Rob's Paragliding Blog

Summer Flying Trip Set

2009-06-16T23:15:00.002-05:00

After much deliberation, Team MCDN has finally settled on the destination for this summer's flying trip. We knew we wanted to go back to the Alps so the debate centered on a return to Austria or breaking new ground in Switzerland. In the end the idea of flying new sites, the abundance of places to explore and cheap airfare all lead us to pick Switzerland, specifically the Interlocken area.

We will renting an apartment in the mountain village of Wengen in the shadow of the Jungfrau and the Eiger. SkyKing Boser won't be making it so we MIGHT have room for one more if you think you can put up with Ric Flair and the 2 Rob's for a week.

Hourly Cost of Flying a PPG

2009-05-28T16:36:00.004-05:00

So this question came up again on one of the PPG lists - what does it cost per hour to fly a PPG? It’s really a subjective question but lets take a look.

When it first came up a few years ago I cranked a spreadsheet and plugged in all the data I had, made lots of assumptions and came up with around 40 bucks an hour. After dusting off the old spreadsheet and updating it based on another 5 years experience, I tweaked the model a bit and based it on a six year time frame.

First, lets talk about the assumptions that go into this model. The first assumption is around training. My original model factored in training costs. Since this is a one-time event, I have excluded it from this model. (Although I highly recommend the pursuit of on-going training and advanced clinics.)

The second assumption is around hours of flying. The average PPG pilot flies somewhere between 40-100 hours per year. I realize there are some air hogs about, but in just about every poll conducted by the USPPA that I have seen, the averge Joe Pilot is somewhere just south of 100 hours per year.

The other assumption is around equipment maintenance and useful equipment life. I have factored in regular glider inspections and reserve repacks, and one glider replacement over a 5-6 year period. Most gliders have a 300-400 hour useful life and most pilots get the itch for a new glider every other year or so. Given the 100 hours a year assumption, the useful life of a glider and knowing how much we all love new equipment, I think 1 new glider every 300 hours or 3 years is fair. Most PPG motors have a recommended TBO of 300 hours along with regular maintenance of certain parts. I have assumed that the motor would need an overhaul at 300 hours and would be replaced or upgraded after 6 years for the purpose of this model.

The Model:

Here's the Microsoft Excel version if you want to tweek it.

Another Round at Torrey

2009-05-05T10:19:00.000-05:00

Was in San Diego for business and brought the gear too. Thompson was headed to Seattle and Covington to San Jose so we met up for another round at Torrey Pines. Gorgeous weather and great flying Friday and Saturday. We actually packed up Saturday afternoon thinking it was going to continue to cross from the South. After a late lunch we were driving threw downtown La Jolla and saw gliders high in the air. We high-tailed it back and had an awesome afternoon session until dark. Thompson and I took a red-eye home Saturday night but Covington stayed and said Sunday was epic as well.

Matt Easterly snapped the following photos of us flying late Saturday.

High Hopes Fund Raiser

2009-04-05T14:46:00.003-05:00

A good friend of mine just started a program for developmentally delayed childern in Elberta Alabama called High Hopes. The program will be operated at St. Benedicts School in Elberta, AL and is aimed at helping childern with Autism, developmentally delayed (DD), pervasively developmentally delayed (PDD), otherwise health impaired (OHI), or emotionally conflicted (EC) disorders .

They are having a fund raiser June 5-7th at Pirates Cove in Josephine. I encourage anyone in the area to attend! More info here: http://www.highhopes4pdd.org/High_Hopes/FUN-raiser.html

Torrey Soaring

2009-02-09T21:52:00.002-06:00

So the rain let up and Scooter and I got an awesome day of soaring in at Torrey today. The Buick Open golf tournament was going on and Scooter spend the whole afternoon doing wing overs by the 4th green trying to get on TV. Anyone see him?

Glamis Dunes

2009-02-08T09:46:00.002-06:00

So it was raining in San Diego so Scooter and I headed east to the Glamis Dunes National Recreation Area, between El Centro, CA & Yuma, AZ. We rented quads and had a blast on the sand dunes. Highly recommended

Here's some photos from the trip:

Back in the States

2008-08-09T16:59:00.002-05:00

Well, shortly after getting to Tannheim yesterday Michelle called to tell me my Grandfather had passed away. So I'm back in the states (Philly airport) to attended to somethings and help my family out.

