Ken Howells Hang Gliding & Paragliding Flight Log

Sunny day had filled-in with high clouds, rain coming after midnight, for days. Decided a sledder with the hg wasn't worth it. Pulled the pg out to kite, finally. Light S breeze. Had a couple of good inflations but not enough wind to keep it Flying overhead. Cycles got weaker and more W. Had some practice popping the wing open and realigning. Once I choked-up on the A's a few inches before a real inflation attempt, thinking it might zoom up better. It did and when it got nearly overhead I forgot to release the A's a bit and the LE tucked under smartly. Tried one forward inflation in the dying cycles and it did come up straight before showing me with lines. Felt good overall. No flailing.

First onshore day after a week of N winds. Clear, inverted. They were staying up ok off Marshall but no great heights, same with those above the 750. Had a little cycle to launch into but the bumps of lift were not wide. A number of E-W passes but lower every time. Light W with a touch of N at the LZ but couldn't approach from the E due to a PG landing from the N. Zero by the time I was on WSW final and a good hard flare worked out fine. Good hike to the 750 for my truck.

Only day of onshore in the middle of seven days of Santa Anas. Clearer and warmer than forecast. Gliders from the noon vans were soaring easily. There was a cycle as I walked to launch and I almost ran right off, but didn't. It lulled, then came in cross-right and then south. Ran off and floated to the west bowl-tops, found light lift. Back and forth a couple of times and I was high enough to circle and made a slow, steady climb to 4,300 msl north of Marshall Peak. Put the gloves on (tee shirt & shorts) and was comfortable. Saw a PG get pushed up and backwards north of Cloud Peak before getting kinda dumped and running away. I found the strong little core zooming north and fought to stay with it. Gained hundreds of feet before losing it. Went back to the spot and found it again. It was better and I rode it NE to 6,450 over the highway end of the road to Marshall. Around 5k, in a slow climb section, I had been debating whether 5.5k would be enough to go to Crestline :) Similar at Billboard back to 6,500 from 5,300 or so. Not as active at Pine but enough for an easy glide S and then E to Regionals. Flew around a little then headed down to land so I could pack-up and be back from hiking to get my truck in daylight. Nice hike from the pond. Many of the die hard pilots were out, so fun in the lz.

My first flight from the new high training hill, the Westfall launch, at AJX. Approximately 130' AGL. Did a big S turn, just reached the grass. Dan's training harness.

Low inversion layer. Had previously been forecast to be N. No wind in setup area, puffs up launch. Could see streamers standing out but didn't feel the breeze. Good hard run. A few beeps but no climbs. Mostly zero wind at the lz, landed heading S, good flare.

Solid onshore, not as warm. Many gliders above Marshall. Nothing big enough for me to turn in. Scratched tree line a little. Lift between the ranch and the lz as I turned for final. Sweet no-stepper way short of the pg cone. Nice hike up to get my truck.

Switched from Santa Anas to upslope ahead of schedule. I noticed after 14:00; George S. From Sylmar had launched Marshall just after 13:00 and flew for hours. I had fun scratching from the 750 in west flow with some weak thermal action. Even scratched the tree line pretty low before landing from the East in mostly zero wind. Gene drove me to the 350 Launch and I hiked to the 750 from there. It had been 100 degrees F in my back porch briefly. Probably won't be that warm again for months.

Cool and slightly hazy, turning offshore overnight, to last several days. Launched in a light cycle but plummeted as I headed for the west spines. A very narrow core east of the 350, then the tree line had some lift. Did some fun step turns but no gain in altitude. Light SE cycle at the lz, had a decent no-stepper 10' from the hg cone. Good hike up to get my truck.
Kingpost sock still rides up. Sew tighter or tether to keel.

Some high clouds, murky seabreeze, inversion around 4.5k predicted. Launched and went to below Cloud Peak. Tight, squirrelly core there. Cranked & banked and shoved the bar out in the strong bits. Got above Cloud after quite a few turns and the lift got wider, more predictable. Got to 4,200 MSL and went to Marshall. Got another small one below there, more drift, got to 4,300 then bounced N along the inversion using all my skillz to get to 4,900 before it fizzled. Some 800 fpm up for moments. Wento Cloud Peak and then easily got from 4,200 to 5k. Easy cruising W and E while those below the ridge mostly struggled. Got another one to 5,200. Sun started dipping behind layered thin clouds over L.A., looking like sunset, and the lift weakened. Scratched my way down to the LZ then had a trotting landing near the PG cone in light SSW flow. Very fun and relaxing flight. T-shirt and big gloves was very comfortable.

