Arosa - Leeloo

The last days of this winter season - on Sunday the gondola to Weisshorn will stop running. Therefore I took advantage of the good fcst to make the first flights with my new toy.

Easy (forward) launching in nil-wind conditions (important for me!). Surprisingly good conditions already at 1100 with nice thermals, but very cold; so I landed after 25mins.

excellent visibility, later in the day pure blue sky

The second flight lasted a lillte more than an hour with landing at the middlestation of the cable car to Weisshorn.

Bruno

 

Third flight: also a little more than an hour with an 'excursion' to Langwies/ Seta and back (via Medergen).

near Medergen

First impressions: the wing -as far as I'm able to judge with just 3 flights- fullfills everything Michael has 'promised': easy launching (foward/ reverse); easy to stay on bar with good glide ratio (even for a long time); ears stay in (no need to hold them) and no flapping at all. On the Ikuma2 I had problems with turning left: much harder/ more brake input was needed than with right turns. I had assumed that the reason would probably be my harness as I prefer right turns/ spiral to the right... Very surprisingly with the Leeloo I didn't feel any difference at all! Turning is very direct/ efficient: just weightshiftt and a little brake. And the wing clearly indicates which way it would want to turn.

As for big ears and B-stall: I haven't done any of them as I'm unable to reach high enough with my left hand :-)  But I think a modification of my harness could help: lowering the main attachements points by a few centimeters would probably be enough. Michael Nesler once told me on the phone that this should be doable...

The only 'minus' so far: the 'bar' in the brake handles is too stiff for my liking and I also don't like the attachment of the brake handles to the risers (by magnet). On every flight the handles detached at least once unintentionally during preparations for launch :-(       > These two points are way better designed on the Ikuma2.

There is a chance for some more flying if tomorrow morning the Föhn is not too strong already...

Leeloo - a (late) Easter present

Today finally has arrived my 'Easter present'  ;-)

It has been interesting to watch the itinerary of the parcel: posted in Bassano del Grappa (IT), then to Milano for exportation, via FRA (Frankfurt), VIE (Vienna) to ZRH (Zurich), customs in Urdorf and finally delivery this morning...

The somewhat peculiar name comes from a character in the movie 'the fifth element': 'Leeloo'

'Leeloo'

Hopefully tomorrow I can make the first flight with my new 'toy'; it's not the maiden flight, as Michel Nesler has already flown and thoroughly tested the wing at Bassano before delivery, especially ajusting it for my flying weight :-)

Andy/ Oli: es tut sich etwas... (revised!) :-))

 

Update :-))

 

>>  Dann kann ich das Teil gleich nach Arosa mitnehmen und hoffentlich am DO / FR auch ausprobieren...

 

 ------------------------------------------------- erster Avis ---------------------------------------------

...für Andy und Oli...

...'ewig' sollte es hoffentlich nicht mehr dauern ;-)

 

 

Jura (Weissenstein)

Would you believe it: my first (!) flight in the Jura ;-)

We both travelled by train from home to Oberdorf 'Talstation'; unfortunately neither of us noticed, that the gondola was not running (due to revision) :-(  But we could organize a taxi, which took us to launch.

Conditions (XCTherm) looked pretty promising and the forecast was spot-on! We launched at 1130z - 1200z would have been even better.

 

When we arrived on launch, some pilots were packing up, as for quite a while there had been a little tail wind, but within half an hour conditions changed and permited an easy launch.

Weissenstein

Launch

The first half hour needed a bit patience, but then conditions got better all the time and climbs to 2900m had been possible (the limit here is 3050m).

(pix by Andy)

(heading back)

In the morning TMA Tango in Bale had been active, limiting flight altitude from launch towards the East to 1750m. Therefore Andy and I descended to this altitude on the way back; luckily Andy could check the status of the TMA by phone just before reaching Weissenstein and the limiting airspace: 'NOT active' - so we had sacrificed our altitude for nothing, but given the excellent conditions we could gain altitude easily enough and headed East, finally landing in Önsingen. Back home by Bus and train.

Önsingen

Of course it would have been easily possibe to fly more to the west as well as more to the east on the return. But for me 2h40' of flying in an completely new area was more than enough: just perfect!

