FL turned on today. 5-6k in abundant lift.
That sky full of poofies would make any hang pilot drool.
Jamie took the sunset flight and reported 400fpm lift from 600ft-900ft (where's Simon when you need him?).
The Tjadens went XC... I have no clue how it went cuz I didn't see them back here. I did see their truck drive away a while ago and haven't seen Shannon since (he was driving for them). Have to wait and see.
Jim
FL
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
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Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:28 pm
Lauren and I had a great time yesterday with our first REAL XC of the season. Really don't have time for a long post. Conditions look great again today so gotta go set up. We didn't really get that much distance (just 62 miles) but had great fun with lift as stromg as 800' and climbs to 6,900'. We didn't fly nearly as aggressively as we could have and Lauren kept wanting to push west where we eventually got caught on the wrong side of the sea breeze and landed after 3:30 or so.
I'm going to blame John Simon for our arriving home so late (11:30). He was going to fly with us but didn't have a radio and left the field before us taking a more easterly course and flying over some tiger country that only Bo Hagewood would feel comfortable about. Anyway, he had a great flight making over 90 miles but landing about 60 miles to the east of our track. By the time Shannon found Lauren and I and we drove another hour plus to find John it was late and we were far from home.
More later.
Paul
I'm going to blame John Simon for our arriving home so late (11:30). He was going to fly with us but didn't have a radio and left the field before us taking a more easterly course and flying over some tiger country that only Bo Hagewood would feel comfortable about. Anyway, he had a great flight making over 90 miles but landing about 60 miles to the east of our track. By the time Shannon found Lauren and I and we drove another hour plus to find John it was late and we were far from home.
More later.
Paul
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Flying Lobster
- Posts: 1042
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 4:17 pm
JUST sixty miles? getting greedy in your old age? 
things are looking reasonably good for today here also--but so far nobody else has stepped forward locally to say they want to go for it (there are alot of full-time HG bums here, so work isn't an excuse). I'm a little intimidated by venturing forth on an xc into parts unknown without a retrieve.
marc
things are looking reasonably good for today here also--but so far nobody else has stepped forward locally to say they want to go for it (there are alot of full-time HG bums here, so work isn't an excuse). I'm a little intimidated by venturing forth on an xc into parts unknown without a retrieve.
marc
Great Googly-moo!
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Lauren Tjaden
- Posts: 371
- Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:27 pm
What a great day yesterday was at Quest! Pilots are arriving from all corners of the globe, like Maki, a Japanese woman I became friends with before the worlds last year. Lots of old pals are here, with lots of hugs and stories to share.
I was both nervous and excited, having not flown XC since last June at the ECC. Paul and I flew north, where the clouds quickly evaporated. I was grateful that Paul was there to help find lift in the blue, and it was lots more fun with him along, too. How cool is to climb to 7000 feet and play in rowdy thermals with the person you’ve been married to for over twenty years? We saw lots of 500-600 fpm lift, as much as 900 on the averager, and rarely sunk to below 5000 feet. Neither of us was as aggressive as we should have been with such spectacular conditions.
We only flew 62 miles, which was largely my fault, since I had a track I had set and was following on my GPS, instead of just going downwind. After 3 and half hours the sea breeze kicked in hard from the west and we were fighting a quartering headwind. I was freezing and tired so I asked if Paul would mind too much if we landed (and the sea breeze would have probably done the trick soon anyhow). We blew off over 5000 feet, cruised into a big cow pasture together, and had a quick retrieve by our wonderful driver, Shannon.
Jamie Sheldon VERY kindly lent her Litesport to our friend John Simon, who was visiting from the DC area, and he flew 90 miles downwind until the Ocala National forest got too thick. He was on the other end of the state from us, and we didn’t pick him up until well after dark. So, our late arrival home was only due to our many hours of driving, not to any great flight we made. We’ll have some of those to report very soon, though – and yesterday was a banner day anyhow, with no big miles, but some real big smiles.
Today wasn't as good as advertised. We set a course but quickly sunk out. It was just as well -- I needed a day to recover!
Lauren
I was both nervous and excited, having not flown XC since last June at the ECC. Paul and I flew north, where the clouds quickly evaporated. I was grateful that Paul was there to help find lift in the blue, and it was lots more fun with him along, too. How cool is to climb to 7000 feet and play in rowdy thermals with the person you’ve been married to for over twenty years? We saw lots of 500-600 fpm lift, as much as 900 on the averager, and rarely sunk to below 5000 feet. Neither of us was as aggressive as we should have been with such spectacular conditions.
We only flew 62 miles, which was largely my fault, since I had a track I had set and was following on my GPS, instead of just going downwind. After 3 and half hours the sea breeze kicked in hard from the west and we were fighting a quartering headwind. I was freezing and tired so I asked if Paul would mind too much if we landed (and the sea breeze would have probably done the trick soon anyhow). We blew off over 5000 feet, cruised into a big cow pasture together, and had a quick retrieve by our wonderful driver, Shannon.
Jamie Sheldon VERY kindly lent her Litesport to our friend John Simon, who was visiting from the DC area, and he flew 90 miles downwind until the Ocala National forest got too thick. He was on the other end of the state from us, and we didn’t pick him up until well after dark. So, our late arrival home was only due to our many hours of driving, not to any great flight we made. We’ll have some of those to report very soon, though – and yesterday was a banner day anyhow, with no big miles, but some real big smiles.
Today wasn't as good as advertised. We set a course but quickly sunk out. It was just as well -- I needed a day to recover!
Lauren
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Lauren Tjaden
- Posts: 371
- Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:27 pm
It IS all relative, and I'm not being modest when I say "only" 62 miles. Sometimes 30 miles is a heckava thing to pull off. However, going north in FL in the spring, in those kind of conditions was no great feat. I was embarrassed because Davis had posted on the Oz report that we'd obviously had some fabulous flight since we were so late getting home, and we had people like Mike Barber calling the next day and asking about it -- and I had to say we didn't go 100 miles or 200, but just had a fun jaunt. They expected we'd done something huge. I LOVED making the flight, though, and Paul had lots of fun, too.
Lauren
Lauren
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John Simon
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 12:33 pm
FLA Jaunt
Just wanted to say thanks again to Lauren and Paul and Jamie as well for treating me like family. We all had fun flights and next time I'll have a radio or be your driver!
Many many thanks for getting me back home. You could have made it home hours sooner without my Forest hop.
Keep flying down there... !
Take care,
John
Many many thanks for getting me back home. You could have made it home hours sooner without my Forest hop.
Keep flying down there... !
Take care,
John