Practice Day....Errr Sort Of

I spent today at the flight park, gathering all the gear I had sent out here, rigging the glider, checking everything out, etc. I had hoped to take a practice flight to get a feel for the air out here, take a look around, and dust off the aerotow cobwebs. That's not quite how it worked out. I ended up spending most of the day doing some glider and harness maintenance. It's not what I was planning on, but I am very glad that I had an extra day today to do it.

Flat Rigging The Glider

Upon setting up my glider I found the left leading edge had a significant crease in the mylar insert. It was near the nose of the glider and about a foot long. I was concerned about the airflow disruption, especially at slow speeds, and the asymmetry it created in the wing. After a quick chat with Ben and a few others, I decided to pull out the leading edge mylar inserts, flip them over and switch sides. This bends the mylar the other direction, so the crease doesn't bulge up.

I laid the glider down flat and detentioned the leading edge. I was concerned about being able to get the mylar back in, but we were able to do it fairly easily. The fix was a success and them leading edge is holding more shape than it has in a year.

After fixing the glider, I took a look at the pitch adjustment strap in my Rotor harness. I had previously noticed it wearing out where it goes through the cleat that locks the adjustment. Taking a look now the strap was almost torn through.
It's still good...

Fortunately I had received a new strap from Mission Soaring the day before I left. It took a surprisingly long time to get the strap replaced, but now it's good to go and I won't have to worry about losing my pitch adjustment in flight. That wouldn't be a dangerous failure, just uncomfortable.

After all was done it was late in the day, and I was starving. I decided to just tie down the glider rather than take a flight.

The weather looks iffy for tomorrow. We'll see where we end up