Falcon League

Post by **Ken Andrews** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:00 am

Sure enough, Saturday, May 9 is a Falcon League day. The easy part: plan to be in the LZ at 11:00 with Falcon or similar. The hard part: where do we fly? The forecast is showing a westerly component to the wind, so depending on the ratings and energy of those who show up, we'll either launch the 2200 (Hang-4 required, Hang-5 optional, hike to launch) or Kagel. Either way, the goal may be to fly open distance to the east.

jdevorak · Post by **jdevorak** » Thu May 07, 2009 9:56 am

Yes, saturday looks like our best shot yet at lauching K2. I might stop by Home Depot to hire some sherpas to carry my glider.

ericbrown · Post by **ericbrown** » Fri May 08, 2009 4:58 pm

I'll be there at 11. Maybe it's a good day to land at the beehives. There's also a clearing (post fires) in front of trash that I'd like to walk and see if it's landable. Maybe we could do that as well.

JD · Post by JD » Fri May 08, 2009 7:12 pm

ericbrown wrote:I'll be there at 11. Maybe it's a good day to land at the beehives. There's also a clearing (post fires) in front of trash that I'd like to walk and see if it's landable. Maybe we could do that as well.

Eric - Haven't my exploits and videos amply demonstrated that we don't need to walk any potential LZs? Just call 'em from the air and pray.

Here's my latest winner which was supposedly checked out by the SD club: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeL0Ef6yaOM

I'll be there at 11AM, if not sooner to check out this new, potential bailout.

JD · Post by JD » Sat May 09, 2009 10:12 pm

Today's Falcon XC League turned out great. Here's my flight track:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/194244
and a short photo essay: http://imageevent.com/aero92/falcon
Cheers, Jonathan

greblo · Post by **greblo** » Sun May 10, 2009 7:48 am

Excellent flight Jonathan! You took risks on the major gap crossings and managed to get back up both times. That perseverance paid off. Conjurance thermals are the toughest thermals to work and you did it nicely.

greblo · Post by **greblo** » Sun May 10, 2009 7:49 am

Excellent flight Jonathan! You took risks on the major gap crossings and managed to get back up both times. That perseverance paid off. Conjurance thermals are the toughest thermals to work and you did it nicely.

JD · Post by JD » Sun May 10, 2009 8:17 am

greblo wrote:Excellent flight Jonathan! You took risks on the major gap crossings and managed to get back up both times. That perseverance paid off. Conjurance thermals are the toughest thermals to work and you did it nicely.

Thanks, Joe! I'll post a full account this afternoon. Cheers, Jonathan

Lynn McLaughlin · Post by **Lynn McLaughlin** » Sun May 10, 2009 10:01 am

Great fun to drive chase and track your individual flights. Falcon League Rocks!

Ken, Thanks for helping us keep our 2200 and 1500 launch heritage alive.

Looking forward to joining you in the sky...

Post by **Ken Andrews** » Mon May 11, 2009 6:02 pm

On Saturday morning, May 9, six pilots gathered in the LZ with their single surface gliders for the Falcon League. With a moderate southwest wind, we decided that our informal goal for the day would be to launch from the 2200 and fly east as far as possible. We piled into a couple vehicles and drove up past the Towers launch and Camp 9 to the saddle below the 2200. Driver Lynn McLaughlin joined Jay Devorak, Eric Brown, and myself as we hiked our harnesses up to the launch to assess the wind and walk the area that we all know so well from the air. Meanwhile, Joe Greblo, Max Wagner, and Jonathan Dietch decided to skip the hike, and drove on to the 1500 with Rome Dodson to launch from there. Jay, Eric, and I repeated the climb to launch with our gliders, and Joe top-landed to join us. As we set up, Max Wagner also top-landed, narrowly avoiding the forest of burned manzanita skeletons on the back side of the summit. For the first time in twenty years, the 2200 launch was a busy place.

Jonathan left the 1500 low and headed east, finally climbing out from very low in front of Locals. From there, he reported steady progress down the range. The five of us at the 2200 had perfect launch conditions, and soon were all in the air as well. Jonathan was first to Lances, made the jump to Little T, and kept going east. When the rest of us reached Lances, we were trapped at ridge level, with occasional climbs a couple hundred feet higher. Eric landed at Beehives for the first time, accomplishing the goal he'd set for himself. Joe, Max, and Jay returned towards Kagel for extended flights, and I spent the next hour scratching at Lances, determined to go farther east if possible and to land at Beehives if not. Jonathan reported that he had reached Mount Lukens, and would be landing at Deukmejian Park. That's pretty impressive for a Falcon on an average flying day.

