Epic flight at Rampart 6/30/17

 Video link: 

https://youtu.be/16PPmsVSHB8

 

Or Vimeo

https://vimeo.com/224013128

 A great day at Rampart for us three lucky hangs (Colin, Robin and myself) to be able to fly when it's usually no LZ until mid August or September. Thanks to Alfredo for driving us, and Robin providing info on safe field for landing.  Winds were blowing at 5-10mph straight in at launch with occasional strong cycles. l launched after Robin and Collin at around 3pm and all of us climbed steadily to 1,000ft above launch quickly.  Thermals were strong and can reach up to 9,000 ft. My maximum altitude was 7,500ft, l think Robin hit 8,500ft (3-4k above launch ). Colin was above me most of the time too.  The view was spectacular with so much snow still on the mountains. 

Since our primary "Carrier Deck" LZ was still under water, we had to land at the Summit Tubing center parking lot. (Huge field next to I-90), thanks for Robin introduce this LZ to us. Landing was interesting with the mid-day strong switchy conditions from West ,  NNW, rotors, the gradient... etc. but all of us did fine. l think Colin had the best landing. 

My next destination will be Black Mtn.  Alfredo and l will be meeting in the morning at Maple Falls, WA market parking lot. Text or email us if you can join.

Enclosed is the video of Friday's epic flight at Rampart.

I used the GoPro two days in a roll at Dog Mtn before this Rampart flight and forgot to recharge the battery, so with only one bar before I launched, it kept shutting off during the landing.   I was doing normal aircraft DBF approach and turned on my final approx 500 ft above I-90 southbound lane. It sanked a lot right after I turned on my final and was having a hard time penetrating to where I wanted to land and ended up landing short (it was a soft landing). Since this was a huge field, if the wind came from west or NW the next time, I'll be turning on top of the the LZ's edge to avoid landing short.  I've added my landing approach pattern at the end of this video in hopes that the info will help other pilots have a safe landing for the next time. 

3.5 hrs flight at Dog Mt 6/29/17

Pilot Reports

7 hang pilots (Alfredo, Robin, Tim C, Eric O, Larry, Tina and myself)out for the day. We all launch late and winds did turn north after 8pm

2.5 hrs flight at Dog Mtn 6/28/17

Flew 2.5 hours today (6/28/17 Wed) with Alfredo.  We launched around 3:45PM and got up to 450ft above launch over the south bowl and made few trip to Elk. Nothing epic.

When I arrived Dog patch around 1:30pm , workers were busy adding concrete barriers at the LZ to keep out the vehicles (Photos below)  

2 hrs Tiger Mt 6/22/17

Travis, Tim and l had great flights today at Tiger. I launched first and flew for over two hours from 1 to 3:15pm (l think Tim and Travis got almost 2 hrs).  Thanks for the drive and retrieve guys!

During the first hour, we were only able to climb to 500 ft above and sometimes below launch. Then suddenly Tim and l got hooked up with a few monster thermals that propelled us to 2k above launch. I crossed the valley to the north ridge and l can easily made it to the hospital LZ.   I flew to the towers for the first time and was able to see Mt Si clearly and maybe even Rampart if I'd pushed myself a bit more. This was probably my best flight compared to all the previous Tiger flights.  Winds were strong , thermals punchy and mixed with big amounts of sinky air, so the three of us had the whole sky to ourselves most of the time. A lot of arm workout for over two hrs so I'm very tired.  Landing conditions were pretty much dead calm with a few thermal cycles that made for switchy wind.  All of us had great soft landings. 

6 hrs 2 flights at Dog 6/21/17

 My last flight with John Benedict. RIP John!

Dog was really good yesterday (6/21/17 Wednesday). I had two flights, maximum altitude over 4000ft and total of 6+ hours air time.
(photo enclosed).

1st flight:  Myself and Robin launched around noon in strong SW condition (13-15mph)  and flew for over 2 hrs. Made it to Elk and south bowl.  Approx 800 ft above launch. Eric O came out weeds whacking launch and LZ. Thanks Eric !

2nd flight:  Only myself and 4 paras (Dave B, Greg, John, Andrew).  I launched at 4:30pm and flew for almost 4 hours. The wind were still very strong out of west and NW.    I have the whole sky to myself for couple hours, went to Elk and radio towers got over 4000ft. The winds finally mellowed down and turned north so four paragliders were able to fly. Two paras joined me found an abandant lifts over Elk.   Awesome evening flight.

I left Dog at 10pm and will be flying Tiger Mtn today. ETA Tiger LZ in the morning. radio channel 158.400