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topic: John Hesch (38 articles)

The Sky above Casa Grande »

Fri, Aug 26 2022, 8:56:23 pm GMT

Getting ready for the Santa Cruz Flats Race

John "Ole" Olson|John Hesch|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2022

«John Hesch» sends this picture from today:

https://civlcomps.org/event/santa-cruz-flats-race-2022/participants

Thirty one confirmed pilots.

John Olson at Sonora Soaring (currently in Wisconsin) posts this picture from a little up the road of the launch site for the SCFR:

Discuss "The Sky above Casa Grande" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Dustin's the Man

Sat, May 28 2022, 9:45:48 am MDT

If you ever need your harness fixed

Dustin Martin|harness|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|Moyes Matrix harness

«John Hesch» writes:

I was in need of a zipper replacement in my Moyes Matrix harness, which as you know, are sewn in and quite a challenge to replace. I was also in need of a new glider bag, tip bags, harness bag zipper and repairs, and leg loops in the harness. I was looking around locally and found a sail loft that was willing to perform the repairs, but not in a "factory"-like fashion.

I put out a query on a forum and someone suggested Dustin. Well, of course! Why didn't I think of that myself. He was willing, items were sent, and repairs were made in the flawless fashion that you would expect from a craftsman with his talent!

Most know Dustin because of his world distance record, but not all know that he designed and built beautiful, carbon instrument pods, and collaborated on the Covert harness with Jeff Shapiro. I asked him if he would be willing for me to put in a shameless plug for this kind of work and he said, "Sure. Just tell anyone wanting harness work done, to strip and clean their harness first, like you did, so that I don't have to dump out 10 pounds of dirt and crap when it arrives!"

http://www.flywithdustin.com/about-me-1.html

Discuss "Dustin's the Man" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

Thanks so much for your support for Big Spring

September 4, 2020, 8:56:23 MDT

Thanks so much for your support for Big Spring

It was great to see this this morning

April Mackin|Belinda Boulter|Davis Straub|John Hesch|Miles Fagerlie|Patrick Kruse

April Mackin|Belinda Boulter|Davis Straub|John Hesch|John Simon|Miles Fagerlie|Patrick Kruse

April Mackin|Belinda Boulter|cart|Davis Straub|John Hesch|John Simon|Miles Fagerlie|Patrick Kruse

April Mackin|Belinda Boulter|cart|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|John Hesch|John Simon|Miles Fagerlie|Patrick Kruse

April Mackin|Belinda Boulter|cart|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|John Hesch|John Simon|Miles Fagerlie|Oliver Gregory|Patrick Kruse

April Mackin|Belinda Boulter|cart|Chris Zimmerman|Davis Straub|John Hesch|John Simon|Miles Fagerlie|Oliver Gregory|Patrick Kruse

https://ozreport.com/24.174#0

It was a very nice surprise Friday morning to see the great response we got from our request that pilots please help us support the foster kids in Big Spring to show just how much we appreciate all the support that Big Spring has given to hang gliding competition over many years.

Even in this time of perhaps restricted means for some of us, you have all been very generous. You can donate here.

Becky Moughon <<rurevic>> a volunteer at the Rainbow Room writes:

Hello, Belinda! It is SO GOOD to hear from you! I have thought about you and your group so many times. August in Big Spring was just not the same without our hang glider friends coming into town and filling our skies. We missed you all.

As always, the generosity of your group is heartwarming. I received a check from one of yours the other day! What you are doing is especially helpful right now because so many people have experienced job loss, additional family stress, etc., during this crisis.

We have been receiving many requests for clothing, shoes, and, more and more beds. We appreciate your efforts so very much, and please know that any amount raised is significant and helpful! We are always glad to have your group working with us, but especially at this time. We are not able to do any in-person fundraising events now to replenish our resources.

Thanks to those of you who have given us such support:

I may have missed a few.
Patrick Kruse
Laerence Chamblee
William A Baker
Chris Zimmerman
Anonymous
Karl Allmendinger
Oliver Gregory
Anonymous
Jon Thompson
Anonymous
Edward Skow
David Whittle
Bank of America
John Hesch
Eduardo Fonseca
john dullahan
Ronald P Gleason
Miles Fagerlie
John Simon
David proctor
BENT KAABER
Steve Houser
Brad Hall
Philip Morgan
April Mackin
Stephan Mentler
Davis Straub/Belinda Boulter
Matt Cone

The story:

There was no 2020 Big Spring Nationals nor Pan American Championships this year because of the pandemic and the many international travel restrictions that have been imposed. None the less we would like to show our gratitude to the people of Big Spring by supporting those less fortunate people in Big Spring who are no doubt suffering because of the dire economic circumstances.

Big Spring is an impoverished town with boom and bust times, with the expansion and contraction of oil and gas drilling out on the Texas plains. Families often struggle with uncertain job prospects and an unsure economic base.

The City and the Airport of Big Spring have been incredibly supportive of our competitions unlike almost any other place where we fly in the US. They give us the run of their airport, the use of their terminal, water, ice cream, cart retrieval, hangar space, on, and on. We just want to show them how much we appreciate their fantastic support over the years.

We show our gratitude by supporting the totally volunteer Rainbow Room, which provides needed supplies to foster children under the care of Child Protective Services, the Howard County Child Welfare Board. The money is spent on everything from diapers for infants removed from violent situations to teenagers who want to attend their prom, as well as tiny beds, car seats, school supplies, and clothes, items which are not normally available to children in foster care.

Discuss "Thanks so much for your support for Big Spring" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Supporting the Oz Report »

March 23, 2020, 8:12:38 EDT

Supporting the Oz Report

We're still reporting

John Hesch|Oz Report

Thanks to John Hesch, Alan Crouse, and those who helped us out on Friday. It's pasta night and there is still rice pasta at the store.

This is the month where I ask Oz Report readers for their support.  Your contribution pays for hosting our web site and for Gerry's technical support to keep it running.

Here are our supporters: http://ozreport.com/supporters.php

As you know, all we are asking for is a subscription payment of $20/year.

Seems simple enough.  Like most content on the internet, you get to read the Oz Report for free.  The trouble for us, not you, is that there are not enough hang glider pilots in this world to make advertising pay for our web hosting costs.

Please, help us out.  Support something that you find useful so that it can continue to be there for you.

Options:

1) Click paypal.me/davisstraub.

You should see this:

Type in the amount that you want to send in for your subscription.

Click "Next"

You should see something like this:

If you can contribute from your PayPal Balance or from your bank account that is connected to your PayPal account, please do as this incurs no PayPal fee.

2) If instead you are using a credit card to make this contribution, click this button:

3) Another way to do this is, click here: https://www.paypal.com

With this option please click the "Send&Request" tab.

Type in my email address which you can discern from "davis" and I'm at "davisstraub.com".  (I have to write it this way as we hide email addresses here at the Oz Report.

Click "Next."

You'll see:


If you consider me a friend then click the "Sending to a friend" button.

Enter the amount here:

If you’d rather just send a check for $20 or more (US Dollars only, please), please feel free to do so.

Payable to:

Davis Straub (Not to the Oz Report)
6548 Groveland Airport Road
Groveland, FL 34736

If you send a physical check, be sure to send me your email address so that I can register you as a subscriber.

These are our supporters (if you are not on the list and have donated to the Oz Report, email me and I'll make sure that you are recognized): http://ozreport.com/supporters.php.  Some of you who I've missed in the past did write to me and made sure I knew just how important the Oz Report was to them.  If I've missed you, please do tell me.

4) This last option.  Come over to the Oz Report support web page and sign up to support us: http://ozreport.com/support.php.  Or click here:

Thanks to all our supporters: http://ozreport.com/supporters.php who have kept us going and paying our bills over the last twenty four years.

Discuss "Supporting the Oz Report" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Yet more support for Big Spring

May 18, 2018, 10:35:45 pm CDT

Yet more support for Big Spring

Pilots continue to be very generous

April Mackin|Bill Soderquist|Davis Straub|George Stebbins|Glen Volk|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|John Hesch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Martin Jaeger|Miles Fagerlie|Robin Hamilton|Roger Irby|Sara Weaver|Scott Weiner|Tim Delaney|Wayne Ripley

https://www.thecloudbasefoundation.org/campaign/assist-big-spring-texas-foster-care-children#donations

$5,055

Will Ramsey $200.00
Thomas C. Ide $100.00
Japhet Koteen $2.00
Robin Hamilton $200.00
April Mackin $100.00
Robert Dallas $50.00
David Williams $100.00
Roger Irby $83.00
Bill Soderquist $20
Jonny Thompson $50.00
Steve Benn $50.00
Glen Volk $500.00
anonymous $100.00
Gregg Ludwig $100.00
David Proctor $500.00
John Hesch $50.00
Michael Duffy $100.00
anonymous $20.00
Patrick Halfhill $100.00
anonymous $20.00
George Stebbins $50.00
Martin Jaeger $20.00
Ric Caylor $200.00
J.D.Guillemette $500.00
Tim Delaney $50.00
Daniel Lukaszewicz $100.00
anonymous $100.00
Kinsley Sykes $100.00
David Whittle $100.00
W. Michael Ford $200.00
Sara Weaver $10.00
Michael Howard $100.00
Wayne Ripley $10.00
Scott Weiner $50.00
Miles Fagerlie $20.00
Ronald Gleason $100.00
William Baker $50.00
Peter Loeppert $50.00
anonymous $130.00
anonymous $70.00
Davis Straub $500.00
Matt Cone $100.00

We will go way passed our arbitrary $5,000 goal.

Even more support for Big Spring

May 17, 2018, 6:47:57 CDT

Even more support for Big Spring

Pilots have responded as we ask them to show Big Spring how much we appreciate their support

Bill Soderquist|Davis Straub|George Stebbins|Glen Volk|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|John Hesch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Martin Jaeger|Miles Fagerlie|Roger Irby|Sara Weaver|Scott Weiner|Tim Delaney|Wayne Ripley

I've asked once again.

https://www.thecloudbasefoundation.org/campaign/assist-big-spring-texas-foster-care-children#donations

$4,303.

Roger Irby$83.00
Bill Soderquist$20.00
Jonny Thompson$50.00
Steve Benn$50.00
Glen Volk$500.00
Anonymous$100.00
Gregg Ludwig$100.00
David Proctor$500.00
John Hesch$50.00
Michael Duffy$100.00
Anonymous$20.00
Patrick Halfhill$100.00
Anonymous$20.00
George Stebbins$50.00
Martin Jaeger$20.00
Ric Caylor$200.00
J D Guillemette$500.00
Tim Delaney$50.00
Daniel Lukaszewicz$100.00
Anonymous$100.00
kinsley sykes$100.00
David Whittle$100.00
W Michael Ford$200.00
Sara Weaver$10.00
Michael Howard$100.00
Wayne Ripley$10.00
Scott Weiner$50.00
Miles Fagerlie$20.00
Ronald Gleason$100.00
William Baker$50.00
Peter Loeppert$50.00
Anonymous$130.00
Anonymous$70.00
Davis Straub$500.00
Matt Cone$100.00

We hope to exceed our arbitrary $5,000 goal. I'm certain that we will. We certainly are not going to stop there as the Rainbow Room has more needs than what we can meet.

So much support for Big Spring

May 11, 2018, 7:19:14 EDT

So much support for Big Spring

You just ask people for money

Davis Straub|George Stebbins|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|John Hesch|Martin Jaeger|Miles Fagerlie|Sara Weaver|Scott Weiner|Tim Delaney|Wayne Ripley

It is great to see the outpouring of support for the town for Big Spring. They have done so much for us. Thanks to all those pilots who have given so far:

https://www.thecloudbasefoundation.org/campaign/assist-big-spring-texas-foster-care-children#donations

anonymous $100.00
Gregg Ludwig $100.00
David Proctor $500.00
John Hesch $50.00
Michael Duffy $100.00
anonymous $20.00
Patrick halfhill $100.00
anonymous $20.00
George Stebbins $50.00
Martin Jaeger $20.00
Ric Caylor $200.00
J D Guillemette $500.00
Tim Delaney $50.00
Daniel Lukaszewicz $100.00
anonymous $100.00
Kinsley Sykes $100.00
David Whittle $100.00
W Michael Ford $200.00
Sara Weaver $10.00
Michael Howard $100.00
Wayne Ripley $10.00
Scott Weiner $50.00
Miles Fagerlie $20.00
Ronald Gleason $100.00
William Baker $50.00
Peter Loeppert $50.00
anonymous $130.00
anonymous $70.00
Davis Straub $500.00
Matt Cone $100.00

We may reach our goal or even surpass it.

Oz Report supporters for 2018

April 2, 2018, 8:38:09 EDT

Oz Report supporters for 2018

Tell me if I missed you.

Alan Deikman|Allan Phillips|April Mackin|Ben Dunn|Bruce Kavanagh|Bubba Goodman|Chris Boyce|Cragin Shelton|Daniel Gravage|Dara Hogan|Dave Embertson|David Glover|David Williamson|Doug Keller|Dudley Mead|Eric Beckman|Gakuta Toba|Gary Solomon|Geoffrey Rutledge|Glen Volk|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Harald Steen|James Bradley|James Lamb|Jason Williams|John Armstrong|John Hesch|John Kennedy|John Simon|Jonathan Dietch|Justinas Pleikys|Ken Howells|Ken Kinzie|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Mark Stump|Martin Henry|Martin Jaeger|Maurice Wilson|Mike Barber|Miles Fagerlie|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Niki Longshore|Oz Report|Patrick Schwitter|Paul Voight|Peter Bolton|Quest Air|Raef Mackay|Richard Williams|Riker Davis|Roger Irby|Scott Barrett|Scott Seebass|Scott Smith|Scott Weiner|Stewart Midwinter|supporters|Tom McGowan|Vince Furrer|Vincene Muller|Vrezh Tumanyan|Wayne Ripley|William "Billo" Olive|Wilotree Park|Winfried Oswald

Thanks to all who have helped us out. We could not afford to pay http://pair.com to host the Oz Report without your support. 

