FlyBC "Site of the Day Archives" - May/2007
"If you want to grow old as a pilot, you've got to know when to push it, and when to back off." - Chuck Yeager
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Bridal Report - after flying one trashy flight at Woodside, I took the students to Bridal for a flight. Unfortunately, Klaus and Derek reported 30 kms+ wind in Chilliwack, so solo flights for students was out. I flew Fiona tandem for 1:30, our apologies for anyone flying or hiking under us (2007's first barfer!). The air was rough and you had to turn pretty aggressively to core up, she was having fun but wasn't keeping her eyes on the horizon. Landing at the swamp was bumpy and thermic, but we hit the circle. Barry was out, two days in a row. 
How long does sailcloth last, ask Andy - by www.harrymartinscartoons.com Woodside Report - we thought it had calmed down, so Derek, Martina and David flew. Martina had some rough air going straight down off launch until the new construction at the ridge and she climbed high there and then sinky again into the Ranch. Derek's flight looked smoother to the north, so off went David. He was doing okay until he hit some turbulence over the bailout swamp and had a 50% collapse, he lost a lot of height getting back on course and almost made the Ranch but opted for a safe landing. Bert is up another $20! Kamloops Dome Report - Harold sent some photos from 3000 meters over Kamloops, watch out for inbound Air Canada planes! Apparently the air is smoother over there than in inverted Fraser Valley. 
Harold's view of the world - by Harold Sartorious
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Woodside Report - new student day for Wai Ho and Fiona, who were awesome at
ground handling and spent the morning on th training hill before it got too hot.
Then we went tandem flying with Andy, 2 tandems each and Fiona kept geting the smoother,
higher flights until the end of the day at Bridal when Wai Ho flew me into the Swamp.
Tulio, David and Andrei flew Woodside around 7:00 pm in a classic glass-off flight with good flights. | Bridal Report - we flew a short 30 minute tandem later, and overheard everyone up high on Upper Launch cheering Jack on to come top-land. Apparently they all landed cause it was rough in the air, waiting for over an hour to relaunch. Many top-landings at Lower to retrieve, nice lift in places, inverted and crappy in others. Rob's Bridal Report - I didn't top land because it was too rough. It was generally pretty smooth, but after two hours at up to 1800 meters, I wanted to take a break. Sat around on upper launch chatting for about an hour then re-launched and got to 2185 meters over Archibald at 7:20 pm before landing at the swamp - Rob
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Woodside Report - clear but inverted, lots of haze and smog below 8000 feet. It didn't look windy on Harrison Lake as I flew over from Edmonton. | Bridal Gloat Report - 20 pilots flew Bridal, most got very high and flew many hours . . . but the happiest pilot of all was Martina who climbed to Upper Launch and top-landed to see what Derek had written in the snow, only she got there first and had to wait for Derek to land and write a new message in the snow. She answered "yes!".
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Woodside Report - clear skies and light winds according to the Woodside WebCam above. Blowing like mad in Edmonton for me, and no tow rig in sight. | Bridal Report - Derek was at the bottom and saw a red glider launch and they were at Saddle height in a few minutes! Bridal WebCam showed developing CUs and sunny slopes.
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Richmond Outdoor Show - Aaron was at the Aberdeen Mall at Hazelbridge Way and Cambie Road (Richmond) for the Outdoor Adventure Show on Saturday and Sunday and sold lots of tandems and courses to a bunch of new students. What a great mall, they spent $150,000,000 CDN building it and very high-end clients shop there. There is even a Ferrari dealership in this mall. Go visit it soon and say we sent you! | Blue Grouse (Kelowna) Report - we had Chloe delivered to us at 9:00 am, and we headed up Blue Grouse arriving there at 10 am. 
Chloe chillin' before we head up to Blue Grouse - photo by JPR 
Chloe on Blue Grouse Launch watching Grandpa get ready to fly - photo by CMV Perfect straight in cycles from the southeast. I laid out quick and hopped into the air, going up with every turn! I was about 100 meters over and looked down the lake towards Westbank and there was a rain cell growing and heading this way. I wanted to fly that way and the huge black clouds behind launch were trying to "suck" but the rain put a damper on my plans. I made one pass over launch trying to get in to top-land, too high. Again out to the thermal, where did it go??? 
Jim climbing out at Blue Grouse Launch - photo by CMV I was now sinking in the building south winds and not going very fast. It started to pelt rain down, huge Okanogan drops like hail. By the time I reached the park LZ I was drenched. Landing to the north? right by the parking lot, I packed up fast but the wing is now 10 kgs heavier. I will have to fly Wednesday to dry it out. 
Jim over Blue Grouse Launch before the rain hits - photo by CMV 
After flying we headed to Peachland Beach, note whitecaps - photo by JPR Starthistle Fly In 2007 Report - Derek & I left the Starthistle Fly-In at Woodrat, Oregon on Sunday morning when we woke up to lots of wind and dark grey skies. But with good flying Friday & Saturday (& the party Sat night) we'd already had a great time! 
Rabes Ridge - photo by Martina We arrived Friday morning to see banners & windsocks all through the town of Jacksonville proclaiming "Wings over Applegate", celebrating both Starthistle and the upcoming Rat Race. The local businesses are so excited to have pilots coming in, with many places offering discounts and landowners approaching club members asking if pilots would please land on their property! We set up our tent at the designated campground, then I took a nap (to stave off a cold that was threatening to come on) while Derek flew. I joined him in the air 2 hours later and boated around with about a dozen other pilots. 
Sky over Woodrat - photo by Martina Next morning (after barely making it through the night being camped to the red-neckiest family of hicks!) we showed up for the pilots meeting along with about 50 other pilots. Up we went in the first shuttle, armed with bean-bags for the drop contest. I'm pretty sure I placed in the top 3, but results are pending as the sheet with the bean bag #'s & pilots names didn't make it to the awards ceremony. 
Pirates at the Award Ceremony - photo by Martina Ex-WCSC president Danny Carylo won the spot-landing, and Derek came pretty close to the longest flight with 3 hours (winner was 3 1/2). The "Pilots of the Carribeaner" theme was a great choice, with many pilots dressing up and an un-named Canadian girl flying with a pirate flag attached to her harness (thanks Jim!). 
