Hang Gliding and Paragliding Volume 44 / Issue 2: February 2014 | Page 52

Thinking Outside the Blocks
PART IV: A DAY IN THE LIFE
by DENNIS PAGEN

L

ast September I had the first
flight on my new Moyes RX.
I took off, got relatively high
and landed. All in a day’s work.
But on the drive home I reflected
on the hundred little observations,
decisions and choices I made that
affected the flight’s outcome. I
thought it would be a good review of
the many factors that come into play
in a successful flight. Perhaps the
reader will pick up a few new tricks
or relearn some old lessons. Perhaps
the discussion will spark some
reflections on your own flights that
you can share with others. Perhaps
you can point out things I missed or
mistakes I made on this flight.
The site chosen for me by conditions and the price of gas was Hyner
View, along the Susquehanna River
in north-central Pennsylvania. The
launch is 1280 feet above the landing
field across the river. The mountain is
steep and the launch is steep with a
large bowl in front of it. A long gorge
runs back immediately to the right of
launch and a forward extension to the
left of launch descends to the “point”
(see figure 1). Then the ridge takes an
abrupt left turn to form a low, 250-ft.
ridge about 1/2 a mile long. In the
immediate vicinity of launch there are
slopes facing from south to north, although west to north are most usable.
These slopes accommodate various
wind directions and thermal drifts, as

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

we shall see. All the variations mean
this site is more complicated than one
with one face, one direction.
Hyner View is mainly a thermal site because it sits above a fairly
narrow valley and we don’t fly it in
winds over 15 mph. All the thermals
that get generated in the valley areas
tend to give at least a passing howdy
to launch. Because Hyner is our only
hope on light-wind days, we are sometimes there by default when air-horniness overcomes our better judgment.
As a consequence, we frequently find
ourselves scratching through the
nooks and crannies, seeking salvation from dreaded gravity with any
errant erratic thermal we encounter.
The 2:1 glide to the landing means we
can scratch nearly to the deck. There
are occasional saves from a couple
hundred feet up—or less.
With that picture in mind, imagine
my mixed emotions to find myself on
launch to get my prescription filled on
my RX, with only about 3 to 6 wafting in. I was fully prepared to just go
down on this virgin glider, simply to
break the ice. Now imagine my smile
when a bald eagle migrating down

the river hooked a weak thermal right
below launch. I picked up, on my toes
like a fundamentalist preacher ready
for heaven, but as so often happens
in light winds, the thermal changed
the launch winds to cross. I don’t
mind a 30-degree cross at this steep
site, but only if it is a steady wind,
not a thermal draw. Thermals harbor
turbulence that can greatly compromise safety. Certainly we launch into
thermals, but only in their heart when
the wind has straightened (lesson 1).
Unfortunately, the eagle was above
me by the time the wind straightened
enough for high-percentage launching. I motored off, wanting maximum
speed for maximum control. I found
the remnants of that thermal and
wallowed around for a couple 360s
trying to find the core—any core—
but it really didn’t work. I saw the
eagle wander off above me and wished
him luck even though he suckered me
off the hill. I was in the bowl, the first
place to hunt thermals at the site, but
all I found was too much of nothing.
OK, I had already resigned myself to
a glide-to-ground and I was finding
the RX’s handling to be delightful. I

Typically on a weak day you have to wring a
thermal out for every last drop of lift so you
can survive the dead cycles...