East wind today!
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| Brett |
East wind generally sucks, partly because it indicates dry cold air from the Canadian Interior, but mostly because it means we can't fly far downwind (ie west) before hitting some form of airspace around either Edmonton or Calgary.
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| Andrew and Alex |
But we flew anyways. I was the designated tow driver for the day (we have a rotation scheduled far in advance so it's fair to everyone) so I spent most of the day in the dirt or the truck, driving back and forth on dirt roads :)
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| Andrew and Al planning flying strategy. |
Early tows weren't successful since it hadn't yet turned on yet, but a few pilots started getting away after 1pm. Al made it about 20 km before landing and was back for more tries in an hour or so. Will made it 26 km, and Brett made it 10 km. Alex did the best with a 90+ km flight to west of highway 2.
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| Will |
The other tow group didn't get much flying in since their winch motor broke down, and by the time they switched to our tow rig the conditions had deteriorated and it became quite sinky on the tow road. We decided to pull the plug after 4pm after it became apparent towing wasn't going to happen and it was time to start chasing the flying boys anyways.
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| Al setting up |
Meanwhile over at Strome the hang gliders (15 strong) participating in Miles in May had called a 150 km task to Rimbey (west of highway 2). Alex reported seeing some hang gliders in the air near Double Dam golf course. Ross landed 26 km short and most of the other hang glider pilots didn't get a chance to get away since all 5 their tow winches broke down too! Fortunately Ross says they are back at 2 or 3 working in time for tomorrow's task.
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| Al getting ready to tow |
Tomorrow is scheduled to be more east wind so we are thinking of trying some tow roads further east, to get us a head start of 50 km or so, and perhaps get us far-enough away so that we can veer around the Edmonton airspace and continue west to the north. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
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| Al just off tow. |
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| Doing some repairs on Steven's winch. |
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