Adriel Kind Gregg Ludwig Miles Fagerlie
Alan Crouse Gregory Angsten Mitchell Shipley
Alan Deikman Gregory Pierson Nicholas Palmer
Alexandra Childs Hadewych van Kempen Nicole Longshore
Alf Oppoyen Harald Steen Patrick Halfhill
Allan Phillips Heinz Tagmann Patrick Kruise
Allen Ahl Hubert Jason Williams Patrick Pannese
Angelos Mantas J. Russell Locke Patrick Schwitter
Angry Penguin Inc. James (Dennis) Yeomans Paul Kelley
anonymous James Aden Paul Voight
Anthony Armstrong James Bradley Perry Jones
April Mackin James Gibson Peter Adams
Belcourt Industries James Lamb Peter Bolton
Ben Dunn Jan Snydr-Michal Peter Cairns
Bernard Garvey Jason Smith Peter Kelley
Bill Finn Jeffrey Curtis Peter Swanson
Bill Snyder Jim Kolynich Philip Morgan
Billo Jim Prahl Quest Air
Bruce Kavanagh Jim Ramsden Rachel Allen
Bubba Goodman John "Kip" Stone Raef Mackay
Carlos Alonso de Florida John Armstrong Richard Caylor
Carlos Schmitz John Blank Richard Eunice
Carol Sturtevant John Devorak Richard Larson
Catherine Hunter John Dullahan Richard Milla
Chris Boyce John Haig Thompson Richard Williams
Christian Schelb John Hesch Riker Davis
Christian Williams John Kennedy Robert Bay
Chuck and Gayle Warren John Middleton Robert Bradley
Claude Carlier John Simon Robert Caldwell
Cliff Rice Jon Lindburg Robert Dallas
Clive Beddall Jon Thompson Robert Goodman
Cragin Shelton Jonathan Dietch Roger Irby
Craig Carlson Jorge Cano Ronald P. Gleason
Craig DeMott Jostein Vorkinn Scott Barrett
Daniel Gravage Justin Elliott Scott Seebass
Daniel Lukaszewicz Justinas Pleikys Scott Smith
Danny Utinske Keith Barghahn Scott Weiner
Dara Hogan Ken Cobb Scott Westfall
Darrell Hambley Ken Durstine Scott Whittet
Dave Embertson Ken Howells secret admirer at Seminole
David Davenport Ken Kinzie Sky Sports Flying School Pty. Ltd.
David Fynn Kenneth Durrance Stefan Kern
David Glover Keven Morlang Stephan Mentler
David Goto Kinsley Sykes Stephen Parson
David Lopez Knut Ryerson Steven Blackler
David Stookey Koos de Keijzer Steven Boost
David Williamson Krzysztof Grzyb Stewart Midwinter
Dean Engler LakeShore Hang Gliding SvS Design
Doug Keller Larry Huffman Sydney Hang Gliding Centre
Douglas Brown Larry Omara The Passing Zone, Inc.
Dudley Mead Larry Robinson Thomas C. Ide
Edward Andrews Lee Silver Thomas Curbishley
Edward Saunier Luff Line Ltd. Thomas Eckstein
Elizabeth Rothman Luther Thompson Timothy Delaney
Emiel Jansen M. C. Campanella Toba Gakuta
Eric Beckman Marc Deschenes Tom McGowan
Fernando Milani Marcelo Silva Vince Furrer
Flytec USA Marco Gerber Vincene Muller
Frank Havermeyer Mario Manzo Vincent Collins
Fred Kramer Mark Stump Vrezh Tumanyan
Frode Halse Martin Henry Vuelo Libre
Gary McIntrie Martin Jaeger Walter Nielsen
Gary Solomon Matt Taber Wayne DeVilbiss
Geoffrey Robertson Matt Thoreson Wayne Ripley
Geoffrey Rutledge Maurice Wilson William A. Baker
Giorgos Karachalios Max Tunbridge Wills Wing
Glen Salmon Michael Bomstad Wilotree Park
Glen Volk Michael Duffy Winfried Oswald
Glenn Curran Michael Fitzgerald Wings to Fly ltd.
Glenn Nutt Mick Howard
Greg Fergus Mike Barber

Roll cloud documentary

November 17, 2014, 9:24:59 PST

Roll cloud documentary

A spliced video

John Hesch|video|weather

John Hesch <<jrhesch>> writes:

A production company from England saw a video that I had posted on YouTube and came out to do a shoot last February. Of course, the weather wasn't cooperative that time of year, but they spiced in footage from my video. Still not a very good explanation of the mechanism-of-formation and they get the rotation wrong. Maybe have to bounce this one off of Osoba next time I see him.

http://youtu.be/8d5m9_-_TiQ?t=22m58s

The clip runs from around 20:45 to 24:50

Discuss "Roll cloud documentary" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

Tue, Aug 5 2014, 5:10:52 am GMT

Day two

Big Spring Nationals 2014

https://OzReport.com/2014BigSpringNationals.php

http://soaringspot.com/2014bsn/

http://airtribune.com/bigspring2014/blog#!day_2

Replay: http://airtribune.com/play/273/2d

A 141 km triangle was called when the cu's start popping early. Due to uncertainty about the launch location the task was delayed with a start time at 2:50 PM. A very late task. We are moving the pilot meeting up an hour tomorrow to get pilots to be prepared.

Launch went briskly despite having to make multiple changes. I was just happy to be able to launch into the wind. I got off early and we climbed to over 9,500'. It was late in the day after all. The winds were light at 2 to 7 mph out of the east. The sky was full of cu's with plenty of lift under them.

We had a nice tail wind of 6 to 12 mph 62 km to the west to the first turnpoint. There was plenty of lift under the nice clouds. Not too much vertical development.

The clouds were thinning out as we headed northeast toward the second turnpoint and we had a cross or quartering head wind between 5 and 9 mph. I'd hooked up with the lead gaggle as we struggled a bit past the first turnpoint, but gradually lost a few of them as we pressed forward to the next turnpoint.

About half a dozen pilots got higher than me including Chris Zimmerman and Zac just before the second turnpoint, but we all got over 9,000'. The cu's were getting real thin as it was almost 6 PM.

We made the turnpoint and headed into the headwind going southeast back to Big Spring. The wind varied between 5 and 15 mph. I was on my own and so was Chris Zimmerman who got left behind in the thermal just before the turnpoint. Ahead there were very few cu's and a no cu area along the course line. Chris on his own headed south west of the course line (down wind) toward good looking cu's, and I headed east south east toward the wispies in that direction.

I essentially found a lift line jumping from cu to cu going 11 kilometers east of the course line. Chris was way to the west of the course line under thicker cu's. It sure didn't feel like I was going to make it in.

I was heading on a course almost perpendicular to the course line but I recognized it as a lift line as I wanted to stay high, find some good lift and get back over 10,000'. Finally after five 200-300 fpm climbs I found a thermal that took me to over 10,000' thirty kilometers from goal. Other pilots were struggling in the blue, while Chris was doing well under his clouds.

I headed off into the blue south toward goal. Goal looked reachable from that distance out and it went well at first as I hit a little thermal and climbed back up. At 10 km out I was down to 5,000' (2,500' AGL) and just barely on glide to make goal. Fortunately I found a very nice thermal in the blue and climbed up to 6,700' which was plenty enough to make it into goal. Of course, there was not that much sink after that so I came in at 4,200'. Again, Robin was right behind me, also high at 5,000'.

Chris was in first having taken a better route in. The pilots who left him behind in the thermal before the second turnpoint came in soon after him.

See the tasks and the scores at the links above.

Discuss "2014 Big Spring Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

Mon, Aug 4 2014, 1:23:27 pm GMT

Gregg Ludwig's trike

Big Spring Nationals 2014|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Jeffrey "Jeff" Lawrence Bohl|Mick Howard|Robin Hamilton|US Nationals 2014

He towed me up on the first day, no issues, just like last year.

Gregg Ludwig «Gregg Ludwig» writes:

Last Sunday I towed Robin Hamilton, Mick Howard, Jeff Bohl and Bob Fisher, who are all participating at Big Spring. One nice upgrade I did was to replace the 13.5 pound battery with a Lithium battery of similar capacity that weighs only 2.2 pounds.

Discuss "2014 Big Spring Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Big Spring Nationals »

Mon, Aug 4 2014, 12:25:50 pm GMT

Sport Class pilots go big

Big Spring Nationals 2014|Cory Barnwell|David Williams|Jeffrey "Jeff" Lawrence Bohl|US Nationals 2014|Wills Wing

Three sport class pilots made their goal then flew to the open class goal on the first day. David Williams, Jeff Bohl, and Cory Barnwell. Cory wrote:

Epic day today! Made the sport class goal and then kept going and made the open class goal too! Over 70 miles! Took me six and a half hours. New personal bests for distance, duration, and altitude gained (over 8,000 feet)! Woohoo!

He seems to be flying a borrowed Wills Wing U2 160.

Discuss "2014 Big Spring Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

$300 payment due by June 8th for the Big Spring Nationals

June 2, 2014, 7:27:38 EDT

$300 payment due by June 8th for the Big Spring Nationals

Thirty four pilots signed up so far, getting close to the limit

Big Spring Nationals 2014

http://ozreport.com/2014BigSpringNationals.php

Now that June is here, this is a reminder to let you know you only have a few days to get your entry fee to us and received by us.

Pilot entry fee and full on-line registration must be received by us in the following amounts given the dates below:

Before June 8th Before July 6th After July 6th August 2/3
$300 $350 $400 $450

We look forward to having you at the Big Spring Nationals and having the resources to make sure that you have a great time towing and flying.

Discuss "$300 payment due by June 8th for the Big Spring Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2014 Big Spring Nationals now up on CIVL calendar

Mon, Nov 11 2013, 3:54:55 pm GMT

International Finance

Big Spring Nationals 2014|calendar|CIVL|US Nationals 2014

https://OzReport.com/2014BigSpringNationals.php

Nicky «Nicky» writes:

The sanction fee has now been received and the event is here: http://www.fai.org/events/events-calendar-and-results?id=34877&EventCalendarId=9273

Discuss "2014 Big Spring Nationals now up on CIVL calendar" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Glider Hoist in your garage

October 31, 2013, 8:59:44 PDT

Glider Hoist in your garage

John Hesch's video explains all

Glen Volk|John Hesch|video

John Hesch <<jrhesch>> writes:

I've been asked repeatedly since posting the video of my hoist, for a little more info on it. Glen Volk has been playing the "squeaky-wheel" lately and got me off my butt to make a video. If anyone has more questions, they could be answered on the forum and all would have access to them.

http://youtu.be/W5iHH4gU8b0

Discuss "Glider Hoist in your garage" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Old man hang glider storage

October 26, 2012, 9:48:35 MDT

Old man hang glider storage

And coastal soaring

John Hesch|video

John Hesch <<jrhesch>> writes:

Saw a clip on your site recently of a fellow loading his glider in the garage after a day of flying. Thought I'd send you a clip of my storage solution-its at the end of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBE15MSdKeQ

Discuss "Old man hang glider storage" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Soaring a Roll Cloud

Wed, Oct 12 2011, 10:36:41 pm MDT

You can easily skip to various places throughout the video

John Hesch|video

John Hesch «John Hesch» writes:

I first flew this event about twenty years ago. That afternoon it formed off the beach and closer to launch, though it angled off-shore more. It was formed about 500' off the water and the top was around 1200' with a very slow rotation from the seaward side up over the top. The one I flew Sunday afternoon was of similar dimension and characteristics, however, there were multiple "tongues" extending into several of the local valleys.

I've seen others and photographed some over the years but it is such a dynamic event that you just have to be there at the right time. My flight lasted only an hour and fifteen minutes and in that time the cloud developed, changed characteristics and dissipated. By the time I was driving home, it was gone. It is good "head-scratcher" and there have been lots of theories about what causes the "block" as most refer to it (I prefer shear), but no scientific explanations backed by solid meteorology - just conjecture. There is a lot going on with it, but I don't want to bore you with a lot of detail.

http://youtu.be/SGGsLK3vuuo

Discuss "Soaring a Roll Cloud" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - final results »

Mon, Sep 26 2011, 8:32:16 am MDT

2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race

The results

Alex McCulloch|Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|Brett Hazlett|Charles Allen|Chris Zimmerman|David Gibson|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Gary Solomon|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|Greg Kendall|James Stinnett|Jeff Chipman|John Hesch|Jonathan Dietch|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Patrick Kruse|Robin Hamilton|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2011

http://santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com/

# Name Glider Total
1 Jeff Obrien Ww T2C 144 4247
2 Dustin Martin Ww T2C144 4158
3 Mitch Shipley Ww T2C 144 3713
4 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 3584
5 James Stinnett Ww T2C 144 3579
6 Robin Hamilton Moyes Litespeed RS4 3552
7 Glen Volk Moyes RS3.5 3484
8 Brett Hazlett Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 3204
9 Josef Bostik Ww T2C 154 3151
10 Chris Zimmerman Ww T2C 154 3089
11 Larry Bunner Ww T2C144 2872
12 David Gibson Ww T2C 144 2855
13 Davis Straub Ww T2C 144 2825
14 Ben Dunn Moyes RS3.5 2688
15 Matt Barker Ww T2C 144 2536
16 Patrick Kruse Ww T2C 144 2395
17 Bill Soderquist Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 2389
18 Rudy Gotes Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2035
19 Bob Filipchuk Aeros Combat L 15 1966
20 Greg Kendall Moyes Litespeed S4 1942
21 Olav Olsen Ww T2C 144 1925
22 Charles Allen Icaro Laminar Z8 1908
23 Ricker Goldsborough Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 1865
24 Konrad Heilman Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 1854
25 John Hesch Moyes RS4 1555
26 Jochen Zeischka Moyes Litespeed S4 1539
27 Alex Mcculloch Ww T2C 153 1506
28 Jd Guillemette Moyes Litespeed 4S 1465
29 Jeff Chipman Moyes Litespeed 4S 1446
30 Mike Branger Ww T2 155 1348
31 Jonathan Dietch Ww T2C 144 1239
32 Markus Venturini Ww T2 150 1090
33 Jay Devorak Moyes Litespeed 4S 986
34 Efren Fierro Ww T2C 144 693
35 Bill Reynolds Aeros Combat L 13 652
36 Rodrigo Russek Moyes Litespeed S4.5 638
37 Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat L-13 445
38 Alex Cuddy Moyes Litespeed RS4 411
39 Matt Dittman Moyes Litespeed S4 65
39 Gary Solomon Icaro Laminar MR700 14.1 65

Discuss "2011 Santa Cruz Flats Race - final results" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

VX 150 batteries

August 25, 2011, 8:22:05 MDT

VX 150 batteries

Cheap, 1100 mah

John Hesch

On eBay here.

