Written by: Jeff Shapiro
7/19/2009 10:04 AM 

Well, it's been a crazy couple of weeks after returning from Europe. Between getting work done here in my shop, working at the hospital and flying as much as possible to be in good form for Texas, my head has been spinning. Two things seem to really help me find balance. One is the time when I am actually flying. Being in the air makes all else fade away. The other, and the most important and enjoyable, is spending quality time hanging out with my family. My daughter brings so much fulfillment to my life and watching her grow up is a privilege that makes me feel like the luckiest man in the world.



After we flew from Germany to Canada and made the drive back to my home in Montana, Jeff stayed for a few days to get some work done and to maybe do some flying. I worked a 4 day stretch at the hospital upon returning but when we finnally did get to go up Sentinel for a flight, it was a good day and we were motivated to get some photos. We each spent around an hour on launch getting our mounts sorted and cameras set up. Jeff set up a LONG wing mount that wrapped up and around his leading edge making for a pretty unique perspective. I'm psyched to see what he came up with. I set up a nose mount which required a heavy chunk of rebar at the end of my stinger to counter balance the camera weight. I really like the images afforded by this mount. I think I got a couple of good ones;-)



After a couple of nights in the shop sewing a new zipper into my Rotor harness and spending time working on design and finish work for my own project, I was feeling in need of a fly. One of my students from last year had mentioned that he wanted some thermal lessons and called to ask if I could go flying. I made some calls which formed a small group to head out to Tarkio. It was 98 F here and after reviewing Dr. Jacks thermal forecast, I had a feeling it was going to be strong. It was fairly high pressure with a low spinning to our north so the edges would be sharp and the lift punchy. I was looking forward to it.


Josh, Craig, Paul and I arrived on launch to find strong cycles rolling up the mountain and birds climbing into the sky like winged rockets. After helping everyone get off safely, I launched and confirmed Josh's reports that it was indeed turbulent. I found a couple of sheer layers and discovered that between 5000' and 6200' was the power band to stay in. The lift went to 10,200' but the wind increased from L & V on the ground to 18-22mph at altitude. The amount of sink and turbulence associated with the air surrounding the lift was King Mountain esque. I really wanted to do an out and return up the valley and between 5-6000', the headwind component was more manageable. Even though it felt semi low, the thermals were abundent and I was able to make fast progress with glides between thermals averaging 48mph. There is one big, bald, grassy mountain that overlooks the town of St. Regis that I have always dirven past, looked up at and thought about how cool of a flying site it would make. I made this my turnpoint. When I got there, I climbed to the top of lift (10,000) and used the higher winds to my advantage to return to the Tarkio valley with a 20mph tail wind. I had to take a few circles to make "goal" arriving at 100' with high speed. The short 45 mile out and return took about an hour. Even though there was some wicked patches of air, the flight was really fun and left me buzzing in the LZ. We made the drive back up to launch to retrieve the rig and Craig and Paul took another flight. It was a perfect way to end a great day.


passing Superior on the way to St Regis. It's a blurry photo but at least you can see me smiling;-)

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