Ennis helped me this morning with inflating the wing while the engine is on my back. Wind kept on changing directions. Only a few attempts were successful. I have sore shoulders for the rest of the day. Ryan doesn't think I have enough strength to carry the engine to inflate and launch the wing in no wind conditions. He has been asking me to switch over to trike instead of foot launch. I'm not that fond of trikes and I want to learn how to foot launch. This is a physically demanding sport. You need a lot of shoulder strength. I wish I knew this before coming here. Any way, we agreed to give foot launch a try in the evening before switching to trike.
Winds didn't calm down for quite some time in the evening. I played for some time with engine on my back full throttle. Around 4:30 p.m., winds were mild enough for me to attempt a solo. One thing Ryan has been emphasizing the past few days is to continue to run even when wing lifts you in the air. It seems most students jump into the seat when full throttle is applied. I'm no different. Unfortunately, when the cage touched the ground before I killed the engine, stones on the ground got sucked into the prop and severely damaged it. It is a carbon fiber prop. It costed me $450. Ouch!!
In total, we lost two days for high winds and the prop mishap. I have decided to extend my stay a few more days to complete what I came here to do. If I mess up my launch one more time, I better switch over to trike. I'm hoping for the best tomorrow. Merry Christmas every one!
Winds didn't calm down for quite some time in the evening. I played for some time with engine on my back full throttle. Around 4:30 p.m., winds were mild enough for me to attempt a solo. One thing Ryan has been emphasizing the past few days is to continue to run even when wing lifts you in the air. It seems most students jump into the seat when full throttle is applied. I'm no different. Unfortunately, when the cage touched the ground before I killed the engine, stones on the ground got sucked into the prop and severely damaged it. It is a carbon fiber prop. It costed me $450. Ouch!!
In total, we lost two days for high winds and the prop mishap. I have decided to extend my stay a few more days to complete what I came here to do. If I mess up my launch one more time, I better switch over to trike. I'm hoping for the best tomorrow. Merry Christmas every one!
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