midtoad's blog

30 years of flying Mt. Swansea

Barry Howie launching off Mt. Swansea in 1977 with an Eagle Cloud, built by him in Invermere.

Stewart launching off Mt. Swansea in 2006 with a Wills Wing XC; photo by Reni

On August 13, 2006, I celebrated an anniversary of sorts by flying my hang glider of Mt. Swansea. 30 years and a few days earlier, on August 9, 1976, I made my very first flight off the same mountain. Some things have changed, and some have remained the same, in the intervening years

On Monday August 9th, 1976, I arrived in Invermere to find light westerly winds and overcast skies with low cloud. Here's what I recorded about the day, and that momentous flight, no. 254 in my logbook and my first off what I knew then to be Canada's mecca for "kite fliers":

"After the 2nd Annual Mt. Swansea competition, drove to top with Karl Fahrni, Roger Duthie, Al Blatter, Sam Inch, Dean Kupchanko. Arriving at top we found cloud but occasional holes. We knew already that clouds were close to mtn. only.

Karl flew first as wind dummy, then Dean flew, over lower takeoff for CBC camera, soaring for 15 min. before landing.

I went 2nd-last: a fair run but (was told later) pushed out hard and jumped into it, climbing "right into a stall" (according to Sam Inch). Feeling a slow-down, (and hearing "pull in!"), I then zoomed before trimming the Mirage B 1814.

Did 10-12 360s, each way, but did not feel as confident as with the Delta Wing Phoenix (my own glider). However, they weren't bad. Pitch control was easy, kite was manouverable. Finally made approach and landed in park - a lot past target for a change, but inside foul line. When I pulled in to approach, kite really picked up speed but moved ahead not down.

N.B. Don't push out on cliff takeoff - a stall will result in loop back to a long slide down. Take off and stay hot!"

Strangely enough, I didn't record time in the air, but at that time it wasn't considered important, at least by me. Probably my flight was only around 15 minutes, not much different from my flight 30 years later! I used to go on at great length in my logbook in those early days (4 pages for my first cross-country flight, also off Mt. Swansea, the next year... but that's a different story).

In those days, I kept my flight log in a 150-page Geotec hard-cover surveyor's field book, one flight per page (sometimes several pages per flight). These days, while I still have a paper logbook, I only transfer to it what I record in a pilot's log database application I run on my Palm TX PDA. Here's what I wrote about flight no. 2416, lasting 18 minutes:

"Long wait to launch... forgot my ribs in sailplane hangar, brought up by Tom Korte. 2nd to launch, after Will Lanier from Montana who had extended sleigh ride, and before Scott Huber from California (who gained 1000m ATO). Sky mostly thin overcast with little sun holes, light breeze from south, high 24C.

Good takeoff on W side at 15:36. Caught thermal immediately, did S-turns until over the top as I didn't feel safe circling close in. Got 200m over, then thermal died as shade moved in. Buzzed launch for benefit of spectators, then sank out with no more lift. Landing beside Super 8 Motel beside airport: score 7/10 (good flare, landed on feet, but dropped base tube on ground); this makes 9 safe flights since last glider damage (broken downtube last year in Golden)."

Scott and Darrel Bossert from Jasper both climbed substantially over launch but then sank out. Darrel's friend Reni snapped a pic of me just after launch, which you can see above. I don't have any photos from the first flight in 1976, but I'll soon scan and post another photo from that era at Mt. Swansea.

Other 30-year flying veterans in the vicinity of Mt. Swansea over the weekend (also the occasion of the 30th Annual Lakeside Splashdown) included Dean Kupchanko, Hans "Haver" Verstraten, Doug Hartley, Greg Leslie. Great to see them all!

So what's changed in 30 years of hang gliding? The first time I flew off the mountain, I thought I knew what I was doing, but I may have been mistaken. I probably had only a couple of hours airtime at that time. This last time I flew off the mountain, I thought I knew what was doing, but I may still have been mistaken. I do have in excess of 1200 hours airtime now, but I'm still learning with each flight. The gliders are way better now, and we know much more about safe practices than we did 30 years ago. But flying always retains an element of risk, so that hasn't changed. And the wonderful feeling of carving through the air hasn't changed one iota. With each flight, it just keeps getting better!