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topic: Bill Moyes

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A Whirlpool Story

November 23, 2020, 7:40:12 EST

A Whirlpool Story

1977

Bill Moyes|record

James David Braddock writes:

On October Ninth Nineteen Hundred Seventy Seven I had only just turned nineteen that week. It was a beautiful day with high well formed Cumulus clouds developing over Lake Michigan like popcorn in a skillet. Wind was westerly and building, surf pounding against our seawall like a clarion call to the sky. I gathered my things and headed for The Midwest School of Hang Gliding twenty eight miles to the south in Bridgman.

When I arrived two cars were already waiting in the parking lot with kites on the roof. The increase in Barometric pressure had others travelling to hopefully grab some airtime as well. Larry and Phil jumped out of their cars the second I halted and both began talking at once. "The winds too west for Tower Hill", they exclaimed in unison. I told them that it might be a day to launch from a forbidden place and fly anyway. Larry who was a coworker at the kite shop: "The bluff in St. Joseph is a place where gliders go to die! My girlfriend made me promise to never fly there again". Phil who was pre-med at Northwestern in Chicago: "It can't hurt to drive up there and take a look, I didn't drive all this way to watch sand blow in the parking lot at Warren Dunes".

We had been flying from the bluff south of St. Joseph for five years already but as a flying site it had a minor defect... It was dangerous as Hell! It was a hundred foot bluff overlooking the lake, steep and going on uninterrupted for four miles. In a westerly breeze the lift was smooth and steady, but when the lake came up in the early seventies the road commission had to put in a seawall. So instead of the wide sandy beach that Warren Dunes had, there were boulders the size of automobiles, the remainder was kite eating surf pounding the base of the hazard strewn bluff. If you did not have the skill to top land you could wreck your kite or body or both!!! The authorities who were less than enthusiastic about the never ending rescues they were having to execute had banned launching from the clearing in the scenic overlook that spring. There was a beachfront house that was on the lake two miles to the south that was rarely used and as such became the new secret launch spot.

I opened the shop and realized that since I had sold my competition glider over the phone only two days before, an alternative wing would be required. I scanned the racks of gliders and saw one that Bill Moyes's Australian national team had left behind earlier that season. Surely it would be up to the task of an afternoon of aviation pleasure. Opening up the bag part way; it was a hideous orange and black color combination but seemed to all be there. Phil:"The Great Pumpkin kite! Won't be hard to see you in that." Laughter ensued and I re-closed the bag. We decided to put all three kites on Larry's VW Bus. The phone rang so dutifully I picked it up, my father said: "Just got back from breakfast and the wind is coming straight in here at Hager Shores." Describing who I was with and our current strategy he replied: "Bring the kites up to the Whirlpool Administrative Center and I will make sure you all launch safely. If the wind holds you could shatter the state cross country mark by eight or more miles!" Holding my hand over the phone I convinced the other two that flying a heretofore unflown ridge for this potential was a viable proposition. "Done" was my response to father.

We drove north, Larry who was overly excited was blasting along at seventy in a fifty five. Red and blue lights suddenly appeared in the rearview. He hit the brakes so hard that all the gear in the back made it halfway to the front. To our amazement the officer pulled out and around us! Phil who had endured the brunt of the low flying gear: "We can't fly if the kites get impounded with the van, SLOW DOWN!!!" Larry never a man of many words rolled his eyes and grunted. We stopped at the kite eating bluff in St. Joseph to check the wind's velocity and direction. Straight in slightly to the left and whitecaps as far as the eye could see. Seagull's who migrate south this time of year came soaring by in massive flocks. The waves and the clouds were all saying "Today you will soar like never before."

This totally new flying site was an open field that was between M-63 and the lakes edge. It was directly across the street from the Whirlpool World Headquarters and roughly two miles north of Benton Harbor. When we arrived father was already there pacing wild with excitement up and down the edge of the bluff. He raced over and started undoing the gliders from the rack. We walked to the edge of the ridge and looked at the raging surf that was making its way almost to the base of the bluff. Larry: "Where will we land?" I told him that there should be wide spots here and there all the way north. Not a complete fabrication but the waves were building, not exactly "Mothers Arms Safe" for sure.

With fathers able help we had all three gliders set up in minutes flat. Bad surprise for me "The Great Pumpkin" was not the sleek competition kite I was expecting at all, but a mid level trainer glider that would have a much slower top speed. Nothing I could do at this point so being "wind dummy" my father guided me to the edge of the bluff for my launch. Suddenly a pickup truck with "Whirlpool" emblazoned on its doors came speeding up. Father walked over to talk with this red faced balding gentleman through the now rolled down window of his truck. He proceeded to make up a whopper of a story about having permission to fly there from the Upton family. Since they were the founders and still major shareholders he thought that might buy us some time. The gentleman jumped out of the truck; His comb-over flipping to the wrong side from the blasting wind. He approached me and demanded: "I'm not clear by what authority you think you can be on this private property! You are not permitted to fly here until my return...Are we clear!!!" My father stood behind him slightly out of his sight nodding his head like a plastic dashboard Dachshund. "Yes Sir!!!" I replied.

As soon as this Whirlpool rent-a-cop was out of sight father mobilized the troops. Father with a sly wink: "We have maybe ten minutes before the police arrive, can you guys launch and turn downwind as quickly as possible?" A unanimous and loud "Yes" erupted from the throats of we three eager to be airborne fellows. Dad grabbed my nose-wires once more and I dropped into my harness to make sure everything was on straight and attached. Shouldering the previously unflown by me glider I leveled my wings and yelled "CLEAR!!!". Immediately I went straight up thirty feet and leveled off just below the tree tops. Turning upwind south the glider climbed out another sixty like a "Homesick Angel". The only drawback was this trainer kite had been rigged for a seated harness so the control bar was at the top of my helmet rather than at my chin as was traditional for a prone harness. No time to fret about minor details now so I turned north downwind and started heading away from the scene of the crime. Soon Larry was not far behind with Phil maybe a quarter mile on his tail. Both were wings that were not only faster but capable of greater altitude in the same lift.

The first six or so miles was an unbroken ridge; So I tried to go as fast as possible in the vain hope of breaking the state record ahead of my friends. Kept catching sight of my fathers "Baja Bug" with the kite racks and distinctive paint job tearing along the highway that runs parallel with the bluff all the way north. When he could pull off to the bluffs edge he would be there grinning and waving us on! The first place I saw him was the driveway at our house overlooking Lake Michigan. It was my first time flying over the family home and it was extremely exciting. By the time we reached the first gap to be crossed Larry was right on my tail. So we both worked a figure of eight pattern over the last dune knob at the beginning of the tenth of a mile gap in the lifting air required to sustain flight. He got higher sooner and consequently shot across about three minutes ahead. The gap between us widened with each passing minute and to make matters worse now Phil was on my tail pressing to get by. The next gap was not as huge as the last but still required more figure eights to gain the altitude necessary. Phil and I grinned at one another and he gave me a thumbs up from less than a kites wingspan away. We were all having an epic day and in spite of the competition for the state record it was impossible not to enjoy the moment.

So now both of my friends were well in the lead. Nothing to do but enjoy the panoramic view of Autumn leaves on the rolling sandhills, architecture of the various beachfront homes, patterns the breaking waves make when seen from the air, Cumulus clouds filling the sky above and thousands of migratory Seagulls. The equivalent of the best ever changing postcard I had ever seen. I sang every song in my memory and whistled once no more memorized verses were available. My father once again waving furiously, his enthusiasm for life contagious even from ground to air. Ahead I saw the Palisades Nuclear Plant...The most formidable gap of the whole run so far. The plant's main office structure was situated about one hundred fifty feet inland from the sand ridge proper. To my surprise there was a glider on the beach. Larry was at the beginning of the plant's infrastructure and was already beginning to disassemble his glider. Phil was working the Hell out of the ridge that was just above Larry trying to gain the extra lift required to shoot this daunting gap.

I pulled in sacrificing altitude to arrive at the plant sooner. In the meantime a thermal had come through putting Phil the highest he had been all day. While I scraped the treetops coming in underneath him he began his journey across the humming power plant below, from my angle it looked like he would make it easily. Once beyond the magic lift of his gift thermal he experienced considerably more sink than any of us would have imagined. As I began to go up in the lift at the south end of the plant he was sinking lower than me at the northern end. He bravely attempted a save by hugging as close to the sand ridge tree line that he was now below, at the far end of the gap. The kite began to lift and Larry and I both let out a cheer! But at that very moment he made contact with an outstretched tree limb with his right leading edge spinning the kite towards even more grabbing branches. Much to my relief he recovered but this momentary bobble had cost him fifty feet of altitude and consequently he turned and began his final approach to the beach.

So there I was, the last man flying... I seriously doubted that I could cross the gap in a lesser glider than Phil's unless the lift gods were going to give me at least 30% more altitude than he was blessed with. So I kept turning over the safe dune below and rethought my options. What if instead of shooting the gap straight line I worked my way inland and used the lift off of the plant's offices? Even if I barely made it to the far side a downwind landing would secure the record for the moment. Taking a deep breath I turned north and angled towards the three story building with the ninety foot rounded reactor tower alongside. To my absolute joy the lift was not only adequate but actually better than the small sandhill I started from. Gaining almost one hundred feet in two passes I made it with plenty of altitude to spare. Phil clapped his hands over his head from the beach below and let out a howl of approval. My friend had accidentally sacrificed his chances showing me how not to do it. Resolved to repay him in alcohol later.

My eyes could see my goal, the South Haven Lighthouse quite clearly at this point. The path ahead had a few more blowouts in the ridge to come but nothing as drastic as the power plant. The first was Van Buren State Park but following a similar tactic as my last crossing was able to grab some lift from the concession stand midway across and made it with forty five feet to spare. Once again my wild-man father came whipping into the parking lot waving his newly bought park pass out of the sunroof. The remaining miles were easy cruising as the lift was great and no obstacles remained. As I sailed along people would occasionally wave from below not having the remotest idea what they were witnessing. I grinned and sang some more. It was a great day to be me and I was fine if only three other people on the planet knew it. My landing adjacent to South Haven's south beach was luckily a good one. Partially aided by my father playing the roll of ground control, he had arrived when I was on my final downwind leg towards the pier. Skidding to a stop he emerged from the vehicle cheering with all his lungs. I myself now know what it feels like to be a proud father, he was as jubilant as I've ever seen him.

The press was initially skeptical of this wild tale of flying for such a great distance. Luckily our new friend from the Whirlpool security squad had as predicted contacted the authorities of our nefarious activities and had Larry's kite-mobile impounded as a bonus. Proof enough of our launching point. We modified the story slightly to protect the innocent Larry and Phil who had to violate some major private property markers while "dropping in" at the north and south ends of the nuclear plant. "Yes they had both landed at the State Park" we reported in case federal warrant's had already been sworn. The record held for five years and is still one of my fondest memories.

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Moyes Team Challenge 2019

August 22, 2019, 7:32:30 MDT

Moyes Team Challenge 2019

November

Bill Moyes|weather

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/team-challenge

Come and join the Moyes Team Challenge Get a taste of cross country flying in the Spring conditions of Forbes with the help of an experienced team leader.

It's loads of fun, designed as an introduction to cross country and competition flying in a very relaxed and friendly format.

Learn about the weather, task briefings, using your GPS, flying a course and downloading.

Fly with experienced pilots and talk about the days events over a BBQ cooked by the Moyes girls!

Mission: The home of Australia's flat-land hang gliding and one of the world's greatest flat-land hang gliding locations invites you to experience the thrill of competitive hang gliding, to enhance your flying skills and to further enjoy the great camaraderie of hang gliding.

When:
Saturday 2nd November - Tuesday 5th November, 2019
Welcome BBQ Friday night 1st November, 2019
Competition days Saturday, Sunday, Monday
Presentation Monday 4th November, 2019
Free Fly day Tuesday 5th November, 2019

Where: Bill Moyes' Paddock, North of the Forbes Airport, Forbes, NSW.

Who: Open to all pilots with a floater glider.

Entry Fee: $150

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2018 Forbes Flatlands revisited

Wed, Jan 10 2018, 9:27:41 am EST

A description after the fact

Alexandra "Sasha" Serebrennikova|Bill Moyes|Forbes Flatlands 2018|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Niki Longshore|photo|record|Steve Blenkinsop|Tyler Borradaile|weather|Yoko Isomoto|Yoko Sano

Oliver Chitty «Oliver Chitty» writes:

The Forbes Flatlands competition which started on the 29th of January and lasted through to the 5th of December made it the first big comp of the year. Having hosted the world championships in 2013 it made its mark in the hang gliding scene as one of the best venues with the most consistent flying conditions to be found during this time. It attracted pilots from all around the world.

This year saw a gathering of pilots for a few practice competition days as the forecasted good weather put on a good show, notably Alexandra “Sasha” Serebrennikova managed to set new women’s declared and open distance female triangle world records during the practice days. She took off from Forbes, flew southwest to West Wyalong, then east to Grenfell before pushing back north west to Forbes to complete her task landing at 7pm. Congratulations Sasha. She commented, “And to think this is only the practice task at Forbes.”

This year the competition head quarters was run at the rugby club in the center of town where all the pilots meet for a 10 am task briefing. It was likely to be hot in excess of 35° Celsius so keeping pilots out of the sun was a priority. The pilots are told the task, start time and any other details they needed for the day. It's usually about two hours before the first launch window opens at 12:30 so it’s nice and relaxed as it only takes about 10 minutes to get to the takeoff field formally known as the Bill Moyes International Airfield.

Day one canned

Day one in any competition is always quite tense. The famous saying rings through everyone’s minds “you can’t win a competition on the first day but you sure as well can lose it.” The task set for day one is a 155km task to the SSE. There is a lot of overcast today and a strong breeze. There are some cumulus forming under the high cloud but a band of rain possibly pushing in from the west. With much discussion between the safety committee and task committee the launch window is pushed back from 12:30 till 2:30 to give the strong winds time to die down. As 2:30 arrives nearly half the field is in the air and climbing well, but maybe too well as a large area of rain starts to descend on course line. The safety committee decide to cancel the day on grounds of safety. The Laminate gliders we fly in competitions really don’t handle well in the rain but everyone makes it down safe back in the start cylinder.

Day two Task 1

The weather for day two looks far more promising, still quite strong winds out of the WSW, but no over development and a 9000' cloud base. With day one out of the way it’s a little more relaxed before take off in the tow field. Our task today takes us north to Trangie, just to the west of Dubbo for 142.8km optimized race to goal with a later start again to let some of yesterday's bad weather clear the area. A challenging cross wind for the first part of the flight which should back later on to a more predominant tail wind. All of the competitors get up and off and there is plenty of room in the 10km start radius. A large proportion of pilots take the first start at 15:00, but quite quickly people are taking different routes on course line. Some pilots take a more direct route keep just left of course line enough to battle the wind, while others push much harder into the cross wind to make the latter parts of the flight easier. First into goal is Atilla Bertok followed closely by Ollie Chitty from the first clock after taking the more direct route and not straying far from course line. It's 10 minutes before the next competitors arrive, Guy Hubbard and a chasing pack of 2nd starters (15:15) with Josh Woods, Steve Blenkinsop and Niki Longshore. Niki also took a decisive day win over the other females in the competition being the only one in goal.

Day 3 Task 2

A switch in the wind brings us a steady northerly flow. This means we will be seeing predominantly blue conditions early on and only 10knts of wind from the north in the boundary layer. With this forecast we have a 185.7km race to goal via 2 turn points finishing at Bookham north west of Canberra. It's noticeably slower in the start cylinder today and climbs are only getting to 7000ft. The first start clock comes around but only a few pilots at the top of the gaggle take the plunge, everyone else seems to be on the same consensus that a later start gate would prove more efficient if the conditions get better. It's only a short time (15 minutes) before the second start is activated. After the second start window opens everyone starts hunting down the lonely few gliders who took the first start. With two large radius turn points along the way there is quite a split of pilots along the course line. Josh Woods takes the day win closely followed by Jonny Durand and Atilla Bertok all taking the 2nd start.

Day 4 Task 3

The ever-reliable southwest wind returns for day 4 task 3 and a 195.2km task to Gulgong airstrip is set. In this wind direction we get a cooler air mass and even better flying conditions. There are talks of getting to over 10,000' today so we are reminded at pilot briefing about the effects and dangers of hypoxia.

Straight off the tow it was obvious today was much stronger than the previous day. Already by 12:30 we were getting close to 10,000' with climbs well in excess of 1000fpm. Almost everyone took the first start today and a good strong gaggle made the first 50km look easy. Niki Longshore was once again one of the top pilots pushing the gaggle and was on glide heading for climbing gliders ahead when she was hit by a incredibly strong patch of rough air sending her glider pointing straight up to the sky with no airspeed left to recover. She very quickly pulled her parachute and was on a descent through a gaggle of gliders from 8000'.

Niki did an incredible job to stop the rotation before landing quite perfectly in a paddock with road access and under the shade of trees. Jonny Durand was first on scene after seeing Niki pull her chute. He descended with her side by side and landed in the field within seconds of her arrival. Many pilots stayed in the area to make sure things were okay before heading back on course. Unfortunately, Niki’s competition would be over after such a strong and dominating start and Jonny would receive his score made from an average of his future total.

First into the Gulgong goal would once again be Atilla Bertok, closely followed by Tyler Borradaile and Josh Woods.

Day 5 Task 4

Waking up on the morning of the 2nd of January we are greeted by our competition Whattsapp group with a message of “Briefing 10am, be here ready to fly.”

There had been talks of going big today, the south wind was still blowing but slightly stronger today and even higher bases than yesterday so it looks like the task committee was planning a big one. In 2014 the distance to goal record in a competition task was set at 368km flying from Forbes to Wallygett. Today we have a slight west component to the wind and will be flying 389km to another flying site, Manila.

To make this new record task pilots had to be taking off much earlier than previous days so the first start was 12:00 just 1:30 hours after briefing in town. For many pilots this would be a personal best flight and nearly everyone took the 1st start getting on their way as soon as possible. Even at mid day there were good cumulus clouds and pilots reporting climbs to over 11,000'. A lot of pilots had Niki’s accident on their minds for a while. Glides were noticeably slower for the first portion of the course.

There seemed to be two main routes taken. A few pilots took the direct course line route when other pilots headed further west of course line and followed a line of mountains hoping to use them as triggers. 5 hours later the first pilot called on final glide. Ollie Chitty from Great Britain was first in goal with a time of 05:18:23 just ahead of Jonny Durand with a time of 05:19:27. Tyler Borradaile took 3rd place just a few seconds later. Eventually we would see 16 pilots make the record task with many personal bests broken and smiles all round, except for the retrieve drives who had over a 1000km total journey, the real hero’s of the day.

Sasha took an early bird launch and quickly flew 10km south into the head wind to a declared starting point for her an attempt at breaking the distance to goal woman’s world record, extending her flight to over 407km.

Day 6 task 5

With many pilots not returning back until the early hours of the morning the next task briefing was delayed by a few hours giving people time to rest and recuperate before flying again. A shorter dogleg task via one turn point of 155km was called landing at Wellington airstrip with a start time of 15:00. Today was the polar opposite of the previous day with no clouds and slow climbs. Many pilots were dropped in the first hour struggling to find climbs. Once at the turn point the conditions seemed to get better, but it was a strong crosswind for the final leg. Some people landed short after drifting too far down wind giving a hard final glide. Ollie Chitty took a 2nd consecutive day win once again followed closely by Jonny Durand and Guy Hubbard. Only 9 pilots made the task.

Day 7 Task 6

Finally a day with less wind. Task 6 was called a rest day for the retrieve drivers so we would be flying a closed triangle of 166km. Pilots were starting to look noticeably fatigued after 5 back to back long tasks (and a record task). The towing was slow to get going. Fortunately there were good clouds in the start cylinder and everyone had plenty of room to pick their start. Almost everyone took the first start again at 13:50 with only a few pilots choosing to take the gamble on a later start at 14:10.

The shorter first leg of the triangle with a slight chasing tail wind went quickly but some pilots got low and had to take slow climbs from the foothills at the turn point. Heading northeast into the 2nd turn point the day started to blue out and become a little more tricky. It was here that the fast first starters had a slight time advantage over the stragglers and didn’t waste much time. The wind had picked up slightly and made the final leg of the triangle more difficult as pilots headed over high ground and minimal landing areas. Once they got out onto the flats it was back to good climbs and long final glides of over 30km. Jonny Durand took the day win with a time of 03:33:59 closely followed by a consistently well scoring Rory Duncan, Jason Kath took out 3rd place for the day just 30 seconds behind Rory.

Good music and many goal margaritas were handed out in goal as pilots and retrieve drivers celebrated at last a task with no 5-hour drive home.

Day 8 Task 7

The final task. 7 straight competition days has the field of competitors looking and sounding very tired. We have a weather system passing through the area today and the wind direction could be anything later in the day. We have a task that headed north east to a large 40km radius before turning west into a 50km radius and returning south down to goal at the Peak Hill air strip. Depending on the weather this could be a final 15km strong head wind stint. There was discussion at the pilot briefing if this was safe as we would be crossing over a firing range, but it was eventually agreed that this was the best bet for the conditions forecasted in the local area.

After launch many pilots commented how rough the air was in the 5km start cylinder, some managing better than others to get up, but everyone at least managed to get away for the start. The task saw a fair tail wind for the first 50km on course line before dropping to almost nothing before the first turn point. The faster pilots of the day made a better run after the first turn point and made short work of the 2nd leg. With two very large radiuses there can be quite a few different routes depending on where you intercept the optimum point of turn point. This stretched the field out into many small gaggles. Atilla Bertok took another day win closely followed again by Tyler Borradaile and Rory Duncan seconds later.

The scores for the top three pilots were incredibly close. No one would know the final scores until the prize giving that evening, so at goal it was a quick pack up and off to get home and ready for the presentation

The only pilot to make goal everyday of the competition was Rory Duncan and rightfully so he took the overall win and became national champion by 1 single point from a total of 5880 beating 7-time champion Jonny Durand on 5879. Josh woods took a strong third place after another consistent competition. Alexandra Serebrenikova (Sasha) took 1st place in the woman’s task just ahead of Yoko Sano from Japan.

Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qclk44m13i89euu/AAD9eK_c1GAhzD6goWE0gr6Va?dl=0

Niki Reflects

January 4, 2018, 7:28:08 EST

Niki Reflects

Mysteries

Bill Moyes|Flytec 6030|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Niki Longshore|record

Niki Longshore writes:

Status Update: I am the team Hooligan driver now as our wonderful Madam Hooliganette Judi needs a break I would love to be in the air racing, but I do not have a parachute or a harness. My parachute was blown into the barbed wire fence minutes after I landed, and my Tenax harness has bad juju all over it. It never fit quite right anyway. Good thing Gecko Girl won a new Moyes harness

I have also been trying to thank each and every one of you personally for your kindness. I am overwhelmed, and the messages keep coming.

Anyway, here’s a breakdown and update for anyone interested. I will try not to be repeatitive.

The tumble: It was instant; blink of an eye. Everyone who saw couldn’t believe it either. Sure we were racing through some turbulent air, but this was a mystery.

The pitch over was so abrupt and with so much force. I felt like I was being sucked towards the ground at 100 mph. The only thing I could do was keep the base bar pulled in with my knuckles turning a brighter shade of white. I could feel and hear my glider explode as I fell forward through the control frame. The base bar ripped out of my hands, and I fell into the sail. I dangled around as the glider started spinning, in disbelief of what had happened. “Not good,” I thought. The rest you already know what happened...

Instruments: All of my instruments stopped tracking about 10 km before the fall. The tracks for my 6030, Airtribune, and SPOT tracker all paused and stopped recording. My Digifly broke away from its mount and tether so it is long gone. We all would have been interested to see what the track looked like on the computer, but I have no data! Also very mysterious, I would say.

SOS: Even more mysterious was the absence of EMS upon sending an SOS. I was able to pull out my SPOT tracker to send an SOS as I was spiraling down. Emergency services were never informed yet my primary contact still received the SOS message. I pay for the extra GEOS search and rescue services so it was a real disappointment to see it did not work. I am in contact with SPOT now to see what went wrong. I’ll post an update when I find out what happened. So far they are giving me a free upgrade for 2.5 minute tracking opposed to 10.

Conditions: It’s Forbes, baby. We come here for these conditions! I did feel a bit scared on practice day and I flew very conservatively exiting the thermals, gliding no more than 80kph in between thermals, and keeping VG 3/4 or less. I talked to the boys afterwards who did not feel it was rough, so that night I had a cup of concrete to harden up. (Insert Chopper emoji here). Yeww! Get it intya.

Confidence: I grew more confident each day as I adapted to the hardcore air. The concrete was doing me good. On the day of the tumble I was gliding over 90 kph to catch up to Jonny and Attila and ditch the gaggle behind. I kept my VG mostly at 3/4, sometimes in the red. When I pulled away from the gaggle, I was in the red when I tumbled.

Luck: It’s a race. We all charge, we all fly fast, and we all have white knuckles when it gets gnarly. Guy and Vic both had some scary experiences close to the ground on practice day and one of the tasks. Vic did an unintended loop as he was on final glide approaching the LZ on practice day. Guy got pitched really bad and thought he was going to tail slide low to the ground as well on task 2. I was unlucky to tumble, but very lucky everything else unfolded as it did.

Mystery: It was a very mysterious day! From the air I hit, to my instruments not working, EMS never being notified, and simply how I arrived back to earth without injury. There are no explanations. Again, I am so happy to be here. Plus I have a really cool story to tell when I’m old and gray and still flying hang gliders

Conclusion: As for now I am enjoying the competition as a driver, I am enjoying my Hooligan family, and the beautiful people in our sport. I also had a chat with the legend himself. After falling from the sky 5 times, Bill said “Walk the earth for a while and enjoy it. You can still learn from the ground.” Thank you Bill Moyes, you are a legend.

Like I said before, I would love to be racing in the sky, especially since I had started off so well in the comp, but I am happy to drive for my team, The Hooligans. I feel good and I am very, very happy.

2018 Forbes Flatlands »

November 2, 2017, 8:05:53 PST -0700

2018 Forbes Flatlands

Come right after Christmas

Bill Moyes|Forbes Flatlands 2018|Vicki Cain|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Vicki Cain <<Vicki>> writes:

When: Practice Towing Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th December, 2017, Eight Competition Days Friday 29th December 2017 - Friday 5th January 2018

Where: BMIA - Bill Moyes International Airport (The paddock north of the Forbes Airport)

Sanction:

FAI: Category 2 for Open, Women’s, Sport’s Classes
HGFA: Open Class AAA Sport Class AA Forbes: A Grade (Not Sanctioned)

* Pilots that have never placed in the top 100 on the FAI WPRS ranking.

