Summer took forever to get here, but here it is.
Up till now, it's been some cold freakin flying... good thing I brought my winter gloves.
Living in Queenstown, I wind up flying PG far more than HG. I still break out a HG on occassion when the winds kick up a bit too much.
There is a park we call "the beach" at the end of the lake that gets lakebreeze on a regular basis. It's a nice 45deg grassy slope that's a bit too tight for HG (though it's been done). It sits directly under the end of Queenstown airports runway. It's low enough that you're never even close to getting in the way or waked, but close enough to be... interesting. When the beach is on, it's playland.
In town, you have "the gondola"... there's a gondola up the side of town that's there for the view. You go up it and have a look at Queenstown, maybe lunch at the resteraunt. Well, you can take your PG up it too and fly off the top. You fly over town (it's legal here) and land in the rugby field. There is airspace cut out of the main Queenstown ring specifically so you can fly there.
The main site here, and not coincidentally my home, is Coronet mountain. It's a 2400ft grassy launch. All of the seven commercial tandem companies (yes, seven) fly Coronet. There are two main launches that are accessible via road and one with an additional hike... mind you it's an other 2500ft to the top launch.
When we get West winds (not often, but enough), there is "the terrace"... a ridge soaring site that's narly as hell. When the terrace is on, the beach is on also, so I usually just go to the beach.
December is usually much warmer than it's been. Fortunately Summer's finally kicked in and flying doesn't equate to freezing any more. A high has setup on the west coast and a low on the east... this is ideal for here. The flying's been absolutely fantastic. Thermals kick in around 9am and go all day till the lakebreeze sets up around 6-7pm. Then it's ridge soaring till the sun goes down around 9:30-10. There's plenty of sink till around noon when it turns retard soarable and thus I can stay up ;)
My current obscession is SATs (god I love flying backwards) and top landing (cuz I live up here). It's a bit too rock and roll midday to go too crazy with the aero, but as the lakebreeze sets in, there's a wonderful combination of smooth air and height :)
Downsides of living up here... when it's cold in town, it's FREEZING up here (we've had a number of snows... hopefully that's over!). Failing to topland can set you up for a 2,400ft hike (kidding, most always you can hitch a ride). The grocery store is a long long way away.
Anyway
We're talking about heading over to Wanaka (neighboring town) for a fly sometime. I think trebelcone is the one where you launch over the waterfall... we'll see.
I was up in Nelson at the begining of December, but that was pain in the butt flying. Nothing like having tons of people (tourists included) heading up the mountain all day... too spoiled.
Happy New Year!
I hear the East Coast is enjoying an unusually warm winter.
Jim
PG in NZ
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Yeah, me, Jim Prahl and Bo all did it. I think the ground study was the hardest part... we all had an easy time in the air. The examiner was kinda surprised by how much we all looked around... tug pilot habit ;) I liked the "short" landings... hahahahaha... touch within 200ft?... hell, I'll stop within 200!
How'd your PPL go?
How'd your PPL go?