Summer flight, before the weather changes.

I've been quite anxious to have a flight since I got back from North Carolina, two days ago. The weather is very good, maybe not the best for paragliding, as it seems very stable, but at least the wind is very calm, the sun is shining and there's absolutely no cloud on the horizon.

I wait until mid-afternoon, to avoid the time of the strongest thermals. This will be my second flight this year, so I'm taking everything slowly. I drive to the landing site in Orcier, and meet François, the potter. There are a few pilots on the ground, after what they describe as a very average flight. The consensus is to wait a while longer, so my hunch to take my time was right.

After multiple conversations with the other pilots, catching up on news, I decide to go up with Canaille and we drive to Le Feu, we then walk up to La Chapelle des Hermones. Canaille is very familiar with the site and gives me a few pointers before he takes off.


I calmly finish laying my wing and conducting my last pre-flight checks. The wind is quite variable, and as I pull up, the tip of my left wing gets tangled in the risers. I drop the wing, get out of the harness and redo the layout.
On the second try, my wing is completely sideways, and I'm too slow to walk on the side (there are stinging nettles and I'm trying not to get stung).
The third try is the right one, and I'm airborne, taken up immediately by both the thermal and the dynamic breeze hitting the cliff face on.
It only takes me a few second to climb higher than the take off point. The thermal and the dynamic lift die quickly though, there's a fairly strong Southerly wind coming over the crest of the Hermones, and it gets quite turbulent at that altitude. Canaille has crossed the valley, I suspect he estimates it's not too comfortable or safe here, so I move forward to the crest above Orcier. In the middle of the crossing, I find a little bit of gentle lift, but not enough to warrant staying here.

I even have to accelerate to get out of a downdraft a few seconds later.
These are far from idyllic conditions...
I get to the edge of the crest, and there are a few thermal bubbles, but I only have enough altitude to do a couple of passes. The area isn't great, so I move forward, hoping that with these wind conditions I'll be able to find some lift in the valley.
It's too stable. Aside from a few bubbles, I don't catch anything serious. Time to prepare for landing...

A few "esses" in front of the landing terrain, and I'm on the ground.

Time to put the wing away and drive up to fetch my car. It might be better tomorrow, but the Southerly wind does not augur well...

Technical data: Flight duration 0:35, Take-off altitude: 1550m, Maximum altitude reached: 1650m, Total climb during flight: 490m, Max rate of climb: +3m/s, Max descent rate: -4.5m/s, Landing altitude: 640m.

Hot Air balloon flight in Asheville...

I've been meaning to do this for quite a while now, and this year the opportunity finally arose!

For several mornings, I heard the unmistakable sound of a hot-air balloon burner firing in the distance at Tina's place, and one morning where we were on the road earlier than usual, we caught sight of the balloon flying low over the city.

It didn't take Tina very long to find the contact details of the pilot/owner, and we booked our flight.


We met before sunrise in town, to release a helium balloon in order to check the wind direction. That done, we took a drive towards Weaverville, to park in a big flat field, next to the local Mall Wart. Another two helium balloons were released, which showed there was quite a wind direction change a few hundred feet above ground level.


The fly decision is made, and the basket and the balloon were taken out and laid on the ground, to start inflation.

At first, a big petrol engine driven fan gets used to almost fully inflate the envelope on the ground. The pilot even stepped inside the balloon to check that all was proceeding as normal...


Then the first burn takes place. The basket is laying sideways on the ground, the flame shoots straight into the balloon opening, and after a while the balloon starts rising, lifting the basket upright.



The events then start unfolding quickly, with the four passengers climbing into the basket one by one, and take off is imminent. The exact moment of take off is hardly perceptible, but when we look down, we can clearly see that we've left the ground. We are airborne!




The plan was to fly North, but when we look that way, we can see that a thick cloud layer hugs the ground, and that's not just a morning fog. The pilot decides to fly North for a few minutes, but then drops the altitude of the balloon to catch a Southbound draft that takes us back toward the take off point. We drifted a bit West during the maneuvers, so it's not possible to land back on the same spot. We continue to drift in a Southerly direction, and at one point it looks as if we're going to cross the Interstate Road. The West draft pushes us back, and we're on the West side of the road again.


We're flying very low, looking for a suitable landing spot. So low, in fact, that we touch the tops of a few pine trees, the camera dangling from ropes attached to the top of the balloon actually get snagged into the trees at one point.

We're getting low on gas. The last of the three gas bottles has to come on line as we make an attempt to land in the parking lot of a church. This is probably one of the last suitable spots, and we touch ground rather softly, glad to see that the following vehicle has joined us.

It was a great adventure, with a flight that did not take us very high, but lasted over 55 minutes and showed us some interesting sights...