Warm, post-Santa Ana day. Saw a Sport 3 (Luke) soaring above and S of the 750 for a while; others gaggled over UM. Launched into a cycle and lost no altitude, went right and found very narrow, strong activity. It was jumping all over the place and I could maintain but not climb. Got dumped a couple of times, never regained the altitude. Scratched over the newly graded new high training hill, also along the tree line. Dove in and landed in steady S 7. Pretty fun & engaging. Maybe if I had cranked the big wing towards the hill in a couple of bumps I'd have gotten up. Great hiking conditions to retrieve my truck.

Cloudy, base below Crestline. Storm 2.5 days away. Waited for a sunny spot to come from the east. Had a little up cycle (was cross-east) to launch into. Hardly any bumps at all on my sledder to the LZ. All indicators slack there except one twitchy streamer. Flared real hard, still let myself drop to my knees on the soft, freshly de-thatched surface. Had helped Owen Morse with his sticky T3 VG system up on Marshall. Even pulled the downtube completely off. No smoking gun but it was better after.

Warm, some high wispies. They were soaring up higher. I launched and found activity along the spine from launch but to narrow to gain in it. Scratched over the ranch house for a few turns. Had to go out and land, all streamers dead except the NE corner flapping a little. Good approach and just before flare I got dropped. let go of downtubes and basetube hit flat, nose to dirt. Left downtube buckled inward and smacked my helmet pretty hard. I have no spare.

Early switch from Santa Anas. PGs off Marshall staying up but not skying out. Flowing up launch so I just ran off. Only a couple of bumps of lift. Close to zero wind at the lz. Popped a flare and went to my knees, gently. Had noticed my VG string hanging out extra far the last couple of flights but saw nothing tangled or caught when I glanced up in the sail. Took a good look after setting up today and saw that the nico stops on the haulback cables for the rear VG pulley block had moved forward about 1.5" each. Not unsafe, just means reduced VG travel, so not as tight VG tight. Probably from the extra load of wingovers VG tight, because I'm so fat these days. I think I can slide them back and crimp with something.

Onshore day between Santa Anas. Sank from Regionals to SE of Last Chance then stuck with a 200 fpm core as it meandered across and then up to Regionals. Then it strengthened dramatically and I got 6k just north of Cloud Peak. Went for Crestline and lost it all, to 5k out in front of Camp Paivika. Then a core hit 1k fpm or more and I was soon at 7,300 and drifting S in the North flow. Went west of Pine and boated around, not quite to Sugarpine, and found myself at 7k again. Very clear looking out to the desert, also could see the golden glint of the ocean bear Ling Beach. Back to Marshall and drifted around and then went in for a nice one-stepper landing in light SW.

Onshore, clear, and hot. Was getting dumped toward the hill in front of Marshall. Just east of Cloud Peak I got a tight core that went to 6,309 MSL, halfway to Crestline. Pointed at the interchange but was sinking so pointed at Crestline. Sink! Got to not quite there and 4,900 MSL! Got to the BB water tank area and a rocket took me to 6k, then circling idly to 7k and then 8k. Cold, no gloves, I left it at 8,300 and flew to almost Glen Helen, bit dropping much.

Jason Glade's glider, new sail on 56025, I did the swap. Vt=20-21, 22 vgt. Great. Kp in middle hole. PP a bit firm VGT. Had raised sprogs 1 & 1.5 turns. Lowered both 1 turn after landing. Switch day after N wind for a couple of days. Quite cross from the right at launch, pulled down on the right downtube during launch. Easy to stay up but hard to climb much in the WSW flow. Finally got a slow, steady climb from Last Chance across Regionals to Cloud Peak, only a few hundred AGL. Landed in west flow and it got rough just before flare time. Saved a whack by inches.
Needs yarn tufts.

Good. Hazy and inverted, cool. First flight since the National Forest closure. Drove to the 750, mentally prepared for a sledder. Gene came by, before I had even untied my glider,on his way to Regionals and gave me a ride up. Good launch, was soon down just-maintaining near the 750, without struggling. At 4:30 a thermal from W of the pond went N into the canyon, instead of NE, and I forced myself to go with it. Got up to Cloud Peak. Eventually got to 4,960 in what was clearly a bubble-top pushing into the inversion. Had that balanced-on-a-beach-ball feeling before dropping 50 feet. Went to Marshall and such. Had 1,000 FPM for 20+ seconds at one point (to 4,600). Landed when I felt like it. Tried to glide a little closer to the cone and failed to level the wing before flaring. Just awkward looking. Really satisfying flight. Got a ride to my truck.

