The weekend of Aug. 24-25 proved to be the first good weekend of flying that we've seen in central Texas. The area is finally drying out and the farmers are cutting the cotton like there's no tomorrow. If conditions stay dry I predict that we will see very good conditions through Sept. and, hopefully, through Oct. as well.

The weekend started out fast and furious. The Adventure Club of San Antonio had been trying to schedule a flying weekend with us for several months. The weather didn't look too promising for tandem hang gliding so we offered them discovery flights in the trike and Dragonfly (click here for group photo). This turned out to be a good call as conditions were windy and moderately turbulent. Each of the 11 participants got to enjoy a "tour" of the Brazos river. Burnzie started with the Anteres trike, then switched to the D-fly when conditions strengthened. After 5 hours of flying with passengers, Burnzie was glad to take a break. We appreciate everyone's patience and understanding and we want to thank the pilots who waited until Sunday to come out for solo aerotowing. Sunday's conditions proved to be worth the wait!

Sunday began with the return of John the Bomb! With both D-flys in great shape, our ability to "get pilots up quickly" looked good. Local pilots Chico Palmer, Reed Murray, Curtis Graczyk, Martin Mitter, Chuck Pyle (who we hadn't seen in almost a year--welcome back Chuck!), Micky Brady, Robin Hamilton, and Kenneth Cobb (another pilot we enjoyed seeing again after quite some time) all showed up. Everyone had good flights with several of them actually doing some serious soaring. Curtis flew the Falcon since winds were light and it really paid off since he flew for an hour, finding the best lift to be just north of the runway. Reed Murray was able to get just over 1.5 hrs. His best flight in quite awhile! Martin had a nice flight, soaring over the area for 1.75 hrs. and getting up to 4,300' agl. Martin had the save of the day...he was coming in to land after flying for over an hour and was at about 300' when he felt a little bubble near the launch area, which he worked back up to altitude, flying over the same area Curtis worked earlier north of the airport, to extend his flight. John the Bomb got a "tow to nowhere" from Burnzie, getting dragged all the way to the east side of the Brazos River. It was quite a feat to just get back to the airport, but he managed to "stumble" into some fair lift just west of the runway and managed close to an hour of airtime. John's second flight (late in the day) produced about a 45 minute flight. Chuck Pyle had three "extended sleds" which was fine because he wanted to work on his landings (which he commented that it's "not like riding a bike"---for the record he nailed the last one). Micky enjoyed her flight, getting to thermal a bit and staying up for 20+ minutes. Kenneth Cobb took a couple of tows and his second tow gave him about 45 minutes (and it was late in the day as well, around 4:30). Chico was able to get a little stick time in the D-fly with Steve before the flying got started for the day. He also helped on the launch line, giving Gaye a break from the heat since she hasn't been feeling well for the past week. Thanks Chico. The thermals were small and definitely had to be worked, but it was exciting to see that conditions are getting better, as long as it doesn't rain anymore.

Robin Hamilton showed up late and set up his Swift. We were surprised as he got ready to launch that he was declaring to set a 100 km (63.25 miles) world record. While pilots were staying up (and the winds were very light and variable), it just didn't look like a world record day. How wrong that assumption turned out to be. Things were a bit rushed as we signed the Task Declaration, took photos, and witnessed his barograph startup. Robin got in the air around 3 pm.

Hamilton's Flight:

I got a chance to go test the conditions on Sunday August 25th but only managed to get out to Hearne with the Swift ready to tow by 3pm. Steve didn't believe me when I told him I wanted to do the Observer paperwork for a 100km triangle speed attempt. We rushed through the documentation and the photos. The Class 2 record for this task is around 40km/hr set by Davis at the 2001 Nationals, also at Hearne. I picked the obvious triangle that runs from the airport up Hwy 6 north of the power plant then east to the Easterly Silos and back along 79 into Hearne. Got off tow at around 2,500' but it was pretty blue over the airport so I took a start gate photo and glided off to the north for a weak climb at the end of the strip. Weak climbs are no good if you want to go fast so I took 500' and then ran off towards Calvert for what turned out to be a 600fpm to over 6,500'. Best thermal I'd seen in Texas all year, great visibility, and great to think maybe things were getting back to normal. I then had some good climb and transition segments, getting lower only once halfway between TPs 1 and 2. I got a couple of good climbs to over 7,000' agl just before Easterly and then had one more thermal on the way back to the airport. The elapsed time was 2hrs 4mins (~48km/hr), a record time, but it didn't matter as I'd screwed up the coordinate listing in my pre-flight declaration due to the rush. No matter - it was just good to be back racing round the central Texas skies the way we should be.

Oh well, there's lots of time left in the season and I have the feeling that Robin Hamilton is one of those pilots who is capable of a world record every time he flies. It's another good sign that perhaps, just perhaps, the conditions in central Texas are finally getting back to NORMAL!

We also had an opportunity to visit with David Prentice during his return trip back home. He had been down in Mexico for the past month and will be heading on up to Utah for another PG competition--good luck old buddy!

We're looking forward to more great flying.