Bit of a mixed up start to the season. I’ve only had a few days flying, but then I’ve been working (told you it was mixed up) and Bob has yet to fly in Scotland this year. Meanwhile Julian has set an AHPC paraglider record by flying to Lossiemouth from the Tap and has had a few good flights elsewhere in Scotland. Even more impressive things have been done on paragliders in Scotland but you’ll have to read on to find out about those.

 

 

Arran Nationals – first weekend of June

 

This will be this weekend (3rd – 4th June)., coinciding with the Feis (traditional music festival). I’m heading down at some unearthly hour on Friday night as Lu is participating in the Feis, so we need to catch the 7 o’clock ferry, though for the comp the next one at 09:45 will be met by the minibus.

 

 

AHPC Nationals Round – first weekend of July

 

I’m hoping that I’ll get this competition / fly-in organised. It should be based at the Aboyne Glider Club, as there’s cheap beer there as well as being a central location with phone reception. Camping or even the bunk room are available there. More details the week before but it will probably be meet at the lay-by by the glider club at 10-ish on Saturday 1st July.

 

 

 

Site News by Bob Dunthorn

 

St Cyrus – this site is now partially closed, with no flying south of the car park due to nesting birds. This situation will remain until August sometime. We will publish an opening date once we hear from Scottish Natural Heritage.

 

Pressendye / Scar Hill -  a reminder to contact the gamekeeper Sandie McConachie on 01339 881332 for permission to fly, preferably the night before when he’s most likely to be in.

 

Morrone - Bob and Matt spoke to the factor for the Invercaud Estate about driving up Morrone. We have been allowed to continue to have a key for the gate, which Bob will keep. This arrangement is still on the basis that we behave ourselves so do so.

 

 

French Flying Guide by Guillaume Perrin

 

To start with the right subject, a few words about French flying rules (yes, there are some). Go to http://www.ffvl.fr/FFVL/Commission_securite/documents/?file030929-FRENCH_F

 

This is the official site of the FFVL, the French hang / paragliding / kite federation. All main rules are summarised in English (not yet available in Doric though) and the rest is in French but sort of understandable due to the pictures.

 

Using a 2m radio is tolerated in France. However this is theoretically restricted to 143.9875 MHz and should be used for safety only.

 

Weather information from surrounding transmitters is also broadcasted on this frequency (advanced level in French required for understanding as there are no pictures)

 

To check out the weather forecast, there are numerous internet sites, probably useless if you travel without your PC. The best option remains to call "Meteo France" for local forecast on 0892 6802xx, with xx being the department reference, eg 38 for Isere, 73 for Savoie, ... depending where you are. NB : those are also the last two digits of the car registration in the corresponding area ! Understanding French is also mandatory for this service. Of course, asking a local is still probably the best bet.

 

OK, OK, you're getting nervous with all this theory. Let's get to the point : the Sites’ Guides ! This is in French at http://www.ffvl.fr/sites

 

A general free-flying portal with many site references and descriptions can also be found at http://para2000.free.fr and follow the link to where ever you want

 

If you plan to fly in the Mont Blanc area, you absolutely need to read this great brochure (in English !!)

http://lesgratteciel.org/pdf/2005/brochure_voleraupmb_uk05_internetliens.pdf

 

To finish this brief introduction to some of the French sites, if you want to go flying in a superb area, with good XC possibilities, and no over-crowded sites, you can visit La Chartreuse. General info about this paradise can be found at http://www.chartreuse-tourisme.com or www.en-chartreuse.info

 

If the weather is crap (i.e. not flyable), I suggest you head towards www.chartreuse.fr which is the famous green liquorish drink made of plants, 100% natural and 300% strong!! If you're lucky and conditions look OK, on you go as all sites are referenced in the above guides. For wilder mountain flights, see :www.bivouak.net/topos/liste_course.php  (then choose "Chartreuse" in the filter).

 

Looking for a hang / paragliding school? Full list of French schools (approved by French Federation) available on www.ffvl.fr/Annuaire_vl (in French)

 

You can equally check the following site in French but due in English soon www.apprendreleparapente.comannuaire_ecoles_parapente.php

 

I can personally recommend the following school in "La Chartreuse" : www.lesgensdair.com

 

For those who need to buy / sell things, a new concept has recently been developed based on exchange, and selling second hand material. The shop is located near Annecy, a beautiful area full of flyable sites and XC possibilities: paratroc.free.fr

 

Hope this is of interest / use for some of you. Should you need further info, we can meet next time at the Boat Club.

