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FlyBC "Site of the Day" - August 19/2017
Woodside is looking good today but a bit windy in the afternoon
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Rate °C/1000' Cloud Base in Meters |
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| 8-19-17 |
 Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Partly cloudy skies. High 22C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres  BlackHawk Paramotors introduces the new BlackHawk 125 Lite Paramotor , 5 lbs lighter than the previous model with many cage options to go even lighter. FlyBC is an authorized distributor for Ozone , Niviuk, SkyBean Varios, Gin , SupAir, Flytec, Naviter Products (Oudie 4 Basic & 4+), Blackhawk Paramotors , Wills Wing. Used Gear List: Updated Aug 2, 2017 Supair Access Airbag harnesses (new) - $650 without reserve (great lightweight harness) Supair Radical 3 reversible airbag harnesses - $750 without reserve SupAir EONA (S/M/L) - EN-A wings - $2800 CDN without harnesses, all 2017 models Ozone Mojo5 M - EN-A - 2017 model with 40 sled rides - $2800 SupAir Leaf Lite Small - EN-B - 75 - 95 kgs - $3500 CDN - 2017 demo model - come for a test flight. SupAir Leaf Lite Medium - EN-B - 80 - 105 kgs - $4000 CDN - 2017 demo model - come for a test flight. Ozone Swift 4 MS - 75-95 kgs - brand new stock - $4500 CDN. Ozone Delta 2 ML - EN-C - 2013 Model - $1500 in great shape with no damage. Ozone Mantra M-6 MS in Yellow from 2015 - 30 hours - $1500 CDN Ozone Zeno M in Orange - now in stock and ready for test flights! - $4850 CDN BGD Dual Tandem - 40 hours - $2000 CDN - also a good paramotor quad wing Paramotors for sale: BlackHawk 125Lite Paramotor the new 125Lite Paramotor, 5 lbs lighter than the previous model - $7995 USD with Edge glider of your size. Blackhawk EDGE 28 motor glider (rated EN-B) - $1500 CDN - good to 110 kgs without motor or 140 with motor - 2016 model with 20 flights 8-18-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Partly cloudy skies. High 22C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres Only Nelson & Josef were here to free fly but it was way too strong. I spent the morning working on paramotor engines and got the new 125Lite runnng very well. Later in the day Derek, Dennie, Linda and Martin N flew Woodside and got really high before out-running the rain on the way to Harvest Market. 8-17-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High near 25C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres It was already too thermic for first landings as the corn is getting high and the winds were switchable. Pierre was already thermalling above launch at 10 am, as I overheard Dennie coaching him on the radio. After 7 pm, it was deemed soarable and safe so Colleen, Derek, Martin N and I went up to Woodside and had a nice soaring flight getting to 1000 metres before flying to Peter Irwin's field near Hopyard Hill. We landed at sunset. 8-16-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High near 25C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres 8-15-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High near 25C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres I had five students today, with two being brand new and the others with flights ranging from 10-15 so Colleen took the newbies to the training hill while I took the others to Launch. We got two pilots off and the last pilot to launch was Jim O on his new EONA. He rushed his launch in perfect conditions, jumped into the seat with too much brake and was headed for the trees to the right of launch. All the while I am saying :hadns up and lean left" but he decides to look at the trees and he went where he looked and was in the top of a 75 foot tree. He climbed down and we hired Scott's Tree Care to come retrieve it for $300. What an adventure! We went back up and put Jim on another glider and he had a successful flight this time landing in a field short of the Ranch. Martin N came out on this flight and got a good climb at South Knoll followed by Macej, Martin S and Brian. Everyone landed in different fields on this flight. To quote Martin N "5 pilots launched and landed in 6 different fields!" By now it was completely blown out and we did some weather briefing ground school stuff. 