Day 193: Birds of Cloth and Steel | Look Before You Live!

Update: I’m now a pilot myself, and flew at the 2015 Salton Sea fly-in. Photos from the 2015 fly-in start on Day 544, and a video montage of my flights at the fly-in can be viewed on Day 553. I also flew the 2016 Salton Sea fly-in, starting on Day 887. 2020 Salton Sea fly-in here.

Shabbos was nice, we spent some time watching the flyers and asking questions. We learned a lot, much like the times we were accidentally imbedded in a motocross hillclimbing competition and stumbled into a competition involving quail, horses, and dogs.

Today I was running around with the camera, photographing the pilots and their machines. It still amazes me that an aircraft that can fit in the trunk of a car can be assembled and launched in 15 minutes, and can be flown for 2-4 hours on a tank of gas.

Most pilots were foot launching paragliders with back-mounted paramotors:

Jim does a power check before liftoff:

John does a flyby:

Casey Cadwell takes off:

John let me try on his paramotor:

Chad Bastion heads out:

These buggies are lifted by massive powered parachutes:

This plane is homebuilt and has a open cockpit:

Another flyby by John:

Kiting a wing:

John lands:

I photographed Greg from takeoff through landing:

John heads out again:

Sunset brought great light:

Salton Sea winter:

What a day!

7 thoughts on “Day 193: Birds of Cloth and Steel”

Great photos.

Two minor edits: “truck” should be “trunk”, and the hyperlink behind “Casey Cadwell” needs fixing.

The big snow and ice storms have created ice dams on roofs of many houses in the Monsey area, lifting the shingles and causing water penetration indoors. Might want to check with your tenants that they haven’t seen any leaking or icicles forming under the eaves or on the facade of your house (as opposed to the normal ones that dangle from the gutter edge). If so, get a roofing company to come and shovel off the roof and remove the ice dams asap.

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Ben on February 19, 2014 at 3:45 pm said:

Thanks GS, I hear lots of folks are having ice dam issues. This is first time I remember it being an issue since we bought the house in ’03, do you remember this being an issue in the past?

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- Goldman on February 19, 2014 at 5:11 pm said:
  
  This happened once before, I’d say 6-8 years ago, when there was a big snow/ice storm. In our case, that storm resulted in a small leak. This time around, it was much more substantial but still quite minor and contained. Our dining room ceiling will be getting a fresh coat of paint in the next week or so. I know some folks in the neighborhood that will be painting (and possibly re-sheetrocking) many rooms.
  
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