 

 

Lookout Mountain Part 1 by Major Simon Lucas

 

I arrived at Lookout Mountain Flight Park in early April, and shelled out $1700 with the intention of getting a hang gliding licence so that I could fly more in windy Scottish weather.  So far so good….

 

The flight park is large, with a stack of holiday cabins, a large clubhouse, a dormitory, another clubhouse, 2 hangers, a row of small cottages for rent and a row of condominiums for rent at one end.  Oh and a grass runway, and plenty of space to land.  There is also a “pro shop” at the top of the West facing ridge above Trenton, (on “Lookout Mountain”) with a ramp style cliff launch.  Small training hills are found on the other side of the village.  Apparently the club has about 50,000 members in the USA, many of whom use it as a 2 or 3 week holiday destination.  I suspect few of them are short of cash….

 

Training started well, on Wills Wings Falcons, a modern single surface glider.  All the kit was new, no old collapse-os or stuff like that.  Harnesses and helmets all in good condition, and at least 5 experienced instructors working on a rota.  A log book is kept for each trainee so that incoming instructors know what’s been done so far.

 

Beginning with training hops of the small hill (about 30 ft high), I was immediately struck with how easy a basic hang glider is to launch., at least in easy conditions.  There is no need to run like hell - start walking and slowly accelerate, next thing you’re airborne.  The glide on these training gliders was about the same as my Sigma 6 – roundabout 8.5:1.  A second major difference compared to a paraglider is the need to actively pilot pitch angle and airspeed.  It seems that the pendulum effect on a paraglider does a lot of this automatically, adjusting the centre of pressure and pitch of the wing as you fly.  On a hang glider, light wind changes that I wouldn’t bother reacting to on a paraglider, require pitch input to adjust airspeed.

 

Having done the necessary take off, course control, airspeed management and landing tasks, and passed a basic theory test, I was allowed to progress to the 100 ft training hill.  Here I went on to 45 deg, 90 deg turns and then turn reversals.  This is where the fun starts – a hang glider is turned by weight shift, no brakes!  So I weight shifted just like in a paraglider – and nothing happened!  Paragliding weight shift basically occurs centred on the harness hangpoints, so you can get away with leaning into the hang point and that’s it.  Not on a hang glider – you need to keep your head centred and move the line of you body over – feet and hips, bit like parallel skiing turns.  It took a long while to get this going, being a pre-conditioned para pilot and skiing like a sack of spuds.  Anyway I managed to get most of it right most of the time, even doing a record 20 flights off the small hill in one morning, which seemed to amaze the locals and be something of a site record.

 

After a week, conditions were finally right for aerotow, so I got 2 tows to 3000ft with a tandem instructor.

 

Tow that….

 

This enabled me to practice turns and get a bit more feel for hang gliding.  Unfortunately there was no lift anywhere so it was just down doing lots of turns and practicing approaches.  Again the airspeed and size of a hang glider felt very different, needing earlier course decisions and good awareness of other aircraft.  The approach speed for landing feels quite daunting, basically the technique is to put speed on and come in fast, so that you have enough momentum and speed to control safely and overcome any wind gusts.  From a paragliding perspective, it feels time to flare as soon as you’re a couple of feet above the ground – but this would be dire in a hang glider, converting all that speed to height and the belly flopping in.  It takes a while to get the judgement on “ground effect” – going along parallel to the ground until you reach trim speed, and then gently stalling the glider for a perfect landing.  This is very different to landing a paraglider – and it’s not easy.  I managed a lot of wheelies, several standup landings, and a couple of nasty flops which may have slightly bent an upright… and cricked my back nicely saving me a trip to the chiropractor.   I suspect I wouldn’t feel confident landing in oddly sloping Scottish landing fields for quite a while – respect to those Aberdeen hang glider pilots that routinely land at Leadlich and Tap!

 

 After the aerotow, the weather got bad, with tornados in Tennessee north of Chattanooga killing 11 people.  I went to Atlanta and rang bells all weekend – I hadn’t seen any news for ages and didn’t know anything about it until I got to Atlanta!

 

Back in Lookout, I had a couple more hill training days – and then the fateful day came.  I’d done 50 flights off the training hills, but on flight 51 I did a 90 deg turn reversal, lined up for landing, came in at reasonable speed, let the speed bleed off and tried to flare.  At this point I realised I wasn’t standing up properly and the glider began to turn in the flare, so I tried to push the frame out with my body at 45 deg to the ground.   The glider stalled and nosed down, the frame hit the ground at which point I felt something in my elbow joint move from the right place to the wrong place – I let go, swung thru the A frame and then swung back hitting injured elbow on the A frame., at which point I was heard to remark “Ow!”.  I unclipped – nothing was broken or bent on the glider – but I was diagnosed with a fractured olecranon (= elbow) and operated on that night.

