Okay, how about a thread for the Front Range here in Colorado? That way we can leave the Thorn tread for the Thorn. Just a thought, lets see if it'll work.

I was hoping to go to Zion, but it looks a bit "flat" out there today. 'Guess I'll break out the 30% and a Raptor!

Here's a shot of me and my trusty Ninja at my favorite West/South West slope in Pueblo.

I'd just show up at Zion. It will probably be flyable. You don't need much wing with the size of the hill.
Andrew

BMS tower shows E ESE at 10-12mph right now. It's probably perfect at Zion
if not epic.

ian

Zion it is...
Plumbing is done, batteries are charged, I'm outta here.

Well, 'couldn't wake the wife up again. She said next time to "go without me". That's ALL I needed to hear! Next time, I pack up the old Volvo wagon and head up!

On the lighter side, not a bad day here in P-Town. Wind was SE at about 10-15 this afternoon. Trying to make a sloper out of my buddy Dave. He's getting better. Was going to let him fly my Ninja today.

I should have my P-Bee done by next week but I need to finish a repair on another friends plane first. Here's a shot of it. He pulled the gear out.

You picked a fine day to start a Front Range slopin' sight--not much in the way of wind

We actually had some halfway decent wind for the first half of the day
and anywhere between 5 and 10 planes in the air. Then it kinda dropped off
about 3:30 (bout when the shadows start creeping down the east side
of the mountain). Was dead for a couple hours, so Andrew, Dave and I
got something to eat and came back after dark to fly Andrew's new
nighttime wired Bee.

While I think flying at night with this setup is quite easy, I can't imagine
what would happen after a combat impact with this huge jumble of lights
flipping every which way.

ian

More reasearch is in order!!! Let's talk it over Ian and think through all the different senarios and how we'll make it work no matter what happens!

Aaron,

let me know if you make the trek up to Zion this weekend. I have no plans so far and would love to get up to Denver to fly..

I got out yesterday and my local slope was really cranking. Steady 20 mph with gust over 30 mph out of the SSE.. Perfect driection for the slope. Too much wind for my Halfpipe. It was really getting thrown all over.. Broke out my Patton Zero and the fun really started... I have really never flown that one too much but now have over an hour on the plane as of yesterday.. So much fun and cool to see a warbird race by!!!!!!!!!

Miguel

Why couldn't I've been flying today? Work was disaster after disaster. Blew up a FET test unit, maybe wasn't my fault but I was at the controls. Carbon everywhere. Looked like a lightening strike. Spent hours cleaning it up only to find out 208V 3 phase bridge was shorted and took down the whole lab on powerup. Somehow the other guys don't like it when you take out 100A fuses and 500A breakers.

I did get a large order of LED wiring harnesses and LEDs. Off to spend the night working on getting that order out the door.

Andrew

MIGUEL: I'll have to wait and see now. Wifes in the hospitol again. I'd love to get up there but things just keep happening! 'Put the radio in the P-Bee last night, should go together after I put my Son to bed.

CANUCK: What is it you do anyway?

Lots of things, but I get paid to be an Electrical Design Engineer at Advanced Energy Inc.

www.advanced-energy.com

I work on this product right now
http://www.advanced-energy.com/products/ProductDetail.asp?PID={D1E64166-CBE4-4C4B-AD52-D3CBF3B2FB15}&cat=All&subcat=Power%20Systems

I used to work on this and was on the design team from start to production
http://www.advanced-energy.com/products/ProductDetail.asp?PID={2EE8E0E8-62DB-4F96-8CCA-2C9E08619181}&cat=All&subcat=Source%20Technology

Hey you asked.
Andrew
www.canuckengineering.com

Yes...yes, I guess I did! I like the looks of you "Lumber Jack" wings. 'Didn't know you made hem. I love threads like this, you can learn soooo much!

Well I got out to NCAR for lunch today. Beautiful weather, winds calm but gusting to about 10 mph mostly from the ESE. Lots of thermals cruising by and lots of big sink cycles between the thermals.

I flew the 1-D for a while, still playing the getting-to-know-you game and she flew rather well. I even pulled off about seven consecutive pumps with no great altitude loss. That's a first for me. I did have a tendency to drift towards the west though.

I flew the Bee as well and had three consecutive low saves from out over the power station. I got a little cocky and tried playing thread-the-needle between two trees up top. First try, I stuck her in the very top of the taller Ponderosa up there. I can't even remember the last time I climbed a tree. At least I was laughing the whole time.

hey tom,

must have just missed you at ncar. weird lift today. the wind was blowing right up the slope, but there wasn't as much lift as you'd expect. phil noticed that once you were able to struggle up a couple hundred feet, the lift was actually pretty good and consistent. almost like there was an inversion layer. had some pretty good flights before the wind switched east and shut off around 3.