Dr Jack predicted good lift and high cloudbase, but the day was overcast, with a few dirty looking cumies dotting the sky underneath a high layer of solid cloud. John Hope said goodbye before we launched; since his plane left early he knew he would be forced to land after an hour or so in order to catch it. In spite of the ugly sky, I dressed in 4 layers, rigged up my radio, set my route for Ocala, and hoped for the best.
About all that I can say good about my first flight was that I really had a great landing and that I must have sweated off at least a couple of pounds. My vario never made a peep. Paul and John flew a little earlier than I did and had decent flights (Paul squeaked out 40 minutes, and got up to a whopping 2700 feet).
I decided to fly again, even though conditions were not great. I flew with Steve Kroop, the Flytec God, and James from England, as well as Larry with the Laminar and Dave the comp pilot with the rigid. The sky became grayer and grayer, with barely a glimmer of sun anywhere, but somehow the day turned on. Between flights, I had shed my radio, unpacked my bags (I kept my cell phone in case I got inspired or stupid), and stripped down to my tank top and speed sleeves (it was 80 degrees on the ground).
So I should have figured it would be good. We all had a great friggin' time, boating around. Everyone else landed before I did, but after more than an hour at nearly 5000 feet, I was chilled and decided to come in too. It was so weird, the way the sky was working, which seemed to have little corelation to how it looked or the clouds. But it was good.
I had another nice landing but was most pleased that my approaches are becoming more reasonable. So many of the tricks I used to use to control my altitude, like staying prone but dragging my legs down and apart, just do not work with my Rotor harness. I am slick as ice with rain on it. I also used to throw my Sport around a lot to slip turns and get down quickly; something I am loathe to do on my fantastic, beautiful, ass kicking Litespeed! I just have to know that I am going to glide forever and come in accordingly.
Technical stuff for those interested: I discovered what happened with my last launch. On that launch, I got high on the tug out of the field, and also had a great deal of trouble getting down to the plane throughout the tow.
On takeoff, although I had my harness pitch adjusted correctly with the butt plate, I rested my knees, keeping them bent and had only one foot lightly in the boot of the harness. My clue as to what the problem was when my sister said I looked just like a little bee coming out of the field, with my stinger curled in. It would be impossible for me to curl my ass in if the slider bar was locked back correctly. I think my rested knees caused my slider bar to rotate into an upright position, which would explain my inablility to pull in effectively.
I kept my knees straight today, and my feet locked in the boot, and the problem disappeared. I only explain these things in detail because it took a fair amount of analysis to figure this out and thought it might be helpful to other pilots who switch to more advanced harnesses.
Pretty wonderful stuff.
Lauren
life sucks (NOT)
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