[Flyers] Flying in Spain - day three

[Ross Golder]

The flying here just gets better and better. After an afternoon spent on 
the computer dealing with a few work emergencies, Tony said the 
conditions were good to fly the mountain just behind Algodonales, called 
Lijar Ponente.

We loaded the gliders up onto the van and headed down to see the landing 
field. From the ground, I thought it looked a little bit small, and it 
was situated in a small valley, with tall ground around the edges. I 
figured it might be a little turbulent because of this. I was also a 
little unnerved by the fact that it seemed to be the only flat field in 
the area, everywhere else being hilly and covered with olive trees. 
However, I'm sure it wouldn't have been designated the landing field 
unless it was safe to land in. I noted the position of the streamers, 
although there was almost no wind to worry about. Looking up at the 
hill, we spotted a couple of paragliders taking off and climbing, so we 
knew it had become flyable.

As we drove up the mountain, we passed the paraglider landing field, 
which looked much tighter than ours with less margin for error. We 
stopped for a moment and , and watched a paraglider, probably a student, 
coming in to land. He came in way too high and not far enough back, and 
came down in the second half of the landing field and had to do what 
looked like a deliberate stall about 10ft above the ground to avoid 
ending up in the hedge. He came down hard and didn't get up straight 
away, so I imagine he'll be walking with a limp later. I decided I 
really was much happier flying (and landing) hang-gliders!

The drive up to the peak was perhaps the most scared I've been since 
arriving in Spain. A narrow, windy dirt track with several sheer drops 
to the side, and the van being thrown left and right by the ruts in 
several places. Tony drove well and we arrived safely. I was a little 
stressed and tired from the work I'd been doing earlier, and the 
pre-flight nerves kicked in. Tony quickly explained the site, pointed 
out the house thermals and where to go to reach the landing field, which 
was just out of view around to the left of launch. He said that if I 
came down below launch by about 250 to 300ft, that I should start to 
head out to the landing field. I thought about having a quick siesta to 
recuperate, but Tony was raring to go and started rigging, so I did the 
same. Tony lent me his flying suite, so I wouldn't get so cold this 
time, and after doing a thorough pre-flight and hang-check, I edged over 
to launch first.

Conditions were fine, so I didn't need to wait. I just launched into 
rising air and soon found myself about 500ft above launch. A little 
scratching about found me 800ft above launch, and I started flying 
further up and down the length of the ridge looking for more thermals, 
although I was very slowly losing the height. At one point I was nearly 
100ft below launch and getting worried that it might soon be time to 
head out. However, as I turned round to start heading out, I found a 
lovely thermal, which brought me back to about 300ft above launch, and I 
saw Tony take off to join me. I kept coming across weakish thermals, 
which kept me between 500 and 600ft above launch for the next few 
minutes, while Tony scratched around quite low trying to climb up to me. 
There were six or seven paragliders in the air with us, but it was a 
large hill. I kept an eye out at all times, and made sure to look first 
before starting any turns.

As I was heading back towards the ridge, I saw a vulture approaching me 
on a straight course from my 2 o'clock, and shot past the front of my 
wing about 30 metres ahead of me. I turned to follow his course, and he 
started a left turn. I turned left too, and before I knew it the vario 
announced that I was in some very good lift, and I circled for several 
minutes, keeping the vulture in view just ahead of my left wing. We both 
rose up to about 800ft above launch before he started heading over the 
back of the ridge and I decided not to follow any more in case I ended 
up in rotor or unable to make it back to the front for any reason. I 
looked for Tony again, and started hanging around in roughly the same 
parts of the hill as him, catching the odd good thermal, but mostly just 
maintaining my height.

At one point the air got pretty rough and the glider and I were thrown 
around a bit. The nose wires went slack and then taught and there were 
lots of noises. I threw my weight around and kept the glider fairly 
level and it soon passed. My heart rate increased, and I felt a kick of 
adrenalin, but I didn't really feel at all scared. I looked around and 
couldn't see anything amiss and the glider was still flying just fine, 
so I quickly forgot about it and carried on enjoying my flight.

Eventually, Rona radioed up to say she was nearing the landing field, 
and Tony decided he'd had his fun for the day and started heading in. I 
decided to follow, so I could watch his landing and use it to plan mine. 
We came across the landing field with over 1000ft to spare, and I 
floated around  watching Tony perform a very 'constant aspect' landing. 
I then started 'S'-ing off a little height and began my downwind leg. I 
was flying perhaps a little too slowly, and as I turned left onto my 
base leg, I was a little lower than I hoped and my right wing came a bit 
too close to a tree at the edge of the field. I corrected it quickly and 
turned into wind for final approach. There was not as much height left 
as I had hoped and I found myself coming down towards a very small (2ft) 
hedge. I had enough speed to push out a little and clear that, but then 
I was left without enough speed for a smooth landing and as I pushed out 
to flare the base bar hit the ground and the nose came in to kiss the 
field. Again, no damage done, but more experience gained and several 
more lessons learned.

With hindsight, I should have had a little more speed on the downwind 
leg, I should have turned earlier and more smoothly round towards my 
approach keeping my landing spot at a constant point in view rather than 
attempt a square, aircraft-style 'box' landing which was what I was 
thinking about, and I should have left more height so that I would have 
had more speed for my final approach. Frans was also waiting at the 
landing field, and he and Rona went over my landing and pointed out what 
I had done wrong. So, next time I fly I'm now determined to land the 
Scandal properly for once!

I checked my vario. We were 2000ft below launch, and I'd been airbourne 
for 1hr 20mins. We de-rigged, loaded the gliders up onto the van and 
headed to a lovely restaurant in town for some fish'n'chips and a glass 
of wine.