Monday 4/15 dawns with the promise of 20 mph straight up the hill with light rain clearing off by 4:00
As I drove out there were still some sprinkles on the wind shield so I took my time and waited at the bottom of the hill till they were gone.
Once at the top the wind was 22 mph with gusts up to 30
I had brought out my combat wings {a 26 oz Knife Edge and a lighter wide body KE} perfect conditions to do a check out flight before the upcoming Glider Games in Cleveland in 2 weeks and a week later out to Wilson Kansas for "Wings over Wilson".
I launched with no problem and was trimming out the down elevator that I had put in when i was last out with it in 40 mph wind .
About 2 minute into the flight my hat blew off my head and I started backing up the hill to try and get to it before it went over the top,
I turned to take one more big step to get it and the next thing I know i am on my face ... yup dirt nap both me and the plane
I got back on my feet and hobbled my way down to the base of the hill{mild sprain of my ankle} where it went in,as i got closer i could see it was hurt pretty bad-
I climbed back up to the top and switched to the lighter wide body Knife Edge,with great flying conditions I was not going to quit.
Flew for about 5 min,the wind had built up some more with higher gusts at times ,the wide body was doing ok even though it doesn't penetrate as well as my 26 oz that i just ripped in half .
I got stalled by a really big gust and landed about 1/4 way down the hill but before i could get to it another gust picked it up and got it flipping end over end to the top of the hill where it took a even bigger hop and wound 20 feet up in the top of a tree.
by the time I got it out of the tree it also was beat up and minus both tiplets.
Hows that song go "Daddy said there'd be days like this ... "
I will be in the shop building this week end