Woodrat Landing Zone - photo by Martina 
Martina with some un-known pilots trying to land on her - photo by ?? All-in-all, we each had 4 flights in 2 days, great (hot!) sunny weather and hung out with lots of old and new friends. Norm made it down Friday around noon & stayed for Sunday flying, I'm sure he can fill you in on the rest of the weekend. Enjoy the pictures! - Martina
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Woodside Motorhead Report -
Came in early. A thick layer of clouds indicated good conditions for paramotor flight. All windsocks in the field (nice mowing job) looked in their own way. Launched and faced strong east wind up to 1000 ft, then 2 to 3000 ft strong south to the point of parking. Very strange considering that no ripples on the water to speak of. Then 4 to 5000 ft (cloudbase) strong west. Go figure. Not quite as smooth even at altitude as I had hoped for the conditions of the day - Kirril
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Kirill motoring over Harrison Mills - photo by Kirill
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Bridal Report - Thomm reports strong lift and rough air at 1800 meters. Alan was out as well at around the same altitude doing laps to Elk with Rob. | Rob's Bridal Report - Alan got up to 1950 meters, I only got to about 1770. I flew for over 3 hours. Conditons mid day were on the strong side but not as rough as May 24. I did one run to the Four Brothers and found it kind of strong and very disorganized there so I went back to Lower Launch low. The lift was much smoother & lighter down low, so a few pilots sank out if they didn't work hard enough just after launching. I toplanded as did Alan and Tom M. Just before a bank of cloud moved in around 6 pm, a group of 4 visiting pilots from the US showed up and flew around the knob for about 30 minutes Rob S. Woodside Report - when we arrived at 5:00 pm, Ed and Derek B had been up for several hours flying with Gary K. Andy was flying on this side again today.
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Woodside Report - Andy (PG), Martin (HG) and Greg B (HG) flew and I talked to Greg in the LZ. Apparently not the best climbs and no lift at George's Bump, a traditional thermal over past Sasquatch. Andy had been overheard at 2000 meters over Woodside earlier. | Bridal Report - I didn't arrive until 4:45 pm, and some pilots had either landed due to the rough air or were driving down leaving Nikolai at 2700 meters all alone. He flew out from above Archibald at 2700 meters out to the Agassiz Bridge arriving at 2300 meters and went back to Archibald and went to 2700 meters again. Lower down it was strong outflow winds and the LZ was changing 180 degrees rapidly. Greg H was last seen over Ludwig way high and Rob was sure sure he went to Hope, but a phone call later showed him at Harvest Market for a valley crossing into no lift even on sunny slopes after getting to 8700 feet. I went up with Zach and Rob around 6:00 pm, and it was still east at launch but they both got off and climbed up, and I drove down as I wasn't interested in a long retrieve tonight (top landing looked insane in the east winds). Rob said he later got to 2200 meters and it was very smooth. Zach took the Boom Sport for a ride and was seen in a full stall, SAT (a real one), and a wild spiral before landing at the swamp in west winds. 
Rob over Lower Launch on his shiny Ozone Mantra M2 - photo by JPR
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Bridal Report - I teamed up with Martina, Rob, Dr T and drove up at 4:30 pm, to beautiful cycles
and Derek and Alan already buzzing Upper Launch. | Off first and into the bowl, I pushed towards Upper and scratched below for a bit, thermals not as strong further back, better out front and I was able to get to Upper as Derek top-landed. My first approach was low, assuming I would get lifted in but that didn't work as I sunk to the Saddle. Back into the thermal with Alan and he hooked in good and was soon over launch trying to land but abandoned that thought and he went west. I came over Derek once too high and as I headed away for another pass I was "hoovered up" to 1700 meters, gaining 300 meters without turning. I gave up on the top landing idea and headed west with Alan towards Gloria. Rob had already climbed out and was about 1800 meters over Gloria as we tried to push west going about 8-9 kph and bumpy. I made the Gloria bump and headed back towards Lower Launch to see if Martina was launching as I saw Dr. T climbing in the bowl. Derek had relaunched and was buzzing Lower for a top-landing, but was getting lifted each time. I watched out front and when he was back in the bowl I spiralled down to launch height and made a straight in approach and landed softly. I cleared out of Derek's way as he tried a few more times. Martina decided to drive as the approachs looked trashy and I relaunched to meet my tandem passengers at the Swamp LZ. We decided the 25 kph+ winds in the LZ were not appropriate for tandems so we headed to Woodside for a tandem flight there, and we arrived to nice cycle and not much wind in the Eagle Ranch LZ. We had a super flight, nice launch and landing and we were able to maintain above launch most of the way to Eagle Ranch. Landing in a NE wind right on the target, so my passenger was very happy. Good videos I am sure and we climbed very fast in a small thermal whipping it around banked up high to stay in the cores! Thanks Derek and Martina for driving my rig down!
