24/10/2007 by Murray Hay.

Having first started flying with a ’EP’ summer spent at a BHPA school in Scotland, Alan had a “grand total” of about two hours airtime when he decided to get back into the sport and chose to re-train with Precision Paragliding almost one year ago in late 2006.

After his first afternoon at Precision Paragliding with a mix of Dual Control tandem flying and then solo flying on his own Nova glider, Alan was soon averaging over 3 hrs per training day!

Now after almost 12 months flying of with the club and close to 100 hrs airtime he was well and trully up to speed for some serious aircraft airtime on a DHV 2/3!

Murray Hay
With thanks to Ian Archer for the still photos of me flying Alan's Nova (red wing) with Alan on my white Nova Vertex 24

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03/10/2007 by Murray Hay.

The last training weekend of September started with early flying at some of the sites on the south bank of the river Tay for Jonathan (first short solo’s), before moving on to Forret Hill NE face, Alan & Ali flying the main face while Jonathan was joined by Andy, both doing some ground work and ‘hops’. As the conditions were now looking spot on for East Lomond the last swithc of site for the day was made and phone calls sorted out the location for other students & pilots to meet up, retrive transport sorted and all the pilot to the top carpark…

After Dual Control tandem flights it was time for Jonathan to do a number of short solo flights with radio instruction to just below the hill top then the “Biggie” with Ali and Alan already down in the ‘Ruin’ landing field JR was off flying the tasks with radio from above till the change over to Ali talking him through the last circuits and final approach to a perfect landing!

After another GV pilot up to the hill top with his folk’s had a quick taster tandem flight (they are booked for another day, but wanted to meet up to watch/perhaps get in one flight) time for Andy (booked for Sunday flying) to start the ‘practical’, having spent much of the day watching/listening in to JR’s instruction we were able to get straight to flying giving him a head start for Sundays training.

Andy’s first flight was the 1,000+ ft tandemed down to join the others before heading back up for one  last sunset flight, joined by Ray (borrowing the Sigma) to fly, the wind having switched to SSE on the Tandem to the bottom path near the car park, Ray landing near the top path.

Sunday saw Andy getting in a lot of time on the Dual Controls at the south bowl at Glenshee before one DCT flight at Backwater then ground work to finish the weekend at The Knock, Murray giving his wing a quick test flights after runing a ‘line length’ check.

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03/07/2007 by Dunc1261.

I’ve been to St Cyrus several times where on each occasion the conditions have not been suitable for flying. Last Saturday I got a call from Scott Rigg to say that he was heading for Morrone, near Braemar. I checked www.XCWeather.co.uk and the wind was 12MPH from the South East at Aboyne.

I thought it would be too strong on the hill and Scott call me back to confirm that this was indeed the case. With a South Easterly he mentioned St Cyrus. I thought “This is it!” and headed down the A90 to Stonehaven then on to the Coastal Road.

I called Murray who was doing a Wedding Photo Shoot and he said good luck and to be careful. I know this is a site not for the faint hearted as the drop is very steep. The wind has also to be spot on to the slope. About a mile North of St Cyrus I saw a couple of paragliders up so I knew conditions were flyable. I phoned Scott back to advise and then parked up at the Public Car park to see three paragliders on site. One I knew was Bill Connon from the Aberdeen Club. The other two pilots were unfamiliar but when they landed I introduced myself to Terry Stubbs and his friend. 

I spoke to Bill to get his feeling for the conditions. He had been flying on and off for a couple of hours and said that conditions were very smooth. I told Bill this was my first time flying at St Cyrus, the site had always eluded me. Scott arrived as I was setting up and laying out my wing. I watched Terry’s friend take off, then pulled up the Aeron. No double bounce (sorry Murray you were right!) but a smooth transition up. I made sure the wing was solid, not looking up, and then I stepped off the cliff edge Into the first beat and into the busy traffic! I stayed up for well over an hour only coming down to take on some fluid! 

Scott took off and joined in. 5 gliders in the air and all working the circuit. Terry performed a death spin (I think?) and landed in the barley field. I shouted down and he replied that he was okay but claimed he was out of practise! The second flight was similar as was the third. A few lumps only when flying over the car park and the views were fantastic. I had to pack up early to pick up one of my boys, but the wind was strengthen as per the forecast and I know I made a good call. Other folks arrived from the Aberdeen Club. Simon Lucas and John Newton. I’ve posted up a video with the photos I took on to www.YouTube.com search for Dunc1261. 