P/N: FNB-V57, FNBV57

Thanks to John Hesch.

Discuss "VX 150 batteries" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The 2009 Canoa Open

November 1, 2009, 9:52:31 pm GMT-0500

The 2009 Canoa Open

Day one - strong winds and a good race day

Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Fausto Arcos|Jack Simmons|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|Kraig Coomber|Mike Glennon|Raul Guerra|Wills Wing T2C

The day started with sunshine and an off shore flow. The race didn't start until 4:30 PM, so there was plenty of time for the winds to turn around. By the time we got up to launch at 2:30 PM (after a day at the beach) we were surprised to find quite strong winds which made us think a moment about launch conditions.

After that moment, we got about the business of getting off the hill and getting ready for the race. The sun had been gone for a long time hidden behind thick grey clouds, with a cloud base of 1,200'. We could see the wind lines on the ocean shift from west to west southwest, straight in. It looked good. I placed the ten pounds of lead that I borrowed from Raul in my harness pocket.

The launches turned out to be a piece of cake and it took only a few minutes to get to cloud base. But the point was to stay low and practice the course for the next hour and a half. With the strong winds it was easy to complete the course.

The sketchy part was the leg over town. The main ridge gives way about a kilometer south of town. The task requires going over the middle of town and then back to that ridge. There is a small ridge where the lower takeoff is located and you do go over that going to town and coming back.

I checked out the altitude required leaving the ridge going over town and getting back to the ridge. It looked like 700' would be a safe bet, getting back with 300' after a four kilometer glide.

As the start time approached I headed back to the launch area and the highest cliffs which were producing the best lift. The pilots started to huddle together getting ready for the start, trying to get as high as possible. The cliffs were about 1.5 km from the edge of the exit start cylinder and our first leg was to the south.

In the last two minutes we headed to the edge of the start cylinder away from the lift and lost a little. Dustin and Jeff O'Brien stayed high at or slightly above cloud base. The rest of us were a bit lower, maybe 100' to 200' below cloud base. Some of us headed out toward the ocean to get a bit of a down wind run.

Dustin and O'Brien got the best start. I was 300 meters behind the edge of the start circle when the clock started, which is way too much. Shapiro was in third. Kraig peeled off not content to start 300' below Dustin and he went back for the second clock (there is no penalty for starting later as time is the only consideration.

We dove across the big gap to the next ridge and got down to 500' heading south. The pilots were spread out and racing hard. We stayed between 400' and 600'.

Coming back to the north I left the ridge south of Canoa at 580', less than the 700' that I felt comfortable with, but there were other pilots nearby, even if they were a bit higher. As I approached the soccer field in the center of town I started to turn, but turned 70 meters too early. I had to turn back around the other way to get the cylinder. Four pilots caught up with me on that maneuver.

Coming back to the small ridge at the lower takeoff I came in at 160' much lower than on any of the practice runs, but this was the real thing, so I put the wing close to the cliff and rode the lift up along the small hills and kept going. I was back down to 190' when I got back to the main ridge and the race began in earnest again.

Jeff Shapiro had passed Jeff O'Brien and was going after Dustin who was far ahead. We had a lap and a half to go for the 53 km race.

The winds were just right and the lift was good so there was no need to do anything except stay within the lift band and keep from getting too high. Some pilots were very fast (and some landed out):

# Pilot Glider Time
1 Dustin Martin Wills Wing T2C-144 0:37:01
2 Jeff Shapiro Wills Wing T2C-144 0:37:28
3 Jeff O'Brien Wills Wing T2C 144 0:38:28
4 Kraig Coomber Moyes Litespeed 0:38:38
5 Alex Cuddy Moyes Litespeed 0:39:27
6 Daniel Velez Wills Wing T2C-144 0:41:21
7 Mike Glennon Moyes Litespeed S5 0:42:41
8 John Hesch Moyes Litespeed 0:43:14
9 Fausto Arcos Wills Wing T2C-154 0:43:32
10 Raul Guerra Moyes Litespeed 0:44:05
11 Davis Straub Wills Wing T2 - 144 0:44:08
12 Pato Cathme 0:44:16
13 Jack Simmons Wills Wing T2 0:44:19
14 Rafel Arcos Wills Wing T2C-154 0:45:16

There is a sport class here also, and they had a bit smaller race. The results are as follows for those who made the full course:

# Pilot Glider Time Handicapped
Time
1 Jamie Shelden Moyes Litesport 3 0:18:35 0:18:35
2 Eduardo Cajas Wills Wing U2 0:21:21 0:21:21
3 Kent Harman Wills WIng U2 0:22:03 0:22:03
4 Juan Ochoa Wills Wing US 0:25:36 0:23:18
5 Michael Columbo Wills Wing U2 160 0:23:32 0:23:32
6 David Morillo Wills Wing Sport 2 0:25:45 0:24:28
7 Nicolas Glennon Wills Wing Falcon 170 0:41:09 0:31:41

2009 Guayaquil Cross Country Championship

Wed, Oct 28 2009, 7:19:17 am MDT

Day Two

Dustin Martin|Guayaquil XC Championships 2009|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|record

The prospects for good flying conditions were bright Tuesday morning as we woke up to sunshine and cu's. When we got to the launch after noon it was coming in strong with good launch conditions so we were encouraged to get setup right away.

I was second off soon after John Hesch and found very light conditions that caused me to really eek it out along the hill sides working a little above zero. It took a while but finally I found a little something better and worked my way up to 1000' over launch (which is 1000' above the LZ) and over the ridge line to the east.

Now I had to wait for the others to get going. The idea was to go over the back to the north and into the interior of Ecuador. There would be a retrieval crew, but you wanted to stay with others to keep in touch. I had neglected to hook up my head set to my radio not having used it in a while, so I wanted to be sure to fly with others. Also I wanted the assistance of other pilots in finding thermals.

As I waited around at cloud base at 3,200' the others took off and finally I was joined by Dustin, Kraig, Alex, and a few others over the first set of towers to the east of launch. I wasn't sure anyone was going over the back as we were all dawdling about, but I kept my eye on Dustin and Kraig. When they decided to go I left at 3,400' with them, but a hundred feet lower (which I hate). I lost track of everyone else except Alex who was below and behind us.

A few kilometers over the back is a sprawling slum area of dirt roads and one room shacks. We had designated fields to land in if we didn't encounter any lift, but we found it right away under the thin cu's. It was pretty exciting climbing out over this huge densely populated area but it felt completely safe as we could see the fields nearby.

In what seemed like a few minutes we were past our three designated LZ's and heading out into the country along the river. The main highway was just on the left side of the river and the idea was to follow it.

Kraig found some good lift about twenty kilometers out from the launch and then Dustin found better. We climbed to over 4,000'. I was behind them now by about a kilometer but as high as I left just in the wispies. They headed northwest away from the river and toward the clouds.

It was a long glide and as I watched them ahead for any signs of lift I got lower and lower and began also checking out the possible landing zones. The area below was part of the delta and quite flat with lots of rice fields. You actually didn't want to land in the rice fields as they had water in them.

There was a sea breeze that came in as we headed past the twenty kilometer mark but I didn't notice it. There were light cu's ahead and the lift had been very consistent so far, so I was not concerned at first.

I didn't see Dustin or Kraig find anything before I got too low to keep searching and I went to land in what turned out to be a dry rice field. They did find something just upwind of where I landed about 40 km out from the start. The breeze was quite strong when I landed.

There was a sea breeze convergence just beyond where I landed. Dustin and Kraig found light lift back to 2,000' and then were able to get over to it. The convergence cloud soon became very obvious.

I got on the radio right away to Kraig (Dustin hadn't brought his radio so he was going to stick with Kraig) and made sure that he could relay my location to retrieval when he could get a hold of them. The field workers, who were working in the rice paddy next to me, came over and helped me break down the glider and carry it over to the wider dirt path/road.

There was a motorcycle driver passenger carriage on the path and we tied the glider down on top of it and the driver took me to the town a couple of kilometers away where I could wait on the main road for retrieval.

Pablito came with Alex who landed back at the third designated LZ and we headed off after Kraig and Dustin. This was the main road to the northwest that went to Canoa, so we will be traveling on it today (Wednesday) on our travel day. Lots of speed bumps in the towns as we passed through them.

Dustin land Kraig landed together about 80 to 90 kilometers out from the launch setting the new Ecuadorian Guayaquil distance record by surpassing Raul's 2004 record from Guayaquil of 40 km. They were one kilometer behind a locked gate on a large ranch, but we found the gatekeeper and road in to find them. They will split the $500 prize money that Raul put up for breaking the record.

As they got further away from Guayaquil the land rose. They landed next to a mountain range and in rolling hills. They had been flying the sea breeze convergence and getting high, Dustin to 5,700'. There were some field fires and they recalled seeing two separate fires with the smoke from each fire converging and marking the area of lift.

Report to the USHPA BOD: The 2009 Big Spring US Nationals

August 21, 2009, 8:53:00 CDT

Report to the USHPA BOD: The 2009 Big Spring US Nationals

So how did it go at Big Spring?

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|cart|CIVL|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|John Simon|Larry Bunner|Mike Haley|photo|Quest Air|Russell "Russ" Brown|USHPA|US Nationals|video|weather|World Pilot Ranking Scheme|Zac Majors

The King Mountain report in PDF format.

This report in PDF format.

The following is the report by David Glover (meet organizer and director) and Davis Straub (scorekeeper, task committee member, weather man) to the USHPA BOD regarding how it went at the 2009 Big Spring co-Nationals:

Attendance:

This year’s event was very well received by the pilots who attended, who were unstinting in their praise for the meet and continually said how much fun that they were having. We had a total of thirty-three competitors throughout the event. The minimum number of required FAI Sporting licensed competitors to qualify for CIVL WPRS points (15) was met in the open flex wing class, but not in the Swift or Rigid Wing Class (as has been also true of all proceeding US competitions under the current CIVL rules) . Almost all of the top NTSS ranked pilots attended (nine out of the top ten, for example), as expected. Dustin didn't come because he was attending and winning the Brazilian Nationals.

Regarding CIVL sanctioning the USHPA Competition Rulebook states:

2. 4. CIVL Sanctioning All USHPA sanctioned meets are encouraged to apply for CIVL sanctioning as well so that pilots attending the meets can earn WPRS points.

The Big Spring US Nationals was CIVL sanctioned in keeping with the above encouragement of the USHPA Rulebook.

The open flex wing class at the Big Spring co-Nationals had thirty competitors while the King Mountain co-Nationals had thirty-four competitors who competed in this class.

Larry Bunner <> (who attended both halves of the US Nationals series) writes:

First and foremost the city of Big Spring clearly is in strong support of hang gliding. They make a significant investment both monetarily and in time to make the pilots feel welcome and supported.

Second, the conditions at Big Spring are second to none in the US. I have flown in two competitions there and not one day has been cancelled. The lift is big and comfortable to fly in and is well marked by fluffy cu's. Many pilots had personal bests for altitude gain, hours and miles.

Third, the tug pilots were outstanding. They pulled us up right into the good lift, taking us up wind on the windier days and circling under the clouds on the other days to ensure the pilots had the best opportunity to get up and on task.

The Maryland-Pennsylvania area was well represented with eight pilots this year. I will be back next year and hope to bring along a few more pilots from the surrounding areas.

Conditions:

Flying conditions this year did not have the usual 160-300 km distances (as well as out and returns and triangle tasks) we are used to seeing every day at Big Spring due to the fact that there were sometimes cu-nimbs in the panhandle area, however we did have very challenging tasks of 130 to 160 km on each of the seven out of seven competition days that we flew. We didn't cancel any days, even with higher than normal winds, because the winds are easily handled here in the flatlands with no mountains nearby. It was often as though we had glass-off conditions and all the pilots had fun flights.

We had one day where the task was stopped after an hour and six minutes, due to a nearby gust front and a cu-nimb (all pilots landed safely). Another task was cut short (after 130 km) by a cu-nimb to the north of the course.

The weaker-than-normal conditions reduced the racing that normally favors us in Big Spring, and on some days required to pilots have additional patience. Many pilots made it to goal on all five of the days that flex wing pilots made it to goal at all. Numerous pilots were rewarded with their longest flights ever and their first goal flights.

We used four weather models and numerous weather services to arrive at our weather predictions at 10 AM each morning. A full weather briefing was given to the task committee each morning (and a reduced one to the pilots at 11 AM). The weather forecasting was crucial in determining the tasks and avoiding the areas of unpleasant conditions. Normally it is quite rare to have conditions here in August that would cause any concerns to hang glider pilots, which makes the forecasting a matter of looking at the winds and the lift, as well as cloud base. This year we took it much more seriously and were rewarded with excellent results.

