Lawnmowers Fly!

Here you see a short clip with take off, ascent, soaring under clouds, spiral and then a (rough!) crosswind landing. Alex N. took me on a spin with his machine, in early September 2010.

The entire thing, except for the wing, is tiny.

In terms of paragliding, we noticed strong thermals high up. So once we have higher altitude, we should have a good chance to do more cross-country. To be explored in the next season!

Flying with an Ultralight

Yesterday, Alexander N. took me out on his ultralight, on a glorious day, from the Natakhtari Airport. The runway in itself was an experience (there was no runway). Flying in this ultralight felt incredibly immediate, and fun. The only thing that you crave is turning off the engine as you're approaching a big cloud and beginning to feel how it draws you in. But that is not what this toy is designed for.

Cloud base somewhere above 2200 m, which would be plenty for flying over land, even if it's on the low side for the foothills of the Caucasus. Again, we were thinking that the one thing we need is either a winch (the first thermals start 200 m above the ground, or less) or eventually one of the electric motors.

On a day like yesterday, after three days of strong wind from the Northwest, the Northwest wind breaking down around noon, there would be plenty of potential for epic flights -- to be sure, only in one direction, since the wind is pretty zippy up there (around 50 km/h above Mtskheta), but distance nevertheless. There is so much potential that's waiting to be explored...

[Pictures/film to follow soon.]