Had a nice 90 minute flight today. Moments after launching Crestline, a twin-engine plane flew over me, West to East along the ridge. I watched him fly a couple of miles east. A minute or two later I was near the treetops getting a feel for the bumpy air and I heard engines again. Spotted a bigger plane to the north a little, saw the 1st one and realized it was a fire spotter. Then I saw white smoke coming from the trees 1/2 mile north of launch!!!

Good. Likely my last ever build-it-and-fly-it weekend test flight.

Good. Hot and clear. Not much lift to try to work. Light S to SW at LZ, switchy. Streamer on hg cone went slack on final. Slight pop from the left. Ran to the right, no nose-touch.

Good. A few more bumps this flight. The others got up. Good landing inside the circle, barely.

Good. A few tight little cores. One Boomer under the right wing would NOT let me turn right. Good landing 12 feet from the zone but Mike got a hair closer.

Good. Bumps and sink. Very rough on final. Full right input to stay level, then hard left input. Happy to trot 2 steps wings level nowhere near a cone.

Warm summer day with some monsoon clouds but not much chance of rain. Thin status tamed the thermals a little, maybe. Good launch, a few passes in ridge lift. 6k easily at BB then a couple of wingovers at launch. 6.3k at BB again, great glide to Pine. 6.1k just north of peak in stronger S. Went W, thinking I'd turn back at 5,700, no 5,800, since I hadn't been that way in a while. At 5,814, just sort of the Sugarpine spine, I turned 180 degrees and found myself at 5,714 pointed at Pine! :) Got there at 5.1k and then to 5.5k and back to BB. Flew to east of Launch and our the spine towards Marshall. Veered left at 4.7k and ended up going astound the radio tower then to UM. Flew around at Last Chance and had a long slow climb to 4.3k chasing a sneaky core. Flew out over CSUSB then was ready to start approach from the girl scout camp area when I hit a tight vigorous core. Drifted NE to the bluffs with it to let the LZ wind direction stabilize. Meanwhile, Tim Ward got sick of waiting and dove in ahead of me. He landed in switchy flow. I had nice WSW and a good drop-to-walking landing. Very fun flight. Rode the van up. Went home and mowed the lawn.
Re-affix Social Distancing footprint sticker on right BS. Front edge 1" peeling away.

Normal onshore summer day. Couldn't see anyone flying until I was almost ready to launch, when a PG appeared above Cloud Peak. I had a good cycle to launch into but only found a few bumps of lift and a lot of 500 FPM down. Good landing into light SW. Dusty & Kathy Rhodes drove me back to the 750 to try again but I decided to load my glider on my truck and drive home, since it was after 5 pm. Anniversary of 1st HG lesson in 1985, as Dusty & Kathy reminded me later.

Hot, normal. Vario batteries dead before launch. Not quite ridge-soarable. Billboard working. Narrow thermals. Got up several times. After 30 minutes, went out front. Last Chance working, other areas marginal. Several climbs. Good landing, wind turned extra S while I was on base leg. Very relaxing flight. Lime BS with black checkerboard pattern.

Good. Zero zero wind. Heat wave, high pressure. Ran hard,

Good. Some breeze for launching. Just little puffs of thermals from the SE. SE to SW,at the LZ. Final approach too close to the east edge, for turned that way at the end. No whack, dirty basetube.
Stickers for #3 battens.

Nice breeze at launch, barely paused after walking over. Turbulent line near Last Chance but circling didn't work. Similar above the 750. Getting rolled toward the hill but nothing there when I'd turn and fly back through. Scratched what felt like dust devils below the 750 for a while to maintain altitude overall but much work and many dumps hillward. Bumpy approach and overshot cone in lift but good flare and landing. At least 100 degrees F and the sun was brutal breaking the gliders down.

Log from video. Just clips so times guessed. Good soaring.

Log from video. Just clips so times guessed. Good soaring.

Good. Many circles at the opening below and in front of launch, half in, half out of a promising thermal that never got going. Lift over the LZ apron, paused in it then dove hard on downwind to a good landing into light SSE.

Good. Light SE cycles. Landed turning left into an E cycle.

Good. Soarable but I didn't catch it. Right- hand approach to no-stepper 20 feet beyond pg circle.

Good. VdVGT =60. Vt=22,23,22,21,21. Stick just below 3,300 at Cloud for a long time in thermals bouncing of a weak inversion. Above 3,400 it was cake. Buzzed Dusty walking tandem down to launch at Marshall. Weak Switch at KZ, Good landing 10 feet from cone.

