Oz Report

Blue Sky Wills Wing Scooter Tow Clinics

(This topic is in: <- May 4 May 3 May 2 May 1 Apr.30 -> )

Sending his daughter off into the air (Blue Sky, Virginia)

Steven Pearson <Steve> writes:

Steve's scooter tow clinic was finished by the time I arrived at Wallaby on Friday.  Despite a long week of two back-to-back clinics, Steve set up for another morning of instruction and demonstrations before a long drive home.

It's hard to appreciate how effective this system is until you take a flight and watch a student.  My daughter just turned twelve years old.  Kelsey's flown tandem with me but she's never taken lessons.  On her first flight with the Blue Sky method, she flew two hundred feet and landed on her feet.  It's hard to imagine a safer, more effective or easier way of teaching hang gliding.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5420951359668350229

It was just amazing (as a dad) watching my twelve year old daughter fly two hundred feet on her first flight with absolutely no anxiety.  That kind of experience isn't even possible in the most friendly training environments like Dockweiller.

I was equally impressed watching a sixty-something first-time student who was having the time of his life with barely enough aptitude to hold the glider level on take-off :).  Steve's training method and his unbridled enthusiasm and energy is truly inspirational.

The only way to improve the system would be to clone Steve.  His energy and enthusiasm is truly inspiring.  Thanks for getting us on board.

Discuss Scooter tow at the Oz Report forum

Wills Wing T2 - 144 race and stock models

(This topic is in: <- May 9 May 1 Apr.4'05 Mar.22'05 -> )

I compare the stock version and my "prototype" race version (Quest Air)

http://willswing.com

I was as happy as I could be flying the stock Wills Wing T2 - 144.  Sure when I had been flying the Wills Wing Falcon 3 - 170 ever since the World Record Encampment in Zapata and transitioned to the stock T2 - 144 it seemed a bit stiff in roll, but after flying a Moyes Litespeed RS 4 (Gerolf's personal glider) in Australia in the competitions, the stock T2 was a joy to fly.  It is remarkable (or maybe it isn't) how much the pilot's perception can change based on their prior experience.

So I was flying around Florida in this wonderful glider (stock Wills Wing T 2 - 144, with the Dacron sail) having a great time going for big cross country flights (139 miles) and then on the way down to the Florida Ridge for the US Nationals I stopped by the Orlando airport to pick up a new race T2 -144 from Wills Wing.  So how were they different?

The race version, the one made for me, had a slightly different sail cut.  The sail was Mylar instead of Dacron.  The battens were the thicker stiffer aluminum ones.  It came with carbon fiber inserts for the leading edges to prevent deformation of the leading edge Mylar when coming into goal at 70 mph.  There were additional changes that I'm under an obligation not to talk about that I was a test dummy for.

I was amazed at the range of handling that Wills Wing can provide in essentially the same hang glider.  The race version was much stiffer in roll than the stock version and reminded me of nothing so much as the Moyes Litespeed RS 4 (the Gerolf racing version with the sprogs upped a bit for me).  It was quite clear from this experience that Steve Pearson has the ability to design whatever type of glider that you want or is most appropriate for the job.  He has an incredible range and it is just a question of what the customers and the racers want.

Steve said to me, or at least I think he said to me, that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference in performance between the stock (fun to fly and easy to handle) version and the race version.  Andreas Olsson who has his own Wills Wing prototype version, begs to differ. 

Steve's contention is that racing pilots feel that if the glider isn't hard to handle it isn't performing as well as it should on high speed glides.  That they have in their minds what the trade off (if any) between performance and handle looks like, and they are too willing to have slow roll to go with presumed better glide.  That in fact the measure of how well a race glider performs in high speed glide is how stiff it is in roll. 

It's easy to feel how stiff it is.  It is harder to measure how good a glide you are getting.  So stiff roll becomes the proxy for better high speed glide.

Well, anyway, enough of that theorizing.  I set the glider up, took it for a spin and sure enough it was as stiff as a board, at least that's how it felt compared to the stock version.  I just wasn't at all ready for the kind of antics that I would have to perform in the control frame to get this thing to turn. 

In fact I came into land on my first flight and I was barely in control because I wasn't prepared for what I needed to do to control this glider on landing.  The bar was way out front and I was landing with too little speed.  Time to change that technique.

Kevin Carter kindly moved my sprogs down one turn (both inner and outer) to match what I had on the stock glider.  It is not recommended that you lower your sprogs.  Dennis Pagen's review in the USHPA magazine should not be used as a guide as that glider was not configured correctly when he got it.  Nor should my changes be used as a guide.

