A bird gets its wings!
January 17, 2005
Well, at long last, I think I can call myself a pilot! As you know, I completed my written test for the P-2 rating in december, and had purchased the equipment (paraglider, harness, helmet, reserve parachute) in July. So everything was in place for me to let loose. But not much flying since then, and no flying unsupervised. Well yesterday was a beautiful day, in the 60s and sunny after a period of soggy and cold weekends, and the wind gods were in a cooperative mood. So I moseyed on back to Ed Levin, my training site, and found the place to be eerily empty. Still I found one guy take off and land from the 300ft hill, and he cheerfully said that conditions were mild and good, and was good exercise to trudge up to the 300 on foot. Usually we drive, but someone has to drive back down. With a lack of pilots, hitching a ride or driving seemed more work than walking up, so I did, and nearly died of exhaustion (you try going up a 300 ft hill with a 40lbs paraglider-gear on your back). Anyway, I recovered, setup in peace with noone around, pulled 'er up, kited a bit and run run run! A great flight and it felt good to have done it all by myself.
The guy I met down there, Pierre, turns out to be the CEO of ILOG, a $100 million company:
http://ilog.com/corporate/members/executive.cfm
He was going up to the 600 launch, and I asked if he would observe me since the regulations at Ed Levin call for 10 observed launches from 600 before you can do it completely on your own. He obliged, and we were off. Another guy had also joined by this time. My takeoff was quite perfect (he said so), and I had a great flight from twice the height. Found some lift by scratching close to the ridge line, but not confident enough to linger too close to the hillside. Pierre was nice enough to offer another drive up there, and so I did it again. This flight was even better and I scratched closer to the ridge, trying to use the lift to prolong my flight. I even sailed over the heads of several hikers who were trudging up the 300ft hill and were excited to see me pass overhead. So now, I hope that I will soon be able to fly the coastal site here and stay up for an hour or more as you can there with good on-shore lift. The glider purchased 7 months ago has finally flown, and I am finally a paraglider pilot!
Well, at long last, I think I can call myself a pilot! As you know, I completed my written test for the P-2 rating in december, and had purchased the equipment (paraglider, harness, helmet, reserve parachute) in July. So everything was in place for me to let loose. But not much flying since then, and no flying unsupervised. Well yesterday was a beautiful day, in the 60s and sunny after a period of soggy and cold weekends, and the wind gods were in a cooperative mood. So I moseyed on back to Ed Levin, my training site, and found the place to be eerily empty. Still I found one guy take off and land from the 300ft hill, and he cheerfully said that conditions were mild and good, and was good exercise to trudge up to the 300 on foot. Usually we drive, but someone has to drive back down. With a lack of pilots, hitching a ride or driving seemed more work than walking up, so I did, and nearly died of exhaustion (you try going up a 300 ft hill with a 40lbs paraglider-gear on your back). Anyway, I recovered, setup in peace with noone around, pulled 'er up, kited a bit and run run run! A great flight and it felt good to have done it all by myself.
The guy I met down there, Pierre, turns out to be the CEO of ILOG, a $100 million company:
http://ilog.com/corporate/members/executive.cfm
He was going up to the 600 launch, and I asked if he would observe me since the regulations at Ed Levin call for 10 observed launches from 600 before you can do it completely on your own. He obliged, and we were off. Another guy had also joined by this time. My takeoff was quite perfect (he said so), and I had a great flight from twice the height. Found some lift by scratching close to the ridge line, but not confident enough to linger too close to the hillside. Pierre was nice enough to offer another drive up there, and so I did it again. This flight was even better and I scratched closer to the ridge, trying to use the lift to prolong my flight. I even sailed over the heads of several hikers who were trudging up the 300ft hill and were excited to see me pass overhead. So now, I hope that I will soon be able to fly the coastal site here and stay up for an hour or more as you can there with good on-shore lift. The glider purchased 7 months ago has finally flown, and I am finally a paraglider pilot!
posted by PM at 4:58 PM
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