On the flying front, the boys had an "epic day" (their words) today at Tannheim. Tomorrow looks to be even better but there is rain in the forecast for mid week. I'm debating flying back over on Wed to finish out the final 4 days of the trip and try to get some flying in Depends on how I feel once I get things settled with the family. I've spend 27 of the past 48 hours on airplanes or trains, so I'm exhausted and still have a 2 hr flight home. ugh.

No flying yet

2008-08-08T06:03:00.000-05:00

But lots of beer.

Made it to Tannhiem, Austria

2008-08-08T05:14:00.001-05:00

This is where we are staying. Just a short walk to the lift up the mountain.

Freising, Germany

2008-08-07T10:28:00.001-05:00

First Class

2008-08-06T19:00:00.000-05:00

Remains of a mimosa.

On My Way

2008-08-06T15:22:00.000-05:00

Headed out for the Alps. First stop - Philly.

Addict 2 - Flew it

2008-07-21T11:04:00.001-05:00

Wow. Finally flew the A2 today. Love this glider. You know how on some gliders you can be ahead of the glider, it just doesn't react to what you want it to do fast enough? Or how on others it gets ahead of you and you are chasing the glider to keep it where you want it? Well, with the Addict 2, Ozone nailed it, right in my sweet spot. The glider and I are in perfect harmony. It seems to know what I want to do and reacts perfectly. It wants to turn into the thermal. It doesn't want to get pushed out. It wants to go up.

Plus, it feels rock solid. More like a 1/2 than a 2. Maybe it's because I am so in tune with this glider. I typically keep a 1/2 glider in my arsenal for those days that look squirrelly but with the A2, my 1/2 gliders are now up for sale.

I'll write a full review soon, but Dave and Robbie really nailed it with this one.

(btw, the A1 is sold. Stinky bought it)

Got my Addict 2!

2008-07-15T14:11:00.000-05:00

Received my new Addict 2 today. The custom color scheme looks really good. I can't wait to fly it. BTW, anyone wanting a good deal on a 1 year old Addict 1, drop me a note.

Grant Turns 1

2008-06-01T19:51:00.000-05:00

Today's Grant's first birthday. He had his first trip with Chucky Cheese with big sis Sophie and cousin Jack and loved it. Slides are fun!

Happy Birthday Sophie!

2008-05-29T18:56:00.000-05:00

I can't believe we have a 9 year old!

Lord Stanley's Cup

2008-04-25T22:12:00.000-05:00

We had some leadership training in Tronto this week for work and the second night they surprised us with an event at the Hockey Hall of Fame. We had the whole place rented out, had dinner in the Hall of Records, and then got to hear Jimmy Craig (goalie from the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team) speak. Was a great event and Jimmy Craig was phenomenal. Yes, that is crappy cell phone pic of THE Stanley Cup.

Ozone Releases the Addict 2

2008-01-13T10:31:00.000-06:00

Ozone just released the Addict 2, the follow-up to the Addict that I currently fly. New color scheme, comp lines for the uppers, and supposedly better performance and handling. Mine is on order now.

On a related note, anyone want to buy a slightly used Addict 1 for a great price? If so, please drop me an email.

Cali PG Trip

2007-11-11T23:33:00.000-06:00

Stinky, Scooter and I just wrapped up a great PG trip in Northern Cali. I was already in Menlo Park for customer meetings, so I picked them up at the San Jose airport and we started off towards Dunlap. After stopping in Milpitas to introduce the MC's to the joy of In-n-Out Burger we noticed that the forecast was starting to look good at the Dumps.

A quick change of direction and 45 minutes later we were soaring at the Dumps for the reminder of the afternoon. After it got dark we stopped in San Fran for some sushi and then headed off for Fresno. The next day we drove to Dunlap, got to see Connie again and then had some really nice flights from one of my favorite sites in the US. The weather was worse on Saturday morning so we bailed on Dunlap and drove to the Owens Valley. Spectacular place with some awesome flying sites.

On Saturday, after some early morning sled rides we headed back to SF via Yosemite. We dropped Scooter off Sunday for his flight and then Stinky and I headed to Half Moon bay to play golf with some of my co-workers.

Our annual user conference is in SF this week and starts tomorrow, so I'm prepping for that now and wishing I was still flying in Dunlap.

