Same site as the previous day, but with bigger fish to fly.
Met around 11 am. You definitely can't over practice ground handling. The more time you can spend controlling something that could happily lift 8 times your weight if the wind is right (or do I mean wrong) the better. Thankfully your paragliding instructor wont let you out when there is that sort of wind about.
Another student joined us in the early afternoon. She was just finishing off her CP (Club Pilot) tasks before her exam and had previously been on two foreign paragliding training courses to get her to where she is in her the training.
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| View of Lough Neagh from Big Collin Mountain |
We moved much further up the hill than yesterday, we were aiming for 100ft flights. We ran through a flight plan that would involve a few gentle turns and a landing near the wind sock. By the time I had done my preflight checks and gotten off the ground a couple of ramblers had come into view on the road at the bottom of the site and I actually flew right above their heads. One of the walkers was happy enough to take photographs of me as I flew maybe 20 feet above their heads, the other was a little less sure and performed what can best be described as a unsure shuffle left then right as he was trying to work out whether I was going to land on him, or in the field next to him. I am sure he was glad when I landed on the grass and collapsed the glider well away from him.
I got another 100 foot flight in (I am hoping I come across all casual about it now) which was more or less a straight top to bottom flight. It was then time for the other student to use the same kit as I had just used. As I watched her take off and perform many turns, then land a good way further out than my landing in the field. I asked my instructor about this and the chances of her catching thermals on her way down which is the only difference between this and my flight, and he just pointed out my wing loading talent was better then hers. I am starting to get a complex.
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