April 2011 has been the best potential XC month since I started keeping records a year ago.
Days of possible “Good XC or better Tandem Conditions” from La Malinche – 14 days
Days of possible “Soarable Conditions” from La Malinche, albeit perhaps within a more restricted time window, and flights perhaps not much farther than Tenancingo. – 29 days (The previous catigory overlaps into this one)
Non-Flyable days from La Malinche – 2 days
(once in a while I might mark a single day as both Soarable and Non-Flyable, like when half the day is soarable and the other half Non-Flyable)
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Saturday, April 30th
Skies were hazy with the high inversion layer of the last few days, temperatures were warm, and there were no cumies except late in the afternoon. Soarable but not the best for XC.
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Friday, April 29th
Skies were hazy with the high inversion layer of the last few days, temperatures were warm, and cumies and a few "streets" formed within the haze throughout the afternoon. Soarable and possible long flights, good for tandem (but not so for photography).
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Thursday, April 28th
Skies were hazy, temperatures were warm to hot, and cumies and a few "streets" formed within the haze in the late afternoon. I've had some great flights under conditions like these, but I will still just call it as very soarable and good for tandems, but not the best for XC.
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Wednesday, April 27th
Skies were without cumies, hazy, and warm surface temperatures. Soarable.
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Tuesday, April 26th
Skies were without cumies and a little hazy, with warm temperatures. Soarable, but high winds kicked in the late afternoon.
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Monday, April 25th
Skies were clear blue with just a few cumies around midday. It was soarable I think.
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Sunday, April 24th
Skies were a little hazy with the same type of cumie development as this week. It was good for XC and tandem in my humble opinion.
I launched with tandem passenger Laura H. of Tenango at 2:12pm. Skies were a little over-developed, and some rain was falling in places 5-10km away, and a few drops hit us too throughout our flight. The flight started with a lot of sink and what looked like it would be a sled-ride to an emergency lz in San Antonio, but at about 100mts off the deck I got what was perhaps the lowest low-save ever, or at least in a few years. (a low-save on May 22nd was better than this one, but the camera was not working)
The save started with real careful turns barely gaining a meter at a time, but the more we gained the more we accelerated upward, and ten minutes later, when we were far above the whole region, nearing 3000 meters and climbing ever faster, my concern became one of cloud-suck and the possiblity of storm activity. By that time we were arriving over Tenancingo with mega-altitude and I decided that it would be prudent to land.
The lift bands were broad and powerful but I was able to find some narrow bands of sink over the city which I spiraled in for a while, (all the while noting how unusual it was that the passenger was not airsick) and we came in for a landing at Insurgentes, which now has some green grass, at 2:45pm for a 33 minute flight.
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Saturday, April 23rd
Cumies developed later than yesterday but later in the afternoon over-development to the west threw a lot of shade over the area. Could have been good XC and tandem conditions in the early afternoon, but I will mark it as merely soarable.
I was hanging around home because D.P. said that there might be some visiting pilots or potential passengers, but none ever showed so I hiked up and flew late, launching at 4pm. Over-development to the west threw shade over the area so I worked the ridgelines for 45 minutes without gaining the altitude to leave the area, until I finally got flushed down to an emergency field in San Antonio.
I landed precisely on a small bridge over a ditch between fields, but my wing fell on a small clump of weeds that contained Wisatchi, the cats claw plant, and I was there for an hour getting it unstuck. Meanwhile rain and lightning was starting. Time to pack the umbrella in the harness.
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Friday, April 22nd
It looked like great XC and tandem conditions with nicely formed cumies and streets and over development only very late in the day.
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Thursday, April 21st
Skies were clear blue with small puffy cumies in nearby regions, ranging to big cumies and overdevelopment farther away from the NW to the NE.
I gave a tandem flight to Luis-Angel of Mexico City. He is a small boy, don't know what age, and weighs around 30kg. I got a good video of the whole flight, but still don't have the RAM to edit or thus upload it. My GPS did not work for this flight.
I was trying to time it for when there would be just enough thermal activity to make it to Tenancingo, but hopefully not too strong because we would be flying lightly loaded. I flew with 10 kg of lead ballast. We launched at 12pm.
