Skydog Sports

Finger Lakes, New York, 2007

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October 18, 2007

Italy Valley, New York

Bruce Engen - Italy Valley

 

Bob Grant - Going Down - Italy Valley

October 20th Weekend in the Finger Lakes started for us on Thursday when we joined Bruce   at Italy Valley for what turned out to be short flights with a few passes above the ridge before we were flushed and at the same time a local Rochester area Paraglider pilot Gary Ward ended up in the high trees about 500 feet short of the landing area which was entertaining as the local rescue group retrieved Gary from the trees. Photos of this rescue are at - Click Here

Sunday October 21, we met a group of pilots at Dansville NY and had an enjoyable day of flying in rather buppy conditions with most pilots landing at the airport. The longest flight of the day was achieved by Ron Letzin on a borrowed 225 Falcon and Ron stayed airborne for two and one half hours. The highest gains were about 1,300 feet above launch. Photos below.

Bob Grant, Bruce Engen and Ron Letzin

Linda Salamone

 

Dan Spiers and Mark Frutiger

 

Set-Up

 

A Beautiful Day at Dansville, NY

 

Chuck

 

Bob Roth - Take-Off

 

 

Scott Wise - Take-Off

 

Praying Mantis - Dansville

Stoneybrook Park - Dansville, NY

 

Scott Rowe and His Twin Boys - Set-Up

 

Scott Rowe - Take-Off

 

Scott Rowe

Ron Letzin - Take-Off

 

Stoneybrook Park - Dansville, NY

 

Chuck

Dan Spiers

 

Ron Letzin

 

Mark Frutiger

Lobie - Scott Wise's Pup

 

Mark Frutiger - Take-Off

 

Dan Spiers

Linda

 

Chuck

 

Linda

Linda

 

Bob Grant - Take-Off

 

Bob Roth - Setting Up

A Rainbow The Night Before

 

Mark Frutiger

 

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September 23rd at Mossy Banks, New York

 Our weekend in New York Started out great with lots of flights at the Finger Lakes Flight Park on Friday and then Saturday was too windy so we went Hiking. On Sunday the wind was Northwest switching to North later in the day so we went to Hammondsport but we were to Late as we watched Linda Salamone at 3,000 feet and the wind was dropping and already switching at 1 PM so lots of pilots went to Indian Cliffs from Hammondsport and Scott Wise and Myself (Bob Grant) went to Mossy Banks and I caught the last of the lift with a twenty two minute flight and I got to 700 feet above but then Scott took off and had a sledder with a good landing. I guess we will have to try again soon.

For the Finger Lakes Flight Park Photos from this weekend Click Here

Hammondsport September 23, 2007

Scott Wise with a Great Run off Mt. Washington (Hammondsport)

 

Greg Lloyd - Canada - H-Port

 

Katrin Feeling the Paraglider

 

Mukrin Sisic Too late for Lift But They do much Better at Indian Cliffs

Mossy Banks September 23, 2007

Bob Grant Flies His Fusion at Mossy Banks Overlooking Bath, New York

 

Bob After Take-Off at Mossy Banks

Bob Grant - Fusion

 

This Hawk was Real Close

Scott Wise Ready for Take-Off

 

Scott Getting Low

 

Scott Got off in a Bad Cycle and Goes to the Landing Area

 

Scott Wise with His Shadow Following Him - Sun is Getting Low

 

June 16th Weekend at Hammondsport and Rochester Flight Park

Bob Helps Scott on Take-Off

 

Scott Lifting Off the West Take-Off

Bob Grant - Fusion

 

Scott Wise

 

Bob Grant

 

Scott Wise Soaring Hammondsport New York

 

