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Flying man festival - Hak's contest PIREP |
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Lago Espirito, Tuesday 3rd of july 2001 Early in the morning, and I really mean early in the morning, Victoria was waking me up with the most pleasant way that is politicaly correct: a fresh boiled coffe mug. In the fraction of a second my heart beat rate accelerated by approx. 250%, but noether because of Victoria nor the coffee - but because I suddenly got aware of the contest flights that I am expected to have this day. |
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Anyway. I eventualy overcome the intention to not leave the bed, and we both (Victoria and me) prepared for the todays event. A light breakfast, a few motivating words, and one more briefing about the contest parameters. We decided to not take a flight to Vogel Island (who knows what strange birds we might meet in the air during the festival...), but tucker with our little motor boat towards the contest island. Once arrived at Vogel Island, we went straight to the SilentWing glider port and announced my presence, and readiness for the contest flights.
After doing the paper works, we got the key for the Woody - one of these excellent and amazing PM-creations we occasionaly see emerging in the world of flying nomads - and we prepared to drive the Woody all the way up to the contest start place. The first three attempts failed due to excessive ground speed, and we crashed the Woody long before we reached the mountain top. Then, Victoria analyzed the situation and decided that it would be better if she was driving the Woody, as it seemed that I am too nervous this morning... |
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This was a very good decision, because on the fourth attempt, this time with Victoria as the driver, we went uphill with no further problems. As I wrote in an earlier message, I had lotsa fun driving the Woody around Vogel Island, but this is an entirely different story... Fact is, the Woody is a joy to drive, and the engine power is very well adjusted to the requirements for the island's topography. Great work, Sir Sindley. |
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Once we arrived on the top of the hill, we drove near to the edge, and we sat there for a few minutes, simply enjoying the view. What a wonderfull world we lucky dESPairados live in! This day, the clouds were hanging pretty low, which even increased the beauty of the view from up there. I had my dedicated contest pipe with me, and took the opportunity to pharmaceuticaly fine tune my perception... btw, the Archipelago Afterburner is comming along very fine. Long story - short meaning: I prepared for the contest flight, and recalled the images I have mentaly stored from the training flights. Of course I tried to exclude the vast amount of pictures, namely those that showed me lying on the back, feets in the air, helpless like a turtle... |
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| Surprisingly, the first start went flawless and I was airborne after a few seconds of doubt. I decided to try two different techniques, in the hope that at least one of them might bring me success. And with success I mean that I survive the flight. :-) At this moment I was far from thinking about which ring of the target I might reach. I was planning to land as near as possible to the next ambulance or emergency facility... The first technique was the "eagle dive" technique, where you focus on the target and dive straight and fast towards the "victim", which was the target rings in my case... The SG-38 accelerated up to 55 knots, and I enjoyed the fresh air blowing through my hair. What an excellent way of enjoy flying...! |
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| To the right, you see the aerial shot of my flight path, retraced with sophisticated computer technology. I flew straight towards the target, and left enough speed and altitude to circle around the target once , decreasing altitude and speed rather fast. No problems with the glider, but I guessed wrongly the final glide path of the speedless bird. Anyway, to my surprise I found myself and the SG-38 within the target rings ! YEAH. This alone was better than I ever dared to dream. I was alive and even within the target. On a side note: Victoria was waiting for me at the target rings. And I still wonder with what speed she was driving the Woody back to the Silent Wing glider port... but you better don't ask such things to Victoria... |
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| She drove me back up for my second attempt. This time, I had nothing to loose (except my life), so I decided to follow the second approach technique: the "oh-what-a-nice-place-lets-circle-a-bit-before-going-down" technique. When I came near the target zone, I was amazed to find that some buildings have been disassembled in the mean time! I feared that I was circling too long and that the contest has already found its end... So, I felt that I would better hurry a bit and put the bird down. When I came near the glider port, I saw that the houses only have been cammouflaged - they suddenly appeared again... This trial was slower, and I came in for final approach along the runway, from the east. |
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| The second landing went well too. And I found myself again within the target circles ! YEAH again! Victoria was very happy with me being still alive and walking around on my own feets. She always is a bit frustrated if her -> omnipotent <- leader is physically damaged. So, both of my official contest flights ended within the target circles, both times in the outer most (3rd) circle. Far away of our contest leaders Sir Snidley and Sir Troll. It was great fun, and I am looking forward to more competitions with the SG-38 on Vogel Island. I have quite a lot of spare time now, since the AA project is going along so fine, and knowing that I can expand my business to Hemp Heights later this month. I am very keen to compare our glider knowledge under various conditions... Sir Snidley. Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate in the Flying man festival. I enjoyed the contest very much, and I am lookiong forward to the party after the contest! Clear sky! Hak |
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