Estrella trip 2, the naomi and andrew edition

So after taking butch out to go flying first, i wanted to go on an aerobatic flight, and naomi decided she would go up for a glider ride too.

so, naomi and my dad got in first to get towed, and i followed with the instructor giving me the aerobatic ride.

here are erik and naomi checking out the plane

naomi in the back seat

ready to take off

me getting into my chute

ohh yeah, im ready

lets get going

on the towline

on tow overhead

naomi and my dad landing while im still on tow. not much thermal activity in the winters, so short flights

high speed pass

and us landing

the five of us with the captain cook

so, first and foremost, let it be known that since i was participating in all these activities, the primary photographer of the day, was noa, who did very well, i must say. she defiantly captured the spirit of glider flying, and its especially nice to get some pictures of me in a glider for once.

so, i would have to say naomi definitelyenjoyed her ride. ask her yourself next time you see her, but after being somewhat intimidated by it initially, she had a great time.

as for myself, well. we released from our tow, and i flew some lazy circles around for a few minutes, since i had not been up in quite a while. then, i handed it over to the instructor, and right off the bat, he asked if we should fly inverted. heck yeah, i said. so, over we went. i had strapped myself in pretty well, but forgot to tighten my shoulder straps enough, so, immediately, i dropped an inch, and was hanging there, upside down, with all the rocks in the plane falling down to my head, staring straight down at the ground. it was awesome. we probably spent about 45 seconds inverted, then righted ourselves.

the rest of the flight was loops, hammerheads, spins and spirals. it was epic. i had done some of those maneuvers before, but never inverted and multiple loops. i had a great time. we finished it off with buzzing the airfield with a high speed pass, and came in for a landing. i just had a blast.

at some point within the next year, i need to start flying more again, and get my license, as coming up soon is the 50th anniversary of my grandfathers glider being built, and i need to fly it solo that year.

well, that about wraps it up for our arizona coverage!

Horseback riding thru the desert

we decided to go horseback riding over the holidays in arizona this year. there were 4 of us, and we decided to go one evening, so we made the call and booked it. well, the next morning, the weather had turned from nice and clear sunny day to overcast and windy! of course, the only other time we are planning on doing an outside event, the weather turns on us again (did the same when we visited carlota).

so anyways, we drove about 15 min from our house into the desert to a ghost town for tourists.

the corral

the 4 of us

riding in the desert, at the base of the superstitions

noa

erik

naomi

the cayote that followed us

my horse

locking erik and naomi up

we had a grand old time riding around for 2 hours. it really is the way to travel thru the desert. it makes you think, that during the wild west, this was the way everyone got around. you really did not go as far as we do these days, traveling around this way. i highly recommend it to anyone who visits arizona.

First Estrella Trip

So my fathers best friend from childhood came to stay with us over the holidays this year. He had spent lots of time in airplanes, but never in a glider, so of course he had to go for a glider ride.

so we went to estralla sailport, our glider field about an hour from our house. its where our family glider also lives.

anyways,lets get into it

the plane sitting waiting to take off before my dad