* The Women's and A-Grade will fly, and be scored in the Open Class .

**Sports class will have their own task set each day.

Registration is open, http://www.forbesflatlands.com/register/pilot-registration, head on over and register before the entry fee increase on Monday 7th November.

Email: <fly>

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Rylstone

Fri, Oct 13 2017, 9:44:43 am MDT

My how you have changed

Armand Acchione|Bill Moyes|video

https://youtu.be/B866mnNv4QA

Hang glider pilots who flew with Bill Moyes may remember the Rylstone airfield where Bill kept his tugs. Well, it is no longer a single hangar air field.

Thanks to Armand.

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Bill Moyes 50 years of Hang Gliding

February 2, 2017, 7:54:39 EST

Bill Moyes 50 years of Hang Gliding

A retrospective

Bill Moyes|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Vicki Cain|video

Vicki Cain <Vicki> writes:

I'm super proud to release this tribute video to my dad Bill Moyes, which has been put together by the awesome Tony Ritter with collaboration from a number of amazing people including my sister Debra Gray, Lukas Bader, nephew Ben Harris (Bill's #1 Grandson) and Jonny Durand.

https://youtu.be/RmwRltvgPFI

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Bill Moyes' 50 years of flying

September 16, 2016, 6:37:04 MST

Bill Moyes' 50 years of flying

Videos of the number 50 needed

Bill Moyes|photo|Vicki Cain|video

Vicki Cain <<Vicki>> writes:

We are celebrating Bill Moyes 1st flight in a kite 50 years ago this December.

We are working together with Tony Ritter on a memento docu-tribute film for Bill. So we need your videos from around the world showing the number 50 in a creative way in a group, with your hands, with rocks, sand on the beach, snow, mowing grass and flying above it or whatever cool creative way you want to tribute his 50 years of flight.

Or if you have a story to share, photos, videos anything to help celebrate one of the pioneers of our sport. All is welcome, any language. Email Tony Ritter <2036pictures> when you have your video done or have any ideas or questions. Please submit before November 15th so we can have it edited before December. Short and sweet videos.

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The Bill Moyes International Airport

March 23, 2015, 8:53:04 EDT

The Bill Moyes International Airport

In Forbes

Bill Moyes|Facebook

The Moyes Team Challenge. It's looking to be a great weekend! Sign up at http://www.forbesflatlands.com/

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Bill Moyes Receives FAI Gold Air Medal

October 16, 2014, 8:46:26 MDT

Bill Moyes Receives FAI Gold Air Medal

And I thought that they were going to the beach

Bill Moyes

Very special moment, we are in Thailand at the 108th FAI General Conference for Bill to accept his Gold Air Medal. Congratulations Bill Moyes and Molly Moyes!

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Bill's Gold Air Medal

July 22, 2014, 9:14:54 MDT

Bill's Gold Air Medal

High praise for Bill

Bill Moyes|CIVL|record|Stéphane Malbos|Stéphane Malbos

http://www.fai.org/civl-news/38450-fai-gold-air-medal-for-bill-moyes

“Bill Moyes developed the sport from a local phenomena to a worldwide thing of staggering proportion, and thousands and thousands of people are now flying because of what he’s been doing." So declared John Dickenson, inventor of the Modern Hang Glider and also a FAI Air Gold Medal recipient. The CIVL nomination continues…

“Bill Moyes learned to fly in 1967 and stretched the Dickinson wing limits, breaking successive altitude and endurance records, being the first to fly off a mountain and soar on a ridge. In 1969, he started selling his own gliders and went around the USA, Europe and the Pacific, giving demonstrations, showing his trade, raising awareness, making followers, spreading the Dickenson wing, proving that it could soar, glide and go up like no others.

“Every week I would build a new kite in the workshop, changing and modifying the design to improve its aerodynamics. The first kites I made flapped like rags. Then someone suggested that I should read High Speed Sailing, an American book about sailing on ice. I picked up a lot of good tricks from that book about battens and airfoil shapes and flexibility. I just kept on experimenting until I got it right. I started with a 13 ft wing, and then I built a 12 ft for my son, Steve, and a 17-footer that nearly killed me! Those wings were named after the lengths of the leading edges and keel, which were all equal. I then started opening the nose angle, first to 90°, then 100°, with a 14 ft and a 15 ft. Next, in 1968, I reduced the length of the keel and made a 16 x 15 footer – the first higher-aspect-ratio glider! In 1969 we were already flying off the mountains. I built a 19 x 15 and then a 20 x 12 with a 120° nose angle that was really difficult to fly. In 1972, I added a keel pocket and called the wing the Stinger because its long keel reminded me of a mosquito sting. But this innovation remained confidential: what was called the Rogallo Standards were still all-powerful!”

There is a lot more of Bill's marvelous story at the CIVL link above. Thanks to Stephane Malbos for pointing out this wonderful article.

Bill Moyes - FAI Gold Air Medal winner »

July 16, 2014, 5:48:35 pm MDT

Bill Moyes - FAI Gold Air Medal winner

Isn't it about time?

Bill Moyes|CIVL|Facebook

http://www.fai.org/awards/fai-general-awards

Fly Moyes announces that the FAI has finally awarded Bill their Gold Air medal. It reflects poorly on the FAI/CIVL that it took so long.

Thanks to all those who helped make this happen.

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Steve Pearson on Wills Wing Innovations

July 3, 2014, 6:24:19 MDT

Steve Pearson on Wills Wing Innovations

Responds to Gerolf

Bill Moyes|Gerolf Heinrichs|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Terry Reynolds|Wills Wing

Steven Pearson <<Steve>> writes:

Gerolf Heinrichs writes: Wills is not exactly famous for being innovative. They have copied everything Moyes and Icaro have developed in the topless glider era, and currently they benefit from a low US dollar for their selling success.

Gerolf should know better but maybe he's forgotten a few of the features that I introduced and that he copied and applied to the Litespeed. In fairness, many of these features were already part of his Laminar that was the basis of the initial Litespeed so maybe Gerolf isn't aware of their origin. For anyone who disputes that the following features are essential to "the topless glider era", I challenge them to develop a glider without them or to list comparable technologies aside from those by Thevanot. The three people who come to mind when I think about the modern hang glider are Roy Haggard, Tom Price and Gerard Thevanot. The innovations by those three and the following are 95% of a T2.

There are certainly a few non-essential features of the T2 that relied on innovation from others. Two that come to mind are the curved tip configuration developed by Bob Trampeneau and more recently the raked tips introduced by Icaro. I was particularly impressed by the Icaro raked tips since I had almost given up on solutions to improve the aerodynamic penalty associated with the pointed planform of 'curved tips' which is the reason I was so reluctant to adopt them initially. I honestly can't think of anything developed by Gerolf that's part of the T2 or any other model that we produce.

The (inflight adjustable) VG system is certainly essential and I'm not sure who to attribute that to. I think Bob Trampeneau released the first production glider but others also had prototype systems on their gliders.

Enclosed keel from the Wills Wing HP, one of the most copied gliders in history. Before that, all of our competitors had tall keel pockets. When Bill Moyes saw the HP in 1984, all he could say to me was "it will never climb mate". Within a few years and ever since, every high-performance glider has had the same configuration.

7075 tubing in the 1986 Sport (Gerolf's first glider). The Sport was not the first hang glider to use 7075 tubing but the first with now industry standard 42/44/50/52/60/62 mm tubing and the first by a major manufacturer. Without question, it was the overwhelming success of the Sport and HP-AT that compelled every else to adopt it with Moyes being last (pushed by Gerolf) by over 15 years.

Carbon airframes have a long history. UP was certainly the pioneer with their carbon Spider in ~1978. The subsequent damage issues associated with that prototype made us very caution. Nevertheless, we evaluated a carbon Raven in 1979 and abandoned that when a market survey didn't support the option price. Much later, the restructured UP was again the first to offer a popular production carbon airframe but carbon wasn't widely adopted until LaMouette introduced the topless carbon crossbar followed by simultaneous following releases by WW, Icaro and Moyes. I don't recall Gerolf having any part of these products.

The kingpost hang system, prototyped on the Duck in 1983 and introduced on the 1986 Sport. Without a kingpost, this becomes a hang-T. Elevated hang systems are essential for reducing pitch and roll pressures and everyone uses them. Before the kingpost hang, others used "pitchys" and French connections.

Stepped leading edges with crescents using larger diameter 60/62 in front and smaller 50/52 in the rear, introduced on the HP-AT and later copied by Moyes, Icaro, Aeros and others. Oh, all our airframe plans have been published in our owners manuals for others to copy since 1978. I haven't seen a frame plan in anyone else's manual.

Sprogs. Gerolf freely admits that I designed this system, which is self-evident since Moyes and everyone either buys the brackets from us or has made their own copies.

Shear ribs. On gliders with over 50% double surface, you either need a lot of straight battens to support bottom surface shape (as we all did in the past) or the configuration that I designed where the top surface battens prevents the bottom surface from blowing down at high speed. In addition to the weight savings, shear ribs add many other aerodynamic and stability advantages that cannot be replicated with battens. I shared many details of shear rib shaping related to longitudinal stability with Gerolf over 10 years ago.

Carbon high-performance control bar. I'm a bit surprised that Gerolf forgot about this since he personally (and other Moyes/Icaro pilots) bought one from me. Many firsts with this structure including manufacturing technology (pre-preg carbon, consolidated in a closed mold at 110C and 100 psi (7x vacuum pressure)), the machined hardware junctions which were copied in castings by Aeros and Icaro and much later a derivative by Moyes, the airfoil which was wind tunnel tested at less than 1/4 of the drag other downtubes, and the toed-in, canted down angles of the downtubes and basetube which I initially implemented in our early welded-steel bars in 1983. Incidentally, our detailed wind-tunnel results were posted on our website long before Moyes developed their derivative.

Technora sailcloth. Almost a first for Wills Wing except that Terry Reynolds used them on the TR3 years before I reintroduced them after overcoming my apprehension about the cost/performance ratio. I could write pages about this alone. It's not 6oz. As Gerolf says. UVODL06 is less than 4 oz. (165 gms/m) and UVODL04 is 3.2 oz, (135 gms/m). We haven't used inexpensive 'PX' in years because UVODL06 is far stronger at a fraction of the weight. The carbon reins on the UVODL04 sail are much stronger still. Why would I consider a heavier and weaker laminate like PX15 for the trailing edge except to save money? The latest Moyes Technora option, while certainly a major improvement over Code Zero, is still a substandard option because of conventional Mylar film with half the lifespan of UV film. We're still the only manufacturer with UV film which lasts twice as long as any other film independent of the fiber type, polyester, PEN, Kevlar, Technora or Carbon. Oh, and as far who was the first to use laminates in hang gliding sail, it was Duck Boone followed by me in 1979.

WW was also the first to use spanwise sail cuts to optimize the orthotropic sail material structural properties to the sail plan form. First with the WW XC in 1977 and subsequently in every WW glider since the Harrier in 1980 when I figured out how to shape a spanwise sail with pre-cambered battens

The first CNC sail cutter (1993). While this isn't a glider innovation, it's an essential tool in the development and production of modern hang glider sails and we invested in this technology long before others.

Gerolf just pushes lie after lie. He says about Wills Wing "they benefit from a low US dollar for their selling success." In fact, the producer of the Moyes machined fittings in China contacted me and quoted me far lower prices than I can produce them on our CNC in house at Wills Wing. I offer this because Gerolf is fond of suggesting that Wills Wing gliders are produced in China when he knows that to be untrue at the same time as he sources fabricated components from there! His premium "Code Zero" costs less than half of the cost of the standard no-extra-cost UVPT laminate on the T2C. If you compare the cost of manufacturing in southern California to Australia, you won't find a difference.

Our gliders cost less because I'm at Lookout doing demos over the 4th of July weekend instead of taking the summer off for flying tours in the alps. Check the test fly sticker on the T2s around you--in the vast majority of cases it will say 'SP' or 'MM', just one more indication of who cares most about the products delivered to their customers.

Moyes Team Challenge »

February 27, 2014, 8:20:04 EST

Moyes Team Challenge

Easter - Friday, 18 April - Monday, 22 April 2014

Bill Moyes

http://www.forbesflatlands.com/

Mission: The home of Australia's flat-land hang gliding and one of the world's greatest flat-land hang gliding locations invites you to experience the thrill of competitive hang gliding, to enhance your flying skills and to further enjoy the great camaraderie of hang gliding.

Quote from last year: It was ridiculously good last time so cannot wait! SUPER excited about it! Gar O'hara, Moyes Malibu

When: Friday, 18 April - Monday, 22 April 2014 - Yes this Easter!

Where: Bill Moyes's Paddock, North of the Forbes Airport, Forbes, NSW.

Who: Open to all pilots with HGFA membership, aero tow & VHF endorsement

Entry Fee: $270 Includes getting you onto a team with a Team Leader, Day Prizes, Friday & Sunday Night BBQs. Saturday night we hope to get together at the Forbes Inn.

Towing: All tows are paid separately at $25 per tow. Liteflite tow cards can be purchased in Forbes.

Equipment: All your flying gear (in good working order) plus tow release, GPS, UHF and VHF radio.

The Team Challenge: There will be 1 team leader and 3 team members, of varying experience, per team. All beginners, intermediate and advanced pilots and gliders are welcome. Each morning we set an achievable task, you launch all together and fly with your team, to get to goal and are scored according to your glider category with a handicap system (based on skill level).

See more at: http://www.forbesflatlands.com/

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The Forbes Floater Comp

October 7, 2013, 6:33:18 MDT

The Forbes Floater Comp

Last day

Bill Moyes|Curt Warren|Rohan Taylor|Steve McCarthy

Vicki writes:

Last day of Forbes Big Spring Floater Comp what a cracker! 10:30 spot landing comp 12:30 comp starts, handful of pilots make the 60 k task, lots of PB finished off with Molly Moyes steak Diane and Anni Tildsley in charge of ambiance! Great comp thanks to Curt Warren and Louise Wilmott, Bill Moyes tug pilots Steve McCarthy, Brendan Sadgrove, Blaino, Marco Carelli and all the helpers organised by Michelle Taylor!!!

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Bill Moyes - This is your life »

July 2, 2013, 8:32:43 CDT

Bill Moyes - This is your life

1990

Bill Moyes|CIVL|video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMN-mS8ykvA

This is your life was awarded to Bill Moyes for his contribution to the sport of Hang Gliding in 1980.

Honours Awarded to Bill Moyes also include:

1977 Queen Elizabeth Anniversary Medal Silver Medal
1978 Russian Aero Club Bronze Medal
1980 Royal Australian Aero Club Oswald Watt Gold Medal
1980 N.S.W. Hall of Champions Plaque
1982 N.S.W. Government Advance Australia Award
1983 CIVL Diploma of Honour
1992 Australian Sports Hall of Fame Associate Member
1995 NASA Space Technology Hall of Fame
1995 Smithsonian Institute Invention Award
1999 Order of Australia Medal -- OAM

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Dragonflies for sale

June 28, 2013, 7:16:16 CDT

Dragonflies for sale

Bill has a few extra from the Worlds

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly

Bill Moyes <<bill>> writes:

Now that we have completed the World Championships, I want to reduce my fleet of Dragonfly’s and are offering them for sale.

http://ozreport.com/pub/images/Dragonfliesforsale.pdf

A boy with wings

Thu, Jun 13 2013, 7:21:56 am EDT

The story of how Bill Moyes turned a childhood dream of flying into the worldwide sport of Hang Gliding

Bill Moyes|video

http://youtu.be/TJvH9xpem6Q

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Hang Gliding Pioneer⁣s

Sat, May 26 2012, 11:11:31 am EDT

Bill and John

Bill Moyes|Francis Rogallo|history|Stéphane Malbos

Bill Moyes writes:

We had an HGFA Instructors conference May 22nd-23rd in Melbourne. Molly and I attended with approximately fifty instructors. The guest speaker was John Dickenson.

John had the opportunity to show his photographs from 1963, showing that he had developed the first conical wing hang glider. He was pleased to have the opportunity to show his work and receive the congratulations from the HGFA.

John suggested to me that he would like to see the hostilities disappear and I agreed.

Rogallo: We have all seen films where a much younger Francis Rogallo glided a small conical Rogallo wing across the room, and if that’s all he did, it was enough to inspire John Dickenson to build the airframe and gravity shift system, that has given us our delta glider.

I won’t enter the discussion of who named it the Rogallo wing and if it should be called the Dickenson wing. Maybe Dickenson glider…

Having known Francis Rogallo for 35 years I’m comfortable with the name Rogallo wing and also Dickenson glider.

I’m writing to Stephan Malbos suggesting that we present John Dickenson with the FAI gold medal at Forbes in January at the World Championships and I would like to see the end of this discussion.

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Cloudsuck, chapter 4 »

December 27, 2011, 6:41:30 AEDT

Cloudsuck, chapter 4

I serialize Cloudsuck for the winter season

Belinda Boulter|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Cloudsuck|Dragonfly|Larry Tudor|Malcolm Jones|Mike Barber|record|Steve Kroop|Tiki Mashy|weather

Many pilots wonder what it really takes to set a world record. Some wonder what it's like to fly at a place like Zapata or other world class sites. Cloudsuck answers these and other questions while telling the story of how I set the current Distance World Record for Rigid Wings. Over this winter, I am pleased to make the book available as a gift to my readers in serialized form. Each Monday, another chapter will be available for you to enjoy here on the Oz Report. The best read is the one in it's entirety, and both the soft cover book and an ebook are available to purchase here: http://ozreport.com/cloudsuck.php. You can find the Kindle version on Amazon.

If you enjoy the serialized installments, you may wish to skip the text below and jump directly to this week's chapter, including any graphics or pictures here: http://ozreport.com/docs/Cloudsuck4.pdf

I hope you enjoy the book and this week's chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

In early spring 1997, freshly back from Australia, Belinda and I purchased a small travel trailer and headed across country from Seattle to the Wallaby Ranch Flight Park in Central Florida. Since we wouldn’t have to start on a new Windows Secrets book for a while, we both had decided to spend a couple of months taking in the great springtime flying that in the U.S. can only be had on that tropical peninsula.

We'd been to Wallaby Ranch the previous March for a couple of weeks, and it had only whetted my appetite for a more extended stay. Hang gliding is so weather dependent, I didn't want to go out to Florida for only a short time and wind up experiencing a bad run of cold or wet weather, as we’d had the year before.

Wallaby Ranch is situated on the edge of the Green Swamp, the catchment basin for the Central Florida Aquifer, and is surrounded by orange groves, cattle pastures, and cypress swamps. Situated on a dirt road a mile west of the Florida Ridge and twenty-five miles southwest of Orlando, the Ranch was once a marginal cattle operation. Malcolm Jones, a Florida hang glider pilot with a dream, had purchased the land in the early ‘nineties and was busily changing how those of us outside of Florida thought about hang gliding.

Malcolm had put together a 200-acre parcel, most of which was cypress swamp or palmetto. The palmettos had taken back much of the cleared pastureland and were now impenetrable. In the dry areas, fast growing pines were taking hold. There remained only a twenty acre area of tough, drought resistant Argentine Bahia grass — what remained of the pasture — that served as the launch and landing field for the flight park.

Under the mossy live oaks, near the old farmhouse that stood on stilts ten feet off the sometimes soggy pasture, Malcolm had reassembled a recycled shed of rusted sheet metal that served as the hangar for his ultralight tow planes. Four years later, Malcolm would clear away the palmetto and triple the size of the field, the road would be paved and there would be a new hangar, but all that was yet to come.

Florida is so flat that there is no place to launch a hang glider on foot. The Florida Ridge rises only about 250 feet above sea level at most, and Wallaby lies 125 feet below the Ridge, a mile to the west. The Ridge is really just a gentle north/south sand dune in the middle of the state, halfway between the two coasts. If you want to get into the air on a hang glider in Florida, you have no choice but to be towed up.

Like their counterparts in Australia, Malcolm and many of his fellow Florida hang glider pilots had grown up water skiing, and as teenagers had started towing the early gliders behind ski boats on the numerous local lakes. Later they tried trucks on rural roads out in the cane fields.

Then in the late ‘eighties a few had started towing up behind ultralight airplanes. The local hang gliding club tried running an aerotowing operation at the Gator Field ultralight port north of Clermont, in Central Florida. But soon they had a falling out with the old-line ultralight pilots, who weren't into towing or hang gliding, and they had to move.

It was getting difficult to find suitable roads without power lines or traffic for truck towing. Towing over water required landing areas on the beach, and it wasn’t easy to go cross-country when you started low over the water. Getting permission to aerotow at ranches and turf farms was also getting problematic.

Not only that, but the ultralights were difficult to tow behind, because their slowest speed was almost too fast for a hang glider. It was a rough ride, and hard to stay in control. What was needed was a specially built ultralight that could fly slowly enough to safely tow a hang glider. By 1989 Bobby Bailey, one of the locals, had started designing and building just such an ultralight. Soon he was working with Bill Moyes in Australia to put it into production.

Bob was a wiry, chain smoking, Pepsi-drinking, good-natured misanthrope, and hard to get to know on a casual basis. Yet over the ‘nineties his Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly became the standard hang glider tow plane throughout the world, and Bob had become a household name among grateful pilots worldwide.

Malcolm and his friends thought that if you could combine this specialized ultralight — what had become the Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly — with a field and facilities, you could have a flight park that would draw hang glider pilots from around the country. At that time, no one had ever built or even heard of a hang gliding flight park. The Dragonfly was brand new. Almost all the U.S. hang glider pilots were out in California launching off hills and mountainsides. Florida was a flat peninsula surrounded by lift-killing water, for God's sake. Only a few pilots whom no one had ever heard of flew there.

Florida pilots went out west in the summer if they wanted to get the big miles in and go cross-country. For example, every June Michael Champlin and Tiki Mashy would leave their home in Hollywood, Florida and trek out to Rocksprings, Wyoming or Hobbs, New Mexico — Larry Tudor’s old haunts — to get some real flying in.

There were a few South Florida pilots, including Mike Barber and Steve Kroop, who were truck towing in the cane fields south of Lake Okeechobee and getting in some longer flights, but they were just a few. Besides, landing in cane fields was no fun. The cane was so high and thick that it was almost impossible to get your glider out. Often the only other option was landing in the Everglades, with their attendant wildlife.

The club pilots in Central Florida had shown that aerotowing behind ultralights was possible. A few pilots had begun driving down from Michigan and the northeast to join them on the weekends when an ultralight pilot was available to tow them up, and pilots in Wisconsin and Georgia had begun to invest in their own Dragonflies.

But with the opening of the Wallaby Ranch in 1992, hang gliding went through the next phase of a great transformation. Now you could go to a destination "resort," put up your tent or trailer and stay a while. Have someone pull you up, and if you didn't go too far away you could fly back hours later and land where you started.

No longer did you have to bandito a road and watch out for the Sheriff. You didn't have to worry about getting caught in power lines, or getting out of whack coming off the tow truck and smacking a wing on the road, maybe getting dumped into a ditch on the road side. There were plenty of open pastures throughout Central Florida that made for easy landing if you flew away from the Ranch. No longer did you have a semi-nomadic operation dependent on the goodwill of a rancher with an insurance problem.

And of course, Florida had one very big advantage over everyplace else in the U.S. It was reasonably warm in late winter. You could actually fly in February and March and get really good flights. You could even come down there over Christmas and count on a few good days of flying.

Continue reading here: http://ozreport.com/docs/Cloudsuck4.pdf.

Cloudsuck, chapter 3 »

December 19, 2011, 8:53:42 PST

Cloudsuck, chapter 3

I serialize Cloudsuck for the winter season

Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Chris Arai|Cloudsuck|Dragonfly|record

Many pilots wonder what it really takes to set a world record. Some wonder what it's like to fly at a place like Zapata or other world class sites. Cloudsuck answers these and other questions while telling the story of how I set the current Distance World Record for Rigid Wings. Over this winter, I am pleased to make the book available as a gift to my readers in serialized form. Each Monday, another chapter will be available for you to enjoy here on the Oz Report. The best read is the one in it's entirety, and both the soft cover book and an ebook are available to purchase here: http://ozreport.com/cloudsuck.php. You can find the Kindle version on Amazon.

If you enjoy the serialized installments, you may wish to skip the text below and jump directly to this week's chapter, including any graphics or pictures here: http://ozreport.com/docs/Cloudsuck3.pdf

I hope you enjoy the book and this week's chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Over the next five years I flew in as many hang gliding competitions as possible in Chelan and in the high mountains throughout the west — after all, I still had to run my far flung computing empire back in Seattle. For sure I was not one of the top pilots, not even close. But I could rationalize that I only spent a few weeks each year competing. Still I loved the sport, and I had a great time hanging out with my buds when we’d join up at some odd mountainside.

In those years the national level competitions were held again in Dinosaur; repeatedly at Sandia Peak above Albuquerque, New Mexico; in the Owens Valley ; from Sugar Mountain just over the California border from Lakeview, Oregon; at Chelan Butte in Washington State; and in Telluride, Colorado. All the big U.S. competitions took place out West in the deserts, in the big air conditions. Year after year you'd find us launching off the sides of high, craggy mountains in the heat of the day.

In 1994 we held the national championships in Telluride, Colorado, an out-of-the-way but fashionable ski resort town. Of all the crazy and dangerous places that we could put on a nationals, this place had to be the worst — still, it was so over the top that we really liked it. I’d flown there in a national level meet before, so I knew was I was getting into.

To get us to the top, they’d take us up these steep gravel ski hill service roads in old pickups that were way too top heavy when loaded down with hang gliders. You could just imagine the driver missing a gear or going a little too close to the edge, and the truck with all those gliders on top rolling down the steep mountainside, throwing out hang glider pilots with each flip. They had done just that in the past.

We were launching from over twelve thousand feet, way up near the top of the ski runs and three thousand feet above the valley floor. Up that high the air is so thin that it’s actually quite difficult to get a hang glider to start flying; there just aren’t enough air molecules to support the glider’s weight unless you are going fast. It takes a long run down a steep hillside to get up enough airspeed to get airborne. You start off with your oxygen bottle already turned on and then you climb out in a thermal to eighteen thousand feet, sucking in oxygen as fast as possible.

