First 2009 Airtime!

The anticipation of my first airtime of 2009 kept me up until about 11:30 the night before, and then woke me up at 04:30 in time to deliver the newspapers, load up, and drive to Cody's for an early departure: Destination, the South Side Point of the Mountain! The forecast called for building pre-frontal southerly winds, and the warmest day of the year nearing 70!

The South Side of the Point of the Mountain (http://static.stateparks.utah.gov/docs/FlightParkbrochure.pdf) is a beautiful little State flight park (http://stateparks.utah.gov/stateparks/parks/flight-park/), which is great for some soothing airtime when your mountain launch is still snowed in. In fact, some of my first, fondest soaring memories were made here in the late 80's - but a lot has changed here since then.

Today it can be a bit of an air-bag obstacle course until the windspeed builds above about 15 mph. Such was the case this morning,

So we set up, hang-talked,

and watched John G running the parapente-pylon course in fine fashion! After setting up I realized that I had forgotten my nose cone, but I was able to use an old back up one I still had. (I later discovered that I had strategically stashed it in my harness pocket last November - dohh!) Finally at about 9:45 the windspeed reached 16 and it was definitely Hang-Time! Landon was ground-bound today, armed with our digital camera to document the day and work on his photography merit badge.

I got Clover all suited and harnessed up,

and John helped with our hang check. After a LONG 4 month winter hiatus, I was slightly nervous,

but it all came back just fine as I leaned forward and ran off into space, airborne once again! *(Thanks to John G. or his wife for the great pic!)

I let out a "Yeeeee-Haaaaaw" at the top of my lungs, and started workin' the mostly ridge-lift band, which seemed to top out at about 200' over launch. After 50 minutes I landed and let Clover off, and then relaunched into the building conditions. I skirted the RC area, surprised a red-tailed hawk, and started working the thermals that were now popping off, especially in the corner bowl area.

It was great sharing the air with Cody, Greg B, Burghe, John G, & Sam as we took turns marking the tops of the thermals - some of them close to 900' over, and exploring the hills to the East and neighborhood "thermal generators" to the South. Not long after noon, the air texture turned into rowdiness, and one by one we all top landed safely as the winds were now near 25 mph. I wanted to fly all day, but I knew the conditions would only get stronger, and I should not be too greedy! Besides, my off-season arms and shoulders were a bit tired and sore from all of the crankin' and bankin' - but I am NOT complaining!

The next to the last top-landing is me, the last one is Cody - very nice pause and touchdown!

We took our time breaking down - as Cody and Greg had to remind me how to dismantle my U2 (I'm slowly learning!). We recounted our shared-air experiences of the day, and eventually made it home in time for dinner, some family time, some 'bloggin', and a restful sleep filled with flying dreams... Thanks for the nice pic's and video, Landon - and thanks for the fun-flyin' day, Cody, et al.

Flights: 2, Airtime: 2 hours 5 minutes!

PS: Cody said the road to Short Divide is almost snow-free...I feel some more airtime coming soon!

A Morning at the Training Hill

Landon, Clover and I took advantage of a nice, sunny pre-frontal morning to go out to the South Side training hill.

Landon had the opportunity to work on his H1 beginner rating with Pete,

while watching "Curt" from Telluride get some refresher lessons. Curt has been "on hiatus" from hang gliding for a number of years, but is ready to get back into it.

He showed good form with his ground running - getting well through the control frame, and showing good angle of attack control. He then worked his way up the training hill as the morning breeze continued to build.

You can see in the video his minor corrections to maintain his heading straight into the wind to allow for some nice "wings level" landings. Nice job, Curtis!

Steve C. then demonstrated a new way to "fly a kite" right up the hill!

In my opinion, there are no safe shortcuts to airtime. We all have to "pay our dues" on the training hill first, get those launches and landings "dialed in" - in order to reap the rewards of some incredible airtime and longer flights later :-)

Carb's are our Friends!

Well, I've been putting off replacing some parts in my '85 XT350's carburetor(s), waiting for warmer weather to "tear into it". A few weeks ago "old reliable" decided to become a "non-starter".

I have been riding to work every day all winter, except the one morning we had some freezing rain. Being without "my ride" was kind of sad, so I decided it was time for some overdue repairs and maintenance. I changed the plug and verified spark and compression, so I figured it must be a fuel related problem - my worst fear - which meant carburetor work :-(

I printed off the pages of the manual that Paul (Bro.) sent me, and the schematic breakdown scared me to death! He reassured me that it "was not that bad" and that I could do it. So I exercised what little faith I had, and began the disassembly, taking pictures along the way in case I forgot how to put it back together :-) I'm sure it took more than twice as long as any competent mechanic to do the job,
but I figured out how to remove the main carburetor, along with its sidekick "wannabe" half-carb.

Then I carefully opened up the float bowl, to replace the needle valve and some o-rings, and give it all a thorough cleaning.

Then I disassembled the main carburetor areas to check for any debris and clean all of the parts with carb cleaner. As you can see, they were a little dirty, but not too bad. (I forgot to take any "after" pics when it was all cleaned up).

Finally I carefully put it all back together, replaced the carb-to-cylinder boots and gaskets, and readjusted the disturbulatormanifolder. Since I was in "mechanic-mode" I decided to clean the air filter (light oil), drain & clean the fuel tank, change the engine oil and filter, replace the fuel lines, add an in-line fuel filter, and change the shift lever shaft seal. What a project-o! I got it all back together, crossed my fingers, and got ready to "fire it up". It coughed and sputtered at first, but finally turned over! I jumped on and went for a ride, and found it a bit rough at first, but after a few blocks it smoothed right out. It runs much better at mid and upper RPM's, but feels a bit "different" at lower rev's. I still need to do some maintenance on both brakes, and get rid of a "hop" in my front rim, but overall it runs much better, and I am just happy to be "back in the saddle" again!

Thanks for the help and encouragement, Paul (& Dad) - I couldn't have done it without you :-) Is it Spring-time YET?!!