I have been talking about getting a new toy. Here she is. It's a new Sport 2 155. Everything that I've heard about it---is more than true. After years of flying a K4, this glider is Sweet. Had a perfect launch into wonderwind conditions, I got 600 over, and she even slips nice on approach, and the round out, and a perfect no-stepper landing in calm conditions. What more could anyone ask for. The K4 turned like a big truck, the sport 2 has power steering. Best glider that I've ever flown. So excited about it, and looking forward to some serious XC this year. With this glider on full VG, it handles better than the K4, soo I am very stoked about it.

Two captions here ~~ We got stinkin' high at Lookout Mtn. today. Or,~what's wrong with this picture. If you click on any of these pictures you can enjoy them full size and see all the details.

The sunset tonight was breathtaking ! This is the same picture as above, only the correct view.

Here is a lucky person that got towed up for a gorgious evening glass off. You can see them in the middle of the picture if you click on the picture, it will enlarge.

Terry Presley flew over launch today in his bi-plane late this afternoon. The clouds were intense.

Today was the Closing Reception at the Cleveland State Community College for "Keep Dade Beautiful" photo exhibition,which was curated by the Trenton Arts Council. You can see my picture on the wall. I was honored to be chosen to be a participant.

On the left is Reed Parish, which is over the Arts department there at Cleveland State Community College. Bob Dombrowski, is the president of the Trenton Arts Council. The art was display wonderfully, and the refreshments were great. Looking forward to next year.

"Seeing and responding to beauty is a part of observation of the outside world. It is a state of mind opposite, exactly opposite, fear"
Bob Dombrowski

Tonight was a very special night for Fanny, Judy's Mom. It was her 94th birthday party tonight. There was alot of great food served, and alot of friends for her to share the occasion with. Her joy was only surpassed by her playfulness with her new Grabber. I don't think there was many people that left tonight that didn't have their hiney grabbed, including Nancy, haha! What a special lady!! Many more birthdays to come, I pray.

This was some of the folks that showed up for the party tonight. Greg took my camera and I was able to actually get in a picture.

The birthday girl having a little bit of fun with Barry. He just kept backing up,,,,I think he was liking it a bit much but hey,,,,,, to each his own. Just kidding.

This was my home flying site for 10 years until I move to Lookout Mtn. It's 920' agl, and is a NW facing slope launch. The hang gliding XC record for the site is 102 miles, which was set by one of the best pilots that I know,,,,,David Giles. We call this site Rudy's Ridge. Easy XC potential, and the easiest LZ that I know of. You can safely go over the back here with a couple grand over, and there's fields everywhere to land all the way to the river. Daniel Beck flew to Gadsen from here on a paraglider. A great Hang 2+ site ! If you haven't flown here before,,, you should at least once. It's only 16 miles from Huntsville, Alabama in a town called Gurley. The mountain is called Keel mountain. Don't think "Rides" should be on their sign tho?!

The pilots on deck today were, from left to right, David Jones, Jeff Cook, Isaac Jones(Dub),Trey Jones, and Dr. Eric Beck.

Another textbook launch & landing by Jeff Cook. He was my instructor when I learned how to fly.

The conditions had calmed down enough for David's 13th mountain flight. Then it turned back on to 17 gusting to over 22mph. Isaac, Trey, and David was all flying with radios so they could stay in touch during the flight. Good thing too. Isaac was able to radio to his son and warn him about getting behind the ridge, and NOT to do any 360s. The Target that he was flying doesn't penetrate very well. If he pushed out---he was flying backwards. Not good. You can see his landing below. I was very impressed with his flying ability to stay safe in such rowdy conditions.

Daniel Beck was able to get a short flight in at the end of the day. It had significantly calmed down. However, it was still strong enough that after launch,without a turn, he was at 1,000' over launch in just a few minutes. It took him 20 minutes just to get down. He also holds the XC (cross-country) record for the site---50 miles on a paraglider. This was his first flight on his new wing. Its a comp glider and he is once again~~ in love, haha.

Trey got the highest altitude on Thursday. He was able to get to 3,220 agl. He has become a very good pilot in a very short time. I think MAT and intermediate syndrome may be playing a big part in his flying right now. His landing may have gotten his attention a little bit. He allowed the glider to fly him, instead of the other way around while on approach and it almost bit him. Nothing broken but, he had is 2nd whack of his career. Sorry that I missed a pic of that one, just kidding. Great job of flying today in those conditions Trey! How about that gradient, huh?:^}

What do you think happened just after this shot? Yeah, he whacked(nose of glider touches the ground). It was his first one, and I was pleased to be able to catch it for him, haha!

This is for all the pilots in the Lookout Mtn. Area, and surrounding areas. Some people aren't on the regular e-mail list, so I'm posting this here. Don't want anyone to get chased by an F-16 ! or a Cobra helicopter !