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Woodside Report - Weather was crap today! Rough and no climbs, seldom getting over 3000' at Woodside. Mia got caught in one of the many sink holes and sank out. I bailed over the back and ran to Bear (from only 3200' at Agassiz Mtn). Crossed to Ludwig and then did the Elk and back to Woodside run. Nice flight for a very unpleasant flying conditions. Should have been better - Martin
| Bridal Report - reports of very windy conditions and several Americans heading out to the Swamp LZ said it was rough. Other reports of Alex and Rob flying out to the HG LZ in the middle of the Valley for safer landings. Alan launched early at 1:00 pm, and stayed in the air until 5:30 pm, when he top-landed to drive Nikolai's rig down. Plane Crash found north of Mission, BC after 37 years - an article in the Mission City Record says a Fleet Canuck that went missing on November 15, 1970 on a flight from Powell River to Chilliwack was found by a surveyor in Steelhead just north of Mission. By Carol Aun Mission Record May 17 2007 The rain poured and the wind howled, but Elaine Mitten did not notice. The tears that ran down her face had their own torrential effect that rivaled the storm. A cold shiver went through her body as she stood in the middle of the Langley air field. It was Nov. 15, 1970, and at that moment, she knew she would never see her father’s face again. A few hours earlier Elaine received a disturbing phone call from her mother. Her father, Roy Brett, was missing. Roy was flying a small single-engine fleet Canuck from Powell River to Chilliwack, and had not been seen since Sechelt a number of hours ago. He should be home by now, Beulah said to her daughter, who was full of worry. It didn’t take long for Elaine’s husband, Chuck, to spring into action. First, he calmed Beulah, told her Roy was probably sitting somewhere to wait out the storm. Then he and Elaine, who were just leaving their weekend home in Aldergrove with their children, drove to the Langley airport, hoping to spot him. It was a protocol established years ago. If a pilot didn’t show up at the expected time, someone would go to the air field and turn on their car headlights to help guide him. Elaine scambled out of the car as quickly as she could at the airport. She searched the rows of parked aircraft as the rain beat down on her. The plane her father was flying was nowhere to be seen. Elaine was cold and soaking wet as she strained her ears, desperately hoping to hear that familiar engine sound of her father’s plane. But she didn’t hear anything. The airport looked deserted. Chuck put his arm around his wife to comfort her. He gently led her back to their car where it was warm, and their children were waiting. The one-hour drive back to their North Vancouver home was the longest in Elaine’s life. Time stood still as her mind filled with memories of her dad. When Roy Brett still wasn’t home the next day, an intensive search began. His family, friends, other pilots and acquaintances combed the region. They listed all the possible routes Roy could have taken. Searches were conducted from both ends. Chuck and a good friend flew over the mountains from Sechelt to Chilliwack. About a dozen other aircraft helped, including three Buffalo twin-turbo propeller aircrafts, two large helicopters from Air Sea Rescue, and an RCMP boat from Powell River. The clouds were still heavy, but Roy’s family held out hope that he would be found. Roy had crashed near Hope in 1941 and walked away, practically unscathed. He was an experienced pilot who always knew what to do. But the search was called off after a few weeks. The weather was poor and searchers doubted Roy could have survived. Roy’s wife was a strong woman. She bore the news as best she could and began working on a memorial for her missing husband. Roy’s disappearance left an emptiness in the family. Some had lost hope the answers would come, but those who hung on were not disappointed when a plane wreckage was found in Mission last month, 37 years after Roy Brett vanished. Roy Brett was 72 years old when he went missing. He was a good-looking man, always dressed well and wore a fedora hat. He was slim, about 5’10" in height and weighed about 150 pounds. He had brown eyes and high cheekbones. Roy’s family were pioneers in the Fraser Valley. His parents were married in Mission in 1891 and started a farm in Chilliwack. Roy took over the farm after he returned from the army in 1918. Roy was a hard-working, loving husband and father who also liked to have fun. He was reliable, fair and proper, but his temper was one to behold if anyone lied or cheated him, Elaine recalled. "He was quiet, but if something happened, he fought with fists and clubs. He stuck up for his rights and his family’s rights." Roy married Beulah Currie in 1923 and together they had three daughters, Elaine (born 1926), June (1927), Beverly (1929), and Bill (1931). "We were a really happy family," said Elaine, now 81, and living in Langley with her husband, Chuck. Roy’s love of airplanes began in the 1930s. He learned to fly in a field west of Chilliwack. He had pilot friends and read all he could about flying. His enthusiasm was contagious. He bought his first plane in the mid-1930s and built a hanger on the back 60 acres of their farm on Prairie Central Road. Roy gave his eldest daughter some "dry land instructions" during the first winter with the plane. Elaine was taught some basic manoeuvres as she used her dad’s feet for rudders. Elaine was just 11 years old when she learned to fly a plane, but it would be years later before she was allowed to get her pilot license. She remembers how sweaty her palms were when she took the controls, but somehow everything her father had taught her came back. "He was the type of person that could take you up in a plane and turn the controls over to you," said Chuck. "In minutes you’d be flying it." Roy could even talk a beginner through landing a plane. "He did that with the kids all our lives," said Elaine, who was driving the family truck around the farm at age five. Roy instilled a type of confidence in people that made them feel they could accomplish anything. Elaine’s two younger sisters also learned to fly, but her brother Bill, didn’t have much of an interest. It didn’t take long for more hangers to be built on the farm, and Roy’s friends liked to store their planes there too. Roy won flying contests and was a well-known light plane flyer in North America. He was considered an aviation pioneer in Chilliwack and Powell River, where he owned a logging business. When Roy took up an interest in logging, he left the farm work mostly to the men he hired. He moved his family to Powell River in the early 1940s where he ran a successful logging operation. Elaine kept the books for the business and was also her father’s secretary. In order to get around the business quicker, Roy bought another plane and created a landing strip at Lang Bay, near the logging camp. Chuck was invited to join the business after he and Elaine were married in 1949. Chuck also learned to fly and was a good fit in the family. Eventually timber sales slowed in Powell River, and Chuck and Roy cruised the province for another tract of timber. They moved to Narrows Arm, about 17 miles up the Sechelt Inlet in 1956, and Roy built an airstrip there as well. It was difficult getting into the field at Narrows Arm because there were so many cross-drafts. Planes were only flown there for emergencies and it was clear Sechelt needed an airport. When Roy turned 60, he decided to sell his logging business and spend more time with his family and travel. But before he did that, he won a contract to build the Sechelt airport. Roy’s plane, DPG, was the first to land at the Gibsons-Sechelt Municipal Airport on Oct. 1, 1957. The airport was officially opened in May 1962. Roy and his wife moved back to Chilliwack eight years before he disappeared. Their son, Bill, was running the farm and the elderly couple moved to an apartment. Elaine and Chuck made their home in North Vancouver where Chuck formed a real estate company. They spent weekends on their farm in Aldergrove with their three children who liked to ride horses. Roy was still heavily involved in aviation and his passion for it continued to spread in Chilliwack. A flying club was formed and that initiated the construction of an airport. As the years rolled on, Roy flew less and less. One week before Roy vanished, he told Elaine and Chuck he had sold his plane because he couldn’t justify renting space at the airport to park his plane. They knew it broke his heart. His flight to Powell River was going to be one of his last. Roy flew to Powell River on Saturday, Nov. 14, 1970. The air was cold, but the sun was out and it was a good day to fly. However, the weather changed drastically on Sunday when he was scheduled to return home. No trace of Roy or the plane he was flying was ever found . . . until now. Late last month while Elaine and Chuck were working around their home, the phone rang. "Are you the daughter of Roy Brett?" asked Mission RCMP Const. Dave Tarchuk. Elaine was shocked. She had been waiting for this call for 37 years. Tarchuk was given Elaine’s name and number from one of her cousins in Chilliwack. Tarchuk gently broke the news to Elaine and Chuck that the remains of a plane, with call letters CF-EAQ clearly visible, were recently found in Steelhead, just north of Mission. According to Transport Canada, the plane went down in November 1970 and the pilot is believed to be Roy Brett. The coroner would have to investigate to positively identify the few remains that are left at the site, said the constable, who offered to give Elaine and her family as much information as he could. "Was the door open? Was the seatbelt undone?" Elaine wanted to know if her father had gotten out of the plane. Yes. It gave Elaine some comfort knowing her father managed to get out of the plane to escape a possible explosion, but it saddened her to think about how he had struggled and couldn’t get back in. Tarchuk, armed with photographs of the wreckage, promised to visit Elaine later that day. News had travelled around the family and Elaine and Chuck were surrounded by their children by the time Tarchuk arrived. "Our son and daughter wanted to give us some support," said Elaine. "They thought I’d break down, but I’d already finished crying by that time." The plane was found just north of Johnston Road by a surveyor, Darryl Nixon, said Tarchuk, who investigated the crash site on April 20. The plane was sitting on the side of a steep hill, which was hard to access. It appears the plane, which was flying low in the poor weather, went down after its wing clipped a tree, Tarchuk explained. Only the partial remains of one body was found, and certain personal items indicated it was Roy Brett. It could take the coroner’s office up to one month to positively identify the remains and release them to the family. When the remains are released, the family will have a private memorial to remember Sydney Roy Brett. Only then will Elaine and her family finally have the closure for which they had waited so for. copyright Mission City Record. This gives us a perspective of how big our local flying area is and how easy it is to get lost if you crash and are disabled and not in radio contact. The good news is Paragliders tend to get stuck in the top of trees and are usually visible, but if you go over the back of some mountains no one is going to find you for a long time when you "go in"!