8-14-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 21C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres There were a few other planes headed to Seattle waiting after a nice Alaskan trip (one was a highly modified Glastar taildragger and the other a NorthStar Piper SuperCub replica). Around 1 pm, the other planes took of in a rain shower. I did my flight plan online, and got into the air around 1:30 pm as a thunderstorm was sending out lightning strikes to the north . . . time to get out of here! Tight valleys all the way to Creston and a headwind (of course). On to Grand Forks where I needed 8500 feet to clear the rocks, thanks to some 750 ft/min thermals I did the climb pretty easily. I landed at Grand Forks to fuel up and walk around to get the feeling back in my legs. I had to dodge a few real buzzards thermalling over Grand Forks on my approach. Landing was fast as the density altitude was high, but not too long so I had a long taxi in. Most of these airports have self-serve fuel tanks which is convenient on a quiet afternoon. Note the CUs in the photo, good lift.  To get west of Grand Forks one must climb out to 5500 feet minimum from the 1700 foot airport level. Today was quite a fast climb, just get under the Cumies and start turning and I was getting 1200 ft/min sustained thermaling with another buzzard. Enroute direct to Midway, then Osoyoos which took another climb to get over Anarchist summit again with some thermal help under the CUs. Strong north winds aloft and on Osoyoos Lake as I jumped over to Mt Kobau and then on to Keremeos. Interesting flying past Hedley doing 75 knots and not worried about finding thermals or worrying about the winds blowing out like on a paraglider. I hit Princeton at 6500 feet and climbed to 8000 feet to go down to Hope. Good thing as I hit lots of sink down the Hope-Princeton route arriving at Hope at 4500 feet. There was north wind here too but if you hugged the windward slopes you could gain altitude at times. Straight over Hope and on to Agassiz over the Fraser River and I ridge-soared Cemetary Hill as I dropped into Peter Irwin's farm strip at the foot of Hopyard Hill. I have been landing on huge runways at high mountain strips and was not practicing short field techniques so I opted for this strip as it is longer than our east-west runway at the Ranch. Sorry to disappoint the Landing Crew waiting for me to drop in. Colleen came to get me as I tied the Lil Buzzard down.  Derek mentioned the lift was just as good at Bridal today, Norm said it was spring conditions with +6 m/s thermals similar to what I was hitting in Grand Forks. 8-13-17
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|  Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Light rain early. A mix of sun and clouds in the afternoon. High 19C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 90%. 1100 metres Colleen was working in the garden after the rain passed through and she said the wind was howling through the trees all day and into the night. Today I was grounded in Cranbrook due to the same system with high winds and rain. Just enough rain to cause low ceilings but enough to wash away the smoke here. I was down checking out the tiedowns on the Lil Buzzard when I bumped into Don, a guy that came down to Savona for a two day Intro Paragliding Course 3 years ago. He decided to go on with another instructor near Invermere where he crash-landed on his first solo there and broke a few vertebrae so he is back to flying airplanes now. He is just finished rebuilding a J-3 Kitten Ultralight and was doing some run-up tests when I arrived. Small World.  You can see the sky behind us with some imbedded CUs and low cloudbase. 8-12-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Widespread smoke. High 29. Humidex 35. UV index 7 or high. 1100 metres Degas was handling the students and there were some interesting moments (ie. corn husking, strong wind launching, etc.) but they got some flights in before it blew out mid-day. Norm flew later and got to 1600 metres flying straight out to the Ranch! Meanwhile I was flying the Lil Buzzard back from Regina to Cranbrook, starting at 6 am Central time and landing at Cranbrook around 4 pm MDT.  A fuel stop in Medicine Hat and another in Pincher Creek, as fuel in the tank is important if you need to turn around and find an alternate airport due to weather. The prairies were heating up as I went past Lethbridge at noon and was getting turbulated. The flight through the Rockies was amazing, down at 5500 feet to stay below any upper level winds, light thermals to help save gas. Frank Slide was tight and smooth, light tailwinds there. Dodging a CU Nim near Cranbrook and landing in 15 knot of crosswind was fun.  There are many firebombers stationed here so I got a little airshow while I was waiting for the weather to dissipate.  It never did clear til after dark so I bunked down in Cranbrook after a discussion with a Flight Service Specialist who noted there was lightning all around Cranbrook and tops to 41,000 feet. Tomorrow looks like 30% chance of showers so if cloudbase is good I am headed towards Princeton. 