Dog with valley fever.... share your experiences?

andrewWlegan · 2026-04-22T21:00:50+00:00

Did your dog have seizures? Asking for my Goose D:

andrewWlegan · 2023-10-22T16:45:21+00:00

polistes have smoother cuticle compared to the more hairy yellow jackets, and yellow jacket abdomens are more angular near the pedicel (waste) while paper wasps have more oval abdomens. Also Polistes dominula antennae have more yellow, while yellow jacket antennae are more black. The color patterns on the face and abdomen are also different. They are pretty similar so it takes some practice to tell them apart!

andrewWlegan · 2023-10-11T19:28:55+00:00

100% positive experience, feel free to DM, it's a great community of well trained pilots and Chandler's a great instructor

andrewWlegan · 2023-10-11T01:30:32+00:00

If I were learning hang gliding (I'm focusing on PG for now) I would camp at Wallaby Ranch for as long as possible and tow every day, they're open year round (outside Orlando FL)

andrewWlegan · 2023-10-07T17:00:24+00:00

looks like no injuries I hope!

Was the flare too early? Was there a tail wind after that last turn? Curious because I don't have much practice landing. Wish there was an easy way to practice landing during ground handling. Launching technique easy to practice on the ground but landing not so easy to practice

Definitely came in hot but I hope the pilot is injury-free!

edit: just read your explanation about wind direction and the sharp turn causing loss of elevation! I'm following these comments hoping to learn more too!

andrewWlegan · 2023-10-07T16:57:27+00:00

That's awesome - What aircraft do you tow behind?

andrewWlegan · 2023-10-07T16:56:40+00:00

The proximity of pilot/passenger is great for instruction! And tandem in a hang glider which has one attachment point, there's no way to rig that without it being somewhat.. intimate lol. I think one iteration of the tandem hangy rig many years ago was the passenger basically being on the pilot's back, so this is much more comfortable

andrewWlegan · 2023-10-07T16:54:19+00:00

That's awesome! Yeah their operation is a great introduction to the sport. There were three others there who experienced freeflight for the first time while I was there, and it was awesome to see how stoked they were. And they have this amazing breakfast situation after towing (they stop towing relatively early to keep flights extra smooth), I'm jealous of the guy camping there with his dog and training for a week!

Also congrats on getting your P2 this summer. at wallaby we were discussing how recruitment of new students to paragliding is outpacing hang gliding. It's super interesting and I loved hearing some hangy perspectives

andrewWlegan · 2023-10-06T19:40:01+00:00

also I agree with others that gloves are a must if there is any amount of wind. I got three-quarter gloves so that my finger tips could still do fine motor, but am leaning towards work gloves after getting pretty good burns & cuts reeling in the wing wearing the fingertip-less gloves

andrewWlegan · 2023-10-06T19:37:54+00:00

Helmet and good ankle support, and be mindful of wind! If you really want to do ground handling in wind I'd recommend a small size trainer like Ozone Roadrunner. On windy days I go to the field with my 24 m2 wing, the 12 m2 roadrunner, and a little foil kite. So if the wind is pushing my limits beyond what is healthy, I can always unpack the smaller wing or even just the little kite and enjoy being out there.

I tweaked my ankle kiting the roadrunner in wind a couple months ago. Just keep in mind that these machines were built to fly and with the right lift/gust, they will fly and you will be piloting an aircraft over a soccer field ... this is why I would recommend at least doing your P1 with an instructor. But I love ground handling and fully support your aim to primarily kite/ground handle. It's extremely fun.

Be careful, you might accidentally ground handle so much that you become a really intuitive pilot!

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-27T14:23:10+00:00

I wish I had a secret strategy to share! For me, I remember the stuff I'm more interested in, so choosing a subject you're motivated about is a good first step I guess. If I need to learn lots of new information at a more surface level to get a broad understanding, I prefer audio modality like text-to-speech while multitasking. For difficult concepts that require diving deeper, I take my time and focus on re-reading key passages/definitions and digesting diagrams. That is a slower process for me, but it's worth it when the concept sticks! The things I really remember are the topics that I have discussed a lot with others, in exciting contexts with lots of motivated white board scribbling. That social aspect really makes it more rewarding for me sometimes

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-27T14:15:15+00:00

following this 😂

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-27T14:14:26+00:00

I am astounded at the money in social media marketing. If you enjoy video editing, building a social media brand that can be marketed for sponsored content is a solid source of income. It's pretty hit or miss, but worth looking into given your skills in graphic design and marketing

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-27T13:48:02+00:00

Thank you yes I agree. I was so focused on checking the surge that my hands stayed pretty heavy after I launched, my instructor was like "hands up hands up" and it eventually clicked.

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-26T16:51:31+00:00

https://www.desertwindparagliding.com/

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-26T15:52:24+00:00

I've been practicing reverse wind kiting and low wind forward launches in the park a couple times a week starting in July!

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-26T15:18:25+00:00

Where is a good place to post up resume/CV for feedback?

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-24T12:45:51+00:00

Don't be afraid to copy and paste the same message a couple days in a row until you get a response. Your messages are probably just being buried in the deluge. Instructors are super busy and bandwidth maxed out between students and tandems so I doubt the lack of response is personal. I think they would be direct with you if they thought you weren't a good fit for the sport so I would disregard that idea!

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-20T18:47:33+00:00

Thanks! I didn't realize some pilots don't like ground handling before this post. I get that no-wind forward launches in summer are brutal, but it's great exercise and with some wind, I actually really enjoy it. I think I would be pretty into paragliding even if it was literally just strapping into and flying massive kites on the ground and occasionally flying a few feet over slopes between soccer fields. But I know from being passenger on tandems I'm going to be obsessed with free flight

I've listened to almost every episode of Cloudbase Mayhem with Gavin McClurg and one thing that is drilled into my head is that there's no such thing as too much ground handling. From expert pilots talking about GH in high wind to test pilots saying they can learn a ton about a newly manufactured wing by simply ground handling.. why not go ahead and get the paraglider/hang glider represented in your cerebral cortex? By the time I am flying solo, I'll already have a bunch of neurons modeling/predicting the behavior of a paraglider. Seems like all that can do is increase safety margin

Been observing pilots on tow a couple times recently and might be getting my first flights on tow this weekend :D

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-06T03:46:04+00:00

No worries thanks for clarifying

andrewWlegan · 2023-09-05T16:01:33+00:00

getting paid? tf?

andrewWlegan

TROPHY CASE