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Woodside Report - we had a lazy start to the day, a drive up Chehalis Valley Road to 13 kms to check out landing options for a planned Hemlock to Eagle Ranch flight. There was many long weekend party camps and tarp cities at the end of the road. Then off to the Golf Course for a great breakfast with Colleen. We were finished around 10:00 am, when the calls started coming in from students . . . "can we fly??" | The conditions looked great, except for the threat of thunderstorms and rain and a fast upper level winds forecast of 13 knots, but we went back to the Ranch and met up with Andrei and Elena (with friend Alex) and checked out the telescope. Light winds at launch and in the LZ. Up we went. Colleen flew first and checked out the air and it was deemed appropriate for beginner flights as Andrei took his first solo flight. After that it was fly/fly/fly all day. I flew two tandems and both were over an hour, with the most fun "duking it out" with Norm and differing cloudbases. No need for big ears or B-Stalls but there was mild cloudsuck and some frost on the gliders at times. As usual it was hard work to get above Norm, and avoid the clouds at the same time. Bev followed us over to harvest Market as it got windy at the Ranch. The last flights of the day had Kevin and Dr. T competing for top of the stack awards, as Colleen launched and tested the air for the students. She had to fly out to land before she was ready to guide them in, but she got way above launch before heading up. I flew a last tandem into the Ranch in light landing conditions to close off the day at 8:15 pm. Busy Day, and no rain or storms - Jim Norm's Belated Vernon Mtn. Report - I launched and the glider was surging and pitching through sink and lift, as it was windy. Sinky all the way across to King Eddie LZ, but there was lift in the middle of the valley and I tok it up over Baldy where it smoothed out. I advised Bev not to fly, but she had already figured that out - Norm
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Woodside Report - despite the poor forecasts, it was flyable most of the day. We headed up the mountain around 11:00 am after everyone finally got up as we were up til 2:30 am!
| We had to fly to dry out our gliders after the wet flight yesterday, but Thomm said he could not get a helmet to fit his sore head, so he drove for us (Thanks!). Colleen got above launch for a while but mostly sledders, and I got to fly the tandem down solo to dry it out. As everyone headed home it was chores, chores, chores. Lumby Gloat Report - We went to the Okanagan for a couple of days to escape the nasty weather in the Fraser Valley. Vernon was blown out by the time we got there Saturday afternoon, but we woke up to sunny skies on Sunday morning. We got up to Coopers launch by 9:30 a.m. to see 3 pilots laid out, ready to launch in the perfect cycles. They were on a road trip from Alberta, and offered to drive us back up so Derek & I could both fly. No lift for the first 2 pilots so they flew out to Randy's. By the time the last 3 of us launched the sun had heated up the mountain a bit more. I was able to thermal up above launch, with Derek soon following. I made it almost to the end of Lumby ridge then back to Randy's; Derek chose to fly over the valley to Saddle & joined the rest of us on the LZ. We all got a retrieve with Randy himself but chose not to fly again as the dark clouds were getting closer. Definitely a better way to spend the weekend than staring out the window at the rain! - Martina p.s. Pictures are of the 3 Albertans right after they launched, and the beach at Mara - plenty of room to land, ha ha! 
Lumby Fliers - photo by Martina Lang 
Why we didn't do an SIV Course this weekend in Mara, no beach - photo by Martina Lang
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Woodside Report - we sat thru showers, monsoons, sunny breaks, windstorms, dust devils, and did some kiting. But at 5:30 pm, it opened up and the winds died down enough for a flight. A truckload headed up Woodside and we got ready fast as a cell approached from Sumas. The plan was to fly to Harvest to avoid the rain, good plan for Colleen and I, but Thomm and Gary had a wet flight as the rain overtook them at the South Knoll all the way to the Harvest LZ. Interesting landing with east wind at Harvest?? |
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Woodside Report - light cycles at launch and strong bullet thermal in the air. Andy, Colleen, Derek, Gary K and Zach flew first as we readied the tandem for David's first flight.
By the time we got in the air, they had gotten above launch several times and headed out for smoother air. We had a nice flight having to get in close to the South Knoll to climb out as we got low at times. Sinky over the bailout so we headed north to find lift which got us up and into Eagle Ranch. The nice thing with a tandem is that we can still land at the old LZ if we have to without paying $20 outlanding fees. Nice landing conditions right on the spot, despite a bubble on final. | Bridal Report - we headed over to Bridal to see Alan already on his way to Elk. 9 of us went up in the Van and we got the tandem ready while they launched into some nasty cross wind conditions getting yanked into the air. Our launch was very smooth and we were climbing fast in front of launch in a strong thermal. The remaining 3 pilots on launch decided not to fly when they saw the Tandem blow out both tips and get gyrated as we fell out of the strong thermal :-) We also left the launch area at this time! About the time we launched Derek asked "where is all this lift coming from?" as we headed towards Upper Launch. But all we hit in the normal spots was little beeps, barely enough to maintain. And we were patient but we had to head back to launch to find something. Nothing there on the soaring knob either? Soon everyone was on the way down, big sink up to -5 m/s reported all over? Landing was okay but the setup rather short as we sunk near the treeline and dropped into the mowed area. Soon everyone was in the swamp, some pilots were at 2000 meters, some at 1100 meters and some had just launched. Total flush, but as we packed up it started to drizzle so good timing. Not a bad day overall, 1 hour of soaring tandem for David and he is ready for solo after extensive kiting and ground school - Jim.