 

Holiday snaps with a difference

 

Many thanks to all those that helped with travels to doctors and hospitals!  (Apart from the one that installed the chimney and clouds as well as the plate).

 

 

Other Info

 

Watch out for car hire costs in USA.  There is no “excess” – you are liable for the whole value of the car.  Costs to waive this and for insurance are not included in quotes.  Taking into account damage waiver and insurance costs, I found the actual costs for hire to be 3 times the quoted price.

 

I was insured with British Mountaineering Council – the insurance support in the USA and settlements have been trouble free.

 

~ Here endeth the HG lesson according to Lucas ~

 

 

Flight Report 6th May 2006 by Julian Robinson (blimey, he can write)

 

Saturday turned out to be excellent, despite the forecast of a thundery front pushing across from the east during the afternoon, which did not arrive until to evening.

 

Adrian and I went to Tap quite early. The wind was pretty east on the Tap itself, and Adrian gained a few brush points for walking up the Tap and not the Hill of Noth after I'd told him the wind direction. I tried to fly across to the Hill in a lull, but didn't make it and had a sweaty walk with bunched-up wing to a decent take-off on the Hill. A gust magically unfurled my bunched-up wing and placed it flying above my head, which I took as a signal to launch, and was instantly up and circling; meanwhile Adrian had successfully made it across the gap from the Tap.

 

Although my thermal felt wide and smooth, the drift was taking me over the wide forest with no obvious source for a second thermal, so I pushed back to the hill, planning to get away from the north eastern end of the Hill, where the downwind track offered better prospects. Back at the hill, and I was straight into another good thermal, and this time up and away, circling up to 1200m under the blue sky. The upper wind was quite strong with a south-south-east track and I was happy to clock up kms by circling in zeros. The obvious thermal sources – dry ploughed fields - all seemed to work, with climbs going up to the 1200m inversion, and in what seemed like no time it was clear that I was going to make the coast at Spey Bay.

 

I arrived high over the coastline in a rough little beast of a thermal, and it crossed my mind that a reserve ride here would be a bad idea, so I pushed inland and tried to gain extra distance along the coastline. The lower wind near the coast was easterly and it was fast progress toward Lossiemouth with abundant lift. I was running out of room to fly, becoming wedged-in by Lossiemouth airspace and the sea, so a landing on the beach was on the cards. Looking-up whilst circling in my last thermal I realised that I was lined-up perfectly the east-west runway just 4k away, and on the glide slope, and I briefly imagined myself as a Tornado pilot making a landing approach; at least it was not midweek. A spiral down onto the Scottish riviera and off to the town for ice creams.

 

Hill of Noth to Lossiemouth beach

47.1km (straight) or 51.2km (with turnpoints).

Sat 6th May 11.30am, duration 1h50m

 

Adrian got away too and almost made Huntly.

 

So the first scoreboard for the George Watt Memorial XC League (and Over-The-Back bottle) looks like this:

 

 

PILOT

 

POINTS TOTAL

OTB

Total Km Flown

Wing Factor

Km behind

1

Julian

Robinson

5.89

1

47.1

8

0.0

2

Richy

Grundy

1.31

1

10.5

8

36.6

3

Adrian

Smith

0.73

1

5.8

8

41.3

 

Total Distance Flown:  63.4km

 

 

Lookout Mountain Part 2 by Dr. Bob

 

Hear is a short story on my last trip, which was to Lookout Mountaim Flight Park (LMFP) in Georgia, USA.

 

The Major was hoping to meet Geoff and myself at LMFP, but things did not go according to plan for Simon.

 

Geoff picked me up at the airport in Alabama, which was on the way from Houston. After checking in we went up the hill and we both got 2 hrs on the first. day. Geoff had kindly lent me a Wills Wing Fusion 150 which actually was a very nice glider (I have flown some real dogs on other trips).

 

What to do if you spot a Pathetic Delta

 

There was a fair mixture of weather with heavy rain on some days. The next time that we flew was by aerotow and this turned out to be Geoff's day. I went first, climbed out on the ridge slowly before heading across the valley to some good-looking clouds which provided only zeros. I saw Geoff doing better on the ridge and went back for a top up (mistake!) and I never got up again. My flight lasted 40 mins. Meanwhile Geoff flew 18 miles out and return along the ridge. He got low coming back and was considering an outlanding before finding a ratty thermal to get up and then back to the LZ in 2 1/2 hrs.