A good day at St Cyrus indeed! 

See you on the Hill or on the Coast!

Fly Safe 

Duncan 

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04/06/2007 by Alan.

Fantastic day yesterday. Even although while looking at the weather
In the morning I thought this was going to be a DIY day.
It was still worth the drive down from Aberdeen to Fife as some time could have been spent on theory if conditions were poor.

On arrival at East Lomond conditions were humid , hazy with very light winds. This turned out to be a very  educational day. By the time we reached the top the sun was although not breaking through was managing to heat the ground as small thermals were popping through.

Murray: “IR passes through the clouds, like certain types of glass IR can pass one way (in to the greenhouse/room) but not out… the reason for this is the ‘frequency shift’…. IR direct from the sun is (from memory) a higher frequency than the IR radiated back to space from the ground, hence on a cloudy night the local air temp/world remains warm while on an otherwise identical night but with no cloud cover the temp drops rapidly and a frost can occur, all due to the (lower frequency) IR radiated from the ground being reflected by the cloud cover back to the ground i.e. ‘trapped’ … on the clear nite it simply radiated back into space and is lost..

So in summery, cloud cover (daytime when out flying) will reduce the temp ‘contrast’ so it feels LESS hot in hazy sun than if it was direct sun this generates thermals low down/ground level but far less punchy. As the PG pilot gets higher the strength of the RISING thermal is more to do with the actual (environmental) lapse rate, so thermals rising into cooler air speed up ‘get stronger/puncher’.” :END    

I spent some time testing the air and trying to get a feel for the thermals and
Change in wind direction prior to take off. It was surprising how in such
Light conditions ( ridge lift that is ) how much the wind direction and strength changed
over such a short period of time swinging from south easterly through to southerly in seconds. 
Meaning standing on the top plateau my Nova Pheron was nodding left to right almost like a
Metronome. In addition tension on risers were changing so much that I had good practice
At reversing and controlling frontal collapses. Although not perfect at this I’m sure My DHV 1 Nova Pheron was not helping. ( think I need to cut the wing tips off -  Murray get the old Singer looked out  )

Murray :”This yaw of the wing (and on low DHV wings significant roll due to tip curving down) is a classic indicator of a light wind lifty thermal condition and required a diffrent approach to launching TIMING than a variable wind ‘ridge lift day’” :END

Most flights were generally short from top with hill side landings just below the plateau.
( even Murray on the odd occation didn’t manage a top landing )
At about 2pm The sun managed to squeeze through for 30 mins and the cycles changed for a while with increased thermal activity. 

One specific flight, where my launch timing was right ( more good luck than judgement )  I flew straight into a decent thermal which took me up about 100 ft I rode out about 3 or 4 punchy small thermals which allowed me to stay about at take off height until a large cycle ( large for the day that was ) came through which took me to approx 600 ft above take-off for a nice 20 minute flight.

Who would have thought yesterday was flyable

Alan c

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01/06/2007 by Murray Hay.

With the conditions getting WAY too punchy inland by eary afternoon (a couple of PG accidents involving heli rescue etc! at other sites in Scotland) Duncan (thanks for the pics and myself headed to the sandy bay at Elie which is always a good option when Fife main sites ‘blow/thermal out’…. a great site to work on launch/landing and general ground control/safety stuff, with the potential for some exclent technical flying.

Using the wing to jog up the hill, plus the usual playing about on the poles & blocks (war time tank traps), with a lot of the lift (west component to the wind at times) along the ridge out to the point short (!) ‘out and return’ flights even over the water were on.

The bay is also a good site when the wind is right and the air is ‘lifty’ for extended tandem flights, even with heavier P2’s, in fact Alan Littlejohn started with his first flights here..

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05/04/2007 by Murray Hay.

Ali and myself having a blast with some close quarter flying over the main quarry at Forret in a mix of ridge & mild thermals, by the end of the evening one gorse bush had been half garoted and a couple more squashed….

The AWACS did three take off and landing practice ‘circuits’, but instead of over flying the hill (normal) was braking left early so not making as good a photo op for us PG pilots!

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04/04/2007 by Murray Hay.

After the weekend up the mountains (Glen Coe) and Hill’s (E Lomond) of Scotland, it was time for some lazy flying (as far as walking goes)…. so late afternoon after work up the coast to pick up Ali….. cups of tea, walk 20 ft to pickup….. arrive at Vic Park, ‘climb’ up the steps for Ali (50ft) and walk 20ft for Murray to fly up…… with VERY ‘x’ conditions due to the east component it was a fun half hours airtime for me and Ali honing his GH & Take Off skill in the almost (gnd) trim speed = wind speed…. then another 20ft walk back to the pickup….. Gosh that’s getting close to 100ft walking so far!