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Bridal Report - Al and Kevin were flying Bridal and having good flights but were unable to top-land as it was too strong, so a retrieve trip was necessary. Quite windy at Abbotsford as the commercial jet I was on landed to the west in 30 km+ winds at 7:00 pm. | Woodside Report - Colleen called to say someone was having a great flight at Woodside around 7:30 pm. I think it was Andy, but no radio contact. As we readied to head up for a late flight, we saw the pilot over Riverside with "big ears", for an extended period. It wasn't that late yet, about 7:45 pm. This should have been the clue that something wasn't right! When we arrived at launch it was easy launching conditions, with lulls so it was thermic still. I launched and climbed to 800 meters fast on the north side, nice and smooth. Colleen elected to drive down as she wanted to head for dinner, so I headed straight out getting good penetration 18-20 kms/hr towards the Ranch . . . until the ridge past the bailout swamp where I hit the wall and was going 4-5 kms/hr. I was still at 600 meters and it was getting rough! I started to head to Bill Best's to get better air, no luck. So I toughed it out heading straight south. There were times when the Boom Sport was 45 degrees behind me with no brakes, then it would shoot forward and I had brakes down to my hips, with the glider also rolling side-to-side violently. All the while climbing too! This was getting ridiculous, it was 8:15 pm, and it was still pounding off big thermals coupled with gusty winds at this layer, no wind on the deck. I had enough of the rough air and there was layer after layer of crap, so I spiralled hard down to tree top height over Duncan's and went in to land aiming for the Stonehenge spot-landing, but the sink and wind at this height dropped me in just south of the training hill. I should have known something was up when someone has ears on that long! - Jim Honduras Report - Are you guys happy to dry out and go flying? I read the recent flight reports and thought I should check in. We have had great flying here as well. I only get to fly Sat and Sundays but in the last month or so of the eight flights I've had all but one were good cross country with my best two being over 40 kms on consecutive days. Have also been flying in Nicaragua with a group of pilots from Managua. I should mention, on one of my plus 40 km flights I had the opportunity to check out the lift in the smoke column of a sugar cane fire. Many areas of sugar cane are burned prior to harvesting, presumably to get rid of snakes that the harvesters fear. I was on glide over a sugar cane district and saw a nice little CU forming above such a fire. I entered the smoke with about 1200 mtrs of ground clearance so I was not to afraid of hot ashes. I don't really know how long I was in the thermal before things settled down enough for me to look at my vario but when I did I was still rising at 5.7 mtrs per sec. Cloudbase came really quick and I was back on glide . What has been interesting is that in most of my flights in the last while I have taken different routes away from the mountain going NW along the ridge, North and NE over flatlands and South as well. This weekend is Mango Festival in Yuscaran and my new flying friends from Nicaragua are coming as well as a Dutch pilot who lives on the North coast of Honduras. All told we may be six or seven in total flying this weekend- a first fly-in in Honduras. The Zoom continues to be a great wing, handling beautifully and feels nice and safe. - Cheers to every one, Jeffrey
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Bridal Report - Al reported good flying at mid-level altitudes, weird at the Saddle and even weirder at the Swamp LZ according to the Russian Mafia. Al top-landed to drive down and said it was good conditions at that height. | Cochrane Report - I was headed out at 4:00 pm, but is was blown-out for PGs. And later it was too calm. Lake Pueblo crash kills Colorado paraglider By NICK BONHAM THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN A Boulder woman died Sunday in a paragliding accident at Lake Pueblo when, according to witnesses, winds suddenly changed and blew her into power lines. Judy M. Karpeichik, 41, was taking part in an over-water maneuvers and safety course conducted by Peak to Peak Paragliding, a Boulder-based paragliding school. Course students and state park officials said Karpeichik was launched into the air by boat from the reservoir and was blown east over the dam, then traveled a long distance before she crashed into the power lines. Pueblo County Coroner James Kramer said Karpeichik died at the scene from traumatic injuries. Emergency crews and witnesses tried to revive Karpeichik. According to Ken, a 29-year-old Colorado Springs man who only gave his first name, he saw the woman flying overhead about 4:30 p.m. "She came in fast and we just heard this ‘Bang!’. We knew she didn't hit the ground that hard. When we got here we knew it wasn't a good situation," Ken said. Karpeichik died on a rocky hill under a series of power lines east of Anticline Lake and the Rock Canyon public swimming area. The man and his family were at a nearby barbecue area "doing the Mother's Day thing," and rushed to the scene, where he administered CPR until rangers and medical staff arrived. The Colorado Springs man said he had previous experience as an emergency medical technician. Hadley Robinson, 60, of El Paso, Texas, is an intermediate paragliding pilot and one of about 20 students who took part in the three-day weekend course. He said Karpeichik, who was here with her husband, Tom, was a beginning student. Gliding conditions were good until sudden gusts blew in, witnesses said. "Things were just fine and then - boom! - this wind came up," Robinson said. "The winds were terrible. Something went wrong with the radios. And then the (wind) was so fast, we couldn't see her. This is really a safe sport, safer than riding motorcycles. This was a freak accident." Robinson said pilots are given radios to communicate with people on the ground during flight. Paragliding and parasailing are similar in the way they are launched into the air. The difference, Robinson said, is paragliders detach themselves from a cord at a specific altitude and then pilot their glider along wind currents. According to Peak to Peak's Web site (peaktopeakparagliding.com), they have an "incredible" safety record and have had "no major incidents or accidents of pilots under our supervision." Assistant park manager Brad Henley said this was Peak to Peak's third safety course here during the past year. The paragliding school's site Web said students are launched as high as 4,000 feet in the air. Paragliding instructor Kay Tauscher, who was at the accident scene, later said she was unavailable to give a phone interview. According to a state licensure Web site, Karpeichik, a marathon runner, was a registered physical therapist in Colorado since 1997, and was director of the Golden West clinic of Medically-Based Fitness.
