Southern Arizona Hang Glider Association
The Soaring predictor http://www.soaringpredictor.info/phoenix/A_Mountain.htm thinks the "A" is going to be working tomorrow. 13 SE until 11 AM when it becomes 14 E. Marginal for HG, but just a little more and it could be good for both PG and HG!
If so, we could have a traditional "A" mountain fly-in, with a traditional first flight of the year. SAHGA has frequently had New Year's fly-ins at the "A". Sadly, Fred won't be around in his tux this year since he moved to Prescott, but we could still have fun.
I'll be out in the morning at 10 or so with the wing to check it out.
Happy New Year!
John
Happy New Year! "A" Mountain on Sunday? (Reports a
Moderators:ioan, John Wolfe, aaroncromer, jlowery
Last edited by jlowery on Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Looks like some good am conditions. I won't be in town till the afternoon but will roll out there check it out and give anyone a ride to the top who needs it.
Lane
Lane
Last edited by Lane on Mon Jan 02, 2012 12:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Happy New Year! "A" Mountain on Sunday? (repor
The forecasts were timed weirdly well, the velocities actually came in a little stronger than predicted.
One retired PG pilot (Gunter Schmidt) and four HG pilots (Jason Otto, Rafael Ramirez, Eric Smith and I) showed up, and Debbie Hodge came out with Rafael to hang out with us. We also met up with long-time SAHGA HG pilot (now retired) Russ Anderson in the LZ.
Jason was first up to launch exactly at 11 AM and exactly at that time a little gust front (!) came through pushing SE winds well over 25 mph. Jason elected to back off from launch at that point, it was just blown out. It was strange, likely convergence as the wind switched direction - there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
Within 20 minutes it had calmed down and we were still getting nice cycles, although it was definitely crossing from the left on launch.
Eric Smith was first off in a weak cycle, and he made several passes but was sinking as Jason came up to launch in a big cycle. Jason popped right up and got maybe 200-300 over in that cycles but Eric never saw it over on the east face of the hill, and he landed shortly after. It was a long enough cycle that I managed to get into it as well and joined Jason, but not quite as high. Rafael followed me off in another nice cycle, and we soared together for a while with a pair of hawks, a falcon and one R.C. glider in the SE 15-20.
Rafael landed after 15 or 20 minutes, still a little nervous about flying close with other gliders. I managed 35-40 minutes and maybe 300 over at times, but wandered a little too far north in front of the hill, found a big piece of sink that put me down 200 feet in a few seconds, so went out to land. It was actually quite turbulent in the LZ, a surprise for January 1st.
Jason flew for another half hour or so, I think he probably get 1:30 or more and quite high at times.
Eric went back up and took another 20-30 minute flight, and that was it for the day. Eric scored SAHGA's first flight of the year, and Jason definitely had the flight of the day. All of us had a great time.
As always, this is a lot easier to do with help. Thanks to Gunter and Debbie for the wire help, Rafael and Debbie for bringing my truck down to the LZ.
Tomorrow's forecast looks a lot like today's, I'm going to be down there around 10 AM to see if it happens again.
John
One retired PG pilot (Gunter Schmidt) and four HG pilots (Jason Otto, Rafael Ramirez, Eric Smith and I) showed up, and Debbie Hodge came out with Rafael to hang out with us. We also met up with long-time SAHGA HG pilot (now retired) Russ Anderson in the LZ.
Jason was first up to launch exactly at 11 AM and exactly at that time a little gust front (!) came through pushing SE winds well over 25 mph. Jason elected to back off from launch at that point, it was just blown out. It was strange, likely convergence as the wind switched direction - there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
Within 20 minutes it had calmed down and we were still getting nice cycles, although it was definitely crossing from the left on launch.
Eric Smith was first off in a weak cycle, and he made several passes but was sinking as Jason came up to launch in a big cycle. Jason popped right up and got maybe 200-300 over in that cycles but Eric never saw it over on the east face of the hill, and he landed shortly after. It was a long enough cycle that I managed to get into it as well and joined Jason, but not quite as high. Rafael followed me off in another nice cycle, and we soared together for a while with a pair of hawks, a falcon and one R.C. glider in the SE 15-20.
Rafael landed after 15 or 20 minutes, still a little nervous about flying close with other gliders. I managed 35-40 minutes and maybe 300 over at times, but wandered a little too far north in front of the hill, found a big piece of sink that put me down 200 feet in a few seconds, so went out to land. It was actually quite turbulent in the LZ, a surprise for January 1st.
