Oz Report

Flytec 6030 Pod

Puting the flight computer out in front (Indian Harbor Beach, FL)

http://flytec.com

Steve Kroop <info> writes:

Same superior constructions and finish as the 5030 pod.   Note that the 6030 is now in the forward position so that you can see the display on fast glides.    We should receive our first shipment in 2-3 weeks.   The price is $329.   To pre-order please call or email.

Discuss 6030 Pod at the Oz Report forum   link»

Ryan's Cocoon

Dangerous Ryan (Ellenville, NY)

Paul Voight / Fly High <flyhigh> sends:

Ryan's coordinated Mitch custom cocoon:

Discuss Ryan's Cocoon at the Oz Report forum   link»

A launching and landing clinic

It's the most experienced pilots (Bassano, Italy)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ggTUNxES4JI

Geez, it sure looks cold at launch.  This is Bassano, the first big meet of the European season.

Discuss Clinic at the Oz Report forum   link»

Have bag, will travel

Flying with my glider to Europe (Laragne Chabre, France)

What was I thinking?  How could I be so dumb?  Did I really think I could get away with shipping my glider to Europe and back?  Maybe I wasn't thinking at all.  Maybe I wasn't paying attention to what I had been writing in the Oz Report about flying with your hang glider to Europe.

I already knew that the only way to travel back and forth to Europe with your glider was via LTU (now part of airberlin - http://airberlin.com).  They have a low rate for hang gliders, 25 Euros, here, and they could be counted on to take your glider.

But I was going to Nice, France, not Dusseldorf, Germany (LTU's hub), and with my glider, that was for sure to be shipped, I'd take the plane to Nice.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way, especially when it looked like it would be very expensive to ship the glider to France, and then getting it through customs in time, and then getting it back to the states, and back in time for the World Record Encampment.

And then I heard from my teammates, three of whom were flying to Munich via LTU with their hang gliders, and one flying with US Airways with his hang glider from Fort Myers.  So I began the process of walking back my plans and my reservations.

I contacted all the airlines that I was going through to get to France and back.  First to United Airlines, whose reservation agent just looked in the book and said no.  But Lufthansa was actually flying the airplane for United, so I called them.  Corinna, who is a Lufthansa flight attendant, said that there was no way that I would get Lufthansa to take my glider to Munich, but surprise surprise they agreed to do so, for $200.

But that was as far as they would go on their Airbus 330-300.  Their reservation system wouldn't allow me to put it on the Canadair Regional Jet 900 from Munich to Nice.  Now, we already knew that it would fit on the jet, but Lufthansa's subsidiary's reservation system wouldn't allow it.  Okay, it looked like I might give it a try at the airport in Munich, and if it didn't work out, I'd drive from Munich to Grasse, near Nice.  About eight hours.  Might be tough with the jet lag.

Next, I put in a call to the Austrian Airline's reservation system and the answer came up negative on both legs, even with a 777 going from Vienna to Washington DC.  I again knew that both jets were big enough to handle the "sailboard" in this case (as there was not a schedule for hang gliders in their system).  I thought I might have to drive to Vienna from Nice to just put the hang glider on the 777 from Vienna, but I couldn't even do that.

Okay, I had really blown it, but now what?

I called up airberlin reservation to see if I could get a flight back from Dusseldorf to Washington, DC.  I saw that they flew to DC, but whose plane did they use?  There was a stop over in New York.  It wasn't a direct flight like the ones from Fort Myer to Dusseldorf in big airplanes.  Would this work?

Well, I bought a refundable ticket and got a reservation from Dusseldorf to Washington, DC.  when their reservation system let me take my hang glider with me (as long as it was 70 pounds or less).  That included, get this, the United Airlines Shuttle from New York to DC.  United wouldn't let me reserve a spot for my hang glider on their system, but airberlin would and I made sure that it was booked all the way through to DC.  We'll see.

Next, I had to reserve a Volkswagen Polo at Munich and be able to drive it back to Dusseldorf a month later.  I already had a reservation for that vehicle to pick up in Nice and to leave in Nice, but now I had to do a bunch more driving.  That turned out to be possible at about the same cost.

I have yet to cancel the tickets from Munich to Nice and from Nice to Washington.  DC., and it will be costly to cancel these tickets.  What an idiot I am and I'm paying for it.

So it isn't reality it is the set of rules in the reservation system that determines whether or not your hang glider fits on the plane or not.  Next time, LTU, airberlin, all the way.

Of course, none of the actual flying has happened yet, so we'll see how it goes.

Discuss Traveling at the Oz Report forum   link»

East Coast Championships, day two

A day for racing and getting to goal quickly (Highland Aerosports, Ridgely, Maryland, USA)

Open flex wing results, Rigid wing results, Sport Class

Blogs from here: Jonny Durand, Jamie Shelden, Tom Lanning, Ben Dunn, and Linda Salamone

After the difficulties yesterday getting many pilots to goal, the task committee, me, Jonny, and Pete Lehmann, call a shorter task, even though yesterday's goal looks like the ticket, given the northwest winds.  We decided to go forty miles to just at the edge of the Salisbury airspace.

