Jay takes flight

A place to stretch the truth a little...
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jdevorak
Posts: 273
Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:37 am
Location: Kagel LZ

Jay takes flight

Post by jdevorak »

I flew Stanwell Park Saturday on Geroff’s Gecko. Stanwell is a small coastal village south of Sydney and the closest flying site. Launch is a 600 foot cliff with a rounded edge on the north side of town (they measure altitude in feet because it is the aircraft standard). It ranges 20k to the north and as far as you can see to the south. The town beach is to the south and is about 1k long. Further south the shore changes to cliff again. The LZ is at the north end of the beach and is shaped like a balloon. The approach is pretty much a “beat up� landing. The balloon is a city park which you are not allowed to fly over. You fly up the string (inland) toward the balloon (park). The right side of the string is a sort of creek which they call the lagoon. To the right of the creek is a 30 foot rock cliff. Anyway you fly up the creek, do a 180 degree turn and land toward the beach into the wind. It is about 2 glider widths wide and marked off with cones. The south side edge of the string, just outside the cones is a pedestrian path to the ocean. On the other side of the path are bush covered sand dunes. The touch down is in the sand. After which you back up to the park where you break down your glider on the grass of the park.
It was a good day to fly. The wind was about 13 knots (again aircraft standard) or 15 mph and somewhat left cross from the north. It was a bit twitchy, blowing straight in for about a minute and then wrapping around from the north again. The run off pointed more ESE and you had about 10 steps to get airborne. After observing many launches I gave it a go. I got in about 7 steps and my left wing dropped. I made strong corrections and lasting impressions for the spectators. After that it was very pleasant and I flew like Mr. Conservative. I got 700 to 1000 over launch and flew for about 40 minutes metric. For you Americans that is still about 40 minutes. Landing I had another glitch. I hung out over the LZ and watched a couple. I realized you had to time the landing to give the pilot in front of you time to back his glider up to the breakdown area. I did a fast left had approach over the lagoon and deep into the pocket so I wouldn’t have to back up too far. The problem with that is that I got a rotor from the touch of north wind and my left wing dropped. I leveled my wing off at 3 feet and landed nicely. The locals took notice but remarked, “He’s from Sylmar. He can land anywhere� I was later told it is easier to land closer to the ocean where the air is cleaner, IF you don’t overshoot into the water.
eat right, exercise, die anyway!
r8pistol
Posts: 75
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:55 pm
Location: United States

Post by r8pistol »

Reppin Sylmar! Well done...
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