Just a heads up for any of us thinking about going flying on Wednesday with 60 deg. and light west in the forecast. The airspace around Chattanooga will be closed between 10:35 AM and 2:05 PM. The reason for this is a presidential TFR that is in effect at that time. Launches affected are Lookout, Rising Fawn, Pigeon, Henson, and Whitwell. It appears that Chillhowee is outside the area by about 3 miles and Menlo by only ½ mile or so. More info can be found here for those of you with enquiring minds:http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/notams.html. For those of you that might be tempted to fly and believe that you can’t be seen on radar, think again. The radar being used during this time is from airborne military surveillance aircraft, not the normal Air Traffic Control radar. You will be seen and aircraft will be sent to find you. The effective times do change and the best way to get updated is to call Flight Service at 1-800-992-7433 and ask if the presidential TFR for Chattanooga has been cancelled before you launch. Please pass the word around and I hope to see you guys somewhere wed afternoon. Terry Presley

This story tells us just one of the reasons why we do not fly into clouds. Actually, by the FCC laws, we must stay more than 500' below any cloudbase. However, we do get "whited-out" from time to time((by accident))! Just in case someone official is monitoring, haha. Just Kidding.

Paraglider survives after soaring to 32,000 feet A German paraglider was encased in ice and blacked out after being sucked into a tornado-like thunderstorm in Australia and carried to a height greater than Mount Everest . She survived.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17185299/from/ET/

John & Paul were the only pilots I saw on deck today. It was below freezing on launch, so I'm not really surprised. I may submit a couple of these for the calendar. I think they would be some good hang gliding art pics.

Turn you sound on, sit back and enjoy this. Semper Fi !

http://www.iwo.com/heroes.htm

We had a Bon-fire party tonight at Rick Jr. house. Food, keg, good friends, and oh,,did I mention that we had a massive fire also??!! I hope that I am able to share a little of the experience with you. What a great time. The fire was,mmm, omg Hot.

Does anyone else see something unusual in these pictures besides me, especially in this one? In the flames?

Hope that you can see a little bit of scale with this one, and just how huge this fire was. Pyro's dream !

This was one of the only parts left of the original glider. The burning of the glider was in tribute to Rick Jr.s instructor, who lives in Texas now. I think he did a great job with everything.

We had baked Zita, meatballs, and desserts tonight. I'm sure Rick had to really bribe Doris to put on the dinner tonight in 29 degree weather. I would pick on James and Buddy with this picture, however I think everyone can put a caption under it of some sort, haha

We had a guy that knew the art of "Firespinning". I think it's from New Zealand. I wouldn't suggest it if you have shorts on.

Over the last couple of days, I have recieved a lot of really spectacular pictures. I thought I would post a couple for your enjoyment. I hope you like them as much as I do.

You have just got to see this video. Talking about Way toooo much funn! ! ! ! This particular clip is taken in WA. Western Australia, not Washington state. Mother nature has NO place here!

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=1482&sid=8cca87172886abb54b1f03b7e2097a95

This is a great shot of John Christoff coming in for another one of his perfect landings. Along with John, the pilots on deck for yesterday were: Scott Brown, Scott flying his silk, Mikey, Paul, Christopher, Mark, and Ozzie gave a tandem flight. It was spectacular air, almost wonderwind conditions at the end of the day. John launched earlier, and got over 2 1/2 hours. He is also a member of the polar bear club. The temps the other day was under 30 in the valley, and he was soaring. Talking with him last night after his fantastic flight, he gave me a few of his cold weather flying secrets, which I will be using. I have to get my hang strap adjusted on my new glider before I can take to the air, and the shop was closed yesterday.

A good friend of mine sent this to me. It is very addictive. I would be willing to bet the first time that you do it-----you wont last even 1 second ! After a little practice, I have achieved over 23 seconds. Post a comment and let me know your score, hahaha!

The object of the game is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls. If you can go longer than 18 seconds you are phenomenal. It's been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes. Give it a try!! It is addictive.

http://tinyurl.com/56t9u

I wish you would go to this link, and check it out. Make a soldiers day by sending them a thank you note. Let them know that you support them where they are, and what they are doing. It takes less than 2 minutes, unless you really get into it :^}

http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/americasupportsyou/index.aspx

I just added a new link to my blog. Over in the right hand column, you will see the same link as on this post. I just found it, thanks to the OZ report and it is a great forum.
If you have ever wanted to see what it looks like while flying a hang glider, take a look at all the great video clips. One day soon, I will have a clip of my own and will post it for all to see.
Enjoy !
http://www.hanggliding.org/

DID YOU KNOW THAT THE BIBLE HAS A SPECIAL VERSE FOR EVERYONE'S BIRTHDAY? CHECK YOUR'S OUT NOW !!

http://www.mybirthverse.com/