Bob Grant Soaring

Hammondsport Soaring June 17, 2007

With the wind being strong in the morning at the Flight Park we decided to try Hammondsport New York a mountain site fifty miles south of Rochester. After hiking near Naples we contacted Scott Wise who lives close to the take off and he was about to try a flight so we drove to take of and assed the wind conditions and decided that we would try a flight although the wind was occasionally gusting to over twenty mph. With my encouragement Scott was first to get off and had a good take-off with the left tip lifting a little more than normal but Scott was soaring so I hurried into my harness and scooted off the west take-off. The wind was strong so we did not get very high like three to five hundred feet above take-off with Scott usually above me as he flies a small Fusion which handles more wind that my larger one. Scott made a trip down to the south end of the ridge where the jail is located and I followed and Scott came back with good height but I had lost lots of lift on my journey back and I was below take off a hundred feet or so but gained to well above take-off quickly. After an hour or so the wind let up a bit and then I was able to get above Scott for the rest of the flight and at one point I used a bubble to get nine hundred and seventy feet above take-off which was the highest that we got to. After a couple of hours Scott decided to land and because the church landing field had been recently ploughed there was not a good landing field to land in so we used the soft ploughed field and Scott beaked in and fifteen minutes later I came in on my wheels and the nose came over fast and slammed into the soft dirt making a huge cloud of dust and covering me with dirt. I think that I should have tried a stand up landing. We both had smooth flights and enjoyed the air very much. After I returned home, I realized that I must have left my sunglasses in the landing area and Scott returned the next day and found them in the grass where I had broken down. Thanks Scott.

    Flight Report by Scott Wise

Bob Grant and I met at H-Port this afternoon and had a fine time flyin'. While the wind seemed a bit strong and a little westerly, once in the air it was nice. Amazingly smooth, in fact. I was 300 over with my first pass. Can you say "buoyant".

I launched at 6:26 pm and Bob followed about 5 minutes later. We both popped off from the south launch since that favours a more westerly wind. My max alt was a bit more than 1.5k over the LZ, and Bob reported 1.8K over. That was a sweet cycle and very Wonder-like - but then the whole flight could have qualified as wonderish. I took a short out and return to the knoll above the jail and back. I started at 1250 AGL and only lost 200 ft in the process. As I said, buoyant.

Before the end of the flight the wind began to rotate to the north and that may have been when the high cycle was triggered. Most of the time, however we both were between 1K and 1.2K AGL. Now and then the corn field behind launch would release a mild little thermal which didn't hurt at all.

It began to get a little late, so around 8:26 I headed out and ended up landing by the church at 8:31 pm for 2 hrs 5 minutes. Bob came out and touched down maybe 10 - 15 minutes later.

 

Finger Lakes Aerosports Flight Park June 2007

Allen Ahl

 

Oded Kalir Landing After a Thermal Flight

 

Ryan Voight Landing

 

Instructor Jamie McGuire Top and Lindsay Allen Student

 

Oded Gives it a Good Run

He's Off

 

Oded Lifts Off Nicely

 

Oded Kalir - Doodlebug

Oded Landing

 

Allen Ahl Landing Approach

 

May 5th Weekend at Indian Cliffs and Mossy Banks

Eric, Mary, Maureen and Bob - Morning Hike

Bob, Scott, Mary and Eric Propel Scott's Cart

 

Scott Wise Built this Cart and We Pulled our Glider up Indian Cliffs

 

After About Twenty Minutes We are Finally There

Indian Cliffs Set Up Area Near Elmira, New York

 

Sure is Pretty Up Here

 

Eric and Mary's Dog "Tess" Encounter a Porcupine

Scott Takes off First to Test the Air and is Soon Above

 

Scott on His 142 Wills Wing Fusion at Indian Cliffs

 

Scott

Bob Grant Above Indian Cliffs

 

The Highest I got to Was 3,685 Feet ATO

Landing Approach

 

Landing

 

Landing

 

Scott Landing

Scott

 

Getting Ready for the Flair

 

Good One Scott

 

Oded Kalir at Mossy Banks

Scott Wise at Mossy Banks

 

Scott Taking Off at Mossy

 

Scott Getting Up There

 

Oded Makes a Great Take-Off

 

