10/31/07 Bingen

Bingen flight report.

Two hangs (John Coyier and I) flew Bingen today. It was pretty much dead calm all morning between 9:30 am to 1:30pm at the LZ and launch until around 1:30 when it picked up. It got strong pretty quickly like someone turn on a switch. We launched at 2pm with 15-18+mph winds and once we've reached above launch, we were flying backwards (John flying a brand new single surface ICARO RX2). I left the front ridge at 2,400ft (400ft above launch) as I was afraid that the condition would get even stronger. I think the winds at that altitude was blowing 25-30+mph and forecast was saying it'll get stronger later.. After about 30 to 40 mins, I saw John heading out to land so I've decided to follow as well. The winds at the LZ was strong but surprisingly, we didn't feel any rotors and had an easy soft touch down landing. There were a group of people flying a Styrofoam toy gliders at the center of the LZ so we had to land short to avoid them. We went back up to Courtney Rd to retrieve John's vehicle and it was still blowing strong, cranking up at 4:30pm. Also congratulations to John Coyier who had his first Bingen flight. Definitely, worth the hike to see the beautiful gorge again!

https://www.facebook.com/pdxrick.lai/posts/10155320108524285?pnref=story

4 hours 10/29/17 Cliffside

Three hangs ( Rob Andrews, Rick Weber, myself) and about 20 paras flew Cliffside today. Forecast was inaccurate about the strong east wind, as it was light and smooth all day creating friendly conditions for hangs and paras. A few para students were doing sledders during the morning in calm winds and around 1:30pm few paras and birds showed us it turned on so we all punched off at around 2pm. Pretty soon the sky was filled with 3 hangs and 6-10 bags at the same time. It was quite challenging to get above launch during the first hour especially when the lift bend was narrow with lots of air traffic. Thermal and ridge lifts got a little better around 3:30pm but was still very light. Since the air was super smooth and buoyant , I decided to stay up till sunset. I landed at 6pm and flew for almost 4 hours with max altitude at 1,800ft. (800 ft above launch). I think a few paragliders made it to 2,000 + ft. Thanks to Rick W's friend Danny for being our driver. He is also currently taking hang lessons from John Matylonek at Kiwanda. As for tomorrow(Monday), since I've flown for several hours today I'll pass on the drive up to Saddle Mountain which isn't worthwhile for just a day trip. Cliffside's forecast looks good tomorrow, but it doesn't appear that anyone is interested to head out to Cliffside tomorrow so I'm heading back home tonight.

3 flights 5 hrs Cliffside 10/26 & 10/27, 2017

Video and pics from yesterday at Cliffside. 

https://youtu.be/bo4Mc4RaaGA

Pics: 

https://www.facebook.com/pdxrick.lai/posts/10155311193164285

Live on Facebook (Bad audio and video quality) : 

https://www.facebook.com/pdxrick.lai/videos/10155309420789285/

Two days at Cliffside (near Rufus,Oregon) 10/26 & 10/27
Youtube video link: https://youtu.be/bo4Mc4RaaGA
The hang pilots who attended: Gabe Dinu , Kory McEniry, Neil Clark, Alfredo Moreno, Ray Berger and myself. Approx 6 to 12 paras (Becca Lynn, Mark Sanzone and more......)

10/26/17 Report from Ray Berger:

Lots of wind yesterday, perfect for hang gliding. 3 hours, 10 minutes. Good spectator sport for the paragliders who didn't fly. Time for some to take hang gliding lessons so they can join in on the fun. Mark, Matt H.,George, and a couple others did fly earlier and didn't seem to bother them except maybe landing. I was looking at one while flying and he appeared to be flying backwards. Looked like fun, forgot they can do that. Reminded me of old days when we could sit in one place and do a ferris wheel with our hangs.
Some paraglider pilot was boat towing on the Columbia when I was setting up and was skied, looked like 3000.
I eventually made it east past John Day River and farm but never got much higher than wind vanes. Mark Sanzone and Matt earlier showed the way. What a great day. Thanks Rick for keeping the spirit alive. Ray

10/27/17
1st flight. 45mins
I launched at 12:30 after Gabe and a few paras in light conditions but there were a lot of solid thermals popping up. A number of bags and I had a great time coring up to 1800ft AGL. I headed to land after 45 mins later when I saw Alfredo arriving.

2nd flight one hour plus.
I was the last hang to launch at 5pm. Plenty of buoyant air all around with a few good thermals toward the end of the flight. Neil launched first at around 4:00pm followed by Gabe, Kory. Alfredo and l launched at around 5pm. The winds at the upper launch was about 10-13 mph east with nice ridge lifts, so most of us HGs and PGs were able to climbed 300-500 ft above launch. Alfredo and l decided to land as it was getting too dark after 6pm, overall it turned out being another great flying day for all of us. I'll post video and pics later.

