Arosa - lady slippers / golf / flight

Finally a summerday in Arosa!

It started of with a visit to the 'Isla' to search for and see the 'Lady Slipper' -orchids in full bloom...

 

...then a visit to the golf course: driving range and playing a few holes... 

Golf course

... and finally a flight from the 'Weisshorn'. Unfortunately I found the thermals to be weak and hard to center.

Fanas

Sorry for not having posted for such a long time, but flying opportunities this spring have been pretty scarce and furthermore I have been to Germany (Hamburg and Mecklenburgische Seenplatte) with Ruth for 3 weeks of sightseeing and boating...    >> pictures here

So after almost 2 months of not flying today offered a chance.
Together with Andy we went to Fanas (probably my 'mistake', as first we had wanted to go to Fiesch and after having studied the different forecast we (probably wrongly) switched to Fanas. We shall see tonight when today's flights have been uploaded.)

Andy

Anyway: the day looked pretty nice, but people were taking off rather late and had trouble to climb quickly to a good altitude for crossing over  to the 'Kreuz'.
So it actually turned on only after 1200. But I have been not patient enough and I departed Fanas with less than the 2700m min alt required for an easy arrival over Stels. Therefore I lacked the 100+m I didn't climb before starting my crossing :-((
So promptly I paid for my mistake as arrived too low and wasn't able to climb up again...

Andy

 So quickIy had to land in Schiers (at least close to my car...)

LZ in Schiers

Flight can be found here :-((

Bassano

On my drive back home I could make a short flight at Bassano del Grappa.

PG TO (below), HG TO (upper left)

HG setup area and TO (upper center)

San Simeone

On Wednesday Marco took me to Monte San Simeone, a site I've not flown before.
The access is via a steep and narrow winding road, built during WW2 (?).
Nice launch with a great views towards Gemona/ LZ/ Tagliamento.
Unfortunately the conditions have been rather week..

Road to TO

looking towards Guarnan/ LZ/ Gemona/ Tagliamento

launch

(large) LZ in foreground; Mte San Simeone in Back

To finish off my short tript to Friuli, Nicole, Arduino,Marco and Alberto then invited me for a great dinner at the Trattoria Belvedere in Tarcento - again many thanks, as well as for your company!

Lijak

On Tuesday we (Marco, Alberto) could fly Lijac in Slowenia; conditions were much better than forecasted...

Alberto

Lijac TO

Pano on TO -looking SSW

Meduno

After San Fermo I continued towards the NE of Italy, where I stayed for 4 nights with Marco (Marco Zonca). On Monday we (Marco, Alberto, Fabiano)  visited Meduno (Monte Valinis).

Marco

San Fermo

An rather short notice I decided to join "FlywithAndy's"-training camp in San Fermo (near Bergamo, IT).
The guide was Michael Gebert, assisted by Tobi and Agnes. As usual it was a pleasure to be in a group guided by Michael: he is extremely knowledgeable, always smiling and takes good care of his custumers! When he was not taking care of us, he was training for the upcoming X-Alps contest by running from Casazza (at 330m) to San Fermo (at 1200m) in 75mins!
Luckily the weather on the first two days turned out to be better than forecasted and SAT, SUN have been excellent, that means we could fly every day (rather unusual having 4 days of flying in a row this year so far...)
I didn't attempt to do any toplandings, as I wanted to avoid taking any risks at all, but I groundhandled a bit - doing not too badly I think ;-)
And the flights (especially on SAT) have been very nice!

Pano looking W to NE: TO is on the left side

Michael

Agnes

free market economy...

Ryanair's Micheal O'Leary arrives in a hotel in Dublin, he goes to the bar and asks for a pint of draught Guinness. The barman nodded and said, "That will be one Euro please, Mr. O'Leary."

Somewhat taken aback, O'Leary replied, "That's very cheap," and handed over his money.
"Well, we try to stay ahead of the competition", said the barman. "And we are serving free pints every Wednesday evening from 6 until 8. We have the cheapest beer in Ireland"
"That is remarkable value" Michael comments
"I see you don't seem to have a glass, so you'll probably need one of ours.
That will be 3 euro please.

