Sunday seemed like a good day, with blue skies and potentially some thermals. There were lots of people out flying at Sundvollen, many for the first flight this year. It was soarable very early in the morning, but no one was there in time to fly then. The wind died out, and it was completely calm until some weak thermals came by launch, nothing to soar in though. Blue skies all day, too stable I guess.

Bjørn had the students, and I helped out sending them out and picking up. Linda flew the Airwave two flights and handled it nicely. There are some images from last weekend in the album, I’ve not sorted them in any way yet.

Monday, in my office, CU’s popping up everywhere, argh. At least I’ve ordered my new glider and harness from Moyes, I really hope I get it before we go to Italy in easter. I’ve ordered a Litespeed S 4 with all the carbon parts, and a Matrix Race harness.

Saturday we flew from Ringerud, the only student showing up was Anna. The weather was nice and quite unstable, but a lot of snow to carry the gliders through to get to takeoff on the NE side. I flew the target, and got weak lift and some thermals. Anna got a few turns in lift for the first time.

Sunday it was good at Sundvollen early in the day. Fredrik and I switched gliders, so I could test fly his U2, and he flew the Target. The U2 was really nice, very precise handling, and quite light pitch. Performance seemed quite good, but the flight was way too short to really get to know the glider. The tailwind came back with a venegance when we tried to set up for a second flight. I managed to forget my mobile phone on the roof of the car, and it fell off somwhere on the way home. Well. it was time to get a new anyway, but it’s annoying loosing all the numbers on the SIM card. I got a Siemens M55 this time, it’s inexpensive but have all the features I need.

Yesterday the forecast was perfect for rigdge soaring, but I had to work all day, and then had a meeting until 16:00. I packed in the car and drove to Sundvollen in hope of getting at least one hour in the air before it became dark, since Fredrik and Bjørn was already out there reporting great conditions. The weather deamons must have been waiting for me, since the wind died down just as I was hooking in to the glider and carried it to takeoff. The vario made two small beeps, and that was it, no more lift. I’ve had enough sled rides from that takeoff for a while now…

Seems it was flyable after all on Tuesday, but with one more hangglider blown over the back. It’s been a few years since last time. I’ve always told my students that the ability to fly straight at top speed is very important to learn, so you can get out of situations like this. The only way to learn this is to practice diving and deliberately introduce turns at high speed. Sundvollen is a great place to do this when the conditions are smooth and soarable.

On Saturday Fredrik and I drove to Sundvollen in hope of some ridge soaring, the weather forecast was pretty good. At takeoff the students were ready and got their first flights while we set up and got ready. I tried a Airwave Calypso intermediate glider that could be interesting for a new pilot. The glider had double sourface, and otherwise quite standard layout. It was in good shape, with a few taped over scratches in the leading edge, and big wheels fittet to the bottombar. Nice on takeoff and landing, and very good handling.

Yours truly in a nil-wind takeoff, with authentic “Goldfish” harness. Photo by Bjørn Hammer.

I had borrowed Bjørn Hammer’s old WillsWing Fusion, and we agreed on a glide contest to Vik with Fredrik on the U2, and El Loco on his Litespeed. I had some problems with the VG, and flew with a knee-hanger harness, so the pilot was far from optimal. The Litespeed was the clear winner, U2 second, and since I had to wait for half an hour for launchable air I got tailwind on the glide. I declared the Fusion to have the worst glide since I only came a little further than the U2.

We packed up on the ice at Vik next to the model flyers, also packing up their gear in the setting sun, and had dinner at the Cafe. El Loco stayed over at my place in Oslo. We had a few beers, wathched lots of HG videos, packed an old emergency ‘chute, and flew the living room UFO stationed in my apartement.

Sunday was forecasted more wind, so naturally the only wind we got was a weak tailwind that persisted through the whole day, until the catabatic flow made it strong when the sun set. Some pilots took off in periods with nil wind, we were too slow setting up and missed the good periods.

Fredrik and Bjørn went out to ridge soar today, only to expirience too strong and gusty conditions.

I wonder what that bright thing in the sky is, can’t remember when I saw it the last time…

… and a happy new flying year to all readers!

Today it’s a hundred years since the Wright brothers did their first successful sustained flight. They were however cheating with an engine and propeller. Description of the Wright brothers first flight. Any Brazilian will tell you that it was in fact Alberto Santos-Dumont who was the first to achieve sustained heavier than air flight.

The English will of course point to Sir George Cayley’s glider flight. As a good designer he used his coachman as a test pilot, pushing him off the hill in this contraption.

Leonardo da Vinci designed a perfectly good hangglider hundreds of years before any of these dudes, but there’s no evidence that he built and flew it. A team of constructors did make a replica from Leonardo’s drawings, and had Judy Leden ridge soar it to make a documentary for the Discovery channel. The glider flew pretty well!

We could see some very nice mother of pearl clouds over Oslo yesterday afternoon. These clouds are best seen when the sun is below the horizon, shining on the ice-crystals that make up the cloud. It’s actually a sign of stratospheric mountain wave conditions, where moist air from the trophosphere is pushed up into the cold polar stratosphere. The wave and clouds are extremely high, from 20 to 30 km high. (A jetliner cruises at 10km)

Steve Fosset have formed the Perlan project to soar these waves in a pressurized sailplane, the project goal is to reach 100000 feet.

Picture from met.no, link to norwegian met.no article.

Fredrik and I went back to Sundvollen today, but coming over Sollihøgda it was a quite windy sky ahead. At takeoff it was quite calm, but the wind at height was clearly strong. The sky was full of lenticularis clouds, at Sundvollen that is a sign of very turbulent and strong winds just above takoff. Probably flyable, but we did not want to risk it, no one flew today.

We went to Vik and had coffee with Frode. Fredrik took some shots outside the cafe in the spectacular sunset, too bad this image got some camera shake, but the colours are captured well. The sunset is reflecting in the frozen lake

Coffee at the Cafe. Nice backdrop!

Frode and I went for some Pizza back in Oslo and then saw the movie “Master and Commander”, pretty good if you like Russel Crowe.