I flew first to the right down the ridge, because SSE had been predicted, and sure enough. The house thermal was waiting down at the bowl at the west end of the ridgeline. It was a rather weak thermal but we took full advantage of it being so light on the big sail.
We made it up slowly to about a hundred meters higher than usually necessary to fly to Tenancingo, maybe 2700 meters, and as I flew over the back with real poor penetration and speed from being light, sunk out like crazy, and would have had to land in an alternate by the highway, except I caught two good thermals on the way to Tenancingo, and arrived with more altitude than we left with.
There was relativly smooth lift everywhere I flew near or over Tenancingo. I wanted to land as soon as possible before conditions might get stronger. I started flying big ears all the time and took a course towards the north side of Ixpuichiapan where there is normally sinking air, but this time there was only more lift. We flew several kilometers still rising with about a third of the wing area collapsed. Finally I found a patch of sinking air over colonio San Jose, and that brought me into a nice landing where happy parents were waiting at Insurgentes. We gave them time to arrive, it was about a 40 minute flight.
I ran back up for a late afternoon solo flight, but made the mistake of flying to the left when I should have gone to the right, and got flushed big time barely making it to the Cabañas. I think that the flying was still great too, btw.
No big OD or storm this afternoon. I think that there was good XC potential and it was also a great day for tandems.
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Wednesday, April 20th
It was probably very soarable and even good tandem weather early in a certain time window, but in the afternoon giant cunimb development occured over the region, producing some gust fronts and also some brief periods of light rain by 4pm.
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Tuesday, April 19th
Cumies and streets all over from midday on, and it did not OD until really late in the day, but then the "now usual" cunimbs gust fronts and rain as night set in. Looked like good XC and Tandem conditions.
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Monday, April 18th
It was probably very soarable and even good tandem weather early in a certain time window, but in the afternoon giant cunimb development occured over the region, producing a whole lot of gust front activity, and also some brief periods of heavy rain.
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Sunday, April 17th
It was probably very soarable and even good tandem weather early in a certain time window, but in the afternoon giant cunimb development occured over the region, producing a whole lot of gust front activity, and also some brief periods of heavy rain.
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Saturday, April 16th
Windguru forcast east winds and that was fine with me because I really had to work today. However beautiful formed cumies reigned most of the day, and I did not notice any strong or even notable easterly influence, so most of the day I would rate as good XC and tandem potential. Like yesterday a giant cunimb formed over Tenancingo, accompanied by high winds and a little rain very late in the day.
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Friday, April 15th
Skies were slightly hazy and there were a few scattered cumies until around 3pm when a giant cunimb developed directly centered over La Malinche. It was probably soarable early but one would have needed to have left the region early to do any XC. Heavy rain, lightning, and gust fronts are just really hitting now at 7pm.
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Thursday, April 14th
Skies were slightly hazy and there were just a few scattered cumies but they started developing more around 3pm. There was probably some decent XC potential for someone launching earlier with a plan of flying to the north or west.
I slipped out of work a little early and accompanied D.Pedraza up to launch, arriving at around 4. By this time there was big cunimb development off to the west throwing lots of shadows over the Tenancingo area. The general gusts were too strong but there were lulls of several minutes every ten minutes or so.
I launched at 4:37 and the lift was of the cloud suck type, starting weak and ratty down below but getting broader and stronger with altitude. However heavy overdevelopment to the NW was creating a wind which was breaking up the lift a little and making it strong on launch. There were a few cumies in the area and I got 3208m in the LM area, but I lost the lift at that point, still perhaps 500-1000 meters below cloud base. (and I forgot to wear my shoe compasses).
I drifted behind launch in an unaccustomed direction, to the NE over Sn.Martin/Teneria valley, and while I did not get dramatic lift, I did get a little lift and a lot of zero sink. I pictured the area as being in a wave effect from the Santo Desierto area.
I flew towards Tecomatlan but it looked like sure sink that way and I still had good altitude, so I hung a left and flew back towards Tenancingo and stayed up a little longer, flying over town too, but with the shadows of the big clouds to the west the whole area was sort of shutting down to thermals, and I landed at the Insurgentes LZ 50 minutes after I launched.
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Wednesday, April 13th
Cumies and streets in blue skies. Nice drift. Looked like good XC and tandem conditions.