O'Leary scowled, but paid up. He took his drink and walked towards a seat.
"Ah, you want to sit down?" said the barman. "That'll be an extra 2 euro. - You could have pre-book the seat, and it would have only cost you a Euro."
"I think you may to be too big for the seat sir, can I ask you to sit in this frame please"
Michael attempts to sit down but the frame is too small and when he can't squeeze in he complains "Nobody would fit in that little frame".
"I'm afraid if you can't fit in the frame you'll have to pay an extra surcharge of €4.00 for your seat sir"

O'Leary swore to himself, but paid up. "I see that you have brought your laptop with you" added the barman. "And since that wasn't pre-booked either, that will be another 3 euro."
O'Leary was so annoyed that he walked back to the bar, slammed his drink on the counter, and yelled, "This is ridiculous, I want to speak to the manager".
"Ah, I see you want to use the counter," says the barman, "that will be 2 euro please." O'Leary's face was red with rage.
"Do you know who I am?"

"Of course I do Mr. O'Leary,"
"I've had enough, What sort of Hotel is this? I come in for a quiet drink and you treat me like this. I insist on speaking to a manager!"
"Here is his E mail address, or if you wish, you can contact him between 9 and 9.10 every morning, Monday to Tuesday at this free phone number. Calls are free, until they are answered, then there is a talking charge of only 10 cent per second"
"I will never use this bar again
"OK sir, but remember, we are the only hotel in Ireland selling pints for one Euro"

read and copied here

finally! :-)))

After more than 1 year of 'abstinence' of flying, today was finally the day of my 'maiden flight'.

Conditions on launch were perfect with just a little headwind, the thermals strong and high, the air cold ;-)

So after 1hr5mins I landed on the (snow covered) golfcourse...

The flight details can be found here.

My heartfelt thanks go to Ruth, who in the end accepted (though not with much enthusiasm) that I had to try and fly again.

Thanks to Kiwi (rt side) for his assistance

Weisshorn behind me

looking towards Engadin/ Piz Bernina

Weisshorn, the shadow of my glider is right over launch

More pictures on Flickr.

Preflight preparations -Step 5 (of 5)

Pano of Arosa during Tandemflight

And on the same day I visited the training hill, I was also able to make the aforementioned Tandemflight with 'Kiwi' (Mario Entzler - I didn't know his real name until today, though we have known each other for many years now...)

The flight didn't last very long (Kiwi had only the 39m2 glider available) and the thermals over Maran were pretty small and punchy.

We landed in Maran on the golfcourse, so the 'Golfhuus' was nearby for an after-flight-beer. We could enjoy the warm spring sun till 1740.

So next will (hopefully) be a solo flight...

Preflight preparation - step 4 (of 5)

Today I have visited the training hill in Trin (with Marina from http://www.fs-swissraft.ch) for a few inflations. I have used my old Mustang 2, as the terrain was rather muddy and I didn't want to 'spoil' the freshly checked Vega III.

Not perfect - as was to be expected - but good enough to make me feel comfortable to try a solo flight next.
Well, better: overnext...
I know that in my last blog I mentioned that my preflight preparations would have 4 steps. But I have added one more step: a tandem flight in order to bring back the feeling of 'flight'...

Preflight preparations -step 3 (of 4)

The 'good news' continue:
today I 'completed' step 3 (of 4) of my preflight preparations:
> step 1) getting new harness (same as old one) and having reserve repacked: done
> step 2) having glider (Axis Vega III) cheched: done
> step 3) G-Force training: done today

Taggi (Walo right)

When I got my glider back from checking last Friday, Walo Besch (Flugschule Swissraft (in Trin-Mulin), with whom of course I talked about my accident last year, spontaneously invited me to join todays Training on the G-Force Trainer in Malans/ Landquart (> see previous post).
I had always wanted to do this training after my accident in order to find out more about me and my body in such a situation.
So at 0930 together with 7 other PG pilots (including 1 lady) 

