Today at Mingus......
We arrived ready to set up at 9:30am. Tim, Russ, Paul, Mitchel, Dale - all locals - and myself, were ready to go before 11. Paul was first to launch and immediately found a core. He reported going through 12k when the wind began blowing down at launch. The five of us remaining waited through a 20min down cycle before a nice cycle came up the face. We all five trundled into the air within that one cycle and climbed out in a giant multi core thermal. The lift was strong enough through 11k, but around 12k the SW prevailing wind seemed to collide with the lift we were in. It felt like a giant tsunami crashing down and breaking the thermals into more powerful and numerous cells. Sounds weired I know - it was! At 14k the group headed out on glide to the northeast. After leaving the vicinity of Mingus, things calmed down a bit. We all flew back to Sedona, burbling along in light buoyant air. I was able to take in the incredible views around Sedona from 11k (pics coming). One by one we descended and landed by hi-way 89. I was last to land, as it took more than 20min to burn off my last 1k. Mitchel flew past our LZ and landed at the Sedona Airport. The airport is on a mesa and appears like an aircraft carrier. Sort of intimidating. We met Mitchel at the airport for a nice lunch before dispersing.

Today at Mingus

Julie and I are in Sedona this week for some r&r. I just so happened to bring my flying kit. Mingus is just a few miles away from our condo, and this morning I headed up to launch with some locals in hopes of flying. Chris Thompson, a local club member, was kind enough to drive me up and show me the ropes. Great hospitality! One other pilot, a para and myself, were the only ones that flew. We launched around the same time - 11ish - and burbled our way to 3k over. We stayed local due to the wind conditions in the area and landed in the primary LZ after a few hours of airtime. More later

Inspo 4.30.09

On a whim, I packed up and drove down to Inspo this afternoon. I had actually been watching the weather this morning diligently. It looked really strong from 12,ooo up - around 30 to 45 with upper winds predicted to be as strong as 65 knots. After I got a little work done I figured I'd at least go check out the road and possibly work in the bail out LZ. On my way out, and looking south, linticular clouds were stacked up like pancakes - verifying the upper wind forecast.

I arrived at launch around 2pm. The wind was coming in at 12-15mph, with nice thermal cycles every 5-10min. As if on auto pilot, I grabbed my glider and set up. In 30min I was off the hill and into a sweet cycle. The wind was somewhat more south than it appeared on launch, and only broken trash was found along the primary ridge. (typically the more south the wind is at Inspo, the air tends to be more textured). I drifted to the north with some marginal lift, and close to Provo Canyon that lift petered out - and it was drillology 101 lesson #36289. I encountered some pretty strong sink. I really didn't think I would make the bailout LZ. I had a low save at around 400ft and worked broken lift until it consolidated a few hundred feet up. The lift turned into a nice solid thermal that landed me at 9000asl and back in the canyon. I had no problem penetrating forward, and as soon as I was even with the mouth of the canyon, I hit some abnormally strong lift. The surface wind forecast for the day called for SW switching to the WNW at about 3pm. Can you say sheer line?

I followed a very defined line of lift west and just past I-15, topping out around 10,000asl. Not that high, but very strong and consistant. The rest? Just played in the air for a while and had a nice landing in the big green LZ. Great season starter. One observation - Jeff your missed man!


Some nice Inspo cloud pics from early fall 08'

The Southside 4.21.09

A nice showing of hang glider pilots turned out at the South Side of the Point on Tuesday morning. The day turned out lighter than expected, but most everyone got a little air time, as we all enjoyed just being there in the warm spring sun.


A local making it look all too easy.


Several California pilots showed up and enjoyed the morning's sweet temps.


Just hangin'.


John Lindburgh.


Greg Billow.

Wallaby Demo Daze 09'

A few years ago I flew down to Florida for the Wills Wing Demo Daze, only to be stumped by high winds and grounded tugs. This year I bought airfare to Wallaby to partake once again in the week long air fest. As time drew close to the event, it appeared the wind was going to be a problem again. But the first two days of the event allowed for some decent soaring, as a weak cold front stalled just north of Orlando. Though there were no spectacular flying days, the combination of the ranch vibe and just being at a latitude where there was warm weather, made it all worth while. Wills Wings new gliders were available for all at no charge. The camaraderie, food and good times made this years "bubble experience" great.

Saturday 3.14.09

Finally the weather is starting to turn. We have had a few good flying weekend days in the past month. Yesterday half a dozen or so hangs showed up at the South Side for some great spring (almost, it was 28 degrees at 8:00am when I showed) flying.

Following are pics of Greg Bottelberghe. Last pic on the page is of Greg Billow.

Sundance

Melissa Hibbard, who by the way is my daughter, Had a film in Sundance this year. The Glass House is a documentary film that Melissa and her husband Hamid created over the course of the last couple of years. The Glass House documents four girls who are in various ways at risk. A private individual in Iran opens up a girls home to help kids in need. It's a great film. We had a blast while they were here. Check out a clip of the film here - prometheuscinema.com/mpgs/preview-the-glass-house.html


Melissa and me


The entourage camped out at our digs in PC for ten days!


Melissa


Julie, my sis Sandy and Melissa

Heaven's Gold Collection is out

Heaven's Gold Collection is finally and officially out. It's a collection of songs that were written during the course of my writing career. Some new some old. Go to brucehibbard.com and check out the website. You can sample some of the songs on Heaven's Gold as well as other CD's produced over the years. Enjoy the music.

Another day in.........