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Bridal Report - great flying reported at Bridal, Alan at 2000 meters, others just as high. Better lift than the day before. I was eyeing up Grouse but the inversion looked bad, so I stayed at home. |
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Bridal Report - Bridal was on, Alan flew 3:00+, Martina 1:30, Rob 2:00+, Al 2:00+. Not easy lift so mostly flying around Launch, but smooth. |
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Woodside Report - soarable at 9:30 am. Cloudy but breezy, so if you could launch you were going up. Cloudbase started at 1000 meters and descended to 900 meters until after 6:00 pm. Students had some great flights, and left cold and satisfied on the last soaring flight. I flewone student, Elena, over to Harvest after we flew to cloudbase fo an hour getting very cold. We arrived over Cemetary Hill at 800 meters, and had to spiral down to get warm. Quite a few tandems with new new tandem pilots Zach and Drew in difficult launching conditions. |
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Woodside Report - good flying for everyone until 3:00 pm, when it got too strong for advanced PGs. HGers had fun although the landings were interesting, thermic and turbulent. Even after sunset, the winds were strong from the SW. | Bridal Report - reports of some Valley Crossings, some good distances recorded. Jeremy landed at Agassiz Mountain (hopefully not in the CYR). Some landings at Bridal were less than precise, missing the swamp all together. Top-landings were perhaps safer than bottom landings. Thomms's Gloat Report - Squeeked out a longer than expected flight at Woodside when the plan was to fly down for lunch after watching a few pilots pretty much head out to land.. There were unexpected beeps that made it a worthwhile flight getting over launch several times and the hunger to go to Bridal and the stomach growling lured me to the ground after a little over an hour. Bridal was overcast but there was +5.5 to - 4.5 m/s all over the range. I observed many of the FV XC pilots racking up the kms passing by several times. Top landed at upper to get wet feet in the slush (too many footprints to see the message carved out by Derek) with launching conditions up there the best I have seen. It was like there was a fan below launch with a consistant wind straight in . Cloudbase was just above 1400 metres over there and joined a gaggle headed west but visibilty was limited with "an un-identified " pilot who I encountered on two other occasions, that had no airmanship etiquette that steered me off anywhere he was flying. So I headed out with cold wet feet at 1300 metres out over the valley. Lift everywhere and landing was gusty and thermic with almost running out of real estate in the LZ after pumping my way down with about three feet to spare. Overall a very good day with steak and beers at the Sasquatch to end the day - Thomm
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Bridal Report - I flew over at 6:00 pm, but couldn't see anyone flying because of the haze. But I heard Alan, Martin and others were soaring Cheam. Nice CUs in Edmonton with bases at 13000 ASL! Spring is here. |
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Calgary Report - scary incident on board a flight to Calgary this morning! On long final into YYC, the flight attendant signaled me to look at the guy behind me in 7C. I looked back and he had passed out and had vomited all over the floor. He looked like he was dead or dying! I jumped up and shook him and he came to and was able to talk and he could breathe. As I looked over we were only 50 feet off the runway, so I strapped back in until touchdown and went back to attend to him as we taxied in. Good breathing and pulse, so he was out of immediate danger. Paramedics met the plane at the ramp and we took him out on a wheelchair. At least I got to leave the plane first. The gent was about 60 and overweight, so he probably went to the hospital to get checked out. | After all that excitement, I thought a day of Cochrane soaring might be good, but when I arrived it was strong SE as it had been for some time, so no flying for me today. Bridal Report - a few reports suggested it was windy including web cam images showing trees bent over! Some interesting takeoffs and landings I am sure if it was windy.
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Woodside/Bridal Report - Will was out again for his final of 4 days and he made the best of today. Harold from the Interior showed up and flew with us at Woodside and both Will and Harold did very well, after watching Norm flying up high. They both landed at the Ranch and we headed to Bridal at 3:00 pm. | Bridal was good! Perfect straight launch cycles and everyone had cleared up and away from launch so there was no traffic conflicts. Will launched first and was up immediately. Harold was off a bit later and when I could tell there was no need to be guiding them, I launched and headed to Upper Launch where Derek had written something in the snow. Rough climbs in close, better and smoother out front. Just let us say that Martina should have taken the magic elevator up to Upper today :-) 
Bridal Upper today, Derek's message is illegible due to my crappy Kodak camera - photo by JPR I landed at Upper after many wild passes, snow is firm under a soft crust, good for pounding into. We relaunched as Andy joined us and I climbed to 1600 meters in front of launch as I saw Harold had landed and Will was on his way down, so I headed back to launch to land and drive down. I watched Alan take many passes and finally get in to drive Derek's rig down. I made a few passes and nailed a soft landing by the Picnic Table and went to get the boys. Many pilots went to the Butterfly and back, but Robin had the most interesting flight, going east and running out of LZs so he had to cross the Fraser and land on the Hwy 7 side at Chawathil First Nations baseball field. Lots of hiking and a ride with Melissa got him back to Bridal. It is a good LZ having landed there a few years ago on a trip from Woodside. Only Will came back up for the last flight around 7:00 pm and he relaunched and stayed in the air for another 45 minutes for a total of 3 hours airtime today at two sites. Rob S was seen heading east after a flight to Elk and out into the Valley to add kms to his task. He went about 80 kms+ but got back to low and too late to climb out to top-land, so I hope he didn't have to hike. Sad news from Baffin Island - Ozone Team Pilot Jimmy Hall killed "base jumping" at Baffin Island. Matt and others were there for a month long expedition.
