March

Well, due to all sorts of things, I haven't been flying since August last year. Having gone to the unpacking session last month and the subsequent flop of a ground handling session (whilst everyone was having a classic day at Combe Gibbet) and also a spot of parawaiting at milk hill one day,  I was anxious to get back up into the air.

The wind was reported to be NNE and just about right for Combe. I had to pop into work for a little while in the morning but I took my cage with me with a view to getting out early to go on to Combe. I got to Combe just before 1pm and was rather relieved to see 3 or 4 gliders up and flying. I drove up the muddy road, through some lakes that were pretending to be puddles and parked in the lane at the top. There were quite a few pilots waiting on the hill and not too many in the air, perhaps due to the wind which was a little on the strong side.

I got myself set up on the hill and attempted an inflation, didn't quite get it right and the whole thing came crashing down again and at this point I decided to go down the slope a bit to lessen the venturi effect. The next inflation was fine and I took off without a problem, if a little premature (shows I'm rusty). What followed was a brilliant flight of 1 hour 15mins, and for the first time I was really playing with, and feeling out the thermals. A gradient pilot in front of me started to circle in what seemed to be a thermal, so I followed his lead. I actually managed about 3 or 4 360degree turns, gaining height all the time up to about 580ft above my take-off point. Without me noticing, the other pilot had flown out of the thermal back over to the hill, but I was too far back to do so. I came out of the thermal and was losing height quickly and not penetrating the venturi at the top of the hill, so had no choice but to make a landing. Here's where the fun began. The back part of the hill is a mish mash of bushes, fences and mud so my choices were limited. I steered away from the massed bushes to an area between two fences. This area still had some bushes towards the back part that I was anxious to avoid to I tried to fly over the front fence. I realised I wasn't going to get over that fence so I did the next best thing and landed on it. This is the first time I have ever spot landed with both feet on a fence post 100mm wide!!!! So there I was standing on the fence post, canopy still inflated above me and wondering what to do next, so I decided to step backwards off of the post and I landed on the ground behind it with the canopy settling nicely in a muddy puddle, still could have been a lot worse.

I got 2 or 3 flights that day, the only other notable one being a 1 hour 10 min flight which gave me a little cause for concern. I have not yet flown for more than 1 hour 15 mins in a single flight that I can recall, so on this flight I was determined to do so. 1 hour 10 mins into the flight it looked as if nothing would stop me continuing the flight. There was plenty of lift all around, I was enjoying myself and I wasn't yet frozen solid (apart from my hands that is). Then I happened to look up at my cage and noticed my front cam was pointing up into the air instead of laying down in it's locked position and the cable was out of the cam slot. I swore, gulped then swore again. The cam is there to stop the cage collapsing downwards, which it is unlikely to do whilst flying but still not the ideal position to be in. I tried to reach up to it but it was just out of reach. I half considered continuing the flight (for about a second) but then sanity returned and I chose to land.

The landing was uneventful, I tightened the cam and took straight back off again but after a few minutes got myself caught in venturi again which cut short that flight. My last flight was a nice little twenty minute flight but by this time the wind was dropping finishing the flying day for everybody.

All in all a brilliant day which I thoroughly enjoyed, learnt a few lessons and taught myself a few things as well. Looking forward to next time.

Back