Reminders for flying the coast

I've been asked by a few pilots regarding the launch condition yesterday at Oceanside,  as it wasn't enclosed in my video. I'm posting the raw footage here (link below) to reveal how my GoPro wasn't strapped down tight enough and due to the result with the angle dropping down during my launch it was not included in last night video. 

I launched at 11am with biwingle pilot Mike Canafix on site. The winds were approx 10-15 mph which was favorable for hangs but a bit strong for paras. It was manageable without any wire assist and there wasn't any wire slap after being airborne. There was plenty of widespread smooth lifts that kept on elevating making it a very joyful and easy flight going between Oceanside and Netart.  Whenever I fly the coast, things I pay special attention to: waves, tides, spectator at the beach,  changing of the wind direction, cloud development in the surrounding area..... etc.  The 6.7ft high tide was supposed to be around 2:45pm with 14ft high waves which is very high and some part of the beach could be completely under water but there was still room for landing before I left around 2pm. Many paragliders launched between 2 to 3pm and they said tides was going down fast. 

Also, there was a lot of dry beach at the south side enough for guaranteed safe landing.  The only downside landing down south is having to walk a long way back to the parking lot and packing up the glider at the beach instead of a grass field. However, those aren't issues for me since I enjoy walking and my kayak cart comes in handy.

Reminders for flying the coast:
1. Make sure there's enough room at the beach before launching.
2. Check for full visibility of LZ before launching.
3. If needing wire assistance -indicates condition is too strong, which I'll wait .
4. Always have a Plan B for landing if primary LZ is covered by tide or spectator....
5. Pay attention to the wind's strength and change of direction, as it's never fun landing with a strong cross wind on narrow beach.
6. If my phone have reception at launch, for the gloomy sky like yesterday I usually check the radar to make sure no rain squalls approaching  miles away before launching for safety precaution.
7. If l screwed up , share my mistakes so other can learn from it.
Perhaps other coastal pilots might have more safety tips to include.

Hope this info can help others.

Road trip suggestion: 

 

2 hrs High Tide & high surf day at Oceanside 10/22/17

 Video

The rain already over when I arrived launched at 10:00am this morning.  It was a bit strong for paraglider (approx 13-18mph SW) so l had the sky to myself for almost two hrs from 11 to 1pm.  Although high tide at 3pm, however due to the 12ft height waves the beach in front of the parking lot was getting smaller during my flight so I decided to land after almost two hours of air time.  I left parking lot at 2pm and saw two paragliders just launched.  My maximum altitude was 1000ft over launch. Not much head wind heading down to Superman launch and Happy Camp. The lifts were smooth so I was able to use Facebook live to posted videos during my flight.   

2 hours/ 2 flights at Dog Mt (Glenoma, WA) 10/15/17

9 hangs (Stasz, Paul Dees, Ron Barbera, Alfredo Moreno, Luis Ramos, Gabe Dinu, Tim D, Eric Ollikainen and myself) and 1 paraglider (Diana) at Dog today. It turned on around 3PM. The wind was very light (2-3mph SW)but had good lift all over. Everyone had more than an hour air times. I flew twice. Second flight was up for over 2 hours.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pdxrick.lai/posts/10155279279159285?pnref=story

Non public FB link from Paul Dees :
https://www.facebook.com/paul.dees.98/posts/10214712334504650?pnref=story

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/5NQ8pYLyzFk

Different kind of flight report. 10/14/17

Thanks to Ray for inviting my kids to Lenhardt Airpark (Hubbard, OR) today. It was a perfect condition for trike flying. 

Clumsy hang glider Fri the13th report. 10/13/17

Hope others can learned from my mistake: 

4 or 6 paragliders had soaring flights at Oceanside early afternoon in very light and switchy condition. I waited at Cape Lookout for the NW wind, which turned light NW around 4pm so I decided to set up for an evening flight when I noticed missing a Tip Wand. I must've had too much fun on Wed at Area B and left it behind. So l took my chances and drove up to Area B and much to my surprise, it was still there as you can see from the photos. Yay!!!  So glad I noticed while at Cape Lookout which wasn't too far from Area B, would've been terrible if I discovered it while at Rampart, Bingen or Black.....

Forecast was wrong today.  It was blowing light west until around 4:00PM than turned light NW for short time.  Wind were died down shortly.

 Sunset at Area B