Oz Report
Volume 13, Number 79Tuesday, April 21 2009
Quest Air, Sheets airfield, Groveland, Florida, USA
https://OzReport.com
"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
- In this issue:
Hot to trot at the 1st Annual Rob Kells Memorial meet The Rotor Vulto S racing harness Burnt noses A storm blows away a Dragonfly (the video) SPOT - a glider contest Paul in the Skyline Zero Drag FR Solar Plane across the Alps Paul's lost harness
Hot to trot at the 1st Annual Rob Kells Memorial meet
Mon, Apr 20 2009, 8:18:24 am EDTCampbell Bowen|Jim Yocom|Rob Kells
Campbell Bowen is going there to kick butt, especially Jim Yocom's. The US National team is going there to fly together and kick the collective butt of all the other "teams" that will form once we get there.
How can you miss a great time in south Florida?
It looks like the US National team members will be giving talks to groups of pilots who buy National team tee-shirts or donate to the team. The talks will be about strategy for the coming day, and last minute strategy given the latest forecast. If you are interested, especially in the Sport Class, come on down and get your feet wet in competition.
http://www.thefloridaridge.com/pages/comp2009.php
3 topics in this article: Campbell Bowen, Jim Yocom, Rob Kells
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The Rotor Vulto S racing harness
Mon, Apr 20 2009, 8:26:43 am EDT(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)
Dustin Martin|PG|photo|Quest Air
Nene Rotor dropped off a harness here at Quest Air. It was a duplicate of another made for a Spanish pilot when only one was desired. Here at Quest Air is marked for a pilot 5' 10" to 6', 160-195 pounds. Pretty generic. There were no measurements of me for chest and waist size, for example.
I believe the harness is the Rotor Vulto S, in its latest manifestation. It was made just a few weeks ago.
I got to try it out. Here's what it looks like on me:
More photos down below.
Here is what I noticed about the harness:
1) there is a sacrificial carbon fiber boot cover. This is by far the strongest boot cover that I have seen. The only problem I see is that the carbon fiber scratches;
2) in addition there is leather around and underneath the carbon fiber boot, and a metal screw at the very tip, that further cuts down on wear;
3) molded fiber glass boot with a spring loaded door on the foot plate. This makes it easy to get thing in and out of it. I was easily able to put my cross country bag in it. Dustin thinks that that might be too much weight that far back;
4) a zipper on the material surrounding the main back slider that is supposed to close off the harness as the slider moves back and forth (it doesn't seem to be hooked up to the mains at the moment);
5) zippered pockets for the tow tabs at the chest (seems like the slider handles could be replaced with paraglider line);
6) two long longitudinally well padded zippered pockets with built in bungie lines to connect to radios and cameras. There are holes in the upper portion of the two pockets allowing for easy routing of radio cables;
7) drogue chute pocket on the left side;
8) two large long side pockets filled with two zippered stuffing bags for forming the smoothing the sides by the legs. These can be replaced with your own glider bags, or left in to help form the harness;
9) interior chest and leg buckles;
10) a clean side mounted parachute;
11) there is a two part carbon fiber back plate, and apparently you undo a connection between the two back plates in order to get the harness into the harness bag;
12) there are two zippered storage sacks over the carbon back plates. The bottom one is most likely the one to be used, I put the harness bag and my glider bags in it;
13) a separate neoprene bag for your camelback;
14) a ring on the bottom slider that allows the pilot to more easily pull up the bottom zipper;
15) the harness is tight but comfortable around the legs and feet, which is normal for a racing harness.
With my head on the control bar:
A few shots from the other side:
More like it would be in flight.
Inside photos by Nicole.
4 topics in this article: Dustin Martin, PG, photo, Quest Air
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Burnt noses
Mon, Apr 20 2009, 8:27:18 am EDTPeter Loeskow
Peter Loeskow «peter_loeskow» writes:
It is a well-known yet strangely enough more often than not ignored fact, that the top of a nose gets maximum exposure to UV radiation and thus is most likely to develop melanoma (the lower lip is also threatened). Therefore I often wondered about some pilots wearing a full face helmet or a face "mask" under an open helmet with the unprotected nose prominently showing. Those were mostly pilots flying at higher altitudes, where it is cold, but where there also is more UV radiation.
While buying the previously proposed nose shade may be the only or best kind to go with certain kinds of sunglasses, I cannot refrain from telling you about my own and proven DIY-solution: I have a nice and comfortable pair of RayBan photochromatic glasses, to which I fasten a "shade" made of folded kraft (tan coloured) paper with double-sided adhesive tape between most of it. See how:
1 topic in this article: Peter Loeskow
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A storm blows away a Dragonfly (the video)
Mon, Apr 20 2009, 8:27:41 am EDTweather|Dragonfly|video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faGNT9YgwY0
Discuss "A storm blows away a Dragonfly (the video)" at the Oz Report forum link»
SPOT - a glider contest
Mon, Apr 20 2009, 8:28:32 am EDTRon Gleason|SPOT
Ron Gleason «xcflying» writes:
There is a glider competition occurring in Perry SC and some pilots have developed a web page for following SPOT devices utilizing Google MAPS http://perrytracking.appjet.net/files/perrytracking.htm
2 topics in this article: Ron Gleason, SPOT
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Paul in the Skyline Zero Drag FR
Mon, Apr 20 2009, 9:47:52 am EDT(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)
harness|harness|Quest Air|Skyline Zero Drag FR harness
Paul had his harness fall out of the back of his pickup, so he came over to check out the Skyline Zero Drag FR.
You'll notice that it fits him much better, both in the shoulders and in the boot. More pictures and discussion here: https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15757.
3 topics in this article: harness, Quest Air, Skyline Zero Drag FR harness
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Solar Plane across the Alps
Mon, Apr 20 2009, 2:06:22 pm EDT“It was one of the most difficult things that I have ever done, but it was also the most beautiful flight I have ever made. It was very cloudy, but after fighting to gain altitude I got over the clouds and cruised on direct solar power, eventually climbing to 13,700 ft. It was amazing to see the peaks of the mountains coming up through the clouds.
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Paul's lost harness
Mon, Apr 20 2009, 3:25:19 pm EDTQuest Air
Paul «tjadenhors» lost the following between Quest Air on highway 33 and somewhere east of the intersection of highway 33 and highway 50.
Aeros Viper Harness Black with no name on the skin. (The sellers probably won't know what the make is.) Icaro 4fight LT helmet, gray and black with a Motocomm headset installed and a kill switch. Flytec 5030 flight instrument. They probably won't know how to turn it on. My name is listed in the memory.
1 topic in this article: Quest Air
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