8-11-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Widespread smoke. High 29. Humidex 35. UV index 7 or high. 1100 metres 8-10-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High 32C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres Colleen & Dennie did a tandem at 3 pm, and I managed John W for his third flight. Here is Colleen trying to soar in the haze today.  I had to go to Chilliwack at 5 pm, and it was starting to clear a bit there with some inflow winds. Colleen did a later tandem too using her new Gin Osprey tandem. 8-9-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Widespread smoke. High 30. Humidex 32. UV index 7 or high. 1100 metres It was smoky today but we could see the LZ through the haze.  Bianca, Jose and Jim O got 4 flights in before 5 pm, with some lift but mostly just buoyant conditions. Bianca now has 27 flights and is signed off P-2, Congrats! 8-8-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Widespread smoke. High 29. Humidex 32. UV index 8 or very high. 1100 metres The students were working hard as new Pilot Jim O from WA State got 5 flights and Bianca & Jose got 6 flights in the smoke. Bianca is a few flights short of a P-2 rating. 8-7-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Mainly sunny. Local smoke. High 29. UV index 8 or very high. 3100 metres Late comer Rob P arrived around noon but still got through all the Maneuvers by 6 pm on the last two flights. The drama happened on the last flight with Peyman & Bill coming over the lake together as Braden completed his set of maneuvers and was stting up to land. Peyman entered a heli and "pooched" the exit and had a huge surge which cravatted and sent him into an uncontrollable SAT with a twisted riser and had to throw his reserve. He had a Beamer 2 rogallo reserve but he could not reach the brakes to get it onto flight mode, and his main was acting like a drogue chute do he could not make it back to shore and ended up in the lake.  8-6-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Mainly sunny. Local smoke. High 29. UV index 8 or very high. 3100 metres Not much smoke all day. Fish & Cheryl were throwing it down hard as were the pros like Peyman & Bill. Rebecca did a base jump off one of the tandems today.  Last flight of the day launching after 6 pm had most pilots above 4000 metres. Derek took this shot of his vario as he was climbing thru 3606 metres and then higher over the peaks.  After the last flight a mini-cookout of tacos was started in the LZ as the sun set.  8-5-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud in the afternoon. Local smoke. High 31. UV index 6 or high. 3100 metres We decided to not go to the top til noon as it was showing NE again and by noon it went to SW. A large group went up and it took some time to launch as it went NE again on them. I waited out on the boat in the calm water.  It was not very smoky at all today, and even later there was just a thin layer of smoke near the water level. Lots of good maneuvers today from 7 SIVers. No water landings or drama. Derek launched around 4 pm after seeing some beginners off and climbed to 4100 metres and spent 2+ hours boating around the peaks and over town before landing at the RC Field. Reports of good flights at the Willi in Golden with Dan H going 150 kms to Canal Flats. Gary P had a great 100 km out and return that should score high. 8-4-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Sunny. Local smoke. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h this afternoon. High 34. UV index 8 or very high. 3100 metres Winds were NE to N at 22 kph or more, pretty much over the back except in lulls. It was nice on the water, not as smoky as the Lower Mainland.  Only Jason got off the mountain in our group and it was a windy, rotory sled-ride to the LZ. Folks waited a long time and by noon they decided to come down. The Hangies went up at the same time and waited til 3 pm to fly and had "rock & roll" flights and a few of them decided to break down and drive down. 8-3-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Sunny. Local smoke. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h this afternoon. High 34. UV index 8 or very high. 2500 metres Not so smoky today as I fired up the boat and had a heli with a water bucket come right over head as I warmed up on the lake. He said he was just picking up some weight to stabilize the bucket as he flew east to the Banff fires and I was not in the way.  Chris E was back in the air on Colleen's Leaf Light as he ripped a cell in yesterday's drama and he just had a nice thermal flight. We had a few wet gliders and harnesses as pilots misjudged the approach but just a bit damp. The maneuvers went very well and the second day participants can now full stall and spin without coaching and exit those maneuvers well. Three flight rounds for the keeners, and we kept Bianca & Monica on the ground for the mid-day flight as they had to wait so long on top yesterday for it to mellow out. It was Bill's birthdy so he threw in a death spiral near the shore but mossed his timing and splashed down 5 metres out! Another nice evening with Colleen in the square in town, as the smoke came in from the east. 8-2-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Sunny. Local smoke. