Bored?

A couple of weeks ago it snowed a bit and we got out to play in it. For the first time ever, we mixed aviation and snowboarding here at the flightpark. Check out the short video of the fun.


Speaking of the snow, check out this weather man freaking out on TV while giving the weather report. It may be time for a vacation.

And while we are looking at videos, check out this illusion.

I thought this was a cool shot. and this one too.

Here is Alex Trebek laughing at a contestant on Jeopardy.

Thanks to Scott for turning me on to wimp.com. Good stuff! He is one cool dude.

High Speed Pass

Scott took this video of me landing the other day. Sure was fun!

Yea mon

Last week, Ashley and I dropped the kids with Grandma and headed down to Jamaica to visit with Jesse. It was great to see him, not to mention getting away from the cold and enjoying sunrise swims in the ocean. This was my first time out of the country so experiencing the culture was my favorite part. We stayed with a family near Treasure Beach on the south part of the island, away from all the tourist attractions. Most of the population in this area are rasta "bredren". Even though I don't consider myself a rastafarian, I do embrace their beliefs and had great connections with so many.
One day, I was sitting on the porch sketching on a pad and a guy called Kingcheck came by selling fruit. He saw my sketch and asked if I could draw him. I chuckled and told him that I could try, but I usually don't draw people. Our accents made conversation difficult so we mostly sat while I sketched. After about 1o minutes I showed him the picture and he requested that I draw in the shoulders and add his name. I think he liked it. He walked over to his cart and pulled out a bag of peanuts and handed them to me. We each said thanks and he went on his way. I remember a really good feeling over me, and then I realized that now I really do work for peanuts.

Lookout! Snow and Ice

We had a few inches of snow last week here in north Georgia. The clouds finally moved out on Sunday (my birthday) so I went for a nice sledder over the ice covered trees.

Getting cold feet

I flew again yesterday and was able to hold on to a thermal that took me 1,400 over launch. Dean is back and flying again and climbed up with me. After getting a little cold I decided to trade my hard earned altitude for a bit of high speed fun. Buzzing by launch and then zig zagging my way down the mountain just over the trees was exhilarating. Down near the LZ I decided to do a run across the puddle. Jesse and Pablo were down there inviting me with cameras.

What an awesome flight! The air was so smooth which made for nice, predictable maneuvering. I love days like this. Check out the short video of the landing.

Flight on 1-19-10 (cows and pigs)

Tuesday was quite warm - 61 degrees -and I got excited about flying. Lucas and I went up to the Bandit launch setting up in a moderate SW cross but there were decent cycles. I launched first and found some lift just south of the ramp. The wind chopped it up but it was workable. I was excited as this was my first thermal in a long while; couple months maybe.

I got over the ridge after a bit then Lucas launched joining me. After working 15-20 minutes we had gained about 700 ft over launch and I went out in the valley. I guess the excitement of working that thermal overtook me and I found myself flying towards Trenton with the intention of going for a little XC flight. (from 700 over :)) After hitting a thin, useless piece of lift over the high school I picked the field across the highway to land in.

After landing, 3 or 4 police cars started whizzing around getting ready to intercept me as I walked toward the fence. The excitement built as more people stopped to ask if I was OK and if I had crashed. I assured them that I was fine as I began breaking down my glider.The landowner was really friendly and told me the cattle and 1 bull in the field might be curious about me; soon they were sniffing my glider and harness looking for my snack bar inside. After a while Bob and Scott showed up to get my glider and me out of the mud and back home.

It's funny how sometimes a 3 mile XC flight can be one of those that will stick in your head forever. Hang gliding life is incredible!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone. John C, Scott, James(staples) and I decided to brave the below freezing temps for a good old New Years Day flight. Scott, James and I took off towards the point in Chattanooga. Solid ridge lift made getting there and back a breeze. It was a lot of fun and I can't think if any better way to bring in a new decade than by a cold, scenic cross-county flight with my buds. Check out the flight in the video below. The LZ got a little switchy on us while landing, but everyone pulled it off with style.

More from the vault

My "anonymous" buddy Scott complained a bit about the fact that I don't post enough on the ole' blog. So, I decided to put up some more pics from the vault. The first one is of Scott and was taken just after his first successful paraglider tree landing. Be sure and check out his new blog at http://paint2fly.blogspot.com/Having fun with the shutter speed and a keychain light.The hard part is over...This is probably the grossest tatt I've ever seen (not mine)A shot from the new bird. Lift-off of a new rocket with my oldest son.Running under low, thick clouds on my way to the point in Chattanooga.Poor feller....

Come to a Comp!

