Pressure gradient -.2″ and NOAA calling for west winds this afternoon. Local forecast calls for westerly winds all day and up slope on Sunday. Winds aloft are also strong.
Looks like a good morning for ground handling before strong westerlies in afternoon.
Let me know when you want to work on your ground handling this morning.
Jet stream is over CO as seen by high winds aloft and strong winds in the mountains. Looks like Sunday may be the next time to fly—-in snow?
Pressure gradient -.18″ and winds aloft are strong. Mountain site showing strong winds. Will sunshine and rising pressure start up slope flow? Looks like this afternoon maybe be better.
Too windy! Monday?
This pilot launched with a line over. What’s the best way to resolve it?
Pressure gradient -.16″ and NBR calm now but sunshine will start up slope flow. Winds aloft finally much lighter and thermal soaring forecast is good starting at 11:30AM. Let me know when you want to fly.
NOAA weather radio and local weather forecast calling for west winds all day getting very strong this afternoon. Pressure gradient -.16″ and NBR showing west winds already. Winds aloft strong. Approaching cold front will strengthen winds.
Ground handling might be possible this morning before strong westerlies this afternoon. Let me know if you want a smaller wing to kite.
Posted analysis of Robert’s crash yesterday. This occurred last month and shows danger of using too much brake in turns and results of an inexperienced pilot flying a competition D class wing. YouTube video too painful to post. Contact me if you want link.
Chris Montes had an exciting flight last Friday at North Boulder and he asked me to review if after he posted it. Take a look at it and see my comments:
Chris,
Thanks for sending video. By looking at it several times, I think I know what happened:
1)Looks like you had your paramotor wing fully trimmed to the slow position—little brake input necessary to spin wing.
2)Your inside hand was very low so the brake is very engaged.
3) Your wing went behind you when you stalled the inside half of your wing.
4) Rotation shows your wing spinning.
5) Your wing then surged in front of you indicating release of brake—correct reaction to exit spin.
Message to get from incident: be more sensitive to brake inputs.
Glad you recover quickly from spin.
Granger
On Sep 30, 2012, at 7:57 PM, Chris Montes wrote:
Chris Montes
Systems Engineer@LogicTree
Cmontes [at] logictree [dot] com
303.801.8783
Pressure gradient -.16″ and NBR showing west winds. NOAA weather radio calling for NW winds all day as does the local forecast. Surface weather map shows lots of fronts and pressure systems. Good day to stay on the ground and make PG purchases for future flights.
Enjoy this in a shelter.
Radio Frequency Urgent Update
Hi Colorado folks,
I received a phone call this morning from the Parks Department in Boulder. They coordinate park operations using radios which operate in the business band, in the same general range of frequencies where we have assignments. They were subject to some extended interference on their licensed frequency from local pilots.
They have a license to operate on 154.800 Mhz. USHPA is authorized to operate business band radios on 158.400 MHz. It is probable that some local pilots have mis-programmed radios which are interfering with the park’s licensed operations.
This sort of thing is exactly why it’s a requirement that only type-accepted, business band radios may be used on the five authorized frequencies. A modified ham radio is NOT legal to operate on these frequencies, because of the risk that it can be mis-programmed, among other reasons. A business band radio cannot be reprogrammed in the field, and the assumption is that a radio technician will set it up properly before use, so it won’t cause interference through misuse.
Police, fire, ambulance, SAR, parks and many other users all have allocations in this band. Some users are life-safety critical, and interference with them is dealt with very seriously by FCC. Penalties for illegal operation can run to $10,000 per incident plus confiscation of equipment. You DO NOT want to attract the attention of FCC, and stepping on other people’s dedicated frequencies is a good way to do it.
The five frequencies that USHPA has authorization for are:
151.505
151.625
151.925
151.955
158.400
Pilots can also get their ham license and operate on any of the simplex frequencies in the 144.5-148.0 band. The test is easy, the exam questions are on-line, and once you’ve passed you’re good for life. Just follow the basic rules, ID regularly and don’t interfere with other users.
Please verify that you are using legal equipment which is correctly programmed. I assured the Parks Department that we would immediately take action to eliminate the interference, and that they should contact me if any further problems occur.
I’m asking the office to send this to all pilots in Colorado, and I’d like to have you post it to your local club forums as well in case the offenders are not current members but are still actively flying and engaged with the community. Thanks for your attention, and fly safely.
Thanks,
Mark G. Forbes
USHPA Radio Committee Chairman
radio [at] ushpa [dot] aero
Office Contact:
——————
Robin Jones, Communications Manager