On the road again!

The season is about to start. I hit the road this morning and am very happy with the heavy-duty bag for the glider. Nothing is flapping, the whole glider is cushioned and the glider stays dry.

Anyway, I started out with nice weather in Belgium (Rudy flew in Beauraing and had his first cloud base of 2012), but as I got closer to the Alps, things got darker and darker until it didn't look like holiday weather at all anymore:

But, to my surprise, the temperatures dropped rapidly as I approached the foothills and halfway between Munich and the Alps it looks like this:

I never expected it to still have snow there in March. Luckily, our competition is in Slovenia, on the south side of the Alps. I'm looking forward to it. The comp starts on Wednesday and I hope to get some free flying in tomorrow and the day after tomorrow in Bassano.

Aeros ordered some weather

Aeros is organizing the Winter Race next week in Slovenia. It seems that they are doing the final preparations on Sunday by throwing a bucket of cold air at us from their home base in the Ukraine:

The 13.5 flew. Be it only for 5 minutes...

The weather predictions were calling for weak S winds, turning into moderate SW winds. Now, that's a little bit of a problem in Belgium. We've got a S ridge and a W ridge, but no SW ridge. The S ridge (Sept Meuses) needs moderate winds and is known to be turbulent with SW winds... And the W launch (Coo) is known to be turbulent with SW winds as well... And by the way, statistically, most of our winds are SW winds. So what about towing? Well, currently, we do not have any towing operation (should be operational next month, though). So, desperate as I was to try the Combat 13.5 GT, I went to Sept Meuses anyway.

Our launch there always had some trouble with vandalism. So, some of our guys did a good job last year by making it impossible to reach the launch itself by car. Guess what, someone started demolishing the barriers:

I noticed that the suspect probably has a quad:

Fellow hang gliders, quad riders shall no longer be safe!

On a more serious note, there was almost no wind upon arrival. Combine that with an overcast sky and you see that the prospects for flying were bleak. Made me think of those "months on shitty hills" (Carl Wallbank). 2 Hours later, we still had the same conditions. Another hour and we had maybe just enough wind to fly, but already turning west. Knowing that this was the best we were going to get, I launched. I didn't fly close to the terrain (new bird in possibly turbulent air) and didn't immediately get on top of the ridge. A few turns in small thermals stretched the flight, but after 5 minutes, I was on the ground. With a happy face. Because I loved the glider's handling immediately. It feels definitely different from Matjaz's glider I tested this summer. It simply turns in faster and nicer. Is that the effect of the Technora leading edge? Curious!

Kurt, flying a 2006 Combat 14.2, launched 15 minutes after me and had a 20 minute flight. He flew well and while derigging, it seemed that conditions were slightly improving. We picked up the car from launch half an hour later, only to find out that there now was a steady and moderate, south wind. Ouch! Not enough patience today...

New Aeros Combat 13.5 GT arrived!

Alright. Last week, a long box was delivered in Antwerp. And this weekend, I could finally unpack it. Doesn't it already look good?

Even while it still is short-packed? Lol ;-)

This is a rather nice change: the pushpins on the A-frame corners are a bit bigger. Can be handy!

This one has a keel cover. But what surprises me a little is the pushpin instead of a quick release to unlock the keel. The pushpin is something which is not as easy to use as a quick release and, more importantly, something you can lose on a rocky surface or in long grass...

Inside the right wing:

I didn't order the new winglets, but apparently they are the new standard now. They are incredibly light. I'm curious how they fly. Will need to test :-)

The pulleys for the moveable CG system which gives more comfortable high speed glides:

The fully tensioned top surface of the right wing looking clean:

And a clean center section as well:

Oooooh, look at this, the blade in full glory! I hope it flies as good as it looks!

And of course, no sail rolls nicer than a Combat sail:

I simply can't wait to fly it, but I still need longer hang straps. Forgot to mention that on the order... Anyway, let's hope we get a nice day soon. I've read too many Australian and Slovenian reports and seen too many pictures! Fingers crossed for an unstable spring :-)

New Belgian Comp Pilots

I'm pleased to notice that we will have a decent Belgian delegation at this year's Trofeo Montegrappa. Next to Tom and me, Kurt, Gerry and Bert will take part. Three guys who are relatively new to comp flying, but keen to learn. Reminds me of 3 years ago, when the Trofeo was my second comp, still on the Spyder. Watch out, the Belgians are coming :-)

1964: Early attempts

Dickenson experimented in 1963 and these guys seem to have tried it their way in 1964:

Beautiful January Flying

Today, after 3 months, I finally got to fly again. NE wind predictions gave a decent chance to be able to fly in Beauraing (N ridge) and with predictions for 3 to 4 Bft, I hit the road.

Upon arrival, the situation looked different. 1-2 Bft and more than 45 degrees cross wind. That was not going to do it. A bit of waiting and conditions seemed to improve slightly. A bit later, Rudy arrived, while 1 paraglider pilot was about to attempt launch. Rudy had much more confidence about the lift than I had and he turned out to be right.

We flew under a dark grey sky, now and than we were hit by just a bit of snow and we even had some very light thermals. It just was good to be in the air. Halfway through the flight I realized it probably was my last flight with my Aeros Combat 14.2. It's my first topless glider and it's been a trustworthy and fast companion for the last 2 years. Damn, I even noticed some emotional attachment to the bird while derigging it...