A quick drive around to East Seaton, phoning to farm manager to open the site, and then….. you guessed it, walk about 20-30ft to take off on the bay slope (!) For almost 2 1/2 hours of GREAT flying with all the usual T & G’s, mild aeros and spot landings…

Jim from Dundee was out walking and taking pics along the coastal path and is going to forward pictures of the two gliders in the air, with luck capturing the ‘close quarters’ stuff we were doing for the camera, fingers crossed we (and the shuter release) got everything lined up to make some spectacular images… to be added to this post  soon

A slightly early end to the days flying as the lift was dropping by 7:30 (along with the temp!) and to get around to Pepo’s in time for the chips etc… so a L O N G walk of at least 150ft…. Shocking! to the pickup drive around and 10ft to the counter to pick up the phoned in order and back down the road to yet another 20ft walk to more tea and nibbles….

Summing up the afternoon/evening: We were out for under 4 hours, with a total walking time about 5 mins and my flying time, well around three and a half hours, Ali doing slightly less time when we were flying at the park but solidly flying till pack up time at the Bay

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02/04/2007 by Ali.

There comes a point when rhapsodising about the weather becomes pointless, and I guess this weekend has been it, so to speak. After yesterdays blast in Glen Coe, and last weekends romp at Lunan, maybe it’s time to start expecting the met to be generally magnanimous and benevolent, and well disposed to the gliding fraternity, para doo dads included. First of April, time of fools and showers turned out to be a shower of fools doing what comes naturally, fooling around, about and above the hill in glorious sunshine.

Murray, Martin and myself, as well as a couple of others, met up at East Lomond expecting pretty much what we got: light and variable winds, mainly easterly with continually changing quantities of north or south depending on the whim of whatever thermal was going through. Go through they did, very broken, workable yes, I think, but not for me really. I just took off, flew up in vario song (wish I’d had the vario yesterday) to rival the larks, then landed as high as I could after a couple of turns so I could get another go. I did that pretty much all day, until about seven o’ clock, as did Murray, with Martin flying down for his tea (he lives at Falkland, lucky sod, or would be if he didn’t have to spend so much time in China!)

Maybe some cynic out there will say “So, what’s so good about flydowns under a great big inversion?” to which I answer “It was warm, it was continual, it was educational, it was excellent practice, but most of all it was great fun.” The guy in the tiger moth obviously thought so too, as he dived and stall turned just to the south. He came over to say hello, passing a few hundred feet above the top of the hill. I  rather cheekily gave him six points for his efforts, and he obviously thought he owed his audience a loop, cos he went out and did one. Excellent fellow.

Murray and I took a turn each at retrieve towards the end of the day, so we could get a decent long downhill flight. I was quite surprised to see five down on the vario, but the sink is quite bad out the front sometimes. After I had picked Murray up in the pickup, we headed back to Dundee. If the rest of the years weekends turn out like this, I for one wont be complaining, but I’ll bet it gets a lot better yet. I’ve been predicting it since last September, and I reckon it’s going to be…..I won’t say it. Fingers crossed though, and this high looks set to stay for a week or so yet, and there’s a cold front due to go through, I think about lunchtime tomorrow. Hee hee. Watch this space for a post cold frontal shower of April fools, coming in, need it be said, for perfect landings.

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26/03/2007 by Ali.

