The fun never stops!

So much has happened in the last week, here’s a few highlights-

Little 8 year old Pie took his first paraglider flight and loved it! His mom, Steph, is a skydiver and Pie has caught the flying bug from her. With Pie weighing so little, the tandem wing was very lightly loaded and we were able tow Mariyan and him to about 3,000’ before they released. This made for a nice long flight for them. Pie was so excited and his mom was so proud.
Ken and Matt W added several more tows to their flight logs. Both are working on earning their P2 free flying ratings. They earned their Cliff Launch endorsements earlier this week with a trip to the Hager City flying site that overlooks the Mississippi River. Keep it up guys!
Jake made a bunch of PPG flights on Friday. The sky was completely clouded over so we didn’t need to worry about the typical midday thermals stopping us. We began at 8:30 in the morning and other than a short lunch break, didn’t stop until nearly 3 that afternoon. We even made a short cross country flight together and turned around only after our hands got to cold to continue. Jake is doing great and has only the PPG2 written test and 5 flights left to complete his requirements.
Dimity picked up his new Macpara Colorado. The manufacturer says the dealer should make the first flight with the new wing to ensure everything is in working order, I was more than happy to oblige. The wing is a more aggressive design and requires more wind speed to launch. However, once airborne it is amazingly stable in bumpy air and just punches through turbulence. It’s much snappier than his previous wing but he took to it naturally. Upon landing Dimity commented on the responsiveness and the longer glide. I believe he is really going to enjoy his new ride.
I helped Greg and Curt fix an electric starter issue on Greg’s machine. A small crimp from a pliers and some dielectric grease took care of the problem. As is often the case, finding the problem proved to be the hardest part of the repair.
In other news, Mariyan has nearly completed assembly of his new Pay-in winch. He actually managed to squeeze a full 5,500’ of tow line onto the spool. Initial testing of the winch will happen as soon as weather permits.