Apr 16/14 – PPG course day 5 – am

Okay this is ridiculous – snow on April 16! I can’t believe it!

Forecast was good for the morning with respect to the wind wind but temperature was -4. Yuck!

 

We have arrived at the field, puddles were frozen, it was bit on it windy side – just freezing cold. Tal and Jim set up their equipment up and Talitha was going to go first. Very nice inflation, beautiful take off but around  20 feet her engine started to sputter and she had to make forced landing. She handled the situation really really well. Since we knew that we only had limited time this morning, I made sure that Tal is okay and then went to Jim. He also had very nice takeoff + nice and smooth climb out and good flight.

After five minutes though Jim started to signal with his legs that he wants to land. I told him to go around for one quick circle as I was helping Tal to get the glider out of the bean field but he simply proceeded to his landing. I was afraid that he also had engine problem but as it turned out his hands were frozen solid. I guess that is what happens when you fly at -4 Celsius. After Jim landed, Tal took Jim’s gear and was going to do another flight but after couple tries she lost her confidence, Jim was still frozen so we have decided to pack it up. The wind started to gusts up to much anyway…

Forecast for the evening is good – hopefully we will have a good session.