Aspen2 Glide ratio - checkin' the numbers

I launched from Mystic a little after 5:30pm today - the idea was to do a sleddie in really calm conditions and get a more accurate idea of my glide ratio. Over a 2.1km straight glide I got a glide ratio of 8.13:1 (slightly less than the overall sleddie ratio of 8.27:1) and a sink rate of 1.1 m/s (1.05 overall). I think the slightly better overall figures are a result of initially flying along the Marcus spur before turning to overfly the landing paddock for the 2km leg. Not quite the 8.7 as reported by the Gleitschirm magazine - or the more conservative 8.5+ on the Gradient website - but where they'd use really aerodynamic harnesses, speed arm, optimum flying weight, etc, etc I'm right on the top of the weight range, flying a harness with lots of back protection and stuffed with various odds and ends, and the wing has over 70hrs of Aussie sun on it... It's probably really not that bad. Anyway, it's a kickin' wing to fly and now I have a bit more of an idea of what a still air glide is. Dunno how useful that is really - I usually use a 5:1 glide when planning flights over tiger country and have had some long 12:1 glides on lifty lines... But any excuse to fly!!

Great winter flying

After the uncertainty of the weather forecast, watching for weather signs all the way to the launch (clouds, their shape and size, drift and direction of drift, wind in the trees, birds, smoke, other gliders, etc) it's alway hard to wipe the grin off your face when you finally come around a corner and see gliders circling above launch. "It's on!" you know, and now the race is to get up the hill and pick a good time to launch in to join the mob in the air.



Nath and I had those happy grins on our faces when we came around the corner and into sight of the paraglider launch above Bright today - and it wasn't long until we were set-up, checks done, and winging our way towards the clouds above us.

Cloudbase was around 1,650m, although it varied quite a lot depending on where you were. We flew over to Clearspot and towards the Porepunkah airfield a ways before turning towards Blackfellas. Looking up the valley was the most amazing view of the sun shining through a trough of clouds - fantasy-like colours and shapes!

I got low over Blackfellas but got a low save from a nice thermal that gave me enough height to fly back to Clearspot again (nath drifting along above me). It had been completely shaded over for a bit, but there were light bubbles drifting towards it so I headed in to give it a try. There was a thin thread of lift coming off the northernmost point, and after several minutes of weaving in and out of this a bubble big enough to turn in floated through and gave me the height I needed to make it back to Mystic.

The soaring day was nearly over so but after boating around the hill for a bit I noticed that the gentle northerly winds were ideal for top-landing. I've done a few of these over the last few years, but none that I've been really happy with. It's a bit tricky, as you need to lose height out the front until you are level or slighty below launch (depending on the ridge lift strength) before turning and flying downwind alongside a treeline - aiming below the left-hand side of the launch. As you get close the you get lifted up (hopefully) to launch height, keep flying towards the back left corner, then a quick right turn as you're getting close to the trees at the back of launch and you're down. If you mis-judge the wind or your speed or the lift you'll be too high to land or get blown into trees on your left or behind launch and if there's West in the wind there's an increased chance of collapses due to turbulence from the trees to the left of launch.

Anyway, conditions were good today and for the first time I nailed the approach, landing pretty much exactly where I like to take off from. Woohoo!!
Nath soared for a bit longer before we flew down to the landing paddock after just over 2hrs of playing with winter thermals.

I don't think our grins had slipped from when we'd first seen gliders in the air - it's goanna take an awful lot to wipe 'em off now!!!

Season change

Autum has arrived with a bang! Over the course of just one week the daily average temperature has almost halved, we've had rain, clouds, and some light snowfalls in the mountains!

Today the conditions looked like they might permit some ridge soaring from the hill out behind home so I headed up on a bike to check. A straight Southerly is best (but rare) as the main face of the hill generates a huge lift band way above and out the front of the hill but a SW (like today) should allow for some soaring near the top if it's strong enough.

I launched and soared up to a bit over 600m, which is not bad for a SW. I was flying with gloves and a ballaclava under my helmet but it was still pretty chilly. The cloud above blew away and the wind became too light for me to stay up so I landed up above the mud hut, however there was enough wind to ground-handle, so I ground-handled my way across the slope, up a gulley (some tense moments navigating between some of the big rocks and over a dead tree there), and back up to launch. Great practice for launches in tight & tricky places or conditions, and by the time I reached the top I was sweating and had removed a couple of layers!

Another cloud was approaching the hill and I launched again as the wind picked up - found the best beat to be from the top corner of the gulley above the little dam (above the mud hut) to the lighning-struck tree above the rock-brow pine plantation. Suprising, as this wasn't the steepest part of the hill, but I guess it's because it is a wide, smooth slope without trees and big rocks to disturb the airflow?
Anyway, as the wind dropped off again Nath was on his way up in the Landcruiser so I explored the (or lack of) further out and landed next to him on windsweeps to get a lift back up.

Nath set up and launched next (he's much better than me at scratching in light conditions) and flew around for a bit before slope landing down the hill a bit in the next lull. The truck makes for quick retrieves, you just bunch the wing up and stand in the back in all you flying kit. Jump out at the top, pull the wing up and you're away again!


Unfortunately the wind was just a bit too light to stay up. Nath landed a little ways down the slope and started ground-handling. It looked like fun so I flew down, landed next to him, and we 'walked' our wings back up the slope to the top. It was interesting 'flying' the wings through the turbulence behind some of the trees downwind - good active flying practice!
The wind never really picked up again, but we had fun trying to keep our wings in the air around the top of the hill. Eventually Nath relaunched and flew over windsweeps to land at the foot of the hill for some ground handling on the flats.

A fun day!