It was hard just climbing on foot the last few hundred feet up the hillside to the launch from the end of the service road, especially with 125 pounds of hang glider and gear. Then you’d set up on a slope you could just barely stand on, it was so steep. It was great to be surrounded by such natural beauty.

The San Juan Mountains around Telluride are so steep and the valleys so narrow that any wind is extremely dangerous. Often during the meet I would fly out across the valley to get up on the other side, next to the sheer cliffs. I’d be circling up within a few feet of the rocky face and, so help me, holding on as hard as possible, hoping the powerful and swirling thermals didn't decide to flip me over.

I’d finally climb up above the rocks and get on top of the ridge line still going up fast, but at least not in any danger of hitting anything. I’d look around and all I’d see would be trees. Of course, this was high in the Rocky Mountains, so there were trees everywhere, and nowhere to land out on the course line but in those trees. I’d just better get high. It was incredibly thrilling.

Douglas fir and pine trees are no fun to land in. There is nothing to hold on to. You clip the top of the tree and then go for a fast ride to the ground fifty or a hundred feet below.

I was a last-minute replacement on the Wills Wing team at that particular meet, so that meant that I was the “rabbit.” They would send me off early to see if I could stay up. If I could, then I would report back about the conditions. If I did well, great. If not, the other team members would get the points for the team.

I lived through that meet and so did everyone else, but we never went back there to have a national level meet again.

In 1995 I read Chris Arai’s story about the magnificent flying down in Australia, the land that produces many of the world's leading hang glider pilots. His story also spoke about how terrible the conditions had been that year, with a drought until the day the meet started, then floods that wiped out the tow paddock. That’s Australia for you.

Still, I got excited about the prospects of flying during our wintertime, so the following December I took the opportunity to head south for six weeks of full time hang gliding on the Australian summer competition circuit. I'd recently finished a best selling computer book, Windows 95 Secrets, so I could afford to take some time off before starting in on the next one.

Consider this. Australia has a land mass about equal that of the U.S. and a population of competition hang glider pilots about equal to that found in the U.S., but with less than a tenth of the overall population. Ten times the enthusiasm! Here in this land devoted to sport, hang gliding isn't thought of as an activity for crazies only, but a legitimate form of recreation.

Over ninety percent of Australians live within an hour of the ocean, and water sports are an integral part of the lives of many Australians. Many find time to surf, leaving their offices to hit the waves when it is on. Hang gliding started as an adjunct to water skiing here in the sixties then grew into a sport whose participants took off from cliffs overlooking the ocean.

Later it moved into the flat interior, with hang gliders towed up behind cars. Things got even better when pilots recognized that ultralights (light experimental aircraft) could be used to tow up hang gliders. Bill Moyes, the founder of Australia's leading hang glider manufacturer, went further and worked with Bobby Bailey in Florida to produce an ultralight specifically built as a hang glider tow vehicle, the Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly. This only encouraged more flying in the flatlands to the west of Australia’s Great Dividing Range.

Continue reading here: http://ozreport.com/docs/Cloudsuck3.pdf.

Imagine if you could meet Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtis in person

August 23, 2011, 7:30:13 MDT

Imagine if you could meet Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtis in person

Meet John Dickenson and Barry Palmer in person

Bill Moyes|video

Ken de Russy <<weflyuniv>> writes:

Well if you have a passion for hang gliding, the opportunity to meet John Dickenson and Barry Palmer in person is the rough equivalent of meeting Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtis in person. The good news is that they will be together at my "Hang Gliding Museum" here in Anacortes, Washington in the USA to speak about their pioneering hang gliding experiments and you are welcome, encouraged actually, to attend. The bad news is that it will be this Saturday 27 August. I fully realize that for most of you this short notice insures that you will be unable to take advantage of this never to be repeated historic gathering. Many of you are on the far side of the country and others of you are living in every part of the globe. Although we hope to have a good turn out it is likely we may only draw a couple of dozen. I did not want to leave you out in the event you might just be in the area and can adjust your schedule to participate. This event is free of charge but donations to support my hang gliding history preservation work are gratefully accepted.

I have had the pleasure to have both of these pioneers in my home in past years. Hang gliding has been the defining achievement in my life and it is an unbelievable twist of life to have the opportunity to meet, thank and get to know the people who were the first to fly hang gliders in the modern era.

As early as December 1961 Barry Palmer designed, built and flew what most hang glider pilots would regard as the first Rogallo wing hang glider. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sswv4WUi0aY

Just a couple of years later he added a motor and foot launched into powered hang gliding flight, probably the first to do so. By 1967 Palmer designed, built and flew a forerunner to the modern trike. He may well have flown over my unknowing head as he conducted his trike experiments just a few miles from where I was attending high school. What a shock to discover he lives an hour from where I live now!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gIfXh_oDaGGvo2VIPy2RGQ?feat=directlink

John Dickenson in 1963 created the iconic configuration that was purchased by Bill Moyes and Bill Bennett. After being trained to fly by the experienced Dickenson the two Bills traveled the world resulting in the pandemic spread of the Dickenson Wing and creating the modern sport of hang gliding. John visited me here in October 2008 and we had a gathering of about 25 to hear about his pioneering work.

http://modelstation.smugmug.com/Hang-Gliding/John-Dickenson/6221329_MUniy

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aIDB6-fA4QacYgfEUtZmZA?feat=directlink

Should it be that you are able to attend please contact me for further details. I only yesterday confirmed Dickenson's visit and Barry Palmer has graciously agreed to join us on very short notice. I am still working on the fine points of this event and will know more in the next day or two. If you can video tape this event please be sure to let me know. Anyone know what it takes to stream this? I have no clue. If you have Skype I will be online during the event. You can call in and ask a question of one of these great pioneers.

Discuss "Imagine if you could meet Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtis in person" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Francesco Rinaldi on Forbes

January 19, 2010, 7:28:25 AEDT

Francesco Rinaldi on Forbes

What a great place to fly!

Bill Moyes|Francesco "Franco" Rinaldi

I spoke with Francesco Rinaldi of CR Systems today. He is also the meet director for the 2010 pre-Worlds and 2011 Worlds in Montecucco, Italy. Franco told me how much he loved flying in Forbes. He and his wife and daughter live near Lake Como in northern Italy. They very much appreciated being in the warmth of Forbes.

Franco had not aerotowed before he came to Australia (often the case with European pilots), so he went with Bill Moyes to Rylstone to get his aerotow sign off before he came to Forbes. Franco just couldn't believe how great the flying was in Forbes. He wants to come back next year, quit working so hard, and have time for himself to fly more. He has been flying since 1976.

Thanks for the generous contribution to the Oz Report also.

2010 Forbes Flatlands - 10th day »

2010 Forbes Flatlands

Called due to pilot fatigue

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|dust devil|Evgeniya "Zhenya" Laritskaya|Facebook|Forbes Flatlands 2010|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Trent Brown|weather


The day was called due to general pilot fatigue (which may represent a safety issue). The forecasts were mixed again with the BOM calling for 41 degrees and blowing dust (very windy on the ground) while the local Forbes forecast from RASP was for 36 and 8-10 knot surface winds.

Given the average wind through the boundary layer at fourteen knots out of the northwest all day long, we would have to have a task to the southeast. We came up with one zigzagging in that general direction and sent the sport class directly to Woodstock.

The forecast said that we would likely have few cu's and good climbs to 10,000'. The winds would most likely not be a problem unless the RASP was wrong or there were gusts. OD was not an issue.

Vicki and I held a straw poll and it was evenly spilt 20 to 20 for and against calling the last day. Some felt that there was a possible safety issue, due to weather or due to pilot fatigue. Vicki and I along with the safety committee had numerous discussions until I called the day and the safety committee agreed just before I announced it. I had voted to fly the day.

No one wanted to make such a decision given that there was such a split in the pilots' feelings about flying or not flying. Vicki reminded pilots earlier that when Bill Moyes put on the Worlds near Bright and Mt. Beauty they flew for seventeen days straight.

It was another great flying event at Forbes with wonderful tasks and many many hours in the air. Of course, we could have flown every day. Zac was able to move into third place after winning the last day. Jonny was firmly in first place.

I had thought that I had messed up by not flying to the end of the clouds off the course line on the 9th day. Juerg, who was with me under the clouds, said that he and Carl and a few other pilots followed the clouds and as soon as they left the clouds when they ended they went down and landed. So that wasn't the way to go after all.

Belinda and Davis in Forbes as pictured in the Forbes Advocate.

Vicki called to report that a dust devil came through the launch area around 1 PM, flipped over Leroy's Dragonfly and broke the fuselage. This is the time that we would have been launching. The tug was tied down.

HGFA⁣ democracy in action »

Wed, Jul 1 2009, 2:12:03 am EDT

The members move for a vote

Alexc Jones|Bill Moyes|Brian Webb|Chris Fogg|HGFA|video

Alexc Jones «hgfa.sgm» writes:

Fellow HGFA members

Thank you for your support which has culminated in a (postal) Special General Meeting.

As Brian Webb has been removed from the Committee, Bill Moyes has complied with a request to resign and the Exec has appointed three new Committee members our path forward is not as clear as it was when we began this process.

Paul Coffey wrote in an email to me yesterday that scrutineering would be allowed which would satisfy the transparency requirement if all the postal votes were to be collected unopened, then opened in the presence of scrutineers after the poll has closed. He has not yet stated that this will be the process to be used, merely "scrutineering will be allowed". I will ask him to commit to the full transparent process.

Please feel free to comment on our "Future Vision" document. All the proposed interim Committee members have provided input and we believe it represents a way forward that most HGFA members would be happy with. That being said, we would like input from all members who would like to contribute. We realise it is impossible to satisfy all members but believe it is essential that the majority of the members agree with the policies and practices of the Committee and the role the HGFA.

Consensus is a much harder barrow to push than dictatorship but we are willing to try our hardest to make the consensus model function within the HGFA.

The background:

For the first time in the thirty year history of the HGFA there is to be a Special General Meeting (SGM) invoked by more than five percent of the membership signing a request. The motions on which the membership is to vote are to remove five members from the Committee (Board of Directors). We, the "yes" supporters, have taken this course of action because we believe the Committee has demonstrated a history of not acting in the best interests of the members since taking up their positions in April 2008.

From their first meeting the Committee has displayed an authoritarian policy attitude, making a number of decisions that have caused the membership much discontent. Two of the more contentious decisions were to increase the fees by 56% and to implement the SARSIG project, in which the thirty year practice of returning the state fee component of the membership fee back to the state associations was discontinued. Many and varied reasons have been given for the changes but no documentation to support these decisions has been released despite frequent requests from members. Almost universally, information requested by members' enquiries has not been provided by the HGFA. The opposite should be the case.

Our constitution guarantees members the right to examine and copy HGFA documents. The current Committee policy of refusing access to documents is contrary to the Rules in our Constitution and the spirit of our organisation. For thirty years, until fifteen months ago, the HGFA Committee's culture was one of servant to the members - being frugal, supportive, consultative, responsive, flexible, transparent and dynamic. For the past fifteen months the public face of the HGFA, through the main contact points of Chris Fogg, Javier Alvarez, and Paul Coffey, has become one of 'The Master' in a time when expenditure in many cost areas has increased - some by over 100%. The culture has been unsupportive, dictatorial, unresponsive, inflexible, secretive and stagnant.

We, the group of members who have invoked the SGM, believe the HGFA Management needs to return to policies and practices focused on service to members. This approach has proven effective over thirty years. The recent departure from it has produced dispute, conflict and loss of members. The following document, "Future Vision" contains our policies and a list of agenda items to be addressed. We believe most members support this vision and urge you to vote "Yes" to all the motions on the ballot paper being posted to your Soaring Australia address.

Future Vision Document:

HGFA Policy Review

· The Strategic Plan will be reviewed to change the focus of planned expenditure to that of a low cost provider of essential services.

· HGFA administration will be responsive, transparent and accountable.

· No HGFA document will be deemed to be confidential except notes kept by Committee members pertaining to unresolved issues.

· HGFA documents will be available to any member on request by email or hard copy.

· The confidentiality clause currently used by HGFA admin on their emails will be reviewed and changed to ensure members feel free to distribute the contents of emails to other HGFA members.

Action Plan

1. Budget Control and Annual Membership Fee Review

· All budget cost centres will be reviewed and each budgeted expense item will be examined to assess the necessity of the expenditure.

· The members will be consulted as to the whether or not they support discretionary items planned or budgeted for since April 2008.

· The Committee will roll back fees as soon as possible. The membership fee will be adjusted to a level which is commensurate with the reviewed budget and, if possible, the difference between $390 ($350) and the reviewed fee will be refunded to members who have renewed their membership since the fee increase.

· Budgeted items will be reviewed on a three monthly basis by the Committee to ensure budget control.

· The HGFA Public Liability Policy will be reviewed to ensure there is a balance between the benefits and the cost.

· All expenses attributed to the GM since July 1st 2008 will be reviewed.

· Restructuring will occur to minimise bank charges.

2. Management of the GM.

· The GM will be performance managed by the Committee.

· All operational decisions will be reviewed by the Committee on a monthly basis.

· All receipted expenses will be examined on a monthly basis before the GM is reimbursed for adequately justified expenses.

· All issues raised with the Committee by the members will be acknowledged, reviewed and ruled on.

· Members will be invited to have GM decisions made since April 2008 reviewed and ruled on by the Committee.

· The work load of the GM will be assessed and his job description modified to align with the Committee's assessment of appropriate duties.

3. SARSIG project/State Fees.

· Implementation of SARSIG Model 3 will cease.

· The issue regarding the HGFA collecting and returning State fees will be resolved.

If the State and Regional Associations can not agree on a common solution, the issue will be decided by a referendum of the membership.

4. Benchmarking of HGFA/Ops Manual Review

· The HGFA will be benchmarked against comparable organisations.

· Ops Manual review:

1. To reflect realities of modern flying and sites

2. GM discretionary powers

3. Compliance with NPRM Part 103

4. Compliance with industry standards

5. Project to Recover Lapsed Members.

· All ex-members who have let their membership lapse between January 1st 2006 and the date of the SGM will be offered an incentive to rejoin HGFA. These ex-members will be able to rejoin HGFA by paying a discounted membership fee of $100 for full membership which will expire on June 30th 2010. After membership renewal there will be a mandatory skills check before the Pilot Certificate is validated.

6. Committee Meetings

· Video conferencing will be the first preference for all Committee of Management meetings except the AGM.

7. Committee of Management Election System

· Members will be consulted regarding the system of electing the Committee of Management.

The Gliding Federation of Australia operates on a Federal Collegiate election and voting system with the Executive members exercising one vote each, seven in total at Board meetings. In their system, the Non-Executive Board Members, representing each State, have two votes each, 10 in total thereby ensuring an effective review of the Executive. If 75% of HGFA members want the present system changed to the GFA model a Special Resolution will be drafted and put to the membership.

8. All future work will be tendered to the membership first where possible.

Discuss "HGFA⁣ democracy in action" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

The Flyingest Flying

May 28, 2009, 9:11:18 EDT

The Flyingest Flying

Shown on PBS many times

Bill Moyes|Blue Sky|Francis Rogallo|Steve Wendt

Steve Wendt reports than many people have seen this documentary and have contacted him to take lessons at Blue Sky.

http://www.film.virginia.org/News/VIFF.aspx

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0997217/

http://www.kbdi.org/tv_schedule/program_details.cfm?series_id=24530738

http://www.amazon.com/The-Flyingest-Flying/dp/B000FBVOA4

http://blueskyhg.com/movies.aspx

From DaVinci's wing sketches to the day hang gliding became an official sport in 1971, "The Flyingest Flying" offers a detailed evolution of this purest form of flight, as well as unique glimpses of the everyday people who pursue it. The film features rare interviews with such key figures as Francis Rogallo, the NACA (pre-NASA) engineer who designed the first flexible wing, to enhance his hobby of kite flying; John Dickenson, the Australian water skier who melded Rogallo's wing with the A-frame control bar still in use today; and fearless early promoters Bill Bennett and Bill Moyes, who barely survived their countless, creative attempts to introduce the fledgling sport to the world. Also featured are director Josh Criss' experiences at a hang gliding "flight park" in Manquin, Virginia, and the varied people who fly there. Along with the filmmaker's own journey from tentative student to soaring pilot, the film chronicles the struggles of another student, though multiple lessons, in her quest to solo at high altitude.

Discuss The Flyingest Flying at the Oz Report forum   link»

Forbes, no fence and an additional hangar? »

February 12, 2009, 8:20:16 AEDT

Forbes, no fence and an additional hangar?

It's turning into a popular spot

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Steve McCarthy

Steve McCarthy keeps sending out emails announcing that he'll be towing at Forbes (this last weekend and two weekends from now). There continues to be a lot of interest from pilots wanting to tow up and fly big cross country flights from Forbes.

Bill Moyes started leaving a Dragonfly or two out there two years ago and last year pilots finally figured this out and made arrangements for getting towed up. Now there is more demand than ever, while there was little demand for towing from Rylstone where Bill normally keeps his tugs.

Now the rumor is that Bill is in the market to buy 50 acres next to the airport, pull down the north fence (it didn't seem to be an issue this year), and put in his own hangar. Maybe if Vicki gets the bid for the Worlds this will all come to pass.

Here is the latest report from Forbes. Steve McCarthy «tuglowview» writes:

Turn up this week end was not high due to a poor forecast, however we still managed to launch at 4pm on Sat day with most flyers landing around Young and one managing to get to the goal paddock at Lake George (well done Attila).

Dave May is improving out of site and is now one of the best pilots in the world on tow and off tow is putting in consistent, impressive flights in average conditions.

Sunday saw Peter Leach towing in his new glider and Rodger Lynch completed his aerotow endorsement. A bit of air to air photography was done using the Dragon Fly as the camera platform, and the very brave Liz as the photographer. Thanks Liz.

I dropped Mark a long way up wind in his Sonic to give him plenty of thermal time and still allow a landing back at the field but it didn't quite work out as planed. Sorry Mark, hope we have better conditions so you can have a better flight next time.

Shorter goal tasks were set for Sunday to allow pilots to get home at a reasonable time with most setting goals in the home direction.

Boat Towing video

Wed, Jan 14 2009, 7:17:46 am AEDT

Bill and Steve in Chicago in the early seventies.

Bill Moyes|boat tow|Bob "Skydog" Grant|video

Bob Grant «caskydog» writes:

I have been going through my old Super 8 movies and taking some of the best footage and putting it on YouTube. The latest on is of the early years when Bill Moyes brought a group of fliers from Australia to the USA and flew the tow competitions around the USA. This footage was taken at the Chicago Lake Front festival competitions in the years 1974 to 1977.

The launch point is in downtown Chicago on Lake Michigan right next to a fourteen lane street. In those days we were towed behind the Correct Craft ski boats to a height of 700 feet and then released. The points were awarded by the number of 360° turns that a pilot could do and they could only be two in any one direction at a time and then change directions and then finally we had to land in or as close to a truck tube that was floating in the water.

At that time Steve Moyes was undoubtedly the very best. Both Bill and Steve Moyes are caught on film in this action. Bill Bennett was also on the scene with his new gliders which were called the 18x16 Skytrek and later the Phoenix 12 which I flew in 1977.

After the Chicago meet the tow boys would head to Florida and fly in the Cypress gardens tow meets. We had some really good times as many hang gliding pilots will remember. The link to the video is at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuYD6D8aWlw

Discuss "Boat Towing video" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2009 Forbes Flatlands »

November 11, 2008, 7:59:35 PST

2009 Forbes Flatlands

More fun for everyone

Bill Moyes|Davis Straub|Forbes Flatlands 2009|Lee Patterson|Vicki Cain|Wesley "Wes" Hill|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Vicki Cain «moyes» writes:

The Forbes Flatlands has been the season's premium competition for 20 years and will attract the World's top competitors. What's different this year?

The top pilots all tow well. The thermals are guaranteed and the whole field is gone from the airport in one hour. This leaves the tug pilots with nothing to do and the spectators with nothing to see as the pilots are usually landing at a goal a couple of hundred kilometers away.

This year we want to encourage more pilots so we have added three more classes in addition to the Open Category.

The competition for single surface gliders will be called the Club class and will be a duration and spot landing competition.

The competition for intermediate gliders will be the Sport class. They will fly a shortened task to the Open Class with less turn points and a similar goal, and will launch after the Open Class. They will be scored by GPS track log so a GPS is mandatory.

The competition for A Class pilots will include pilots that have never been in the top 100 of the WPRS. A Class pilots will fly the Open Class task.

We will have trophies for 1st place in the Club, Sport and A Class categories and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the Open Category.

We will have aerotow endorsement courses and aerotow training available every morning before the air is lively until the main competition pilots are ready. We will halt towing until the Open and A Class pilots are away, then we can continue towing until sunset.

Novice and Intermediate pilots can enter the competition or come along as an assistant and get their towing endorsement by flying early in the morning or late in the evening. The aim is to give the tugs more work to be able to reduce towing fees. To give the spectators more excitement to watch and to introduce novice and intermediate pilots to cross country events.

We have a World Class team heading operations with Bill Moyes in towing, Lee Patterson on launching, Davis Straub (Meet Director of the 2007 World’s in Texas) as ex-officio Meet head. Wes Hill is the score keeper and Rob Van Der Klooster is the Goalie.

Come join us, it’s a great opportunity to enhance your flying skills, meet new people from all around the globe, rub shoulders with the top guns or just kick back and enjoy the company of 100 like-minded people.

Forbes Flatlands Hang Gliding Championships 2009

Dates: Practice Day Friday 2nd January 2009

Competition Dates: Saturday 3rd January – Sunday 11th

9 Days allowing for 1 rest day

You can enter online at www.moyes.com.au/forbes2009 or contact Vicki Cain at «moyes».

There is great flying at Forbes and it is a wonderful opportunity to have the tugs out there with tug pilots. Pilots should come on out and enjoy the flying.

Flying weekend before last at Forbes

October 6, 2008, 9:46:34 MDT

Flying last weekend at Forbes

It is on all ready

Bill Moyes|Trent Brown

Trent Brown «Trent.Brown» writes:

Why head out to Forbes anyway???

All you end up with is a long weekend like the last one...

It goes a little something like this:

Saturday

Karl, Scott, Dave, Andrew B, and I meet Steve at Forbes airport after dropping some gear off at my old's place "Munjal" near Grenfell on the way through. Not too much later Bill Moyes turns up with Noma.

A nice warm day to kick things off. It reached 27 degrees on the ground. No clouds. Dave and Andrew reached Munjal. I landed short trying to reach the range in the photo below. Apparently I had to be higher than tree height to try and soar this thing.

I went about 50km that day. Barnsie landed at Munjal first as did Dave who tracked back after reaching the ridge behind home but finding nothing going up.

Tracklog

Sunday

A little more wind. We each had a tow to no avail. The thermals were being blown apart down low.

A strong climb would be required to get up today as anything weaker would be broken up by the wind. There were no such climbs near the strip and with the wind increasing the chance of having more tows would be slim.

The best chance of a good climb would be over town so as soon as I released I headed that direction. I then just hang on to whatever I could for as long as I could. It was rough in the air so I wasn't disappointed about landing just short of the 50km mark.

Tow conditions in the paddock deteriorated and the other guys chose not to tow again.

Tracklog

Monday

Scott has headed home and Nath has joined us today for his first flight in his new AirBorne C4 14.

The nicest looking day by far. Nice cus and big streets. Base was about 6500ft a fun day but we all ended up on the deck after getting too cocky on glides and finding conditions down low pretty tough.

Dave makes it 70km, 60km for me and 50 km for Barnsie. A very fun day with great conditions for racing.

Tracklog

Tuesday

Nath heads home and Guy comes out to play.

Dave tows first. Looks stable as he finds nothing and pulls off a nice landing right in front of us.

Andrew tows next and finds light lift. I decide to get in. Just before I towed Andrew calls that he is now going up at 500fpm... Get me up there Steve! We tow straight into Barnsie's climb. Nice.

Guy tows but breaks an upright after leaving the dolly a little awkwardly.

Dave tows and joins Barnsie and I. We top out at 5000ft and head off for Parkes. We have lots of fun team flying until we drop Dave just before town. Barnsie and I continue on getting very low when we take the turnpoint at Parkes.

It is always great flying with Andrew. We make the most out of having two of us in the air. We find some good climbs by working together and have a lot of fun in the process.

We decide to try and get back to Forbes. A tough call given we weren't getting that high and it was headwind coming back. It was hard to make progress but after a couple of low saves we found ourselves half way back along the main road.

At this point Barnsie pushed a bit harder than what I was comfortable with and he ended up landing 20km short of Forbes.

At about this time we get news that Guy had fixed his upright, flew and landed in Parkes. He must have went past us but we didn't see him. Charge your radio Guy!

I keep on tracking towards Forbes and, with the help of the odd truck driving along a dirt road to mark thermals for me, I make town pretty easily. I setup to land at the ovals in town but got a little climb and decide to try and make the airport. It was an optimistic glide and I end up landing two paddocks short of the hangers.

What an awesome flight!

The worlds slowest 70km out and return at 4 hours and 31 seconds. This takes my total air time for the four day weekend to 8.5 hours - Very nice for September.

Tracklog

In all, nine hangies turned up for an awesome weekend of flying. The best bit is it's all happening again on the 11/12th October. See you there for some more awesome fun in the flatlands.

Thanks to Bill Moyes for letting us use his dragon fly to drag us into the air.

A very very bit thanks to Steve for towing us into the sky and picking us up again when we fell out. Without Steve's incredible enthusiasm we would all be on the ground fiddling with our navels. Thanks heaps mate!

Discuss Flying last weekend at Forbes at the Oz Report forum   link»

Big Spring videos

Wed, Jul 9 2008, 9:21:58 pm EDT

Bill Moyes and hang gliding history

Big Spring 2008|Bill Moyes|video

http://goflyxc.com/2008/bigspring

1 minute:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DneIQu84tZk

The aerotowing accident a while back at Tocumwal

April 25, 2008, 7:24:19 PDT

Tocumwal

What did we learn from that accident?

Bill Moyes|Quest Air

Bill Moyes|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|Quest Air

http://ozreport.com/10.017#4

http://ozreport.com/10.018#2

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1143&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1143&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=145

Why do I consider the 300' tow rope the proximate cause of the accident?

Because if the rope had been 150' the pilot would be alive today.