Anita

we were given some theoretical information and then we started working with the trainer. The initial 'round' was done with 2.5g in order to get used to the machine and its handling and then we continued slowly up to a maximum of 7g (left and right spirals).
Fortunately (as I had hoped it would) the situation of my accident was not repeated: ie loosing consciousness 'digitally' (meaning without any advance warning signs). I was able to go up to 5.5g (in a 'normal spiral you usually get 3.8g), but then 'tunnel vision' started and also my neck started feeling the strain of holding my head. But 4.5g I could maintain for quite some time...
In the end Walo also demonstraded Ozone's Anti-G. (Manual here)

Anti-G

> step 4) going back to the training hill: will (hopefully) follow in the not too distant future.

update (accident)

Arosa Weisshorn

One year after my PG accident in Arosa I've been to the hospital in Chur for a check-up.

Dr. Broger (the orthopaedic surgeon), who had operated on my back then, is rather positively surprised how everything is looking now: (much) better than what could be expected/ hoped for 12 month ago!

Of course there are some limitations in my mobility, which most probably will remain; maybe some small improvements can still be made. The neck of the humerus is also looking good, there are no visible differences in the x-rays made after the accident, 6 months ago and today.

I should/ must continue wih going to the fitness center in order to keep/ improve the strength/ mobility of my arm and leg. Otherwise he sees no restrictions: I should live and do what I like...

:-))

24 hours of world wide air traffic

A_Day_in_the_Life_of_Air_Traffic_Over_the_World  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1L4GUA8arY

Wings of Kilimanjaro

The project: Wings of Kilimanjaro

Kari

I had the pleasure to help her getting there, even if "we" couldn't fly off the mountain in the end... 

Pictures by Kari Castle; more pix to be found here

 

Video by '60Minutes' (or here)

EAPS

 EAPS = Extracteur Automatique de Parachute de Secours

This is a system invented/ constructed by Norbert Barboux and Hubert Chrétien of Envol Mécanique during 6 years of work in their spare time.

(Unfortunately at present their homepage is not updated yet...)

The system can be programmed to predefined rates of descend and/ or G-load, it then gives an audible alarm, which - if not cancelled - will lead to the automatique ejection of the rescue.

The system can be fitted to virtually all reserve systems (mono or tandem gliders): front, lateral, rear containers, big or small rescues...

Of course the pilot can at any time release the rescue himself.

Norbert presenting the system -

in his right hand the trasnmitter to stop the alarm/ ejection

Size

the box weighs approx 500gr

Attention:

- the pictures show a pre-serial model, the final model looks slightly different!

- the sensor unit giving rate of descend / G-load is not shown (ca 200gr);

  for example a Skyride Sys'ky could be used.

Additional info to follow...

 

update: Eye...

Yesterday I have been to Lausanne to have my left eye examined 6 month after its treatment with proton rays at the PSI in Villigen.

To cut it short: all is well!   (next check.up in 12 months time)

The tumor (or its remains) has become slightly smaller and thinner.

I have asked Mrs./ Dr. Schalenbourg about the effectiveness of this treatment and she told me that only in 1.2% off all cases the treatment didn't work (out of more than 6000 cases!)
'What do you do in these few cases?' was answered by that in rare cases the treatment can be repeated (but this can't be done with every eye) and that, if the tumor finally should become too big, it would have to be cut out, but then unfortunately this eye will be lost...

BUT: I think that I don't belong to the 1.2%.

...she did it again...

PWC 2012 Superfinal in Rodanillo (Colombia) 

 

and the winner is: NICOLE   >> Gratulations !!!

Results: here

Merry X-Mas & a Happy New Year !!!

Dear Friends,

after this not really easy year my/ our heartfelt thanks go to all of you, who have supported me/ Ruth during the past 12 months: be it with visits in the hospital / Reha or at our home in Fehraltorf, be it with calls, letters, mails or 'just' by being with me/ us in your thoughts!

Merry X-Mas and a Happy New Year

Fly high!Fly safe!

Best Regards

Taggi

PS: considering what happend only 9 months ago I'm doing very good...