Fiesch

Since my last update I've had a few more attempts to fly back to Aarau from Schwangimatte, I've gotten quite close but never made it all the way. Conditions have been tricky with stronger headwinds aloft.

I was in Verbier for a couple of days and had a good thermal flight on one day getting up over all the high points in the area.

Then it was off to Fiesch, a place I have flown a few times before and one of the best sites in Switzerland. On the first day I was rewarded with climbs to 3700m and a 40km XC down to Obergoms and back.I only landed as I was desperate to pee.
On the next day I had my external catheter fitted, but when I went to use it after 90 mins I experienced a malfunction, the ensuing distraction and frustration resulted in me decking it shortly afterwards as I tried to cross a blue hole and lost 1000m and ended up under the inversion.

Fiesch is such a lovely understated location after Verbier which certainly felt like a tourist trap during the Verbier festival when I was there.

Hike and Fly, Home!

My first flight in Switzerland.

An epic day which could have produced a much greater distance.

But, for a few years now I have been trying to fly back home to Aarau from one of the sites near Balsthal. I always seemed to bomb near Olten in the past, probably because that was where I tried to head straight for Aarau.

This time I stayed over the high ground until I had glide to Aarau and it was a super easy flight.

I almost bombed at the start, but fought hard to stay in the air.
The rest of the flight was awesome conditions, up to 5m/s and 4m/s sustained climbs up to airspace.

When I first got into the harness I sensed something was wrong as I could not get my feet past the speed system. Sure enough the first time I wanted to use it I discovered it was jammed near the pulley on the right side.
As it turned out the day was kind to me and I did not really need the extra speed.

I bought a cheap second hand Samsung 360 camera. I knew they have issues with overheating and quality and I do all my editing on Linux so I was not expecting amazing footage, but it adds something new.

It's a super PITA to work with, it has to be converted from dual fisheye to reclinear and then to HD. Hopefully I can find a way to speed up the process and improve the quality without having to resort to using Windoze.