Raked tips. Good. Vt=23,22,24,22,22. Rowdy as hell. Windy. Got dumped after Launch while zipping up. 1,200 fpm at times. Tried to buzz Marshall but couldn't get low enough. Came in high, landed short.

Raked tips. Good. VdVGT =61, Vt=22,24,22. Blown-out at Crestline, S, mid-day. SSW 10-15 at Marshall. High thin layer flowing overhead and cutting the sunlight. Stood at top launch for a bit, too S; went down to the ramp. Easy soaring to a few hundred over. Nothing strong, lift all over. Worked a drifting weak one to 4,600+ N of Marshall. Went on glides to lose altitude and climb back up. Less orographic lift than I had expected. Many PGs as it got later. Descended to LZ when I felt like it. Good no-stepper into West 7. Cool and comfortable in t-shirt, no gloves.

Good. Vt=22, 26, 21. VdVGT =60. Waited over 5 minutes for cross-right to become uphill. Easy Launch then climb to 4,500 just west of Launch right away. Went to Marshall then back to Cloud spine. Not much organized lift after that . WNW at the LZ for a long time. Decided to land, found the lift at 250 AGL but decided against working it. Dove on in and landed short, headed West. Got rained on heading up the hill for the next round, coming from the NW. Mike then called the day.

Carbon carbon carbon. ACLER. Vt=28, 28, 29,

Factory Conversion. Good. Vt=25, 25, 28, 29. VdVGT=65. Good Handling. Steve's vario with airspeed matched my Hall pretty well. Looked for smooth air in Devil Canyon to check airspeed and climbed to Billboard without really trying.
Right raked tip tab tore along black fiber. UVPXW10 loft fix.

Good. Vt=23, 22, 23, 24. VdVGT=25. Easy boating. Could fly at 20 in the smooth parts. Did some wingovers, GoPro on left sprog. Think it died before landing. Thought I was gonna do a No-stepper by it was more like stepping off an escalator and taking 3 more steps.

VdVGT=53. Fun hour-fifteen flight from Crestline with a Sport 3 155 in surprisingly chilly and breezy onshore Friday before the weekend North winds. Launched from Crestline at 2:25, gained immediately in bumpy air. Got to 6,300 at Pine 20 minutes later but mostly flew lower to stay warm. Was near the LZ after 45 minutes, decided to fly a bit more. Caught an easy thermal from the 750 to 5,300 and dashed to Crestline before diving back out to land at AJX. Gusty at the LZ, straight West veering to SW, made for some busy landing approaches.

Good. Slight left turn, twisted RT tip 1 hole. First thermal on west side of Cloud Peak to 4,200*, then Marshall to 44+ with steady drift. Great spin. Waited-out a dead cycle at the LZ, back to 740, then dove in for good WSW cycle. No-stepper by green cone for pg kiting area (empty).

Great. Launched into lift from SE and circles right away. Got up but by bit, always turning. Wind from SW picking up, soared faces & thermals to top of Cloud Peak. Went to UM then dove for LZ. Switch, on & off wind there. Fast right-hand approach, got lifted a lot as I rounded-out. Trotting wing tip down right circle, holding the nose up..

Great. Windy, above launch immediately, elevatored up from Cloud Peak to 5,250. Flat glide downwind to Crestline then back out front. No-stepper 2 feet from the HG cone.

Launched Regionals and went Cloud Peak, N of Marshall, then Crestline in just over 20 minutes. Working the moderate lift very productively. 5,700 at Billboard then right to Pine and 6k N of the peak. NNW drift to the thermals, had one over the spine N of Pine that I couldn't turn into; had to go around the low wing. So m.j e wingovers and then back to the LZ for a nice kanding for 1:05 airtime. Nice to have an easy, fun flight. Ended up hiking all the way to Regionals to get my truck; took 1:05, coincidentally.

Log from video. Quick sledder. Good landing, long.

Log from video. Quick sledder. Good landing, long.

Log from video. Clear, warm. Stayed even with launch for a number of passes. OK landing.

Log from video. Clear, warm. Stayed even with launch for a number of passes. OK landing.

Log from video. Onshore day between Santa Anas. Easy soaring for others. Got above launch after a few minutes.

Log from video. Onshore day between Santa Anas. Easy soaring for others. Got above launch after a few minutes.

Raked tips, carbon stinger. Good.

Raked tips, carbon stinger. Good handling.

Good.

Good.

Log from video. Clear with alto-strat. Good launch. Sledder. Trotted out the landing.

Log from video. Clear with alto-strat. Good launch. Sledder. Trotted out the landing.