By the time Lynn arrived at Beehives, driving chase, I had convinced myself that I could stay aloft at Lances until sunset without a chance to cross the gap to Little T, so I circled down and landed. Joe joined us also, while Jay and Max chose to land in the Sylmar LZ. After returning gliders and pilots to the LZ, I retrieved Jonathan from his long but relatively comfortable wait at Deukmejian Park.

Well done, all! Thank you to those who toughed out the climb to pioneer the 2200 launch after so many years, and particular thanks go to our drivers: Rome, Lynn, and Lynn's mother Martha.

JD · Post by JD » Mon May 11, 2009 7:38 pm

Ken Andrews wrote:On Saturday morning, May 9.....................

Great report. Ken! I can't thank you enough for organizing the Falcon League. I now have some better photos for publication in the USHPA Magazine along with my 1500 word article. After some persuading, Nick Greece has invited us to add a 500-word byline to the 1500-word article that will describe to other clubs. the process of organizing a Falcon League of their own. If you would be so kind as to share your knowledge and experience in 500 words, I'm sure that many pilots around the country will be grateful.
Cheers,
Jonathan

ericbrown · Post by **ericbrown** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:53 am

I uploaded photos from Saturday here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44114536@N ... 957097599/

Some select photos of the Elite Team:

Trip 1 begins: harnesses

Trip 2: gliders

Our fearless leader

Jay wanted this documented. He said no one would believe him otherwise.

Launch

Greblo cheats and top lands

So does Max

Been a long time since gliders were set up here

Beehives LZ. Ken is the little speck to the left of Lances. He was in that spot for like 45 minutes.

Greblo coming in to the Beehives

The hike out

Who's bright idea was this again??

Our trusty driver. Thanks Lynn!

Also a few videos:

Max top landing
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORQ5HoqvDgQ[/youtube]

Ken landing at the beehives
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TugHMPEXhxg[/youtube]

Greblo landing at the beehives
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7jzc0uyF8Q[/youtube]

JD · Post by JD » Tue May 12, 2009 1:01 pm

Excellent work, Eric. Thanks for posting all that. Greblo's tip brush landing video was especially entertaining.

max · Post by **max** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:07 am

Go pro camera helmet mounted, launch at 1500 and landed at the 2200,somebody forgot to trim those burned up bushes I try to do it if the hang glider but it didn't work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR1JHXZlrzs

JD · Post by JD » Wed May 13, 2009 8:49 am

max wrote:Go pro camera helmet mounted, launch at 1500 and landed at the 2200,somebody forgot to trim those burned up bushes I try to do it if the hang glider but it didn't work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR1JHXZlrzs

Max - WMG killed your soundtrack. What song did you use? I'll just download a copy for $0.09 and play it with the video. - Jonathan

max · Post by **max** » Wed May 13, 2009 9:03 am

I did already the audio swap but it is still pending I don't know how long it's usually take to be posted

abinder · Post by **abinder** » Wed May 13, 2009 11:16 pm

Hmmmmm......................

Master Joe once tell grasshopper not to turn soooo low to ground.

JD · Post by JD » Thu May 14, 2009 6:02 am

abinder wrote:.............Master Joe once tell grasshopper not to turn soooo low to ground.

Hence the term, "grasshopper" as he was about to eat some vegetation.

abinder · Post by **abinder** » Thu May 14, 2009 10:45 pm

max wrote:Go pro camera helmet mounted, launch at 1500 and landed at the 2200,somebody forgot to trim those burned up bushes I try to do it if the hang glider but it didn't work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR1JHXZlrzs

Max,

Were you using the regular gopro camera or the wide angle one? Do you like it?

I'm thinking of getting one to attach to my kite when kiteboarding and can't decide which one to get. I'm thinking of the regular one since the kite is about 75' from me. I'd also like to use it on my 'Busa', but most people use the wide angle version of the gopro for that.

Thanks.

Allen

max · Post by **max** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:54 am

Allen I'm using the regular go pro camera it's simple to use and it does pretty good pictures for the money I paid for the only thing I dislike is the short battery life I'm using a really good batteries and I'll only get 30 to 40 minutes video footage I hope that helps.

Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

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