Oz Report

Look who's coming to the East Coast Championships

Jonny and Dustin? (Highland Aerosports, Maryland)

http://ozreport.com/12.085#2

http://aerosports.net/ecc.html

I've got a list of the pilots who have pre-registered and I've heard from Adam at Highland Aerosports.  It looks like Jonny Durand (2nd at the Santa Cruz Flats race, and world #1) is coming to the ECC.  I heard from Adam that Dustin Martin (fourth at the SCFR) is also coming.  He should be here tonight at Quest Air.

 Not only that, there are five rigid wing pilots coming and thirteen sport class pilots.  There are three separate competitions going on at the ECC this year.

Discuss ECC at the Oz Report forum   link»

Assessment - the Santa Cruz Flats Race

Is this a good or great place to have a competition? (Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, Arizona)

Is the Francisco Grande Golf Resort a good place to hold a hang gliding meet?  I think so, but it takes a whole bunch of pilots thinking so to make for a well attended competition.

First off it is a great idea to hold a hang gliding meet at a small resort so that everyone can be together and socialize with everyone else before and after the tasks.  Everyone stays at the hotel (with a reduced room rate), and eats and drinks at the restaurant and bar.  This makes for a lively community.

Last year we had free broad band access at the hotel.  This year they charged $10/day.  Bad move on their part.  Next year they say they will provide free high speed internet access.  We need fast access for scoring and for weather forecasting, as well as for pilot access.  I had my trailer down the road with slower (3G) internet access, which slowed down and impaired my weather forecasting.

The grass in the desert makes for a great place to setup the gliders and tugs.  Shade from the trees, the hot tub and the pool all make for better pilot attitudes.

The launch area is just to the west of the resort.  This brings about a few problems with pilot attitudes.  If you land at the resort (which we try to do), you have a bit of a walk through the golf course to get to the launch area.  This can be a hassle.  There is a big field closer to the setup area at the hotel, and it would be better to launch there, but it is downwind of the trees on the golf course and smaller than the field to the west.

The launch field is dusty, due to the fact that we break the hard surface by driving our cars on the field, or landing our tugs on the "runway." The meet organizers put down lots of water on the runway and after getting this working well, they kept the dust down to a reasonable level.  But before that the dust was discouraging especially when the wind was blowing it.

The dust got into everything and we were cleaning, spraying, and waxing our harness zippers.  I kept cleaning the Wills Wing T2C.  It will take a while to get my truck back into shape, along with the interior of my trailer.

Dustin says that the hotel is willing to come up with some methods of significantly reducing the dust in the launch area.  This both needs to be done and pilots who might want to come next year need to be reassured that in fact the dust is no longer a big issue.  I'd like to see a combination of methods.  I'll be reporting on this in the future and will reassure pilots if in fact the hotel has solved this problem.

The flying in this area is not particularly strong and consistent, and the task committee (including me) fell down on the job by calling tasks that were a little too long.  But the flying was pleasant and certainly consistent and strong enough to be a fair test of pilot skills.  It was roughly on a par with flying in Florida (without the cu's, but dust devils instead), with higher altitudes and often stronger lift.  It was not as consistent, as high, or as strong as Big Spring.

You can land almost any where and there was only one time that I had to abort from a low save because I couldn't have a safe landing.

There was a bit too much wind, and this was apparently abnormal for this time of year.  We want less wind so that we can come back to the resort and celebrate our flying.

I look forward to going back to the Francisco Grande next year.  I can see a number of improvements that we can make to make it more enjoyable for pilots.  We need to have a location to put up paper copies of the scores, for example.  (The latest versions were always on line, but with the high fees for internet access this was not so available to pilots.) Better internet access would also make for better weather forecasting.  Downloading in the bar was a good idea (for the pilots and the bar), but we need a better table setup there.

Discuss SCFR at the Oz Report forum   link»

Soaring history

A three hours plus flight without power (Berlin, Germany)

NY Times Article

GERMAN SAILPLANE FLIES THREE HOURS; Hentzen Eclipses 2 Hours' Record, Soars 1,000 Feet, LandsAbove Starting Point.--ANOTHER TAKES PASSENGER-- Fokker Accompanies Pilot--Berlin Press Sees Hope of "Meeting Country's Need."

Soaring history videos: http://www.scalesoaring.co.uk/Movies/Movies.html Thanks to Gary Osoba.

Discuss History at the Oz Report forum   link»

Flytec Wingman

Hey, bro, all three versions (Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njs22LxTVPY

Discuss Wingman at the Oz Report forum   link»

Grandfather Mountain?

An old water color (Grandfather Mountain, NC)

david thompson <sen144sormrmtn> writes:

A close friend of mine, Ibbie Alexander, was at a garage sale a few months ago.  Visiting her home last week she said "I have something for you I bought with you in mind, it is really cool, I know you will love it ".  Following her back down the hallway, she would pull this from beside her dresser and flashed it, "This is for you, I thought of you when I saw it", and she paid full price too, $5 bucks.

A rendering of quite possibly Steve Moyes winning one of three Masters Championships with Bill, Molly and Kim with a few others, looking on from the Meadows.

Discuss Grandfather Mountain at the Oz Report forum   link»

Thanks to the Oz Report readers

You provided $7,500 to Gerry and I (Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)

http://ozreport.com/supporters.php

Thanks so much for your support this year during our spring find raising drive.  Readers sent in approximately $7,500 in Oz Report subscriptions/donations, which is about $1,500 more than last year.  Gerry and I very much appreciate your support.

I send everyone who sends me a payment re PayPal a personal thank you.  If you sent me a check and I knew your email address I send you a note.  If you gave me cash in person, I try to remember to put your name on the list of supporters.  I'm not perfect.  If you gave me money and your name isn't on the list of supporters please write to me, so I can correct that oversight.

Discuss Thanks at the Oz Report forum   link»