Oded Soaring

Osprey ? in the Landing Area

 

Scott Gets Bumped Around in the Landing Area

 

Touchdown

Lobie Greets Scott

 

Oded Heading In

Flair

 

Bumpy

 

Bob Coming Down After a Three Hour Flight

Landing

 

Oded, Bob and Scott

 

Mary McBurney Shooting Paint Balls

Mukrin Sisic and Son Timin

 

Mary on the Swing at Hammondsport

Mukrin Sisic

 

Bob Roth Launching From Harriet Hollister Spencer Park at Honeoye, NY

 

Good Run

He's Off

 

Friday May fourth we made another trip to the Finger Lakes and this time our friends Eric and Mary accompanied us. We met Scott Wise at his home in Bath around noon and decided to check out Mossy Banks and found that the wind was crossing and so we decided to hear for Indian Cliffs which is about another forty miles and by the time we collected Scott's glider transport tool we ended up getting to Indian Cliffs around four o'clock and quickly set up after rolling our gliders up the hill on Scott's cart. Just when we were near the top, Mary's dog Tess got into a battle with a porcupine and of coarse had about forty quills in her mouth so Eric and Mary worked on removing the quills. Scott took off first as I am a big chicken and after about five minutes we could see that Scott was well above take-off so I hustled off the hill and found some great thermals taking me to almost 3,700 feet and I stayed up for one hour and thirty five minutes when the lift subsided. Scott stayed up for fifty two minutes and landed with his dog Lobie greeting him in the landing area.

Saturday morning we went for a hike in Hammondsport and called on Scott around noon when we decided to fly at Mossy Banks. Mossy is a shear cliff take-off and so I got my nerve up and was the first off with the help of Oded Kalir who showed up while we were setting up our gliders. It turned out to be a great take-off in a lull between the stronger cycles and immediately I was up to six hundred feet above and soon I was in thermals which eventually took me to 2,020 feet. The wind was sometimes strong and blowing the thermals back quickly and at one point in my flight I had the wires go slack which I did not like and Scott also reported that he had a similar experience on that day. I was having a good time working the thermals and stayed up for three hours and five minutes. I think that Scott said that he stayed up for two hours and Oded had a one hour flight.

Sunday morning we checked with Scott who said that the predicted wind would be too strong so we went for a hike through the gorge at Grimes Glen in Naples and after that we stopped at Harriett Hollister Spencer Park and found Bob Roth and Doug Fen there and we watched as they tried to stay up in a thirty degree left cross wind without success so we headed home and later heard from Mukrin that he flew at Mossy Banks on Sunday as the wind calmed down later in the afternoon. There is a video of Mukrin's flight on our Paragliding webpage. Looks like he had some great lift and landed on top.

 

April 25th Weekend at Hammondsport - Mossy Banks and FLAP Tow field

Scott Wise Sets Up at Mossy Banks

Bob Roth - Mossy Banks

 

Bob Roth

 

Jamie McGuire

Jamie McGuire

 

Jamie McGuire Wingin

 

Scott Wise

Jamie McGuire

 

Scott Wise Takes Off Mossy Banks

 

Jamie McGuire

Our friend

 

Scott and Jamie

Jamie McGuire Over 90

 

Scott Overhead

 

Scott and the Hawk

Jamie McGuire

 

Scott and Jamie

Scott on Approach

 

Scott on Approach

Bob Roth Landing

 

Scott Landing

 

Mount Washington - Hammondsport

Scott Wise Sets Up at Hammondsport - Mt. Washington, New York

 

Scott Rowe Running Off Hammondsport

 

Scott Rowe Soon Above Launch

Scott Wise and Scott Rowe Share the Lift

 

Scott Rowe

 

Bob Roth (Tallest) and Friends

Maureen Grant Helps Rick Parulski Clear Land

 

Scott Rowe

Lobie and Flash

 

Scott Rowe

 

 

