02/11/12

December 24 Saturday -- Snow Magic -- I (Had Robinson) was able to fly PPG the day after we had a few inches of snow and cold weather in the Franklin Mountains.  Clouds were covering the entire region at an elevation of about 6,500' MSL.  There were one or two  holes in the cover and one is visible in the photo below -- I am headed right for it with plans to fly through it (safely) into the blue sky above.  The view is northeast with the summit of N. Mount Franklin (middle left) completely hidden by the clouds.  The road visible is the western half of Transmountain Road (SR 375) which goes over the pass.

Here I have just flown through the hole and did a 180 degree turn so I could look back down.  I wanted to be sure that I did not lose the hole in the clouds.  If I did, I would not be able to descend as I would not be able to see where I am going.  The clouds are dynamic.  They move (although slowly) and I not only did not want to lose the location of the hole but I also had to be sure that it was not closing up!  So far, so good.  It was VERY cold up here and I did not linger as my hands were frozen -- even with heaters -- nor did I not wish to lose my descent route back to earth.

Keeping the hole in view, I continue my ascent above the clouds.  I was concerned that the hole might close (being so near the mountains) and, if it did, I might be forced to descend through them.    Although there is rarely any air traffic near the mountains, it would certainly be a surprise to make some blunder and run into them while descending.  Although a GPS is 100% reliable, what if a pilot experiences cascading events:  An engine out, batteries go dead, etc.?  This is what safe pilots strive to avoid:  Multiple failures/mistakes that can seriously compromise safety.

Time to go back down through the worm-hole from one world back to another.  The hole was changing the entire time -- but I was watching it intently.

I flew west a few miles and found another hole in the clouds.  This one was bigger and and more defined and had towering edges.  I could not resist going up again.  The photo here is about half way through.  The clouds are only a few hundred feet thick.  Remember that a paraglider is only going 20 mph so we can really see things clearly and easily and do little to disturb the airspace.

One side of the hole had quite a tall cloud.  I am about 250 meters from it and still going up into the blue sky above.

With the hole behind me, I turned west and faced the sun shining on the layer of clouds.  The cloud to my left is but 10 yards away.

It was a surreal "cloudscape" -- and worth being bitterly cold to see it.

I then did a 180 turn and headed back to the hole, having to first fly over the cloud in the lower middle of this photo.  The cloud cover was beginning to dissipate because of a high pressure system in the region.  Everything was sinking (temperature of the air was rising and becoming more dense) and the clouds were being re-absorbed into the atmosphere.

I did another 180 turn and then began a spiral descent through the hole, keeping right to the edge of it.

As I was turning, I noted this is interesting halo.  It is formed in the same way as a rainbow.  The sun was shining through the tens of millions of tiny spheres of moisture that make up a cloud and the image was projected on the surface of another cloud.  The distance from the spheres to the projected area is not more than a 1,000 meters.  The cloud out front has to be just the right thickness for enough sun to penetrate it and another cloud must be in the exact position to reflect the image.  I had never seen anything like this before nor read about it in text books.  It would only be visible from a balloon or a paraglider as anything else would be moving too fast to see it or would disturb the clouds.  I am not sure why there is an inner, lighter circular area -- maybe some physicist out there will know why?  The round nature of the image proves that cloud particles are spherical and not some other shape.  On the other hand, maybe it was a real worm-hole into another universe?  If I had just flown right to it...next time.

I was frozen and it was time to come down and go to the Christmas Eve service.  I hope you enjoyed the show!