin who were suffering the same weather as us in France. Wow! They'd read my blog!

Must say we had good value for our money out there in the landing field. Hey guys, remember to flare. Three uprights in a day gets expensive, right?

A week in Annecy

Sat, 10 May 2003 09:14:25 GMT

5 days in Annecy and it wasn't awesome. Pity. Total flying: 3 top to bottoms, one 30 min scratching under an inversion layer, and one hour when I got 300m above TO - at least only me and Phil and a few paras made it, so given the conditions it was a good flight. But those awesome conditions just weren't there, blown away by South and East winds. Pity.

Another day in paradise

Tue, 22 Apr 2003 20:56:38 GMT

Well, another great day. Hey, whadya expect.

Got half way cross the lake then decided that 1) there was no where to land the other side and 2) it was a long haul back home anyway. So I turned back. Other than that it was a pretty unexpetced day, TO at 2:45, then cross to Nudo, hang at CB for Erik to climb up then he headed off to Colonna anyway, I went over to Campo dei Fiori, then back across, dolphin to San Martino, back to Sasso and out to 2000m before heading out. Coming back in to L. Mombello up 1400m again, it was only +1 but I figured that as a thermal junkie I had to take it. Just under two hours. Landing was a bit weird, NW, towards Sasso...