Well it seems to have been raining for the past couple of months, though I’m sure it has stopped occasionally. Well, it must have done as even though I’ve been working I’ve still managed to get a flight each weekend I’ve been in the office. Just I’ve not heard of that much flying by others. Or if I did, I was under the affluence of incofrol at the time and forgot it. So to start with a hangy article (which will at least keep Bob happy).

 

Nope, first a message about the AGM:

 

The A.G.M. will be held on Friday 1st December at 7:30 (sharp) at the Boat Club. Proceedings will be wrapped up sharpish so we can all go for a curry.

 

ANY PROPOSALS FOR DISCUSSION AT THE AGM SHOULD BE SENT TO ME SO I CAN DISTRIBUTE THEM TO THE WHOLE CLUB. DEADLINE IS TWO WEEKS (I THINK) BEFORE THE AGM.

 

The Pyrenean Plummeting Tour 2006

by Colin Harrison

 

So the game plan was for Ian Smith, Ross Paterson and myself to head off to Spain and try to check out a few new sites on the way to Ager. We were also going to take in the European vulture centre at Yaiza, scene of a league meet and where Sandy Argo, Ian Smith, and myself had been way back in 1998.

 

 

Orduna

 

First stop was Orduna about 30 clicks south of Bilbao. This has a decent sized north facing ridge (taking NW round to E with 1800ft TTB) with a St Cyrus style cliff take off though it is of course a bit inland, with massive unofficial landing areas with starey Spanish men wearing the straw hat of disapproval. The PG field at the foot of the hill is an impossibility for HG. Standard thinking is that if it isn’t actually “on” it sea breezes later so you can usually get some kind of flight and there is a reasonably good road to the top, 4WD recommended.

 

Orduna: Ross at the HG cliff-style take off

 

Anyway we rotated retrieve so that one of us had the van and the other two could fly – this time Ross drew the van. It was a bit swirly on take off but I went off and scratched for an extended plummet. Ian launched and managed to catch something and got in it well enough to get up to one of the back ridges and had a good soaring flight, in pretty much pure thermal conditions.

 

Orduna: Colin scratching a vulture

 

We also checked out a southerly that overlooks the main cliffs but this is best summarised as complete pants, small ttb, 4WD and I hope you like carrying. Our survey said…..off to Arangoiti.

 

 

Yaiza / Arangoiti / Lumbier

 

There is a good road to the masts (2WD) and you can get off in either Southerly or Northerly directions on the semi spine-backed ridge. It was a bit crossed so both Ross and myself shimmied a bit on take off (see the Otra Cervezatm videos), with Ross perhaps shading it as chief wobble-meister but nothing worthy of the Laurel & Hardy theme song. We both got 2000-3000 over with the vultures which is a lot of fun and there really are rather a lot of these big birds, certainly in the tens and twenties in the air when its good, and they usefully mark the thermals. There is also a handy microlight strip at the far end of the ridge though you have to catch a rising star and put it in your keel pocket if you want to get down the ridge to there. There is also a beer machine at the strip (which was nice) and numerous bomb out options on the north side. After about an hour and half of flying we both landed at the strip – I remember the previous ‘98 visit when only Exxstacy man Ian managed to get down the ridge. Anyway the one flight we had there was pretty special actually.

 

 

 

Unfortunately the next day was blowing meekly and weakly up both sides and no-one fancied it, and since the Spanglish Nationals were coming up (we avoid proper comps) it was decided to bin it as the weather was also increasingly garbage. The scoop from the Microlight Airstrip gang is that Yaiza is at the meteorological limit of the Atlantic and Mediterranean systems so that they get a lot of good flying weather. Apparently. Usual story, great last week and next week – this week pants. So we rolled up our tents, packed our trunks and headed off to Ager.

