Ken Howells Hang Gliding & Paragliding Flight Log

After days and days of Santa Ana winds ripping out trees, knocking
semis off the freeways, and causing actual sweat in December, things
changed abruptly. Thursday was a record high temp in L.A. and Friday
had 100% overcast with the bases below 4000 foot MSL Marshall Peak.
We flew off the old Regionals launch, about 3400 MSL / 1700 AGL, but
it was extended sledders for most everyone. Later Marshall opened up,
but it wasn't any better. The wierd thing was that it stayed almost
exactly the same all day - you couldn't link the passage of time to the
change in the conditions, since there wasn't any change.

Saturday was looking similar, but windier and people were soaring paragliders
off of the 750 launch, and hang gliders off of Regionals, with Marshall
in the clouds nearly the whole time. We had our 2nd annual Crestline
Soaring Society Toy/Fund drive that day, with the donations going to
the kids at some local group homes. There was a lot of stuff, some
of the kids were in the LZ playing with the nifty foam gliders that
Steve Corbin makes and sells 5 for $10.00, and there were chili dogs,
fresh ground coffee, cookies, cocoa, and a fire. That added up to lots
of happy pilots. President Rob von Zabern will NOT be impeached, ever.

It drizzled a bit Saturday night and Sunday morning, and cloudbase was
even lower. The NWS was calling for W to NW winds in the afternoon
(NW, N, & NE are BAD) gusting 20 to 35 MPH. I was really hoping for
just a little soaring early Sunday, but it looked really iffy, like
maybe the 750 would be launchable. But the wind was solid S at 20,
and the clouds were changing all the time. At about 10:00 Dianne McKenzie
said that everyone else who had signed up for the mid-day ride up the hill
had bailed, so sorry, and she promised to rescue me if needed.

I still had hope, and went to the LZ, where it was still solid S to SSE,
and the clouds were just brushing the top of Marshall. There was a new
PG local whose name escapes me, and we decided on a turnaround to the
750. I would have preferred Regionals, but it isn't a great PG launch.
At the 750, I could see Marshall was clear and mulled the possibility
of driving on up there. The PG guy thought it would be too windy for
him. He got off and up right away, so I stuffed battens with gusto, despite
the chilly aluminium. Marshall socked back in. He was about 500 over
when I launched, and I found nothing in front of launch, nada east of
launch, and zilch west of launch. I found the LZ and landed 4:30 (that's
4 miuntes 30 seconds) after launch. Ahem. Not really a valid flight,
truth be told.

While I was breaking down, Helene and Dwayne and Brad Henson showed up,
and Marshall made another appearance. They wanted to go there, but I
suggested Regionals, and incidentally they could drop me off at my truck
on the way up. Ron Doggett with the big Suburban arrived, and I decided
to cadge a lift to Marshall, fly the glider, and worry about my truck later.
We piled in joined by another PG pilot whose name I simply do not know.
I'm detecting a pattern here.

We got to the top of Marshall, still clear, with an occasional wispy
whipping by. It was ESE at about 22, which is very doable, but most
pilots haven't done it. You run off the flat top and there's a little
3 foot drop followed by a 5 or 6 to 1 slope for 50 yards. With wind
it's easy. Except Ron only has one leg, so a launch requiring a run
is out. Paul Phillips and Scott were already there, and they all
decided to opt for Regionals (like I suggested earlier!) because of
the nice steep slope and maybe less wind given the lower altitude.
I chose to launch from Marshall, since Regionals doesn't have a lot
of setup room without blocking the road, and I was confident about
launching. The PG guy decided for Marshall, and there was the guy
I had gone to the 750 with; he had top landed Marshall. He was
right about it being too windy for PG there.

I started stuffing battens so fast that I had four in before I realized
I was putting the left ones in the right wing. I pulled them out and
rearranged all the battens on the ground and started over. When I was
hooked in and walking over for a looksee, Bruce Barmakian showed up with
Wally Stephens as a driver. By then it was 25-30 in the gusts, and I
asked Wally for a wire. The wind was switchy, and I ended up launching
in S from the top (WSW) launch, going cross slope for quite a ways
before getting into the clear airflow and climbing vertically to cloudbase
at 4600 MSL. I could see the group of gliders setting up on Regionals,
and the PG guys packing up to get a ride down with Wally.