Why? Because the conditions of his tow would have been much less severe and he would have either towed without incident or been able to release. Remember that my first reports reported on the conditions before I knew that the rope played a significant part in why those conditions felt so severe to me. It was only have I flew in similar conditions (and have so a few times since here) with the 150' rope that I saw clearly how much the length of the rope played in my perception of the severity of the conditions.

Why would the conditions of his tow have been much less severe? Because the tug and the pilot would have been much more likely to have been in the same air parcels at the same time and the dramatic differences in altitude between the tug and the pilot would not have been experienced by the pilot (as they were according to Chris Smith who watched the accident from the side) and by myself a few minutes before the accident.

But how did these differences in altitude contribute to the accident?

First, the glider was witnessed, again by Chris Smith, to be "out of whack," which I take to mean yawing and rolling behind the tug.

Second, the tug was seen to get far below the glider and the glider to approach the tug thereby putting a bow in the line at the same time the glider was yawing and rolling.

Third, dramatic differences in altitude between the tug and the glider would, I assume, cause significant stress for the pilot. They did for me (as I reported at the time), making it less likely for the pilot to be able to take the appropriate action when things went wrong.

Fourth, with the glider rolling and yawing behind the tub which was below it there became the possibility that the tow rope would contact the side wire, which it obviously did.

Fifth, with a 150' rope the chances that the rope would contact the side wire are dramatically reduced as the chance for a bow in the rope and the pilot overshooting the tow rope are greatly reduced. The rope must first be overshot then pulled tight (as the tug hits a new thermal or the glider heads off in the sideways direction) for this accident to occur. It is quite difficult to yaw and roll into this situation without the rope going slack first, which happens much more frequently with the 300' rope (and did to me and this pilot on this very day).

Sixth, with the Windtech release the pilot most likely would have had difficulty releasing with a rope that was not tight.

Would the pilot have lived if he had a different release? Perhaps. I certainly would argue for a different type of release. But we don't know if he tried to release. The slack rope combined with the Windtech release would have made it difficult to release.

Would the pilot have lived if conditions were calm, i.e. less thermic and less wind. Yes. He would also have lived if he hadn't towed that day. We have been towing in similar conditions since then.

Would the pilot have lived if he was more experieced? I don't know his level of aerotow expereince so I can't say.

Would the pilot have lived if the tug pilot was more experienced? Unclear if the tug pilot could have done anything to save the hang glider pilot. The tug pilot mentioned that in his mirror he could not see the pilot because the pilot was too far away, i.e. 300'.

Could the pilot have lived if he used a leader with a weak link on the end? Likely. After the end of the tow rope wrapped around the side wire the weaklink at the end of the leader could have easily broken before the tow rope and tug tucked the glider.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1143&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=141

Now, as to the Windtech bridle and any part it may have played in the accident.

Did the pilot try to release before the line knotting itself around the sidewire and found himself unable to do so? We don't know, but if the release wouldn't function properly, this would have been a big problem.

The Windtech aerotow release is a "three ring" circle with the straps tied to your shoulder tabs and a short string to the "three ring" release. The issues with it are:

1. You have to take your hand off the base bar to grab the string.

2. The string is hard to find being thin, and next to the straps.

3. The three ring circle may not release with a pull on the string if there is no tension other than the weight of the rope on it. If the rope is bowed (which apparently was the case before the accident) then the release may not release.

We know from Zupy that the weaklink broke and that the pilot didn't successfully release.

I had argued with the pilot on the previous two days for him to change his bridle to a barrel release pro-tow system. Here are the characteristics of this system:

1. You do have to take your hand off the base bar.

2. The barrel is easy to find and always in the same spot and right next to the base bar.

3. The barrel release will release with only the weight of the line.

I have pictured many releases in the Oz Report, some of which will release with one hand with no line weight at all.

The only production release that I am aware of that doe not require that you remove your hand from the base bar is the one from Lookout:

http://www.hanglide.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=LME&Category_Code=AE

Bill Moyes argues that you should never have to remove your hand from the base bar to release, but the Moyes release requires this unless the brake handle is on the base tube and even then it isn't as direct and quick to use as the Lookout release.

I believe that the barrel release when used with 150' spectra is a reasonably safe system. When used with 300' poly in rough conditions, not nearly as safe.

I spoke with Jim Prahl about the spectra line lengths used at Quest Air. The normal length for competition is 200'. Students are often towed with 220' ropes, but 200' is used also.

Discuss Tocumwal at the Oz Report forum   link»

Steven Pearson on hang glider quality and innovation

April 9, 2008, 8:12:33 PDT

Innovation

Steve from Wills Wing says, Gerolf, not so fast

Bill Moyes|Brett Hazlett|Steven "Steve" Pearson

Steven Pearson «Steve» writes:

I can't help but feel that the comments from Vicky, Gerolf and Steve Moyes are somewhat misleading and unfair, especially if they are intended to suggest that Moyes is the only company to innovate in hang gliding design, and that everyone else is merely copying.

As a matter of history, Moyes did not introduce carbon tubing to hang gliding. UP flew and extensively tested an all-carbon Spider in 1979, WW subsequently made a carbon leading edge Raven which we considered putting into production, and most notably UP and its successor companies produced several generations of all-carbon production gliders well before the first Litespeed.

Most major manufacturers introduced carbon cantilevered crossbar systems following the LaMouette Topless. Wills Wing, Acme Glider Company, and Moyes certified their first topless gliders at the same HGMA meeting. To the best of my knowledge, only Wills Wing has proof tested every carbon spar that we have every produced, a practice that, although expensive, is the only practical way to guarantee the integrity of a composite component. Our spars are made with 100 deg C, aerospace quality pre-preg.

Wills Wing introduced the first carbon pre-preg, high-temperature high-pressure closed-mold, competition control bar, which Gerolf, Bill Moyes, Brett Hazlett, and many other Moyes pilots purchased before Moyes developed their own competition bar. This bar also features a very low drag airfoil section which I designed for this application, with wind tunnel tests that have been posted on our website for many years.

It also featured innovative aerodynamic corner fittings unlike anything that had been available previously. Low drag control bars also require adjustments to the downtube and basetube angles which I first made to our competition bars in 1982 long before any other similar configurations existed.

Altogether, there is no basis for suggesting that our experience with carbon composites is less than that of Moyes, or that we copied their components.

As further examples of innovation, Wills Wing fought convention (and economy) for many years as the only major manufacturer to produce 7075 airframes, long before Moyes adopted 7075. The now industry-standard leading edge configuration with a large 62/60mm front leading edge reduced to a 52/50 rear leading edge was developed by Wills Wing.

As far as I know, Wills Wing is the only manufacturer who has operated an in-house sail-loft since 1973. Our sail loft has been under my direction continuously since 1977. I made my first Mylar sail in 1980 and Wills Wing was the first manufacturer to use Polyant PX style Mylar laminates which were subsequently adopted by Moyes. Wills Wing is the only manufacturer who has developed a laminate with a special UV resistant polyester film on the outer layer which is unprotected by internal UV coatings.

Wills Wing was the first company to certify a production model using the fabric shear ribs system that is essential today to the stability and handling of high percentage double surface gliders.

Wills Wing first proved the effectiveness of the internal keel configuration that has since been adopted by every other manufacturer. When Bill Moyes first saw the HP1 he told me, "It will never climb, mate".

Wills Wing certified production gliders using the since widely adopted kingpost hang system when Moyes was using French-connections to reduce pitch and roll pressure.

Wills Wing introduced the cable supported, universal joint, leading-edge bracket outboard sprog system when other manufacturers, including Moyes, had over-the-crossbar systems.

Wills Wing is the only manufacturer who has owned and operated an aerodynamic test vehicle continuously since 1980.

Wills Wing was the first manufacturer to install a CNC sail cutting system. We've subsequently installed a CNC 3-axis machining center to optimize the design and strength of our hardware. Certainly choices like this are more expensive than purchasing cast fittings and other outsourced solutions, but they are examples of our commitment to producing the highest quality products.

Moyes has earned a well-deserved reputation for many years as a leader in international competitions, and as a result many competition pilots in recent years have chosen Moyes gliders. Over the same period, Wills Wing has chosen to allocate our resources across a broader spectrum of products and services for the hang gliding community, from primary training gliders like the Condor through many generations of high performance intermediate gliders like the Sport 167 (which even Gerolf owned) and to support many other essential and beneficial industry programs that go beyond mere product development.

Today, more and more competition pilots are choosing the Wills Wing T2 or T2C for competition, having seen for themselves (and reported to us) that the T2 and T2C compare very favorably in quality and competitive performance with anything else available. Most competition pilots do not choose based on price, but based on what glider they feel will give them the best overall competitive performance.

The ability to save a substantial amount of money on even a fully loaded T2C, when compared to some other brands, is a nice bonus, but is probably not the determining factor for most pilots who purchase this class of glider with the intent to compete at a world class level. For performance minded recreational pilots, where that last fraction of a percent in performance that the more exotic carbon component options offer may not be as important, we see a lot of pilots choosing to save even more by purchasing the lower priced T2 over the T2C. We're excited about the increasing sales of both of these models, and happy to be able to offer a top quality competition class glider at a lower price.

Bill Moyes on a Horten Wing

March 16, 2008, 0:59:13 GMT+1000

Moyes on Horten

After seeing the restored wing, Bruce is reminded of Bill's Horten wing

Bill Moyes|Bruce Wynne|Horten wing|photo



Thanks to Bruce Wynn.

These are photos I got from Bill a few years ago. He built this thing. He still has this Horten wing stashed somewhere. I don't know the dates but he looks pretty young.

2009 Forbes Flatlands »

January 25, 2008, 5:07:36 pm GMT+1100

Flatlands

Four contests including two for less experienced pilots

Bill Moyes|CIVL|Forbes Flatlands 2009|Vicki Cain|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Vicki Cain «moyes» writes:

The Forbes Flatlands Hang Gliding Championships is on again next year 2009. The tentative dates are as follow:

Dates: Practice Day Friday 2nd January 2009

Competition Dates: Saturday 3rd January – Sunday 11th

9 Days allowing for 1 rest day

This year most pilots flew an average of between 30 – 40 hours.

Next year will be offering different categories to encourage all pilots to come and try the Forbes flying and towing experience.

Open Class Category (aimed at pilots who are looking to get on their national teams, or close to it. The top twenty on any national ladder.)

A Class Category – For pilots that have never been in the top 100 WPRS (CIVL world ranking system: http://civlrankings.fai.org/?a=326&ladder_id=1. Same tasks at the Open Class. Scored together with the Open class, but singled out for recognition.)

Sport Class – Shortened Task - GPS required - Open to all gliders (For less competition experienced pilots who want to learn more and stretch themselves with less than herculean tasks. Launching a bit later than Open and A Classes to get the better part of the day for the shorter task.)

Club Class - Duration and spot landing – Open to all gliders (For pilots who want to learn to aerotow, would like some extra attention and help, want to practice their thermaling and landing skills and hang with the big dogs. Launching after Sport Class. Must land before sunset.)

Aerotow endorsement course or aerotow training available every morning starting at 9 am

Competition Fees $200

Aerotow Fees $350

Book your place by entering online at http://www.moyes.com.au/forbes2009.

$200 competition fees must be paid by the 25th November, 2008 to secure your place. Entries will close 25th November 2008. Any unpaid entries will be deleted from the list. We are going to strongly enforce this policy this year so we can be sure to have enough tugs for towing. Tow fees to be paid at registration in cash only.

Every pilot must register before going to the airport on the practice day. Registration will start at 9 am at the Vandenberg Hotel.

Volunteers are welcome, for pilots, we can make arrangements so you can work for free fly tows and lunch. Jobs include launch marshal, dolly running, tow lane set up, and hangar handyman (includes getting yelled at by Bill).

Vicki and Bill Moyes have a great idea here to open up the Forbes Flatlands experience to a lot more pilots who might have shied away from it given its heavy emphasis on World class level competition with so many pilots coming from Europe and the US. These top experienced pilots really enjoy coming to Forbes because of the great long distance (and triangle and out and return) cross country flying, but they do kind of push aside the Australian pilots and sort of take over their competition.

Now you can fly at the Forbes Flatlands and don't have to feel that you have to compete against all the top pilots in the world as though it were the Worlds. Look at the four competitions above and see where you feel like competing. The first two will fly the same big World Class tasks. But the pilots opting for A Class will also be divided out (in addition to being scored together) for their own ranking against each other.

Flying at Forbes?

January 20, 2008, 2:59:08 pm GMT+1100

Forbes

Armand is ready to tow, if not able to fly in his glider himself

Armand Acchione|Bill Moyes

I reported earlier that Armand dislocated his shoulder in Rylstone. Well now he is rehabilitated enough to begin towing us in Forbes. Bill Moyes has two Dragonflies out there at Forbes ready to go after the Forbes Flatlands. Armand is ready to tow.

He is looking for a group of pilots (six or seven, say) who want to get towed up and fly at Forbes. Attila is hot to trot and ready to go out there for the weekend of February 2nd. If you are interested contact me or Attila.

If you are interested in other times, and I sure am, contact me and see if we can make arrangements. My contact: davis@davisstraub.com.

Forbes, a look back »

January 16, 2008, 7:13:47 GMT+1100

Forbes

Was it the greatest meet ever?

Bernard Baer|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Vicki Cain|weather

The weather was amazing. Yes, I've been to many great competitions in Australia and the US. But right now the Forbes Flatlands in 2008 eight feels like one of the best ever.

Vicki Cain did a great job organizing. All the pieces were in place especially all the great volunteers who served as ground crew. Vicki was great at getting the launch issues sorted out and making sure that Bill Moyes was happy. He wanted three launch lines, and as we had enough ground crew, that made it possible. It was much nicer to reduce the people pressure on each line.

The tug pilots were great. Leroy towed me up a bunch and I'll say that he said that he loved towing me. That's because I was always willing to get off in lift. Other pilots seemed to demand their 600 meters. On the last day after a minute or two of towing we were at 200' AGL, when he finally got to the lift (it was sparse at first on that day in the blue). Then I found 800 fpm on the vario (while on tow). It stayed that way to 900' AGL when I pinned off. I just wasn't ready to pin off at 200'.

The Russian girl (21 and studying Physics) had some great flights. Making goal on two days. She wasn't in the meet, came as a driver, but with Bobby Bailey's favorable attention got some early tows and then just went for it. She more than doubled her personal best.

Numerous pilots had personal bests and Rob Clarkston made his first goal as did other pilots.

The New South Wales Regional Atmospheric Soaring Prediction web site is the best RASP I've seen so far. It was instrumental in helping the meet run well. Bernard Baer and John Whitney have done an excellent job with it. More on it later.

http://ozreport.com/ozweather.php

No major injuries and no deaths unlike last year. One pilot dislocated his shoulder. He was an inexperienced aerotow pilot but caused the problem on landing.

Eight day meet with eight days of flying. One "rest day" with a "short" task of only 143 kilometers.

The town supports the meet. The Vandenberg hotel is very nice to us. I'm hoping for DSL instead of a satellite wireless connection next year. Vicki says that she will organize the meet again in 2009.

Discuss Forbes at the Oz Report forum   link»

Moyes Race and Rally, day two »

Fri, Dec 28 2007, 3:03:00 pm MST

Rally

A soft day

Belinda Boulter|Bill Moyes|Moyes Race and Rally|record|weather

On the day after Boxing Day (December 27th) we met at the Rylstone airstrip (which Bill Moyes leases from the Mudgee Shire Council for $1000/year, the Rylstone Shire Council having been disbanded due to fraud) at 9:00 AM to get ready for the Race and Rally. The task for the day was local flying and given all the cu's around and local over development at 9 AM, that was a good idea.

We did get some local flying in. I pinned off at 900' and caught 50 fpm for a 15 minute flight, coming down as the storm approached. Others had test flights later after the rain.

The next day the sky was much clearer with friendly cu's in the morning and a light southeast wind (unlike the forecasted north). It looked like our task would be 66 km to Gulgong to the north, and as the sky looked good and our gliders were set up from the day before, I took off at 10:30.

The lift was light to 2,000' AGL and I was continually able to climb back up from 1,000' AGL and stay near the airstrip as I waited for the others to have their noon meeting to decide for sure on the task. Other pilots did little test flights but no one wanted to stay up and wait around in the sky other than me.

Finally at noon after an hour and a half of working little wispies I headed down wind having worked my way a few miles north of the air field. Others would start launching at 12:30, after their meeting.

I was now getting to 3,000' AGL and there were some dark bottomed clouds to the northwest, on a line between Mudgee and Gulgong. I found good lift under the dark bottoms and continued up the east side of the valley near the forested ridges and under the darker clouds finding good lift.

Twenty kilometers out from Rylstone I saw that the cu's thinned out toward Mudgee to the west northwest, but were dark to the north toward Gulgong, our destination. I had passed most of the forested areas that were to the north and now there looked like a reasonable path way to Gulgong to the north.

Seeing semi-reasonable landing areas and dark clouds I headed north only to have all that good lift disappear. The dark clouds that had just represented good lift were now representing old lift and just heavy moisture. I dove into the ridges over rock faces under dark clouds only to find weak or no lift at all.

I probably should have stayed in the slower sinking stuff but the landing fields were far away and there was another dark cloud upwind a bit that looked like it was worth a go. Unfortunately it didn't work out and I landed a long ways from the paved road.

Fortunately, Belinda was on the case and found me right away and I was feeling sorry for myself having left way earlier than any one else and then not getting all that far. As we drove back out to the main road there was a glider right over our heads. As we got to the main road the pilot landed near us and it was Attila. Now I didn't feel so bad that the World Champion had landed close to where I landed.

We took Attila back to Rylstone to get his car and found Bill driving Armand to the hospital to get his shoulder put back in place. We packed up Armand's glider and headed to Gulgong. Gerolf and Frederico were the only pilots to make it to Gulgong. Gerolf later said that the day was more difficult than the longest day of the Worlds in Texas (the world record day).

We spoke with Armand last night. We was about to call Bill to come get him so that he didn't have to stay in the hospital last night. He was feeling good, but maybe that was the morphine. His glider just suffered from a broken down tube and two broken bottom brackets. Balasz saw Armand land from the air and said that it looked like a normal landing.

The wind continues out of the southeast and will be pushing us into recently flooded areas (Gilgandra and Coonambla) and away from Forbes, our destination for the 31st. We'll see what the story is soon. We meet this morning at the Prince of Darkness pub for a weather briefing and breakfast.

Discuss "Moyes Race and Rally, day two" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Moyes Race and Rally »

Fri, Dec 28 2007, 12:44:16 am MST

Rally

Armand dislocates his shoulder

Bill Moyes|Rob Clarkson

Armand Achione dislocated his shoulder on landing today at the Rylstone airstrip. Bill Moyes drove him to the local hospital. Hopefully the arm is back in its socket this evening. Rob Clarkson from Canada was scheduled to show up this afternoon. Hopefully he can drive Armand's car (and Armand).

The task was to Gulgong today. Only Gerolf and Fredrico made it. More on the Race later.

Discuss "Moyes Race and Rally" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2007 Gulgong Classic - Day 4 »

Wed, Nov 21 2007, 12:01:05 am MST

Gulgong

We fly to Bill Moyes' place at Rhylstone.

Bill Moyes|Curt Warren|Dragonfly|Flytec 6030|Gulgong Classic 2007|Tascha "Tish the Flying Fish" McLellan|Trent Brown

The latest scores will be up at: http://www.soaringspot.com/2007gc/results/

With a forecast for a front coming through and local thunderstorms, the task committee called a short 67 km task straight down wind to Rhylstone, a country airstrip that Bill Moyes uses for towing with the Dragonfly. It is a few hours from Sydney and not that far from Mudgee and a few small ranges over from the Hunter valley.

The launch times were early, and there was only forty five minutes to get going for the first start time after the pilot meeting, so I got going right away and was first off. There were no cu's in the vicinity but a line of cu's coming in from the west. The winds weren't strong, even though that was the expectation given the approaching front. There was a cu-nimb off in the direction of goal.

I found lift right away. Scott was next but broke a weaklink low. Trent Brown was towed up just upwind of me and found better lift so I joined him and we climbed out quickly.

Trent went to the edge of the 5 km start circle by Gulgong and I stayed with him. We were the only pilots around. I went back to get the second start timer with Scott and Cameron. Trent went on the course line by himself.

We headed south instead of south southeast toward the goal to get under the fast approaching clouds. The winds were out of the west at 15 mph and the shadows were moving fast.

The lift was reasonable under the quickly forming cu's and it was easy for us to get up. We were well west of the course line heading toward Mudgee and getting further away from the course line.

Near Mudgee we headed toward a east west ridge line that aimed toward the goal. We were 10 km west of the course line. I came in over the ridge line and found lift that was a bit rough but not bad. Working down the ridge line Scott was in the lead. Trent, Cameron, Tish and I were just behind.

I worked the broken lift down the ridge line always drifting toward goal. The cu's were forming up strongly now, but the lift wasn't all that strong. Trent joined me at a thermal 30 kilometers out from goal at the end of one of the valley were were crossing. Scott was just ahead. We had lost track of Cameron and Tish.

Twenty kilometers out Trent and I worked on our final thermal to get to goal. We were jumping over another range to get to the valley where we would find the Rhylstone airstrip. I watched the 6030 (with my magnifying lens) to see how high we needed to get to goal. When the 6030 said that I had goal by a little over a thousand feet (assuming neutral air on average on the way in) I headed out. Trent followed quickly behind me.

It was a 16 km glide to goal and Trent came up right next to me, just ten feet below me. We came over the last hill by just a hundred feet. The goal was 6 km away. Trent made a left turn while I continued straight on glide toward goal.

The 6030 user field "Altitude above Goal" continually decreased from 1000'. Two kilometers away it said I had the goal (and the 400 meter circle) by 100 feet. I made my way through the trees spotting the air strip ahead. I was thinking that I might have to land down wind to make the circle.

At about fifty feet I entered the goal cylinder flying at best glide speed the whole way. I was able to turn the glider 90°. The winds were light on the ground.

Trent landed 5 km from goal. Scott, Cameron, Tish, and Curt Warren made goal. Curt came yesterday after transmission trouble with his car in Tamworth slowed him down a bit. A few more pilots came in later.

The sky filled with cu's and made the lift a bit weak behind us. There were nearby cu-nimbs with thunder near the goal an hour after we landed.

Discuss "2007 Gulgong Classic - Day 4" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly kits

Sat, Oct 13 2007, 3:05:42 am CDT

Kits

That appears to be how they will be produced in 2008

Bill Moyes|Dan Johnson|Dragonfly|Quest Air|Tracy Tillman

I spoke with Bill Moyes a few days ago when he called from Australia to try to "clear up" any issue regarding the future of the Dragonflies as reported previously (https://OzReport.com/11.190#3). He was going to call Tracy Tillman after speaking with me to be sure he understood what he needed to do to produce an aircraft that could continue to be used for towing hang gliders. I asked Tracy what Bill had to say. Here's his report:

I gave to him to some of the FAA regulations and FAA forms for S-LSA and E-LSA kit certification, described the process for him a bit, and gave him the name of the EAA's point person on the issue. Ironically, when he called, I was in the process of helping Aerola with this too, for their Alatus and Alatus-m gliders.

Bill's previous preparation and existing documentation for certification of the Dragonfly in other countries should make S-LSA (fully complete aircraft) certification and E-LSA (kit) certification in the US much easier for him.

He may have been considering a need to develop documentation to prove that the Dragonfly would meet the 51% build rule to qualify as a legal AB-Experimental kit -- but that would not serve much purpose, as an AB-Experimental aircraft can not be used for towing. The only experimental/kit that can be used for towing is an E-LSA, and an E-LSA does not have to meet the 51% build rule, either.

I asked Tracy a few questions:

Just so I understand. In order to tow hang gliders with an aircraft manufactured after January 31st, 2008 the manufacturer needs either:

1. S-LSA certification of that aircraft.

2. E-LSA certification of the kit (and then put together by whom or does it matter?)

3. Certification as a general aviation aircraft.

Right?

It would seem that Bill is going for E-LSA certification and that then Bobby is going to put the aircraft together at the customer's site (or at Quest Air). Is this kosher?

Tracy wrote back:

Correct on # 1 and # 2, per http://www.sportpilot.org/learn/sp_rule.pdf

The builder of an E-LSA kit must complete at least 1% of the construction, meaning that the factory can do up to 99% of the work. (This is a paraphrase of Dan Johnson's article in EAA Sport Pilot Magazine, August 2005, p.38:)

The FAA will allow the factory to create factory completion centers to provide assistance to builders for the completion of their E-LSA kits. (This is a paraphrase of Dennis Demeter's article in Ultralight Flying Magazine, Nov. 2003, p. 20.)

So, it looks like it is possible for Bill Moyes to have one or more Dragonfly E-LSA factory completion centers here in the US.

Technically, for #3 if you are talking about towing hang gliders, it would be better to say: "standard category certified LSA-qualified aircraft" (not general aviation aircraft).

Discuss "Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly kits" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

The future of Bailey-Moyes Dragonflies

September 25, 2007, 8:02:03 PDT

Dragonfly

I asked Bill Moyes about the future

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Quest Air|Tracy Tillman

I wrote to Bill Moyes asking questions about the future of the Dragonfly:

So can you tell us in a few words what the deal is with ELSA and LSA and Bailey-Moyes Dragonflies?

Will Bailey-Moyes be able to continue producing Dragonflies as certified N-numbered LSA in 2008? Has the manufacturing process been documented? Can Bobby keep assembling planes?

Why did you guys build two Dragonflies just before the Worlds without N numbers? Did you expect that they could be inspected and certified in time? Seems mighty close to me.

Bill wrote back and said:

Thanks for the sweet words you wrote on the Texas meet.

Dragonfly future:

Business will be as usual. The German certification is complete and accepted. My production facility and QA system is almost complete and ready for inspection by November.

Bob does not have an A2 assembly facility that will stand inspection and Quest Air has no positive future. But Bob will continue to travel to the customer’s facility and assemble in their facility as we did in San Antonio for the Texas planes.

Bob and I built three planes in nine days. The Dragonfly is a mechano set and can be built with minimum tools and facility. The work is done in building the parts correctly in the factory and assembling the kit before delivery.

The work that we were required to do in part naming, numbering and batching for part and material trace ability seemed like a nightmare at the beginning but now it’s become so simple and valuable I’m pleased we were required to do it.