The launch and flying conditions found at Big Spring allowed for all the pilots to launch and be included, and to start all the tasks and fly safely on all tasks. No pilot had to experience challenging conditions on launch no matter what the wind strength or direction with a wide open expansive plain in front of launch. The landing fields are huge and it required phenomenal misjudgment not to land safely. Because all the pilots could launch and get into the air high above the Big Spring airport, it made for a fair competition and a fully valid meet.

Jeff O'Brien. Video stills by Niels Dachler.

Validity:

A total of 21,291 kilometers were flown by the pilots during the competition. Seven tasks were flown on seven days, all but one of them valid tasks worth at least 900 points on each day using the OzGAP 2005 scoring system - the approved method by the USHPA competition rulebook. Five days were worth almost 1000 points and the one day when the task was stopped was worth more than 800 points.

The standard for full validity of the USHPA sanctioned competition is 3,600 points. This meet was worth 6,400 points. It was a fully valid meet, and then some.

Every single day was a completely valid day, including launch validity and task validity.

The average flight in the flex wing class was 100 km. Compare this with the average flight length flown at the King Mountain co-Nationals.

Mentoring/Clinics:

Each day the top pilots presented information on how other pilots could improve their speed and flying. In addition, there was plenty of informal mentoring for the newer pilots, although we did not have clinics in the evenings because almost all the pilots were too tired after flying great distances each and every day. In addition, Belinda held numerous personal driver briefings to help educate drivers new to Big Spring on the routes and procedures. Her briefings were extremely popular and resulted in increased safety and awareness. Many drivers commented on how valuable these briefings were to them.

Safety:

During the event we had no injuries. One pilot clipped a fence on landing far from the airport, took out his control frame and put a fence post through his sail. But he had a backup glider ready to go at a moment's notice as this often happens to him, and he was flying and winning the next day. EMT’s, ambulances, and EVAC helicopters were on site every day and were not used.

Like almost all other hang gliding competitions around the world (one notable exception being the King Mountain co-Nationals), the Big Spring US Nationals had a safety committee and a safety officer who monitored the weather conditions and was empowered to stop a task if it became unsafe along the course line. David Glover was in contact with Belinda Boulter, who was assigned to monitor conditions and was driving the course line, as well as with many other drivers. If they or their pilots spotted unsafe conditions along the course they contacted David to get him to stop the task, if that was what was called for. The drivers were in almost constant contact with David if the conditions were iffy, and could get him to stop the task at a moment's notice.

Sometimes in the middle of a competition when there are difficult weather conditions or when pilots are over difficult terrain, having another level of observation, and the ability to stop the task can help pilots make better safety decisions.

This is by far the standard practice and is extremely important when flying in areas of outrageous turbulence or possible cu-nimb activity. For example, at the 2008 US National in Lakeview, Mike Haley, the meet director, did similar duty driving along the course line to keep in touch with weather conditions. He was able to keep pilots flying when it looked like a cu-nimb might be near, since he could see that it was far enough away from a certain turnpoint that we could keep flying safely. Not to do this is to engage in unsafe competition.

The gaggles at the Big Spring US Nationals were very manageable, and we have had no problem at all with gaggles when we have had 120 pilots or more flying there in the past. We uses large exit cylinders (15 km) and could have used entry cylinders to spread pilots out if there had been an issue. Gaggles have rarely been a big safety issue, especially relative to weather conditions.

In the past twenty five years we in the competition community have tweaked and learned how to improve all the facets of racing and safety.

We had very experienced tug pilots who flew without any problems. We had Bobby-Bailey built carts and ground personnel who knew how to keep pilots safe. We had a few minor problems with broken weaklinks, likely due to pilots choosing incorrect settings for the adjustable back cradles on the carts. These problems were solved by pilots taking responsibility for adjusting the carts to their preferences.

We had daily discussion among Russell Brown the head tug pilot, Jim Little, the airport manager, David Glover, the meet organizer and director, and Davis Straub, task committee chair, to determine the safest launch location.

We had a very safe, fair, and fun meet.

Texas captures more wind power than any other state.

Sponsorship/Support:

This event had approximately $20,000 to $25,000 in sponsorship and support in in-kind, cash donations, and (to a lesser extent) products from over thirty sponsors/donors including Travel Texas Tourism, the Big Spring Community Visitors Bureau, the Big Spring City Council, the Alon refinery, the Big Spring Airport, etc. This resulted in many services to the pilots.

Jim Little, the Big Spring airport manager, has provided us with detailed documentation of the support provided by the community of Big Spring, the air port facility, and various business and community organizations:

Estimates of Cost—Hang Gliding Events @ Big Spring

Coordination of Activities (Administration, coordinating loan of equipment, UPS coordination, passing messages, NOTAMS, AWOS announcements, notes to all local pilots and prisons, etc.(10 hrs)150.00
Office Equipment supplies, copying, faxing, stationary, etc..50.00
Coordination with Media200.00
Use of Terminal Facility2,400.00
Wireless connectivity200.00
Electrical Tie-In for Concession (Connect fee)75.00
Use of hangar Facility2,000.00
Electrical Cost150.00
Use of Convention Center (Welcoming Dinner)400.00
Decorations200.00
Canopies (Replacement)600.00
Welcome Dinner2,600.00
Gift Baskets300.00
Golf Cart Rental1,600.00
Ice160.00
Water150.00
Chairs, Tables200.00
Signage (Entry Sign, direction, parking signs, etc.)600.00
Equipment set up/take down—Bleachers, Canopies, Chairs, Fence Removal/Openings, cones, markings, taxiway light removal/protection, trashcans, liners, etc. (Manhours) (150 hrs.)1,350.00
Portable Toilet Rentals200.00
Temporary Dumpster200.00
EMS Support (In-place ambulance)3,200.00
Land Preparation (Scraping, removing prairie dog mounds, etc.)300.00
Overtime for employees500.00
Prizes1,000.00
Cleaning of Terminal150.00
Vehicle Fuel150.00
Hours expended by volunteers Numerous………Not included
Approximation of cost for hosting 7-day hang gliding event$19,085.00

Notice that Jim has not included a number of cost items provide by the community and has not estimated the value of the volunteer labor. We would estimate the volunteer labor hours at 300 to 400 or $3,600. We also got free ice cream, as much as we could eat, from Blue Bell, who delivered a large display cooler to the airport. That would add another $1,500. We are quite sure that we have left out some items. The total as far as we can document at this point is:

$24,185.

The volunteers were out there every day, hauling pilots around in the golf carts, bringing out water and ice, grading the launch areas, setting up the wind socks, putting tires around the airport lights to protect them from the carts, hauling back the carts after pilot launches, and helping pilots with their gliders and harnesses. Without their efforts the Big Spring Nationals would have been a lot more work for the pilots.

We have not included the prizes provided by the hang glider manufacturers or Flytec USA to the pilots in this cost calculation.

We have provided a detailed break down of costs (thanks to the good work of the airport manager) in order to back up our claims for significant community support for the Big Spring US Nationals. They want us there. They want us back. They put their money and their human resources into the effort to get us back there. We do not believe in throwing around inflated or unsubstantiated figures regarding our level of support from sponsors.

Media:

During the course of the event, over two dozen print and television media were represented. Regional television affiliates (CBS, ABC, NBC, Telemundo) broadcasted the event (in English and Spanish) regionally and in local and regional newspapers, before, during and after the event. (Derreck Turner was interviewed by Telemundo as the only Spanish speaking pilot.)

John Simon

Here are a few of the links that we have gathered to some of the TV and news articles about the meet:

In addition, David was interviewed three times on KBST radio in Big Spring. He also gave two lunch time talks to the Big Spring Rotary club. Three radio stations did five live interviews and mentioned our event over fifteen times.

In addition, as is well known to the USHPA EC, Niels Dachler, an independent video producer (see here) working with ABC, extensively filmed the event and is preparing a three-minute video for Good Morning America to be released in September.

Quest Air and the tug pilots provided full access to the media to use the tugs as camera platforms, especially for Niels Dachler.

Internal Marketing for the USHPA membership:

The event was promptly and widely covered in the Oz Report and in numerous other hang gliding community media. You'll find the videos, photos, and stories here:

You can find videos of every day of the event here: http://www.youtube.com/davidglover.

Internal marketing was very important to the pilots and the meet organizers. There was more coverage of this meet than of any other previous meet in the US. This provided the USHPA membership timely updates that brought them closer to the competition. In addition, there were four live streaming broadcasts, viewed as far away as Taiwan, of the task and pilot meetings. Most of our meets are held in far-off locations. While the meet can be wonderful for those participating, without care and effort the meet can be just a tree falling in the woods for our members who are not there.

As has been the case for a number of years with our USHPA sanctioned competitions, scores were posted daily (within a few hours of task completion) on the internet (as requested by the USHPA rulebook). We have been using the Soaring Spot for a few years now. It has a one-button-click connection to the SeeYou scoring program that Davis Straub developed. Both pilots and interested public can quickly see the tasks as well as the pilots' placing, and can download any of the pilots' track logs - a modern convenience available to any meet director.

Timely reports were available every evening on the Oz Report and almost as frequently from Jeff Shapiro's and other pilots' blogs. David Glover and Russell Brown were twittering in real time (while others were flying).

Jeff Shapiro.

External Marketing:

The main stream media coverage above represents a good deal of our external marketing. In addition we had spectators come and view the competition every day and especially on the weekend days. There were two sets of bleachers for them, food concessionaire, toilets, and radio announcements of the event times.

Some local folks - including local media folks - signed up for and had Discovery flights with Zac Majors .

Our event was posted on the official Travel Texas Tourism web page, here.

Criticisms:

The only criticism that we are aware of was a self criticism. We felt that the many spectators in the bleachers were kept too far from the action behind the airport fences and that they should be allowed to have a closer look at the action.

Respectfully Submitted,

David Glover (meet organizer and director) and Davis Straub (scorekeeper, task committee member, weather man)

Big Spring US Nationals

August 16, 2009, 9:22:17 CDT

Big Spring US Nationals

Task seven day seven

Ben Dunn|Chris Zimmerman|David Glover|dust devil|Facebook|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|Mark Bolt|Russell "Russ" Brown|US Nationals|video|weather

Launching videos: http://www.youtube.com/davidglover

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/davidhglover/2009USNationalsBigSpringTexas?feat=directlink

Ah, it is bitter sweet that it is over. Big Spring proved once again why it is the best place to run a hang gliding competition in the US at least if not the World (a lot more on this in later issues).

With a forecast of a thirty percent chance of thunderstorms, we had to be very careful about how and where we called the task. We screwed up a little. We could have called a task straight to Garza, and that would have been best. We called a 151 km task to Tahoka and then to Garza (near the town on Post). So first to the north and then to the east. The idea was to keep us near the cultivated areas and hopefully away from the possible OD.

Well, it sure didn't look like OD when the day got going. It was hard to imagine a forecast of mostly cloudy as the morning clouds gave way quickly to light blue skies and no clouds. And there were no cu's at 1 PM when we expected to open the launch, so we moved it back to 1:30 PM.

At 1:30 I was the only one remotely ready to launch and there were still only one or two cu's any where near us (not close enough to reach). I got pulled way to the south and there wasn't any lift to circle in that I could find. I came back to the airport but found a line of zero sink heading upwind over the launch line. I followed it until I found 300 fpm and joined a bunch of birds circling up.

What I didn't know is that there was a big discussion going on down below me about changing the task. If I had landed we might have shortened the task. Jeff didn't want to change the task and as soon as he learned that I was getting up well he launched and the day was on.

Still there were very few cu's except the ones way to the north and one of those was a cu-nimb. We just kept circling up in pretty much the same spot until more cu's formed nearby. The inversion was finally breaking near us. The start time was 3 PM.

Just before 3 PM we (Glen, the Jeff's, Zippy, Chris Zimmerman, Derreck, a few others) headed north northwest to the forming clouds. The lift was good and we climbed up to 7,500', the top altitude improving as the day proceeded. We weren't in time to take the first start clock at 15 km from Big Spring, but we all took the second one together.

We climbed to 9,000' in the next thermal, and then headed north northeast across highway 87 to the better looking clouds as there was a blue hole to our north. We could see Campbell in the ATOS climbing. I shaded the run to the north a bit to the west to pass under a nice looking cloud that was between Campbell and us.

That cloud turned out to have great lift. I stopped in it and radioed my lift and position. My team mates turned around as I climbed up and brought most of the followers with them except Derreck. The climb was great and even Campbell came back to the west a bit to get in it.

Leaving the cloud at 9,700' and after hitting the next cloud we headed northeast under O'Brien's direction to the cloud street going up the east side of the course line. O'Brien climbed to 9,300' but Zippy and I who were continually flying next to each other didn't find as nice lift. We continued flying north northeast under the cloud street.

After 23 km I finally found strong lift over red rocks. Zippy joined me and we saw Jeff at cloud base high above us. Jeff left us at 10,600'. We climbed up at 600 fpm and I left the thermal at 11,000' just getting escaping the cloud.

There was a cu-nimb to our west. It was raining hard 15 km to our west, but we didn't see a gust front. We glided 18 km to the east side of the cu-nimb, to the last cu's in front of it. There were a couple of small dust devils there. I found the lift and Shapiro, Glen and Zippy joined me.

We climbed to 9,700' and then the four of us went on glide together side by side toward the turnpoint. We wanted to get past the cu-nimb to our west. There was another cu-nimb to the north about 10 km north of the turnpoint with heavy rain and lightening. It was a 23 km glide into the shaded area just before the turnpoint.

I found light lift 2,000' 2 Km before the turnpoint and we all turned in it hoping to stay up in the dark, but also get out of there before the rain and gust front came. Jeff O'Brien came over to us at 500' above us.

We only gained about 500' so it was touch and go getting to the turnpoint and avoiding the cu-nimb. We all headed out with Shapiro and O'Brien higher.