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Tuesday, April 12th
The "little bit of rain" that I had been hoping for came last night in some areas but not others. At my house it rained hard for about 20 minutes around midnight.
Today there were lots of puffy cumies in blue skies, but the only hitch is that there was often a distinct easterly drift, which would probably create lee side thermals at La Malinche (tough down low but good flying higher up). The Malinalco/Picacho site, or the new Malinalco/San Simone Antennas launch site, could have been especially good launch points.
I think there was good tandem potential at Malinalco today, and good XC potential from both Mali and Malinche, possibly favoring a direction towards Valle de Bravo. No one has ever flown that way as far as we have heard, but everyone seems to agree that it is doable. I was rather stuck with work today, and the next few days too. Shucks!!
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Monday, April 11th
There were hazy inverted skies, warm temperatures, and no clouds. Soarable but not the best for XC or tandem.
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Sunday, April 10th
There were hazy inverted skies with mid-level embedded cumies. The thermals were strong but narrow, accompanied by large patches of heavy cream... uh, I mean sink. The turbulence was moderate to strong. There were cloud streets towards Zumpahuacán at times and also a corresponding street over on the Ixtapan side of the valley much of the afternoon. An (unpredicted) upper level easterly wind, which I did not really cue in on until the end of the day, made the La Malinche area a little problimatic, but still doable. There was XC potential at times, depending on the direction one would take.
I hiked up to La Malinche at 11am. H.A. launched with a male passenger and did an exteneded sled ride to San Antonio.
I launched at 11:52am with Emiliana V. of DF. We initially got a quick altitude gain to 230 meters over launch along the westerly spine to the right of launch, in air typically crazy for La Malinche when it is too early. I tried the southerly running spine and cliff faces to the left of launch and the heavy sink outdid the occasional strawberry... oh, I mean't to say "thermal". I made a few passes near launch because the clients had requested an attempt at top landing, but sunk out heavy on the second try, and soon after was landing in the Cabañas LZ. We had a 21 minute flight, and I got a pretty cool GoPro video out of it, but I still don't have my computer up to par to edit and post it.
Emili and I hiked the trail back up to launch, and she helped a ton by carrying half of the tandem equipment. Before we had gotten to the top, H. had launched with the remaining client and this time got a good thermal to the right of launch and made it to Tenancingo.
I returned home and switched to my solo equipment.
At 3:59pm I launched again into strong conditions, and took a while to figure out that the better thermals were to the right. I crossed towards Tenancingo starting with the minimum altitude, but found a few decent thermals along the way, and finally got tucked into broad steady lift under some clouds on the north side of Tenancingo. I would have liked to have seen some cloud street heading towards the Malinalco valley, but there was none. At 3273 meters I chose to leave the lift, flying towards the clearer skies to the east, and finally landed at the soccer fields of Tecomatlan about an hour after I launched. A thousand some meters over launch isn't much in the average flying season, but for this season it is pretty high. Forgot to take some photos on this one.
I was glad I had a small super stable DHV1 wing today because some of the turbulence was pretty nasty :)
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Saturday, April 9th
There were hazy inverted skies. I was pinned down with some tandem passengers that D.P. had lined up, that were supposed to arrive at 1pm but didn't show. Finally around 4pm I hiked up myself determined to at least get in a late day flight. Daniel P. called me repeatedly telling me to wait because "they were on their way up".
After waiting a couple more hours on top I launch alone at 6:15pm into weakening but still decent thermals. I had the lift to leave the area but I hung around in the La Malinche bowl waiting to see if they really would arrive. At 6:45 they drove up and H.A. of Ixtapan jumped out quick and launched with one of the passengers. I top landed at 7pm and decided against setting up for a passenger so late, not caring for the landing options, aside from top-landing, which was not certain. I launched again solo into very light air and landed soon after at the Cabañas (long hitch-hiking journey out late at night). H., with his passenger top-landed later, long after the sun disappered, just barely staying up in real scratchy lift. It was definitely soarable today, but not the best for XC.
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Friday, April 8th
There were hazy inverted skies and no cumies. I think it was definitely soarable but not the best for XC.
