I'm intrested in going

What time do you want to meet in the LZ?

Eric Smith, Tom Morrison and I will be there with Dave Bishop driving. We should be in the LZ around 9 PM.

John
520 444 8105

Hi Guys,

We had another great day at Miller today. As usual I was the first one off (wind dummy) for a short but very satisfying flight. I maintained launch altitude for a bit then dropped below in front by the spine. Just before I gave up left for the LZ I found a weak thermal which I worked back up to 8500'. I played around launch for a bit and then Andy took off followed by John shortly after. I left the mountain and headed towards the LZ to see what I could find. A few bumps but not enough to stay aloft. Total flight time was 37 minutes.
John, Andy and Eric Tucker had exceptional flights and got high.

This is the U-Tube video from my 1.75 hour Tuesday flight. Thanks John for making this video happen.

Tom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAtKKR44g7Q

It was a beautiful day at Miller. It's the end of the monsoons, but there's still enough moisture around for a few cumulous clouds and it was blowing out of the east all afternoon.

Eric Smith, Tom Morrison, Dave Bishop and I met up with PG'er Andy Miller in the LZ and drove up to find it blowing in on the southeast launch. There was still considerable south in it; the east winds that were keeping the aerostat at Ft Huachuca pointed out over the valley hadn't mixed down to our altitude yet.

Tom and I set up and were ready to go by around 11:30. He went first, and pretty quickly got above launch. After a few passes, though, he found sink and was headed out toward the LZ. He got back up though, doing a great job with a thermal over the LZ.

Andy Miller went next. The southeast launch isn't anything close to ideal for a paraglider, but it wasn't too strong or rotory. Andy got it inflated and flying, got popped up a few feet but recovered, turned and flew away. He quickly got up over launch and showed it was soarable.

I was next, and took off into what felt like a nice cycle. But I quickly found myself 200' below launch, trying to work a junky little thermal that was wandering up Miller canyon parallel to the ride. I managed to get almost up to launch level before I lost it, and ran out to the paraglider launches to try for something over there. I got above launch for the first time over there, maybe 8500 MSL and finally able to relax. After a bit of crusing up and down the fairly trashy air in Miller Canyon I decided to try out along the ridge to the LZ for smoother lift. I found some, but not strong that early, and eventually found myself scratching over the LZ to maintain within +/- 100 feet of 6000 MSL with the harness unzipped, looking at the windsock for a landing.

Then, in a space of just a few minutes a batch of clouds started to build over Hereford, including the LZ, I found a thermal, and was able to climb back up over launch altitude, drifting back past the launches and eventually soaring over Carr Peak. A Red-tail hawk flew by off my right wing, checking me out.

Andy had been soaring all this time and had headed over to Miller Peak. As I circled over Carr he came flying back, headed for the launches. It was the only time I saw the top of his wing that day.

As I flew back over the launches I saw that Eric Tucker and Rachelle had arrived and were setting up his glider on the north launch. I waved and headed for the LZ. I skidded into a poor no-wind, downhill landing in the LZ, a minor aggrevation in an otherwise stellar day. I ended up with an hour and 45 minutes at up to around 10500 MSL.

Andy was still up, and soon Eric Tucker joined him and they soared around over the Huachucas, finding plenty of lift as clouds built and then dissapated in the east winds aloft.

Sadly, Eric Smith is still having problems with his busted foot and so didn't fly again. He and Dave drove the truck down. Shortly after they got back to the LZ, an old flying buddy from the 1970s, Ron Anderson (Russ' brother) drove up. It was the first time they had seen each other in over 20 years - they had a lot to catch up on.

Eric Tucker landed after about a 45 minute flight, reporting that it was tough getting down! Andy eventually landed near Rt. 92 down by Three Canyons road, and Tom went down to pick him up. After they returned we all retired to Nick's for post-flight beer and flying stories.

I hadn't expected much out of this day, since Friday had produced such poor high-pressure conditions. It was a really pleasant surprise to find myself soaring in the cool air over Carr.

Got a little video, too...

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If your computer will handle it, click through and check out the HD version!

Nice video John. Your camera is awsome. I took a video as well from my hemet camera but I haven’t posted it on u-tube due to foul language during certain parts of my flight. I will post it at a later date after I replace the existing audio with some light jazz. I'm going to check our the Pima Air & Space Museum tomorrow. I'm not sure if there is going to be any flying this week prior to the fly-in but I will keep my eye on the message board. Saturday was a blast in the air and later at Nick's.

Great Video John. Made me feel like I was there with you. I actually felt the beeping of a vario at times.