February 22, 2005
Flying at Bald Peak
At the end of a busy weekend after hanging in Seattle, going to the beach
I went flying with Matt at Bald Peak ( map) in the late evening with a 10
-15mph E wind. Unfortunately he left his transmitter on again !! so his
battery was dead when we went to grab it to fly.
Strangely bald peak isn't bald. (I wonder where the parasailers launch
here?) Inside the park is very tough for slope gliding, there are
trees nearly circling the parking loop so you can't see the horizon or
get good lift directly from the parking area. There was a big rotor
which makes flying pretty sketchy until you get some altitude to clear
the tree line, good thing I had an electric motor. The lift was pretty
smooth once you got out in front of the trees enough, and enough to
keep my heavy electric plane up with no throttle.. but at that point
the plane is pretty far away and would be pretty difficult to recover.
I didn't drive around much to look for better spots since it was so
late, there are probably much better parts of the park to fly from
(near the radio towers maybe?). There was a beautiful gentle sloping
green grass field a mile or two before you get to the park that looks
perfect from both E and W winds (I think), I think we will try this
spot next time.