Just some random photos from today. Our team is stationed at Jupiter, at 10,000ft, one of the highest patrol shacks on the mountain.


Special weather conditions were present over the last few mornings to produce rime ice.


Our team leader Andy, hard at work on his poetry.

The Cody Cup

The winner of this years coveted Cody Cup (with wife Julie).

Friday night the gang met at Outback Steakhouse in Layton for the first official Cody Cup awards presentation and dinner. Ok, it's just the four of us I know, but we still had fun this summer flying XC and competing for the treasured Cup. The concept of the Cup began last summer when Cody came up with the idea of a low profile comp just among friends. Cody got the Cup last year, which was a used coffee mug. This years trophy was a cool thermal mug with a custom silk screened logo with the winners flight details on the mug. I was the recipient this year, as my 96 mile flight from Heber won the comp.



Matt and Keri. Matt had a nice 86 mile flight from the short divide.


Greg and Jennifer. Greg had several mentionable XC flights including the fly to Cody's house for a BBQ.


Cody and Dorothy. On my 96 miler, Cody was just behind me the whole flight. He landed less than fifteen miles short of where I landed.

Kind of an interesting morning. When I arrived at the South Side this morning a very peculiar cloud capped the west end. Once on top, I noticed a fog bank followed the low lying area from Provo Lake to the point. The cloud bank was less than a half mile wide, and as it approached the hill it snaked it's way over the top. As the sun rose the fog quickly burned off. The morning turned out to be quite nice.



A Salt Lake Tribune reporter came out and took a few shots of the R.C. gliders as well as an in air shot of me. It's possible there might be a story about the point in the Tribune tomorrow morning. Notice the Red Tail Hawk at the left of the pic.


Photo courtesy of Steve Griffin - Salt Lake Tribune

Nothing going lately that's blog worthy. My sail finally came back from repair, but I'm afraid the next week holds only bad flying weather. Time to dig in to the old stash.
I ran across this pic of Jeff O'Brien that I took this summer at the South Side.

A South Side Junk Session

Saturday on the South Side. Moderate wind, hangs, bags and other flying things made for a congested morning. John Lindbergh effortlessly cruised above the calamity below, as though he was on a different layer of the lift band.

Meanwhile, I squeaked in a few flights when the crowded skies lightened up. (The following photos were taken by Val Stevens)









As I attempted a slider, my lack of expertise and a odd bit of turbulence spoiled my morning. The following - a broken downtube. Rats!

In The Beginning

I came across some ancient photos. Some I don't remember ever seeing until recently. It's hard to believe how fast life whirls by.


This photo captures one of my first flights on a hang glider. A 40' hill beside I-240 in Oklahoma City. Notice the unique take off form.


Great composition. My two young girls playing on a rock with me in the background. Crestline, CA. Photo - Susan Hibbard


Gotta love that LA smog. Another Crestine pic. Circa - 1980. Photo - Susan Hibbard.


1981 Southern Cal regional's.


Lake Elsinore, CA. Circa - 1980

More Willard Pics

Greg sent over these great pics of our adventure on Saturday.


Set-up area is a bit sparse, but it works.


Looking straight down launch.

Mighty Willard

The gang met up with Crazy Mike in North Ogden Saturday morning. We began what would turn out to be my longest LZ to launch drive ever! It took us over two hours to finally reach the top of Willard Peak from where the cars were parked in the LZ. I must add, the scenery was spectacular on the drive up. Even though the road was at times rocky, it wasn't a bad drive, thanks to Cody's awesome truck. Thanks to Cody's wife Dorothy, the truck made it back to the LZ in one piece. The launch was a pretty straight ahead slope launch, and with the wind coming straight in at a consistent 15 to 18 mph, everyone was quick to get off the hill and into the air. Willard is approximately 9800 asl and about 5000 agl. The view looking out toward the Great Salt Lake and distant mountains to the west is one of the most incredible sights.

No camera, so I downloaded these Google images of the peak.




I was in the air first, and one by one Greg, Cody and Mike followed. The air was somewhat textured at launch, most likely due to the massive rock spires that dominate the topography out front. However, once you move a half mile south, there's a linear ridge that runs about a mile and provides a fun and somewhat smooth ride. Greg and Cody ventured out of the main ridge area and struggled a bit to get back into the working lift. After an hour or so in the air, they landed in no wind conditions. Mike landed bit earlier due to glider problems. After two hours of touring the mountain I headed out toward the LZ, and after burning off four grand of altitude, I landed in the calm, evening air. Not my best landing, but overall, a great flight.

Thanks to Mike for the guided tour.

The Bones

My glider, reduced to bare bones! Its that time of the year. A sail off inspection of the frame revealed only a few questionable wear spots. See if you can find the spots of concern.



The sail actually had wear and tear significant enough to warrant a trip to the factory for repair. The most significant area of wear is at the tips. The glider was manufactured in 2002. When I got my Talon in 2006, it had been stored in a garage for several years. It's been a sweet glider, I'm hoping she has at least one more season in her .

Drummer

Drummer. Where do I begin. It started four years ago when we began construction of the house in Summit park. Drummer lived just down the steep hill from our building project. I made the mistake of throwing Drummer the tennis ball he brought up to the job site, just one time, that's all it took to make a lifetime friend.

Drummer is a really big lab, and very rambunctious. He's a dog that knows what he wants and will relentlessly pester with deafening barks until you cave. He's been coming up to the house with religious fervor several times a week with a ball, stick, whatever, since that day.