Holly and I arrived Saturday morning to find the flight park a ghost town. Some folks were at Hyner, others were probably doing holiday family stuff. I did a few truck tows, nothing to write home about but still fun.
While driving to the flight park Holly and I found a beautiful young Broad-Winged hawk, still alive, in the road. He'd obviously been hit by a vehicle and didn't appear to be in good shape. It broke out hearts, so we gently moved him out of the road into the shade, then drove to the flight park. Mike Wimmer & Megan Chapman helped us look up an animal rescue place, and we all drove back to retrieve the hawk. We then drove the injured bird up to Tappahannock, VA where we met a nice lady from the rehabilitation facility and gave her the hawk. By then he was looking better---when she removed him from the box he was wide-eyed and looking around.
We told the woman, "We're hang glider pilots, and we fly with these birds. We take it personally when one is injured!" It was sad. Then we headed over to Lowery's Seafood Restaurant in Tappahannock and had a big lunch. During lunch the rehab lady called with bad news: the hawk had a completely shattered leg and hip, and there was no hope for recovery. They had to put it to sleep (quickly and painlessly, she assured me). It was a bummer...but at least we spared it a miserable death by the road.
Saturday evening, winds settled down and I did my 2 checkout tandems with Tex in preparation for aerotowing. They went fine, and I would've been all cleared to solo...except for a brain lapse on my second tandem when I turned left after releasing. Steve W. caught my mistake, and when we'd landed he said "Nope---you're not soloing yet. Gotta turn RIGHT after releasing." Bummer! Oh well---I knew Steve's high standards were for the better.
That night we had a great Looney Tunes marathon in the bunkhouse. Mike W. brought his RGB projector, and we all kicked back and laughed our butts off at classics from my 8 DVDs' worth...including "The Rabbit of Seville."
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Sunday morning, Tex and I did another tandem check flight, and all went well (I remembered to turn right this time). Several other pilots showed up Sunday too, including Rance Rupp, Bob Fuller, Josh Criss, and others. It was an awesome soaring day, as everyone aerotowed up (except me) and beamed straight to cloudbase at 5k.
I was all pumped to do my solos Sunday night, but the winds...never...calmed. AARRGH! So no solos, but a good dinner and campfire that night.
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Monday morning I was up early and the sky was looking great! Near-calm winds, blue skies, and a low layer of baby CUs. This was it! I got the green light from Steve, and harnessed up in one of Steve's Falcon 2s. Holly and Tex provided some great last-minute advice while Jim Carrigan revved up the tug. I was nervous, but confident---I'd been waiting for this a LONG time and had watched a hundred other launches and read everything written on aerotowing many times over.
My first solo went great---a smooth launch, and smooth-as-glass morning air. I kept the wheels dead on the horizon (not much work in that air) and was exhilirated as we climbed above the low clouds (flying between the clouds, of course). What a feeling! I was psyched---I hadn't felt that kind of rush since my first high truck tow and first mountain launch. Released at 2,000 (turning right!) and got back down as soon as I could to do another.
My second solo was fine too---more textured air this time, and Jim played "follow the tug," throwing in more turns and airspeed changes. I was determined to stick to those wheels like glue and was pretty happy with how well I did. The view was spectacular as we towed (and I later flew) over several small CUs hovering over the field at around 1500k.
After 2 tows on Steve's Falcon, I got the green light to tow my Eagle. Tex towed me this time, and as the sun was getting high, things were heating up and the air got lumpier. It was by far the hardest of my three solos (though I'm sure nothing compared to midday thermally conditions). The tow point seemed a bit far back on my Eagle, as I had to pull in pretty hard for the entire tow, sometimes stuffing the bar fully. All went fine though, and Tex towed me up over 3k for that one. The highest I've ever been AGL...and awesome! After landing we moved my tow point about an inch forward, so I'm looking forward to towing again at that setting.
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The rest of Monday was a good day for other pilots. Billy Vaughn soared for over 90 minutes in his U2, other pilots had decent flights anywhere from 30-60 minutes. Most of the lift was tight, the best being under clouds, with some strong sink in the blue. Cloudbase was around 4800'.
We enjoyed watching Billy Vaughn fly, as well as Tex and Jim Carrigan, who also aerotowed HGs (a rare occurrence these days!). Billy and Tex's flying experience is awesome (decades of teaching and flying at Kitty Hawk Kites, as well as years of mountain and aerotowing experience), and it was a joy to see how incredibly fluid and effortless they made it seem, particularly their landings, which were textbook-perfect and on-the-spot. All those years of dune-flying experience seem to have given those guys amazing abilities at quick, low-altitude maneuvering.
Another bird disappointment when we found a Great Blue Heron dead beside the road into the flight park. It seemed like a bad weekend for big, beautiful birds.
Most pilots left yesterday, while a handful of us (who opted not to face the traffic) enjoyed another campfire last night in cool breezes. Holly and I were up early this morning and headed to the local Panera Bread for some AC, coffee, and Internet access.
Though she's not flying yet, Holly had a good time hanging around our home-away-from-home and talking with everyone. She's doing better every day, and we went for a mellow 12-mile bike ride from the flight park that was fine for her. I'm proud of how she's kept her spirits up throughout her recovery, and grateful for all her support in my quest to aerotow. We're both very happy it finally happened...and it won't be too much longer before Holly is back in the air too!
Scott
