The Day started when I heard a rustle in my shed.... my window is close to where the Flykes are parked so I knew Eddie was keen on an early start. I made breakfast, showered and went down to the shed to get the latest weather info.
Eddie was tinkering with something in the shed, something I have seen him do for the last few months.
The news about the weather was a little downer. 15 knots at two thousand up to 14 where it picked up and became more west. A bit ugly as north westely winds have a tendency to be associated with turbulence. It seemed that a cross wind for our first day was a little too trying so we decided to load up with all the gear and catch an early flight before the wind picked up. After all the date of departure was not until Sunday. I was focused on a test flight and demanded Eddie resume ‘tinkering’ when the forecasted 15 knots kicked in and we weren’t able to fly. We went off to the launch area with a few family members. Eddie's first attempt was worth capturing on film. It reminded me of East wind where one of the guys stacked it into a hanger. Eddies ego was not bruised and a little cage straightening and he was ready to line up again. I launched and after a slow climb out I was enjoying the smooth air. Eddie soon followed. We both read the wind to be less than the forecast and as I climbed through to around 2000ft I realized the forecast may have been wrong. We set a task to Lismore as we were fully loaded for the trip, we were away..
The flight to lismore with Eddie close by provided spectacular views of cape Byron and the ocean. The sky was blue and my GPS showed we were doing about 60km/h. The New Naja wings are fast and stable and today we were going to need it. We tuned into the local CTAF and were shooting calls out to let other airspace users know where we were. It seemed to provide some entertainment to a few other aviators that I gave a 5 nautical mile call into lismore the a 3 and a 1 in the space of 15 minutes....We fly slow....
Lismore came up quick so I set a 'goto' casino on the GPS, and gave a call out on the VHF. The air continued to be smooth and my GPS showed that the forecast was wrong. Just before Casino we had our first taste of thermals. As we both descended below an apparent inversion the wings started to move around. I could see my half full fuel tank and I was tempted to direct Eddie to push on a little more however I could see a car at the Casino aero club and I noted it was Harry’s the president. I landed first and Harry warmly greeted me. Ed followed and we were ecstatic that the trip had began. Harry took me to town in his car for more fuel and back home where I met Heather his wife. He called Deb and Russell two other members and they met us out at the strip. Deb took some pics and Russell gave us the low down on crossing the range. We plugged a route into our GPS’s and heard the way we were thinking about going was potentially treacherous and had taken the life of an aviator in 2006.. Thanks Russell for the local knowledge.!
In front of a few Aero club members Eddie pulled off a top launch and not long after I got off the ground and attempted to catch Eddie who was a few km ahead. It was around mid day now and the air was turbulent. What did we expect? I remember the phone call the night before with the Glider manufacturer telling me that the full speed tuck on my sized glider could be aggressive. I decided to be safe and flew slowly never to catch Eddie. I remember feeling a little sick from the turbulence, many times.. I was so preoccupied with keeping the wing over my head I failed to get any good footage. Thermalling is one thing but doing a A to B task means we get the turbulence from each side of the thermals, and as soon as we’ve finished with one it’s only a matter of time before we hunt another and another. I recall seeing eddies wing in front of me up high rocking around. I knew I was going to experience the same air, I couldn’t wait. I was impressed with eddies ability to stomach the air as thermal flying ion the flyke took me a good few sessions. I decided to stop and thermal up when I saw my vario go nuts. I was lower than ed and powering up seemed a little useless. In sink I would sink regardless and in thermals I don’t like to raise the Angel of attack even more with power so round I went.... and up I went. A few circles and a threat of a collapsewas all I needed to start looking for a landing. Eddie sounded relieved when I mentioned landing.
The smoke in one of the valleys close by gave me an idea of wind direction however it was wrong advice and my landing was quick. Wheels made up for my error and I was safe and relieved. I advised eddie on the situation and he came in nice and slow.Mumelgum was our destination and Thomas our friend happened to have pulled up at the shop on the hill. We had a 2 hour break before we put the flykes on the road for the first time to do a leg. I interviewed a few of the locals including Billy Williams ex south Sydney league player, I later found out. An indiginous fellow from the Bungalong people. I was overwhelmed and interested to meet more local aboriginal folk. We peddled off and apart from a few small technical problems we managed to get to Tabulam some 30km. Eddie had come to an Aboriginal community some 15 yers ago with his wife and kid to make candles and mix with the locals. As the light was fading and we were not going to make Tenterfield, we took a real punt and decided to show up to the community to see if any one had remembered him. Guess what? We were swarmed with around 40 kids on entry into the community. We finally tracked down some relatives of people Ed knew. They were (are) all completely friendly and we instantly had many places to stay. We are currently camped at one of the houses. The kids here run free and seem very happy to want to know how every thing on the flyke works. It’s been a massive adventure for both the community and us. We played footage of the flight as they couldn't believe the bikes we peddled in on flew us to mumilgum.