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h this afternoon. High 34. UV index 8 or very high. 2500 metres It started out quite smoky but cleared up mid-day. After an extensive ground briefing the 7 participants got in the shuttle truck to head to the tram station for the ride up. We started the basic maneuvers on flight #1 and everyone did very well with those maneuvers. Chris E arrived late and I did the maneuver briefing with him while the others were flying in. On the second round both Ky & Chris E forgot the most improtant part of a full stall exit: half release for a few seconds before going to a full release. Ky had her EONA almost hit her as she released completely from the full stall! Ot reinflated with a shock but no cravattes and she flew away. Chris E did the exact same thing but ended up in the glider, roman candle style, and it was good that we had lots of altitude so he could swim out of the glider and just get the reserve out. This is why we train over water. He was okay but it scared the hell out of me & Peyman who was in the boat helping me. Tip of the Day: Never release your brakes rapidly from any stall or spin maneuver! We flew until dark and the winds were perfect in the LZ all day. 8-1-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Mainly sunny. Local smoke. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 this afternoon. High 29. UV index 8 or very high. 2500 metres Good reconn day for Jacek & Monica as they got their passes for the tram, kited for hours on the landing field with Peyman and Bill. Colleen also got to kite her new tandem, the Gin Osprey 34 metre rated for 100-210 kgs.  The forecast today was for winds up to 40 kph so we did not go up the mountain, but the winds stayed mellow most of the day. 7-31-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High around 30C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres It was outflow winds early and then switching to inflow around noon, so I had time to locate Degas and get him working while we packed for Revy. By the end of the day the students had 4 flights in various conditions with some ridge and thermal activity. Chris H is now past his 25 flight mark and wrote the P-2 exam today and is now a certified P-2 Pilot! The smoke came in from many fires as the outflow will persist and the Valley Temps are expected to hit +40C this week. 7-30-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres Eric, Alex, George all flew three good flights with some thermal activity but we had to stop flying around 2 pm. Too windy and gusty for safe flights. We did go back up at 7 pm and Colleen, Derek & I experienced a beautiful glass-off flight arriving over the Ranch at 1000 metres and still climbing so I suggested we land at the Golf Course for dinner.  I came over the Golf Course still climbing even over the Harrison River. Colleen flew downwind of the landing strip, while Derek went way upwind over Harrison Bay. I split the difference and came over the centere of the airstrip. Landing was very laminar with winds right down the runway. It was too strong for new student Alex and Lee decided to stand down too with his tandem although it was okay out in the air. Launch was a bit strong.  7-29-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres I had a quiet day with Alex, Patrick & Hayden flying. alex and Patrick are 3 flight experienced and Hayden was finishing off his last two flight for his P-2. We had only two flights as it got windy around 1 pm, and Hayden flew to Harvest for his graduation flight. The plan was for the tandems and others to fly that way too but only Derek and Hayden could climb out. But Derek saw Andrei heading to the HG LZ so he flowwed him in there as did Patrick when he got stuck in the wind. Later flights may have been possible but only after 7 pm. 7-23-17 to 07-28-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. High around 25C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres Degas ran the show from Monday to Thursday with many students while I was in the US. Aircraft Ferry Report - I hopped on a jet to Chippewa Falls, MI to retrieve my Lil Buzzard Ultralight as the weather looked promising. I stayed in the fabulous pilot lounge at KCIU Genral Aviation Terminal as I arrived too late to get a motel. I met Dave the mechanic here and he took me out to the hangar I had stored the Buzzard in a few weeks back. He had done some maintenance on the tailwheel as it was not operating properly threatening to "ground loop" the plane at times landing and then after landing it would not center to go down the taxi way. I fueled up and headed out to Marquette MI, the next fuel stop about 2.5 hours away. Slow progress with a 15 knot headwind over not so hospitable terrain as I crossed the Hiawatha National Forest, and then several more forested areas. But there is always the roads in an emergency!  