>> Many thanks to Andy for proposing this site, flying together with me and thus giving me a perfect site intro!

the flight on Ayvri.com

Arosa (daytrip)

XCtherm 'promised' rather good conditions, so I headed once more to Arosa. My idea: launch from Weisshorn, then fly via 'Seta' (above Langwies) and the Schanfigg valley towards Chur, try to cross to Calanda and then westbound Flims, Brigels... and back to Chur, where I had parked my car in the morning.

Seta

After a good launch I needed some time to make enough altitude to cross to Seta; there good climbs to 3000m. Unfortunately nothing above Peist so I had to glide to Calfreisen, where I could get back up to about 2650m. With this altiudde I crossed towards Calanda, arriving there at around 1550. Unfortunately I just found some weak, but bumpy thermals... Landing in Chur after 1h35'.

Montalin, Calanda

looking North towards Landquart

Fazit: the first part (until Montalin/ Chur) worked more or less as I had planned/ hoped for, but after crossing towards Calanda it has been 'game over' ;-)

But as far as I can see, not all pilots could connect after this crossing...

Arosa with Oli (and Andy)

 

The last 3 days I've spent in Arosa together with my friends Oli and Andy (who joined us for the first day).

Really nice conditions on launch as well as in the air: not too much wind, nice thermals and cloudbase > 3100m. On Wednesday I made 2 flights landing at the Middlestation after the first flight; Oli made 2 flights as well, but he toplanded the Weisshorn after his first flight; Andy 'just' made 1 flight, as he tried to fly direction home; he finally landed near Landquart. So in the evening all three us had big smiles on our faces ;-)

 

Thursday: I just made 1 flight; Oli flew via Davos-Klosters and landed in Schiers.

looking South towards Engadin: Piz Kesch, Piz Palü, Bernina, Piz Rosegg, Piz Aela..

 

Friday: Föhn in the forecast... In the morning Oli and I decided not to fly (even though certainly a flight would have been possible), but considering the fact that the last two days had been excellent, there seemed to be no point in 'spoiling' this great experience by a flight in possible borderline conditions.

Arosa - 2 days

Saturday: the RegTherm didn't look very promising... and the first flight has been accordingly: just an extended sledder. So for the second flight I didn't have high hopes. But after half an hour of weak thermals the day got better :-)) Landing after 1h20', as I wanted to make another flight.

Isla

 

By chance my approach/ landing was filmed by Igor and his drone (many thanks!!):

Unfortunately a very 'typical' Taggi-landing ;-)

For the third flight I launched shortly before 1600, which is rather late for early March. But luckily thermal activity hadn't stopped yet and I could even cross towards 'Tjierflue', 'Medergen' and 'Seta' (and trying to get back).

above 'Langwies': 'Seta', 'Fondei'

Medergen

 

But by now (1645) thermal activity had almost stopped so I couldn't make it back to Arosa and had to land in 'Litzirüti' (near the train station).

Sunday: as the RegTherm looked much better, I've had hopes of making some good flights...

BUT: contrary to all forecasts (even those from the very morning) clouds arrived much earlier than predicted :-(

Therefore I launched without great expectations, but already the first thermal over Tschuggen got me to above 3100m and I could glide back to Weisshorn to take some pix.

Weisshorn

Then back to the same thermal; at 3000m I decided to glide towards Langwies/ Seta (as yesterday). There I could climb to 2800m which was enough to get me back Arosa. 

Pano over Langwies

 

The thermal at Seta is rather reliable and strong, but never a 'nice' one ;-) Coming back to Maran (at 2000m) it would have been possible to get high again as there was lift almost anywhere.

> Immagine how the day could have been without all these clouds which certainly dampend the thermal activity...

Webinar: Leeloo - Zwischenbericht

>> sorry - again German only as the Webinar on Zoom will be held in German! <<<

...so wird er aussehen, wenn er den Weg zu mir gefunden hat...

Am Mittwoch, 10. März 2021 um 2000 findet auf Zoom ein weiteres Webinar zum Thema 'Leeloo rising' statt: ein Zwischenbericht mit Hintergrundinfos, Spannendes aus dem Testalltag, eine kuriose Geschichte aus der Zulassung und vieles mehr:

• Stand der Entwicklung und Zulassung
• Feedback und Wünsche unserer Probe- und Testpiloten
• Neues aus unserer Produktion in Kroatien
• Der Zeitplan
• Unsere Erfahrung mit der Leeloo in der harten Frühjahrsthermik
• Geschwindigkeit und Polare
• Videos und Fotos
• Erfahrungen aus dem direkten Vergleich mit all den Hochleistern in Bassano

 

11.3. Die Aufzeichnung des Webinars kann noch für einige Tage mittels diesem Link auf Vimeo angesehen werden.

Der Link zum ersten Blogeintrag zu Leeloo.