Bob Roth Launching at Hammondsport

Dan Spier Setting Up

 

Bob Roth Taking Off Hammondsport

 

Bob Getting High

Bob Roth Going for the Landing Area

 

Bi-Wingual Air Space

 

Scott Wise Above

Dan Spier Launching Hammondsport

 

Dan's Off

 

Hammondsport Launch From Above by Mark Andrews

Bob Grant by Mark

 

Mark and Dan - Kueka Lake in Background

 

 

Dan Spier

 

Dan Spier

Bob Grant  Working Up by Mark Andrews

 

Dan Spier

Dan Spier

 

Scott Wise Taking Off Hammondsport

 

Dan Spier

Flash with a BIG Rock at Stoneybrook Park - Dansville

 

Scott Wise

 

Finger Lakes Aerotow Park - Rochester

Bob Grant Being towed by Marty Beckenbach

Marty in the Dragonfly

 

Bob Grant

 

Doug Allen Taking Off

Bob Grant

 

Doug Allen

 

Bob Roth Approach

Marty Teaching

 

Bob Roth Approach

 

Marty and Student

 

Bob Grant on Approach

Bob Roth Approach

 

Doug Allen on Approach

 

Bob Roth - Touchdown

Bob Roth

 

Our First weekend In The Finger Lakes 2007

On April 18 th we were watching the weather forecasts and noticed that the coming weekend looked very favourable for flying so we contacted Scott Wise who lives in Bath, NY and asked if he would be available to fly from Friday through Sunday and he replied that yes he would love to get airborne again. We loaded up our gear at six Friday morning and headed for Bath. When we first drove through Bath I noticed that the flag on top of Mossy Banks looked to be blowing in but somewhat from the north so Hammondsport sounded best.  I called Scott and met him at the Hammondsport launch at twelve-thirty. When we arrived and checked wind flow it appeared to be coming straight in at five to ten mph so I set up my Fusion and Scott put up two tell tail streamers. I had my glider set up in about a half hour and was ready to launch so with Maureen and Scott behind each wing wire and the streamers blowing in nicely I made a four step run off the step hill and felt a sinking feeling so pulled in for extra speed and turned right to get around to the more north facing part of the face where I hoped to catch some lift and sure enough there was some lift but not enough to gain altitude so I turned left coming back to where I expected to find lift but nothing so I continued west now below launch about two hundred feet cruising in a bit to close to the trees when I got a soft mushing feeling and before I could pull in enough and  turn right I could hear my left wingtip clicking through the tree branches and within three seconds I spun into the trees to a cushioning stop. Fortunately I was not very high off the ground but the ground was at a sixty degree slope and my feet were barely touching the rocky soil. OK damn, I really screwed up this time so looking around I can see that my Fusion doesn't appear to have any significant damage but now how do I get out of here. With my feet barely touching the ground I try to unhook my carabineers (you say carabineers, well yes I have always used two) But I could not get the hang strap of the either carabineer so I finally gave up on that and unzipped and unbuckled my harness and dropped out of the CG 1000 harness trying to get a foothold against a tree or shrub. Next I unhooked my harness from the glider and try to make my way to the take off area which is more than two hundred feet up the steep slope but after five minutes I gave up on taking my harness up with me as it was to steep and I was not making much headway so I left my harness and used both arms and legs to get to the top so that Maureen would not have gone to the landing area looking for me but to no avail as by the time I got to the top (about twenty minutes) Maureen had left to retrieve me, not knowing that I had landed in the trees and Scott was breaking down his glider thinking that if there was no better lift than I had found that we should pack up and head for Indian Cliffs or Mossy banks which both face northeast or fifty degrees on a compass. Next I asked Scott if he would drive to the landing area and inform Maureen that I had landed in the trees and need help dislodging my glider and so Scott headed down and dropped me off at Rick Parulski's farmhouse where I asked Dick for a rope and a saw to cut the saplings away from my glider and soon Scott, Maureen and I were on a mission to get my Fusion out of there although I had thought that maybe I should leave it there permanently as I was so pissed that I had gotten into this predicament in the first place and I was due for a new glider anyways but with some encouragement from Scott and Maureen we decided to extract my glider and Scott said let's take it down the mountain rather than up as it would be much easier and I had to agree to that one. Amazingly after cutting only four saplings we were able to get the glider folded up and into the bag which took about an hour so Maureen struggled back to the top to take our vehicle down while Scott used the long rope tied to my glider and secured around trees to keep me from sliding to fast down the slope as I guided the glider and harness through the trees to the base of the mountain where we carried it to highway fifty four where Maureen came along shortly after we got there. We loaded up my glider retrieved Scott's car and glider and headed for Mossy Banks and as we arrived we could see two hang glider pilots soaring that beautiful four hundred foot high ridge. We got Scott's Fusion to the take-off and he set up and had a wonderful almost two hour flight with Jamie McGuire and Bob Roth at one of my favourite flying locations. After the pilots packed their gliders Scott, Maureen and I grabbed a bite to eat and we took my Fusion to Scott's home to sew a patch on my Fusion's wingtip which had suffered a eight inch tear in my tree landing and fortunately Scott has a super industrial sewing machine and he did an excellent job of patching my sail and all I had to do was inspect the airframe on Saturday morning before attempting flight again and as it turned out I did not see any damage other than one slightly bent batten which I straightened.

