News

The storm that brought several days of heavy rain has moved off and I was able to fly Caro 1 in the very clear air.

Over Valley Springs, looking north. The snow level has moved further down. The reservoir is well filled.

It was very windy, even on the ground, up to 20 kts, so there was not much activity at the airport.

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I posted a new video on airplane design. Here is the link:

Design for Crashworthiness

Link Tutorial 24  https://youtu.be/z1ytmLL0grk

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Yesterday I found out I have a new neighbor. He moved into the basement in the house next to me after creating his own door. I can see it from my window. I call him Willy the wildcat, because that what he looks like. He is very shy, and has been prowling the area for a couple of weeks, looking for ladies (he is not fixed).

For a while the other cats were scared of him and ran away when he showed up, in the meantime he made friends with Dupli (female, fixed) and an enemy of another newcomer (white male with black eye patch and gray tail) which I call Pirate.

In this picture you can just see Pirate to the right as something white in the grass, hurling threats and insults at Willy, who was defending his new home and responded with an occasional low growl, roughly translated into “I’m here to stay, get lost!”. Neither one moved even though I came quite close, because the first one to retreat would have lost the battle. Just like two gunfighters in a western movie!

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The weather has stabilized to typical January conditions: sunny.

I flew the Pulsar to Mariposa to explore a different area for hiking.

It is all downhill from the airport, so save some energy for the way back.

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It rained on January 1 but the second day of the year was flyable. I used the opportunity in Caro 1 to go look for lift in the strong wind created by an incoming front.

Down low I found some bumpy ridge lift, even though the wind here was about parallel to the ridges. Higher up it smoothed out into wave.

Unfortunately the lift was not strong enough to support me without the engine, so I kept it running at low power to explore the area of lift, which was several miles long, up to almost 7000 ft. I assume it would have been much better on the east side of the Sierra, but too far away. It still was fun.

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I was getting the Pulsar ready for a flight on the ramp at the airport when I heard “whoosh” right above my head. I looked up and saw a bird flying at very high speed, faster than a car on the highway, zooming away from me at low level diagonally across the runway. It had its wings tucked two thirds to its body, gliding with only some small maneuvering movements parallel to the ground. On the other side, it pulled up briefly to about 15 ft and hit another bird in a small explosion of feathers, which flew off to all sides glittering in the sun like miniature fireworks. A red-tailed hawk which had been perched on a tree close by flew up, disturbed by the intruder on his territory, crying angrily. It looked like a lumbering DC-3 next to a sleek Spitfire. The falcon or hawk (?) now had to flap his wings, turned right about 90 degrees to his original flight path and disappeared down the hill with his meal.

It must have dived down behind me to gain his attack speed, used me as sort of cover on the otherwise empty ramp, before reaching the unlucky smaller bird which probably had no idea what hit it. The raptor was a bit smaller than the red-tailed hawk and seen from behind had gray wings with a darker pattern on the upper surface. I don’t know what species it was, it could have been a peregrine falcon.

I often see a Sparrow Hawk perched on a pole next to the road to the airport, but the one I saw in flight was a bit larger than the tiny Sparrow Hawk.

I then went for a flight myself, on what was one of very few beautiful days in the last two unusual months of fog and rain. The fog was still lingering in some places.

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