Explanations of the tools below and more
Introduction to weather for ultralight pilots
NWS hourly forecast – Poteau, OK
Wister, OK – current conditions
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)
Jet Stream and 4 day forecast – Pivotal Weather (above) gives much more accurate info on the Jet
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. Let's go places (from Toyota), Featured video and introduction to paragliding (from the National Geographic), Fly like a bird (from USHPA), Eagle Paragliding has this outstanding video on the front page of their website of a pilot flying in the Alps.
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. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has opened the doors of Texas parks to USHPA pilots. Our sport is popular because it is the purest and rawest form of aviation there is and one that an average man or woman can afford (about the price of a 10 year old used car). It only costs a few dollars an hour to fly a powered paraglider. Free flight paragliding has no cost but the equipment. The downside? Training to do it safely requires more practice and time than most other aircraft. Weather is far more critical to flying safely.
We will be at the Endless Foot Drag in Fredonia, Kansas this week. Hope to see you there!
But for the haze from the California fires, we had two great days flying. There were about (20) pilots total. Out in front of launch going up.
Haze has gotten a little better the last few days. The 40 mile long Talimena highway goes along a high ridge of the Ouachita's from Talihina, OK to Mena, AR. Looking north, launch is at the center, the cleared area to the right of the highway. Yours truly is parked over the radio/cell towers south of launch.
Huge LZ - hard to miss...
How beautiful is this? Of course, LZ's are limited other than trees. There were pilots this weekend from many states including Arkansas and Texas.
It was just (4) pilots today -- Matt Foster, Glauberrt Andrade, Barry Kriger, and yours truly. The winds were cross which weakened the lift. Glauberrt and I almost sank out at the same time. He's the orange glider right in front of launch.
John Gallagher (with the broad brim hat) held a T3 tandem clinic at Plymouth today. He is going over the details with the students of how to safely and legally take the public as tandem passengers.
Watching the first tandem go up!
Solo pilots get in the air. Winds were high 16-18 but laminar.
Let's get ready to do a tandem - one tandem instructor flies another.
A tandem passes by launch
Looking NNW from launch
The view southeast. Launch is about a mile distant.
This is an unusual view of almost 600' above launch. The lift from the face of the cliff is not sufficient to get anywhere close this high. A thermal over the ocean? No, it is a strong thermal cut loose from the sheltered tennis courts just to the right of the photo. The black asphalt of the courts was heated up by the sun which provided the hot air for the thermal. The thermal rose perhaps 1,000' or more. The onshore winds pushed the thermal over maybe 15-20 degrees and then went up the side of the thermal. The pressure wave of lift extended out over the ocean and allowed yours truly to get very high. Ordinarily we soar a cliff or ridge but we can also soar a thermal.
The lift at this site extends out over the ocean sometimes 1/4 mile.
Everyone had safe flights today. Such a beautiful place to fly!
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