I asked Tracy Tillman about this (and then Bill Moyes again). Tracy wrote:

It is my understanding that after Jan. 31, 2008, we will not be able to fly a Dragonfly tug in the USA unless it has been previously registered and certified as an E-LSA, or unless it is a new E-LSA certified kit or SLA certified assembled aircraft. Bill did not specifically address these issues in his email to you.

(A 51% or more kit construction-built Dragonfly without E-LSA kit certification could receive Amatuer-built Experimental certification, but we can not tow with an AB-experimental, we can only tow with an S-LSA Dragonfly production aircraft or E-LSA Dragonfly certified kit aircraft.)

For example, selling uncertified kits or uncertified assembled aircraft here as "business as usual" will not fly, because we will not be able to certify them as E-LSA's, as we can now, before the Jan. 31, 2008 deadline.

So, it would be good to know if he has made plans for the Dragonfly to have S-LSA production aircraft certification and/or E-LSA kit certification in the US, so that new Dragonflys sold in the US can be legally flown and used for towing.

More on Flight Parks

Sun, Sep 9 2007, 5:06:50 pm MDT

Flight Parks

They're part of the food chain

Bill Moyes|Doug DuBois|Dragonfly

I've previously spoken with pilots who fly at Fingerlakes, staff at Fingerlakes and a number of times with Marty. I've visited Fingerlakes in the past for extended periods and had great time there flying. I've also spoken with Doug, the farmer who owns the land upon which Fingerlakes operates.

I know that they had serious problem with their neighbors (lawsuits) that they won regarding the flight park (there has been a landing strip there for ever).

In order to afford to have a flight park, it is good to have the start up capital or access to it. Marty runs a successful business that has nothing to do with hang gliding. Therefore he has this access. But it also means that he has to spend most of his time taking care of business away from the flight park.

The Fingerlakes region lends itself to only a seasonal operation unlike the Florida flight parks. This means that staff can not be full time. Also Marty's flight park was not open on a continuous basis during the season. It was more a fun hobby than an actually going concern (as I see it).

Also there are plenty of free to use foot launch sites nearby so pilots had other options for getting air time. They may have wanted to support Marty's flight park, but sometimes maybe they wanted to fly someplace else.

I really liked Marty's flight park, but I haven't gone there in the past two years because Cloud 9 seemed much more accessible, reliable, and relaxed (in its atmosphere). Also, it seemed to be a better spot for serious cross country distances (not withstanding Linda Salamone's big flight from Marty's place). It is not too far from Marty's especially for a footloose guy like me.

I have also visited and flown at Adventure Airsports in Ottawa, Kansas. You can read about our adventures at these two flight parks in past issues of the Oz Report. I haven't visited in the last two years because their tug has been inoperable, so there was no way to get into the air.

Flying there is great with huge cross country potential (as you can see from my flights there). The problem is that it is not a flight park, that Doug DuBois has another job, so getting a pilot to tow you up involves him driving down from Lawrence, Kansas. This is really a club of hang glider pilots who want to get into the air and got a tug as the best way to do it. But then someone had to fly the tug.

Again, the season is summer for this operation, so nothing full time could develop. Their demise is the demise of their club as an effective basis for an aerotow operation. We know that this is an inherently unstable situation.

Now, as to Steve's point re FAA regulations. This is a big issue, despite the fact that the FAA said that they wanted to work with the hang gliding industry to help us stay in business, not run us out of town on a rail.

Tug pilots have to be obtain their private pilot's license, despite the fact that the skill set required for this license has almost nothing to do with the skill set required to be a proficient tug pilot. Tiki and Bart at Cowboy Up just spent $10,000 for Tiki to get her private pilot's license. $10,000 is a rather significant barrier to entry to the low paid world of Dragonfly pilot. This is $10,000 that could be spent in a lot better ways to make for a successful aerotow operation.

Then there is the certification of the existing Dragonflies (another big expense and time hassle - although in Bill Moyes' case, well worth it) and their N numbering. And will we know if Bill and Bobby can produce certified Dragonflies in 2008.

Again, while it would appear that inspection and certification is a good idea for safety reasons, will this drive out the main manufacturer of our tugs?

The major issue is the creation of new hang glider pilots, the burden that lies heavily on the shoulders of a very few professional hang gliding instructors. They are not enough to revive the sport and create a growth spurt. So this may all be mute anyway.

Discuss "More on Flight Parks" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2007 Worlds - why is Moyes so successful? »

August 24, 2007, 9:24:51 MDT

Worlds

One big family

Attila Bertok|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Brett Hazlett|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Robert Reisinger|Rob Kells|Scott Barrett|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Tomas Suchanek|Worlds 2007

Moyes hasn't had a World Champion since Tomas Suchanek in 1995 (Manfred from Icaro had a monopoly for six years and then Oleg came along). Now they have Attila Bertok and the top three places on the podium with Robert Reisinger and Gerolf Heinrichs, the Moyes glider designer. In spite of this lack (and now abundance) Moyes has been very successful in competition with their glider well represented. In fact in many competition the Moyes gliders dominated the top spots. Why is Moyes so successful?

First of all Gerolf has designed a very competitive glider. The differences between the top of the line competition topless gliders is very slight, so as long as you have a glider that is as good as any of the other top gliders then you can let the differences between pilot skills become the deciding factor.

Second, Gerolf is a very good pilot, obviously from his third place finish at the Worlds, as well as a charismatic figure. Having your designer be an elite level pilot sends a huge message. Unfortunately, that message can be that it is the pilot not the glider, as it has often been in the case of Icaro and Aeros. So it takes more than that.

Third, the way you get around the identification of the top pilot/designer as the reason that the glider does well is to have the glider flown by lots and lots of pilots. This was not the case with the Icaro and earlier with the Aeros Combat gliders (although this is much less true now). With fewer pilots flying them, it appeared as though it was more Manfred and Oleg rather than the glider that determined how well they did (but, of course, I would argue that this is always the case).

Fourth, of course, I have illustrated a chicken and egg problem. How do you get many pilots to fly your glider in the first place so that pilots don't automatically assign the success of the glider to the elite pilot?

Fifth, Moyes has a strong family tradition. A strong extended family tradition. A family tradition that reaches out and incorporates many others into the family and gives them that family feeling, that feeling of belonging to a very special family/club.

Who has been to every Worlds - Molly and Bill Moyes (and until this Worlds, Steve Moyes has flown in every Worlds, and won one). Their dedication to the sport was highlighted at the Worlds on the last night to a standing ovation. A very important symbol and one felt by all the pilots there. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

Bill and Molly are the patriarch and matriarch of a large and extended family and three of their children run Moyes Delta Gliders while Bill runs Bailey-Moyes Dragonflies. Pilots from around the world have over the years been brought into the company to help build the gliders. Think Brett Hazlett, Kraig Coomber, Jonny Durand, Attila Bertok, Mikki Fiesenbichler, and many others.

Moyes has built loyalty among the most promising new pilots giving them a helping hand and supporting them early. This willingness to bring others into the family is part of the family tradition. There is always room for one more, includign Gerolf and Bobby Bailey, and many many others..

Can you think of one other "company" that was at the Worlds in such force? Rob Kells and Steven Pearson from Wills Wing were there (separately), but how can they compete with the Moyes family (including Vicki - who heads up Moyes marketing)? Rob and Steve provide great support, but they are just being outgunned. Kraig Coomber (the main designer of the Moyes Matrix harness) from Moyes USA was there helping other pilots as well as flying very well.

Airborne had their designer, Scott Barrett. Who was there from Aero and Icaro? Their gliders were there, but I wasn't aware of any other presence.

The attraction of the Moyes family/company/brand is huge. Pilots have the feeling that the Moyes glider is superior, or if not superior, at least as good as any of the other gliders there. They feel that you can't go wrong with the Moyes RS. (Actually Attila flies the older S model as he likes to fly the big mode - S5, and there isn't an RS-5 - for obvious reasons, if you think about it.)

The Moyes family makes you feel part of a big friendly superior family/club even if you aren't the top most pilot around. It is just something that they have learned from being such a family for years and it is natural for them to extend it to others. Marketing by being one big happy family.

If you are not part of that family, you are just missing something. So Moyes attracts many more pilots than other manufacturers (at least at these elite level competitions) and that gives everyone the feeling that the glider is superior as the superior pilots are flying the glider. And that solves the chicken and egg problem.

2007 Worlds - the show is over for this year »

August 19, 2007, 11:26:10 pm CDT

Big Spring

All our friends are going home

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Attila Bertok|Bill Moyes|Blue Sky|Bobby Bailey|Dustin Martin|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Robert Reisinger|Worlds 2007

It has been a great run. Attila Bertok won the 2007 Worlds and the 2006 pre-Worlds here in Big Spring (the first time the pre-Worlds and Worlds have been one by the same individual). Attila won the first three days when the conditions were the most difficult. Robert Reisinger came on strong as the meet progressed (as he gained experience flying here in Texas) and as conditions improved. Attila had a GPS problem on the last day of the competition where he had to fix or replace the battery (it is not always clear what Attila is saying). The GPS quit but he was able to get it working again. This no doubt slowed him down quite a bit (check the results on that day). 
The final results were very close until the end and this made for a lot of excitement.

Moyes gliders had all three positions on the podium, apparently the first time that this has happened.

Many pilots told me how much they enjoyed flying in Texas and how impressed they were with the friendliness and hospitality of the Texans. Many of them had taken their impressions from the media and didn't realize that not all Texans were like the younger Bush. They were just so happy to have this wonderful  experience (so many made goal on so many days and the competition really was really a race with major level tasks).

Attila gave a great acceptance talk after winning the Worlds in which he showed his appreciation for all the help he has received starting with Bill Moyes many years ago. He showed his great love of the sport and how much he appreciated how wonderfully the Texans had treated him.

I was a little chagrinned when I called the last day after a day and night of heavy rain, thick clouds all morning, and a forecast for 70% chance of more rain, cloudy and cool temperatures with southeast winds for Saturday. There was a hint that this forecast was total wrong when we saw a bit of blue sky off to the southwest and strong southwest winds, but I wasn't picking up on these clues strongly enough. The forecast turned out to be completely wrong, as the sky cleared around noon, the cloud base was not a thousand feet as forecast but probably three or four thousand feet (later), with lot of cu's not turning into over development except quite a bit to the east (where the remnants of the storm was tracking to the north).

The winds were strong, but not too strong, so that we were able to hold a spot landing contest at around 3:30 PM. Jonny Durand was first, the only one spot on, Dustin second, with one foot on the three foot by three foot spot.  Rodrigo Russek from Mexico was third (more on him later). I was able to land two feet away from the spot flying the Wills Wing Sport 2.

Still we didn't fly a task on this last day, so we don't know for sure whether it was a mistake or not not to fly it. Alex Ploner felt that the clouds wouldn't have provided any lift, given how the ground was soaked. Bobby Bailey (who also did well in the spot landing competition flying my glider), thought we (me, actually) blew it as he felt lots of lift around the airport. On Sunday it blew strong from the south all day with not a cloud in the sky.

2007 Worlds - Day 7, Task 6 »

August 15, 2007, 3:47:46 pm CDT

Big Spring

A dogleg task with an an upwind leg to goal

Andrew Vanis|Belinda Boulter|Bill Moyes|CIVL|Jamie Shelden|Rob Kells|Steve Kroop|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Worlds 2007

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

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

http://ozreport.hgcomps.net/comps/index.php?op=show_comps

[IMAGE]

Photo by Belinda Boulter

Rob Kells, Davis, Trish, and two others help a Moyes pilot get ready to launch at Big Spring. Rob and Trish have returned to Los Angeles. Steve Pearson should be here Tuesday.

We called a 165 km task with two waypoints and a goal at Tbar, a small airfield. The CIVL folks (Flip and Heather) have taken the goal line out to the field. They have been very helpful at this meet. Andrew Vanis is coming back from Albuquerque to help with the goal. Jamie and Steve Kroop are on their way to goal to also help out.

The quote from Bill Moyes, "This is the best organized, smoothest and most professionally run Worlds that I have ever seen."

SALE!! SALE!! Three Bailey-Moyes Dragonflies at $5000 off

August 11, 2007, 3:22:52 pm CDT

Sale

Contact Bill Moyes

Bill Moyes|Worlds

Available after the Worlds - 863-207-6216 (Bill Moyes).

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2007 Worlds - Day 2, Task 2, part 6 »

August 10, 2007, 11:07:03 pm CDT

Big Spring

Corinna floats into goal

Andrew Vanis|Bill Moyes|cart|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Dragonfly|Dustin Martin|Worlds 2007

The one footed Chris Smith wants me to mention what a killer golf cart driver, cart retriever he is. I don't get to see it that much as I've been at the north launch, but he looked smooth.

Bill Moyes is still causing heart attacks around here. He didn't preflight a Dragonfly that he and/or Bobby just built and the elevator bolts were on finger tight. Fortunately, they came off just as he was taking off so he could keep the plane on the ground. Otherwise we would be attending his funeral a bit too soon.

Corinna made goal specked out. She apparently spent the whole day hanging out above everyone else (she is light on her glider) and came in super high.

Andrew Vanis from New Mexico is here helping out for a few days. He's on crutches but he was still able to place the wind socks that mark the goal line out in the cotton fields near the airport. Amazing. They are 400 meters apart and need to be perpendicular to the last leg of the course.

The goal was a crop dusting field with cotton fields all around it but we had permission to land on the runway. There was grass next to the runway. It's green out here.

The thermals were tough again today. Hard to find and hard to stay up in, but still the good pilots made goal quickly.

2007 Worlds - Day 1, Task 1 »

August 9, 2007, 5:19:13 pm CDT

Big Spring

It's blue with a bit of wind

Bill Moyes|Mike Barber|Steve Burns|Worlds 2007

The results when they are ready:

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

http://ozreport.hgcomps.net/comps/index.php?op=show_comps

The task was a 143 km straight shot to Town and Country airport just south of Lubbock. We started launching 'em at 1:45 PM and the north launch line had all their guys (55) and four reflights done in an hour. Then we had another dozen reflights straggle in. All wrapped up in an hour and a half.

No accidents unless you count Bill Moyes running out of gas in one of the tugs (and towing like a madman). Steve Burns is here flying a tug (not his own). He gave me a big hug. He wasn't towing like a madman.

Mike Barber is here but on the ground an hour after the last start time (3:45). It was a tough day or at least a tough start with no cu's at all, and lower temperatures than forecast for 2 PM, which, of course, made the lift lighter and lower than forecast. There was a strong inversion at 2,500' AGL, but soon some pilots were able to climb to 5,000' AGL.

More later.

Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly Deal

Thu, Jun 21 2007, 10:36:33 pm EDT

Dragonflies

Get a special deal on Dragonflies built for the Worlds

Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|David Glover|Dragonfly

David Glover «davidhglover» writes:

Bill Moyes called this evening and would like to know if anyone would like to get a tug or tugs at a discount. These tugs would be built Bobby Bailey and would get their shakedown flights at the Worlds in Texas this August. Interested parties should call Bill in Australia in the next two days. Bill is trying to help support the pilots and at the same time provide a good deal. Bill Moyes phone number +61 43 398 5722.

Discuss "Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly Deal" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Ohio Dragonfly Certified

May 14, 2007, 6:39:20 MST

Certification

E-LSA

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|John Alden|Paul Farina

Paul Farina «Farina» writes:

The Ohio chapter has successfully built, registered, and certified their Dragonfly Tug. (E-LSA) This has been a combined effort from all members of the club, and many thanks are in order. Especially to Frank and Deb Murphy, whose tireless dedication, talent, and attention to detail, guided the project through to its completion. To Wes Jones, our airport owner/operator, John Alden and Ken Munn, our instructors, to Bill Moyes, Tracy and Lisa at Cloud 9, and all the rest of our members too numerous to mention.

Certified private pilots: Ken Munn, Frank Murphy, and Paul Farina

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Forbes Flatlands, the best Oz meet ever? »

January 13, 2007, 7:21:21 AEDT

Forbes

What made for a most excellent competition?

Bill Moyes|Forbes Flatlands|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Quest Air|Tim Cummings|weather

It seems from this vantage point (and during the competition also) that the 2007 Forbes Flatlands was the best Australian hang gliding competition ever and perhaps one of the best hang gliding competitions ever held. I reported yesterday on the high task distances and the high percentage at goal which speaks to the issue of great flying conditions and excellent task calling (we should have Attila, Gerolf and Jonny (who represent three different countries) on the task committee for the Worlds in Big Spring).

The weather conditions at Forbes were excellent. Every day the ground temperatures were in the low to mid thirties (80 to 96 degree Fahrenheit). This made for comfortable conditions on the ground as well as excellent temperature and lift conditions in the air. We had one day with high winds when a front came through and we did not fly on that day. The day with the best cloud development was on the day we did not fly after it was canceled due to Andreas Orgler's death.

We had blue days and days with lots of clouds, and we flew well with and without clouds. The climb rates were excellent and the thermal spacing was such that you could fly fast and not be so concerned about getting too low (with a few exceptions).

When the winds were strong they were not so strong as to break up the thermals, and with down wind tasks on those days it was easy to drift in light thermals if necessary. When the winds were light it was easy to do out and returns.

The airport was a good venue for the meet, only seven km from town. It had a hangar for the tugs, and a bigger hangar for the trikes. It was a short drive in the field to the setup area.

There was a sandwich trailer and a tent setup by the aeroclub each day to pilots to eat and have shade (No air conditioned lounge, unfortunately). There was water and drinks available.

The town and town businesses supported the meet. The headquarters was the Vandenberg hotel (a pub) where some pilots stayed and which provided access to good meals every night. They are wireless internet access, a big meeting room, an outdoor patio for the presentation, and a bar for drinks. The hotel doors were open by 7 AM and it stayed open late.

We had ready access to Tim Cummings and the organizers would stayed up till 3 AM to do the scoring when necessary. The results were posted in a timely fashion and soon available on the internet in two locations. All the tracklogs were available quickly for analysis as was the alternative FTV scoring system.

Speaking of scoring, Tim Cummings did a great job. He didn't use CompeGPS. He used his java based track log and task validation software (runs on Mac and Windows) and GPSDump  to create IGC files. The scoring was done in Race using OzGAP 2005. This seems like a very workable system.

Tim also set up the scoring rules in a perfectly reasonable and pilot friendly fashion, a manner that I would hope other scorekeepers emulate. With his software it was easy to move pilots who started before the first clock to the first clock, so that pilots could start early and not have the goal completion times affect others. So you got no penalty for starting earlier (other than the fact that you were often on your own). Pilots were flying in basically the same air as those who started earlier, as they were restricted by the launch opening window.

This can work easily if you use OzGAP 2005 and something other than CompeGPS and don't use CompeGPS to integrate the flights into Race. Perhaps Tim can say more about this.

The organizers provided three free dinners and the dinner on the presentation night was excellent, served quickly and at the perfect time. A well fed pilots is a happy pilot.

The meet was inexpensive, $200 AUD entry fee and only $300 AUD for towing. This compares with a towing fee of $400-$500 normally and $700 that we paid at the pre-Worlds in 1997. This was no doubt a big encouragement to the pilots to come to this meet. I hope that the meet organizers broke even at least.

Vicki Moyes and all her crew, including the meet director, Drew Cooper, the tug pilots, the ground crew, Tim Cummings, the score keeper, Bill Moyes, Bob Bailey, and all the folks that helped did an excellent job. The first day was a little disorganized regarding the waypoints and the staging lines and setup area, but the organizers learned very quickly and were flexible, so they quickly improved things. I highly commend them for this as meet directors and organizer can often very rigid (they get scared when under pressure) .

Vicki and then Drew adopted the Quest Air system for towing, staging, and launching. One area for tugs landing, two staging lines, two launch lines. This is a very big improvement over former Australian aerotow only meets. This allows the organizers to concentrate their scarce resource, their ground crew, to keep things moving on the ground, making sure pilots are ready. I did see instances where pilots needed to have better bridles to reduce the time it took to hook them up. These will not be tolerated at the Worlds. 

Bill and Bobby went one further, they setup a separate launch area away from the main launch, which was for the pilots that needed extra help on tow, with the tow masters giving them gentle and forgiving tows. This is something that is hard to do at Quest Air (given the limitations of the space) and leads to a lot of frustration on the part of the crew and organizers with pilots who have poor towing skills. There was a lot of room at the Forbes airport to run this type of operation.

I will be encouraging Vicki to continue with the Forbes Flatlands. I believe that it can be a stellar attraction to bring pilots from Japan, Europe, and the US to Australia during their northern hemisphere winter. Previously pilots have complained about the harsh conditions in the tow paddocks in January in Australia (with good reason). This meet showed that that doesn't have to be the case. You can enjoy some of the very best in hang gliding competition in the air without having to suffer for it on the ground.

The 2007 Forbes Flatlands combined magical flying with superior organization and friendly surroundings. I wish to thank all those involved in making this meet so successful and I hope that it serves as a model to others on how meets can be run successfully and how Australian meets can attract many international pilots.

The Forbes Flatlands - Task 3

January 6, 2007, 8:52:51 pm AEDT

Forbes Task 3

Lots of high clouds and a dog leg with a cross wind leg in high winds

Belinda Boulter|Bill Moyes|Forbes Flatlands 2007|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Quest Air

The results: http://www.moyes.com.au/Forbes2007/Results.aspx.

Pride goeth before a fall. Here's a little lesson that gets "learnt" so many times.

We were given a new turnpoint and we had to input it manually. I dislike the fact that they are using degrees, decimal degrees here instead of the world wide standard of degrees, minutes, decimal minutes. This means that we are constantly changing display formats.

The launch lines were even more organized today with all the tugs coming into one line. It is more and more like the Florida operations especially Quest Air. Bill Moyes and Bobby created a third line way a way from the others for the pilots that are a little shaky on tow.

When the launch line opened no one jumped in line unlike the day before. I wonder what changed in people's minds. Don't they know we got to get the start time in an hour? I wandered out and finally took the third launch spot, surprise, behind Bobby. I wonder why he wasn't over at his special launch line.

At 1,000' AGL Bobby and I parted ways quickly as we hit a hard thermal and the weaklink exploded. The sky was molted but the lift was good to over 9,000'. There were only a few of us in the air and I wondered why folks were waiting and whether they would get up in time.

The start circle was 25 km, so we really had to go a long ways to get to the edge of the start circle in time. It looked like I would just make it, what was holding everyone back?

I moved west to stay upwind of the southwest course line and moved quickly toward the start circle, but there was no one with me. Why were they doing this? Had I skunked them? I called Belinda on the radio to check and recheck to make sure that I had start time right. Yup, what was up?

Off I went at 2:30 PM the start time still trying to figure out the problem. Then I thought that maybe I really was to blame and the problem was that I had made a mistake when I put in the turnpoint. I called Belinda again and yup I had the wrong coordinates. I climbed to the top of the thermal;, went on glide and changed the coordinates with the vario not sounding and not looking an anything but the vario (don't try this at home).

When I got it all straightened out, I was 50 km west of the turnpoint instead of upwind of it like everyone else (there was a strong north wind). It sure took me a while to figure out that I was not the coolest guy on the planet and everyone else were not bloody fools.

I had a great flight cross wind to make the turnpoint, but didn't catch anything useful after getting the turnpoint plenty high.

Forty pilots made goal quickly. Jonny Durand won the day with Dave Seib second.

The Forbes Flatlands - Task 1

January 4, 2007, 7:13:53 AEDT

Forbes Day 1

We go a hundred miles on the first day.

Bill Moyes|Forbes Flatlands 2007|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Oleg Bondarchuk|Quest Air|Tim Cummings|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

The first day is filled with a bit of chaos as the organizers try out an Australian/Bill Moyes version of the standard Quest Air/Flytec/Big Spring system for launching and staging folks. Attempting to do three lines spreads the ground resources too thin (I've mentioned and written about this numerous times, but no one ever listens to me) and there is no one to marshal the lines and get everyone lined up in the right spots. The staging lines aren't filled by WPRS order as they requested (which is very hard to do anyway and requires many more ground resources). The setup area is next to the staging line (in fact in the staging line) so that makes it so you can't have a proper staging line.

But who cares? Then, the three start times are set starting at 2:30 PM, but it's already 1 PM, and no one is ready to get going. There is no pilot briefing and there is supposed to be a half hour of open launch window for those not in ordered launch. There is too little time for this to happen, and I just get ready and get in the launch line in ordered launch (only the staging was supposed to be ordered, but it wasn't).

I get behind a trike at 1:30 PM for my first tow on a Moyes LiteSpeed in a year, my first tow on a flex wing in a while, and I'm off for the best tow ever behind a trike. There are thick raining type clouds covering half the sky and cu's in the other half. I find lift right away to 6,000' MSL (5,300' AGL).

The task is 160 kilometers to the west with a fifteen km start circle. The top 30 rated pilots have to take the 2:45 PM start gate, others are free to go at 2:30 PM and 3 PM. Then somehow between Tim Cummings and Gerolf Heinrichs, the start times continues on indefinitely perhaps acknowledging the lack of time we have to get everyone up for the three start times.

We wallow around the start time getting lower as more clouds come in to shut down the lift. I see Oleg Bondarchuck heading south toward the sun light and chase after him. I don't find anything but spot two pilots turning even further south. I head for them and before I get there I find a good thermal. I start climbing fast and Oleg, Mikki, Lukas Bader, Steve Moyes and others come in and join me in the thermal.

We're high as the 2:45 start time opens and Mikki, Lukas, Oleg and I are the top guys in the lead gaggle as we head out way south of the course line. The sky is opening up in front of us with little semi-cu's ahead to mark lift perhaps. The four of us fly together spreading out to find lift and hanging in weak lift, which is mostly what we find.

Then 50 km out from the start I charge ahead thinking that the lift is dying and these guys will join me, but they don't. There are some reasonable looking clouds ahead so I was actually heading for something that I thought would work well, but they were weak.

I get down to 1,300' AGL, but start climbing well, as I watch Mikki, Lukas and Oleg one thermal ahead of me. It is slow going for a while with Jonny Durand underneath me, but finally I find strong lift and get going again.

I spot Lukas, Mikki and Oleg out in front of me but low. As soon as one of them starts turning and flashing his wings I race to join them in the thermal. It is great to catch the lead gaggle once again. But I'm not alone in this. Others are sneaking by as we climb up.

I leave a thermal one turn too late and these three get away from me again, as we head for goal. Finally the lift gets good as we get into the blue and I find 700 fpm, the best lift of the day 175 km from goal. I can't pass this up, but then I can't get down at goal and come in at 2,500' AGL in about the twelfth position.

