Mt. St. Benedict September 30, 2023

The forest fire at Mt. St. Benedict was (finally) out so lots of pilots out today to enjoy one of the last warm summer days.  North wind up high so the clouds were forming over the back and then spreading out in front of launch, creating lots of shade.  But if you could get up, you could get high and then fly the shade/sun interface all along the Mt. St. Benedict-Dewdney range!  And cloud base was somewhere in airspace, but it was cold enough you didn't want to get that high anyways! 

RASP for Mt. St. Benedict September 30, 2023.  North wind up high.

The LZ had Danny Virtue's stunt horses inside, so they were not bothered by us landing at all, but there were lots of "horse presents" to avoid when packing up :)  And it was very warm and peaceful in the LZ!

Lots of lift despite the cloud cover and north wind.  Photo courtesy of Alex Raymont.

South Okanagan September 8-9, 2023

 Headed to the South Okanagan for some late-summer flying as the fires had (finally) died down in the area.  However after arriving on Upper Ripley, we discovered a new fire just behind launch and helicopter traffic.  In the end I decided not to fly.

Upper Ripley, with a new fire starting up just the takeoff.  I decided not to launch.

The following day the local pilots and myself decided to head to Anarchist instead as that was outside the restricted flying zone of the Upper Ripley fire.  Note there is no official LZ for Anarchist at the moment...the golf course apparently does not want us landing next to the clubhouse.  However there are several other nearby options (just not as convenient/nice grass!) or you can always go XC.  Which is exactly what we did :). It was difficult to get higher than 1900m (launch is at 1100m) but that was enough to head north to Inkaneep valley and then fly over the Oliver racetrack.

The original plan had been to land at the Oliver airport, so long as we arrived after 2:30pm.  Rob had talked to the folks there and learned that at 2pm there was going to be a flyby of small military aircraft to honour a local airman.  However unbeknownst to us they were running late...

It was coming up to 3pm, Rob had just landed in a fallow field just short of the airport, and I was on glide for the airport, thinking of going for their nicer grass to pack up on, when I noticed a formation of planes taking off.  Guess I'm not landing at the airport after all!  So I had a front-row seat to the formation flyby below me (their first pass) and then above me (their second pass) as I quickly landed next to Rob to clear the skies for them.  One of the highlights of that road trip for sure!

20km flight from Osoyoos to Oliver.  

Woodside September 4-5

 A mostly-cloudy day but rather unstable, a good day to fly, top-land, and directly compare gliders as I was further-test-flying a Lynx2.

Woodside RASP showing the overcast but concurrent instability.

Ultimately decided against the L2 as I didn't find it that different, performance-wise, from my current Swift6.  So at this point better to stick with my current glider and keep looking.

Kevin and myself flying under the overcast skies.  Photo courtesy of Alex Raymont.

The next day was a clearing one, forecast to blow out by early afternoon, and with the winds, looked like a possible "glass off" at the end of the day.  First flight of the day, Martin N and I got off the hill early and flew to Agassiz via Cemetery Hill which was quite turbulent, most other pilots stood down as it got too windy on launch.  For the second flight at the end of the day it was indeed glassing-off.  Lots of happy pilots in the LZ!

Woodside RASP for September 5 showing the possible glass-off.

Enjoying the smooth lift as the sun was setting.

Bridal Falls September 2

 A very stable day and hard to get away from launch.  Climbed out to 1000m at one point, who-hoo!  A good day to work on stable scratching skills...a group went to Cheam and had better flights.