fergs 0 #1 May 21, 2003 I had an interesting experience on Sunday evining .... It was the last load of the weekend - last light sunset load to 14,000'. There'd been some cloud and intermittant rain for a lot of the afternoon and we were in a caravan whose pilot always uses GPS for spotting. An RW load of 10 or 12 as well as 5 or 6 freeflyer group exited before me. I got out, chased the caravan for 5 or 6 seconds, then turned for a casual wide circuit flight to the opening point. After not too long I was flying through cloud - then clear yet pretty sunset glowing skies - then into a dense cloud that was very hostile. It was basically 4 thousand feet of hail, which felt more like slivers of ice rather than hail stones. Anyhow, even with no headgear on, I wasn't too offput by the ice. By the time I landed, the freeflyers and RW load were back in the hanger. A number had badly bloodied faces. All, when they took off their jumpsuits, looked as though someone with a pen-knife had made little stab marks all over their bodies - even through not only the jumpsuits but also their shirts - literally hundreds of little puncture wounds. All were also soaked with rain. On the other hand, I has hardly even damp, apart from my hair. I certailnly had no ice injuries or marks. So there we have it - flying horizontally through hail is a lot better than falling vertically through it. Better by a whole lot!!!! The added bonus was that many of the others on the load pulled high after abandoning any hope of RW. Yet I flew through the cload/hail/rain layers without a care and got a magnificent sunset in between each layer, including a sunset all the way to the ground after opening. Life is Great. Spread the Love!! fergbird Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManBird 0 #2 May 21, 2003 On Saturday, I flew down a "channel" in a clowd that was spitting marble-sized hail at me. I've had a bloodied face from less than this, but for some reason, flying the WS through hail was a piece of cake (as opposed to an entire cake in freefall). The visuals of hail coming at you sideways are very, very cool."¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kevin922 0 #3 May 21, 2003 i remember once I flew a wingsuit, god that was like forever ago. damn weather. maybe I should just jump in the storms, sounds like hail is okay. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