Apparently the lead gaggle was a little too slow, which I felt at the time, as we were always climbing in weak lift and no one was willing to jump out in front, not even Oleg who often does this. Of course he said that I was down to 500' at one point, so that might have slowed him down a little.

About a third of the field made goal. Gerolf and Seppi did not get much past the start circle (at least the first time). This means that I'm ahead in the contest between Gerolf and I for the Moyes LiteSpeed.

Wilcannia

Wed, Jan 3 2007, 7:40:20 am AEDT

How it went for the French

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Bill Moyes|Gil Souviron|record|weather

Gil Souviron «Gil.Souviron» writes:

We went with twelve pilots, six in rigid and six in flex, and the expedition was a remarkable experiment, where we discovered an exceptional hang gliding site, and exceptional people, Bill Moyes and his family. I would say that in Spain, the conditions are very similar and we also have there a formidable hang gliding play-ground that requires but one day drive by car from France. But during the northern hemisphere winter, Wilcannia is much better, of course.

Considering the performance of rigid and flexible today there is no doubt that the out and return and FAI triangle distance records will fall soon, especially as these distances are seriously titillated our Australian friends and Team Moyes. With Micky, Gerolf, I expect my record to fall soon.

What is important is that records are made to be beaten and I am pleased (finally) to have made a larger triangle than Thomas Suchaneck, to show the performance of the new rigid wing hang gliders. With Jean-Charles Ballembois and Jean my brother, we will now polish some interesting “small triangle on our premises” in the south of the French Alps.

If you want to find the best conditions in winter and discover a very attractive country, there is only one place: Australia, and for the logistics, support and everything else one man Bill Moyes and his Moyes team.

Personally, I went to Australia with two main goals: to discover the country and to break the FAI records for longest out and return and FAI triangle. I did the first one officially and the second one not officially. Even if it is not a piece of cake, the 400km out and return and 400 km triangle is quite achievable with the performance of the gliders today.

I can confirm the Atos VR is better than any flex (I flew with Micki for 180km), but I would say about 5-10km/h more speed at same glide (I weight only 66kg and no Ballast just 5 liters of water).

World thermal analysis:

I will be interested to find, like the surfer, where the best hang gliding spot in the world is. As I am sure we know most of them, I don’t think all, and also it will be very interesting to have the statistics on all the spots we know.

On all the trip we have done I have been very surprised by the accuracy of the forecast done by this NOAA site: http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready.html. At least for Spain and Australia it works fine with an accuracy of 90% forecasting two days out. Quite surprisingly this NOAA site have archives for weather since 1997.

I am thinking (or dreaming), that if we can find a student or group of students (I mean clever students) who can make an exhaustive analysis and statistics on 10 years worth of weather data.

Let say, by analyzing a sounding every 100km x 100km over all the Earth where we are sure the conditions are good (reasonably 30% of the earth emerged = 50 Million km²), so we will have to take 5,000 Sounding. Making this for half a year (“winter” in each hemisphere is not good for flying) so 200 days means about 1,000,000 sounding analysis per year or 10 Millions for ten years. As the result of one sounding is given in a few seconds, it will be quite low time computing.

Now we need to have software to automate the analysis and make statistics, to get: Ceiling (absolute and differential), nebulosity (0 to 8/8) and wind (Ground, 1500 meters, 3000 meters and 4500 meters) and even convection duration. Then with this result we can statistically tell which is the best spot in the world, what the average good day is at each and every spot (with very accurate data: days with ceiling above, wind average, etc.)

NOAA is part of the American government. It would be nice to talk with them to discuss if this idea can work or is stupid. But the result could be extremely useful for all pilots flying thermals (or waves).

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Francis, John and Bill, the early history of hang gliding

Fri, Dec 1 2006, 8:05:49 pm PST

Francis

A critique of the interview.

Bill Moyes|history|Graeme Henderson|record|video|John Dickenson|Francis Rogallo

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6019950879174672842

Graeme Henderson «flyingfree» writes:

While there are some good things to be said about this video, it does have some problems.

John Dickenson had a brain freeze and said that he contacted Dr. Rogallo. John was under pressure on that day. He lost his job on that day, and so was not 100% on the ball. In fact, Dr. Rogallo initiated the contact between the two of them, after being told by Robin Bishop of John's achievements.

Bill claims that all the previous pilots had crashed, and that John had been taking people to Hospital when Bill flew. Not so. Many people flew adequately before Bill.

On the day of Bill's first flight, John Dickenson demonstrated the aircraft first. John and Mike were giving flights to members of a Water Ski Club. Bill had to wait until all of the Club members had had their fill of flying before he was allowed to fly.

One man re-broke his leg. He had broken it a short time earlier in a road accident and it hadn't healed. He should not have been on water skis. It broke due to the shock from the skis, not from a crash.

Neither John Dickenson nor Mike Burns took anyone to Hospital. John Dickenson was the observer on the boat for Bill's first flight.

Bill also says that John got back from the hospital and realized that Bill had flown the glider and that John rushed up to Bill and asked him how it went. Bill says, "Just how you said it would!" John says "Really!". This is hard to explain, as it has no basis in reality.

Bill Moyes claims to have been the first to fly the wing, in his statement that, "That's when I realized that I was the Bunny!" This is rubbish.

Starting with Rod Fuller and then John, many people had flown the glider before Bill Moyes. Bill first flew in March, 1967, three and a half years after the first flight.

The glider he flew was built by Aerostructures. John had sold at least seven gliders before Aerostructures became involved. Bill's inference that he was in anyway a test pilot for this machine is pure dreaming. The aircraft had been refined and developed a great deal and Aerostructures were building the gliders to a very high standard, Aircraft quality indeed.

In the unedited interview, Bill actually claims that prior to him everyone had flown the Glider as a kite, in a stable stall! No one had ever flown it as a wing! This is untrue, and actually impossible I think. It seems that this is how and when it changed from a Kite into a hang glider in Bill's mind.

Bill claims to have flown eight miles on his first flight, and released when he encountered power lines across the river!

Mike Burns, " Must have been another flight."

John Dickenson, " Ha. That happened to me a few weeks earlier when I was doing the record flight."

Bill implies that this action to avoid these mythical power lines was the first release and free glide in a Dickenson Wing, but that is so wrong. Release and landings were common by 1964. Witnesses abound to this fact.

That aside it is not a bad video. Tthe uncut version is more interesting though. This one does provide some explanation to how John Dickenson's role in Hang Gliding has been obscured for so long.

Certainly one senses from his correspondence to John that Dr. Rogallo felt that John was still not getting the recognition he deserved from this video. He noted Bill Bennett had acknowledged John and that Bill Moyes would most likely receive that magazine. Dr. Rogallo is a very intelligent man.

For more of an understanding on why the world has been confused about who invented the modern hang glider, I recommend reading; http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/delta_wing_162.htm and http://www.moyes.com.au/articledetail.asp?ID=63&Cat=Interest

Discuss "Francis, John and Bill, the early history of hang gliding" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Forbes Update

December 1, 2006, 6:05:08 pm PST

Forbes

The joint is jumping

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Grant Heaney|Lee Patterson|Vicki Cain

Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Dragonfly|Grant Heaney|Lee Patterson|Vicki Cain

www.moyes.com.au

Vicki Cain «vicki» writes:

Numbers:
We have ninety pilots registered and have booked three trikes to add to the six Dragonfly’s. We have Pete Wilson from Tumut, Matthew Olive from Newcastle and Grant Heaney from Tocumwal joining us. Our Dragonfly pilots are Bobby Bailey of course, Brendan Sadgrove from Sydney, Nathan Goringe from Victoria, Bob Keen (Smokey), Bruce Crerar and John Blain (Blaino) from Queensland.

Registration:
Registration closes on the 8th December. There are still plenty of pilots that have not paid the A$200 entry fee. So come on guys. Entry fee paid by 8th December will hold your place. After 8th December any unpaid registrations will be deleted and we will supply tugs according to those numbers.

Aerotow Fees:
Aerotow fees are to be paid in cash at the time of registration. There will be no credit card facilities available at registration.

Towing:
We have been advised by the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia that each pilot will need to show proof of an aerotow rating. For International pilots we do understand that some countries do not have provision for such a rating. If that is the case you have two options. One is to have proof that you have successfully aerotowed in Flatlands conditions. For example your name on the result sheet at a major aerotow meet within the last few years. Second is to get an aerotow rating with the HGFA.

Aerotow Rating:
Bill Moyes and Lee Patterson will be conducting an aerotow endorsement course at Rylstone Airstrip from the 28th December until the 31st. If anyone is interested please let me know and I will book you in. Rylstone is halfway between Sydney and Forbes (kind of).

Headquarters:
Will be at the Van Den Berg Hotel, Court Street, Forbes, in the Function room. We will be open for registration on the morning of the 2nd from 9 am for those wanting an early start on the practice day. We will have a welcome bbq (sausage sizzle and steak sandwich) at headquarters starting from 6 pm with formalities at 8 pm.

Practice Day:
No one is to enter the airfield before the practice day. No one is to enter the airfield before they have formally registered. No sign No fly.

Discuss Forbes at the Oz Report forum

John Dickenson, Francis Rogallo, and Bill Moyes »

October 24, 2006, 11:04:29 PDT

Dickenson

The three are interviewed.

Bill Moyes|Francis Rogallo|video


Or here: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6019950879174672842

Discuss Dickenson at the Oz Report forum

Francis Rogallo, John Dickenson, and Bill Moyes together »

Mon, Oct 16 2006, 7:31:40 pm PDT

Rogollo

They discuss the history of hang gliding

Bill Moyes|Francis Rogallo|John Dickenson|video

http://www.ozreportradio.com/video/?Rogallo_Dickenson_Moyes_interview_1988.avi

It's a 90 MB file and 10:58 minutes. Later we will make a YouTube streaming version available after we do a little cut to get it down to 10 minutes.

This is a great interview, professionally done, of the three major pioneers of the sport of hang gliding. Each made a crucial contribution to the sport.

Thanks to Gerry for converting the DVD to AVI format.

Discuss "Francis Rogallo, John Dickenson, and Bill Moyes together" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

John Dickenson »

October 10, 2006, 5:21:40 pm PDT

Dickenson

The commemoration

Bill Moyes|Chris Fogg|Graeme Henderson

Jacaranda Festival Program

Saturday 28th October

11. 30am–1.30 pm

Lunch

A lunch sponsored by the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia will be held at the Grafton Racecourse with special guest speakers John Dickenson, Rod Fuller and Pat Crowe to tell their story of the invention and first flight of the Hang Glider.

Venue: Grafton Racecourse, Powell St, Grafton, Australia

Meal: A delicious two-course cold buffet luncheon.

Cost: $25 per head. Drinks available from the bar. Bookings: To book and purchase tickets please contact:

Lyn Diskon 0427 900 313 / Mark Butler– 0408 434 366 Lyn on (02) 6642 4313 or e-mail at «threeon»

Please note that numbers are limited and all tickets must be pre-purchased. Payment can be made by cash, cheque or electronically by direct deposit.

Special Guests for luncheon and official ceremony

. John Dickenson, inventor of the world’s first modern weight shift Hang Glider and pioneer of Hang Gliding flight and the sport of Hang Gliding.

. Rod Fuller, first man to successfully fly a modern weight shift Hang Glider and founding member of the Grafton Gliding club. Pioneer of Hang Gliding flight.

. Pat Crowe, driver of the ski boat for the launch of the first flight.

. Ian Tiley, Mayor and Councillors of Clarence Valley Council

. State and Federal members of Parliament.

. Graeme Henderson, Co-ordinator and Hang-Gliding historian without whom much of this history would have been lost.

. Mike Burns, Aircraft Engineer, his company Aerostructures was the world’s first commercial manufacturer and exporter of Hang Gliders

. Pioneer of Hang Gliding.

. Dick Smith has advised that he will fly into Grafton on the 28th and will be present for lunch and the official ceremony.

. Bill Moyes, Director of the Hang-Gliding Federation of Australia, Founder of Moyes Delta Gliders and pioneer of the sport of Hang Gliding.

. The General Manager, Chris Fogg and Directors of the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia . Manager, Jenny Massie and Directors of Clarence River Tourism

2. 30pm

An official ceremony to honour the contribution of John Dickenson, Rod Fuller and Pat Crowe will be conducted by the Mayor of Clarence Valley Council with the unveiling of an interpretative panel commemorating the invention and first flight of the modern weight-shift Hang Glider.

A re-enactment flight will be organised by Chris Fogg and Bill Moyes of the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia with an early model Hang-Glider towed behind a ski boat.

Discuss Dickenson at the Oz Report forum

Color between the lines

May 25, 2006, 9:17:35 EDT

Color

How about a color coded VG line?

Bill Moyes|Bob Maloney|Litespeed LS5|Variable Geometry|Wallaby Ranch

Bob Maloney «Maloney45» writes:

When I got my new Litespeed LS5 I found the ease of VG adjustment to be a real pleasure. This "easy pull" is a result of more pulley advantage which means a line with more distance between the marks( 1/4, 1/2 , etc.). I found myself looking away from my flight path on final to check the setting of the VG, since I want to be sure to land at about 1/3. Green permanent marker applied to the line between 1/4 and 1/2 solved that problem.

The other color choices are red 3/4-full (rarely used due to how stiff the glider gets) and blue 1/2-3/4. This idea has proved popular with some of the "locals" at Wallaby Ranch. Also I saw Bill Moyes last week, he seemed to like the idea and commented that he hadn't heard of this before.

Discuss Color at the Oz Report forum

Bill Moyes flies a hang glider

Tue, Mar 7 2006, 9:00:27 am EST

Bill Moyes

Who needs a helmet?

Bill Moyes|Rob in 't Groen

Rob in 't Groen «rob» writes:

Two weeks ago at Rylstone airfield, Bill Moyes flew a hang glider again, which hasn't happened in years.

Click to see higher resolution version.

I asked Bill: "Do you want a helmet?" Bill replied on that question: "What do I need a helmet for? Do you think I'm going to crash?"

Discuss "Bill Moyes flies a hang glider" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Sportavia International Open - Day 1

January 21, 2006, 10:00:38 pm AEDT

Sportavia

We start off with a weak day, light winds, and low top of the lift.

Bill Moyes|Sportavia International Open 2006|weather

The task and the flight

The weather forecasts don't seem too accurate around here. They appear to be calling for thunderstorms every day, but the storms don't appear except to the southwest 100 miles in Bendigo. Maybe it just doesn't get hot enough here.

Speaking of hot enough, the pilots blew the power transformer when they came back at 7 PM and turned on the air conditioners in their rooms. The restaurant here was serving meat packs to cook on the barbie while we all waited for a new transformer to be installed by the power company. It's hot in the room here and I'm without internet access, running on battery, and my light is my led headlamp. Great light.

Our first task from Tocumwal, was a fairly short task, with a 10 km radius exit start circle centered fifteen kilometers away from the airport to keep us out of the traffic pattern. We then had to head south to a turnpoint 45 kilometers away, and then back 70 kilometers to an intersection west, northwest of Tocumwal.

I was off just after Gerolf and Attila, about eighth in line, which was a big help, as the pilots didn't start launching when they should have and some were still on the ground when the last start clock began. I got off fairly low at 1,400 AGL and drifted north east (in what was supposed to be a north wind) climbing out at 200 fpm to 3,600' AGL.

We were launching from the north runway (Left 360), but the wind was blowing lightly out of the west so we were launching at a forty five degree angle into a light cross wind. No dramas.

Speaking of dramas. Bill Moyes is here and in charge of all the towing and we are all using 150' spectra line. The difference between it and the 300' poly is amazing. I towed up behind Pete in his trike today and I had no problem staying right with him. If he went up so did I. If he went down, so did I.

I mentioned on the Oz Report forum in the discussion re the deadly accident two days ago, how the use of the tandem rope, the 300' poly rope, likely played a part in the pilot's death. This is my feeling, but on the two days that I towed using the long poly rope, I found the towing to be much more difficult than what I am used to and to what I experienced today.

I am guessing that the long rope, because the tug and hang glider pilot are just that much more likely to be in different bits of lift and sink and are that much more disconnected, makes the conditions and the tow just seem that much worse. Today it felt great. I was rock solid behind Pete.

With the tow that much more uncomfortable and hard to handle, it is pretty clear why the pilot who died would have had a more difficult time keeping things under control.

As I recall the Florida flight parks use 150' of spectra line for their tow lines. This is what I am used to. The feel created by this shorter line and the reactions and actions that I have learned towing previously meld much better with this system. I am so happy that Bill is here and in charge of towing.

The pilots in the air gaggled up out by the start circle at the second start clock, then dove deep into the start circle to get to the west, as we were reading about 8 mph out of the west, and the first leg was due south. We were all looking for a quartering tail wind on part of the first leg.

But while we were able to get to over 7,000' at the edge of the start circle before we dove in, we had to settle for a start twenty six minutes later than was at 2,800' (2,400' AGL). We just didn't find anything but weak lift and that would be the story of the day, south the Murray in Victoria.

Four or five fast guys got out on their own after a few thermals which we picked up below 1,500' AGL. Balaz, Lukas and a few other pilots were nearby as we worked small stuff and tried just to stay up and not get too low.

As we approached the first and only turnpoint we overtook Gerolf and a few other pilots, who had been struggling out in front of us. There were about ten pilot within a couple of minutes of each other at the turnpoint, including Jonnie, Dave Seib, and Attila, all in the lead by about a minute.

Heading northwest, I caught up with Dave and then chased after Jonnie, Attila and another pilot coming in over them as they were working lighter stuff down low. Another three pilots joined us on top and we got up well enough (5,000') to head out forty kilometers from goal.

In the next thermal I didn't get as high as the other four (including Attila, Balaz, and Craig Coomber) who went on glide as Jonnie and Dave came in low underneath us. I should have stuck with Jonnie and Dave at this point as I was 1,000' over them, but chased after the lead guys, maybe 200' below them.

That turned into a long glide (12 km) toward the lake at Yarrawonga. Our flight line was taking us just to the left of the lake over a huge golf course and a treed area (the Murray river) and I was the low man on the totem pole. I kept going and luckily found a small thermal at 800' over the golf course. Craig, Attila, Balaz, etc. were having a much better time of it above me climbing faster.

That thermal quit after a while and still low I had to go searching in the not so good looking areas around the town. I had my feelers out for anything while also wondering just where I could land if I found too much sink. What a balancing act.

I caught a whiff of something over by the sewage treatment plant and a little junk yard. I kept pushing into it even though my bad self kept saying get out of town over a big field. I knew that I had to stay in whatever was there and just work and work it until I got up.

I talked myself into finding the best part of the thermal and that got me out of there to 4,000' after a long wait. Now with enough altitude and on my own, and after almost landing, I made sure that I found thermals at a reasonable enough height. I just looked for the darkest barest fields.

There were now a few skinny cu's not too far away, but I found lift before I got there that turned into 600 fpm to 6,300'. This altitude was enough to vastly improve my thermal hunting skills and even though I had to find another thermal to get high enough to get to goal after finding big sink, the final glide from 10 km out was without incident.

Jonnie, Attila, Craig, Dave, Andreas, Len, Gerolf, Balaz, and a couple of other pilots were there when I arrived. A few more came in later including Phil Shroder, Jack and Chris Smith.

A virtual goal, picked off a map, and fortunately a nice field next to it to land in.

Hole in the Wing

Wed, Oct 26 2005, 12:00:02 pm EDT

The pilot in the middle.

Bill Moyes|Brett Snellgrove|David Swanson|sailplane

https://ozreport.com/9.196#1

https://ozreport.com/9.197#7

Brett Snellgrove «snelly10» writes:

Regarding David Swanson's comments (https://ozreport.com/9.197#7) on pilot in wing gliders following Bart's mention of the recent German attempt (https://ozreport.com/9.196#1). I greatly appreciate David's comment and information, however I have been interested in pilot in wing gliders for decades and feel perhaps there are some aspects to David's comments that don't pan out.

I fully understand how a hole near the leading edge would allow high pressure air from under the wing to bleed though, however in the first instance he mentions, the Flair 30, there is no actual hole in the wing - at least from what I can ascertain from diagrams an poor shots. Like the earlier wings of the Hortons, the degree of sweepback means the center of gravity is so far rearward the pilot actually stands at the trailing edge, and bends over an indentation in the upper surface of the wing with the undersurface completely intact. The reason I have been given for the failure of the Flair 30 was an accident under tow by a sailplane pilot who possibly reversed controls and crashed.

With regard to the Klingburg wing I can possibly speak with more authority as I have spent some time talking with the test pilot Monty Bell. The Klingburg wing did indeed have a hole in the wing but not at the leading edge - rather further back toward the trailing edge. With the Klingburg wing the pilot was supine and reclined more like the position used in the Swift rather than tilting prone. Monty claimed the wing flew very well on numerous test flights. It was crashed when he attempted to perform spin testing at Torre Pines with only 300 feet (AGL) for reasons known only to him. The wing was crashed however the protective position inside the wing allowed Monty to escape uninjured. The designed was apparently not pleased his prototype was destroyed and discontinued the concept.

The PIW gliders of the Hortons were, by all accounts, successful - yet modern attempts to reproduce them have not. Bill Moyes apparently did so and failed, possibly due to a profile modification that resulted in unacceptable adverse yaw. You could say Otto Lilienthal's wings were also PIW gliders and while he crashed, they did not fail due to the hole.

It does seem however, modern attempts at such wings have all failed. David did not mention several others of note such as Laurent Kalbermatten's Delka. Most however have the pilot positioned quite a way back from the leading edge and at worst have a small indentation in the trailing edge for the pilot. Such a small indentation could not be the reason for continual failure IMHO. Many birds for example have an indentation in this region, so did many WW1 biplanes and an early Icarus biwing had a complete hole for the pilot in the lower wing and seemed to fly quite well. There was even a hang glider called the profile that had the wing completely split and rejoined with rubber bungees to enhance roll control that flew perfectly well.

If the hole was the principle problem, a simple neoprene skirt to seal the edges between the pilot and wing would be an easy solution. Rather the main problems I see are, loss of the pendular pilot means weight shift is no longer practical for pitch control (stomach sliding boards have numerous problems), and the airfoil must be more heavily reflexed as the wing loses the stabilizing effect of the low CofG. Elevons are typically used for pitch control in the absence of weight shift however, upward deflection to pitch up lowers lift (and vice versa) at a time when you most need to increase it - as such higher landing speeds result. Elevon controlled flying wings are said to be difficult to flare as the wing stalls or mushes before the flare. Then there's the problem of adverse yaw and the need for more complex mixers if we are using elevons for pitch and roll.

Differential aileron throw is out because the upward traveling elevon traveling further also cause unwanted pitch up (which may have been involved in at least one of the crashes in Northrops wings).

All of these problems have been solved, many, some say all, by the Hortons and perhaps some more recently. With inboard flaps, first introduced in a flying wing HG on the Swift, landing speeds are now acceptable, spads or tip rudders solve adverse yaw problems and carbon fiber and folding ribs make such designs practical and portable. The only real remaining problem for designers I suspect is wingtip clearance for foot launching.

With pilots searching for ever increasing performance, I believe we've pretty much maxed out what we can expect with a pendular pilot in recent rigid wings. With the dangling pilot causing so much drag, I believe it will only be a matter of time before someone finally succeeds in getting the pilot out of the airflow and adding a good 5 points to the glide - the Flar 30, and Avifiber canard with pilot enclosed both were said to achieve 30:1 LD's. The Swift with cowling comes in closer to 25.

Discuss pilots in the wing at the Oz Report forum

Moyes Meeting

Wed, Aug 17 2005, 5:00:00 pm EDT

It's really a party.

Bill Moyes|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Dragonfly|Gerolf Heinrichs|Guido Gehrmann|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|PG

www.skyline-flightgear.de

Olli Barthelmes at Skyline Flight Gear «olli» writes:

Traditional Moyes meeting from 1-4 September 2005 (auxiliary date 8-11.9.05) SKYLINE will organize this year the traditional MOYES MEETING and SKYLINE / RED BULL PARTY at the landing place Wessner Hof Pettendorf/Marquartstein . This time from Thursday to Sunday! Thursday and Friday is for micro light towing course and trim and tuning clinic.

On Saturday/Sunday there will be a big flight party with Red Bull Airshow, several Dragonflys, Microlights, Hang Gliders and Paragliders. The Dragonflys and Microlights can be booked also for passenger flights.

Hang Glider Pioneer Bill Moyes will be present as well as some other VIPs like the new German Champion Oliver Barthelmes, Gerolf Heinrichs, Bob Baier, Guido Gehrmann, Seppi Salvenmooser, Corinna Schwiegershausen and many more. They will be competent for questions and discussions.

The LITESPEED S and LITESPORT are available for test flying, as well as all other products of SKYLINE. Paragliding Pilots and all “Fly Inn” Pilots are more than welcome to join the event! There will also be gliders of Mac Para or Windtech available for testing. You can try all our hang gliding and paragliding harnesses and see our huge product range. It is possible to launch from the mountains Hochfelln or Hochplatte and land at the Wessner Hof. Come and join the hot Aussi Barbecue and enjoy an ice-cold landing beer or two. Further info soon!

The previous photo

Thu, Jun 23 2005, 4:00:07 pm EDT

Cypress Gardens

Bill Moyes|Doug Lawton|photo

Doug Lawton writes:

Man that picture brings back some great memories. From left to right, John Williamson, Richard Johnson, Bill Moyes and Craig's Mom (don't remember her first name). In front of the stands at Cypress Gardens. I'd guess it was taken about 1973 or 1974. Those were the days.

The Gardens used to hold the greatest competitions with large prize money and really tough competition from all over the world. They treated all of the pilots like kings. It was a blast.

Ask Craig to post some more of those photos from the old days.

(editor's note: I have plenty more coming.)

Discuss Cypress Gardens at the Oz Report forum

Photo/Caption contest »

Fri, Jun 10 2005, 4:00:05 pm EDT

Bill Moyes with a Bill Bennett power pack

Bill Moyes|photo

craig williamson «moecheck2003» sends:

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Oz Report Radio »

Sun, May 1 2005, 6:00:02 pm EDT

A flying legend.

Bill Moyes

To see a list of and then listen to archived interviews on Oz Report Radio click here.

Bill Moyes
this is an audio post - click to play

Please send suggestions for interview subjects «here».

