Summer Flying Trip Set

After much deliberation, Team MCDN has finally settled on the destination for this summer's flying trip. We knew we wanted to go back to the Alps so the debate centered on a return to Austria or breaking new ground in Switzerland. In the end the idea of flying new sites, the abundance of places to explore and cheap airfare all lead us to pick Switzerland, specifically the Interlocken area.

We will renting an apartment in the mountain village of Wengen in the shadow of the Jungfrau and the Eiger. SkyKing Boser won't be making it so we MIGHT have room for one more if you think you can put up with Ric Flair and the 2 Rob's for a week.

Hourly Cost of Flying a PPG

So this question came up again on one of the PPG lists - what does it cost per hour to fly a PPG? It’s really a subjective question but lets take a look.

When it first came up a few years ago I cranked a spreadsheet and plugged in all the data I had, made lots of assumptions and came up with around 40 bucks an hour. After dusting off the old spreadsheet and updating it based on another 5 years experience, I tweaked the model a bit and based it on a six year time frame.

First, lets talk about the assumptions that go into this model. The first assumption is around training. My original model factored in training costs. Since this is a one-time event, I have excluded it from this model. (Although I highly recommend the pursuit of on-going training and advanced clinics.)

The second assumption is around hours of flying. The average PPG pilot flies somewhere between 40-100 hours per year. I realize there are some air hogs about, but in just about every poll conducted by the USPPA that I have seen, the averge Joe Pilot is somewhere just south of 100 hours per year.

The other assumption is around equipment maintenance and useful equipment life. I have factored in regular glider inspections and reserve repacks, and one glider replacement over a 5-6 year period. Most gliders have a 300-400 hour useful life and most pilots get the itch for a new glider every other year or so. Given the 100 hours a year assumption, the useful life of a glider and knowing how much we all love new equipment, I think 1 new glider every 300 hours or 3 years is fair. Most PPG motors have a recommended TBO of 300 hours along with regular maintenance of certain parts. I have assumed that the motor would need an overhaul at 300 hours and would be replaced or upgraded after 6 years for the purpose of this model.

The Model:






















Here's the Microsoft Excel version if you want to tweek it.

Another Round at Torrey

Was in San Diego for business and brought the gear too. Thompson was headed to Seattle and Covington to San Jose so we met up for another round at Torrey Pines. Gorgeous weather and great flying Friday and Saturday. We actually packed up Saturday afternoon thinking it was going to continue to cross from the South. After a late lunch we were driving threw downtown La Jolla and saw gliders high in the air. We high-tailed it back and had an awesome afternoon session until dark. Thompson and I took a red-eye home Saturday night but Covington stayed and said Sunday was epic as well.

Matt Easterly snapped the following photos of us flying late Saturday.

High Hopes Fund Raiser

A good friend of mine just started a program for developmentally delayed childern in Elberta Alabama called High Hopes. The program will be operated at St. Benedicts School in Elberta, AL and is aimed at helping childern with Autism, developmentally delayed (DD), pervasively developmentally delayed (PDD), otherwise health impaired (OHI), or emotionally conflicted (EC) disorders .

They are having a fund raiser June 5-7th at Pirates Cove in Josephine. I encourage anyone in the area to attend! More info here: http://www.highhopes4pdd.org/High_Hopes/FUN-raiser.html

Torrey Soaring

So the rain let up and Scooter and I got an awesome day of soaring in at Torrey today. The Buick Open golf tournament was going on and Scooter spend the whole afternoon doing wing overs by the 4th green trying to get on TV. Anyone see him?

Glamis Dunes

So it was raining in San Diego so Scooter and I headed east to the Glamis Dunes National Recreation Area, between El Centro, CA & Yuma, AZ. We rented quads and had a blast on the sand dunes. Highly recommended

Here's some photos from the trip:

Back in the States

Well, shortly after getting to Tannheim yesterday Michelle called to tell me my Grandfather had passed away. So I'm back in the states (Philly airport) to attended to somethings and help my family out.