 

 

Ager

Ager is a small, mainly closed village, near the well known huge lump of southerly facing rock in the Montsec region, perhaps about 30km long, with massive landing opportunities, about a 3500ft ttb and it is possible to get to base at 8000-9000’ ASL with relatively little difficulty, Declan apparently having been at 12000ft the previous week. No, his hotel isn’t finished yet. What was shocking as we turned up was that there has been a severe drought for a couple of years so that previous drowning opportunities are now potential landing areas. Although it is a big ridge the site is almost pure thermal in nature so you do have to get in something or you will be on the deck. Suffice to say that some active flying in the regular stonking thermal conditions would get you above the ridge top and then it became much easier to climb out. Which we all managed, though at times it was quite scratchy until locating the small but powerful cores. My memory is that cores were typically 400-600ft/min up on the averager but a few times it peaked off the clock (ie 20 up+) and could be a bit wild and tippy-outie at times with the odd second of complete weightlessness thrown in. Hoo-yah.

 

Ager from height: That brown gorge was a water hazard once

 

 

The main problem was that almost every day we were there it tended to get quite Cu-nimbly later on so much so that you could set a careless watch by it. As Mr Smith said of the worst cu-nim day “oh no going down…scratch scratch….oh no going up!” Ian then had to do a rapid Exxstacy de-rig in the gust front and it was rain continental style. That is I should say BIG RAIN. I think we managed one evening flight (this had been the fair rotation plan for the driver) when myself and Ian had a decent fly later in the blue conditions.

 

Probably Ross had the flight of the trip completing a nice 30km triangle - showing us old hacks what we should be trying to do, and I think most us managed to get maybe not all the ridge done, but certainly a good wedge. I have to say that I found about 1.5 hours in the air was about all I could physically handle in the rough conditions and this usually needed a day of rest (or two) afterwards. As far as I was concerned there was more flying available than I could handle, and I flew down to land coring the sink on several occasions. Funny how there’s always lift on approach. The other slight hassle was the lack of regular chow opportunities but Ian had thoughtfully brought a catering pack of disposable-barbies (Barbacoa Sp) and there were a couple of complete meat-fests enjoyed once the portions had expanded a little. It turns out that the most of the restaurants are now open weekends only with only “Bar Torres” and the one up the street open through the week. The other place was recommended by Declan to avoid for health reasons. Eventually though I cracked and had a 9 euro scoff there, preferring a chance of the trots, rather than Torres-burger three nights in a row. It was a risky but adequate. Steve will be disappointed to hear that the amusingly (and aptly) named bar Nager is now also closed. Ahem.

 

Ross also was also volunteered into opening a radio-control and motorcycle support clinic for the night doctor next door, AKA “Frenchy and sons”. He also broke up a dog fight, which was actually rather nasty, between an abandoned wolf-type husky (Tyson) and next door’s pet dog. Funny how all the Spanish could suddenly speak English when the dogs started playing up. Mini motos, proper bikes, dog fights and model cars all round.

 

Meat based thermal source to annoy veggy PG’s

 

 

Highlights for me were thermalling with the vultures at Yaiza, for Ross a handy triangle, for Ian the Orduna flight, but overall some very consistent and high quality thermal soaring.

 

On the way back we sort of checked out a coastal northerly about 20mins from Santander but it all looked a bit no landing-ish. Anyway who wants to be a coastie in Spain. All in all another good and safe trip with no broken limbs or metal work, bites by bizarre beasties or other incidents.

 

 

Ager landing field: Ross, Ian  & Colin.

Piedrahita in September by Simon Lucas

 

Having finally decided to quit Shell and join the real world, I found myself in desparate need of a final holiday to disguise the shock and recuperate from a year off doing nothing much in particular.  So it was that I found myself in Piedrahita, somewhere I’ve been meaning to visit for ages on the basis I’ve never heard anyone moan about it in my 15 years of flying!

 

On arrival on 3rd September, I phoned Matt who had just had 2 weeks of excellent conditions in Ager and elsewhere.  Cue the inevitable thundery breakdown, I got an hour’s flying the next day at Candelario, then a couple of top to bottoms (testing Paul Russell’s Kortel Kamasutra) in the half hour window between the first wispies appearing and everything going bang!

 

And it went bang literally – lightning starting a forest fire just behind the town, which threatened to engulf the building land which Steve and Puri had just bought for a new house.

 

Barbie at Steve & Puri’s……                                           wet towels & sickles – make up your own ideas!

 

End result – all the pilots got volunteered as firefighters when the local mayor called for help.  Steve kicked us out of the bar and off we went with nothing but a wet towels and a big red fire engine…  By the time we got there everything was under control, but we did manage to lose 2 Belgians (found later in the bar).

