Lakeview Day 3 ,4 & 5

Day 3 Thursday 6/30/16
Ray, Kory and Jeff are coming today so I left Chamber office at 11:30am heading up to Paisley, OR to met up with them at Hadley Butte. This site is approx 45 miles north of Lakeview near city of Paisley. The conditions wasn't favorable for flying due to the light and crossed winds. Also, it is a long glide to Summer Lake Hot Springs LZ if I don’t get up so we decided not to fly.

Day 4 Friday 7/1/16

Back to Hadley Butte

Another north winds day so we going back to Hadley Butte. Two paragliders and about 10 hangs came out today. Ray Berger and l were the first group that arrived launch (around 11:30am). There wasn't much wind, but just on & off weak launch cycles and a bit crossed at launch. Paraglider Robin Cushman launched first around 1:45pm, then followed by Ray and myself. I thought it would either be a short flight or sledder and I was planning to land at the bailout LZ on the south side of the Hwy 31 (see pictures below), but turns out Ray and I flew for over 2 hours and max altitude gained was about 85k (2K above launch). I had a few lows save over the bailout LZ,  was lucky to have found some lifts to scratch back up. We could have easily flown till sunset, however our driver John was waiting for us at Summer Lake Hot Springs LZ , so we decided to land after two hours.  Not an epic XC condition day, but once you're hooked up with thermals, it's an easy trip to Paisley. It was the kind of day that required a bit of patience to keep searching for the next thermal.  An unfortunate event for this day was with a pilot who blew his launch and ended up with a broken down tube; luckily he was okay. 

Day 5 Saturday 7/2/16
I have to be home at night so I left Lakeview in the morning and go skateboarding at Eugene skatepark on the way back.  

This is the video from Hadley Butte

https://youtu.be/u4oMausYz0M

1 hrs and 10 mins Chehalem (Newberg ,Oregon) 12/4/15

https://youtu.be/NYaQXkL95Rs 

Chehalem was on the strong side today so only 2 hangs flew (Mark R and myself). The average wind speed at launch was about 10-18mph from noon till 3:30pm. I waited almost 2 hrs till the clouds dissipate by 2pm. I launched at 2:15pm and immediately gained a few hundred ft above launch. I was able to climb 500 ft over in mostly smooth ridge lifts.  I flew for an hour and 15 mins and landed at the Johnson's Ranch (Big LZ). It was very calm when I landed at 3:25pm (2 mph South breeze). The wind at launch had backed down some, then drove Mark R up so he can take his first flight at Chehalem.  Mark launched at 3:45pm and he was able to soar a little bit before sunset and landed safely at the small PG LZ.  You can see Mark's launch at the end of my video here.

6 hours air time / 5 flight on Sept 11 to 13 weekend

Sept 11, 2015 Tiger Mountain (Issaquah ,Wash)

Only two hangs (Travis and myself) flew Tiger today. We and most of the paras had an extended sledder. It was almost zero wind conditions at launch and also no wind at the landing. Nice to flight Tiger again and I ran up to launch in a hot humid weather.
Anyway, I'm here for the Tiger party tomorrow so I will fly Tiger again even a sledder conditions. Not sure about where to go on Sunday yet. Maybe Dog, Rampart , Tiger again.... Etc.

Sept 12, 2015 Tiger Mountain Fantastic Fly-In Festival

The 2015 Fantastic costumes festival turned out really good. There were about 50 paragliders flying at one time and only 9 hang gliders including myself, Tim Cayward, Travis, Glenn, Steve Alford, Rob, Kerie, Aaron and Bryan. The soarable condition turned on around 3:00pm and we all soared. I flew for 2 hrs on the second flight and hooked up with a few thermals that topped out 1000 ft above launch. I had two flights and total of almost 3 hrs of air time. As you can see from the video the whole sky was filled with paragliders.

Sept 13, 2015 Dog Mountain (Glenoma, Wash)

It was really windy and gusty (20-25mph) at launch the whole day. I had two flight that combine 3 hrs of air time. Aaron R, Eric O and myself flew till sunset.

On Sept 12

I captured this incident on Sat (Tiger Mt Fantastic Fly In) around 3:30pm. It looked as if two paragliders were launching at the same time ; one got tangled with another glider and was dragged down to the bottom of the launch. I'm not sure exactly what happened. I heard that the pilot was okay, however his glider got toasted.

4 flights 9+ hours air time over the weekend at Dog (July 11-12)

Not much to report for the pass weekend (July 11-12 , 2015).  Nothing epic,  just another good weekend flying at Dog Mt with friends.  Those consistent thermals and ridge lifts allow all of us effortlessly soar for hours till sunset.  I had two flight per day and approx 2+ hours on each flight.