6 Comments

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  by Dave Hasbrouck 4 months ago

  Thanks, that was great !!
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  by Jozinko Sajan 4 months ago

  Nice video Jim. The river is interesting
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  by jeff trike 4 months ago

  Nice video. I suppose the Llano river is near Llano, Tx. I went to school in Austin, but have since forgotten all the local stuff.
  
  I once saw three golden eagles near Shiprock Mountain in New Mexico. I turned away from them, but my wingman turned towards them. He later regretted that move, as these birds of prey swooped down within a few feet of his wing.
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  by Skybird Triker 4 months ago

  Hi Jeff,
  Thanks for the kudos. Yea the headwaters of the Llano river is near Llano. Llano has a great airport. One paved runway and one grass.
  
  Where did you go to school in Austin? Do you know Jeff Hunt from FlyTexas.com. He has been teaching hang gliding for decades and paragliding since it started.
  
  These 2 eagles are pretty tolerant. I did some research after I saw them. They have been coming back to the same nest for 7 years. The road is about 150' away that really gets crowded when the babies hatch. Both of them had the eagle eye on me the whole time but they just looked curious and made to gestures at all.
  
  However knowing they will swoop down on a trike makes me think keeping one's distance would behoove one.
  
  Jeff, I am pretty sure I have watched every one of your videos several times over the last couple of years and I am in awe. Not just of you photography skills but you editing is professional quality. I know it takes a lot of time to put a video together.
  
  I hope to get to fly with you some day. The Highland Lakes area is a great place to fly. Perhaps you will want to visit the old stomping grounds someday. The NM area is definitely on my places to go and fly list. I am still a low time pilot. I flew last weekend in some of the roughest thermals I have flown and experienced some wild wind shear as I was landing at my home field. Full throttle and still descending until I got into ground effect. I did 3 go arounds and decided to try the other end of the runway and landed with a lot less effort.
  
  Good to finally chat with you Jeff.
  
  Skybird
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  by jeff trike 4 months ago

  Skybird,
  
  I will return to Austin on my trike someday, maybe next year. My brother lives in Austin and I have planned out my flight on Google Earth several times over the last few years.
  
  I went to UT in the from 1974-1978. But I didn't start hanggliding till 82, or trikes until 04.
  
  Ease into to stronger thermals and never, I mean NEVER make that final commitment to landing unless you are totally satisfied with your approach. I find that the thermals lift is very rare in that last 20 to 30 ft of altitude, because the ground is in the way, it keeps the air from moving. That is not the case with mechanical turbulence so be careful in high winds.
  
  Keep the videos coming
  Jeff
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  by Skybird Triker 4 months ago

  Well said. I like the "NEVER make a commitment to land" until you are sure. I had make that mistake 5 or 6 weeks ago (8 hrs flying time). I amended my thinking and made some good decisions the other day...mostly remember what my instructor taught me. ;-)
  
  Most of the time I fly in calm weather so the only time I get to practice rough weather is when the winds were not as predicted and I get stuck out in them. Winds were calm to 3 mph all day at the local AWOS 4 miles away.
  
  There is about a 2 acre granite dome about 1000 ft from the airport. It always generates lots of thermals. However this time I realized the thermals 1000 ft away was causing the winds to move toward the granite dome. The runway is also granite gravel and warms quickly and prone to thermals. I caught some mechanical turbulence and it caused me drop 40 to 50 ft even with full power.
  
  The best lessons to learn are the ones that don't cost money or flying time.
  
  When I finally got back to the hanger my arms were shaking like I had been lifting weights all day. But I was a happy camper to be sure.
  
  Hope to fly with you when you're around Austin. The hanger is an hour away.
  
  Heck, I mean if Jeff Gilkey is coming to Texas we need to organize a real Texas Trike fly-in.
  
  Skybird