I flew Newman for the first time today!

Okay, so I was powered....

I've been eyeing it for some time, GoogleEarth-ing it to death to see if there's a suitable launch. So I decided to paramotor up to the peak and get a first-hand view. And the verdict is (drum roll, please!)



The one place that looked best to me on Google Earth, heading southwest from the towers, looks bad from the air. It appears to head uphill before a near-cliff dropoff, and the grading isn't right. And it's awfully rocky. There's one holdout: a northeast launch, starting downhill and northeast of the towers. But the wind would have to be within a 30 degree window for it to work, and how often is it really northeast? Usually just in the early morning, and that means you'd have to hike up in the dark. So I think I've closed the book on a Newman free-flight launch. At least my book. If anyone else gets all hot and bothered to launch from there, feel free to research it some more.

I was hoping that a view from a paramotor might give me better perspective on vegetation obstacles, but it didn't. Because of a north wind and its possible rotors coming from the N-S ridge I didn't want to get closer than a couple hundred feet from the peak, and the vegetation's prominence is hidden at that altitude.

I would have gotten some pictures, but it was REALLY cold out there this morning and if I had parted with my ski gloves to work a camera my hands probably would have frozen solid. I need to put a helmet camera mount on my paramotor helmet!