2008 - First Flight of the New Year - Leadlich, Aberdeenshire.

Like most folks who were feeling the over indulgence of the Festive period I was keen to get my first flight in for the New Year. The forecast for Sunday 6th Jan was for the wind from the south to ease later on in the day. I phoned Scott Rigg who was in Inverness and he recommended I call Adrian which I did. To cut a long story short as I was at my Mum’s in Banchory I thought a quick trip out to Leadlich would do harm and to see if any other folks had the same intentions….

I pulled up behind Jules and Guillaume (members of the AHPC) at the lay-by near Tarland. A third chap (Audi All-terrain estate) was also there. We headed up the track and met John Newton travelling down in his vehicle. John had already one flight in, filling us with confidence saying that conditions went from nil wind to gusting 25 mph plus and after taking off he was going backwards…

Photos taken using my LG Camera Phone

We all opted to walk up for the exercise, refusing a lift from John. He dropped off his wing and drove down to the car park. We all got to the top and sheltered behind the cairn. Conditions were too strong. After 30 minutes conditions eased and all five of us got off and worked the ridge lift. After 25 minutes we all started dropping as conditions eased and we all bottom landed in the field next to the trees. I was pleased in that I was first to take off and last to land. Probably because I am very light on the Aeron 28 after having lost 3.5 stone…must get a medium wing…

After packing up we headed to the Crossroads Hotel for a pint

Later Simon Lucas and his girlfriend had a Tandem Top To Bottom (TTTB) in nil wind conditions.

First flight of the year bagged by all that were out and hopefully many more to come….

Fly Safe!,