The wind was about 30-35 MPH up near cloudbase, which changed altitude often
over a range of about 400 feet. The feeling of ease that goes with
the bracing cold, high windspeed, and cloubanks barreling by is great,
but odd at the same time. It was easy to climb into the clouds, but
nothing more than pulling in was needed to overcome the cloudsuck.
As time went by the clouds got farther apart and there were sunny
spots appearing in the valley. After about 35 minutes a couple of
gliders launched from Regionals. Bruce took off in his Fusion and
disappeared, headed East for 25 miles to Yucaipa it turns out.
I was playing with climbing under high-base clouds then going and
trying to centerpunch the lower ones. Everytime I got near one
and didn't sink under it the turbulence on the downwind side of the
cloud made me reconsider and turn aside.

I do love the added dimension of the clouds streaming by. So often
when I'm up in the clear air I lose the sensation of pure speed, unless
I'm trying a wingover or something. Hanging there "stationary" and
having clouds approach, loom large, and whip by is amazing. Those
little curls at the edges are pretty damn big and fast moving when
you're right there near and in 'em. Translucent tendrils snaking along
below are great fun to watch as well. I had one point where I was
threading my way between clouds, and its like being in a huge, white,
living canyon.

Over about 30 more minutes it got clearer and clearer, with a distant
ring of clouds and brilliant blue skies and the sun shining with
days of pent up energy. There were still clouds behind us and the
other gliders looked so cool parked with the clouds as a backdrop,
all lit up and glowing on top and dark underneath. We all took turns
as king of the hill, but were very spread out. The clouds even
lifted off of Crestline, though they hung on to the ridge with long
fingers for a while. There was the lightest dusting of snow on the
trees up there, and it looked like a postcard. I wanted to go there
and fly low along the ridge. I hadn't been above 4600 all day, and
Crestline is 5200. It was straight downwind.

I headed west at about 4000 MSL, hoping I could maintain until I got
to the front of Pine. Pine is a lone mound that is as high as Crestline,
with about a 2 mile gap from the top of Pine to the nearest part of the
Crestline ridge, across Devil Canyon. I've found that on days where
the lift isn't going up high enough to make a straight shot to Crestline
prudent I can get to Pine and work up to Crestline height along the main
spine, then shoot cross or downwind to Crestline. I eked across the mouth
of Devil Canyon at 3500 to 4000 MSL, and when I got to the spine I just
flew straight up it to about 4800. Then I hit something that took me up
at 900 FPM for a few seconds, then settled to a mere 700 up. I got to
5500 MSL and it was butt cold there. But bitchin'! I turned for Crestline
after checking my upwind penetration and was feeling pretty sharp.
Then my sink alarm made it's presence known. Loudly. I was at 5000 after
about 1/4 mile! I turned right and decided to just head back to Regionals
rather then spend 45 minutes worrying about escaping the canyon.

Along the way I realized that I couldn't feel either big toe, my fingers
were stiff, and my thighs were getting chilled. I'd had enough, though
1:40 is usually just getting warmed up. By this time there were dark
clouds massing upwind again. I had been waiting for the wind to clock
around to NW but it never did. A nice Santa Ana landing would have been
quite a capper for the day. Instead it was your routine 15 MPH headwind
no-stepper. One of the PG guys was just getting a fire going. Brad
gave me a ride to the 750. Life was good. Helene and Paul had decided
not to fly, so those two trucks were down from the hill. Helene weighs
three hairs over 100 lbs. and was worried about penetrating. She probably
would have been pulled in the whole time, but could have flown. She said
she has nothing to prove, so why push it? Paul didn't fly because, well,
I don't know. He pushes Moyes, so what chance is there of following his logic?

The sky was 90% dark by the time everyone had landed, and it was switching
from SW to ESE and back every ten minutes. Even now 5 hours later it's
still blowing S at Crestline, though only averaging 3 MPH. Still, it
looked like rain all morning. North winds are de riguer after frontal
conditions. The National gawldarn Weather Service was calling for NW gusties
below passes and canyons, code for Santa Anas. Instead the few optmistic
hardy souls were rewarded with great (but cold) soaring and spectacular
skies. Life's good.

