Learning to Fly

Bird Strike

I had seen the forecast and the wind was supposed to be a strong northeasterly in the morning and swing northwesterly in the afternoon. I didn’t want to miss my chance to fly this month as things were pretty busy, so I got a mototaxi up the hill early and got there just after 9am.

The wind was just a little too strong when I got there and I waited about 30 minutes as I slowly prepped my kit and took it right down the very front of the ramp to prepare for take off. There was absolutely nobody on the ramp when I got there, but as I readied for take off a few tourists and then Max showed up.

I waited for a low in the wind and pulled my glider up. It sprang up like a rocket and I was about 100m above the ramp in just a few seconds. I struggled to push out the accelerator as far as possible and slowly crept forward out of the area of risk of being pushed back behind the hillside.

I went out toward the right and as I passed the big rocky hillside I turned back and saw an eagle beating its wings hard and rising up close behind me. I thought it odd with the wind being so strong that he was using so much effort to rise up in a hurry and wondered why.

In less than a minute I knew the reason. He had gotten up above me and started dive bombing my wing. He got the right tip and then went back and tried for the left side. I pulled hard on the brakes and released just as he was attacking making the wing pop out with a snapping sound that scared him off. It was quite a strange experience and I was a little worried that it had ripped a hole in my wing but I didn’t want to land to check it out and not be able to take off again.

The wind was still quite strong and Daniel had arrived and I could see him and Max trying to take off in it. Soon all 3 of us were flying but it was nearly an hour before anyone else managed to take off.

I flew right along the ridge near Andradas and could feel some thermals starting to form. It took nearly 2 hours but I managed to get into some strong thermals and get up to 3000m and into the clouds. As soon as I hit 3000m I had already seen some clouds forming all the way out toward Pinhal so I decided it was time to turn and make a break.

The first 10 minutes I just dropped and didn’t hit a single upward air current, but as I was getting down to around 2000m I found another thermal and rose back up. I didn’t have anyone to pick me up if I landed anywhere far from the main highway so I had to play safe, but the sky above the highway was quite a blue patch. I steered left of the highway and followed the ridgeline round to Pinhal catching thermals up to 3000m and then flying forward til I found the next one. It took another hour but I was soon approaching Pinhal.

The sky was blue over Pinhal, but I was tired, cold, as I had forgotten my gloves, and needed a toilet break, so I was happy to land in a small field about 3 blocks from my house. Plenty of small children came out to see and helped me fold my glider. I could see a few other gliders that had caught up passing overhead, but walked home happy.

Total flight time: 3h