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Woodside Report - we were out kiting at Eagle Ranch when the storms hit! It started out gusty but soon dust devils were popping off everywhere and the birds were getting thrown around. We had to bunch up Will's wing and head for the barn for Ground School. Winds were gusting to 70 km/hr most of the afternoon, and even as dusk arrived it was gusty at launch, so no flying today but good progress towards Will's Novice Ticket. |
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Bridal Report - I had the "frowny face" up this morning cause it was raining hard and cloudbase was down on the deck. But after 9:00 Chilliwack started to clear so I booked off and headed to Bridal around noon. Student Will met me there and he did his first 3 Bridal flights hitting the spot landing circle twice (don't ask about him about the first landing!). Norm met up with us for the last flight and it was getting lifty but cloudbase was still 900 meters so nowhere to go. When Norm landed a guy was chatting to him, just emigrated from England living in Hope and he used to paraglide in Britain, but quit cause the hikes were brutal. He wanted to follow us over to Woodside so off we all went. | Woodside Report - Will, Norm and I parked our cars at Harvest Market and hopped in the Brit's F350 crewcab and off we went to launch. This is commitment. Leave all the vehicles in a field we don't always get to on an iffy day? Al was already in the air and had been over launch a few times but was down low when we arrived and ended up in Abe's backyard. We all launched and Norm encouraged us with a quick climb to 'base from the clearcuts before bailing to Harvest to get to work on time. Will had better lift from the start and was able to tag a few thermals over the river on the way over, I followed them both getting up on the South Knoll, after Kevin. Everyone landed in Harvest LZ and Norm was gone when I landed so he probably made it to work on time, but missed the great "glass off" later. Derek and Martina were at Harvest when I landed and were headed up, so we piled into their rig and left the cars at the Kettle. Strongish launch conditions, popped a few people into the "turtle position", but everyone but Martina launched as she was nursing a few snowmobile related issues. Thanks for driving for us. We had some seriously good soaring for about an hour, Will getting high and logging his highest and longest flight. Al sunk out getting too low north of the cliffs, so Kevin and I had to top-land to get their cars down. We both approached at the same time and I stayed out of Kevin's way as he touched down, and landed right in front of him within 10 seconds. After that everyone was going down as it shut down. Good day considering the start! Will logged 5 very good flights into 3 different LZs, and got to soar for the first time. Watch out Victoria!
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Woodside Report - great student training day at Woodside. Good launch cycles, some turbulence, but not severe. No headwind, even a Prima could make Eagle Ranch. Switchable landing winds to ensure the students were thinking ahead. Will logged 4 flights, Tulio had 3. Andrei took 2 tandems and spent the rest of the afternoon kiting. It only rained a few moments during lunch hour, and the rest of the afternoon was warm and dry. |
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Woodside Report - Woodside was the site for the first day of the Fraser Valley Cross Country series,
and despite the grey skies it proved a good day for many. | I was stuck in a First Aid Course in Chilliwack all day with a view out the window of Woodside but I only saw a few wings. But everyone flew and Alex R, Jon Orders (HG) and Jeremy made it to Hope Airport ridge soaring their way there. Robin at SeaBird Island, Nicole at Ruby Creek, and Graham with an interesting landing at Harrison Beach. David S told me he cancelled his tandems because landing conditions were not so nice. Alex W said he had a "rodeo ride" mid-day at Eagle Ranch. No other XC reports as I missed the party afterwards. I am sure there will be "gloat reports" posted somewhere.
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Grouse Report - I was headed north over the Second Narrows Bridge when the severity of the weather
was presented to me. Imbedded towering CUs, dark flat bottoms, and snow falling out of that mess to the east!
I kept driving towards Grouse anyway. At Capilano Road, I turned around and headed to the Valley. Too ugly to risk a flight here - Jim. | Woodside Report - I called Alan to see what it looked like at Bridal. He laughed cause it was hailing, raining and snowing all at once on launch! He helped me retrieve the FlyBC VAN from the spring shop in Chilliwack and as we headed over the Agassiz Bridge (in a monsoon), we heard Dennis on the radio! He was reporting it was nice conditions on launch to Alex and Nataliya, and he launched. When we arrived at the Ranch he was already in Riverside? Nice cycles at launch, not the 15 knots forecasted and Alex was going to launch. By the time Alan and I arrived at launch, Alex was already running toward the Ranch, so we headed home - Jim.
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Vancouver Report - great CU development combined with hail, rain and wind. By 7:00 pm, everything decayed into a beautiful night. | Agassiz Report - Prisoner hostage incident ends Thursday, May 03 - 04:25:00 PM News1130 Staff AGASSIZ (NEWS1130) - A hostage taking at the maximum security Kent Institution near Agassiz is over. The prison emergency response team convinced the man to drop his makeshift weapon and release his hostage cell mate. The prison facility continues to be locked down pending the completion of an investigation into the incident, which started just before noon. ps: maybe a good idea not to overfly the Prison for a while!
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Woodside/Bridal Report - Bridal was getting snowed on around 4:00 pm, Woodside was windy but dry. No takers when I called various pilots to go flying :-) | GIN Rebel is certified DHV2! 
The new Gin Rebel DHV II - photo by Gin The new GIN Rebel Medium is certified DHV2 (other sizes will follow soon). This glider has an Aspect Ratio of 5.55, is an easy and dynamic performance XC glider. The first pieces will soon be available to demo, contact us now! Rebel is only available with regular sheated lines, no race lines as of the release of this new ship. 
Gin Rebel Medium - photo by Gin
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Woodside Report - good looking conditions around 4:00pm on the Woodside WebCam, no pireps. |
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Woodside Report - beautiful blue skies brought Jim (me), Nikolai, Nataliya, Alex and Norm to Woodside, however it completely clouded over before we got to launch. When Norm and I got to the launch parking lot, Alex was about 800 meters but by the time we were at launch proper he had sunk down. He was very patient and even climbed out with a bird for a while but was turning the wrong way and the bird climbed out while Alex didn't. Nikolai launched next and climbed right away. We persuaded Nataliya to fly as Norm and I drove down. When we left Nikolai was climbing through 900 meters easily and he landed at Harrison Lake after failing to get past Bear Mtn. Norm decided to go to work and I headed to Bridal - Jim | Bridal Report - Alex and Alan launched early and we overheard Alex saying "you can climb, it just takes time" as he neared Saddle altitude. Ihor, Nicole, David, Luke, Martin, Tom C (on tandem), and a few others were flying as Nataliya, Alex and I got to launch. Nice straight cycles, but no sun. Easy launch and I was climbing in front of launch and into the bowl, but as Alex said it was slow. I got to 1000 meters but no higher in the bowl or over launch, and I saw Rob launch and start climbing out front. I watched him climb to about 1000 meters and then head east. So I followed him and we were both pretty far east and not gaining a lot of height but there were little thermals in the gulleys to top up in. I met Martin in a gulley near the Gas Transmission Plant but he was easily 300 meters higher and Rob had started to head back. Andy flew overheard returning to launch too, so I bailed and headed back topping out a few times but not getting high. I arrived back at launch at 600 meters and had to climb back out but that was easy as others were in the thermal showing me the way. Martin reported heading east to the "Lakes" as he got himself out of the gulley. We played around in front of launch as many top-landed to drive trucks down. I was on a perfect line for top-landing when I saw a glider coming directly in front of me . . . I had to swerve as Nicole flew right at me (blue leading edges are hard to see against green trees). I landed right in front of Derek laid out to launch and clobbered him with my wing as it came down (sorry!). Later, Martin top-landed (his first PG top-landing) to drive his truck down to the garbage pile where Alex, Nicole, Nikolai and Martin collected the trash left by some idiots a few months back. We flew again for about 45 minutes before landing at the bottom as all the trucks were accounted for. Total flight time 2 hours in shaded skies? - Jim Remember the good old days!