We made the turn and headed downwind toward the Garza goal. We were down to 1,500'. Down to 600' Zippy and I found zero sink. We worked it for six minutes before I lost it. Zippy held on and got back up. Shapiro and Glen came over and joined him. O'Brien higher than the rest of us found nothing and landed north of me.

Campbell, who we saw at the turnpoint, was the only one to make goal. Mark Bolt, turned at 20 km from the turnpoint and got to goal in the sunshine.

The gust front came to us, but it was mild at least where I landed.

The end of a great meet that had lots of weather to deal with. Only one day did we have to stop a task. Conditions were generally very safe, but we did play a bit with the edge of the dangerous conditions.

Big Spring US Nationals

August 14, 2009, 8:40:10 pm CDT

Big Spring US Nationals

Task six, day six

Ben Dunn|David Glover|Facebook|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|Russell "Russ" Brown|US Nationals|weather

A shorter report today as I didn't get to goal so I had less opportunities to collect stories. One thing of great interest to me is how we on the task committee have been either very lucky or very smart. Today there was a twenty percent chance of thunderstorms in our area, the panhandle. It looked like the dry line would be active on our western side. It also looked like there would various thunderstorms around, but just where was unclear.

The winds were supposed to be quite strong out of the south, and it was 20 mph at the airport at 10:30 AM. There were lots of left over mid level clouds floating around and only a few cu's.

Looking over all the forecasts  (XCSkies/RUC, Dr.Jack/Nam, Dr.Jack/RUC), FSL - wind profile) we felt that we should go north to the Town and Country airfield with a 5 km turnpoint at Lamesa to keep the pilots up on the friendly cultivated fields.

We waited, as we have the last few days ,to open the launch at 1 PM, because there were so few cu's around. There were lots of high clouds filtering the sunlight and supposing lift. There were cu's to the east.

I was third to launch at 1:15 PM. Third is important as we have three tugs, so the first round gets the first three pilots. And today they had to take us 6 km to the south west (if they headed off in that direction) before they got to any lift and dropped us off. We did find some weak lift there and climbed 800' under the cu. The long initial tows really slowed things down (and pilots didn't get in line to launch at 1 PM, so they wasted 15 minutes).

I heard from Shapiro on the radio that he was getting up much better on the eastern side of the runway so I headed over there and sure enough was soon at cloud base at over 8,000'. O'Brien and Zippy soon joined us as did Glen and Terry. (Chris, Terry's wife, is listening to us on our frequency, so Glen and Terry know where we are.)

We had gone over to the east to get under the cu's to find the lift, but this left us 11 km to the right of the course line and the course was to the north northwest. Given the chance for over development we all took the first start time at 2:15 PM. Me with one second to spare.

We headed north northwest to the next clouds. To our west there were high clouds causing quite a bit of shading. Further west there were a few sparse cu's and a sunny north/south area Further west there was evidence of the dry line. There had been a cu-nimb just to our east when we were in the start cylinder.

We continued north northwest getting further away from the course line but heading toward more cu's. The problem was that there was significant shading ahead. It wasn't clear how we would get through it. 40 km out we were on the edge of the shading and climbing slowly in two separate thermals. We all got back together at 50 km, 23 km east of the course line, and climbed at 240 fpm over a large shaded area to 8,800'.

We were now almost due east of the Lamesa turnpoint. We all headed out to the west to get to the turnpoint. After finding little bits of broken poor lift I got a few hundred feet lower than the rest of the crew. This was not a good sign for me.

I headed southeast to the sunlight over the cultivated land. I then saw Bob turning in front of me just before I found the lift that the rest of the guys came and joined me in. Down to 1,700' AGL I turned in broken lift averaging 250 fpm. Unfortunately, I didn't stay in the thermal when it got weak. I needed to stay in that no matter how weak. I really needed to go back into it when the Jeff's left, as they were 1,000' over me and the thermal got weak for them also.

I had another opportunity to get back up, but left that also when it seemed broken and weak. This put me on the ground. Patience, when will it fill me up?

Everyone else got back up again. Jeff O'Brien and Zippy made goal. Glen did also as did Derreck the last time I checked. We'll have an update in the scoring later.

Derreck brought a backup glider in case he destroyed his first one so he was flying that second one today. He put a fence post through his first one yesterday as well as taking out the control frame.

As I was breaking down southeast of Lamesa. The OD began in earnest. There were three cu-nimbs to the east and south east of Lamesa, but it was clear ahead toward goal. There was plenty of OD around Big Spring as we came back, and it was clear that we had threaded the needle again like on the last two days. Tomorrow looks like we will have to do that again. There is a huge cu-nimb just to our east here in Big Spring as I write this. No rain yet here.

I'm proud of our ability to choose the best options for a task given the difficulty of the weather forecasting this year at Big Spring. More often it is very simple to know what to do on any given day here, but not this year.

The radar at 4:45 PM:

We went up the middle of the Panhandle and you can see the cu-nimbs to the east.

Here is what it looked like at 8:15 PM, twenty minutes ago:

Big Spring US Nationals

August 13, 2009, 11:58:54 pm CDT

Big Spring US Nationals

Task five, day five

Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|David Glover|dust devil|Facebook|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|John Simon|Russell "Russ" Brown|US Nationals|weather

Faced with another forecast for thunderstorms in the local area we chose to run to the west again and ended up with the same task as the day before starting at 2:30 PM. The weather is a bit unsettled in Texas this year, and we have been fortunate to call tasks that for the most part have kept us away from the bad weather.

There were no cu's showing up in the sky to encourage us to launch so we hung around until 1:15 PM. I was third to launch and a cu showed up right over the launch. We were towed to the west and huddled/gaggled together there only getting up to 5,600'. This was way too low to be able to get out on the course. It was still too early.

I pressed back to the airport as Shapiro radioed that he was getting up northwest of the runway. This area turned out to have much better lift and we climbed up under newly forming clouds to 7,900'. It was a party at cloud base. It was easy to stay there and the clouds were not moving too quickly outside the start cylinder.

I decided to take the second start time with half a dozen other pilots. Zippy and the Jeff's waited for the last (fourth) start time. The cu's were just beginning to form out on the course line and they wanted better development before they headed out.

I flew to the first cu, but the lift was weak so I left those pilots behind.  I headed for the next wispy and found much better lift. Dave Gibson and John Simon came in under me and I left them when I got to 7,600'. The lift averaged 275 fpm, which seemed like a good deal on this day. There were a few cu's out in front, but not any close by when I headed west.

I headed back toward the course line which was to my south and I could see two hang gliders turning low and searching over multiple fields twelve kilometers out. I came high over them (Sunny and Andrew) at 2,700' AGL and found the lift that they had finally agreed was the best. I climbed at 200 fpm to 6,500' and then decided that a cloud to the southwest looked too good to pass up. I was hoping for better lift and I left my temporary friends. Of course, this was a big error.

I raced over to the dark cloud just three kilometers away and found nothing. I was soon down to 1,300' AGL. I found lift that averaged 150 fpm, having left better lift when I was quite a bit higher. Stupid.

It took a while to climb out of this hole that I put myself in. Fourteen kilometers before the first turnpoint I climbed up to 7,700' as I watched Zippy and the Jeff's come in low under me. Of course, I again left my buddies and headed for the turnpoint on my own. I was soon low again down to 1,100' AGL.

I had to work my way back up again as the 15 mph wind pushed me to the northwest a bit away from the turnpoint. I left 200 fpm to get the turnpoint before I passed too far past it. Of course, I wasn't high and was soon down to 1,000' AGL past the turnpoint. I searched around down low down wind (21 mph) and luckily for me there was 265 fpm waiting for me just where I needed it. I was getting hot and worried about my ability to stay up and get to goal. Zippy and his buds passed high over my head.

I was not through with low saves and I had to do one more a few kilometers later, but now I was going to be sure to stay in whatever thermal I found and not worry about its climb rate. Just hang on and get high again.

Fourteen kilometers from the second turnpoint at Andrews I started working a thermal that averaged 144 fpm from 4,700' MSL (1,700' AGL). I think that I was flying with Bill Soderquist. He came in under me after looking around for a thermal and we slowly climbed up.

I was just off to one side and climbing a bit faster. I kept going over him to check out if he had better lift, but it was always worse. And it was weak even where I was. I only climbed to 6,500' and then decided to head out once again leaving my buddy behind. As soon as I left apparently it turned on as he was quickly above me. I went back and found the good lift that had suddenly showed up.

I climbed up to 7,800' but not as high as the two other pilots that I saw above me. It still required another thermal with the wind pushing me away from the turnpoint to get to 8,000' and a short jump cross wind to the turnpoint at the Andrews airport.

Now the course turned north and there were no cu's ahead of me. Fortunately, I found a thermal right after the turnpoint in the blue (there was a dust devil ahead). I was happy with the 200 fpm and I took it to 9,200'. It looked like that was enough to make it the next 25 km to the goal.

I did find some lift along the way so going down wind to goal was a breeze.

I had already heard the O'Brien had landed 13 km short of the turnpoint. I later found out that Zippy had left Shapiro on the way to goal thinking that goal was in fact a turnpoint, with the goal at Andy (our original task). He came in over Gains at 8,000' saw the gliders below and realized that his turnpoint was in fact goal. He turned around and headed back south any way. He got twenty kilometers back. Shapiro made it in.

Derreck landed out and took out his glider and ran his bell. He has another glider to fly tomorrow.

Big Spring US Nationals

August 13, 2009, 1:02:43 CDT

Big Spring US Nationals

Task Four

Ben Dunn|David Glover|Facebook|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Russell "Russ" Brown|US Nationals

We called a task to the west to stay away from what looked like possible OD near Big Spring. On the previous day we should have called our task in that direction and we might have avoided the worst of the OD.

The task was 135 km, first almost due west to Andrew, then north to the airfield south of Seminole. There were lots of upper level clouds around Big Spring associated with the nearby front and OD to the south east. These clouds filtered the sunlight, suppressed the lift, and kept the cu's from forming near the airport. Finally, as we waited around the cu's started happening, and we started launching at 1 PM.

There was a nice cu 2 km to the west of the airport and I had Jonny tow me over to where two pilots were already circling in it. Jeff O'Brien, who launched first came in under us and as more pilots came over we all huddled together in the weak lift that got us to 4,000' AGL.

We continued to huddle and wait for conditions to improve. I spotted a very wispy cu to the west and went there and found the next thermal that we could all huddle in hoping to stay up long enough that things got better. As we worked this thermal the first start time passed at 2:15 PM. We were still 5 km from the edge of the 10 km start cylinder. The wind was out of the south at 5 mph and we wanted to go west.

The lift improved when we went a little west again from an average of 100 fpm to 200 fpm. The day was beginning to look promising. There were cu's ahead of us out on the course line.

We jumped again over to the west in anticipation of taking the second start time. I looked down and saw Glen Volk, who had been with us, way low over the lake to our west and scooting back toward us. He didn't find anything and went all the way back to almost the airport. He was down to 600' AGL three kilometers west of the airport with his harness unzipped when he finally found something to get back up in.

At 2:28:33 and 1.7 km from the edge of the start cylinder I headed out first with Zac just behind me and the Jeff's following right behind him. I headed west northwest along the course line (we were just south of it which was good given the light southerly winds), but quickly realized that I would have to go toward the southwest to get around the shading ahead that was due to the upper level clouds.

Zac got ahead and found a little lift, but then we quickly moved on to a thermal that at 300 fpm got us back to 4,300' AGL. I could see Derreck Turner further to the south having raced away from the rest of us working some lift under a cloud.

Twelve kilometers out from the start circle we finally found solid lift and that got us to 5,000' AGL (7,500' MSL) and around the shading, so that we could now head northwest back toward the course line. The cu's were getting thicker and much more numerous, so that day was looking better (but we hoped not too good).

Next came a fifteen mile glide under cu's that kept us up but not so much that we turned very often. Zippy and Shapiro got ahead of me and O'Brien got high at the end of the clouds. I had to stop there and climb up as another shaded area loomed ahead. It looked like I needed a seventeen kilometer glide to the next set of good looking clouds. Fortunately there was a nice patch of sunlit ground on the other side of the shading, before the cu's.

I started out at 5,100' AGL, lower than O'Brien, but what looked to be enough altitude to make it. Twelve kilometers out I found good lift, radioed back and Zippy came in under me, happy for the help. I had lost contact with Shapiro and O'Brien. Larry Bunner then joined Zippy and I and we climbed out to 5,300' AGL.

The three of us then flew the next three thermals more or less together. As  we approached the first turnpoint I could see O'Brien way down below us, maybe a thousand feet off the deck. I had radioed our position so he knew where we were getting lift. But he was far below us.

We raced past the turnpoint and headed for a thick large cloud to the west southwest. We all got under it, but I was a little misplaced, climbing in a thermal at 200 fpm, while Larry and Zippy and found 400 fpm 150 meters to my west. This ended up destroying our collaboration as they climbed to 9,300' while I could only get to 7,300'. O'Brien had come in way underneath us again and was struggling. Shapiro was just below me and working the same poor lift that I had found.

The clouds were sparse ahead as we approached Andrews. All of us found good lift under some of the clouds, but I ran under a bunch of cu's without finding anything useful. Down to 1,400' AGL I had to go on desperate search mode feeling out anything that I could. It took ten minutes to finally find a thermal that turned out to be the best one that I found all day, getting me to 9,000' MSL.

Racing ahead I took the turnpoint and came in under O'Brien (who had managed to get high again) and Shapiro. From that point on it was a cake walk into goal, with a down wind component. We had to fly over large areas covered with oil wells and their attendant power lines, but unlike the last time I was here, I was plenty high and not in danger of landing.

Zac came in first with Larry behind him, then Derreck. Glen Volk, who had to save himself near the airport and Big Spring, took a thermal to cloud base at 8,000'. He then was able on his own to make the 3 PM start gate.

