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No more flying (part three)

This summer we went to Tolmin in Slovenia, to enjoy our holiday. We had great weather, in a beautiful country on a nice camping place. Of course, I had my glider with me. The first week, the flying conditions were very good. I made a couple of flights around the Soca valley. The nicest moment was, when I took the only starting moment in one hour. While I was circling at cloud base, I saw all the other pilots waiting at the start.
But after one week of flying, shit happened. I tried to land on a to small landingfield (near Zatolmin). Which resulted in a collision with a tree at the end of the field. Luckily I had no damage to my body, but my hangglider was in bad shape. The tree managed to bend my leading-edge and there was a big tear in the sail. 🙁 🙁
So, no more flying this holiday.
Google earth flight
In the picture (Google earth) you can see my last flight. There was a NE wind. So when I was flying close to the ridge, trying to find a thermal. I realized that the thermals wouldn’t come above the top. That leaved me in a difficult position. I must try to fly to the landingfield, crossing the village. When I started my attempt to reach the landingfield, I encountered huge sink. When you have sink-alarm on your vario for more than a minute, you know that some things are not in the way they should be. I hoped to make a glide to the landingfield, flying on Max. L/D. But my vario told me that it would be impossible to get there. So the only option left was to make an outside landing near the town of Zatolmin. Looking to the ground, revealed a lot of fruit tree orchards. So No suitable landing fields. I spotted two possible small landing fields. Picked one and tried to land on it. Coming in, as low as possible over the trees around the field. Halfway the field, I realized it would be difficult to stop before the trees at the end of the field. At the end of the field, I touched the ground with one foot and tried to flare. But the speed was to high. So I went up 1 meter, bumped to the tree, and then to the ground. Grrrrrr… I immediately saw that the uprights were bended. Okay, not a big problem, I had two spares. I looked to the right…. no problem. Then I looked to the left…… Oh,Shit!! I saw the rupture of the sail and the bend in the leading edge.
broken wing
Now, back at home. The wing is repaired. And the conclusion of my girlfriend is clear. The ego of her boyfriend was even more damaged than his hangglider. After 119 flights he had his first unlucky landing. 😉

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