I landed nicely at Marquette Airport in about 100 feet to be told by tower that the FBO that sells fuel is 2 miles down the taxiway. This airport is a decommissioned B-52 Bomber Base so the runways are long. They said I could take off again to the end of the runway but it was gusty and the engine was running a bit rough. I thought it was due to using 100 Low Lead vs car gas, so I decided to taxi the 2 miles to the FBO. After fueling I checked the weather and it had picked up to 21 knots here at Marquette and there was rain on the horizon so I waited in the FBO lounge to see what was happening. I had only put 120 nm on the plane on this leg. The weather stayed bad so I got a rental car and drove into town and found a nice old hotel called the Landmark Inn right on Lake Superior. This part of town was the rich part of Marquette settled by mining tycoons. I found a nice meal and bedded down for the night as a thunderstorm rolled thru town. The next day I was out at the airport by 830 am. The rain had cleared, and the FBO pulled the Buzzard out of the hangar they rented me to keep it safe during the thunderstorm. I started it up and it was still running rough during the runup bat after warming up to green temps the Rotax 912 smoothed out. I was off and climbing thought 4000 feet enroute over another National Forest toward Ironwood County Airport for my next fuel stop, 114 nm and 2 hours enroute. I landed nicely into the wind and after touchdown the plane decided to take a 90 right turn off the runway, fortunately there was a paved apron right there and I spun around on that portion of the airstrip and the tailwheel was locked into a turn. I managed to free it with power and get the plane going down a taxiway to the FBO.  Dave the mechanic had told me how to remove a cam to make the wheel lock to the rudder so after fueling, I took off the cam and diagnosed a primer leak problem that I found after fueling. I suspect the 100 LL fuel caused the primer plunger seal to leak and I was getting a steady trickle of fuel through that circuit causing the plane to run rich on the left cylinder bank. I had not way to fix it here so I took off again towards Bemidji airport another 220 nm SW.  Bemidji is a busy training field and I followed a Cessna 172 in on final and had a nice landing with the tailwheel working properly. The nice folks at the FBO here fueled me up and tied me down for the night and I stayed at a Quality Inn right on the airfield. The next morning I was out on the field at 730 am, hoping for a big day of flight and I decided not to wait for the mechanic to get in at 9 am to look at the primer. I headed off west toward Duluth and then on to Williston Montana. My next fuel stop was Devils Lake 165 nm west and I had another nice landing and topped up the tanks at a self serve gas pump. Tailwheel now fixed! The primer was leaking even more so I went to the local mechanic there and explained the problem. They did not have that style of primer unit so they suggested taking out the primer all together but they did not have the correct fittings so I borrowed a car and headed in to town to a car parts store and got an assortment of couplers. Back at the plane I removed the primer and checked for fuel leaks. Estimated wait time now 2 hours and I was back in the air with a smooth running motor! The roughness was a too rich mixture on the left bank. I headed west and came over Minot ND at around 5 pm, with a planned stop in Williston but my iPad running ForeFlight was showing heavy rain to west over Williston. I contacted Flight Servie through the tower at Minot and they advised a strong thunderstorm was in the area west for another 3 hours, so I decided to land at Minot to wait it out.  I refueled and tied the plane down and waited in the passenger lounge with a pilot from Calgary that had a sleek Lancair that goes 200 knots.  He left for Regina and I waited a few more hours before deciding the storm was not going to clear and got a hotel room for the night.  