Glen raced to catch up with folks and was amazed when he caught Jeff O'Brien. His speedy flight won him the day and put him in first place over all. See the results listed above.

Big Spring US Nationals

August 11, 2009, 11:56:32 pm CDT

Big Spring US Nationals

Task Three

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Blue Sky|David Glover|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Facebook|James Stinnett|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|John Simon|Larry Bunner|Russell "Russ" Brown|US Nationals

The forecasts were all mixed up, contradicting each other with winds in various directions both calling for thunder showers and sunny all day. I couldn't tell what was going on. The RUC on XCSkies forecasted what looked like thunderstorms just south of Big Spring at 4 PM, but it was a blotchy picture there and in Dr. Jack's RUC display. When it is blotchy (lots of little areas of light or no lift), you know that the areas of no lift (thunderstorm, most likely) could be any where for a few thousand square miles. So it doesn't make sense to think that the areas of no lift will actually be to our south.

All the forecasts agreed that the winds would be light, but the forecasted ground temperature was 91 in Dr. Jack/NAM, 94 in Dr. Jack/RUC, and 98 on the local NWS site. That would make a big different in lift and height of lift.

Given the forecast for light winds, Glen wanted a triangle task over the better lift areas to the east. We went with that at the task meeting.

By the time we got our gliders setup on the dirt south of the hangars, things had begun to change. The sky to the east and northeast was filling up with thick cu's, some towering and a cu-nimb far to the northeast. It looked like our task would be doomed to a short end and finally just before we opened the launch window at 1 PM, we got Glen to go along with a straight line 169 km task to the north northwest to Leveland. It looked a lot better in that direction although not great.

We were ready to start launching right at 1 PM, given the cloud situation, and I was second after James Stinnett. Unfortunately my weak link popped off at twenty feet and I had to get back in line. The next two pilots also broke their weak links. The backs of the carts were set too high.

There was plenty of lift over the airport and with the light winds it was easy to climb up and stay within the ten kilometer start circle. I was hanging with John Simon, Chris Zimmermann and a number of other pilots before Zippy and the Jeff's joined me as we stayed mostly near cloud base three km from the edge of the start cylinder.

With a minute and a half left to go, Zippy started to race out in front followed by me, and the Jeff's then Derreck, John Simon, Glen, Stinnett and Larry Bunner. We raced hard to the next cloud and Zac found good lift that we joined him in. O'Brien had taken a course a little to our east and had to come over to get under us and was on the bottom of the stack.

Zac left that thermal first, with me right behind him at his altitude (7,500'). Derreck came after us at 8,000'. There was a cu-nimb raining to our east which we were avoiding easily, as it was about ten miles away. There was blue sky and lots of good looking cu's ahead, but darker stuff to the northeast. Our task was to the north northwest.

The three of us got out in the lead and about 6 km out I stopped for a little bit of lift that gained me a few hundred feet. It wasn't strong enough to bother with. I shouldn't have stopped and that put me behind Derreck and Zippy.  Fortunately I caught up with them on the next thermal as we climbed to over 7,100'.

Zippy headed out first again, and this time I was just behind and above Derreck as we moved north with Zippy a kilometer in front of us.  Zippy stayed out in front of us as Derreck and I climbed in the next thermal that Zippy missed. Derreck caught up with Zippy and they were about a kilometer in front of me as I was 400 feet higher as we headed toward Ackerly up highway 87.

The two Jeff's were just behind me with all the rest of the pilots. The three of us had semi detached ourselves and were getting away from the rest of the crew.

The cu-nimbs to the east were closer now and more dangerous looking. It was raining hard to our east northeast and there was a solid wall of cu-nimbs forming all to the east and northeast of us. I decided to fade to little to the west of the highway 87 and to get back toward to course line. I split from Derreck and Zippy at this point and went to a nice high cloud over Ackerly that got me to 8,400'. Derreck and Zippy were 4 km ahead east of the course line and 2,500' below me. I radioed to the Jeff's to come over to the thermal over Ackerly, they did and found 700 fpm, like I did.

At this point I was really getting nervous about the rain and now the gust front to the east northeast. And this is directly where Zippy and especially Derreck were heading. Right to the gust front that was outlined by the red dust. I turned the other direction and headed further and further away from the course line to the west. We were forty five minutes into the task.

Zippy and Derreck got up close to the cu-nimb as I headed further west. Climbing on the gust front they headed back west closer to the course line and a little away from the bad area. But looking ahead we were all concerned about the gust front to the north of Lamesa about ten miles that was moving to the west. We were discussing back and forth how to get around it. I had already gone west in the hope of getting around the cu-nimbs.

A little after 3 PM, Zac radioed back that he thought the we wouldn't be able to get around the gust front in front of us. I was getting more nervous about the conditions. The Jeff's were concerned also but plunging ahead as the rest of us were. I was now almost 15 kilometers was of the course line running from the cu-nimbs to the east. We agreed and radioed to Belinda to call David Glover back again and tell him to stop the task. She had already been on the phone with David and he had been receiving frantic calls from drivers whose pilots were frantically trying to get the task stopped. David stopped the task.

I went out and landed in quiet conditions further west of Lamesa. Zippy landed just west of Lamesa and the Jeff's right on the western edge of town fifteen seconds before the gust front hit them. I was able to apck up and get the glider on the truck before the gust front came to me and by then it was quite mild as I was quite a ways to the west. We all came back for a pool and pizza party for pin in at the Plaza motel.

Tomorrow looks like there may be more thunderstorms. The locals say that it never rains when the forecast is for a sunny day and that it rarely rains when there is even a high chance of rain. They were quite shocked to see the huge downpour over town. The sky completely filled up with dark clouds.

Big Spring US Nationals

August 10, 2009, 10:02:35 pm CDT

Big Spring US Nationals

Task Two

Ben Dunn|cart|Chris Zimmerman|David Glover|Facebook|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|Larry Bunner|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Pete Lehmann|Russell "Russ" Brown|US Nationals

Ah, here we are in hang gliding paradise. It is not a beautiful wilderness. It is not a romantic valley near the Alps. There are no mountains. It is as flat as it gets. It's hot. It's dry. It's great for flying hang gliders.

The local folks (those who can handle living here) are very helpful and friendly. They seem to truly love having us come back to Big Spring and go hang gliding. We have great facilities, which the pilots very much appreciate. And unlike King Mountain, you don't have to risk your life to do well (this based on my experience flying in the Nationals there, and from comments made to me by a pilot who flew in the co-Nationals there this year). It's a style of hang gliding that rewards making strategically correct decisions, not being able to stay up in white knuckle conditions.

The forecast was similar to the one for Sunday. The south winds were forecasted to be a little lighter than the day before, but in the morning we were getting 18 mph winds gusting to 24 mph. The forecast was for 16 mph at the airport by 1 PM.

Yesterday we had a forecast for the dry line to effect us from the west late in the day. It in fact did come toward us and some pilots who were very late were put down as the shade came over the course line going to the Town and Country airfield just south of Lubbock air space. The forecast for Monday contained the possibility of the dry line effecting us again reducing the lift from the west. So the task committee looked at tasks that would keep us a ways away from these effects and maybe wouldn't be quite as long.

Even with the 15 mph predicted south winds through the boundary layer we decided again to go for a zig zag task, to provide a better test for pilots and to make it so we didn't have to drive back so late from goal. We chose to send people north up to highway 87 to where it turns northwest, then back (like yesterday) to Welch northwest of Lamesa, our western most turnpoint from Sunday, then to the Tbar goal, an airfield on highway 87 south of Town and Country. It was a 138 km cross wind task (or so we thought at first).

We set the times the same, launch at 1 PM and first start time at 2 PM. The clouds were already forming off to the northeast at noon, but nothing was forming over the airport. The pilots staged their gliders again south of the hangar on the interior grass (dirt) around 12:30 PM. There were clouds forming all around, but not at the airport.

We waited to see if the cu's would start happening nearby. None of the pilots wanted to be the first ones to go. By about 1:30 PM there were a few cu's not too far to the west of the airport. Chris Zimmerman came out from the hangar on his private cart and got in the launch line. I got in right behind him with Derreck Turner right behind me. Suddenly the launch line that was empty was full with Zippy and the Jeffs rushing out of the hangar and into the line, and Larry Bunner who set up next to me, had to slide in behind Derreck.

With three tugs, Chris, Derreck and I were towed up first and formed a little triad. We all climbed up in the same thermal over the airport and then went over to the east to get south of the first turnpoint, which was only 22 km away. There were plenty of clouds in that direction and we climbed out with Chris a little lower.

Derreck and I headed north and silently made the decision to fly together (and with Chris if he could catch up). I was on the radio with Zac, O'Brien, and Shapiro, and essentially flying as a team, but I was out in front and could radio back the required information. They were going to wait a bit at the edge of the 15 km start cylinder. Derreck and I were going out in front.

We headed down highway 87 and found lift at the first turnpoint which was just 7 km past the cylinder edge. There was lift right there at the turnpoint and plenty of cu's around. We were racing along.

After flying in the cu's for 13 km past the first turnpoint, we head west northwest to get under a line of clouds to our west. We had been right on the course line and now we were heading up wind of the course line. The winds were actually right down the course line, but the cu's were to the right.

We got under the cu's and stayed up but the lift was not great. We wanted to stay way out in front of the rest of the US National team (Derreck didn't have radio contact with them). On the previous day Derreck had found much better lift out in this area and won the day. It wasn't working as well for us on Monday.

We were still working to the northwest but we were now 7 km southwest of the course line while our buddies were hanging closer to the course line. We got south of Lamesa and got under a dark, thick cloud street, the best so far and climbed up to over 7,000'. This is where we split up.

I headed out first but went further west not going under the north/south cloud street which headed back toward the course line. Derreck saw the relatively poor prospects for cu's to the west and took the cloud street to the north and got back near the course line. He said that he didn't have to turn until he was within ten miles of the second turnpoint.

While I knew that the wind was out of the southwest I really didn't understand that well enough and that I didn't need to go west any more, especially as there weren't that many cu's lining up to the west. They were there but I had a much more difficult time relative to Derreck, finding lift.

I did find lift and came up 12 km south of the turnpoint with a 15 mph south southwest wind. I was able to glide over to the turnpoint coming in low at 1,400' AGL while I watched Zippy, Glen and O'Brien high above me. They also soon caught up with Derreck.

I dug it out from the turnpoint and went over to join John Hesch. Jeff Shapiro was just south of us and radioed to me that he was climbing. I went toward him and we climbed to 8,400', the highest of the day. We were 36 km out from the goal. We faced a cross wind task. We had a northeast leg and a southwest wind.

Fortunately there were still a good number of cu's and good lift associated with them, once you found it. All of us made it into goal with two more climbs.

Lots of folks made it to goal. The National team, Derreck, Soderquist, Pete Lehmann, John Hesch, many others. The results will be up soon.

Big Spring US Nationals

August 9, 2009, 11:01:51 pm CDT

Big Spring US Nationals

Task One

Ben Dunn|Bill Soderquist|cart|David Glover|Davis Straub|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Facebook|Flytec 6030|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Beckley|John Hesch|Larry Bunner|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Pete Lehmann|Terry Reynolds|Tom McGowan|US Nationals|weather|Wills Wing T2C|Zac Majors

We start off with a bang. The weather forecast was for 500 to 700 fpm to 8,000' MSL (we're at 2550' at Big Spring) at the start and higher later. There are supposed to be some clouds, but thin ones and maybe not that many. It was forecast to be 52 degrees at cloud base and 95 on the ground.

The winds were forecasted to be 15 mph or a bit higher up in the air and 10 mph on the ground, perfect for launching. Given these winds it would not be possible to come back to Big Spring. But we didn't want to just go downwind (or at least I didn't).

I came up with six possible tasks for the task committee (Jeff O'Brien, Glen Volk and I) to look over. They chose the first one (I had no preference), a 100 mile dog leg to the north northwest (325 degrees) and then north northeast (25 degrees) to the Town and Country air field just south of Lubbock, Texas, a place that we had been to numerous times before.

With the higher winds on launch we got the opportunity o launch from just outside the hangar where all are gliders were stored. We were allowed to carry our gliders into the wind (much easier than rolling them back to the standard launch area to the north) and launch next to where the emergency helicopter takes off. The launch opened at 1 PM and the start window opened at 2 PM.

Given the strong winds we decided to leave the start times open. When you crossed edge of the 15 km start cylinder your start time started. With few clouds and plenty of wind we figured that few people would have a chance to play the start clock game and we didn't want to disadvantage anyone arbitrarily.

No one seemed to want to get in the launch line. Finally I suited up and launched first at 1:30, a half hour after the launch window opened. Larry Bunner was right behind me.

As I came off the cart we (the tug pilot, his plane, me and my glider) got lifted up strong into the air. I saw 1,900  fpm on my twenty second averager on my 6030. I had never seen such a high value before. This lasted for fifteen seconds and then we settled down to 900 fpm.

I was only on tow for eighty seconds pinning off at 1,400' AGL when I was climbing faster than the tug. There wasn't lift where I thought it was (what I just passed through), but I found 400 fpm just behind and to the west of the launch line and the game was on. I climbed out drifting north at 26 mph (the wind speed). There were quickly forming (and deforming) cu's at about 8,000'.

I climbed to a little over 7,200' then headed west to get under another cloud and to get to the west in order to be able to follow the streets north (in the south wind) to the turnpoint. After climbing to 8,000', I again headed west toward some little cu's to get up again to the west before heading out on the course line.

I was by myself (having launched first) but I could listen to the Jeff's and Zac to my east. They were doing well.

I was down to 6,500' and not finding good lift and had to cross the cylinder to find a good thermal to 7,500'. The rest of the US National team (minus Dustin) came my way crossing the start cylinder five minutes after me. I didn't see them even though O'Brien was only a little over a kilometer away.