On the flying front, the boys had an "epic day" (their words) today at Tannheim. Tomorrow looks to be even better but there is rain in the forecast for mid week. I'm debating flying back over on Wed to finish out the final 4 days of the trip and try to get some flying in Depends on how I feel once I get things settled with the family. I've spend 27 of the past 48 hours on airplanes or trains, so I'm exhausted and still have a 2 hr flight home. ugh.

No flying yet

But lots of beer.

Made it to Tannhiem, Austria

This is where we are staying. Just a short walk to the lift up the mountain.

Freising, Germany

First Class

Remains of a mimosa.

On My Way

Headed out for the Alps. First stop - Philly.

Addict 2 - Flew it

Wow. Finally flew the A2 today. Love this glider. You know how on some gliders you can be ahead of the glider, it just doesn't react to what you want it to do fast enough? Or how on others it gets ahead of you and you are chasing the glider to keep it where you want it? Well, with the Addict 2, Ozone nailed it, right in my sweet spot. The glider and I are in perfect harmony. It seems to know what I want to do and reacts perfectly. It wants to turn into the thermal. It doesn't want to get pushed out. It wants to go up.

Plus, it feels rock solid. More like a 1/2 than a 2. Maybe it's because I am so in tune with this glider. I typically keep a 1/2 glider in my arsenal for those days that look squirrelly but with the A2, my 1/2 gliders are now up for sale.

I'll write a full review soon, but Dave and Robbie really nailed it with this one.

(btw, the A1 is sold. Stinky bought it)

Got my Addict 2!

Received my new Addict 2 today. The custom color scheme looks really good. I can't wait to fly it. BTW, anyone wanting a good deal on a 1 year old Addict 1, drop me a note.

Grant Turns 1

Today's Grant's first birthday. He had his first trip with Chucky Cheese with big sis Sophie and cousin Jack and loved it. Slides are fun!

Happy Birthday Sophie!

I can't believe we have a 9 year old!

Lord Stanley's Cup

We had some leadership training in Tronto this week for work and the second night they surprised us with an event at the Hockey Hall of Fame. We had the whole place rented out, had dinner in the Hall of Records, and then got to hear Jimmy Craig (goalie from the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team) speak. Was a great event and Jimmy Craig was phenomenal. Yes, that is crappy cell phone pic of THE Stanley Cup.

Ozone Releases the Addict 2

Ozone just released the Addict 2, the follow-up to the Addict that I currently fly. New color scheme, comp lines for the uppers, and supposedly better performance and handling. Mine is on order now.

On a related note, anyone want to buy a slightly used Addict 1 for a great price? If so, please drop me an email.

Cali PG Trip

Stinky, Scooter and I just wrapped up a great PG trip in Northern Cali. I was already in Menlo Park for customer meetings, so I picked them up at the San Jose airport and we started off towards Dunlap. After stopping in Milpitas to introduce the MC's to the joy of In-n-Out Burger we noticed that the forecast was starting to look good at the Dumps.

A quick change of direction and 45 minutes later we were soaring at the Dumps for the reminder of the afternoon. After it got dark we stopped in San Fran for some sushi and then headed off for Fresno. The next day we drove to Dunlap, got to see Connie again and then had some really nice flights from one of my favorite sites in the US. The weather was worse on Saturday morning so we bailed on Dunlap and drove to the Owens Valley. Spectacular place with some awesome flying sites.

On Saturday, after some early morning sled rides we headed back to SF via Yosemite. We dropped Scooter off Sunday for his flight and then Stinky and I headed to Half Moon bay to play golf with some of my co-workers.

Our annual user conference is in SF this week and starts tomorrow, so I'm prepping for that now and wishing I was still flying in Dunlap.

Introducing Grant!

The new little one is here.... Grant Michael Reynolds was born last night at 9:29pm. Michelle and baby are fine and big sister Sophie is excited too!

