More action.

Been without my PC for a few days but now catching up with a new hard disk installed.

Sunday 9 October 2016

Good day training at Big Collin. Ken McConnell was working with a student when I arrived on site. I was soon joined by my student Declan McGill and later Gerry Johnston. Wind was slightly off to ESE but generally straight on at the top and varying from 12-14mph. Declan made eight semi-soaring flights and completed all his tasks for EP.

Gerry had three semi-soaring flights and perfected his forward launch when the wind eased. I had a couple of short flights myself - one on the Firebird F1rst S and one to check out a Firebird Raven S that Keith McGeown was interested in. Keith later turned up and had a great semi-soaring flight and landing on the Raven. Seems he liked it! Dermot Lagan also turned up and flew.

As the wind had dropped towards evening, Alastair McMaster and Ken fired up their paramotors and both headed off into the distance in different directions for some sight seeing. On their return we all packed up and headed home.

Monday 10 October 2016

With a nice easterly wind, Agnew's Hill was the place to be. A surprising number of people seem to be able to avoid work on a Monday as the hill played host to eight paragliders and two hang gliders - yes! hang gliders!! ably piloted by Keith ? and Steve ?

The climb up the hill does not get any easier with age and was very wet and slippery underfoot. I took off on the NE face above the cars and flew round to the E face where there was the best lift, helped by passing thermals. Tom Carson having cleared things with ATC Aldergrove for ascent into the Class D airspace overhead, for the next hour I had a ball, playing with the ridge lift and thermals to 880ft above the top of the hill. I was joined by Geoff Dawson and Colin Lown.

After an hour my fingers were too cold - I only had the light summer gloves - so I top landed clost to Donal Hamilton's laid out paraglider. Donal was doing nose man for Keith and Steve launching their hang gliders and I had a brief chat with him before he headed skywards just after Geoff top landed. Hands warmed I was soon up to join them, with Dermot Lagan now airborne. Tom Carson and Dave Tweedie had been flying earlier but had now bottom landed and soon departed.

I flew to Shane's Hill and back, getting fairly low in the dip and thus putting me downwind of a couple of active wind turbines. There was no turbulence experienced at all which is interesting in the light of the proposed new windfarms to be built across the Star Bog Road in front of the main ridge. After another hour there was just Donal and myself in the air and we both noticed a significant increase in windspeed within one beat of the cliffs. My groundspeed was down to 1.4mph at one stage without speedbar. At that stage cold fingers had made themselves known again so I flew down and landed by the windsock near the cars, followed by Donal.

Ken McConnell had arrived and got a short soaring flight as the rest of us packed up. I rang ATC Aldergrove to let them know we had finished and after the usual post-flying waffle, we headed home.