 

The next few day’s weather continued in a similar vein, with a succession of small lows moving through. Steve and Puri have a town house in Piedrahita, which sleeps 3 or 4 pilots, and also use an apartment just up the road.  Puri cooks a meal every other night, which is great for socialising and seriously improves the standing of Spanish food!  Steve and Puri did a good job of keeping us occupied with the “Festival of the Virgin” in Piedrahita (no I didn’t go in for the bull-run) and trips to Avila and Salamanca.  Piedrahita is definitely “real Spain” with no tourism, indeed no flying tourists apart from those visiting Steve & Puri.   

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Festival ladies, Saint’s fingers, Inflatable table football - Viva Espana…

 

Finally we got some good weather in the secod week of my stay, with a couple of hours scratchy thermalling on the Saturday slowly improving to 25km and 18km XCs.  I was impressed by Steve’s dedication to getting 3 flights a day (morning T/B, XC flight, evening soaring) – it means all levels of pilot get plenty of flying.  I also managed to give Steve’s Kortel Kanibal a good test – including lots of tucks and some  real-event instability (all fine, though the low hang points accentuate the pitch and turn response as you’d expect).  I eventually bought it – so now I’m all the gear no idea, but hey, what a pedigree!  Just give the harness its head….

 

And finally – on the last day I managed to fly 53km to Avila, despite confidence being blown by a major leeside kicking at the start of the flight.  I’d put in a map and a barogram except I can’t get TopNav Complete to work properly (now there’s a surprise).

 

 

 

 

And that was that – or so I thought!  Unfortunately my return flight was delayed and I missed the connection at Amsterdam, so KLM put me up in a posh hotel which turned out to be hooching with bed bugs.  So it was off to the doctors for a scratch and detox (they even remembered I was the bloke with the South African bites a few years ago). 

 

So final result was Bees & Bugs 2, XC’s 3 (I’m winning – just!).

 

Still, when I got home I found Katka had made me a nice cake to cheer me up – even if it did suggest I’d landed head first in it (or was it a cowpat?)

 

 

Crash Test Dummy Nomination – Graeme Connolly reports on an incident:

 

Remember the last time we waited at Cairnwell for hours when I got to the top of the hill before you guys? I had got the wing out when it looked marginal and the wing went for a 20 foot run along the ground when I was checking the strength (not even clipped in, not even within reach of the wing ). It all seemed pretty minor. I packed it away and thought that was that.

 

Next day out (Knock of Formal, Angus) I gave the wing a good look over and all seemed OK (normally I check it out when I fold it away but it was a bit difficult on the slope at Cairnwell in an 18mph wind ) I was having a pleasant drift around on my own at the Knock and after 15 minutes or so it felt like someone pinged one of the lines. A bit strange and I had a good look up at the wing and everything looked as normal and everything felt normal. I landed and then on my normal pre-packing-up check noted a wee tear where one of the A-lines attaches. Nothing else has occurred so I assume the wee unoccupied drag at Cairnwell was the cause? It got a good look over before this flight so I got the Loft to sort it out and have a good looksy at the whole wing as I was a wee bit intrigued that I had seen nothing apparent.

 

I was worried we were talking serious money, maybe hoping it would then I would have an excuse to replace the wing with a nice new one! Anyway the B*****d only charged £30!!!

 

It did mean no wing for 3 weeks and that was a pain in the arse as I had time and there were some potentially good days as well.

 

 

Ochils’ Nationals – a weekend of October

 

