Xc Title
User:Guest
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Andrew Craig  All flights
National League 2015
Flight type image
Turnpoint Flight on a Paraglider
Club
Southern
Glider
Nova Mentor 3 Light
Date
5th April 2015
Start
13:12
Finish
15:05
Duration
1hr 53mins
Takeoff
Blorenge
Landing
Ton Pentre
Coords
Takeoff
51.80417, -3.05123
Start
51.80968, -3.04822
TP1
51.80663, -3.05698
TP2
51.81067, -3.04373
TP3
51.63718, -3.50820
Finish
51.64575, -3.48408
Landing
51.64575, -3.48408
Distances and Score
Leg 1
0.69k
Leg 2
1.02k
Leg 3
37.45k
Leg 4
1.92k
Total
41.08k
Score
41.1
Open Distance
Total
37.5k
Filename
Use full pilot name
Download
Validated
Yes
Flight map
Notes

This map gives an overview of the flight, using the turnpoints to plot the track.

Use the for a detailed map and flight track.

Duration 0:00   Takeoff Distance 0
Controls
To animate the flight: click a point on the track, use the slider, or click the Play button.
slider
slider
Speed
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Track color
No data
Highlights
Track data
Time: No data
Height:
Climb:
Speed:
Interval:
Units
Height: metres
Climb: m/sec
Speed: km/h
Distance: km
chart
Notes

Climb and Speed averaged over 4 second intervals.

These values may be lower than those shown by a flight instrument, which has access to continuous raw data.

Metric units are used for all chart data, except for Height which is shown in feet.

Height   -   GPS data
Maximum Height
[14:16:02]
4157 ft
Lowest Save
[14:33:36]
997 ft
Takeoff Height
[13:06:57]
1745 ft
Landing Height
[15:05:40]
558 ft
Total Ascent 10394 ft
Height Gain
Above Takeoff 2411 ft
Maximum 2556 ft
Low Point
[13:21:17]
1601 ft
High Point
as Maximum Height
4157 ft
Units
Climb   -   GPS data
Maximum Climb
[14:34:48]
4.8 m/s
Minimum Climb
[14:52:20]
-4.5 m/s
Units
Speed
Maximum Speed
[14:23:16]
63.0 km/h
Average Speed
around course
21.8 km/h
Average Speed
over track length
33.3 km/h
Units
Tracklog
Flight Duration 1hr 58mins
Track Points 1781
Recording Interval 4 secs
Statistics Interval 4 secs
Track Length 65.9 km
Units
Flight instrument   -   reported as
GPSmap 96C Software Version 3.00
Notes

Climb and Speed averaged over 4 second intervals.

These values may be lower than those shown by a flight instrument, which has access to continuous raw data.

Average Speed around course is measured from Start to Finish points.

Track Length is the cumulative distance between track points from Takeoff to Landing.

You can change the default units displayed - see the Options page.

After a couple of flights on my lightweight kit in March, it was time to collect my Mentor and my pod from the Loft and see if my new hip could cope with cross-country, and perhaps a hike up a hill beforehand.

A windy Saturday saw the BCC cancel the day, but it calmed down for a late afternoon flight after a stroll across the Blorenge, although the evening was marred by the news that Nick Jones had hurt his elbow trying to take off. Chris Williams of TVHGC kindly drove me to Abergavenny hospital to take Nick his phone charger, where he seemed in good spirits considering.

Sunday was forecast to be much better. Back on the Blorenge I was cautious about launching into the early throng, although a sizeable gaggle soon climbed out, some going a long way, some not. The Blorenge can be tricky, as I once found arriving there from Merthyr; it's so flat on the top that if you're low over it, it's much like trying to find a low save over a Sussex field.

But when my climb arrived, it was durable, if not of epic strength. Half of a dozen of us wandered around it, rather than corkscrewing up in a tight core. By the time I was committed to going, I was on my steady way to 3,500 with a green Delta and an orange UP, although even that mini-gaggle tended to break up. Down below I saw Chris Williams patiently soaring Blaenavon; his patience eventually paid off with a climb.

Staying high was easy almost to the 20k mark. I then found on glide that my Garmin 96C had somehow stopped displaying airspace - I've no idea how or why I came to set it like that, and I couldn't work out in flight how to restore the information to the screen. I'd set a course for Port Talbot which would take me clear of Cardiff airspace, but I knew I couldn't afford to diverge much south of that line.

It was no surprise, therefore, that I glided very poorly and, after crosswinding a little, thought I was going to land at 25k, where the UP was already coming down in a village which I later discovered to be Aberfan, where over a hundred children were killed in the sixties when a slagheap collapsed on their school.

But I sneaked over some power lines, and decided to soar the ridge beyond the village, in the hope of adding to my XC score with a couple of kilometres out and back. Instead, the edge of the forest produced a vigorous thermal, taking me back over 3,000 feet. The day had a couple more valley crossings in it, but after the next town I arrived low at the next ridge. I didn't fancy a hike down from the high ground, nor a pasting if I crossed the ridge low, so I turned back to land on the rugby field. There a mountain biker identified the town as Ton Pentre, before showing me an impressive collection of scars, the recent ones from mountain biking, the older ones from motorcycling -- the one from his broken pelvis looked as if he'd been cut in half and stitched back together.

The local cafe/chippy was closed on Easter Sunday afternoon, but Mark Rubinstein showed enormous generosity in coming to collect me, and we were soon back at the campsite eating Emily's excellent cake.

Sunday at Hundred House wasn't so rewarding for me; again I didn't fancy launching early, but those that did had the best of it, before it became more and more stable. Our own Dickon Walker was the star of the day with his second PB in two days. An excellent weekend; thanks to Catherine for organising the Sussex teams (two full ones on the Saturday, when Matt Canning did his first XC), and to all the Slackers and the other clubs for their company.

Use this page to set various display Options. You can choose which units are used to display flight data, which map to show when the starts and which tab to show each time you view a flight.
Units settings

Metric units are used by default for the Statistics and XC Player pages, except for Height data which is shown in feet. You can choose your own custom settings here.

Height:
Speed:
Climb:
Distance:
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XC Player settings

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Main Map:
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Tab settings

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First Tab:
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Notes

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