More pics at www.robandmichelle.org

40 Mile XC

Did a 40 mile XC from Warrior Field to Gerald's today. Lots of sink and not much lift, I was near full power the entire way, fighting a nice cross wind too. Trip took 2.5 hours and almost an entire tank of gas. Once I got to Gerald's and shut down the motor, I stumbled into a nice thermal and let me stay up and play for another 20 minutes. Bruce and Ron drove up from Warrior to fly and give me a ride back to my truck. (BTW, still loving the Addict!)

Here's the KMZ file of the flight, for review with Google Earth.

Reeder Mesa, Colorado

Escaped the bad weather in Rifle and flew Reeder Mesa, near Grand Junction today. Great little ridge soaring bowl. Would have liked to have consistent winds, as we all sunk out at least once and I was only able to top-land after getting a half a turn in a thermal. The hike up is not fun, as the slope is covered with large rocks and boulders.

Easy Big Ears Mod

Here's an easy mod for those of you that are flying with PG risers and higher attachment points. I've been using this on my gliders with split-A's for years with no issues. The concept is simple, you are just adding an extension to the split-a's to make them easier to reach in flight.

First get a length of stiff, brightly colored nylon cord, about a 18 inches longer than your risers. Tie your favorite looping knot (figure 8 loops, or butterfly knots work well) in the middle to get a loop big enought to get a couple fingers into. Position this loop somewhere near the middle of your risers - make sure its in a place you can easily reach, but not so low as to restrict the distance you can pull the loop. I like mine just below the speed bar pulley.

Now take up the slack and affix one end to the outside of your outside-A mallion and the other end to your hook-in loop. Don't make it too tight, you want some slack when you are flying. Also, don't make the knot on the riser attachment point too tight as to stress or rub your riser material. I use bowline knots on each end.

Now you are ready to fly. The loop should be easy to access in flight, just remember that since your hands are in a lower than normal position, you may need to let of your brakes to pull really big ears.
more pictures

(Note that the photos are from an Ozone Vibe, which is a 3 riser glider, the cord really is attached to the outside A riser, not the B riser).

If you don't have split A's, you can do the same mod, by attaching a small brass pulley to your outside A line, and tying the cord to the pulley. Gin has used this in their production gliders for years.

New Fresh Breeze Suspension

Gerald got a new motor this week. Another Fresh Breeze Simonini, but with the new suspension. Since I missed the Convention this year, this was the first time I have seen it in person. Wow. That's all I can saw. Wow. This thing rocks.


Good (not great) weight shift, and ZERO torque. Now they need to get this suspension on the titanium framed Sim, and I'm in heaven.

Here's a review by Mike Brown.

Bay Area PG

So Stinky and I had to be in the San Fran area for business (both our companies are based there) so we extended the business trips and did some flying, as you can tell from the camera phone pics posted below.

On Friday, we flew the Stables but it was strong and cross, so we headed south to San Jose and got signed off to fly from Ed Levin park in Milpitas. This is a nice 1800ft vertical mountain with 3 launches and a huge LZ. Of course, we also found out why the locals call it "Sled Levin".

On Saturday the bay area was socked in so we headed down the coast to Big Sur. After a 2+ hour drive, we found the entire central coast was socked in to. So, we then drove 3 more hours inland to Dunlap, CA, near Fresno. Here we were treated to 2 days of ok thermal flying from a really big mountain. I think it is 2400ft agl. Also got to meet a bunch of super nice pilots from all over NorCal.

We both worked on Monday, but managed to sneak out for a 2 hour late session at the Stables. It was really nice - managed to transistion up the Westlake cliffs and make it to the Dumps and back. Then, at 4:20 exactly, the wind stopped. I ended up on the beach, landing next to a couple of lesbian lovers that really would have liked more privacy. Good times!

More Ed Levin Flying

More Ed Levin Flying
Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

This shot is from last Friday's sled ride at Ed Levin Park.

