Ilmailun riemua

Practicing ground-handling in the local park at the end of May, I relaxed my concentration for a split second; as a result, I looped one line of the wing over a lamp-post. The metal chafed the cover off the line and I had to cut it through. The replacement arrived from Vietnam (!) three weeks later, so meanwhile I was grounded. Before the trip to France I had constructed a padded box for my pocket camera to be fixed to my flying helmet, but it didn't work out as it should have. After making alterations, I was itching to try it out again - and last Thursday I was at last standing hitched to the tow car, waiting for take-off. The results you can see here: the whole short flight unabridged.


EFHV - Hyvinkää


Irritating to lose such a promising thermal at 650m, but looking at the video and editing it has been rewarding anyway. Surprising how a relatively cheap camera produces such satisfying results. Many of my flying acquaintances use HD cameras, and the difference in the quality of the video is enormous, of course. With a 4GB card our little Canon Ixus 70 can record about a half an hour at this resolution. Later in the day conditions deteriorated, and the airfield became quite hectic, with several powered aircraft doing touch-and-gos, a gliding course in progress, and us "happy few" trying to cope with a wind that went round the clock. Downwind take-offs are just not on for paragliders.