Ken Howells
San Bernardino, California
(retrieved from rec.aviation.hang-gliding archive, 1/27/09)
Good

Blue drogue on long tether (black tie down strap) appx 15 feet. Settled 45 deg. behind and below at trim. (Trim +5) It went 30 deg. above and out to side in turns, swung around with change in direction. Swung up and over keel, then down, increasing bar pressure, before sliding off keel, changing bar pressure again. Tried once to haul the drogue in, decided to cut tether with hook knife at 600 AGL and concentrate on landing. Kells and/or McKenzie later retrieved drogue from hill below old WW test-fly launch by landing PG, relaunching.
Good.

Blue drogue, left side, good - more effect than Metamorfosi
Good.

Used Metamorfosi drogue, midway tween mains. Effective, appx. 5:1 glide. Stable right behind, caught keel on flare.
Good, Slight right, turn tip down 1.

Won spot appx. 10 feet
Nice.

Rippin 'tween frontal day! 900 FPM at 11:00 AM

First Control Bar Millennium Proto. Interesting. First flight for me. Vs=18 trim 18 only went up to 32 MPH - much pitch pressure. Somewhat disconnected feeling. Looked at elevons to be sure they were responding. Landed SE to NW at AJ, rudder 'boards' at full deflection. Ended up on by butt after flare due to weight above and behind me.
First Control Bar Millennium Proto. Interesting. First flight for me. Vs=18 trim 18 only went up to 32 MPH - much pitch pressure. Somewhat disconnected feeling. Looked at elevons to be sure they were responding. Landed SE to NW at AJ, rudder 'boards'

Too iffy and damp to soar long with my truck on top
Good.

Pre-frontal warm and windy

1,200 FPM up got to 7500 MSL
Nice.

SCARY top landing, 1:40 PM. Got dumped at 20 feet AGL - basetube 6 in. from ground while skimming
Good.

Glass off.
Glass off. Sweet

Save low. Inversion at 4300, got 6300 at CRS
Same glider as 9/6. Save low Inversion at 4300, got 6300 at CRS

Nice, late day

Weird bumpy

Midday Boomers

Windy (18) fun Ursula

Got to 7921 at Cajon Pass, flew all over
Nice. Vd=42

Great day - 7500 at Strawberry, 1000 FPM up.
P3, rebuild, new frame. Great day - 7500 at Strawberry, 1000 FPM up. Glider nice. Left tip down 2

Got to 7900 MSL (probably P1 or P2)
Good. Some adverse yaw.

Wrong nosecone - too short on top. Fixed with velcro ties. Occasional stall and dive to 32 MPH due to disruption of airflow at root

First production demo. Nice

Got to 5800 at Pine Flat
Very good.

smog, normal summer
Rock climber. Good launch. Not soarable at CRS. Maintained at 3200 above 750 launch for 12 minutes. Fun. PG crowd. Good high setup and approach
Rock climber

Glass
Rock climber. Good launch. Long smooth sled ride, barely a bump. Used VASI on downwind. Nice flare.
Mrs. Rock climber

Tandem OK landing

One hour after burnoff - too early!

100% overcast.
100% overcast. Glider was tips down 2, up 2 for right turn. Still had slight right, turned right down 2 more. Ship

Great day
Nice.

Poor Landing

Good Day. Cold!

Cloud play at Crestline
Good.

Late day June Gloom
Good.

Good launch. High Adv. student. Small cores, bumps. Some lift @ LM. Big sink on downwind, final made it exciting.

Early afternoon
Good launch. High Adv. student. Sink heading for LZ.

Crash on top landing. Approach was nice, don't remember impact. Basetube caught, sheared bottom front wires, glider laid flat on top of me. Was out for a minute. No recall of appx 1.5 hours. Cut chin, sore thumb, helicopter ride to hospital for scans (neg.)

First time in new 'upper' LZ at Elsinore
Good, noisy.

Fear of Rain.
Fear of Rain. Left turn, tip down 2

Rain

Broke right downtube running crab.
Had Left turn, had straps sewn down, tips 2 up, 2 down. Nice, slight right.

Fun, 3k gain

Good aertow refresher. Non-test

Clear, prefrontal, bumpy
Good launch, easy to get 3-400 over. He flew a lot, up and down ridge. Got stronger, went to Marshall, sank out. Good approach. Flared a hair early to stop.

Mark Hoffman's wing. Bridles way too loose. Midspan stall on left wing - crease/dips in mylar