Southern Arizona Hang Glider AssociationLet`s flying Miller tomorrow?
Eric
Flying
Moderators:ioan, John Wolfe, aaroncromer, jlowery
Re: Flying
Works for me. We can take my truck if you like. What time do we meet?
ADDS 6k wind forecast says east to northeast all day, 5-10 at 11 AM, 5 or less at 5 PM. Dr. Jack forecasts a very high top of lift but (obviously) some OD potential to shut it down later on.
It should be good.
John
ADDS 6k wind forecast says east to northeast all day, 5-10 at 11 AM, 5 or less at 5 PM. Dr. Jack forecasts a very high top of lift but (obviously) some OD potential to shut it down later on.
It should be good.
John
Re: Flying
We're meeting at Eric's house at 7:30-8:00, we'll be in the Miller LZ around 9:30.
PG Flying Report for Miller /Sat.
Again, I'll keep it short and simple.
Launched at 11:20 a.m. into a light cycle with my new ProDesign-Thema (rated DHV 2, but only has one 2 rating). Very similar to my Firebird Hornet but faster and smaller, with a glide of 8.4-8.7.
Max speed with acceler. =32mph. Surface area is only 25.5 m2, vs 30.3 for the Hornet. Weight range --90/110kg (198-242#'s).
First impressions - fast w speed bar, moved around a liitle bit, but then it was a little rough out there. Can't wait to take it thru it's paces in smoother air.
Oh sorry, I got side tracked. Now about the flight - 15 min. sled right to the Lz. Found a little lift at the hill above the lz. The rest was sink. But it was still a good investment of 15 min.
Eric S, John L, and Eric ? all had Hg flights, and will report later.
Gunter
Launched at 11:20 a.m. into a light cycle with my new ProDesign-Thema (rated DHV 2, but only has one 2 rating). Very similar to my Firebird Hornet but faster and smaller, with a glide of 8.4-8.7.
Max speed with acceler. =32mph. Surface area is only 25.5 m2, vs 30.3 for the Hornet. Weight range --90/110kg (198-242#'s).
First impressions - fast w speed bar, moved around a liitle bit, but then it was a little rough out there. Can't wait to take it thru it's paces in smoother air.
Oh sorry, I got side tracked. Now about the flight - 15 min. sled right to the Lz. Found a little lift at the hill above the lz. The rest was sink. But it was still a good investment of 15 min.
Eric S, John L, and Eric ? all had Hg flights, and will report later.
Gunter
congrats on new wing
Congrats on the new wing. It sounds terrific- and it got you to the LZ much faster than your Hornet.Gunter wrote:15 min. sled right to the Lz. Found a little lift at the hill above the lz. The rest was sink. But it was still a good investment of 15 min.
Gunter
Miller Sat
The flight track for my Miller flight is on the Miller photo album.
Eric
Eric
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Guest
Technology
Pretty impressive flight Eric! Are you going to regale us with a brief narrative to go along with the vario printout (like where you were when you hit the 1200 fpm down and had the 5,000' altitude loss)? Now if we could just get your radio to work as well as your vario does there's no telling how far you could fly.
Re: Technology
Actually, Eric's radio has been working great lately.
The problem was that we didn't have a driver. So we heard him calling out that he was headed for Sonoita as he went OTB, but had to go back up to launch and retrieve the truck before going to retrieve him. I got to Sonoita and didn't find Eric, but received a cell phone call from the golf resort clubhouse where he was hanging out after landing.
John
The problem was that we didn't have a driver. So we heard him calling out that he was headed for Sonoita as he went OTB, but had to go back up to launch and retrieve the truck before going to retrieve him. I got to Sonoita and didn't find Eric, but received a cell phone call from the golf resort clubhouse where he was hanging out after landing.
John
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Guest
Miller flight to Green Valley
Sat June 24th
We, Eric Tucker, John Lowery and I met at my house rather late, around 0730. Jason showed up early 0630,he thought he missed us and drove home!
We did not have a driver so, we drove several vehicles to the lz as well as John and I in his Jeep. We found the predicted conditions in the LZ, south east 6 to 8 mph, light over cast sky.
