Learning to Fly

Closing Time

Jussara and I got up the hill around midday. It was blowing a solid northeasterly like yesterday but the sky was a little different. The clouds were forming a little thicker and all had dark bases. I assumed things were going to be a bit better for flying distance with the stronger up drafts, but then the darker clouds were also putting a lot of shadows over the ground so I wasn’t sure.

I took off a little arkwardly in the stronger breeze and my hangover from Maciel’s birthday party last night was also not helping. I flew along the ridge toward the thermals that the other pilots were entering. There were 7 or 8 of them climbing up to start their cross-country flight, and I was hoping to tag along.

I went up and up but never managed to get as high as they were getting. There were about 3 of us that got left behind. I tried going after them in the hope that I would find another thermal a little further along, but after a few seconds realized that I was just losing height, and losing it fast. I had passed onto the wrong side of the range and with the strong wind there was also a strong downdraft on the leeside. I was getting close to the rotor on the backside of the hill and knew I would have to climb quickly to stay away from the dangerous area, but as I was looking around for some signs of a thermal I started getting hit by some very strong turbulent bubbles. Then suddenly my wing collapsed. It closed up around 70% of the wing from the left side, and I was left with a small section still open on the right. I braked on the right to control and not let it enter into a spin and quickly glanced below to see how high I was above the ground and figured if it entered into a spin I could let it go round twice trying to open it out before I had to use my emergency chute. The wing shot forward in front of me though and I remembered from the DVDs of the SIV courses that they had said if the wing is in front of you there is no need to worry, as it will open up. I released the brakes slightly and it began to curve slightly to the left but opened up quickly. I was in a steep dive but my wing was open and I managed to leave it quickly and get back to normal flight.

I looked around and I had lost quite a bit of height and was way too close to entering the rotor on the leeside of the range. I didn’t want to go straight to the southern landing spot however, and decided I would give it a try to get back on the right side of the range. I went against the wind with the speed bar fully extended and was making progress but was dropping fast. I was a little worried I wasn’t going to make it and just as I was about to turn around I hit the updraft and shot back up.

I flew around for another 15 minutes trying to get into the clouds but it was pretty rough and I decided to give it a miss and went and landed at the bach. It had been a rough day which hadn’t helped my headache and vice versa.

Total flight time: 50mins