Don’t think anyone form Aberdeen made it to the Saturday at the Ochils when there was mixed flying due to the wind being a bit too east for flying above Menstrie, though a few good flights were done to the Wallace monument. I’d hoped to get down for the drinking that evening but didn’t. With another south easterly forecast the next day they moved on to Ben Lawers, surprisingly a few of the Ochils’ club went too. I needed to get out onto the hill and as Aberdeenshire was due to remain in the clag I drove over to meet up with everyone at 10 o’clock. I picked up Scott Mather on the way, as he’s the only club member likely to be up at 8 on a Sunday morning. Our arrival coincided with a patch of blue over Ben Lawersbut that was the only clearing to be seen. We went up a track where Al Brown could take his Disco up with the gliders, but with no sun there was no wind and a spot landing via a couple of turn points was chosen as a task. Brian Steel was keen for a Grand Prix style race where 3 gliders race head-to-head round the course, but this was ruled out due to logistics of getting the winners of each round back up for the next heat as well as not being so good for low-experience pilots. Scott got bored ofwaiting for the last few pilots to get up and had the first flop to the bottom. However I challenged Brian to a private race as he was on a borrowed demo Ozone Addict, their latest DHV 2 offering. We were counted off by Cliff and both forward-launched perfectly. As soon as I was clear I jumped on the speed bar, only for it to go ping. Luckily it wasn’t me breaking yet another one but my boot slipping, so I was able to settle into a dash round the course, leaving Brian trailing in my wake. Nobody hit the spot and as the scoring was changed to 50 points for the field, 100 for the spot, we all scored the same. Oh well, kept us off the street corners throwing rocks at passing cars.

 

Site News by Bob Dunthorn

 

Nothing to report except remember to phone the gamekeeper for using Pressendye and Scar Hill: Sandie McConachie on 01339 881332 for permission to fly. If you don’t get through then don’t fly (I heard guns going off in that direction today, 29th October)

 

 

Letters to the Editor, News and Gossip

 

Another Frenchy in the club with Sebastion No-Surnane joining Guilleme as our Foreign contingent. He flies an orange paraglider, to match Guilleme on his new orange Ozone Geo.

 

While Guilleme was joking there would soon be more French pilots in the club than hangies, we have a new hang glider pilot joined this month. Jim Laurenson is fairly recently qualified, having mostly done tows down south somewhere (he said but where then bought me a beer which promptly killed the brain cell that I’d filed the information in). He is staying in Cults and can now get through the front door of his flat as his glider has taken up residence at Sunnyside.

 

Gordon Robertson wasn’t actually the first AHPC member to throw his reserve for real as Kev Will reminisces:

Two AHPC members threw their reserves back in the 90's when in Laragne. One while hanging pside down by his boots as his Navaho roman-candled above him. He said the shop that sold him the canopy said it was a nice performance wing that would be safe for him to fly. I think not but luckily he walked away from the landing.

2 days later the next lad front horseshoe stalled his Voodoo for fun, came out asymmetric, dived through his lines and threw his reserve low. Again he walked away from the landing but his girlfriend had screamed a lot from the top of Aspres.

Luckily we had repacked our reserves a few days before. Now that was a fun trip!

 

Roy Westland has joined Simon Lucas as a tandem pilot. He also trained with Zabdi, though over in France rather than on Arran. However took his wife Evelyn for a flight and she rather enjoyed it, so that’s another retrieve driver ruined.

 

Bob Dunthorn and Matt Church attended a Safety Evening hosted by Aberdeen NATS (air traffic control) at the Dyce Thistle Hotel. It was mostly aimed at commercial and GA pilots, the first talk being about the problems of radio communication and its correct usage, and the 2nd from the head of the Airprox Board (near misses as they used to be called) who used some very enlightening video footage from military jets. Maybe not exactly relevant to us but we showed our faces and ate the buffet so a worthwhile evening. There was a quiz at the end of the evening and here’s a couple of the questions asked. Best answers sent to me (at fly_matt@tiscali.co.uk or on the back of a beer mat at the Boat Club) get a prize at the AGM:

1)       When taxiing at night you become lost. What is the correct action?

2)       In the UK, a level bust is defined as what?

3)       You have decalred a PAN and ATC ask for your Souls On Board. Why?

4)       What is the name of the Michelin Man?

5)       You become lost in Class G airspace. Which squawk should you select?

 

 

There is an article in the USHGPA August magazine about hang glider maintenance that’s worth a read, particularly if you have an old glider. If you’ve not seen it then ask if you can borrow it from Bob.

 

 

Jules & I were wondering about organising a coaching weekend on the second weekend of December. Anyone fancy a weekend at Glenshee or Glen Clova or somewhere then let me know and maybe we’ll do something about it, such as coaches out of the cupboard, getting exam papers sent up, etc.