I have heard from one pilot that he lowered his sprogs three turns on the interior and four on the outside.  Seems crazy to me.  I have also heard that the Brazilian loosen them almost completely, so I guess they they are betting on not being tucked or that they can get to their chutes fast.

Paris mentioned that he almost got tucked during the competition and that from the description it is clear that his sprogs kicked in and he recovered.  Dustin almost went over sideways during the record flight on Thursday.  Perhaps it's a good idea to have a real safety margin.

I also moved myself to the front hang spot, which gave me a little more authority on pulling in and landing (as well as in the air).

After a while I grew used to the race version of the T2 - 144 and I no longer felt that it was stiff at all.  Of course it was probably just as stiff, but the pilot's mind is plastic.  We adjust and then we don't know any better.  We are pretty useless as measuring devices (others are perhaps less useless than me).

I flew with lots of pilots over the last few weeks and really couldn't see any consistent differences between any of the gliders.  Richard Lovelace in his Aeros glider did get a one point better glide on me the last day going into goal at the US Nationals.  Who knows if that means anything.

Andreas in his Wills Wing T2 prototype was fourth on the day we flew to the Florida Ridge, a day that was a good test of glider performance and not of pilot decision making (what decision making, just stay under the converging clouds).  It appears as though all the gliders are very similar in performance, which makes for great racing.

I loosened the tips a bit to see if that would make the roll any easier then put them back in their original configuration.  I noticed when flying in really light air, on Wednesday when I went north 120 miles, that it would have been nicer to have easier turning.  I may cut the tip wands down 4 mm. 

I didn't get tired on any of my flights until the record attempt on Wednesday.  The glider is still easy enough to fly so that I can fly it every day for five hours, if need be, without concern.

I had an opportunity on the second day of the Race of Champions to push the bar back to my full arm extension and see how fast it would go.  Surprisingly I have never done this before (well at least not in the 21st century), and it was great to see 71 mph on my vario and feel the rock steady glider over me.

I would love it if Steve is right and the stock version has the high speed glide performance of the race version.

Discuss T2 - 144 version at the Oz Report forum

Santa Cruz Flats Waypoints

The waypoints for Dustin's Arizona tow meet (Francisco Grande (headquarters))

http://ozreport.com/2007santacruzflatswaypoints.php

Discuss Santa Cruz at the Oz Report forum

Big Sur

video (Wild Cattle LP, Big Sur, CA)

Tony de Groot <<magicwednesdays>> writes:

I just made a five minute YouTube video of Big Sur.  It was a great weekend of fun flying.  Many hours of soaring (which is rare) Condors, top landings and of course beautiful views.  The place is just a playground in a Falcon.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q64WLF0kuxY

Paraglider wing morphing

Little swifts do it and so do paragliders

http://www.bio-air-technologies.com/Bionic/approche-bio/Biomecanique.htm (French) (English)

http://www.bio-air-technologies.com/Bionic/approche-bio/Coneption.htm (French) (English)

Thanks to Steve Uzochukwu.

Discuss Morphing at the Oz Report forum

2007 Austrian Nationals, Day 3

Uncertain weather (Graz, Austria)

http://www.black-attack.at/airbericht.php?nr=10 

Mag.  Markus Harpf <harpf> writes:

Das Goal überflog somit Reisinger, vor Friesenbichler, Cataldi, Salvenmoser, Seib und zeitlich etwas abgeschlagen der nach 2 Durchgängen Führende Weissenberger.

Discuss Aus Nats, Day 3 at the Oz Report forum

Quest Air - there is something in the air

(This topic is in: <- May 2 May 1 Mar.23 Mar.22 Mar.6 --> )

Smoke from the fire in Georgia (Quest Air)

There are beautiful high cumulus clouds here today with very light winds.  It is sweltering on the ground, at ninety five degrees.  There was a bit of a north wind yesterday which allowed Armand to fly his Moyes Litespeed S 4 70 miles to Sebring.  Today it is very quiet.

But there is a haze in the air and the cu's are a bit hard to see.  The smoke from the big fire in Georgia, the same fire that Jonny and Dustin saw when they went north, is now here in central Florida.  It is thin but it is here.

There were plenty of folks flying the last few days, and it looks like we might try for a triangle record tomorrow.  The cloudbase was 7,500'.

Discuss Quest Air at the Oz Report forum

Not so long in South Africa, part 2?

Out, then a return (de Aar, South Africa)

http://ozreport.com/11.087#1

It appears, although this is somewhat speculation because the FAI person in charge of homologation and I are using someone's second language in order to communicate, as though the Valic brother's paraglider record may have been shortened because they came back to land after going out a further distance.  The FAI appears to be using the landing location to mark the longest distance as opposed to the actual longest distance flown.

Discuss South Africa at the Oz Report forum

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