The building of the replica of the Worlds First Modern Hang Glider
has been completed. This
article shows the replica with the sails full. This is the fourth article
that the Grafton Daily Examiner has run on this matter and we are most grateful
for their support.
We also wish to thank Willis Joinery for finding and donating the Oregon Timber
used and to OMNIpac for making and donating the plastic.
NBN TV ran an excellent news piece on Friday night, this is very much
appreciated.
There is still a long way to go to get this amazing and true Aussie story out to
the world. We could do with some financial support from someone, so that an
airworthy version can be built, we have plenty of plastic, it's getting really
really good wood that is difficult and we may have to go to Spruce for the
leading edges and keel for the flyable one. I am prepared to fly this one, but
I'm not allowed under the terms of our agreement, that does not stop me wanting
to fly it however.
Hopefully the media will realise that this is Australia's Greatest Aviation
Achievement ever, and they will become more supportive as we get closer to the
unveiling of the plague on the 28th of Oct.
With its bat-like handling and flowing banana plastic sails, the
world’s first hang-glider, the Dickenson Wing, looks, at first glance, virtually
uncontrollable.
But forty three years ago at the 1963 Jacaranda Festival, it soared forty three
metres in three seconds over the Clarence River while its driver, Rod Fuller,
had a wild ride.
Jumping is perhaps the most daring event. Skiers hurdle off an
18-inch ramp at speeds of more than 40 miles an hour and fly headfirst to get
maximum distance. David Small of Britain was the record holder entering the
competition, with a jump of 89 feet.
Many of the top individuals compete for national teams vying for the world team
title this week. (The Americans have won 10 consecutive team titles.) There is
also an exhibition today and tomorrow by George Blair, known as Banana George,
who at 91 is the world’s oldest barefooter (according to the Guiness Book of
World Records). His signature move is barefooting with the tow rope in his
teeth.
“The fact that he has all his teeth is amazing in itself,” Jordan said.
The FAA has created two new classes of private pilot: weight shift
control and powered parachute. The weight shift control PPL license requires
only 5 more hours of training than the Sport Pilot certificate. I can't help but
wonder if they did this one especially with towing ultralight gliders in mind,
even though the bulk of aerotowing in the USA is done with Dragonflies
(61. 5 (a)(iv) and 61.5 (b)(1)(vii) and 61.5 (b)(5)):
A pilot can use "aeronautical experience" obtained in an "ultralight vehicle"
for a PP certificate with weight shift control or powered parachute rating
(61.52 (a)(3)):
On the EAA's "sportpilot.org" website, they claim that sport pilot flight time
may be credited towards more advanced ratings (see
http://sportpilot.org/learn/final_rule_synopsis.html under the heading "The
Sport Pilot Rule). I am still digging for further FAR's that would clarify this
regarding fixed-wing aircraft (like our Dragonflies).
Once the driving force behind transforming the United States into
the “breadbasket of the world,” wheat is being steadily replaced by corn as the
crop of choice for American farmers. Genetic modifications to corn seeds, the
growing demand for corn-based ethanol as a fuel blend and more favorable farm
subsidies are leading farmers to plant corn in places where wheat long
dominated. In Kansas, known for a century as the Wheat State, corn production
quietly pulled ahead of wheat in 2000, with Kansas producing 23 percent more
corn than wheat last year.
And while corn acreage nationwide passed wheat about a decade ago, its footprint
and that of soybeans are spreading across a greater swath of the Midwest,
farther north and west into the Dakotas and central Minnesota — traditional
wheat country, where growing corn and soybeans was once almost unthinkable.
“It is getting harder and harder for American farmers to say they feed the
world,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, an
environmental research group based in Washington. “Instead, they feed S.U.V.’s.”
The spread of corn and soybeans at the expense of wheat, while not expected to
significantly affect food prices, could nevertheless put more pressure on scarce
water supplies, since both crops are more water- and energy-intensive than
wheat.
A friendly organization and safe towing operations. Better fix
the ballast rule.
(Quest Air)
Jury President's report of the Worlds in Florida last spring
here.
The recently introduced rule on ballast limits should be
re-examined by the CIVL hang gliding subcommittee as some pilots who carry two
parachutes appear to be on the limit even without carrying essential water. The
current version of Section 7A imposes this limit for all classes of hang glider
even though the 2005 Plenary decision only related to Class 5; this should be
amended.
General comments: this was an enjoyable championship for the competing pilots
with generally good flying weather, a friendly organisation and safe towing
operations.
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The Oz Report, a near-daily, world wide hang gliding news ezine, with reports on competitions, pilot rankings, political issues, fly-ins, the latest technology, ultralight sailplanes, reader feedback and anything else from within the global HG community worthy of coverage. Hang gliding, paragliding, hang gliders, paragliders, aerotowing, hang glide, paraglide, platform towing, competitions, fly-ins. Hang gliding and paragliding news from around the world, by Davis Straub.
