So winter seems to have finally set itself in over the past few weeks. Although it has been bloody cold the Hangies have been out in force around the ACT.
Saturday 2 August Trent, Dave, John-Paul, Nic and I headed out to Binalong for some nice winter flying. On the drive out we drove through wind rain and gusty winds. Dave thought it was absolutely perfect and that he was definitely going cross country! When we arrived at the hill the rain has stopped and the wind was slower than it had been back down the highway but the temp was a balmy 4 degrees. Dave has been to Binalong a few times now and not once has he not been able to fly there. I can’t wait to hit it up this summer.
Sunday saw Dave, Jeff, Ed, Nic, Carl B and myself flying at spring. When we arrived the wind was quite strong but as we were setting up the wind slowed and we all eventually took off. I flew in Trent’s Sonic 165 for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed the flight. My landing was ace. As I came in I got into ground effect with speed and my feet softly dragging through the grass, then as the speed bled off I pushed out, rose up a feet or two then stopped dead and landed gently on my feet with the glider resting back onto my shoulders, it was perfect. I’m not sure whether it’s the fact that I was flying a 165 as opposed to my 154 Buzz or me just having a good day but my flare was tops. This landing reminded me about exactly what this sport is all about – having fun. I can’t wait to get my Sting III as I’m sure it will exceed my expectations.
Saturday August 9 saw Dave, John-Paul and I flying Spring. When we arrive it was going off with rain and sleet falling! Top notch conditions. In being as keen as we are we hung around for 30min waiting for the rain to clear and then set up. I take off first (again flying Trent’s Sonic) and tested the air. It was rough and all over the shop but plenty of ridge lift to play around in. One thing I did during this flight was practice a few stalls I noticed that the stall characteristics of the Sonic are way different from the Buzz. When I put the buzz into a stall and hold it there it simply mushes and more or less turns into a parachute where as the Sonic becomes very heavy and drops the nose. It was good to feel comfortable doing this in a glider that I had not flown much before. Landing time came around pretty quickly for Dave and I as we were freezing our nuts off. I came in first and landed across the road. Dave then came screaming in between the trees and pulled up very nicely with a text book flare. John-Paul stayed up for another hour giving him nearly 2 hours in the air and also landed across the road (just). The Fun 190 only just had enough penetration to get across the road and land with the strong head wind.
Anyway lots more flying fun on the way as the weather will soon be warming up again!
Happy Flying - Andrew >:-)
