Floating Phil

Trying to stay in touch with the world while sharing my adventure, posting some photographs and recording my thoughts.

It’s Saturday, set to be a busy day on the hill.

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Phil

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Especially with the prediction pointing to potentially a awesome day for flying, 
 
I got out of bed early (for me at least) to be ready and waiting on the hill.  It had the potential to become strong and “blowout” quickly, so I didn’t want to miss my chance of flying.  Soon it looked like the conditions were right and a couple of us took to the skies.  It wasn’t perfect and I flew very close to hill, trying to tap the most out of every little bit of lift I could find.  The term explained in the previous sentence is called “scratching” and there were lots of it from all the pilots.  In the end I could not maintain my height and landed on the slope of the hill, back in the place we refer to as the “gut”. 
 
I didn’t want to land at the bottom and walk all the way up, so slope landing and walking back to the launch site in the gut was less work.  All the signs on the water pointed towards the strong wind arriving soon, so I stayed at the launch site in the gut, waiting.

 
After a little parawaiting, the conditions improved and I took off, climbed a little and went straight to the cliffs.  I took a little video of me, on my way to the cliffs and posted it on my YouTube channel here:
Once it became strong it was time to land, and I captured this on my camera too.  It is not my best landing, but it shows in realtime what I am doing in for the last ~4min of my flight, landing in strong conditions.  Like I explained in the comments of the video on YouTube: “Forgive me about the quality of the video, I was focused on flying, not filming. Remember that my field of view is greater than that of the camera, so it might not always be clear what I am looking at. The recording start with me being on Big Ears already, losing height, flying out and away from launch/landing. I am checking the traffic (other pilots) while looking at the height of the hill and my instruments. My wing keeps the Big Ears in without me having to hold them down. You get a sense of where I am pumping them out close to reaching the windsock.”  I also do some radio work in between and showing in the end how important it is being able to do figure-of-8’s without encroaching on your landing area.  It is also important to keep a lock on where you are planning to land (you can see me doing this in the end) and “flying the wing” until you are well and truly on the ground.  
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43.5323 – 172.5567
8 June 2024
FP-149

4 responses to “It’s Saturday, set to be a busy day on the hill.”

  2. Wow a lot of technicality..

    I felt like I was on/in that flight..
    Pretty incredible to watch and “feel” if that is the word..

    I have to add.. my heart skipped a few beats..

    • It looks far “busier” than it is in reality. So many of those actions are muscle memory, like driving a car. Even when I look at it, it seems like a lot of actions.