Well, it has to be said it didn’t LOOK like much of a start to the day, no matter what Murray forecasted, it was a mediocre morning, clocks forward day or not. Only the wind strength was right, but a little too far north of east for my liking. Overcast, muggy, nothing dreadful, but not a lot of sunshine on the ground. Driving past Arbroath en route to Lunan Bay at twenty past ten, there was a distinct lightening of the sky to the east though, so I began to feel at that point that a little optimism might not be altogether unrealistic.
Arriving at Lunan to meet up with Alan C, in the public car park, the wind felt more like it was parallel to the beach, but that was to change quite quickly, or rather we were to change site, moving down to the gorse ridge as soon as Alan C arrived. After a rather bumpy ride in the back of the pickup, (Sorry M’lud) I went down to the base of the gorse ridge, popped up the canopy, and went walkabout, right along the its 500 metre. There did seem to be more of a cross component than would allow me to climb out from the beach, so I struggled round the north end of the gorse ridge, and up into a bowl about 200 metres in diameter. First flight from there took me round the corner, and onto the front, where I proceeded to do a very good landing. The fact that Murray and  Alan C were soaring non stop throughout this last attempt to launch, and through most of  my futile ascent into the bowl, fuelled a certain impatient sulk in me, which always leads the kind of fluffed takeoff which I now proceeded to demonstrate my expertise in. Time after time. Gosh, I am a good swearer.
In the end though, even my incompetence could not prevent me taking off, and once in the air I settled into staying up there. The wind was indeed well off, but there was plenty of lift. Getting to about 100 feet over the top was about the most I could hope for (the very most) so it was down to using the airtime to practice penetration flying (low height loss wingovers), high speed scratching, an interesting mix of easy lift, rules of the air, and then, an opportunity to get into the bowl, there to use thermals rising from a seeded field.
As the afternoon wore on, the sun came out, and the field heated more and more, so there was a really cool dirt track, paraglider style: Climb at the south end of the ridge, wingover where beneficial right up to the pill box at the north end, then turn into the bowl, and either follow the rim to the thermal source, or fly straight to it across the field. It felt quite low at times, but I always managed to climb out again. It was just a blast. I’d get up to the north end of the bowl, and then hurtle along just above the gorse with the wind well behind me, back down to the south end of the ridge, turn in the house lift there, gain height then do it all again, and see if I can do it faster/less height loss/ low as I can/ big eared  etc.

 

 

 Alan Coffin enjoying his first ‘feet wet’ (as the RAF say) flight out over the sea.

Bottom image is me flying the far headland, shot when Murray landed to drive Alan back to his car.

About four oclock, we went up to the cliffs (pictures above), and walked along the tops. Murray took off from above the huts and flew along to the section we were going to soar, but Alan and I had a good enough look from the cliff top path to see that bottom landing was not an option so we walked. When Alan and I arrived at the takeoff, on the next bay up from the fishing village, the wind seemed well on to the hill. Obviously there was enough lift, with Murray getting 150 feet over the top. Alan promptly took off. I promptly screwed up my takeoff like I did in the morning, following up with a linethrough which took 10 minutes to clear. Eventually, I too took off, as Murray and Alan disappeared down the ridge to the beach so Alan could get a lift back to the public car park and keep the family happy by getting home on time!
 So, here I am on my own again, I thought, as I pushed forward to the very front of the cliff line, but absolutely no further. A series of little bays, a serrated edge between the sea, the land and the sky. A row of houses, and of boats in one, the others grassy, or rocky, broader or narrower. Over the spume and froth of the rocks, red sandstone reef, water deep blue, flecked with patches of fleeting turquoise. The smell of coalfires, the fast run towards the beach, turn and work your way up to the front again.
And then Murray came back from delivering Alan C back to his car, and for a few minutes we shared the air. I turned and ran for the beach, And discovered I’d been in the air for an hour since my last takeoff. Bliss. More of the same soonish, I hope. Maybe even tomorrow. 

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22/02/2007 by Dunc1261.

• Ally Soars above the Forret Quarry!

A great day out on Saturday 17th Feb 2007 was had by Ali, Ian, Triantafyllos, Murray and a number of PPC students.

I sped down from Aberdeen after having packed the TT with my gear the previous evening and reached over to pay the Tay Bridge Toll, always interesting in a LHD car!  

Met up at the field below Forrett Hill, up to the top on the pickup and measured the wind speed at the top. Too strong conditions so we moved down to the plateau below the wee quarry. Ali was up and out front. Triantafyllos turned up and we went up at the same time. Murray and passenger then went up followed by Ian. So the site became busy and good look out was required with good soaring conditions.

Big regret I have is not connecting up the Helmet Cam in that it is the most number of paragliders I’ve see in the air at Forret!. I ran back to the car for my camera and took some shots mainly of Ally with a cheesy toothy grin !    

      
Conditions eased later in the day and Murray decided that Walton Hill was going to be better as the wind had switched SW. Some good flights down (not by me!), bundle and chased the guys to Cupar where I got lost looking out for a sign post.

Back on the hill and conditions eased off but fairly easy conditions to take off and fly to the left and right for a landing.

I did take some video footage which will post to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68dZQKKMmT4. You can search under paragliding Scotland to find any of my other clips. 

See you on the hill (Soon)

Duncan 
  

 

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