As Lauren has mentioned in the past, Florida pretty much sucks in the summer as far as hang gliding is concerned. But fall must be coming cause today was pretty good.
Today's forecast was dryer than it's been with decent lift forecast so I decided to brush off nearly 3 months of rust and see if I still new how to fly a hang glider. Adhering to Steve Kroop's philosophy that "the best glider to fly is the one that's already set up", I managed to mooch a flight on the Quest owned Sport 2 that Armand from Canada had assembled and was planning on flying later today.
Since learning to hang glide, I have flown very consistantly until this summer so I was a bit apprehensive before launching having had such a long lay off. Not to worry, it all came back quickly and I had a nice one hour flight followed by a good landing. Lift was excellent even as early as 12:00 and It seemed I could have flown all afternoon but I had to land to give Armand his glider back.
Jumped in the pool to freshen up then went down to Seminole Glider Port and flew a sail plane for another hour followed by an hour of ground school in preparation for my check ride. (The sail plane rating is taking longer than anticipated due to too many interuptions, trips out of town, etc.)
All in all......a damn fine day. Hope the Pulpit fly in was a success. Wish we could have been there to see everyone.
Paul
Florida Report
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
I too had a nice thermalling flight at Ridgely yesterday. Getting ready for my weight-shift control (WSC) aircraft (trike) check-ride. Very apprehensive about oral portion of practical test - as a long-time private pilot, I don't want to be embarrassed by flunking for not knowing my ABZ airspace regs or some such. Just ordered a new FARAIM, practical test standards for WSC, written test study guide, etc. Are you going straight to CFI? Is there any sense in (my) doing a Sport Pilot sailplane ticket rather than going for the whole private ticket? Do the sailplanes you typically fly meet the light sport rule (less than 100 knots V(h))? - Hugh
-
Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:28 pm
Yeah....I'm probably more concerned about air space questions than any other aspect, too. There are so many variations available even depending on your altitude at the exact same location.
Regarding more advanced ratings....I'll probably continue working towards my commercial rating first. That way I can take tourists on joy rides if they need me to do that. The requirements are not much more than for the private except for logged hours which I have from my time in powered aircraft many years back. The CFI will be last on my list.
I'm really not certain if many sail planes fit into the light sport category. Danny can probably answer that question. The Grobe 103 that I have been flying has a maximum gross of 1280 and a VNE of 124 so it wouldn't. The actual requirements for an add on rating are so minimal I'd suggest you go ahead with that then you're covered for all of them.
At this point I have no plans to purchase a glider. If I did, I'd probably look at a light version like a Sparrow Hawk but they're very pricey and you can pick up a good used heavier glider for much less. There's a really nice Moyes Tempest here at Quest for cheap (I think around 6K including a trailer) but I'm not sure that I'd be happy with the performance. Nice thing about the little ones is that Sunny and Adam can tow you up.
Paul
Regarding more advanced ratings....I'll probably continue working towards my commercial rating first. That way I can take tourists on joy rides if they need me to do that. The requirements are not much more than for the private except for logged hours which I have from my time in powered aircraft many years back. The CFI will be last on my list.
I'm really not certain if many sail planes fit into the light sport category. Danny can probably answer that question. The Grobe 103 that I have been flying has a maximum gross of 1280 and a VNE of 124 so it wouldn't. The actual requirements for an add on rating are so minimal I'd suggest you go ahead with that then you're covered for all of them.
At this point I have no plans to purchase a glider. If I did, I'd probably look at a light version like a Sparrow Hawk but they're very pricey and you can pick up a good used heavier glider for much less. There's a really nice Moyes Tempest here at Quest for cheap (I think around 6K including a trailer) but I'm not sure that I'd be happy with the performance. Nice thing about the little ones is that Sunny and Adam can tow you up.
Paul