Smoke means something is Burning

The flying is still good in Bright, nice Cu and people going XC - but not as good as the picture makes it look - as that one is from my trip to Manilla for the worlds last year....

All the farmers and the fire authority are burning everything around Bright - this is how they keep the forest fuel low and the fields cleared of weeds, but it makes for some thick smoke when the winds aren't blowing in the right direction.

I am still trying to heal my shoulder tendon, does anyone have a spare shoulder in the garage, just collecting dust? Let me know, I would love to swap it out for my broken one.

Ciao

Clouds plus a Tandem

Lots of people out flying today, nice clouds and light wind. I went for a XC with Fred Gungl on his Tandem - so I got to shoot as much film as I wanted.

The clouds were weird today - we would fly under a nice darky and there was no lift, you could see cloud forming right above you, even pieces of cloud sticking down lower than base and churning upwards but search as we may - the lift just wasn't where you would expect it to be.

So we came up with a theory (ok, maybe it was Fred's ...) the scruffiness in the clouds were being caused by a layer of strong wind up around base and the clouds were being blown away from their sources, we tested the theory and found the thermal source on the very upwind edge of the clouds, even out away from the cloud.

So the cloud was being blown out in front of it's thermal but it was still condensing and so showed all the signs of lift...

The view from base at 2200 meters was sweet, we were now able to connect the dots and do a big lap of the valley and "seize the day".

Ciao!

Fall Flying

Fall Flying is here - nice CU for the last couple of days, and the weather looks good for most of this week.

A sore shoulder has kept me out of the sky - it feels like it could be a while...

I went up the hill today and took some pics and drove some cars down, it was nice to just be around the flying scene here in Bright - lots of people getting airtime.

I'm here for another 6 weeks, then back to the States.