Firle Beacon

After my shoulder injury from last year that kept me grounded, I was desperate to get back into the air. I'd been to the Devil's Dyke some weeks earlier with the intent to fly, but with the strong conditions and my rustiness, I thought better of it.

Firle in early afternoon, the conditions looked good with a scattering of hang gliders along the ridge and not a single paraglider in sight; the perfect conditions for me to blow the cobwebs off. I quickly unloaded my glider and carried it to the lee of the reservoir where I rigged it ready to fly.

Clipped in and hang checked, I stepped from the shelter of the reservoir into the true wind strength. I worked my way to the front of the hill and within a few paces, I was airborne. It wasn't one of my stronger launches, but I was up and slowly penetrated forwards to join the others already flying. Most of the other hang gliders were off to the left, so I headed to the right where I quickly climbed 100 feet and joined the established flying pattern.

The air was smooth, with a few broken thermals popping through. Some hang gliders had made it as far as Firle Beacon, but this meant crossing the plantation [a wooded area along the top of the hill] something that I hadn't done before. With 200 feet between me and the ridge top I decided to give it a go but as soon as I approached the plantation I hit sink so retreated back to the main bowl to top up height.

As more hang gliders launched the airspace started to become congested. I was high enough to top land so I flew over the car park, turned back into wind and gently touched down. I ground handled my glider back to the reservoir where I parked it and enjoyed a much needed hot coffee.

10 minutes later the sky to the north looked a little grey so I decided to squeeze one more flight in. With assistance, I ground handled the glider back to take-off where I once again took to the air.

Earlier I had spoken to Nicos regarding crossing the plantation with the intent to reach Firle Beacon. Apparently, there isn't that much to it, so with 200 feet in reserve, I decided to go for it. With an easterly component in the wind and headed towards the beacon, progress was slow. I pulled the VG on and pushed further along the ridge. My vario periodically emitted a happy beep which gave me confidence that I wasn't going to go down into the trees. When I hit the next bowl I connected with some more reliable lift and climbed to a more comfortable 300 feet above the ridge. I passed a couple of hang gliders headed in the opposite direction then arrived at the Beacon itself. It's at this point the ridge turns 45 degrees to face a north easterly wind. I decided not to push on further and watched a farmer on a quad bike and two dogs herding sheep below - quite an interesting thing to see from the air, the patterns reminded me of videos I've seen of starlings flying in tight formation.

Feeling tired and the sun sinking lower, so I turned tail and headed back to launch. The return journey was much quicker and I arrived back over launch with plenty of height. After a couple of short beats along the ridge, I was down to 200 feet so decided to head for the top landing field. My timing was perfect [not], three of us took completely different approaches, all headed for the top landing at the same time. On the ground, other hang gliders had just landed, so I had to choose an approach carefully. The wind was still strong, so as I turned onto final I descended to my landing, I didn’t move forwards; I just gently landed on the spot.

I was assisted back to the rigging area where I dropped the glider and concluded the day. A fellow hang glider pilot commented that the landing area was busier than Gatwick Airport! My body was now aching from muscles that I'd not used in a long time, but the feeling of being back in the air more than compensated for this. A great start to 2012 and good to know that my shoulder held out without problem.

• Link to Scott's first flight since the accident: YouTube
• Daniel Balla's photos from the day: Picasa Web Albumns
• Dan Balla's landing at Firle YouTube