The next days plan was an early start and head west to Havre MT and then north to Lethbridge to clear customs. I was about 45 minutes into the trip when my groundspeed got really low as the headwinds picked up and it got bumpy at 10 am. The forecast winds were to be 190 degrees at 10 knots but it was more westerly and stronger so I made an inflight flight plan change to head to Regina as I saw storms painting the radar to the west. I was getting 85-90 knots inbound to Regina and the tower reported the active runway was 13, with winds from 190 at 17 gusting to 21 knots! Good thing the tailwheel is now working as I had a nice short landing in about 50 feet and a smooth exit off the runway. I had to wait for customs to come out to the field as the flight plan did not advise them of my arrival, but they were cool as I had to divert for weather.  After clearing customs I made a decision to tie the Buzzard down and take a WestJet back to Harrison Mills for the weekend and ready for the SIV in Revy August 1-7. The FBO can watch the Buzzard and I can go get it later when the weather improves. My neighbours in Regina look a bit faster than the Buzzard.  My total trip from Tuesday to Thursday was 950 nm, about halfway due to weather delays. About another 1000 nm to go.  7-22-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High 24C. Winds light and variable. 700 metres Cloudbase dropped several times but we managed to get Billy his final two flights to get his P-2 rating. It was drizzly and winds were light to tail wind most of the day but we finished up around 4 pm. I blame the Nationals for the weather change, as it always rains when a comp is organized at Lumby, Pemby or Quebec. It is Murphy's Law of Paragliding. 7-21-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Mainly cloudy. High 23C. Winds light and variable. 1000 metres We had two new students start, bot named George, and they both did extremely well on the training hill! Launch after launch they had perfect timing and control and they were both on SupAir EONA gliders. By noon they were ready to fly, and we did the landing briefing. We had a number of more experienced students flying to to show them the way, and the two Georges went last on the first round of flights. Colleen was in the LZ guiding students so I could focus on the launch duties. By the end of the day the students had 4 flights despite rain, drizzle and light winds. During the mid-day round, Kevin flew and got way above launch in some interesting places and logged well over an hour of airtime despite the grey skies.  7-20-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy with occasional rain showers. High 22C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 60%. 800 metres I awoke to heavy rain at 9 am, and after a few hours of a good soaking which the grass needed, the sun came out but it was blustery until 7 pm. There were heavy rains in Agassiz and Chilliwack as well. Much needed to get the forests cooled off and drop the fire hazards. 7-19-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 26C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1000 metres Some of them slept in and did not arrive for the first shuttle at 10 am, so they missed the first of three rounds today. The smoke had cleared out with inflow winds sending it back inland. Denis took Bianca tandem and they got to 1300 metres before heading to Harvest Market LZ with the other students. First trip over to Harvest for Chris H, and he did well except for misjudging the wind on approach and ended up in the far end of the LZ. Tip of the Day: Never turn your back to the wind, especially in stronger winds. You will not likely penetrate back upwind to get to your intended target. We shut down training from 3 pm and hoped to try again at 5 pm, but it was too gusty and strong as the front rolls in. I was in Chilliwack dropping off a shipment and it was howling there.The smoke had cleared out with inflow winds sending it back inland. See if you can see Brett H in this video of the recent PWC Competition in Serbia. World Cup Serbia Nish task 6 from Philippe Broers on Vimeo. 7-18-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1000 metres Just Chris & Doug were out and they had four really nice flights and we quit at 2 pm. Chris did some nice thermalling on the last three flights, making the EONA climb faster than some of the experienced pilots in the same air. Folks were flying Bridal when I drove past on the way to Chilliwack for an oil change and some glider shipments on the bus, not getting high but staying aloft for a few hours. 7-17-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 27C. Winds light and variable. 1300 metres Both were flying the EONA Ms and from the first forward inflation they had it figured out. I quit prompting them after 3 launches and they had perfect timing on the release & stabilization of the glider. We went up the mountain at 11 am so Chris could get a high flight (his 10th), and so the new guys could watch a launch and approach from on top. We then went down and got Dennie & the tandem passengers for our 1 pm tandem flight. It was quite smoky with outflow winds bringing smoke from the Harrison Lake fire and also a new fire in Boston Bar area. Dennie launched first into the smoke and it was quite lifty right to the inversion layer at 800 metres.  