Today was a fly day for all levels of pilots. In the heat of the day,,,it was Rodeo air,which I love, and a little later, it calmed down enough for all that wanted, or could, to have a nice evening glass off. Colin stated that he got in the middle of one of those honkin' thermals and it spit him out at 6,600. I'm not sure if that was MSL or AGL? He wasn't dressed appropriately for it, which ever.
I got a flight report from Dub in Huntsville. He stated that 9 pilots flew there today. He flew for about 3 hours, and the top of the lift was at 3,300 over the mountain. Keel Mtn. is 960 agl. He has been flying for over 20 years, and is a great pilot. However, as he put it, he was retaught a old lesson today. He had gotten too far away from the LZ, pulled string, and got target fixated on "having" to land in the primary LZ, even though there were landing areas everywhere on the way back. He made it to the LZ without enough altitude to get back into the wind and had to do a cross-downwind landing. We aren't as young as we once were, but he gave it the ole' college try! He ran hard and fast, but the topless glider got ahead of him and he had a minor whack. Nothing broken, nothing bent, and he was able to walk away from it. It could have been ugly, to put it mildly. I wrote this as a reminder to all of us of an important lesson we learned in the beginning, whether we are in the "fish bowl" or on a great XC flight, never get target fixed on anything or any idea. Always be open to all of the possibilities, and options.
John Stokes's sister was able to take her first tandem flight for a spectacular sunset flight. After the sun went down, I went down to the breakdown area to see if anyone needed a body ride back up top, and was rewarded when I find out that Ricker was cooking for the tug pilots, tandem pilots, and anyone else that happened to be hungry. He had even cooked some of his crawfish bisque, and it was every bit as good as I had heard others talk about. Good stuff.
Even tho' I couldn't fly today, I took my new race harness down to the gazebo to hang in it, and try to get a good feel for it. My elbow is still hurting like a beast. I can't even do 1 push-up on my right arm right now. So, I will have it looked at this next week, to see if more harness physical therapy can be done on it, or I had better leave it alone. I am loosing way too much airtime, and I'm really hurting to get back in the air asap.
The link below is another great place to thank our men & women for the things that they are doing for us.


The Gratitude Sign

Ever wonder how to say thank you when you see a military person in uniform?
See a simple way to do it from across a room or as you are passing by.
http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php