Florida Flying (Quest Air)

[sailin]

Hi all,
Just checking in with you from sunny.....well, honestly, not so sunny Florida. Amy and I arrived on Saturday morning at 2am after driving through 14 hours of rain. When we woke up on Sunday we were met with overcast skies and fairly cool temps (not DC cool temps, but still pretty chilly). I got one flight in, a sled in the overcast skies, with some occasional rain drops. Amy had two really nice tandem flights with Mitch Shipley. Everyone down here.....Paul, Lauren, Mitch, Greg, Jim, George and a guy named Edwuardo from Venezuale have been VERY cool.
Monday was thunderstorms, rain and gusty winds. This morning picked up were Monday left off with overcast skies and gusty winds. But thankfully the sun came out around noon thirty and things started to get better.
I took two tows in sporty bumpy air. Both were extendos. I found thermals but couldn't managae to stay in them Something I am hoping to improve upon while I am down here. The flight of the day was 1 hour and 30 minutes by an ace pilot in an Aeros Combat......sweet flying machine!!!
Tomorrow is looking like the most promising day so far......so hopefully I'll have some good stuff to post

Jon

[mcelrah]

Have fun, you guys! (Envious.) My best to the Quest Air Force. - Hugh

[lbunner]

Say hi to Greg for me. We go back aways. I'm assuming he was the ace in the Combat.

[sailin]

An update from Quest:

I am happy to say the sun showed up today! Temps made it into the low seventies and the abundant sunshine felt great. There were quite a few pilots out, all eagerly awaiting the conditions to get good. Amy had a couple nice tandems in the morning followed by two very nice solos!!! Way to go Amy! Conditions took off around 2:30pm. I got set up, moved into the dolly cart, and clipped into the tow line. I was off, and then in 6 seconds, I really was off......my first weak link failure. I was almost able to get my feet out under me but was just a little too slow and ended up rolling on the wheels. Funny thing was , it was a brand new weak link I had just put on??? I put another new weak link on, got back in line, and a few minutes later I was being towed up. Not long after releasing at 2500' I found my first thermal and climbed to 3000'. From then on it was losing a little here and gaining some there A highlight was two bald eagles soaring nearby, and almost as cool, a couple sweet looking topless gliders zooming back and forth. The ace pilots of the day flew for just over two hours!!! I was stoked with my just over 40 minutes!!!......my longest flat land flight to date!!!!
Tomorrow is looking like rain,........ but we're hopeful again for Friday:)

Yeah it was Greg, hell of pilot and a great guy too!! Watching that Comabt scream around the sky was very cool! Unfortunately he headed out this afternoon after his two plus hour flight. Looking forward to flying with him again sometime.

Keepin ya posted from sunny Florida,
Jon

[mcelrah]

Keep the reports coming! Good on ya for thermalling so long - ain't Quest great? Go, Amy, go! - Hugh

[uplandann]

Great job you guys!!
Amy, hope you can get your glider fixed while you are down there, and then get some tows on your own glider.

Ann

[A0213]

Good morning!

Thanks for all of the kind words and replies to Jon's postings!!

Mitch inspected my glider when I got here (after having the hard landing at the Pulpit). Let me start by saying, getting my glider inspected was a great decision! Mitch took the sail off of the glider and looked at every piece and part- to make sure nothing went unnoticed/untouched. This really helped instill a lot of confidence with my glider- because there is no doubt now that everything (will be*) okay. *Will be..... waiting for my leading edge to be shipped by WW. I had it rushed here so it can be installed, my tow point set, test flown, and hopefully flown by me before we leave. Also, watching/helping Mitch do the inspection was educational- I got to see another side of my glider that I have never seen before

So, the total damage from the hard landing= slightly bent washout tube, bent downtubes (which I changed out myself before arriving here), and a broken leading edge (ironically, on the right side... must have broken due to the energy transfer).

Okay, now for some better news...

I have done a total of 4 tandem flights with Mitch. After the first two flights, he told me that my skills are there- that I just have to work on that confidence thing. So, I did two more flights with him, just to prove it to myself that it wasn't a fluke that I did OK.

I took a break after the last tandem, and sat down at the benches. During this time, I started to question my ability to do a solo. Lauren saw me sitting there fretting... so she came over to chat. She reminded me that I CAN do this... that I need to get back on the horse and just do it.... because the longer I sit there and think, the harder it will be (and the weather will only get rougher!). I took her advice and knocked out two solos! Thanks to Lauren

I did a DBF on both flights... and I successfully landed without incident. Phewwwww!

My goals for the rest of the trip is so keep doing flights and get this landing-thing figured out The hardest part for me is to judge altitude and angles... so by repetitive practice, I am hoping to train my brain to see these things.

As Jon mentioned in his posts, we have met so many cool people here, including Lauren and Paul. It really has been a fun experience.

Hope everyone is doing well back in VA!

[carweill]

Amy and Jon,
Good call on getting the glider inspected by an experienced person.

Have fun you'll have a lot of flights

Carlos

[RichH]

Congrats Amy..You did the right thing seeking out instruction ..and I understand the confidence thing I went thru the same thing myself and it takes a bit of time to get back on the horse..but congratualtions ..keep practicing those D,B and finals...Rich Hiegel

[mcelrah]

Ya, I don't know how much you have heard about Paul and Lauren's background: they came to this sport from the world of competitive "eventing" with jumping horses. We were H2s together but then they proceeded to blow the doors off the rest of us and become top-notch XC comp pilots. Those competition skills and drive really transfer! But they also have great communication and teaching skills - also from teaching "equitation", I guess - and are just all around great people. - Hugh

[A0213]

Today was another great day here at Quest!