I launched the students and they had great launches and nice lift all the way to the Ranch where they had classic approaches and perfect landings. I launched with my passenger and we got high fast, just getting past the smoky layer a few times and then dropping back into the smoke but we had a nice flight with slow progress to the Ranch as the winds picked up. Later flights by experienced pilots were good with lumpy landings unless you landed by the old ProCircle. We went back up at 5 pm hoping for a nice glassoff flight for the new students but it wa quite windy as Alex W & Dennie took off and got parked a few times. Good time to build some decision-making criteria for new pilots ad they decided it was indeed a bit windy for them. 7-16-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Sun and clouds mixed. High 21C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1200 metres The days started out weirdly, as we headed up at 8 :30 am it started to drizzle. We waited on launch and it got wwetter and then gustier. We decided it was not student friendly and called off the day and sent them all home. Then around 11 am it cleared up and the winds abated. Our tandems arrived without calling to check the weather so we heded up at noon and sent Dominik off on his new Rush 4 to cehck the air and it was thermic and soarable! Colleen took off with Marcel and was climbing nicely. I followed with Cheryl and we had an interesting launch. My glider came up and was nicely overhead when we got "hoovered" right off the carpet and straight up like a helicopter takeoff. When we cleared the lip of launch we went straight up and it was strong. We headed over the the South Knoll to soar and it was really good lift but it started to shade in and the lift was disipating so Colleen headed off the Harvest Market first as Dom & I worked the remaining bubbles of lift. We headed out a bit low but caught some nice lift along the way and arrived with nice altitude over Harvest LZ. Cheryl's hubbie was waiting at the Ranch so he came to get us. Later in the day Dennie & Linda, Bruce and Mark flew as we headed in to town and they had great lift in the glassoff. 7-15-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Plentiful sunshine. High 24C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1200 metres And as forecast it blew out by noon, but we had 3 flights before it got too strong. We flew the students to Harvest Market on the last flight and Billy got the highest on his Ultralite 4 having to fly east cause he got too cold. He is almost finished at 23 flights now with some nice thermalling skills.  We did some ground school sessions after lunch, and then headed back out to the Eagle Ranch LZ for some high wind kiting and the new students got really good at As & Cs reverse launching in +25 kph winds. It was a full day with most of the students leaving by 6 pm. 7-14-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres Matt D is almost finished his P-2 Course with 23 flights in the bag. He was last seen at 1100 metres over Woodside Launch in a nice climb. Chris and John W are hot on Matt's tail as they got 5 & 4 flights in respectively today. John left as we headed up for the last flight at 6 pm as he was exhausted. Good conditions for practising reverse launches when I took over at 3 pm, and the guys all did very well after a few false starts. It was hot and a long day of training for them all. Tomorrow looks windy so we are starting at 8 am. 7-13-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. High 23C. Winds light and variable. 1200 metres A group of 6 people came out for a stag party and did tandems with us and thanks to Derek, Colleen, Andrei, Denis & Dennie we got them all done at once and they had awesome soaring flights on the South Knoll. Here is Derek soaring right in front of launch.  Later flights with the students proved to have good thermals too, as newbie Brandon showed us all how to climb out in small lift at the South Knoll. The last flight of the day around 6 pm proved to be the best with Colleen taking Kenji tandem and they were up for over an hour trying to get down over the Fraser River upwind of the Ranch. 7-12-17
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| Agassiz BC Woodside Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High around 25C. Winds light and variable. 1000 metres Dennie & Denis were working with the students while I went to the US to pickup some paramotoring gear. It got too windy at Woodside for student flights after 3 pm, but a group went over to Bridal to fly and they did well. 7-11-17
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