November 12

    The weather forecast clearly showed winds that would be too strong to tow in, but they were nearly perfect (strength and direction) for the local ridge soaring site. So the plan was to spend the day at the ridge, and look for an opportunity for a few of us students to do our first foot launch/ridge soaring flight. Greg and Noel, both recent H2's, were here for their first ridge flights too.

    We met at Wesmar (the training field) and packed up the gliders to take to the ridge. On the way to the ridge, I took the Hang 2 written test. I passed! I primarily missed questions about airspace and sectional maps, but also a question about how quickly high performance gliders turn when compared to beginner/intermediate gliders. I will submit my paperwork to USHPA this week to officially become a Novice Hang Glider pilot.

     Once we got to the ridge the conditions really did look perfect. They were a little bit stronger than I had ever flow during scooter tow training, but that's expected. The strong wind is desirable at the ridge site since it is required in order to have a decent band of ridge lift. The air moves across the farmland in the valley below and is forced up and over the ridge, creating a band of air at the face of the ridge and often extending hundreds of feet above it that a glider can use to gain altitude.

     We spent some time at the bottom of the hill identifying all the potential landing zones and assessing conditions. It's mostly farmland below the hill so we had recently harvested corn fields and newly planted winter wheat fields all around.

The view from the LZ. The Launch is the bald patch below the cell phone tower.

     We setup immediately since the direction of the wind was perfect for the site and the strength of the wind was still close to ideal. There were 2 other experienced pilots there besides the instructor that were planning on flying too. We watched them launch and began suiting up for our launches.

     At around 12:30, the first student to launch, Greg, had a slightly shaky start but we watched him climb about 50 feet in his first few turns, it looked great! 10 minutes or so later when the second student was getting setup on launch we realized that Greg was in a little bit of trouble, the other 2 experienced pilots were 250 feet above the hill (they had been in the air 25 minutes or more by that time), and were radioing down that the conditions were getting stronger. Greg was about at the same height as launch but had drifted to the right, down the ridge, and had gotten into a saddle area where a venturi effect can be found. In the saddle, the wind moving up the hill speeds up, and Greg was no longer able to make any forward progress away from the ridge. We watched him struggle under the turbulence for a few minutes and eventually saw him disappear below the tops of the tree. The road that brings you to the top of the launch site makes a bend at that saddle and gave Greg an open area to shoot for for an emergency landing. He clipped his control bar and the right down tube on a insubstantial branch at the top of a small tree and crashed the glider into the leaves and tall grass at the edge of the clearing. The pilot sustained some kind of ligament damage in his shoulder but no other injuries. The only damage to the glider was a bent downtube.

     Greg spent the rest of the day at the Hospital making sure he didn't break anything while we waited to see if the conditions would relax as they typically do in the evenings. At about 4:30 we decided that the winds were clearly backing off while still blowing strait into the launch and would be ideal for the other 2 of us new pilots to do our first foot launch. Noel went first and made 3 or 4 turns before heading away from the ridge to setup for his landing. I set up on launch and observed the slow cycles of faster then slower wind. The idea is to time your launch in the cycles when conditions are smoothest. When conditions were just right, I announced my launch with "clear, clear, clear" and ran downhill. I guess it's more like leaned downhill though since it only took a step or two before the glider started flying and lifted me up into the air. As planned once I was far enough out from launch I started making a few figure 8 turns (making passes up and down the ridge and always making turns away from the ridge) just to feel the ridge lift. And eventually pointed away from the ridge and headed out to setup my landing.

     My first foot launch/first ridge soaring flight went fantastically. However, watching another novice pilot crash their glider right before I was supposed to launch gave me a harsh reminder that the sport is dangerous and that I will have to be constantly focused on all the conditions around me (weather, terrain, equipment, ...) in order to minimize the chance of an accident happening. I will also have to give myself healthy safety margins in order to keep myself flying in conditions that are well within my ability.

The GPS track of my 5:50 second flight. Also shown at the beginning of the video.

     My 5 minute and 50 second flight left me wanting more! After watching the other pilots soaring the ridge, I'm sure I still have a lot of work to do. I'm still over controlling and making inefficient turns. The experienced pilots look so graceful and slow moving, while I felt like I was darting all over the place and couldn't stay in one place to take advantage of the lift. I really want a few more good weekends scooter towing where I feel most comfortable and the conditions are appropriate to work on specific maneuvers.