This morning I went for a 40 minute flight up to 2000’ AGL (above ground level).  Unfortunately, I have no video, but the air was nice and smooth and I felt much more comfortable being up there.  At that altitude, I could see for miles!

The kids said their goodbyes to Buddy and Sassy:

Heading North, we used our new clear sewer hose section (yum!) along with the built-in tank sprayer to see when the tank was clean:

Tonight we are overnighting at the Walmart of Red Bluff, CA.  See the trip map for details.

More kiting practice:

The kids went down to visit some of the ranch livestock:

Sassy!

This is Buddy, the other dog.

Good Shabbos from Blackhawk Ranch!

We had really windy weather today, so there was no flying, but we did practice kiting with the motor on:

The kids continued hanging out with the ranch dogs:

Can you tell that we’re sick of the homeschool whining?

I tried a couple launches tonight, but I was unsuccessful.  Maybe tomorrow.

This morning, I had my first untethered flight.  Since it was past the recommended first three hours of the day to fly in the smoothest skies, Joe had initially said we would just practice running with the motor on, but towards the end of my run he had me go to full throttle and I took off!  In the video, I made fellow student Dave nervous with my slow rate of climb, but from where I was sitting I wasn’t even close to hitting the trees:

The air was a bit bumpy, and I must say this was the most terrifying experience of my life.  Joe was having me practice turns, but after the third time flying over the LZ I yelled down “I want to come down!”, so Joe brought me down.  Hopefully my next flight will be in smoother air.

This afternoon, I took a nap and the kids worked on their North American geography as well as triangle type identification:

I’m looking forward to another great flight tomorrow!