Jason flew for another half hour or so, I think he probably get 1:30 or more and quite high at times.
Eric went back up and took another 20-30 minute flight, and that was it for the day. Eric scored SAHGA's first flight of the year, and Jason definitely had the flight of the day. All of us had a great time.
As always, this is a lot easier to do with help. Thanks to Gunter and Debbie for the wire help, Rafael and Debbie for bringing my truck down to the LZ.
Tomorrow's forecast looks a lot like today's, I'm going to be down there around 10 AM to see if it happens again.
John
Another "A" day report
The forecast for Monday was similar to Sunday's, with a little bit higher velocities. I got to the "A" about 10:15 and found it blowing in nicely.
It was still early so I wasn't in a hurry to set up, and when I did start setting up around 11 it quickly got too strong to even safely set up. Jason Otto gave up on it and left, saying he would try to come back later. Eric Tucker and Raquel showed up a bit later. And Russ Anderson came out again as well.
Phillip Mathews, a photojournalist from KOLD tv, was there to do an expanded story on hang gliding after the report he did with Orrin Smith two weeks ago. But it was a hang-waiting day and we sat around a long time waiting for conditions.
Finally around 1:00 when a number of RC pilots had shown up to fly it started looking better, enough south and velocities down to a manageable level. Eric Tucker and I set up. I was first off with wire help from Eric and two of the R.C. pilots (thanks, guys!) and he launched shortly after with wire help from the RC guys.
We soared around for a while, enjoying and being enjoyed by lots of spectators because of the holiday. After a half-hour I went out and landed, and got interviewed by Phillip. Eric went on to soar for over two hours before finally tiring out and coming out to land.
Also stopping by the LZ to say hello were Jacque Neff and Hans. Jacque and Hans are long-time hang glider pilots. Jacque was SAHGA president for several years. Hans was in town visiting from New Mexico.
KOLD showed different versions of the interview on their 4 PM and 6 PM broadcasts. The 4 PM version had an interview with Jason Otto promoting the sport. The 6 PM version is posted at http://www.kold.com/story/16431499/a-be ... ng-gliding
On the 10 PM broadcast they showed a couple of pictures of Rafael taking off and soaring on Sunday:
http://pics.kold.com/MediaItemView.aspx?id=2129054
and http://pics.kold.com/MediaItemView.aspx?id=2129055
Great day, definitely worth the wait. Lots of nice people to hang out with while we waited. And a little good publicity for SAHGA!
John
It was still early so I wasn't in a hurry to set up, and when I did start setting up around 11 it quickly got too strong to even safely set up. Jason Otto gave up on it and left, saying he would try to come back later. Eric Tucker and Raquel showed up a bit later. And Russ Anderson came out again as well.
Phillip Mathews, a photojournalist from KOLD tv, was there to do an expanded story on hang gliding after the report he did with Orrin Smith two weeks ago. But it was a hang-waiting day and we sat around a long time waiting for conditions.
Finally around 1:00 when a number of RC pilots had shown up to fly it started looking better, enough south and velocities down to a manageable level. Eric Tucker and I set up. I was first off with wire help from Eric and two of the R.C. pilots (thanks, guys!) and he launched shortly after with wire help from the RC guys.
We soared around for a while, enjoying and being enjoyed by lots of spectators because of the holiday. After a half-hour I went out and landed, and got interviewed by Phillip. Eric went on to soar for over two hours before finally tiring out and coming out to land.
Also stopping by the LZ to say hello were Jacque Neff and Hans. Jacque and Hans are long-time hang glider pilots. Jacque was SAHGA president for several years. Hans was in town visiting from New Mexico.
KOLD showed different versions of the interview on their 4 PM and 6 PM broadcasts. The 4 PM version had an interview with Jason Otto promoting the sport. The 6 PM version is posted at http://www.kold.com/story/16431499/a-be ... ng-gliding
On the 10 PM broadcast they showed a couple of pictures of Rafael taking off and soaring on Sunday:
http://pics.kold.com/MediaItemView.aspx?id=2129054
and http://pics.kold.com/MediaItemView.aspx?id=2129055
Great day, definitely worth the wait. Lots of nice people to hang out with while we waited. And a little good publicity for SAHGA!
John
Last edited by jlowery on Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
