Friday, November 26, 2010

Dual flight at Crystal

The last few days have been windy at Crystal, so I was hoping for some wave or ridge lift. Although there were strong Santa Ana winds through the Cajon Pass on the drive out, the air at Crystal was pretty dead. And it was not warm enough for thermal activity to be very strong. So we weren't expecting to soar - and we didn't. N and I took a 5000' tow at about 1:00 in the Grob 103. I flew the takeoff and tow and the part of the flight in the mountains. It was about 55-60 degrees on the ground, so I expected it to be pretty cold aloft, but it was not bad. We hit little bumps on some of the ridges, but not enough to sustain us. N took over as we came down over "Second Ridge" and I pulled out my camera. He found a little bit of lift down low over the desert, but again not enough to keep us up.


We ended up with a 37-minute flight, nothing to write home about. But it as good for me to fly dual in this new (to me) location.