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Thursday, April 7th
There were hazy skies with nicely formed cumies and cloud streets most of the day. I think there was good XC potential. (earlier than when I flew)
I had not been planning on flying but Daniel P gave me a ride up late in the day. I launched at 5:30 and got good steady lift up to 3800 meters, to where I left the lift band to test the lift to the south towards the antennas. I did not find anything better there and returned to the La Malinche area, got up to 2842mts before topping out. By this hour there were no longer good cumies forming over the La Malinche area. I flew into the west end of the Tenancingo valley as usual, and sunk out quickly and landed next to a circus tent at the Insurgentes LZ, at 6pm exactly for a 30 minute flight. A cloud street was forming over the east end of the valley but I did not give it much attention in the air, but after I landed it strongly overdeveloped there and then some gust fronts hit. Good thing I did not enter that lift band.------------------
Wednesday, April 6th
It was probably soarable early, before about 2pm, but by two an omonous cunimb formation developed over Tenancingo, and a hypothetical pilot would not have launched for safety concerns. Although the cloud did not ultimatly drop any rain.
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Tuesday, April 5th
Slightly hazy skies with small cumies but no overdevelopment at the end of the day like yesterday. XC potential.
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Monday, April 4th
Today it was probably soarable within a time window before 2pm, but by 2pm ominous cunimbs were developing over Tenancingo making flying the area not a sane option. It never rained in Tenancingo but probably did in Malinalco.
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Sunday, April 3rd
Basically a repeat of yesterdays report except I rode up with Daniel P. Only I flew, as far as I know. There was a giant cumulonimbis off to the north over Toluca and I was cautious to watch for possible effects it might have on our region, but it did not seem to affect us.
This time I waited for the gusts to diminish a little, but tried to be ready before clouds a kilometer or two to the west threw shadows over the area, but the clouds developed faster than I calculated and I still ended launching into the shade. Lift under the shade was better at first, but once again I ended up working the area after, looking for a ride up to cloud base, which never materialized, but there was a lot of heavy turbulence, tight swirling air, and finally I tried flying upwind to the west towards mid-valley generated clouds, but I sank out and landed at don Pablo's ranch in San Antonio for an about 40 minute flight.
I think once more that this day had good XC potential but neither me, nor the other local pilots cared to launch ourselves into the strong stuff earlier these days (ref - a few rumors). I suspect that there were lulls between the gusts for launching throughout the day, and the overall wind speed has been low. It is thermal gusts which come and go and change direction that are strong. The mid-day thermals must have been really strong. Big local dust-devils have been churning since around noon, and they are made more impressivly visible because the dry air is dusty.
I would like just a little touch of rain in this area to reign in these conditions... um, please, thanks.
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Saturday, April 2nd
Skies were blue with nicely formed but not overdeveloped cumies. In the afternoon I headed up to La Malinche on foot.
In front of the Probiomed plant was Pablo and some other pilots who had returned from earlier flying. They suggested it was strong up on launch. I said that one could not tell from where we were at, and perhaps it was not so strong now (and besides I had already decided to go up there anyhow).
(Heard the next day that they had great flights.)
I arrived before 3pm all alone. Wind seemed to be entering from the SSW, but smoke down in the valley was east, apparently the air mass feeding a cloud street in the middle San Jeronimo valley. There were lulls that made launching possible, but the gusts were rather intimidating so I dozed off until around 3:30. By that time the cloud street had developed more in the mid-valley, and with the lowering sun, moving shadows were cast over the La Malinche area. The wind direction and velocity down in the valley was very variable judging by several smoke sources.
But with the shadow came some lulls in the still sometimes strong conditions so I launched at 3:40. I struggled all up and down the ridges and away from the ridges in gusty but ratty air never getting over 2702 meters. Penetrating upwind to the cloud street a few kilometers to the west may or may not have been doable, but the winds in the valley floor out that way looked risky so I did not try that direction very much. I landed at the Cabañas LZ after an hour.
I still think that there was XC potential today with the cumies and streets out there, but perhaps by risking a launch in stronger conditions earlier, or on a higher performance wing, or by launching from Ixtapan de la Sal.
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Friday, April 1st
Today there were the most perfect small cumies and cloud streets in the afternoon. It looked like great XC potential.
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