I headed off on my own to the northwest with a few little forming cu's ahead widely spaced. It was a thirteen kilometer glide for me as the three others climbed up off to my west pretty much where I left them. I was down to 1,300' AGL.

There were marginally more cu's to the northwest, southwest of the course line (which was to the north northwest). I wanted to stay on the upwind side of the course line so I would run to the west to get to the cu's and then drift in them to the north. The others followed behind off to the east. The wind was 20 mph out of the south southwest (172 degrees).

I kept forcing the issue going west to get to the next wisp, four kilometers west of the course line. The others (the Jeff's and Zac) were still downwind of the course line but doing well.

Just south of Lamesa Jeff O'Brien spotted me climbing to his west and came in 1000' under me. Zac and Shapiro continued climbing to the east. I left with 7,200' and Jeff followed 1000' below. I radioed back when I found lift over Lamesa and Jeff was right there climbing under me.

I left that thermal at 7,800' and headed toward the turnpoint northwest of Lamesa while Jeff stayed 1000' below me in the thermal. Jeff climbed to 8,400' while I went out in front heading for some little wisps.

As again I headed west to get to the wisps. Jeff decided to just head down the course line and see what he could find. I was finding weak lift. Zac and Shapiro were following me and finding better lift. O'Brien glided for 20 km and down to 1,300' found 400 fpm and reported back that he was low but climbing at 400 fpm. This good lift got him in the lead.

I came in under O'Brien at the turnpoint, but now 3,500' below him. While I climbed out at the turnpoint drifting north, Shapiro, Zac  and Volk came over and we all hooked up with me just below them.

It was pretty easy from there on out. Jeff O'Brien and Derrick Turner were high above the three of us. We let Derreck and O'Brien go out in front and find the next thermals. We had no problem making it into goal.

The goal was grassy and easy for landing in the strong winds next to the hangars. Then we could break down inside the hangars. After we broke down and were about to load our gliders Dave Gibson and some other pilots showed up. I don't think that Bill Soderquist made it in.

Those who have scored so far:
 

# Pilot Glider Time Total
Points
1. Derreck Turner Moyes Litespeed S5 02:44:16 979
2. Jeff O'Brien Wills Wing T2C 144 02:59:58 871
3. Zac Majors Wills Wing T2C 144 03:01:02 864
4. Glen Volk Moyes Litespeed RS 4 03:03:05 846
5. Jeff Shapiro Wills Wing T2C 144 03:06:27 819
6. Larry Bunner Will Wing T2C 144 03:09:03 794
7. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 03:11:37 788
8. Terry Reynolds Wills Wing T2C 144 360
9. Tom McGowan Moyes Litespeed S5 354
10. Art Cayer Wills Wing Sport 2 271
11. John Beckley Moyes Litespeed 4 166
12. Pete Lehmann Wills Wing T2C 154 134

Big Spring US Nationals

August 8, 2009, 10:48:46 pm CDT

Big Spring US Nationals

The practice day

Ben Dunn|David Glover|Facebook|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|John Hesch|US Nationals

The winds were in the 22 mph range earlier in the day but the hourly forecast called for lighter winds (around 12 to 13 mph) at 4 PM. I told pilots to be patient and see if that panned out. It did and they got a few practice flights in.

It's blue, dry, windy and hot here, much like it was in Zapata, 400 miles away. A very few little cu's late in the day and a dry line a hundred miles to the west. It looks to be hot, dry and less windy in the coming days. 

Big Spring Internationals, day seven, Friday »

August 8, 2008, 11:29:00 CDT

Big Spring

133 miles dogleg to the northwest

Big Spring Internationals 2008|David Glover|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Jeff O'Brien|John Hesch

The results are found here: http://soaringspot.com/BSI2008 (flex wing) and http://soaringspot.com/BSIR2008 (rigid).

David Glover, meet director, blogging: http://2007worlds.blogspot.com/

Jeff O'Brien blogging here: http://hang6.blogspot.com

Task here.

Cu's beginning to appear at 11:15 AM. Forecast for 18 knot winds out of the south or southeast. Some chance of overdevelopment.

The over development doesn't appear, so we are good to go. There are plenty of clouds around at 1:30 as we start launching and they only get better by 2:45 when the flex wings leave the start circle for the 133.3 mile task.

The task to Tahoka to the north northwest then to Morton to the northwest seems to be about normal for Texas. Not to long, but long enough to present a bit of a challenge. It is a dog leg that requires some cross wind flying on both legs, at least according to one of the wind forecasts.

There were a number of big black cu's north of the airport and pilots were hanging out near cloud base. I just can't get up to cloud base (10,000') and could only find light lift. I had pinned off in a nice thermal, but left it when it slowed down at 7,500' then couldn't find good lift for the next hour in the start circle, in spite of the fact that I kept hearing reports of 800 fpm.

With almost all the pilots high near cloud base and a cloud street in front of us toward the turnpoint 69 miles to the north northwest we took the first start time with me being drag along from below. I figured that we'd find a strong thermal at some point and I'd be able to catch up.

There was good lift and plenty of it under all the cu's. You just had to get over sunny ground and under the cu.  I (and I'm sure this was true for everyone) was averaging 600+ fpm to over 9,500'. Forty six miles out I was able to catch up with Jeff O'Brien and Dustin, but I didn't see Kraig or Glen.  Jeff was very helpful for a while after that telling me where he was getting up. Dustin also.

We were battling a cross wind and not getting nearly as high after I hooked up with these guys. Derrick Turner also came by and we flew together a short ways. The turnpoint was visible ahead and I came in under Jeff and Dustin and Kraig four miles to the southwest down wind of it still not climbing fast and only to 7,500'

I ran out up wind to get the turnpoint at the small airport and turned west  even though the goal was to the northwest along the paved road as I was getting a bit low. There were still lots of clouds around and I saw a good looking one to the west. I found 600+ fpm again and got back up to over 9,000'

Jeff and Dustin had gone to the northwest and were north of me. I decided to keep pushing more westerly as there were more clouds in that direction and the wind was a bit cross from the south. It looked like it was getting very blue along the course line where Jeff and Dustin were.

Derrick and Paul came into a thermal a few thousand feet below me ten miles past the turnpoint. It looked like I might have a little help on my off course line path. I was soon five miles to the south of the course line. The lift after the first couple of thermals was much weaker, the clouds smaller and much further apart. It was a game of carefully selecting places to find lift. I was out in front and so far alone.

Derrick caught me 20 miles from the turnpoint as I was down to 1,500'. From then on we flew together.  The goal was 45 miles away and the cu's were sparse.

Twenty six miles out just east of the town of Sundown we finally found another strong thermal and climbed to over 10,000'. We then went on a fourteen mile glide over the town of Whiteface with the numbers on our varios showing that we could make goal (but we were a long ways out). Derrick started a little bit above me and went out first this time. I followed but to his left going more westerly as I had been doing ever since the turnpoint. There were thin cu's ahead but I wanted to get to the southerly most one and have the best chance to finding lift by going under all of them.

As I watched Derrick to see if he would hit anything I found 155 fpm at 1,900' AGL with the numbers to goal still positive, but not very positive. I was still eight miles out.

I just drifted in the light lift as I had been positioning myself to be south of the goal and south of the course line in the southerly flow ever since the turnpoint. The wind was 21 mph at 171 degrees, so it was all working out. Derrick was getting low and not finding any lift to my north, but still he had positive numbers.

I drifted for a couple of miles climbing, saw that my altitude above goal prediction was over 1,000', turned and glided to goal with no dramas. Derrick landed just two miles short. I was the forth pilot into goal.

Dustin had been flying with Jeff O'Brien and I believe near Glen and Kraig. He was in the lead overall, but with only less than 100 points. Instead of just staying with these guys he made a break on his own hoping to get to goal first or at least early.

It didn't work out and he came in after me. Glen was the first pilot in, following my Jeff, then Kraig. Forty minutes later Jeff Shaprio and John Hesch made goal.

Lots of pilot flew over 100 miles and it seemed just like a good old regular day here in Big Spring. Lots of cu's, lots of nice smooth lift, strong winds, and plenty of great flying. Another day in hang gliding paradise.

The National Fly-In

Sat, Jul 31 2004, 3:00:00 am EDT

The old boys return.

Curt Warren|Dave Broyles|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|John Hesch|Ken Brown|Kenny Brown|Kent Robinson|Kevin Carter|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mike Degtoff|Paris Williams|Pete Lehmann|PG|photo|Quest Air|Russell "Russ" Brown|scooter tow|USHGA|video

Friday:

Jim Reynolds, long time Pacific Northwest instructor and Wills Wing representative. Kenny Brown, US distributor for Moyes hang gliders, and Doodlebugs. Greg DeWolf, long time tandem instructor and currently working on a video instruction package for hang gliding. These are some of the folks that have showed up for the already well atended National Fly-In in Leakey, Texas.

With clouds and a few showers and a little bit of thunder during the day, lots of short flights were had with Dave Broyles doing most of the heavy lifting with this three scooter tows - one was working at any given time. Russell Brown and Pete Lehmann brought the Dragonflies up from Zapata arriving a little after noon. Curt Warren and Rod Brown had already been here for a few days giving trike lessons and doing some tandems.

The whole town of Leakey is behind the National Fly-In with $4,000 in prize money and lots of folks out at the airport watching the action and taking "discovery" flights. There is more spectator action than actual hang gliding and paragliding on this day with brief breaks in the clouds.

Saturday:

The San Antonio paper has good write up of the National Fly-In in Saturday's paper. They refer to Dave Broyle's scooter towing setups as "contraptions," which indeed they appear to be. The gathering of the grey hairs. Jim Reynolds gets quoted as well as Kent Robinson on the "magic" of free flight when he isn't breaking his arm or his pelvis..

The day starts off with both low and high clouds. The high clouds probably keeping the low clouds from building and turning into rain. In the afternoon the upper clouds gradually disappeared, and the cu's below got better and better as more and more pilots go into the air and started sticking.

I was not flying but running around taking photos of all the action. The hang glider aerotows, the paraglider scooter and truck tows. The tandem flights. It was great to have hang glider pilots and paraglider pilots together in one Fly-In getting into the air in so many different ways.

I saw Dave Broyles getting ready to take a tandem passenger and took a bunch of photos. Unfortunately, I caught the action. Dave had hooked the tow bridle to his carabineers behind the paying passenger who was hooked in in front of him.  When he took off with the wind slightly coming from his left he got the paraglider sideway:

Notice the line pulling from Dave's left side, the wind sock showing a light breeze from his left and the paraglider heading to his right.

With the bridle looking like it is crushing the head of the passenger, Dave and the passenger fall to Dave's right:

They get up and try again. This time the weaklink on the bridle snaps and flings back into the passenger's eye. For a few moments she has unstoppable tears. Dave finally sees the wisdom of putting the bridle on the passenger's carabineers instead, and they had a much better tow after Dave gets out of the harness and goes over to replace a fuse in the scooter tow (what a circus).

After the  short flight, the women is not all that happy with how things went. Personally, I didn't like the whole process, with Dave not appearing to be prepared and making poor decisions at the last minute about the bridle which he had left on another glider. He seemed a bit overwhelmed to me.

We all make mistakes in judgment, but you hate to see it affecting the wider public, and putting the innocents at risk. There were many spectators at the Leakey airport and hurting someone like this only hurts all of us. Dave is chairman of the USHGA safety and training committee.

Sunday:

The National Fly-In in Leakey is a community affair with lots of visitors to the airport and lots of support and organization from the local small town. There nothing around here for forty miles so anything at all is something. Sure there are lots of tubers down on the Frio River, but that's not something that can bring the whole community together.

It's great having a Fly-In at a small rural airport where every one can come and see the action and partake in trike flights, tandems, etc. as well as check out the crazies doing the flying. There is a small hill nearby but it is presently a 400 foot climb to the top. Fine for paraglider pilots.

On Saturday, launching after 3 PM and landing at fifteen minutes before 8 PM Mike Degtoff flew 101 miles making sure he got every last foot. He said that every cloud was working and had lots of light lift. He landed just north of the small town of Melvin, Texas. As he came over town, someone yelled out, he yelled back, and then more folks started coming out of their houses to yell at him.

Sunday started off with good cus forming very early. The speed gliding started with Ken Brown, Dustin Martin, Paris Williams, Kevin Carter, and others. It looks like Dustin won with a time of 63 seconds, 10 seconds less than the next fastest.

With the flying prospects improving Sunday got busy with hang waiters turning into pilots. Bomb drops and spot landings provided plenty of spectator action and it looked like it might OD early. Russell and Dustin were very busy on the Flytec and Quest Air Dragonflies.

Cross country flights started happening, but Paris and Kent misjudged the clouds and passing up 200 fpm landed 10 miles to the south of town. Pete Lehmann and I headed east on highway 83 in Falcons. I had Jim Reynold's Attack Falcon 170 with its too hard to use VG (I didn't use it) and a Moyes Matrix harness from Kenny Brown (Dustin use to fly it, and Kenny was flying it). 

I found 600 fpm east of the airport and climbed to 6,000' in a t-shirt, and it was very pleasant. Had to pull out to keep out of the clouds. Pete came up under me and I headed out cross wind along the highway always within reach of fields near the road. Pull in and go down is the rule even with an Attack Falcon, especially cross wind.

I headed out 5 miles out while Pete continued to core up under. He headed up wind at that point under the clouds while I headed along the road to find a blue hole that put me on the deck at 7.5 miles out. Pete got under the black clouds upwind and was able to go 15 miles, before turning around and coming back to escape the approaching storm.

The harness was quite comfortable. My hips weren't pinched, although like all cloth harnesses I found my legs were a bit squeezed, but not too badly. There was lots of padding and it was comfortable inside. I also found it easy to set the angle of the dangle and get up to land (but then I was landing a Falcon - which gives you so many more places to land than an ATOS VX).