The wind was blowing pretty strong this morning for flying, so Jon and I hit up the lake here for some fishing. Jon caught two bass fish a few days ago, so we had high hopes of success today. Jon and I took the paddle boat out and fished from there... but, it seemed as though those fish were just not hungry! But, it was a lot of fun anyway.

The winds calmed down a little bit and Jon had a nice flight this afternoon. I launched an hour or so after him.

Today was my first aerotow flight on my glider (Yes, Humpty Dumpty is back together again!). Mitch here did a test flight and all went well, so she was turned back over to me. I had a GREAT flight... smooth tow up... enjoyed the sunset on the lakes... and had a great landing. I was/am really focusing on my DBF approach, and today it seemed to come together nicely. I am hoping that I can have a repeat of today's flight tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a nice flying weekend!

[sailin]

Quest update:

After two more days of cold, clouds and rain we had high hopes for the sunny skies and good thermal forecast for today...., but it never really turned on. Ended up getting a nice sledder in this afternoon which was fun, especially after not flying for the past two days. Amy had a nice flight also with a stellar approach and top notch landing!!!! Nice one!!

Tommorrow is looking NICE!!!! might be the best day yet.........will let you know

Jon

[A0213]

Hello,

We had another great day at Quest!

I started the morning off with two pattern tows to 1000'... and both went great! The wind started to get a little sporty, so I secured my glider and moved on to some fishing. After an hour out on the lake, Jon and I settled on the fact that this pond is fish-less ... because SURELY if there were fish in there, they would be eating our flies!!

Jon had some great flights in the afternoon... he is working on his post right now- so he will fill you in on those details!

Later in the afternoon, I did two more pattern tows... which went well!

Tomorrow will be our last day here... I really am sorry to leave. This week has been great for confidence building, aero-tow refreshing, and for working on my landing approaches. But, the good news is, I can take all of these things home with me and apply them to my up and coming flights.

See you all soon

[sailin]

Quest Update:

Well today turned out to be the day we were hoping for. Sunshine, warmer weather, and thermals all around
I towed up at about 1pm and was dropped off by Mitch in a booming thermal at about 1600'. Here is where I committed a rookie mistake......Instead of beginning to thermal right away, I started messing with getting zipped up and stowing away my tow bridle. Next thing I knew I was out of the thermal and sinking. Along with the good thermals there was also lots of significant sink. By the time I got myself in another thermal I had lost enough altitude to start thinking about getting closer to the LZ......being conservative. I found some smaller thermals along the way but was never able to get back up........lesson learned
I immediately got back in the tow line and headed back up. This time I made sure to thermal first and worry about the housekeeping stuff a little later, once I was established in the thermal. I got up to 3100' and SOARED....it was sweet!!! I worked an area of thermals to the north of the LZ for quite a while. I probably stayed a bit too long instead of heading out looking for something else when they went away.....wishful thinking that they would come back soon....another rookie mistake I got pounded with some serious sink and started making my way back toward the LZ. After getting down to just under 1000' I hooked into a sweet thermal that brought me back up to 2200'....back in business And that's pretty much how it went. I never got above the 3100' and had several "low" saves around the LZ. It was a super fun flight!!!
Lots of people flying today and everybody was smiling!!
Tommorrow is looking good too .......

Jon

[uplandann]

Awsome!

[silverwings]

Very glad you both are getting some flying in. How did Monday work out?

[sailin]

Final update from Quest....well until next trip down

We woke up on Monday knowing that this was going to be it. A little sad to be heading home later in the afternoon, but very thankful for such a good trip. The weather didn't always cooperate, but between some fun things Amy and I found to do while hang waiting, and the wonderful group of cool people around, it was successful trip for sure. I can't say enough good things about the guys at Quest (Paul, Lauren, Mitch, Jim......) and the other pilots flying down there.

Back to the flying. The thermal forecast was similar to Sunday but with higher winds (both surface and aloft) out of the WNW. By about 1pm surface winds were around 10mph and a little switchy coming from the SW, WSW, W, NW, and N. At about 130pm I suited up and was the first one in the sky. Paul headed west and dropped me off in a nice thermal over the greenhouses. I worked that for a while until I found myself up to 3100' again. For some reason I never was able to make it over 3100' for the whole trip...... I heard other pilots from Sunday topping out at 4200 but I just couldn't seem to make it up there. After losing that thermal I committed another rookie mistake that I found out about when I landed and talked to Paul and Mitch. After the greenhouse thermal had ended, I allowed myself to drift downwind instead of searching further upwind for another thermal and then drifting downwind while thermaling. I lost some altitude in the downwind, thermaless drift but thankfully ran into another thermal at about 1600' I worked that for awhile getting back up to 2500'. After I either lost it or it went away....still not sure with these invisible lift things...... I hit some big sink and found myself at about 1000' and started to make my way toward the LZ. There were small powerful thermals abound over the LZ and I was able to get back up a little bit but the air was very rowdy and the flying very active. After gaining and losing for awhile over the LZ in the thermal activity things seemed to calm down enough to make a safe landing a good possibility. I headed in through rowdy air and had a fairly uneventful landing to the northwest. All in all a wonderful soaring flight in the sunshine to end the trip with.

After breaking down and loading up, we said goodbyes to all the wonderful people we had met and then hit the road. Spent the night in a cheap motel off I-95 and made it home this afternoon.

Can't wait to fly again soon......hopefully see you out there!

jon