Eric Tucker launched from the SE ramp in light wind conditions. He worked the hill side in front of the LZ some and landed there. I helped John Lowery launch, he got up right away. He was up and down like the NYSE in June. While I was assembling he flew over head,looked good to me!Ten minutes later, I launched my self and sunk into the canyon like every one before me. The east face was working and John was above soaring it. I jumped in and joined him, the lift was a little here and gone. I left this area and tried the switch backs above the water falls, some lift but again spotty and inconsistent. I climbed in a thermal in front of the north east launch and tracked it across the Reef and lost it. I glided towards the base of Carr peak sinking air forced me to fly back to the east face. I sunk like a stone all the way back to the east face! Finally I picked up a thermal that did not fade out with altitude and took it north west to the main spine and OTB at 12K. I radioed John and asked his position he was on the ground. I let him know I was OTB. I flew for several miles in this thermal drifting north west along the spine. Gunther drove John back up to launch. This altitude gave him a line of sight to communicate with me. I told him I was headed for Sonotia. A couple more thermals and a few glides and I was over the flats. I could glide to the new high school on 83, 3 to 4 miles south of Sonotia. To continue would most likly mean landing and soon. I had lost 5 thousand feet to get out of the Hills into the open and possible make my declared goal of Sonotia. As luck would have it I spoted a guy dragging a field and the dust was rising East North east on the surface. I found a thermal there and gained some altitude. My drift was back into the hills, after climbing some I tried another glide to the south west corner of Sonotia. This started to feel like a final glide and I was not ready to land. I returned to thermaling and drifted towards route 82 west of Sonotia, there were several fields on the side of the highway that looked easy to land in. I drifted over the highway at 7K msl , Wrightson loomed ahead. I cut north east to set up a good drift to the peak if I found a thermal. I found one in about five minutes and it took me over the rows of broken up hills of mountain rubble and up, up , up to the peak. The temperature dropped nicely. The view of the steep, switch backs along the south face as I closed with them, below the vertical rock dome that is Wrightson was spectactular. I was just above as I flew past the peak and north along the spine, the shear size of the canyon, Madera is hard to explain. The observatories on Hopkins across the canyon gave some perspective. I hit a good one on this the north end and climbed from 10,700 to 14K. This took me north west across the mouth of the canyon. The lift become stronger than I cared for. I worked to descent and avoid a large dark cloud dead ahead. I descended in several steps each time checking to see if I could maintain my new altitude. At 11K the air was more managable and I could glide safely on with out gaining altitude into the
cloud. I glided into Green valley,landing at Torres Blanca golf course.
I called John and gave him directions to Torres Blanca. I had landed right next to the club house, easy to recognize from the air. John met me there and we loaded up and drove to Tucson.
Eric
We, Eric Tucker, John Lowery and I met at my house rather late, around 0730. Jason showed up early 0630,he thought he missed us and drove home!
We did not have a driver so, we drove several vehicles to the lz as well as John and I in his Jeep. We found the predicted conditions in the LZ, south east 6 to 8 mph, light over cast sky.
Eric Tucker launched from the SE ramp in light wind conditions. He worked the hill side in front of the LZ some and landed there. I helped John Lowery launch, he got up right away. He was up and down like the NYSE in June. While I was assembling he flew over head,looked good to me!Ten minutes later, I launched my self and sunk into the canyon like every one before me. The east face was working and John was above soaring it. I jumped in and joined him, the lift was a little here and gone. I left this area and tried the switch backs above the water falls, some lift but again spotty and inconsistent. I climbed in a thermal in front of the north east launch and tracked it across the Reef and lost it. I glided towards the base of Carr peak sinking air forced me to fly back to the east face. I sunk like a stone all the way back to the east face! Finally I picked up a thermal that did not fade out with altitude and took it north west to the main spine and OTB at 12K. I radioed John and asked his position he was on the ground. I let him know I was OTB. I flew for several miles in this thermal drifting north west along the spine. Gunther drove John back up to launch. This altitude gave him a line of sight to communicate with me. I told him I was headed for Sonotia. A couple more thermals and a few glides and I was over the flats. I could glide to the new high school on 83, 3 to 4 miles south of Sonotia. To continue would most likly mean landing and soon. I had lost 5 thousand feet to get out of the Hills into the open and possible make my declared goal of Sonotia. As luck would have it I spoted a guy dragging a field and the dust was rising East North east on the surface. I found a thermal there and gained some altitude. My drift was back into the hills, after climbing some I tried another glide to the south west corner of Sonotia. This started to feel like a final glide and I was not ready to land. I returned to thermaling and drifted towards route 82 west of Sonotia, there were several fields on the side of the highway that looked easy to land in. I drifted over the highway at 7K msl , Wrightson loomed ahead. I cut north east to set up a good drift to the peak if I found a thermal. I found one in about five minutes and it took me over the rows of broken up hills of mountain rubble and up, up , up to the peak. The temperature dropped nicely. The view of the steep, switch backs along the south face as I closed with them, below the vertical rock dome that is Wrightson was spectactular. I was just above as I flew past the peak and north along the spine, the shear size of the canyon, Madera is hard to explain. The observatories on Hopkins across the canyon gave some perspective. I hit a good one on this the north end and climbed from 10,700 to 14K. This took me north west across the mouth of the canyon. The lift become stronger than I cared for. I worked to descent and avoid a large dark cloud dead ahead. I descended in several steps each time checking to see if I could maintain my new altitude. At 11K the air was more managable and I could glide safely on with out gaining altitude into the
cloud. I glided into Green valley,landing at Torres Blanca golf course.
I called John and gave him directions to Torres Blanca. I had landed right next to the club house, easy to recognize from the air. John met me there and we loaded up and drove to Tucson.
Eric