Lesson - Don't fly too close to the trees. Bad Bob!!

Saturday April 21, 2007, "talk about a wonderful day for flying" well it just couldn't have been better. Once I had inspected my glider and set it up at eleven o'clock Mark Andrews was already in the air at Hammondsport and well above take-off so I knew it was good now so I got into my harness and screamed off that hill again and this time there was lots of lift and I climbed to well over three thousand feet in my first thermal and I could see Mark flying his Paraglider in the same air that I was experiencing. As the day progressed the thermals became even better and by noon there were lots of paraglider pilots setting up and getting airborne. A little later on Scott Rowe, Dan Spier, and Bob Roth joined Scott Wise and I along with about ten Paraglider pilots. Although there was not a cloud in the sky the thermals were many and I found them to be smooth although I heard a paraglider pilot saying that he thought it was bumpy but I expect that was closer to the ridge and luckily I did not get down there during my first flight which lasted two hours and twenty minutes and according to my Flytec I topped out at six thousand eight hundred feet above take-off but I was told later by Florian Ghiban that he was at 8,500 feet above the landing area and that I was at about the same level and that may be possible as my number one vario battery died in flight and I switched over to number two so maybe my readings got confused in that transition. After my first flight I landed on top about five hundred feet behind the take-off and rested for an hour and then took off again finding similar conditions and topping out at five thousand and eight hundred feet and I landed this flight at the church landing area where many pilots were gathered. At seven o'clock there were still four or five pilots in the air and getting a thousand over launch so it was soarable from ten-thirty in the morning until seven-thirty in the evening. I did not hear of any cross country flights from Hammondsport on that day but I am sure that the XC pilots in neighbouring areas must have gone for it.

Sunday April 22, 2007 we drove to Dansville NY which is about thirty miles from Bath and when we arrived after a walk though Stoneybrook park Gorge around noon, Florian said that he had talked to Bob Roth who said that Marty was going to tow today so we zoomed off to the Rochester tow park because the wind at Dansville was nil. I had a twenty minute flight from Marty's aerotow along with Doug Allen and Bob Roth so Sunday had few thermals that I could stay with but by four o'clock we noticed that the wind had picked up to about ten mph and we found out later that Florian and Mukrin flew at Dansville after all and had great flights.

The next weekend did not appear to be flyable so we did a kayak trip on Sunday at the Elora Gorge which is about seventy miles from our home in London, Ontario, Canada.

Cloud 9 Action from the Ground

Ghost Riders Ariel Adventure

Oldie But Goldie

 

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