Die Webseite für Leeloo

 

Cari: finally :-))

As I only made up my mind this very morning about going to Cari again, Andy unfortunately couldn't come along. The Regtherm for Bedretto/ Leventina looked rather promising. 

 

The Föhndiagram on the other hand gave some North-overpressure - increasing in the afternoon. This normally means no flying in Ticino, as Northföhn can be (very) turbulent.

When arriving at the middlestation of the chairlift it really looked as the Föhndiagramm would be correct: 'strong' Bergwind (= catabatic wind), thus permitting no TO and I feared that I had made today's trip in vain... Luckily on launch there was almost nil tailwind. But this made for a tricky launch with lots of running. But I got away on the first try :-)

The first part of the flight was rather slow, but then conditions improved and it became a really great and enjoyable flight with ample, nice and strong thermals, not too much wind and almost no turbulence.

Pano looking North: Ambri (left side); Val Bedretto at 12 o'clock; Lago Ritom (rt side).

I turned around just before Airolo.

Pano looking south

Valle Blenio: Aquarossa

For the final leg after the southern turnpoint (short of Biasca) there was no need for a single circle; that's why I managed an average speed of > 20kmh over the whole 2.5hrs (which is unusally high for my style of flying).

Faido: LZ

Looking at my flightlog: this has been my longest flight since August'20 (19.8. Scuol with PeterW).

The flight on ayvri.com

Arosa

24.2. Even knowing that Cari today would have been excellent, I elected not to go there: too many people in a overcrowded bus from Faido to Cari, as well as on launch... At least 70 flights have been uploaded to XContest from Cari.

So I drove to Arosa where I could make 2 nice flights. Unfortunately the thermals have been rather weak and so it has been 'hard work' to make the flight last more than an hour ;-) Conditions on launch have been good for both flights.

25.2. Much more demanding conditions on launch: gusty South wind. After about 2 hrs conditions improved, but contrary to expectations/ yesterday thermal activity has been rather weak :-(

Cari

After I had blown too many launches when visiting Cari the week before, I used the last three days for some groundhandling/ low wind speed launches. On the first of these days I went with Andy to Alp Scheidegg. He took some videos and tried to help me 'fix' my foreward launches, but I'm not posting any of those videos as I look really very silly ;-)

22./23.2. Driving again to Cari (as on Monday the Föhn was still blowing strongly on the North side of the Alps). Unfortunately much more clouds than forcasted and almost no wind on launch. So this was going to be a test if my launchung skills had improved...

On the almost flat area I managed a good forward launch in very little wind (albeit only on the second attempt). There have even been some weak thermals so I managed to extend my flight to a little more than 50 minutes :-)  

As tomorrow the conditions are supposed to be better (less clouds), I'm staying overnight in nearby Airolo.

...not the perfect conditions for launching ;-)

The day looked better, but it was very hazy (due to dust from the Sahara desert) and conditions on launch have been even more demanding than yesterday. Also the high pressure (1035hpa) wouldn't allow for really good thermal devellopement.

But with some help I had a good launch (- thanks to the two pilots from Thun!) and flew for close to 1.5hrs :-)

launch area

Pano looking South

Cari is a really nice flying site for late winter/ early spring with good xc-potential - as long as the chair lift is running. Although on my 3 visits here so far the conditions for launching never have been really good: always tricky in nil wind or even a little from behind.

(Arosa) / (Cari)

 

2 daytrips to Arosa (24.1./ 4.2.), but due to the wind situation I didn't fly :-(

15.2. a (day)trip to Cari (Leventina, Tessin) with my friend Andy. Cari is a site I have not visited before; in winter the top launch at 2280m can be reached by chairlift ;-)  There are several lower launches as well - one even right in the village of Cari at approx 1600m.

Many (!) pilots -at least 50- had the same idea. Never since Covid started I have been in a public bus (from Faido to Cari) so tightly packed with people :-(

 Basically nice conditions with good thermals, little wind, but VERY cold!

But it has not been my day: on the rather shallow slope I blew the launch 3 times, then I was completely drenched in sweat and had to call it a day :-((

Andy landed after 1.25hrs due to feeling too cold. On XContest there are flights >4hrs - I don't know how those pilots do it...

riding down