Rob C at the Stables

Rob C at the Stables
Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

Rob C and I soared the sables in San Fran on Friday.

Ed Levin Park

Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

Stinky Rob launching at Ed Levin Park.

San Fran

San Fran
Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

According to the NeverLost, I'm in San Francisco.

Ed Levin Park

Ed Levin Park
Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

Ed Levin Park in Milpitas (near San Jose) is a very nice place to fly...even if it's a sled ride.

Baja 2006

Team Merrycone (less Skyking, who's wife won't let him out of the house due to the new baby) headed to Baja again for their annual Mexican throw down. Pilots attending were Stinky, Scooter, Skybrake, and G-Rob). Stinky got hooked up with a bad ass ride by the Hertz crew - a jet black Ford Expedition, so we rode around Mexico Jack Bauer style.

We flew our asses off for 4 days at San Antonio del Mar, stayed in the local roach motel, got the truck stuck, stranded GRob in the desert, and then had an awesome 2 hour sunset session at Torrey on the way back to the airport. We flew so much, no one really had time for pictures, but Stinky and Skybrake got tons of video. Here's a sample:

Arizona Trip

Stinky Rob C, Scooter Jeff T. and I took a quick weekend trip to Arizona to fly the Craters near Flagstaff. The Craters was where I first learned to fly paragliders under the instruction of the great Dixon White and Marty Dieveitte.

Pictures Here

We didn't get much flying in, as the winds were howling all weekend, but we did play a hell of a lot of PSP. I think we all got about 3 extended sled rides over a 4 day period. Was fun to visit the old stomping grounds, but since Deb White sold the 2-Bar and Dixon passed away, its just not the same. Here is a shot of the memorial to Dixon at the north bench of Merriam Crater (the big one above).

Baja Trip - Day 3 (Part 1)

Friday, July 15, 2005 (Morning)
After the past 2 days, we were itching to fly. We awoke to the entire coast fogged in, but we expected it to lift. After breakfast we did some motoring as we waited for the sky to clear. The winds were slightly South and by 10:00 cloud base was up to around 800 feet. With the southerly winds, the La Salina ridge was out, but we figured that once the fog burned off thermal heating in the flats in front of launch would have it blowing in.

On a previous trip Jeff and Stinky had soared a small hill with condominiums and houses on top at the golf course about 2 miles to the south. It’s a small site, definite bandito territory as you have to get past the guards to get into the gated community. The site is slightly south facing so we hatched a plan where Jeff and I would motor down and see if there was enough lift to stay up while the rest of the crew avoided the guards in the truck.

Jeff and I launched and we flew down the coast. Once we were past the La Salina marina, the coastline changed drastically, becoming rocky and gnarly. On the way down we saw some interesting things, including some very expensive homes hidden in with the typically Mexican shambles. We even saw the fuselage of an old prop powered airliner that was up on stilts and being used as a home.

Upon arriving at the golf course hill it was obvious that there wasn’t enough wind rolling up the hill for us to stay up. We made several passes, waving at the condo owners having breakfast on their balconies. On the way back to Brent’s, I swung over to the ridge to test the lift and found the wind starting to turn to the west.

Once the truck crew made it back, Steve and Brad did some motoring. Steve headed back to the ridge and found it starting to pick up. We load up the gear and headed to the top, with Steve electing to top land with the motor and wait for us. (No small feat for a guy with zero PG flights, but Steve is a great motor pilot and he had no problem.)

Getting kinda long here, so I will post the afternoon activity in a seperate post.

Baja Trip - Day 2

Thursday, July 14, 2005
Still wake up early, as do most of the crew (obviously seasoned pros at drinking, as no one shows any ill effects from last nights fun). While Rob C. (Henceforth known as ‘Stinky Rob’, or just ‘Stinky’) motored on the beach, Jeff, Steve and I headed to K58 for some breakfast. When everything is closed at K58, we swing north a few miles and find a great little place in La Mision – 3 tables, 1 lady working there (cooking, waiting tables, and cleaning). A hearty breakfast of chorizo con huevos and beans ensures we have adequate propulsion for flying later in the day.