How to catch our Ozcasts.

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Bill Moyes »

Fri, Apr 15 2005, 4:00:03 pm EDT

The Moyes Boys Party

Bill Moyes|Quest Air

Bill Moyes|Ken Brown|Quest Air

Bill Moyes|Ken Brown|Quest Air

Ken Brown «FlyaMoyes» writes:

See you for the Moyes Boys Party on Saturday the 16th (tomorrow night).  Bill Moyes will be in town so come on down to Quest Air and have a drink with the Moyes Boys.

Discuss Moyes at the Oz Report forum

2005 Worlds »

Wed, Jan 19 2005, 12:00:00 pm EST

Finally, on the last day, cu's.

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Attila Bertok|Bill Moyes|Brett Hazlett|Christian Ciech|Dustin Martin|Gerolf Heinrichs|Guido Gehrmann|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|Worlds 2005

Results

The flight

As we head out to the paddock, twelve kilometers from town there are a few stray cu's in the air. According to the forecast they should not be there. By the time we get to the paddock the sky is completely full of cu's. Finally Hay is having a good day.

The wind has returned and is blowing twenty mph out of the northwest. Seeing the cu's over their heads, the pilots ignore the request to not set up until told to do so. They want to get ready to go now. Kraig Coomber comes over and rotates my right tip wand holder a bit, and gets rid of my right hand turn.

Even though this is the last day, the consensus is to have a full task, not a barbeque task. Still the task committee has the pilots go cross wind for the last thirty kilometers to get us back toward Hay. The task is to go south to Pretty Pine via Boorooban and then back to the northeast to Conargo, the site of the competition two weeks ago.

I'm off early once again, this time behind Bill Moyes who provides me with a perfectly nice tow to 1,400' where I pin off in 400 fpm under the cu's. It's a quick ride to 7,600' and finally to 10,000'. I quickly begin working my way to the northwest against the wind in order to be in a better position to go downwind to the first turnpoint, which is to the south southeast of the tow paddock.

We have a fifty kilometer entry start circle around Boorooban, and the idea is to stay out of the start circle, by heading north and west. Thankfully we can go as far west as we like as we are not restricted by an smaller exit circle.

I'm out there alone at first, but as other pilots launch I am joined after about half an hour by numerous pilots with the same idea I have. I find really strong lift and almost get swallowed into a cloud. One US pilot does get swallowed for a couple of minutes.

Finally, ten minutes before the last start window opens, we work our way eighteen kilometers to the west and climb up to over 10,000' and have to race hard to get out from under the cloud in time. It is nine minutes to go for the last start time to open, and I head north with Steve Moyes and a few other pilots. This turns out to be a mistake, as all those pilots way below us will get to the top of the thermal just as the start window opens, and we'll lose 1,500' searching around to the north. We should have stayed near the cloud and just hung out.

It is a screaming race to the south and I join Dustin twenty kilometers into the start circle at 4,000' for a hard hitting thermal. This one refuses to play nice and we head down the course to find one that averages over 800 fpm back to 10,000'.

The clouds work, the lift is strong and we just keep racing along south along the highway to Deniliquin. There are plenty of thermal markers out ahead so you just have to fly fast enough to be able to get close enough to spot them.

I'm down to 3,000' at the Pretty Pine turnpoint, but it is clear coming in that there is a thermal there. I and the pilots around me climb to 10,500' and head toward goal thirty kilometers away, cross wind, no longer down wind. It is suddenly a lot slower going, but still plenty of lift.

I see a few pilots who have landed and take an additional and unnecessary climb back to 10,000' that wastes five minutes. I come in 4,500' over the goal.

Curt wins the day starting at the second start time and flying the third fastest time. Kevin is ninth, Dustin, 13th, I'm thirty seventh, and Dean is 48th. Tom Lanning bombed out at the start circle.

Oleg wins the meet and is the new flex wing world champion.

Last day:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 WARREN Curt Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 01:56:28 926
2 REISINGER Robert Icaro Zero 7 AUT 01:54:11 904
3 FRIESENBICHLER Michael Moyes Litespeed S3.5 AUT 02:02:53 902
4 DURAND Jon Jnr Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 01:54:35 889
5 BAUSONE Federico Icaro Laminar 2000 ITA 02:05:22 882
6 CATALDI Elio Aeros Combat L ITA 02:00:15 878
7 PATON Len Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 02:05:39 824
8 PLONER Alessandro Icaro Laminar 2000 ITA 01:59:01 820
9 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat L USA 02:13:56 819
10 BOISSELIER Antoine Moyes Litespeed S4 FRA 01:59:16 816
11 BERTOK Attila Moyes Litespeed S4.5 HUN 01:59:23 813
12 ALONZI Mario Aeros Combat L FRA 02:00:58 790
13 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 02:01:36 782
14 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat L UKR 02:02:32 771
15 BOSMAN Mart Moyes Litespeed S5 NLD 02:11:56 766
16 COOMBER Kraig Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 02:03:41 759
17 DOT Francesc Vinas Icaro 2000 ESP 02:04:09 752
18 SALVENMOSER Joseph Moyes Litespeed S3.5 AUT 02:13:58 748
19 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed S4 CAN 02:04:32 747
20 MOYES Steve Moyes Litespeed S4.5 AUS 02:04:38 745

Totals:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat L UKR 6455
2 REISINGER Robert Icaro Zero 7 AUT 6281
3 HEINRICHS Gerolf Moyes Litespeed S4 AUT 6100
4 COOMBER Kraig Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 6060
5 ALONZI Mario Aeros Combat L FRA 6057
6 BERTOK Attila Moyes Litespeed S4.5 HUN 5997
7 PLONER Alessandro Icaro Laminar 2000 ITA 5934
8 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed S4 CAN 5928
9 GEHRMANN Guido Aeros Combat 13L DEU 5920
10 DURAND Jon Jnr Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 5912
11 FRIESENBICHLER Michael Moyes Litespeed S3.5 AUT 5886
12 BOISSELIER Antoine Moyes Litespeed S4 FRA 5800
13 WARREN Curt Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 5732
14 MOYES Steve Moyes Litespeed S4.5 AUS 5732
15 SALVENMOSER Joseph Moyes Litespeed S3.5 AUT 5640
16 CIECH Christian Icaro Laminar 2000 ITA 5530
17 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat L USA 5481
18 VYHNALIK Dan Aeros Combat 2 15 CZE 5466
19 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 5294
20 HOLTKAMP Rohan Airborne C2 13 AUS 5222

Teams:

Place Team Total
1 AUS 18694
2 AUT 18565
3 FRA 17838
4 ITA 17407
5 USA 17044
6 DEU 16903
7 JPN 15197
8 CZE 15121
9 ESP 14755
10 NLD 14006

2005 Worlds »

Tue, Jan 4 2005, 10:00:01 am EST

It begins.

Belinda Boulter|Bill Moyes|CIVL|USHGA|Worlds 2005

Tuesday was the driving day as we moved up from the Deniliquin Golf Resort to our wonderful little bungalow on the Murrimbidgee River. We look out on a lawn with a dam (pond) and Kookaburras flying around in the morning.

Headquarters is in the back room of the Hay Services Club, and on Wednesday afternoon they finally got the internet access up and running. We had bootlegged down  at the Tourist Center at the old railroad station, until Telstra finally showed up. The office was overrun with Americans and Brits.

Tuesday and Wednesday were practice days with Thursday the day for the parade welcoming ceremony. I've got the USHGA shirts to give out at the parade (don't want to depend on folks to have to remember to bring them) and a US flag.

Bobbie Bailey was in one of the tugs when it flipped in the high winds on Tuesday, and I don't know who was piloting the other one. The winds apparently weren't that strong earlier as the Italians launched and went 110 kilometers. Bill Moyes had to go back to Sydney to get parts to repair the tugs.

We apparently are going to have twelve or thirteen Dragonflies/trikes here, eight pilots per tug. The Croats and the Russians didn't sign up in advance for aerotowing, so they will be lucky to be placed at the back of the queue on the first day.

We are pushing for WGS 84 datum (instead of Australia 66), and degrees minutes decimal minutes. We are also trying to get the towing height set to 2,000' instead of 1,500' as so few people are actually car towing. The height limit was to make it fairer for the car towing people. We get WGS 84, but not 2000'

There will be an ordered launch with four aerotow lines and pilots setup in their lines. The first thirty places will be reversed. I like launching early so I would rather not have thirty folks in front of me (if I'm in first place). I guess I'll live with it.

Every day there were Emus in the tow paddock in Deniliquin. Photo by Belinda Boulter.

The big issue before the start pf the Worlds was the demand by the CIVL Jury President that the CIVL representatives be compensated for alcoholic drinks with meals. I wondered if they meant also at breakfast.

2005 Australian Nationals »

Fri, Dec 31 2004, 11:00:00 am EST

The goal keeps filling up and almost everyone is happy.

Australian Nationals 2005|Belinda Boulter|Bill Moyes|Curt Warren|Dragonfly|dust devil|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Oleg Bondarchuk|Quest Air|sailplane|Tom Lanning|Tove Heaney

http://www.hgfa.asn.au/Competition/Denni/Denni.htm

The results found at the URL above are not available this morning.

We are having a gas. Each day is getting better. This, the last day of 2004, and the task committee calls three tasks for floater, king posted, and open classes, all ending at the Sportavia Soaring Center  in Tocumwal, where Tove, the meet organizer, is the manager, and where her trike towing husband, Grant, also works. The idea is that we fly into a full fledged flight park for sailplane pilots, and we'll have a party at the on-site restaurant and be able to break down on the huge shaded lawn next to the pool. A flight park in Australia, it's like flying in Florida, but with big time thermals.

Speaking of thermals, it is a continuous thermal in the tow paddock to 9,400', the highest we've been here this year. Joe Fussel takes me right to it and I just spend the next hour turning. Bill Moyes tows Tom Lanning into a dust devil at 600', and gets himself and the Dragonfly knocked out of the dust devil. Tom pins off, not wanting to follow Bill over and down, and climbs out at 1,400 fpm. That got Tom's attention.

While the floaters and king posted gliders are tasked to fly straight south west to Tocumwal, we in the open class need to fly south to east of Deniliquin, then east past Finley to almost Berrigan, then back to Finley (the old sink hole from yesterday) and then 20 k south down the road to Sportavia. 130+ kilometers. With light winds a nice task, and a great place to fly to.

Lisa Miller, flying a floater has her personal best flight of 70 kilometers making goal. She is lit up like a headlight at Sportavia.

We'd flown to Tocumwal before, a few years back, but now with it under new management there was a whole different attitude. They love having hang glider pilots here and next year instead of going to Deniliquin we'll likely have a meet centered right here. That would be so great. (It means no car towing, only aerotowing.)

Everyone here at Sportavia is excited about the cross country energy. The more pilots around who want to go cross country, the better.

The first start time is 3 PM, and we are all high. I can easily spot Curt and Kevin with their Flytec and Quest Air on the tops of their wings. Jonny Durand is trying to get next to me for a shot that he knows will get into the Oz Report. He has a new 7 megapixel point and shoot camera.

A few pilots head out, but the big gaggle waits until 3:15 with a few holding back until 3:30 hoping to catch the guys in front. There are no cu's, but patches of cirrus are ominously passing by overhead.

We (those of us starting at 3:15) are getting so much higher than on the previous two days and finding moderate lift out on the course line so it's a 25 k race to Deniliquin and east 57 k toward Berrigan. There are so many pilots around it is much easier to find the best lift. The lift is spotty but gets really good as we come up to Berrigan, turn and start upwind 20 kilometers back to Finley.

The cirrus are thick to the west as the sun gets lower and it's getting shaded by Finley. Belinda is hanging out by the lake there, spotting gaggles. The two ahead of me came in low, 2,500' to the turnpoint west of Finley and had to work it up slowly near the lake.

I, and those pilots with me, had to do the same thing, but now it is really shaded and we climb slowly out just as we had the day before. The lift starts at just slightly positive, and finally gets up to 200 fpm at 5,000' as it takes seventeen minutes to get to 5,000'. I'm the brave one and take off for the goal leaving the others hanging onto the lift that just saved their bacon.

Many pilots make goal today with all the classes here. The restaurant and pub at Sportavia are packed, with folks eating dinner all over the lawn and by the pool. I'm writing the Oz Report on Tove's computer in the Sportavia office.

I've heard that it's likely that Craig Coomber won the day. He started at 3:30. Oleg was the first guy in from the 3:15 group. Curt Warren mentioned how Oleg was just able to out climb everyone by 200' in the last thermal. The whole US team made it into goal.

It is really wonderful having so many pilots at goal. It means that the task is a race and not an endurance contest or a matter of luck. Three hour tasks seem about right to me for a good test of pilot skills.

We have New Years in Tocumwal and Deniliquin. As I write this (paragraph) at 1:30 AM January 1st ,2005, there is a big Red Bull and Vodka party (but all the Vodka is gone) of hang glider pilots here at the Deniliquin Golf Resort.

Flights for the first three days:

Day One.

Day Two.

Day Three.

Jonny captures Antoine upside down going up in a 700 fpm thermal on day three of the Oz Nats.

Discuss Oz Nats at the Oz Report forum

Skyfloating

Mon, Dec 20 2004, 12:00:01 pm EST

Breen Custom Kite

Bill Moyes|Don Carslaw|Francis Rogallo|James-Donald "Don" "Plummet" Carslaw|PG

Don Carslaw «plummet» writes:

1974-2004: a bit of nostalgia and a lot of thanks for 30 years of the magic of hang-gliding, to all those pioneers who made it possible.

In particular:

Gertrude and Francis Rogallo of course, for the original concept and research

John Dickenson for the execution (years ahead of his time)

Bennett and Moyes for the barnstorming publicity

Dick Eipper and Bill Moyes for the first real commercialization's

Dan Poynter for his 'bible', the Basic Handbook of Skysurfing - a must for home builders at the time
Of course many others not mentioned, but UK pioneer Gerry Breen for selling me the plans and sail of the glider in the picture:.

Apart from vague memories of having seen someone towed round Silverstone motor race track in the late sixties (Bill Moyes, was that you?), I didn't see a Rogallo until March 1974 in Verbier, and thought of it as an alpine sport like skiing. However shortly afterwards, seeing an article about farmer Ken Messenger flying the UK Wiltshire downs made me realise that it was possible even on the local hills, and I just had to do it.

Making the glider was half the fun, and the first take-offs came in Sep '74, first landings came a bit later! Oh yes, instruction came from Dan Poynter's book, and the final page in the plans which went something like: "Run down hill into wind and then push out". The glider flew much better than the pilot of course - something that hasn't changed a lot since! It was not until the next year that I flew a site with any other pilots.

I feel lucky to have participated relatively early in the evolution of modern hang gliding and even after all this time there remains an amazing exhilaration in being able to do what had appeared inconceivable before; that is to step into the air in a personal flying machine controlled simply by the movement of one's body - to fly like a bird.

Finally a big thank you to Colin Lark for converting me to his and Bill Pain's Discovery, my wing of preference for the last 8 years and probably the only double-surface 'skyfloater'. I call it a 'paraglider-with-tubes' - read what Bill has to say about it here at <http://www.skyfloating.com>.

Discuss Skyfloating at the Oz Report forum

Tove at the office

Thu, Oct 14 2004, 5:00:03 pm EDT

Brining hang gliding to a sailplane port in Tocumwal.

Bill Moyes|sailplane

Bill Moyes|sailplane|Tove Heaney

Tove «chgpgc» writes:

http://www.sportavia.com.au/

Like our new office? We have been here at Tocumwal working for a few weeks now.

Sunday Bill Moyes with his crew flew two Dragonflies down from Rylstone. They started at six am and got to Tocumwal at about five pm. A nice cross country of more than 500km. So now we got two Dragonflies parked in the hangar amongst all the other gliders and aeroplanes.

Bill flew them down to be ready and close for the comps, and we want to get some lessons on them. We are working towards getting hang glider operation in Tocumwal up and going!

On Tuesday we got to thirty six degrees Centigrade here in Tocumwal, no clouds and quite inverted looking. Grant and I jumped in the IS28 and the conditions were great! We got to 8200ft and were whipping around the sky. It was great for me to get some airtime again in a glider sailplane. It's so green on the ground it looks like Europe.

We got all these amazing toys here, we just need to learn to fly them all!

Discuss Tove at the Oz Report forum

Uncle Bill Bennett dies in trike accident

Fri, Oct 8 2004, 12:00:00 am GMT

Along with Bill Moyes, a true pioneer in the sport.

Bill Bennett

Bill Bennett|Bill Moyes|Bob Wills|Dave Broyles|Delta Kites|fatality|Jayne DePanfilis|John Dickenson|John Fetz|Malcolm Jones|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Shawn Connery|USHGA

I spoke with Malcolm Jones at 2 PM PDT. He told me that Bill Bennett had died in a trike accident seven hours before near Lake Havasu, Arizona where Bill was living. Malcolm had spoken with Bill last night arranging for him to attend the upcoming Moyes Boys gathering at Wallaby Ranch at the end of October.

Malcolm said that what he had heard was that the trike had stalled on launch and cart wheeled in. It was a tandem flight and the flight instructor with Bill suffered a broken pelvis.

A fourth hand report: "This morning at the Lake Havasu Airport Bill was taking some instruction from a new, very low hour BFI (name unknown at this time). They had an engine out on take off, I don't know at what altitude. With 4,000 feet of runway in front of them they veered left and went in hard. Sounds like it was a panic situation and they may have pushed the bar out, stalled the trike and went over. The BFI sustained a broken pelvis. I don't know whose trike they were flying. If it was Bill's trike I know the machine as he bought it from a guy I know. Topdog trike with a 503 and a Gibbo Batwing. I flew that trike two years ago and really disliked the wing."

John Fetz «botmom» writes:

Bill Bennett, age 73, a founder of ultralight aviation, was killed in a crash of a powered trike today, Oct 7, 2004, at 07:30am. While taking off from Lake Havasu Airport, the craft lost some power on the climb out and crashed next to the 32 Runway, nose and left wheel impacting the ground. Bill was taking instruction at the time of the crash and the Instructor was taken to Las Vegas regional hospital with critical injuries.

According to Malcolm, Bill Bennett, Bill Moyes, and John Dickenson were all members of the same water ski club in Sydney. John showed Bill and Bill how to use a flat kite to fly behind a boat. They took off with it after that.

Bill and Bill started to compete with each other for the biggest record, mostly tow records, to see who could tow the highest. Bill Moyes started a kite company in Australia, and Bill Bennett came to the US and started Bill Bennett's Delta Kites, the first and at one time the biggest hang glider (kite) manufacturer in the US.

One of Bill Bennett's first employees was Bob Wills who later took the pattern for Bill's kite and started Wills Wing. Bill flew as the hang gliding wind dummy in place of Shawn Connery in one of the early James Bond flicks (Roger Moore in Live and Let Die (1973)).

Later he had a controversial period as the manager of Torry Pines in San Diego.

Dave Broyles «broydg» writes:

My first flights were in a Bill Bennett glider (water ski kite). I have very pleasant memories of Bill's service under me as treasurer to the USHGA, impartially and fairly, regardless of his business interests and personal opinions. I was greatly pleased by his integrity as a BOD member and officer.

Jayne DePanfilis «jayne» writes:

He was USHGA member number 210. He was a legend in our community and it was only recently, at the board meeting in Kitty Hawk that we viewed historical footage for the first time of Bill Bennett and Bill Moyes from way back when. Bill Bennett was planning to attend the Moyes Boys Reunion this month (of course).

Discuss "Uncle Bill Bennett dies in trike accident" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Alpin Drachenflug Weltmeister

Wed, Oct 6 2004, 7:00:00 pm EDT

Listen, mate.

Bill Moyes|Ground Skimmer|Ron Gleason|USHGA

Ron Gleason «xcflying» reading from page 16 of the May 1975 issue of the US magazine Ground Skimmer quotes from the article on the Worlds in Kossen, Austria:

The seven girls entered were segregated from the men and were not permitted to fly from the top of the mountain as ‘it would be dangerous’. Tine, the sole US female entrant, lodged a protest and all nations voted in her favor except Australia. Bill Moyes stated that," ‘down under’ women still do as they’re told."

Names of Manufacturers:

Pliable Moose Delta Wings – Gary Osaba
Velderrain Hang Gliders
Dynasoar
Thunder Chicken Enterprises – 3/1975 Page 33

The USHGA is in the process of publishing all the old US hang gliding magazine on DVD. More information as they become available.

USHGA - Sport Pilot (Part 4) »

Wed, Sep 29 2004, 1:00:07 pm EDT

Dan Johnson originally wrote an article that was published along with Jayne's in the September issue of the USHGA HG/PG magazine.

Bill Bryden|Bill Moyes|Dan Johnson|Dragonfly|Mike Meier|PG|Quest Air|record|sailplane|Suan Selenati|USHGA

Bill Bryden|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Dan Johnson|Dragonfly|Mike Meier|PG|Quest Air|record|sailplane|Suan Selenati|USHGA

Dan Johnson «Dan» writes:

I believe it is incorrect to say Part 103 is changing. I believe the towing privileges we seek are being inserted into Parts 61 and 91 rather than 103. Technically, aircraft operating under the exemption were not 103 ultralight vehicles. FAA has repeatedly stated that the original 103 is not changing. FAA has also many times stated the exemptions to 103 must go away.

The bigger questions revolve around the use of the existing Dragonfly fleet as ELSAs in a towing environment. Most ELSAs cannot be used commercially, so for flight training, for example, the “limited” payment argument arises from the aircraft side. Usually FAA has said the cost of operation can be shared. So a towed pilot could pay for fuel, oil, and a share of maintenance. Realistically such costs are probably all that’s being charged anyway.

Future Dragonflys and tow trikes may have to be SLSAs (meaning fully built and certified to the ASTM standard). Bobby Bailey and Bill Moyes are surely capable of pursuing this but it may raise their costs. Trikes from AirBorne, for one example, should have little problem — they’re already certified to a tough standard down under.

However, the good news is that the specifics of the rule, 91.319 (e), does allow for the existing fleet of Dragonflys to be operated for hire, for towing if those “fat” ultralights are transitioned to ELSAs (EAA’s Website has info on transitioning a current ultralight -- http://www.sportpilot.org/lsa/transitioning_ul_aircraft.html). Also see Part 91.309 (regarding actions required to tow a glider or unpowered ultralight vehicle) and Part 21.191 (regarding the deadlines for issuance of ELSA certificates — in this case to existing Dragonflys).

It appears all such transitioned Dragonflys may continue to be used for towing for hire, according to the new regs. New Dragonflys produced after January 31, 2008 will have to be certified under the ASTM standards, but any produced before this date which are transitioned will remain useful. So we have three and half years before this becomes a bigger problem and it isn’t too bad even then.

The many comments from hang glider pilots regarding towing threw FAA an unexpected curve. They really weren’t ready to deal with it. The Sport Pilot license does not allow towing; excluding this capability helped FAA get the rule through. Readers should understand FAA is a huge organization once employing some 50,000 people, approximately one for every ten or twelve licensed pilots. Those who pushed through Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft are few, well under 100, and they fought many of the remaining 49,900 to get this “overly permissive” rule through the process.

Davis wrote:

Also, Jayne pointed out to me that she spoke with Sue Gardner about the issue of towing with Part 103 legal trikes. Certainly possible and currently being done. Is this allowed and will it continue to be allowed under Part 103? This is outside of the Sport Pilot issue.

I’m not aware of any Part 103-compliant trikes that have sufficient power to tug, certainly not tandem. Aircraft that do have the power are included in Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft and therefore must be flown with a Sport Pilot or better license. But the aircraft are handled differently and can be used for commercial purposes if qualifying as SLSAs (or ELSAs if transitioned from “fat” ultralights).

Many, many times, several different highly-placed FAA officials have emphasized 103 is not changing. To change it requires the entire NPRM process which might result in the loss of privileges under Part 103.

Jayne wrote:

Mike Meier, Bill Bryden and I attended meetings..

Davis wrote:

Given that ATP's will be required to have (at least) Private Pilot's Licenses I can only assume that you now feel that you were all unsuccessful in obtaining this second goal. Am I correct in assuming this?

In addition to the aircraft side of the SP/LSA equation, I believe Jayne may be addressing willingness on FAA’s part to “grandfather” existing tug pilots, that is, to count toward a Private Pilot’s license that time logged flying tugs heretofore. This would be consistent with the way they are handling experienced ultralight pilots and instructors.

However, regarding the aircraft side, refer back to my comments above regarding the use of properly transitioned existing Dragonflys under Part 91.319 (e).

Jayne wrote:

It also establishes training and certification requirements...

Davis wrote:

I assume that no one has any idea what is required here. I.e. will Bobby Bailey continue to be allowed to build and repair Bailey-Moyes Dragonflies? Correct?

After January 31, 2008, Bobbie may have to revise his manufacturing operations a bit; thoroughly study the applicable ASTM standards, keep more records, etc. If Bobby and Bill decline to meet the ASTM standards, they could only make amateur-built experimentals (which are not ELSAs) and those cannot be used for commercial purposes.

Bobbie or Russ and many others can become qualified mechanics to repair a certified Dragonfly, after taking 120 hours of instruction. Since Bobbie and Russ are highly experienced, and FAA knows this, their approval seems inevitable.

Jayne wrote:

FAA also wanted to eliminate rulemaking by exemption...

Davis wrote:

So here we have the effect on Part 103. See question above.

Not really. In the way she worded her statement, Jayne appears to be blurring the line between the aircraft and pilot. The aircraft does not require a pilot certificate. The pilot flying one for towing purposes does need a Private license or better. Throughout FAA’s world a pilot with a given level of pilot certificate is permitted to operate various aircraft. Sport Pilots can fly a Dragonfly, even two place. But he/she cannot tow nor tug for compensation. A Private can’t charge either hence the “limited” payment argument.

A Commercial Pilot can charge and we have some Commercial pilots among our tug pilot population. But by using the “non-profit” method, a Private should be sufficient to FAA. This is common at sailplane towing operations and it is where FAA got the language used in SP/LSA. As they prepare to take the Private license tests those tug pilots that registered with EAA (or other organizations) before September 1st can count their hours to any pilot license: Sport, Recreational, Private, Commercial, or ATP (the FAA kind of ATP). All they need to do afterward is take the appropriate tests.

(editor's note: Actually, until the FAA takes further action, only tug pilots with trike hours can use those hours. Dragonfly pilots can not.)