Introducing Grant!

2007-06-02T23:00:00.000-05:00

The new little one is here.... Grant Michael Reynolds was born last night at 9:29pm. Michelle and baby are fine and big sister Sophie is excited too!

More pics at www.robandmichelle.org

40 Mile XC

2007-03-24T22:40:00.000-05:00

Did a 40 mile XC from Warrior Field to Gerald's today. Lots of sink and not much lift, I was near full power the entire way, fighting a nice cross wind too. Trip took 2.5 hours and almost an entire tank of gas. Once I got to Gerald's and shut down the motor, I stumbled into a nice thermal and let me stay up and play for another 20 minutes. Bruce and Ron drove up from Warrior to fly and give me a ride back to my truck. (BTW, still loving the Addict!)

Here's the KMZ file of the flight, for review with Google Earth.

Reeder Mesa, Colorado

2006-09-09T21:24:00.000-05:00

Escaped the bad weather in Rifle and flew Reeder Mesa, near Grand Junction today. Great little ridge soaring bowl. Would have liked to have consistent winds, as we all sunk out at least once and I was only able to top-land after getting a half a turn in a thermal. The hike up is not fun, as the slope is covered with large rocks and boulders.

Easy Big Ears Mod

2006-07-08T15:31:00.000-05:00

Here's an easy mod for those of you that are flying with PG risers and higher attachment points. I've been using this on my gliders with split-A's for years with no issues. The concept is simple, you are just adding an extension to the split-a's to make them easier to reach in flight.

First get a length of stiff, brightly colored nylon cord, about a 18 inches longer than your risers. Tie your favorite looping knot (figure 8 loops, or butterfly knots work well) in the middle to get a loop big enought to get a couple fingers into. Position this loop somewhere near the middle of your risers - make sure its in a place you can easily reach, but not so low as to restrict the distance you can pull the loop. I like mine just below the speed bar pulley.

Now take up the slack and affix one end to the outside of your outside-A mallion and the other end to your hook-in loop. Don't make it too tight, you want some slack when you are flying. Also, don't make the knot on the riser attachment point too tight as to stress or rub your riser material. I use bowline knots on each end.

Now you are ready to fly. The loop should be easy to access in flight, just remember that since your hands are in a lower than normal position, you may need to let of your brakes to pull really big ears.
more pictures

(Note that the photos are from an Ozone Vibe, which is a 3 riser glider, the cord really is attached to the outside A riser, not the B riser).

If you don't have split A's, you can do the same mod, by attaching a small brass pulley to your outside A line, and tying the cord to the pulley. Gin has used this in their production gliders for years.

New Fresh Breeze Suspension

2006-07-03T16:29:00.000-05:00

Gerald got a new motor this week. Another Fresh Breeze Simonini, but with the new suspension. Since I missed the Convention this year, this was the first time I have seen it in person. Wow. That's all I can saw. Wow. This thing rocks.

Good (not great) weight shift, and ZERO torque. Now they need to get this suspension on the titanium framed Sim, and I'm in heaven.

Here's a review by Mike Brown.

Bay Area PG

2006-05-05T16:19:00.000-05:00

So Stinky and I had to be in the San Fran area for business (both our companies are based there) so we extended the business trips and did some flying, as you can tell from the camera phone pics posted below.

On Friday, we flew the Stables but it was strong and cross, so we headed south to San Jose and got signed off to fly from Ed Levin park in Milpitas. This is a nice 1800ft vertical mountain with 3 launches and a huge LZ. Of course, we also found out why the locals call it "Sled Levin".

On Saturday the bay area was socked in so we headed down the coast to Big Sur. After a 2+ hour drive, we found the entire central coast was socked in to. So, we then drove 3 more hours inland to Dunlap, CA, near Fresno. Here we were treated to 2 days of ok thermal flying from a really big mountain. I think it is 2400ft agl. Also got to meet a bunch of super nice pilots from all over NorCal.

We both worked on Monday, but managed to sneak out for a 2 hour late session at the Stables. It was really nice - managed to transistion up the Westlake cliffs and make it to the Dumps and back. Then, at 4:20 exactly, the wind stopped. I ended up on the beach, landing next to a couple of lesbian lovers that really would have liked more privacy. Good times!