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Woodside Report - an early flight for the students had us soaring before 10:30 am.
Unfortunately it got even stronger making it unsafe to fly paragliders until 5:00 pm,
when we were back on the hill with Ray and Kerry for their last flights of the day. Kira and Brian had enough abuse with a full day of kiting waiting for the winds to die down and left before it calmed down.
Smart pilots went to Bridal where it was also windy but much better. | Bridal Report - Andy had an awesome flight flying with Robin, Kevin and Al doing laps between Cheam Peak and Elk at 2100 meters. Highest cloudbase we have seen for years over there! Unfortunately the airwaves were filled with a rescue mission as a pilot went into the trees to the left of launch. He was un-harmed and out of the tree by the time anyone got there, but he didn't have a radio or cell phone. Please people, buy at least an FRS radio and use channel 12 which we monitor at Woodside.
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Woodside Report - we were out kiting with the new students, as Andy launched and he stayed up for almost an hour around 10 am. The new students caught on fast and Colleen was working on many exercises on the training hill as I went up for the first cycle of tandem flights. | My first passenger was Natalia, a petite Brazilian girl, who weighed less than 45 kilos, so we were pretty floaty in the dynamic air. Huge lapse rate and lots of sun made for some pretty sharp climbs, and some big sink too. We flew for about 45 minutes getting to around 1300 meters, with Andy and Peter G even higher apparently not concerned about cloud suck further back. Natalia and I landed at Eagle Ranch as the wind switched to westerly but she was a good runner! We landed right in the landing circle despite the downwind push. Her dad was one of the new students in the LZ and he looked proud of her. Second tandem flight was Gina, Annette's colleague from work, and she looked apprehensive, but was a good sport and pulled me off the hill and we were immediately climbing through 1200 meters in some really rough air. We had a few good collapses on the outer wing as we circled over the larger clearcuts. The most fun was had as we climbed over the north ridge and headed to the Sasquatch Range from 1400 meters. We were 1/3 of the way across when the glider fell back and we were free falling! I looked up and we had a full frontal collapse in smooth air, a quick pump and we were flying again. We touched the ridge too low to get up so we headed back to the Ranch where we planted a perfect 4 point landing in the circle again. Gary K was out from Bowen Island and was having a great flight on his Buzz, logging over 1:15 before heading out to warm up. Peter G did an "out and return" to Agassiz, arriving back to climb out back to cloudbase. Tandem 3 was a Turkish guy, who spoke German but not much English. So the start commands at the launch were in German. He had his video camera working through the entire flight and commentary was in German. I was sure he would "hurl" as the air was rough and more sharp climbs right to 1300 meters. We struggled a bit on the mountain, but got a good climb further out. It appears to have gone leeside as the clouds were tilted from the SE later in the day. We also crossed to Sasquatch on this flight and watched the airplanes below doing circuits at the SandPiper Golf Course airstrip. As we came in to land, there were some nice thermals over Duncan's field and we took them up with an Eagle. It was climbing right with us, in a left turn and we tightened up within a few meters. Last time I saw the Eagle it was headed north towards the clearcut by the HG LZ. We landed again in the circle with a great blast of south wind (I had been concerned about the landing as the sock was limp or rotating 360 degrees as we circled Duncan's, but luck had it that a thermal went off as we approached the LZ. Bev flew and climbed out fast in a smooth large thermal and was last seen heading to Hope, but she landed at Harvest because it was too wet further east after all the rains. During the last flight, Rob S and an un-named Trango 2 pilot were getting ready to fly with hopes of crossing the Valley. Andy was flying with them too and reports were coming in about "being over Bear", joining Martin at Ludwig, touching Elk and later I heard the Trango and the ATOS pilots made it back to Woodside. But alas . . . Rob was on Fairfield Island again. ps: Rob next time fly directly over Chilliwack. There has to be a "town thermal" that will take you back to Abe's or Eagle Ranch. The new students all got to fly solo later, getting two flights before dark. Brian and Kira did very well landing perfectly in no wind at the end of the day.
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Woodside Report - monsoons all day, good weather for fixing gliders in the Barn. Doug: your Vulcan is ready. |
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Cochrane Report - it looked good even in the morning for Cochrane Soaring, but it got a bit spicy in the afternoon up to 26 MPH (probably too strong for HGers even). Nice CUs all day, good to see the sun. | Cochrane NOAA EDT (UTC) F (C) Dew F (C) Inches (hPa) Wind MPH Weather 8 PM (0) Apr 26 55 (13) 23 (-5) 29.83 (1010) W 26 7 PM (23) Apr 26 59 (15) 21 (-6) 29.83 (1010) W 16 6 PM (22) Apr 26 59 (15) 19 (-7) 29.83 (1010) WNW 14 5 PM (21) Apr 26 57 (14) 19 (-7) 29.84 (1010) W 13 4 PM (20) Apr 26 57 (14) 19 (-7) 29.85 (1010) W 16 3 PM (19) Apr 26 57 (14) 19 (-7) 29.87 (1011) W 20 2 PM (18) Apr 26 55 (13) 19 (-7) 29.88 (1011) WSW 12 1 PM (17) Apr 26 53 (12) 17 (-8) 29.91 (1012) WSW 6 Noon (16) Apr 26 51 (11) 19 (-7) 29.92 (1013) W 12 11 AM (15) Apr 26 46 (8) 23 (-5) 29.92 (1013) NNW 6
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Woodside Report - when I flew out to Calgary at 8:00 am, it looked flyable at Woodside but the day got wetter fast. A visit to Cochrane later in the day offered up gusty, stormy conditions that I sat out. |
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Woodside Report - a few sunny periods peeked through the clouds in the afternoon. I did not see anyone flying. |
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