Bjørn Hammer’s Hang Gliding Page

May 17th and the Norwegian Constitution Day today. Parades, celebrations, and lots of food.

Picture from Høvik today.

Flying hang gliders and living in the Oslo area  normally include a few hours of driving in the summer. Therefore Olaf T. has been exploring Bærum to find local flying sites. Most potential sites have probably been view or tried so it is more a question of revisiting and evaluting the potential again, but maybe also finding a new sites as well. Yesterday I joined Olaf to visit a potential site in Lommedalen. We first had a look at a potential intermediate training hill from a slalom slope (wind direction NE, about 120 metres, large LZ) before walking up to the potential launch. The view from the launch is spectacular, but the launch itself looked pretty challenging.  In addition, it is potential problems from rotors from a number is sources. On the other hand, the LZ is nice big field. The launch is facing SE and altitude is about 220 metres. It is a 15 min walk to the launch from the road so some carrying is required. The launch provides about 400 metres of ridge that should be soarable. All in all, a pretty marginal site with a difficult launch. Still, it may be worth trying out for pilots more eager to fly than to drive.

Nice view, but a challenging launch.

More pictures HERE.

Good forcast for Friday but not for Saturday and Sunday, so Alf and I drove the 185 km to Gol in Hallingdal (and back again in the evening) trying to get a flight on Friday. We met up with Steinar and Aud, and drove up to the launch at Flatagrov. It was high air pressure and the conditions did not look very promising, but gradually the thermals got stronger and we launched just after 1330. Initially it was weak conditions and we all struggled to get up, but then the conditions improved and we could find lift almost everywhere. I flew for 2 hours 15 minutes, and by the time I wanted to land it was difficult to get down because of the strong lift.

The landing today was interesting. First I had big problemes getting down in the strong lift, and as I flew over the landing I saw 3 flags marking different wind directions, the marker at the landing a forth wind direction, and finally my fly instrument a fith direction. One way or another I managed to land on my feet in weak tailwind.

Self portrait.                  The view towards Hemsedal.

More pictures from the day HERE.

The weather here in southern Norway has not been the best lately, at least not if you prefer flying and summer activities. It has been a lot of snow and quite cold, down to – 18 C.

Here are two pictures three days apart taken at Lierbakkene while driving to work in Drammen. Snow one day, and a clear sky and very cold another day.

Today I got the sad message that Bjørn Erik Lillehov died in a tragic helicopter crash yesterday in the northern part of Norway. Bjørn Erik and I participated at the same hang glider course in 1998; we were a total of 13 on this course. Bjørn Erik stood out as one of the most enthusiastic and talented of the hang glider students and he was a great person as well. He flew hang gliders for a couple of years before changing carrier path totally as he started training as a helicopter pilot (from pharmacy I think). We did not have much contact after he stopped flying hang glider, but this summer he turned up in Vågå to see hang gliders fly and to see if he could find some old acquaintances. I guess he only found me, and we had nice chat while I was waiting a few hours for good conditions.

The news story can be read HERE (in Norwegian).

I will miss Bjørn Erik, R.I.P.

January has as usual been a bad month for flying here in Norway, and I have not flown so far in 2009. Today looked a little promising with a forecast of NW winds and some sun, so Terje B., Espen (student from our last course) and myself gave Sundvollen a try. As we arrived the conditions did not look too promising wit fog, 0-wind, and lots of snow. In addition, it was pretty cold with -10 C. We drove up to take a look at the conditions, but fairly soon decided not to fly. With 0-wind and lots of snow that would make a good launch run difficult, as well as possible problems with rime/ice on the sail, we chicked out. Some paragliders got a few flights, but also a few of them had some problems launching because of the snow.

Pictures from the day taken by my mobile phone, Nokia N95.

Lots of ice on the trees.

Fog, snow, shit.

The last 24 hours (Sunday 1200 – Monday 1200) we had 41 cm of snow here in Bærum. I had to shovel snow late yesterday evening, just to do one more round this morning starting at 0615 to get my car out and ready to drive. It had been 70 years since a similar snow fall around here. Video from the local newspaper HERE (in Norwegian, but nice visuals as well).

Today I also started in new job at Sykehuset Buskerud HF (Buskerud Hospial Trust) as project manager. The hospital is a 32 km drive away in Drammen, and I feared that the drive would be bad in these conditions, but the roads were more or less cleared from snow and it was no problems. The job seems very interesting and I can not wait to start working on the projects – I guess the first week will be used for start up activites and to get familiar with the organisation, routines, and so on.

The snow was forecasted to arrive a little earlier than Sunday evening, but the entire weekend nevertheless had bad weather with some snow, wind, and fog. So no flying this weekend, and unfortunately the longterm forecast is not promising. This is typical for Norway in December and January.