Explanations of the tools below and more
Introduction to weather for ultralight pilots
NWS forecast Southeast OK
NWS hourly forecast Southeast OK
Le Flore county, OK – current conditions in Wister, OK
Stigler, OK – current conditions
Poteau, OK – current conditions at the Poteau airport
Kiamichi – current conditions near Panorama launch
Buffalo Mountain Flyers – current conditions & more at Buffalo Mountain
WeatherLink station at Buffalo Mtn – requires a free logon (more info)
MesoWest stations Ouachita Mountains – current conditions
Weather for Aircrews – Basic weather info for non-professionals
Pivotal Weather – an outstanding site for anything weather but it requires some work and know-how
SPC Balloon Soundings (every 12 hours)
UoW Balloon Soundings – usually available before the SPC soundings for 72364 (ELP)
NOAA Satellite image of moisture and clouds over the USA
Windy – animated map of winds and other data over the surface of the world
Wind History Map – actual vs. forecasts
Weather Spark – monthly, daily, and hourly graphical reports anywhere on earth
SkyVector Aeronautical Chart – road maps of the sky including TFR's
Introductory videos: The Dream of Human Flight is now a Reality - The Joy of Paragliding – a fine video production by Steve Crye showing the elements of why we love to fly.
(from Toyota)Featured video and introduction to paragliding (from the National Geographic), Fly like a bird (from USHPA)
Nearly every country in the world promotes and loves adventure sports, like hang gliding and paragliding. Switzerland even put an image of a guy paragliding on their 50 Franc note. Our sport is popular because it is the purest and rawest form of aviation there is and one that an average person can afford (about the price of a 10 year old used car).
On schedule – please contact us for training locations, cancelations, weather issues, and/or dates.
Today's air was south and moderate up to +2K' MSL so it was time to explore the north side of Cavanal Mountain. Of course, lift on the south face of the mountain was strong. Going over the back high was prudent but even at 3K' MSL there was about 300'/min sink north of the peak. As expected, there was no rotor or turbulence. Experienced pilots in the air (Britton Shaw, Roy Mahoney) noted that a north launch at Cavanal would not be particularly good. I could see they had a point. There is nothing but trees out front for a long, long ways....
The south face of Cavanal
North face of Cavanal
Two days ago we had 1.25" of rain. What a blessing to have water to make everything grow! Sugarloaf Mtn is to the left. The cleared area was due to huge landslide a while ago which is still active.
It was a windy day at Buffalo! Yours truly (Had) was barely able to launch in the high winds. An anemometer with both average velocity and gust intensity is handy for guessing the cycles but you have to guess what is the cycle and what is a thermal blowing through. I launched just before the cycle hit bottom and got into the air and away from launch. In any case, it was a "pluck". Once above launch, made it out in front slowly. Air was somewhat turbulent with thermals, some of which were broken up. There was a big fire on the north slopes of the Kiamichi which sent smoke this way which was a little hard on the eyes.
Started to relax when out front – but relaxed a little too much and began to drift back behind launch. For a new guy in the area, I saw first hand that there are not a whole lot of landing options downwind. Trees, trees, trees.... The top of the Mountain is a vortex and winds behind launch were even higher. Speed bar to the rescue.
Took a long time to come down and get near the LZ. Challenging PG day to fly but beautiful.
The weather finally warmed up a bit, not hot, but shirt sleeves at the LZ today. Winds were high at launch in the afternoon. There were both hang gliders and paragliders in the air, some for hours. The lift band was strong and reached a half mile or more out in front of launch. It was like an elevator, smooth. There were controlled burns at the base of the Kiamichi (just visible) and a lot of burns east of Buffalo. Ken Cobb helped with pilot retrieve! It was a great day to fly for intermediate and advanced pilots.
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