The ridge at La Salina is still socked in and the weather reports don’t show it clearing. So we elect to head south to try and find the ridge at San Antonio del Mar. This is supposed to be a primo soaring spot, with a 200 ft cliff right on the beach. We have the GPS coords and a general idea of where to go, so we head south. We pass through the tourist town of Ensenada (first stop for all the south bound cruise ships out of LA) and a couple of small villages before hitting our first military checkpoint. They waive us through, but the experience freaked out Brad. Supposedly, you are required to have a tourist visa to go south of Ensenada. We didn’t have them, but it really didn’t matter.

A little over 3 hours after heading south, we find the turn off to San Antonio. The GPS says we are 10 miles away, but we spend the next hour trying to find the spot. The coast is completely fogged in, with only a couple hundred feet of visibility, making it hard to get our bearings. Steve works the GPS and naviates like a pro.

We finally find the lower launch (60ft) and on it, 3 old-timers from LA camping. These guys have been coming to Baja on an annual camping trip for over 20 years and they had the coolest restored 1946 Army bus. Check out the photos.

It was blowing in slightly and you could almost see the beach, so Brad decided to try his luck. A 60 foot sledder later and he was packing his glider up and hiking back to us. We packed it in after that and started the journey back north.

The drive back didn't seem quicker than the one down, but maybe that was because Skybrake was driving. Again we were waved through the checkpoint, and again Brad was pretty nervous about it all. We did stop long enough to buy some cups of fresh sliced mango from the lady’s selling them at the checkpoint. They squeeze a bit of lime over them and dust them with chili powder. Yum!

We stopped at Ensenada for groceries and made it back to Brent’s by 4:00 pm. We could just barely see the top of the ridge so we decided to do some recon to try and find the road to the top (and hopefully save us a hike when it was flyable).

Jeff and I strapped on the motors and the rest of the team went in the truck. The plan was for us to fly up and find the road and radio control the truck to the top. By the time I covered the mile between the beach and the ridge, cloud base had dropped to almost ridge level and more low clouds were blowing in from the north. Jeff and I radioed the truck through a few back roads and a gated subdivision before base dropped to about 350ft and it got too rowdy for us to hang. We headed back to the beach and left the guys in the truck to finish the task of finding launch on their own.

Turns out, we didn’t even have them close, but instead we had them on a dead end road up the wrong side of the mountain. Thankfully, when they crashed the gate into the subdivision, the security guards noticed them and were in hot pursuit. With Stinky’s asi-asi Spanish skills, the security guard was able to give them directions to launch. All this took about 2 hours after Jeff and I left going back to the beach, and we were out of radio contact the entire time.

Finally, Jeff and I gave up waiting on the other guys and walked down the beach to the Baja Seasons for some dinner. We got in contact with the truck guys after they made their way down and they meet us for a late dinner.

Not a great PG day, but everyone but Steve did fly at some point and we found the road to launch as well as how to get to San Antonio del Mar.

Baja Trip - Day 1

Wednesday, July 13, 2005
I wake up very early (my body still on Central time) so I do more work until the Mexican place next to the Hampton opens up. At 8, I head over for a plate of churizo con huevos (hmmm, pork fat and eggs!). The boys won’t arrive until noon so I kill more time working on a proposal and doing paperwork.

Around 11:00 I get a call that Jeff, Rob and Steve have arrived, Brad’s flight is delayed. I head over to meet Rob at Avis where we load all my swag from Wal-mart into the Expedition and return my rental car to Hertz. We pick up Jeff and Steve and head out to the El Cajon airport to pickup the motors Jeff and Steve shipped out. We get to check out the shop of Steve’s competition in the prop business (nice folks) and we transfer the gliders and other assorted gear to the roof of the truck so we can load in the motors in the back.