 

More flying over the next few days, some of it top to bottom and a few weak link breaks for Geoff. These included one at very low level resulting in a bent upright, so one point in the CTD for Geoff. Near the end of our trip we were back on the Mountain in light conditions. Some of the locals did TTB flights and I staggered off the new Ramp and got lucky at 400ft. below take off. Geoff followed but was unlucky and went down. This turned out to be my day with slow climbs, eventually to cloud base.

 

 The launch is 1400ft. above the LZ which is also the aerotow field. The training hills are a couple of miles away. LMFP is an excellent facility offering HG training for hill and aerotow pilots. There is currently no facility for Paras but this may change in the future.

 

The accommodation was good apart from the dog shit. The other drawback was it is a dry county, but you can bring your own booze to the restaurants, which in some cases close at 2100hrs. Even the Jack Daniels distillery can’t sell its bourbon on the premises.

 

My thanks to Geoff for doing the arrangements and lending me a decent glider.

 

 

Letters to the Editor, News and Gossip

 

 

Website for Stubaital club, Gustav’s new local: www.jochdohlen.com

 

I got a strange phone call from freelance photographer who wanted to take pictures of us flying, having seen our website. Didn't even put him off by pointing out the 6hour drive from his home in the southern Lake District of England to Aberdeen, yet alone the vagaries of the weather. But I gave him the contact details of Cumbria Soaring Club.

 

After piling in while flying in Spain, Fiona Work, is on the mend and out and about on her bike.  However she and boyfriend Budgie are giving up on the flying and concentrating of their other sports, mostly water-skiing. So look out for them on Loch Tay.

 

FOR SALE

Ozone Vibe paraglider (DHV 1), good condition, size MS which is a certified weight range of 75-95kg, red with white, only 10hrs flying. Has a few very small patches where I caught a fence, so small nobody has ever noticed them. Great buy at £600

Kortell K2 harness, the Rolls Royce of harnesses, ask any experienced pilot. Very good condition and as with the glider, only 10hrs flying.  Excellent buy at  £300

Apco MayDay 18 reserve parachute, weight range 95-110kg Great condition, owned from new, never been thrown. Blue and White. Only £200

Photos available upon request or you view them in person.

Alan Budge      Tel – 01356 647211

Email - arbudge@aol.com

 

 

 

Lookout Mountain Part 3 by Geoff May:

 

You'll be glad to hear that we did not suffer any lack of beer incidents despite the dry county. Had a good party at the landing field on Saturday evening and believe that Bob was seen to be happy. Highlight of Chatenooga appears to be the "tow truck and auto-wrecker's hall of fame and museum". God bless America.

 

 

 

 

 

Error in the Sites’ Guide spotted by Bill Connon - Cairnwell is listed as NS 134774, which is actually Bishop's Seat near Dunoon! It doesn't even look flyable.  Cairnwell should be NO 134774. Well done Bill, now all he’s got to do with his spare time is write up his travels down under.

 

£20 Membership now due - send a cheque payable to “Aberdeen Hang Gliding Club” to Julian Robinson, 40 Elmfield Terrace, Aberdeen AB24 3NY. Or try to get to a club meeting at the Boat House and pay him in person (he prefers cheques to avoid spending the cash on beer). Fees of £2 per month for glider storage at Sunnyside also have to be paid by May (that’s now).

DHV Paraglider Ratings: An Explanation for Hang Glider Pilots by Richy Grundy:

 

 

Just so you know, the following pilots fly the following wings:

 

Scott, Kieron

Adrian, Brian, Bill

Julian, John, Richy, Kev

2-3       Matt

 

If there are any female hangies reading this, then please contact me for a more relevant review.

 

 

Next Issue should be good: competitions that AHPC members are going to include the Arran Open on Arran, the Scottish Open in Scotland and the Chabre Open at the Chabre (France), the AHPC round of the Scottish Nationals here in Aberdeenshire and finally, all topped by it being Bob’s round. Oh and of course write ups about Minorca and Brasil.

 

 

 

 

 

Please send an article (or two) to:

Matthew Church at 4, Invergarra Cottages, Grandhome, Aberdeen AB22 8AR. 

Email:  fly_matt@tiscali.co.uk