The forecast was for good lift, but so had been the forecast for the day before.  But now we could go down wind and wouldn't have to fight the cross wind component.  It looked like there might not be any clouds, but perhaps a few wispies to mark the active thermals.

The cu's did start forming as we launched a little after 1 PM.  I was off about fifth and once again I hit strong lift at 700' at the end of the runway.  The tug pilot was not turning  even though my vario was reading 1,700 fpm.  I can't just hang on and get out of this lift with the tug pilot.  I pinned off once again low and climbed out.

I was early so I just stayed in the lift and drifted waiting to get high so that I could go back up wind and stay in the start circle until a later start time and start with other pilots.  It wasn't long before I hooked up with Kevin, Dustin, Jonny, Sunny, Paul, Greg, Konrad, James Stinnet (the only rigid wing), and others.  We were hanging out at about 4,200' and just waiting for everyone to get together and go.

I noticed right from the get go that while the thermal were large diameter, there were multiple cores and the cores were much stronger than the surrounding lift and very small.  In order to climb well it was important to really put the glider tip up and turn tight.  I must say that this was very easy to do with the Wills Wing T2C 144.

Of course, when there were lots of pilots around this was a little more difficult as no one else seemed to think that tight circle were the ticket.  I just found the little cores off by myself as much as possible and climbed higher.  In some cases I would just turn in front of other pilots that were making big circles, but far enough away from them to not cause a safety problem.

At 2:15 Kevin and Dustin and a few others who were a bit higher headed out and a bunch of us followed.  I was at 4,500' so I figured it was time to go.  Larry Bunner thought he would outsmart us and take the next start time.  He landed in the start circle.

When a bunch of good pilots leave its a good idea to go with them.  You can use them to help you find the lift.  And the better the pilots, the better the chance of finding good lift.

There was a pilot circling 3.5 miles out just past Denton.  We raced to get there and found lift that averaged over 500 fpm to over 4,800'.  There were about ten of us in this lead gaggle.

We were right on the course line and when we topped out a few pilots headed out to the  right of the course line toward a forming cloud.  I didn't want to go in this direction but I didn't want to go off on my own after the first thermal along the course line so I followed along.  Still I didn't like the idea opf going there.

I took one turn under the cloud and then followed James Stinnet on the Aeros Phantom who was heading out along the course line.  I found some weak lift at 2,700' and worked it pretty much on my own until I saw some pilot who got around me heading toward a forested area with a small cu forming over head.  I raced ahead and found 300+ fpm to 4,700' with about ten pilots.  Including the Bobsy twins, Sunny and Paul Tjaden on the line green Aeros Combat L 15's.

It was a real race now.  I left the thermals whenever the lift backed off.  We were crossing rivers and sloughs with little cu's ahead and lots of farm land around.  Coming up to a big rover I got under some nice clouds and found a small thermal that I had to competition for, at least at first.  Dustin was just out ahead.  Kevin and Jonny had not gone to the clouds after the first thermal and had stayed along the course line.  They were just out ahead.

The thermal was good but I left it soon and raced to the cu's on the south side of the river.  There I came in under Jonny about 100' below him.  The lift was good, but the goal was close.  Still with lift averaging 500 fpm it was hard to leave.

At 4,100', seven miles out I pulled in and I flew as fast as possible given all the lift I found along the way.  With ground speeds over 70 mph, I was quickly to goal, coming in fourth.

Konrad was just below me, but I could pull in and fly faster as I had more altitude.  Jonny, Dustin and Kevin were now just boating around launch as we came in.

The goal filled up with even Jamie on her Moyes Lightsport making goal.  All the rigids wings made it in, with Jamie Stinnet the first one in.  Twenty pilots made goal.

Discuss ECC at the Oz Report forum   link»

Spain, more thermals?

Spain turns into Africa (FORTUNA, Spain)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/world/europe/03dry.html?pagewanted=1&hp

FORTUNA, Spain —Lush fields of lettuce and hothouses of tomatoes line the roads.  Verdant new developments of plush pastel vacation homes beckon buyers from Britain and Germany.  Golf courses — 54 of them, all built in the last decade and most in the last three years — give way to the beach.  At last, this hardscrabble corner of southeast Spain is thriving.

There is only one problem with the picture of bounty: this province, Murcia, is running out of water.  Spurred on by global warming and poorly planned development, swaths of southeast Spain are steadily turning into desert.

Murcia, traditionally a poor farming region, has undergone a resort-building boom in recent years, even as many of its farmers have switched to more thirsty crops, encouraged by water transfer schemes, which have become increasingly untenable.  The combination has put new pressures on the land and its dwindling supply of water.

Discuss Spain at the Oz Report forum   link»