After getting everything loaded, we head back into San Diego, to the North Park area to meet Phil Russman for lunch. The great sushi place I ate at last time was closed at lunch so we settle for Thai next door. After lunch we head back to the airport to pick up Skybrake and then head south for the border.

On the way south, we stop off at an ATM for Rob C to get cash and I am thoroughly ridiculed for wanted to stop and buy toilet paper before crossing the border. We then hit I-5 south and are soon in Old Mexico. Once we get south of Rosarito, the coast is fogged in and it gets worse as we drive south. Within an hour we arrive at Baja Brent’s beach house and unload most of the gear and put the motors together.

We also find that the house is completely out of toilet paper! Vindication!

We then head north to the sand dunes about 10 miles north in hopes soaring twin tuned exhausts, burning nitro. The kid on it was racing up the dunes at around 70 mph. After realizing that he is a pretty good rider (and we won’t get to see any carnage) we head to the liquor store and then to dinner at a local place. After dinner, we engage in some moderate social drinking to the tune of a couple cases of beer and a bottle of rum and them hit the sack.

Baja Trip - Day 0

Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Get up and do some work, head to the airport for the 5+ hour (and 2 stop) flight to the west coast. Arrive in San Diego around 2pm and head out in search of supplies. Quick stops at REI and Wal-Mart nets me new sunglasses, a battery for my Sunnto watch, 6 cases of bottled water, and a cheap cooler. Head to the hotel to finish some work and then fish tacos for dinner followed by more work.

New Snap 100 Prop

Fresh Breeze has released a new Snap 100 prop and I just got mine and did a quick test in the backyard. The prop is slightly shorter than the original, but I haven't measusred it yet, but it is much wider. I put it on my Snap and wound it up. Its a bit quieter and boy, does it kick up the thrust. I would guess it in the 115lb range now. My normal full throttle RPM with the original prop was 9650, well with this one I'm only getting 9070, but I may need to do some carb tuning. Its raining now, but I will test fly it tomorrow and report back to the troups.

Full-size images-> Image 1. Image 2.

Update: Had a chance to fly the new prop this past weekend. I got 4 flights and 2 hours total time on it. It delivers as promised. I would guess thrust is in the 115-120 pound range. Max RPM's dropped from 9500 to 8950, but that is normal. My fuel efficiency also increased slightly. Good points - Its quieter, more thrust, and less fuel burn. The only slight negative is that it takes a bit longer to spin up the wider prop than it did the thin one.

Note to those Snap owers NOT flying a Fresh Breese, to upgrade to this prop, you will also need to get the custom mounting plate that Fresh Breeze bolts onto the prop flange. This plate is machined to fit the flange and bolt on to the 4 holes and then allows the mounting of the 6 hole bolt pattern Fresh Breeze prop.

Don't Tie Knots in Your Lines

Gin test pilot Norman Lausch died last week testing a protoype glider. He wanted to test it with shorter lines so he tied 3 knots in every line. They broke and tragicly, Norman could not get his reserve out. Tying a knot in a line weakens it by 50%. Tying 3, well, you get the picture. In response to questions asked about this accident, Gin Gliders has posted some info on line strength that all pilots should take a look at. Here is the Link.

Titanium Fresh Breeze Cages

News from Fresh Breeze:

Fresh Breeze is now offering prop cages and suspension frames made from high grade Titanium instead of aluminium. The first Titanium cage will be made for the Simonini 122 ORC. The main advantage will be a much higher strength of all frame parts and a decreased weight. An additional feature are streamlined tubes which reduce air drag and noise. The prop runs in smoother air with an increased efficiency.

Southern Skies has new Simonini's with is cage in stock. It is a $500 upgrade over the standard cage, but it weighs 3 lbs less. Contact your local Fresh Breese dealer for more info or to purchase.