Cooler weather with clearer air promised good visibility rides. My first ride, a Hollister Hop to 3250', was with a United Air Lines pilot who had been in a glider once before, in Arkansas. I did the take-off but he flew the rest of the flight as if he'd been flying gliders for a while! Usually those AirBus pilots don't get too much stick time as the computer flys the plane most of the time. I had forgotten my camera so there is no pic!
Clare brought in Michael for a birthday ride. Actually Michael flew his Cessna 182 in from Modesto with Clare in the right seat! The three of us had a nice Silver Hawk ride to 4750' over Fremont Peak. There were still spots of fog but the visibility was very good. We maneuvered a little to give that power-pilot a taste of the glider's gracefulness but I think Clare was enjoying it more!
Another birthday, another ride! This time it was gift for Jasmine on her 19th birthday which was Veteran's Day but the weather wasn't co-operative so today was the celebratory ride given to her by her father. She wanted an acro ride so we donned the parachutes, required, and went aviating. While on tow she was recording the event on her phone to share with friends. After releasing from the towplane at 6250' over the Aromas quarry we did some clearing turns, a one-and-a-half-turn spin recovering in a dive to 120mph, pulled 2.5-3 Gs and performed the loop, pushing over at the end for a little "zero-G" weightlessness. She really enjoyed it all so we did some aggressive wing-overs and tight turns. I want passengers to be able to experience some piloting themselves so she flew the glider and performed her own version of "acro"! Mostly she enjoyed looking down on her homeland with a perspective few get to experience, a "bird's eye-view"!
Here she's recording the view of her hometown Salinas:
We landed to the east to avoid having the sun in our eyes but wanted to have a pic with the "beautiful" light:
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