17th Annual International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta...

[mcelrah]

...at Clark ex-USAF Base in the Philippines. But it's really an airshow for anything that flies: microlites/light sport aircraft, powered paragliders, skydivers, aerobatic planes, a C-17 very large USAF transport plane - and my newly assembled Falcon III 170, perhaps the only functional hang-glider in the country. Static display only. Showed it too a small-statured female skydiver who wants to fly HG (not PG, the dominant discipline here - even that is only a handful). (She needs a Falcon 145 - anybody got one for sale? and a small kneehanger harness...)

The PGers have been towing every evening but until yesterday, I was always too hot/sunburned/busy to participate. Some talk of foot-launching the hang-glider behind the pickup truck payout winch tow rig, but I was cautious, having never done such a thing. Ended up driving the truck as Buko, the local alpha PG pilot, took two tandem tows in front of the crowd of some tens of thousands. Albert, a pioneer HG pilot who is now the local trike guru, managed the hydraulic tension control on the winch and directed from the bed of the truck. The tandem passenger was a prospective bridegroom: one of the Spanish powered paraglider pilots deployed a banner reading: "Eitan will you marry...", then Buko and groom, airborne after a "perfect" tow, deployed a short banner reading: "ME (Anthony)?". The prospective bride was, of course, entirely unaware this would happen - in front of channel 5 TV cameras (the TV reporter took the second tandem)! Nylon tow rope, an experimental item from Manila Cordage, broke at the drum right as they were about to release on the second tow. Tow rig was put together by Jonathan, the engineer who also built the monster 300-horsepower take-up winch for the sailplane - everything they do here is pioneering!

Saturday, I took Sallie for a ride in an MX-2 Drifter microlite around Mt. Arayat, the dormant (?) volcano in the middle of the central Luzon plain.

But Sunday morning, we took a ride in a Navion (62-year-old military training aircraft: four seats, canopy, retractible gear, decent power) with a 68-year-old ex-USAF fighter pilot - over Mt. Pinatubo, the ACTIVE volcano that dumped 7 cubic kilometers of ash on Clark 21 years ago, inspiring the U.S. to leave it to the Philippines. The airshow had the runway closed at our normal return time, so we got a bonus tour over Subic Bay (the former U.S. naval base). Pictures follow.

- Hugh

[mcelrah]

First tranche of 51 pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 054f82387f

- Hugh

[mcelrah]

122 more pix: Navion flight over Pinatubo and Subic Bay

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 26aec67611

- Hugh

[carweill]

Hugh
Great pictures
At least someone is flying


Carlos

[mcelrah]

Working toward an actual foot-launch flight at a 1000 foot site on a neighboring island (PG and HG). Only got the Falcon together from short-pack a week ago. Weather is getting good: cooler and prevailing east winds in the PM. - Hugh