Bjørn Hammer’s Hang Gliding Page

Today it was nice sunny weather and warm temperatures for Norway in early March. The wind direction was North something so we, Øyvind and I, went out to Sundvollen with Sindre and Olaf – two of our students. Øyvind was out earlier than me so as I arrived Sindre landed after his first flight, so he drove back up to the launch with me. At the launch it was nice and warm but almost no wind so I did not even bother rigging my T2. If I had a WW Falcon available maybe I would have flown, but today I focused instead on letting the students get a few flights. Sindre got 2 flight today, and Olaf one as he arrived late. Most or all that had rigged got a sled ride down, but as mentioned, I was not that motivated today. I definitely think I must get myself a WW Falcon 3 for these slow 0-wind days.

Olaf launching at Sundvollen.

More photos from the day HERE.

Today we went to Sundvollen with the course to get some real flying. Per and Olaf became ready last weekend and Sindre already has 3 altitude flights. Instructors today were Terje Birdman, Erik V, and myself. The forecast looked good for the first altitude flight, but as we arrived at Sundvollen is was dense fog – probably as the only place in this part of Norway. This is not unusual, but equally frustration each time. We arrived at 1100 and had to wait until 1400 before the fog suddenly cleared, but we were troubled by tailwind all the day. After the fog lifted and between periods of tailwind we managed to send out Per and Olaf for their first altitude flights, not counting the 100 meter scooter towing flights, and Sindre on his 4th flight. All the students flew well and did exactly what they were supposed to. As the LZ is a frozen lake landing is not an issue, it is just not possible not to land somewhere on the ice.

Per landing, he chose a safe approach and I only got this distant shot of him in the air. (Click on the pictures for a larger version)

The eagle (Per) has landed.

Per seems to be pleased with the flight.

Olaf on this first hang glider approach.

Olaf was also pleased with his flight.

Sindre landing after his 4th flight with his fancy Skyline Race harness.

Today the winds had changed from SW to N-NE, meaning a shift of training hill from Åroll to Kjeller. Today it was fog, overcast, and cold, but nice launch wind. Per and I was alone today, except a visit and test flight by Terje Birdman who lives nearby. The training hill at Kjeller is about twice as high and long as Årvoll making it more demanding carrying the glider back up, so Per “only” had 5 flights today, but flies well and is ready for the big leap, meaning really big hills, the coming weekend.

Terje Birdman playing with the Falcon 2 in the wind.

Per launching.

Per launching once more. Here you also get a picture the size of this training hill.

Since we started scooter towing our traning hill at Årvoll has not been used that much. But as foot launch is the most used start technique in Norway, we have included this in the scooter tow course. This means that we use one day in the traning hill. As the students can fly already it is just a matter of being sure that they can launch also by foot. We have had no problems converting the students to foot launch, they start perfect the first time and need only a few flights to get ready for altitude flights from our usual flight sites.

Today only Per of the students could come, and I was the only instructor until Stein Edgar came by to get a couple of flights in the training hill as he has not flown since July. In addition, Olaf came with the Airborne Fun 195 glider he bought a few weeks ago, to test fly it for the first time. Everything went smoothly, and Per got + 12 flights, Olaf 5 flights, and Stein Edgar 3 or something. I got 1 1/2 flight as I ended up providing today’s launch entertainment. I guess the message is focus and run even on a large Falcon 2 in 0 wind conditions. My first attempt ended up on my nose, the second attempt was a little better. The students, on the other hand, launched like champions all day.

Per launching our WW Falcon 2 195.

Olaf launching his new Airborne Fun 195, his first flight on own glider.

Stein Edgar giving Per a helping hand, or in this case legs, with carrying the glider back up the training hill.

Today Steinar Sverd and I started the 2008 hang glider course season. Ole-Petter was busy this weekend so only Per turned up, in addition to Olav T. who finishes the course with our club. As we arrived it was no wind and conditions looked good, somewhat surprising as it was a lot of wind anywhere else. Still, we started at 1100 as the forecast promised less wind during the day so we were optimistic. But as we got read the wind had picked up and changed direction and made conditions difficult. We did manage to get 5 scooter tows but then it became too turbulent and we had to call it a day. I guess that the sun broke the ground inversion during the day and made way for the wind. Report from Sundvollen that it was soaring there did not make our mood better, but reading the online logbook this evening it seems like conditions there were as yesterday with only periods with soarable wind.

We tried to get our hang glider student his first flights without scooter towing, but it was a lot of fog and tailwind so we towed again instead. That is basically it for Saturday.

Video: Øyvind trying to kill me during his launch – not an unusual situation. Besides this he is a pretty civilised person.

Steinar and I had an afternoon/evening session for our only hang glider student Thuesday. The student, Øystein Aa, flyes as he has not done anything else and today he even passed the SP 1 test with only 2 wrong answers, and even those were partly a matter of definition – in other words perfect. He celebrated with 6 scooter tow flights. Following Steinar’s course philosophy, everyone should fly, I also got a flight on Steinar’s Wills Wing Falcon 3 193, he got two flights and Øyvind also came and got a flight. We also had a visitor from Moss for a course demo day. He had tried hang gliding 25 years ago or so and now he wants to pick it up again. So I guess we have no other choice starting another course once this is finished.

This was my first test of a Falcon 3. It seems a little faster and responsive. This makes it fun to fly, but is it a positive development for students?

All in all, another uneventful and thus successful scooter tow course day.

The weekend weather lately has been unsuitable for hang glider basic training using Condor and scooter towing. So we have used some evenings instead to get our one man course up and running. Yesterday Steinar and Øyvind were instructors and today Steinar and I had duty. Scooter tow training just seems more and more ingenious was the course develops. The progress is much faster, it is safer, it takes a lot less effort than carrying a glider up a training for a short flight, and it is fun. Today Øystein Aa, our student, got 4 relatively short flights of about 150 metres, and 4 longer ones of about 350 metres – all in 2 hours. He is a talented student, but at least some of the progress must be attributed to the training method. At the end of the evening I got a tow and a short flight – fun!

Øystein Aa being pulled up.

Øystein flying today.