 

Flight Report – Tap some time in September by John Newton

 

Went out, rigged the hang glider while Adrian was faffing with his paraglider, flew straight to the bottom. Walked back up with the paraglider. Launched, got a climb, went over the back with it and just made 5km. Walked back, got to the top to find Adrian still faffing but the wave had kicked in and it was too windy to launch so walked down again. Charlie flew while Adrian faffed a bit more.

 

 

A Memorable Flight From Tap - Saturday 23rd September by Charlie Ingram

 

On top of the hill at about 12:30 and pretty light wind. Ross took off and after a few beats lost the lift and landed. The wind got stronger and Ian and Bob took off into decent lift. By this time I had decided to rig and as I did so saw Ian and Bob get some decent height gains. There was just me and three Paragliders left on the hill and they thought it was too strong to fly from the top.

 

Once I had finished rigging I got Hilary to launch me off into some decent ridge lift which took me to 300' above the top. I did a few beats and ventured out from the hill to find a couple of thermals, which gave me another couple of hundred feet. The next time I ventured out I just flew straight out and didn't lose any height, with the vario indicating zero lift. Bob and Ian were by this time about 200' below me. I just kept going out away from the hill towards Rhynie. All the way there I went through small patches of 1 to 2 up and eventually I got over the village. I was ecstatic, having flown all the way out from the hill and actually gained 200'. It took about 30 - 40 minutes to get above the Square at Rhynie, arriving at 3500'. Looking around I could see that I was above cloudbase. I stayed around losing no height for a while and even got a few 1 - 2 ups to gain another 200'.

 

Back at Tap I could see Bob and Ian flying the ridge lift so I decided to join them and flew back to Tap, again losing no height. I did a few 360’s to lose some height and levelled out about 1000' above Tap. I turned into wind and found patchy lift flying through the orographic cloud forming on front of the hill. Deciding to go forward again I got into a steady 4 up and just kept on going. Not much forward progress but up and up. I reckon I was about 300 to 400' in front of Tap and just going up. No bumps, just steady smooth lift. As I was steadily going up I saw Ian go down and land, then Bob heading for the same field. It was when I started getting cold that I decided discretion was the better part of valour and thought I'd better get down. At this stage I was in clear open sky looking down on the clouds a fair distance in all directions. I decided that at 5000' I was going to get out and down, so bar to my knees I started going down, but not forward. Once I got to a reasonable height above Tap I flew into the ridge lift and did a couple of beats with fast turns and 360’s to show off to the walkers on top of the hill.

 

Well, I was on my own by now, John Newton having taken off during my flight and gone to the bottom also. There was 1 para on the face of the hill getting ready to launch so I decided to head out for the landing field. After a textbook approach to the field I, as usual, nosed in about 20' from my compatriots.

 

To say I was elated was an understatement and the flight was one which I won't forget in a hurry. I have never been in such smooth lifting air: it felt as if everywhere I went I was going up. I never lost any height flying back from Rhynie, just smooth buoyant air. I actually thought at times there was something wrong with my altimeter, which is one of those wristy ones you have to tap every now and again to make it register. No, it was all working perfectly!!   

 

 

 

Flight Report – Glen Clova 22nd October by Scott Mather

 

Myself and Graeme Connelly went out to Glen Clova but a bit late having unfortunately missed the thermic cycles. So we didn't make it back to my home which I said was our target, but were instead rewarded with a 10 k wave flight. Biggest bump of the day I had was from Graeme’s wake. We got to 750 feet above take off and managed 9km straight line or if you include a turn point slightly to north of our take off (we don’t) then 10.2km. Just wish I had taken the camera with me and that I hadn't charged off ahead of Graeme. I landed in the lovely grounds of Cortachy castle, whereas Graeme chose the Dyke Head Hotel. All in all a very enjoyable, particularly for late October. Perhaps the next time an out and return? I think what we actually got was the wave being "in phase" with the glen sides from Glen Prosen, which also runs north to south, as I seemed to lose the lift as I left the mouth of the glen

 

 

 

Again not much added to the George Watt Handicap XC League, but it’s now looking like this:

 

Rank

PILOT

PILOT

POINTS TOTAL

OTB

Total Km Flown

Wing Factor

Km needed

1

Julian

Robinson

15.43

4

123.4

8

0.0

2

Matt

Church

13.93

4

111.4

8

12.0

3

Simon