I have posted a link to the U.S. competitions and dates to the right of this posts, check it out. To me, a hang gliding comp is the ultimate adventure. Flying XC over beautiful, foreign landscapes and then getting a ride back to your hotel is something else. Meeting the best pilots in the country/world and getting to fly with them is invaluable and can teach you more in one week than in a whole year of regular flying. I was very intimidated by comps before I attended my first one but if you are a decent spot lander, can aerotow well, and can keep your wits about you, you will do fine and fly safe. Most places I have flown in competition have more/larger cross-country LZ's than my local sites do. If you like XC flying, this is for you.

Let me know if you are interested in going with me, the more the merrier. Most of them are adding a sport class category. Here are a few shots I have taken during some competitions.
Lake in west Texas

Waiting for a tug in south Florida

Enjoying the view in southern Arizona

Chasing Jeff Obrien towards a nice storm in Texas.

Oil rigs in Texas

The Latest Scultpures

This flower grew to about 16 inches tall. I believe the stand is cherry and the petals are made of African Padauk. The center is blown glass. This piece started because I noticed the grain in the ambrosia maple looked like clouds. So I grooved out a piece of mahogany and put in cherry inlay. The border is made of zebrawood. Then I carved a couple of hanggliders out of mahogany and brushed on a gloss finish. I still don't feel like it is finished and may try to add a mountain range along the horizon line. What's hang gliding without mountains? All of my pieces are for sale. If you are interested, my email is hangwait@gmail.com. Custom orders are available.

New Wing

My new T2C arrived this week and it is beautiful. I took a sledder down off of the bandit launch Wednesday morning for the first flight. Everything went great and this is by far the best handling/perfoming glider I have ever flown. The roll response is immediate, unlike other toplesses that may take a few moments to respond to input.

Thursday I went back to the top around 1:30pm for another flight. There were light winds and a nice crowd on launch, maybe 8 - 10 gliders. I launched first and found a decent wintertime thermal that, once above the ridge, turned on quite nicely and took me 2,400 over launch. Then I cruised out into the valley to play with the VG and test the speed range of the new beast.

After playing a while I went back to find Lucas, Carl, Scott, and others in the air. Twirling around low in a thermal with Scott sure was fun. It reminded me of other "good ole days". After about an hour I was ready to land and headed down to the LZ. Landing the T2C was just as predictable as flying it. Again, the roll response stays good all the way through the stall. Here is a shot of me just breaking the horizon. Thanks to Lucas for taking these pictures. I plan on mounting a camera soon so keep looking. I found this picture yesterday on the web. It's me landing on Terry's T2. I believe Scott took it and think it's great, windsock and all.

T2 144 For Sale

This is a GREAT flying glider! Previously owned and well cared for by Terry Presley, it is now on loan to me while I wait on my new wing to arrive from Wills Wing. It is in excellent shape with 50-75 hours on it. The sail is still "crispy" when you roll it up. Asking price is $4,000 o.b.o. Leave a comment if you are interested. Thanks.

Flying 10-28-2009

I have been working on a new airplane lately and just finished it the other night. With no wind yesterday morning I decided to have the test flight. It flew great. The only adjustment needed was to dial down the expo on the elevator as it was way too touchy in the middle. It was designed for a 125 sized engine but I squeezed in a Saito 150 so the vertical performance is endless. I was able to hover it at about 1/3 throttle. Thanks to Scott for helping out. Here he is trying to cut his finger off.After wiping down the plane and getting it back home, I ate some lunch and went to set up Terry's glider for a flight. I am flying this wing as a loner until my new T2C arrives from Wills Wing. It should get here in about 2 more weeks and I can't wait.

I mounted my Nikon camera to a boom on my downtube and tried to capture the beauty of the fall leaves here at the flightpark. On the first flight I set up the camera, tested it, then took off for a 30+ minute flight taking a lot of pictures only to land and realize that the camera had turned itself off and I had NONE. I messed with the settings until I figured out the problem and then towed back up. This time the flight was quite a bit shorter but at least the camera worked.

It's hard to tell but I don't think the leaves have peaked here yet. I plan on flying again today and I want to try a mount on the wing where the side-wire goes in.

Back to Work

I have been busy this week carving and sanding wood in the shop. The past two weeks of hang gliding served as an inspiration I guess and I have been shaping some wings. The raffle that helped me get to Arizona was a great success. Big thanks to everyone who helped out. Congrats to James on winning the sculpture. A lot of people had kind words to say about my art and I even scored a few orders that I have almost filled. So my new plan is to make some hang-gliding sculptures and advertise here and on the Oz Report. Four of them are getting stain right now and I have ideas for others.

This one is about 1 foot tall. It is made of canarywood, mahogony, purple heart, and walnut.

This one is about 15 inches tall and is made of mahogony and ambrosia maple.

Tommorrow I start the rigid wing.....