Results:

Speed gliding:

Dustin Martin $400
Kevin Carter $200
John Hesch $100

XC:

Non floater:

Mike Degtoff $400
Paris Williams $200
John Hesch $100

Floater:

Pete Lehmann $400
Davis Straub $200

Spot Landing

PG:

Dave Prentice $200
Andy Austin $100
Rich Donovan $50

Non floater:

Dustin Martin $200
Kevin Carter $100
Ken Brown $50

Floater:

Dave Hayner $200
Abe Hutchins $100
Chris Chaney $50

Bomb drop:

Andy Austin $200
Dave Prentice $100
Rich Donovan $50

Flipping

Tue, Jun 15 2004, 8:00:04 pm EDT

So there I was, doing my best to stay upright.

John Hesch|PG|Will Gadd

John Hesch «jhesch» writes:

It was good to hear of you pushing for credible information during the "scientific" presentation that you and others attended Sunday evening. I fully support your view that it happens so fast that there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. I tucked in '95 and it was instantaneous, (after two partials, seconds prior). This was after crossing a ridge in moderate winds with another pilot a quarter mile away who experienced nothing but smooth air.

A few weeks ago, while slowing down coming into a thermal on my left, my right wing was pulled under me, wind noise ceased and the glider rotated straight down. The glider entered a slow spiral to the right, still pointed straight down with complete weightlessness. With the bar held tight to my chest, I free-fell for what seemed to be an eternity, then tension in my hang strap slowly returned and the glider leveled out. I was able to re-locate the thermal and climb out.

The point is when it is a parcel of "bad" air, there is nothing that a pilot can do to prevent a tuck or tumble, it is that sudden. When it is pilot influenced, as in the second example, it is often slow enough that there is time to react. The bottom line is that we fly with parachutes for a reason and we should expect to have to use them, and if you never do, well then, lucky you.

 If we take that attitude, we will hopefully be prepared if/when we need them, and will not find ourselves flying around, naively counting on things like sprogs to save us! While I wasn't able to deploy when I tucked and went all the way in, I was only able to return to flying by recognizing that choosing to fly hang gliders xc meant accepting that another tuck or tumble may be inevitable, and, that the ability to use my parachute has to be certain and automatic, just as our reactions to those "odd" attitudes we sometimes find ourselves in, need to be certain and automatic.

will gadd «gadd» writes:

Dr. "Tumble's" presentation:

I'd guess that you just had a classic American meets German/Vulcan mind-set encounter. I've had a few of these also, things are different there, much more formal and "structured." While I have some great friends in Germany, the typically older male German sense of order and authority is way different than ours, it drives me bonkers at times also.

We don't even have a formal version of the pronoun "you" in American English (unless you count "dude!" as the informal). He took your questions personally, you, perhaps in classic Straub style, just wanted to get at the meat of the matter. I hope you guys can get onto "du" informality over a beer and compare research.

One of the things that concerns me about flying hangs is that they occasionally fold up and break in turbulence, I'd like to know more about that and look forward to more of your writing on the subject. My paraglider folds up all the time, it's a "feature," grin.

Maybe you all need some hinges and bungee cords instead of wires or something. Half seriously for example, birds pull their wings in when they get tumbled and then just fly away, maybe HGs could do the same?

Discuss dancing with wolves at the Oz Report forum

The old Tin Cup »

Wed, Feb 18 2004, 1:00:00 pm EST

Harry Martin has brought a new look to the Oz Report. He has created the new masthead and you'll find his cartoon around the Oz Report.

calendar|Harry Martin|John Hesch|USHGA

Scroll down to near the bottom of this issue to see how to support the Oz Report or click here.

Thanks to: AGUSTIN NIETO, the very generous John Hesch, Randall Severen, Timothy Delaney

I've encouraged Harry Martin to send me some of his images and hired him to do the new Masthead for the Oz Report. I love his work and love my new Masthead. Gerry then took over the Masthead and made it work with our format.

Here's one he sent to me spontaneously on Tuesday night without realizing what I had already written in this section:

 

Harry Martin and Tex Forest are very funny cartoonists and it is great that we have them doing hang gliding cartoons for the Magazine and for the USHGA calendar. Harry has been doing hang gliding cartoons for longer than he cares to remember and has got a great backlog of images that I hope he makes available on his Cafe Press web site (http://www.cafeshops.com/hmcartoons/209066) for placement on t-shirts, mugs, etc.

I'm hoping to get Harry to get more of his great images up on his Cafe Press web site so you can get them on all sorts of different objects. I'm also trying to get him to do a new logo for an organization that really needs a new logo.

Discuss the Tin Cup at the Oz Report forum

Matrix Harness for sale

Fri, Apr 4 2003, 5:00:11 pm EST

harness|John Hesch

John Hesch <jhesch@charter.net> writes:

I hate to see the report cluttered with ads, but in light of the ones I've seen lately and with the comps coming up, I've a Matrix harness, 6', medium build that I used just during the Florida meets last year. $800, like new. John Hesch (805)-550-9497

(editor’s note: I will do want ads. They will cost. (You can do want ads free at www.ushga.org). A few free ones now.

Discuss "Matrix Harness for sale" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Will fly for subscriptions »

Wed, Mar 5 2003, 10:00:00 pm GMT

Agustion Nieto|Bob Trumbly|Brad Hall|Brook Rice|Bruce King|Chuck Overton|Dan Jester|Dave Brandt|David "Dave" Swanson|Duncan McBride|Finbar Sheehy|George Blackfor|Jack Knopinski|Jeff Nielson|John Berger|John Dullahan|John Fennel|John Hesch|John Needles|Jules Kilpatrick|Larry Smith|Larry Witherspoon|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mark Stump|Martyn Yeomans|Mary Jackson|Paul Voight|Perry Jones|Phil Bloom|Rhanor Gillette|Rick Christen|Riker Davis|Scott Sigal|Urs Bleichenbacher|Vince Collins|Vincene Muller|Wallace Stephens

Oz Report readers who have helped out on Wednesday: Urs Bleichenbacher ($15, Germany, “Despite you did not tell my whole V-Tail story {maybe you do not want to hurt Felix too much), I appreciate your work and your fire for our sport.”), John Hesch ($30, delivered via Flytec), Scott Sigal ($25 Euros, today 1 euro = $1.10 dollar, wasn’t it 18 months ago that 1 euro = $0.85 USD?, France – my first French subscription, “Since I've discovered your e-zine I manage to "escape" a bit for a "fly" every day. As for the criticism of your "strong opinions"… well… one can always read a "normal rag"!), Martyn Yeomans ($20), Duncan McBride ($20, “Please send me the coffee mug, and keep printing lots of pictures of those hangglidding bikini babes too. Thanks a bunch.”)

And from the snail mail that got here today, many with very kind notes, which I’m not going to retype here: Dan Jester, Dave Brandt ($20), John Needles ($20), Jack Knopinski, Larry Smith ($40), Finbar Sheehy, Jules Kilpatrick, John Fennel ($20 – US bill shipped from England), Bob Trumbly, Riker Davis (Ski Apache), George Blackfor, Team Spirit Hang Gliding, Penquin, John Berger, Bruce King, JJ, Phil Bloom, Rick Christen, Wallace Stephens ($20), Perry Jones, Dave Swanson, Mark Stump, Brook Rice ($17.50), Mary Jackson, Vincene Muller, Chuck Overton, Pete Lehmann, Brad Hall ($20), Agustion Nieto, Rhanor Gillette, Vince Collins ($20), Paul Voight, Jeff Nielson, John Dullahan ($20), and Larry Witherspoon.

You can see how to send in $10 for a yearly subscription to the Oz Report below.

Discuss "Will fly for subscriptions" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Too popular?

Thu, Sep 26 2002, 1:00:04 pm EDT

Florida|John Hesch|Nick Kennedy|USHGA

John Hesch «Jrflyhi2» writes:

I am a fairly new comp pilot (2-3 years), so I don't have the benefit of perspective someone like Nick Kennedy would have. However, I do have some ideas of my own on this topic. Yes, I too have been frustrated by not making goal very often, but one doesn't start at the top of the ladder in many arenas here on earth. Having to put forth as much effort and concentration as possible has caused my flying to improve greatly and I expect that trend to continue as I face challenging tasks in future comps.

There are obviously those who would like to settle for tasks that are a little (or a lot) less challenging than those currently being offered and those desires are every bit as valid as mine. The main problem that comes to mind is the congestion in the air that could (would) arise if one were to roughly double the field of say, one of theFlorida meets and then run the tasks concurrent, into the same goal.

Anyone who thinks that would be fun probably wasn't there on the third day at Wallaby when all the flexwings were in one thermal for 10-15 minutes prior to the "shotgun" start that day! I think the "sport class" is a great idea, but there are going to be some logistics that will need to be considered.

Personally, I will continue to slug it out in the current class in hopes of improving and creeping into the realm of the "big boys" (and girls). But then, I'm only 46 and most of my hair is still a different color than gray! Perhaps in ten years I'll think differently.

(editor’s note: John points out that Nick’s suggestion just might to be too good and the competitions would get too popular. Gee, this is a problem that I think we can live with.

Here are a couple of ideas.

First, don’t start the sport class and the open class from the same start circle radius.

Second, right now the Floridacompetitions are pretty much full up. So the meet organizers might not want to put on Sports Class or Sport Competition, or floater, kingposted competitions at the same time.

Third, one way to open up the Florida competitions, and make it cheaper for everyone (by better utilization of the resources) is to time the sport competition so that it starts one half after the open competition. This keeps everyone out of every one else’s face, lets the tugs launch folks over a wider time span, and generally accommodates a lot more pilots in a competition.

Fourth, there is plenty of room for other USHGA sanctioned competitions throughout the US. How about two big competitions this year in Texas? How about some competitions on the west coast?

John wants to hang in the open class, and maybe there are a lot of pilots like him who don’t want to jump over to the sport class and get a better shot of making goal. The class system that Australiahas come up with has already proven to be very very popular. I think we should do whatever we can to promote hang gliding competition.)

Sandia Open »

Tue, Jun 27 2000, 8:00:02 pm EDT

Dave Sharp|George Stebbins|Heiner Biesel|John Hesch|John Woiwode|Lisa Verzella|Thomas Mullin

Dave Sharp, «Flysharp1», writes:

I gave a clinic and was in a scramble to get off since the clouds were already forming and the wind picked up 10-20. I launched 12:45, grabbed on 30 seconds later, and 3 minutes after that I was over the back. Sandia is like jumping on a trampoline with broken glass (it's good to get away on the first bounce).

Over the back I got to Clines Corners in one hour with 600 fpm climbs and cloud base 15k. However unlike my first day I was getting big sink and big climbs.

I was expecting south winds near the eastern part of the state, so I was gearing up to fly northeast and instructed my driver to get ahead of me to get the surface scoop. Hard south never happened, it just kept blowing down I-40.

I flew into Vega Airport (along I-40) my Driver said a tornado warning was in effect in Amarillo, 30 minutes later, a light gust front hit and switched the winds due east 5 then 10 and much later up to 30.

Heiner Biesel got the push and flew over my head at 13,500 but was cut short on his 40 mile glide potential by the gust front and flew approx 15 miles further. I set my personal best again 3rd time this last two weeks 245mi.

Today east winds. We are making some awesome flight here at this little fly-in.

Final results:

NAME

GLIDER

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Total

Dave Sharp

Atos

226

0

227

453

Pete Biesel

Atos

189

0

242

431

John Woiwode

Airwave

77

177

166

420

Dave Church

HP

116

67

108

291

Tim Delany

 

0

127

153

280

Dave Prentice

Fusion

0

138

140

278

Steve Rathbun

WW Fusion

15

72

188

275

Thomas McGowan

Moyes Xtralig

54

99

99

253

Jeff Laughrey

WW Fusion

79

167

0

247

Paris Willams

WW Fusion SP

201

0

45

246

George Stebbins

Stealth

13

42

179

234

Steve Crothers

Moyes CSX

62

31

121

215

Jim Steele

RamAir

27

0

164

191

Ward Hinsen

WW Fusion

36

142

10

188

Brian Kurowski

Sensor

0

164

10

174

Pat Sheedy

GB

64

54

11

130

Tim O'Brien

Moyes SX5

0

57

25

83

Mario Manzo

Moyes SX3

0

30

47

76

John Hesch

Airwave Class

24

43

0

67

Lisa Verzella

Laminar ST 13

16

31

10

57

John McAllister

WW Fusion

0

0

42

42

Frank Dempsey

Moyes SX5

0

0

28

28

Steve Kinsley

WW XC

0

0

0

0

Dave Proctor

LiteSpeed

0

0

0

0

Kevin Cameron

Atos

0

0

0

0

Thomas Mullin

 

0

0

0

0

Tim O Brien, earthtouch@earthlink.net, writes:

We now have the web site up and running for the competition.Maps of the pilot flights are at http://www.etsmaps.com/ssa/25milerings.html.

It takes a little bit for the map to display, but its something I think your readers will find interesting. It's interactive and down loads a Java app to your browser the first time you hit the site. You can zoom in and out. Click on any pilot using the "I" identify button and see the results of data for that pilot on the side. Next year the interface will be cleaner, faster and more user friendly. It still is better than anything else I've seen for showing results to the rest of the world over the net

The current spread sheet for landings and distance flown using ArcView GIS software is now online too. It still has the calculated error in it, but the error is equal and about 1-3 miles off. If it does not fire off right away hit the refresh button once and it should work.

http://www.etsmaps.com/ssa/sandiaopen.htm

Again sorry for the confusion and the miss information.

(editor's note: Paris didn't fly 250 miles, but 202, as reported earlier)

I feel real bad about sending it out to you that way. Please feel free to verify numbers and results with Dave before you publish the numbers again. I promise to verify things three times next time I send you info. I'm very embarrassed about the mistake.