Eddie was tinkering with something in the shed, something I have seen him do for the last few months.
The news about the weather was a little downer. 15 knots at two thousand up to 14 where it picked up and became more west. A bit ugly as north westely winds have a tendency to be associated with turbulence. It seemed that a cross wind for our first day was a little too trying so we decided to load up with all the gear and catch an early flight before the wind picked up. After all the date of departure was not until Sunday. I was focused on a test flight and demanded Eddie resume ‘tinkering’ when the forecasted 15 knots kicked in and we weren’t able to fly. We went off to the launch area with a few family members. Eddie's first attempt was worth capturing on film. It reminded me of East wind where one of the guys stacked it into a hanger. Eddies ego was not bruised and a little cage straightening and he was ready to line up again. I launched and after a slow climb out I was enjoying the smooth air. Eddie soon followed. We both read the wind to be less than the forecast and as I climbed through to around 2000ft I realized the forecast may have been wrong. We set a task to Lismore as we were fully loaded for the trip, we were away..
The flight to lismore with Eddie close by provided spectacular views of cape Byron and the ocean. The sky was blue and my GPS showed we were doing about 60km/h. The New Naja wings are fast and stable and today we were going to need it. We tuned into the local CTAF and were shooting calls out to let other airspace users know where we were. It seemed to provide some entertainment to a few other aviators that I gave a 5 nautical mile call into lismore the a 3 and a 1 in the space of 15 minutes....We fly slow....
Lismore came up quick so I set a 'goto' casino on the GPS, and gave a call out on the VHF. The air continued to be smooth and my GPS showed that the forecast was wrong. Just before Casino we had our first taste of thermals. As we both descended below an apparent inversion the wings started to move around. I could see my half full fuel tank and I was tempted to direct Eddie to push on a little more however I could see a car at the Casino aero club and I noted it was Harry’s the president. I landed first and Harry warmly greeted me. Ed followed and we were ecstatic that the trip had began. Harry took me to town in his car for more fuel and back home where I met Heather his wife. He called Deb and Russell two other members and they met us out at the strip. Deb took some pics and Russell gave us the low down on crossing the range. We plugged a route into our GPS’s and heard the way we were thinking about going was potentially treacherous and had taken the life of an aviator in 2006.. Thanks Russell for the local knowledge.!
In front of a few Aero club members Eddie pulled off a top launch and not long after I got off the ground and attempted to catch Eddie who was a few km ahead. It was around mid day now and the air was turbulent. What did we expect? I remember the phone call the night before with the Glider manufacturer telling me that the full speed tuck on my sized glider could be aggressive. I decided to be safe and flew slowly never to catch Eddie. I remember feeling a little sick from the turbulence, many times.. I was so preoccupied with keeping the wing over my head I failed to get any good footage. Thermalling is one thing but doing a A to B task means we get the turbulence from each side of the thermals, and as soon as we’ve finished with one it’s only a matter of time before we hunt another and another. I recall seeing eddies wing in front of me up high rocking around. I knew I was going to experience the same air, I couldn’t wait. I was impressed with eddies ability to stomach the air as thermal flying ion the flyke took me a good few sessions. I decided to stop and thermal up when I saw my vario go nuts. I was lower than ed and powering up seemed a little useless. In sink I would sink regardless and in thermals I don’t like to raise the Angel of attack even more with power so round I went.... and up I went. A few circles and a threat of a collapsewas all I needed to start looking for a landing. Eddie sounded relieved when I mentioned landing.
The smoke in one of the valleys close by gave me an idea of wind direction however it was wrong advice and my landing was quick. Wheels made up for my error and I was safe and relieved. I advised eddie on the situation and he came in nice and slow.Mumelgum was our destination and Thomas our friend happened to have pulled up at the shop on the hill. We had a 2 hour break before we put the flykes on the road for the first time to do a leg. I interviewed a few of the locals including Billy Williams ex south Sydney league player, I later found out. An indiginous fellow from the Bungalong people. I was overwhelmed and interested to meet more local aboriginal folk. We peddled off and apart from a few small technical problems we managed to get to Tabulam some 30km. Eddie had come to an Aboriginal community some 15 yers ago with his wife and kid to make candles and mix with the locals. As the light was fading and we were not going to make Tenterfield, we took a real punt and decided to show up to the community to see if any one had remembered him. Guess what? We were swarmed with around 40 kids on entry into the community. We finally tracked down some relatives of people Ed knew. They were (are) all completely friendly and we instantly had many places to stay. We are currently camped at one of the houses. The kids here run free and seem very happy to want to know how every thing on the flyke works. It’s been a massive adventure for both the community and us. We played footage of the flight as they couldn't believe the bikes we peddled in on flew us to mumilgum.
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