Davis wrote:

How is the regulatory structure for aerotow pilots "tailored more for recreational aviation?" This seems to apply only to Sport Pilot Licenses which are not applicable for aerotow tug pilots.

I’d say the overall program is structured to recreational aviation, not just the tow/tug aspect.

Jayne wrote:

The new rule allows a special light-sport aircraft owner...

Davis wrote:

This is extremely interesting. So does this mean that Quest Air, for example, can legally charge for the use of its Dragonflies to tow up hang glider pilots, as it appears to do? How does this apply to paying aerotow pilots?

Yes, it would allow such activities, we believe, If the pilot has a Private or better and if the aircraft is an SLSA ...or... a transistioned “fat” ultralight (which becomes an ELSA). Again, see section 91.319 (e).

Jayne wrote:

However, and this is very important to note, ....

Davis wrote:

So this is where we again see that we were unsuccessful with the FAA. That ATP's will be required to have at least a private pilot's license in order to tow a hang glider.

Yes, a Private will be required to tow. I wouldn’t call this unsuccessful, however.

Davis wrote:

The truth of this is that we all know that the PPL is not a true indicator of the skills required to be an ATP and is just an artificial barrier to entry and does not enhance the safety of an aerotow operation at all and in fact suppresses aerotow operations and increases their costs to the detriment of the sport.

Oh, I don’t know how artificial it is. Pilots fly all different kinds of aircraft. We simply have our one unique variation. A Private is a higher level, true, and the skills required to obtain that license do not include skills needed by a tow pilot; a tow pilot must know more, though nothing about night flying or instrument operations in IMC. But by not loading towing into Sport Pilot FAA was able to get the rule through their own bureaucracy and that of Washington DC in general (OMB and HSA, for two examples). The choice of a Private license may not be perfect, but at least it isn’t Commercial (as it probably should be based on other FAA interpretations so in fact they have yielded on this, as they have done at sailplane towing operations).

Davis wrote:

One has to wonder how we are going to train ATP's. Is Bobby going to be allowed to take the folks who show an interest in learning to tow up in his Dragonfly familiarize them with its operation as a first step to learning at Quest Air?

Bobbie and others will have do to the same training they do today to assure tow pilot competency, but they’ll also have to sign off log books. To sign a logbook with an endorsement — a whole new part of Sport Pilot — they may be required to be instructors (though perhaps a specialty manufacturer could be given a waiver to do such examinations). Bobbie and a few others might become DPEs (Designated Pilot Examiners) though this is about testing not teaching. It would involve more classroom training but the privileges may be worth it.

Jayne wrote:

While the requirement to hold a private pilot license...

Davis wrote:

Jayne has laid it out here in black and white. The PPL is punitive and a penalty and also not in keeping with the philosophy that is supposed to be driving the Sport Pilot initiative (I won't go into depth about this). She also raises a very ugly specter - the commercial pilot certificate (and the possibility by implication that it will be a requirement in the future).

Well, you call it punitive; Jayne called it a compromise I’d say. As I indicated above, it isn’t perfect but it’s better than Commercial which most of FAA would certainly agree it should be. If punitive is the right word, requiring a Commercial license would be more punitive. I tend to agree that this method does not generally follow the philosophy of Sport Pilot as it is not part of Sport Pilot (the license). Remember the aircraft are not prohibited from towing; just Sport Pilot license holders. (Same for night flying...Sport Pilots cannot; Light-Sport Aircraft can.)

Dan Johnson wrote:

The solution is that tow pilots will be able to fly legal Light-Sport Aircraft tugs-once manufacturers state that they comply with ASTM certification standards-but they'll have to use a Private Pilot license or better. The Sport Pilot license will NOT allow towing. Yet a Private can't be paid to tow, unless FAA grants a limited payment as acceptable. The agency is pondering this and invited key USHGAers to the Oshkosh airshow to discuss it.

Davis wrote:

Did this discussion happen? Does this mean that tow pilots can't be paid to tow? Wouldn't you consider that a rather significant problem for the USHGA? Doesn't this seem like the FAA would push tow pilots to be commercially licensed? What does limited payment mean (well, maybe it means what they get now, which is about $5/tow :-) ).

Remember the separation again, Sport Pilots cannot fly for compensation (unless they are an CFI-S, an instructor giving flight instruction). But an ELSA or SLSA _CAN_ be involved in towing for hire — once again refer to Part 91.319 (e). Relative to the pilot license side, even if FAA were not offer some other method, getting a Commercial license isn’t that hard. I have one. So do many others. And if you can count your previous hours, it may not be particularly costly. Yeah, then those pilots can lose money charging for towing services <g>. It will be reasonable to pay a Private pilot license holder working at a towpark for services other than tow flying and only charge “cost” for the tow. Many sailplane ports do something like this today.

Davis wrote:

Like Jayne I believe that aerotowing is key to the future of hang gliding. I have been visiting many of our aerotow parks over the last six weeks and there are many that I haven't had a chance to visit. FAA regulations may affect them very adversely.

One aerotow operation owner/pilot with whom I spoke felt that it really didn't matter that much. That we are currently operating illegally and have been for a decade. That after this change many (some, few?) will feel that the new rules are inappropriate, that the FAA doesn't have the enforcement capacity, and that they can continue to operate without a PPL or N number. I assume that if no one complains this will be true, but if someone does complain than the FAA will have to act with respect to that individual operator.

Of course, some tug pilots can (and probably will) operate outside the system. But when an accident occurs, someone might be fined and sanctioned. Is it worth it? A Private simply isn’t that hard to obtain especially if you can count your hours already logged. It’s a couple tests; they aren’t that tough. A Private license may be harder to obtain than a driver’s license but not that much harder. And once the Private or Commercial is in your pocket, you don’t need to hide out in remote locations anymore; you’ll be more acceptable to the larger general aviation community.

Davis wrote:

What is your take on these issues? Have our members been well served by the proposed changes or is our sport threatened by FAA actions?

Tug pilots and tow parks have a little more work to do, yes. Are they “threatened?” No, not in my opinion. And the result may be more legitimate operations. This might encourage others to open flight parks as the role is defined and they don’t have to be outlaws. Hang gliding might grow from this. My advice: The rule is here and it ain’t going away. Quit ranting and worrying and start studying for the tests. Oh, get your log up to date — and hopefully tug pilots all took up USHGA on its deal with EAA to get registered before September 1st.

Yeah, it’s a brave new world, but it won’t be that hard to deal with and it might, just possibly, help hang gliding and paragliding to grow and flourish.

The truth is, we are all — EAA staff, the pilot community, and even FAA officials — learning this new rule and all its permutations and ramifications. However, we have literally years to learn it well before we have to start abiding by all of it. I recommend interested or affected Oz readers go to www.SportPilot.org and become more familiar with the rule, unless you fly a legitimate Part 103 aircraft and aren’t involved with towing operations. In the latter case, you could keep operating as you have been and completely ignore the new Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft rule.

(editor's note: One man is in the main responsible for the fact that we have flight parks and aerotowing of hang gliders. That man is Bobby Bailey. I wonder what he thinks about what Dan says here.

Thanks also to Dan for taking the time to explain his extensive understanding of these arcane rules.)

Discuss Sport Pilot at the Oz Report forum

Bill Moyes on his patent applications

Wed, Mar 3 2004, 3:00:05 pm EST

Bill is charging full speed ahead with his patent application for the flip tip batten tips.

Bill Moyes|record

Bill Moyes at Moyes Microlites «moyes» writes:

I've read Steve's article (https://ozreport.com/toc.php?8.044#2) with interest. Your comments and those by Steve are accepted.

I've taken patents on the Keel Pocket in 1972. The Cross Bar Ball Hinged Cross Bar in the 80's and several other devices that did not become popular.

I've been told by other inventors of industrial property that it is not worth the cost of pursuing a patent. However, I need to know if the R & D is worthwhile in future, so I have allocated $100,000 dollars to pursuing this matter and will let a court decide.

I expect that should we win the return in damages may be less than the expenses incurred, but we wish to demonstrate that we will challenge infringements to intellectual property.

Our Patent Attorney is Wallington-Drummer Phone No. 61-2-9221-1040 .

No further discussion on this matter is necessary, till it is heard in court. The courts decision will help us decide how to precede with R & D in the future and what funds to allocate in this direction, and also how to use the patents and knowledge already in the pipeline.

(editor's note: Just to be clear there is an Australian patent application that Bill has filed. I don't see any record of a patent being granted yet. One of the patent office's jobs is to look at prior art. There seems to be some indication of earlier tips that may represent prior art, although I have no expertise in this area and can't make a judgment call regarding this issue.)

Discuss patents at the Oz Report forum

The other Bill Moyes patent application

Wed, Feb 25 2004, 3:00:02 pm EST

In addition to the flip-tip batten, Bill has another Australian patent application out there for a towing method.

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|PG

On January 5th, Bill filed an Australian patent application for a center of pressure towing system that connects to the Dragonfly. I happen to have seen it in Australia, although it was not set up.

Patent application number: 2004900022

http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/

I'd love to hear more about this system, especially if and when it is useful for towing paragliders. I'm pretty certain that I will have the opportunity to hear more.

Discuss Moyes patents at the Oz Report forum

Batten Tips

Fri, Feb 13 2004, 4:00:02 pm GMT

Who invented the over-center batten tips?

"Awesome" Bob|Battens|Bill Moyes|Quest Air|Ricky Duncan|Steve Elkins

Awesome Bob at Quest Air <questair@mpinet.com> writes:

Although acclaim goes to Moyes for a refined version, I actually saw a earlier version of this on Ron Richardson's or Steve Elkins Avian Cheetah almost two years before the rest of manufacturers were putting them on their competition gliders. Although it looked quite a bit different, the function was the same. (Tension adjustable in the same way, but it was over the center horizontally instead of vertically and used a notch into a grommet instead of a trailing edge pocket.)

(editor's note: I've now heard of at least four or is it five people who claim to have came up with this idea. Ron or Steve's prior art would certainly be of interest to Ricky Duncan if Bill Moyes goes through with his law suit.)

Discuss batten tips at the Oz Report forum

Killed the hill for hang gliders, now for paragliders?

Mon, Nov 17 2003, 2:00:02 pm EST

Alan Chuculate|Bill Moyes|David Glover|Dragonfly|PG|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Wills Wing

Alan Chuculate|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|David Glover|Dragonfly|PG|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Wills Wing

Alan Chuculate|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Campbell Bowen|David Glover|Dragonfly|PG|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Wills Wing

Alan Chuculate|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Campbell Bowen|David Glover|Dragonfly|PG|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Russell Brown|Wills Wing

Alan Chuculate|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Campbell Bowen|David Glover|Dragonfly|PG|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Russell Brown|Wills Wing

David Glover called me this morning from Quest Air to report that Dave Prentice was up at 3,000’ behind the bi-plane Dragonfly piloted by Bobby Bailey on his third paraglider aerotow. As reported in the Oz Report Bobby has been working on developing an aerotow system for paraglider pilots and there has been significant progress.

The Bi-plane Dragonfly (Bigonfly?) flies at about five mile per hour less than the slowest speed of the standard Dragonfly (30 mph). This is near the top end of the airspeed for a paraglider.

David said that Dave, Bobby, and Rhett have worked out bridles and procedures that specifically apply to aerotowing paragliders and like with aerotowing hang gliders needed to be developed for this new activity. There needs to be coordination between the tug pilot and the paraglider pilot, as there is with hang glider pilots and tug pilots, and the tug pilots need to learn new procedures.

Paraglider aerotowing is still in development and Bobby (with the continuing help and encouragement from Russell Brown, Campbell Bowen, Rhett Radford, Bill Moyes and Quest Air) will be developing another version of the Dragonfly with a slotted wing to allow for slower flight. Russell will be delivering two sets of the leading edge slats to Quest in about three weeks and Bobby will be trying them both on the bi-plane and the single wing Dragonflies. Bill Moyes has provided the sail material for the bi-plane wings.

David Glover says that if the development of paragliding aerotowing continues to go as smoothly as it has so far, there is a far greater likelihood of a spring paraglider meet at Quest Air. Ground based aerotowing was just a bit too labor intensive on the part of those of us who got those guys in the air.

I’ve reported earlier (https://ozreport.com/toc.php?7.272#1) on an effort by Alan Chuculate to combine a beefed up version of the Wills Wing Condor and a light weight trike to create a low speed trike for towing paragliders. I will keep you up to date on those developments as they proceed.

I’ll have a lot more on this development at Quest Air and lots of pictures during the week.

Discuss paraglider aerotow at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Celebration of Flight

Wed, Oct 22 2003, 6:00:04 am EDT

Angelo Crapanzano|Bill Moyes

Angelo Crapanzano «angelo» writes:

In Turin we just had the celebration of the centennial of the Flyer first motorized flight and the birth of two well known aerodynamicists, professors at Politecnico di Torino (Turin engineering university). Inside the university was a reconstruction of the Flyer (which actually flies with a Rotax engine), made from the original designs.

Hang gliders had quite a big part in the show. I prepared 14 panels with, more or less, the story of free flight from Icarus and Leonardo up to now and did show an "original copy" of Leonardo's birds’ code. We also put three gliders on the wall of the "Aula Magna" (where the new engineers get their diploma).

 

Among others there where also the World Champion Stratos, the World Champion Laminar and the first glider ever to takeoff from a slope in Europe!

It was November 4th 1970 when Alfio Caronti took off from a slope 1040 meter above Lake Como on a glider he bought from Bill Moyes in Copenhagen the year before. At that time it was normal to release from towing, but not take off from a mountain. Here is a picture of this very first European takeoff (note water skies at Alfio's feet):

 

Just to have a better idea of our progress, here is a picture of Caronti's Moyes king post less gliders from 1969 and the Stratos (with a G91 fighter in background):

 

It's just 33 years ago. What will be in another 30?

Discuss free flight at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Dragonfly – the big engines »

Thu, Oct 2 2003, 4:00:05 am EDT

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Kenny Brown|Quest Air|Tracy Tillman

Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Dragonfly|Kenny Brown|Quest Air|Tracy Tillman

Tracy Tillman DraachenFliegen Soaring Club «Cloud9SA» writes:

Also, please post the attached picture of an aileron horn failure that recently occurred on our 912 rotax-powered Dragonfly at 250 hours. It should be noted that the failure occurred in a welded area, but in a different place than where the other reported failure occurred. We preflight thoroughly, but were not able to see any crack developing in that area prior to the failure.

Apparently, the other failure occurred with a stock Moyes aileron horn; whereas in our case, it was not a stock Moyes horn, but an all-stainless aftermarket horn that came with the (most excellent) 4-stroke aftermarket engine mount. If others are using this non-Moyes type of horn, they need to be aware of this failure and probably replace it with a stock Moyes aileron horn, incorporating any additional fixes that Moyes may recommend.

Our other tug has a Rotax 914, and has stock Moyes aileron horns. With 950 hours on them, they still seem OK. If Moyes came out with aileron horns that had beefier material and welds, we'd get them and replace the ones we currently have on our tugs. If not, I'll beef ours up on my own.

Fortunately for us, the failure occurred during a landing after a tow. As it was, the experience was way too interesting, as I nearly ground looped. I'm sooooo lucky that I had just touched down. I had some serious eebie-jeebies for the rest of the day, towing with the other tug.

The Dragonfly is a great Ultralight tug, and (in my opinion) far better than anything else currently available. They do hard duty. Everyone should remember that certificated aircraft get AD's and improvements incorporated into them all the time, as a result of lessons learned over time.

Kenny Brown «flyamoyes» writes:

Attention All Dragonfly Owners with 4 Stroke Engines:

Bill Moyes and Bobby Bailey have investigated the parts and circumstances surrounding the latest incident and report the following.

Bobby had two parts that were in a fatigued state and he had recently assembled Jim's plane in Texas following a landing incident. After a study of the failed parts Bobby's conclusion is that the stainless steel has work hardened. Both parts were from a Quest Air Dragonfly fitted with a 914 Rotax. The elevator horn was mounted on the engine frame on both planes. A thorough investigation revealed that the stainless steel showed clear crystalline structure through the broken surface. This is typical of work hardening.

 

Stainless steel work hardens at approximately 3 million cycles. An engine running at 5000 rpm delivers a shock load at that rate. It is possible that the part experiencing these shock loads could be fatigued in as little as 10 hours of operation. This would depend on how the fittings are tightened to the engine mount.

There are 78 Dragonfly in service with Rotax two stroke engines that have shown no evidence of failure in the last 12 years.

Bobby has developed a temporary quick fix. It does not stop the work hardening but it will hold the part together in the case of a failure and thus avoid grounding all affected Dragonfly's.

The quick fix involves replacing the AN4-5a bolt that connects the Aileron crank horn to the welded fitting that inserts into the aileron torque tube with an AN 43-5a. The AN3-14a must pass through the eye of the eye bolt.

Owners of Drangonflys with two stroke engines whose confidence has been shaken by the report should exchange the AN4-5a bolt with the AN43-5a bolt.

USHGA BOD meeting

Wed, Oct 1 2003, 4:00:01 am EDT

Bill Moyes|Jayne DePanfilis|PG|USHGA|video|weather|Wright Brothers

Jayne DePanfilis «jayne» writes:

Your travel itineraries indicate that it is best not to schedule anything for Thursday night. The hotel bar will be open in Peppercorn's Restaurant.

There will be a dedication "service" for the Rogallo Pylon at the Kitty Hawk Welcome Center on Friday evening at 5:30 PM. This includes a special ribbon cutting service just for the USHGA because the monument/park is not open to the public yet.

We hope that Mr. Rogallo "Rog" and his wife Gertrude will be able to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony (which is one of the reasons why we scheduled it for 5:30 PM.) I know they will join us if they feel up to it.

There will be a reception afterwards at the Kitty Hawk Kites store in Nags Head at 6:30 PM. The Nags Head store is the flagship location for Kitty Hawk Kites and Outer Banks Outdoors. The store is located across the street from the sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge State Park. The flight school is located in the park but the store is located outside of the park further south on 158 across the street from the dunes where training hill lessons and introductory flights are offered.

Nick Engler will address the board and guests at Kitty Hawk Kites during the reception. Refer to www.wrightbrothers.org for information about the 1902 replica that will be flown by Nick on the sand dunes on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, weather permitting. The USHGA board and guests are invited to watch the re-enactment of the first flight. Nick will provide a "Historical Interpretation of Flight" during the reception on Friday night and I've been told other hang glider pilots and test pilots will be attending.

Josh Criss, hang glider pilot and photo journalist from Northern Virginia, produced a video entitled "The Flyingest Flying." The video is about 80 minutes. It was actually edited to 80 minutes. I watched a portion of the video with Dan when he was in the office after the Spring Board meeting and this video includes footage that I bet most of you have never seen before. Footage of Bill Moyes and the likes flying hang gliders "many moons ago." The film is very well done. We may try to set something up on Saturday night so we can watch the film as a group etc. We'll let you know more during General Session on Friday morning at 8 AM.

General Session will be held in the Currituck Room on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. I was told yesterday by the hotel staff that wireless internet connection is available only in the Currituck room. This was not my previous understanding so I'm looking into it.

Finally, the National Park Service has declined our request to fly hang gliders and paragliders from the base of the Wright Brothers Monument in Kill Devil Hills. Don't take it too personally, other aviation-related requests have been denied recently as well. Too much going on in the aftermath of the storm in preparation for the 100th Anniversary of Flight celebration.

Discuss the USHGA at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Towing in Oz

Wed, Sep 10 2003, 4:00:04 pm EDT

Bill Moyes|Grant Heaney|Worlds

Want to get up in Oz this coming competition season? You can car tow very inexpensively (well, not counting the cost of the car). Or, for quite a few more dollars, you can aerotow. And you get your own tow pilot.

On a car towing team you usually have fewer pilots so the line is shorter, but aerotowing can be quicker, as you have a better chance of staying up.

Grant Heaney «GHeaney», who actually use to fly in these meets, will be providing towing services this year. He writes:

I am looking to find a team that would like me to tow them up behind my trike during the Australian Nationals and the Pre-worlds. The dates will run from the 28th December 2003 till 21st January 2004 (quite a long time).

500 Australian per comp. Book in for both Deniliquin (Nationals) and Pre-worlds (Hay) and pay up front for 800 Aus. Package deal. (This will take the head ache out of it for me.)

I’m going to sign up with Grant. Nine other slots are open. Form a team and sign up.

Grant isn’t the only one towing this coming season. Pete has an ad up in the Oz Report classified ads. Check it out at https://ozreport.com/freeClassifieds.php. Always nice to have a little competition.

I’m sure that Bill Moyes will also be towing with his tugs. Maybe Willi from the Fly Ranch will be there also, especially if a lot of European (and German) pilots come for the pre-Worlds.

Discuss towing at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

2003 Australian Nationals – day four »

Tue, Jan 21 2003, 10:00:01 am EST

Australian Nationals 2003|Bill Moyes|Dragonfly

http://www.dynamicflight.com.au/Nationals/results_2003.htm

The smoke disappears from the Riverina as it heads west from the three main fires to our south. With the front passing through the winds turn southwest strong, and when we get to the beach, err, the tow paddock, we find 25 km/h south southwest winds.

Still most of us set up in anticipation of slackening winds as the upper winds were measured by a Dragonfly pilot at 9:30 to be quite a bit lighter. We are hoping that the slight inversion will break and with mixing the surface wind speed should come down.

Paul sends Rhett up at noon and the report is strong winds all the way up. On the ground the sand is beginning to be blown into our eyes. It ain’t looking good. We hang in there for another hour and half before Paul finally calls the day to the relief of many pilots as the winds continue at 30 km/h gusting to over 40 km/h.

Bill Moyes and Jurgen were putting the 3 cylinder 2-stroke Hirth engine on one of the Dragonflies in the field, as we dealt with the heat, the flies, the dead sheep carcasses, and the blowing sand. Seems like there would be a better spot for this work.

The Moyes GTR is up on the stick at the public Olympic sized pool/park. Seems to rotate into the wind. Can’t imagine it will last as long as the Ute on a stick in Deniliquin.

Last year Hay put in the Sheep Shearer’s Hall of Fame which includes a real sheep shearing shed and daily demonstrations. Great fun for an hour during a day off. Who would have thought it.

Discuss "2003 Australian Nationals – day four" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2003 Australian Nationals – day two »

Sat, Jan 18 2003, 8:00:01 pm EST

Australian Nationals 2003|Bill Moyes|Chris Muller|Dragonfly|dust devil|Grant Heaney|Rhett Radford

Australian Nationals 2003|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Chris Muller|Dragonfly|dust devil|Grant Heaney|Rhett Radford

Australian Nationals 2003|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Chris Muller|Dragonfly|dust devil|Grant Heaney|Rhett Radford|Tove Heaney

Australian Nationals 2003|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Chris Muller|Chris Zimmerman|Dragonfly|dust devil|Grant Heaney|Rhett Radford|Tove Heaney

Australian Nationals 2003|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Chris Muller|Chris Zimmerman|Dragonfly|dust devil|Grant Heaney|Paris Williams|Rhett Radford|Tove Heaney

Australian Nationals 2003|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Chris Muller|Chris Zimmerman|Dragonfly|dust devil|Grant Heaney|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Rhett Radford|Tove Heaney

Australian Nationals 2003|Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Chris Muller|Chris Zimmerman|Dragonfly|dust devil|Grant Heaney|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Rhett Radford|Tove Heaney

http://www.dynamicflight.com.au/Nationals/results_2003.htm

The results should be up on the web site above.

I’m writing this the night of the task, but it won’t go out until the morning as we have restricted internet access here.

We call a 147 km task dogleg to the northeast. The first leg is east northeast 90 km along the Midwestern highway to Goolgowi. We are trying to keep pilots by the road. The second leg is 57 km north northwest to the airport at Hillston.

The winds are measured out of the south at 20 km when we send the trike up at 9 AM. At 6,000’ he gets a southwest reading. It looks like a quartering tail or cross wind to the first turnpoint and then a pretty much downwind leg to goal.

 

With the southerly winds the day is much cooler than the day before, probably in the mid thirties, so the tow paddock is bearable. If you just think of the paddock as a sandy beach, which is pretty much is, then every thing is just fine. With the cooler air it is even pleasant.

We’ve got four trikes and three Dragonflies. The Dragonflies are on one line and the extra two help out whoever needs it. Thanks to Bill Moyes, Rhett Radford, Jurgen, and Bobby Bailey for coming out to help out.

Johann and I are will Grant Heaney’s trike. Tove is also letting her husband tow her up. She’s having a great time not taking any responsibility, just being a pilot. Her glider is too big for her to aerotow in rough conditions, so she will take half a tow with Grant and then get a Dragonfly to tow her up.

I’m first in our line to tow, but there are already two pilots in the air slowly getting up and Grant takes me to their thermal. We only get to 2,500’ as the thermals aren’t going any higher. There seems to be a low level inversion.

As more pilots get up, we notice that the wind is blowing at 30 to 45 km/h directly out of the south. This is getting us quite a bit north of the tow paddock, when the turnpoint is off to the east.

About 15 minutes after getting up to 2,500’ we all head back to the tow area. About fifteen pilots are all spread out looking for the upwind thermals. We keep going and going and going and not until I’m down to 600’ AGL does someone find something. Paris and Johann as well as other pilots land.

This is the beginning of a desperate period of survival as we are continually pushed to the north in light lift and we are low. I’m the lowest after a while as everyone below me lands. We average about 80 fpm when circling during this time and I spend 80 percent of my time circling. When I’m not circling I’m heading south trying to go upwind back to the tow paddock and find the next thermal.

Fifty five minutes after launching I find a weak by consistent thermal and start the process of climbing out of the tow paddock. Some other pilots come join me and finally I’m got some gliders below me again and they are also going up.

 

I’m averaging 50 fpm so I’m drifting back quickly north toward the 10 km start circle radius. Finally at 2:30, 45 minutes after the first start time, we find 200 fpm while still in the start circle radius and with ten to fifteen pilots in the neighborhood we are all finally getting up over 3,500’.

I, Kari, Terry, Jerz, Paris, Gordon, Bruno, and ten other pilots, find 250 fpm and drift just a kilometer outside the start circle as the 2:45 clock approaches. Curt and another pilot are just inside the start circle as we head upwind against 44 km/h winds to get the edge of the start circle at 2:46.

 

We are extremely fortunate to have found good lift just before we were pushed out of the start circle. We are higher than we’ve been since we launched and we are just in time to take the start time at 2:45. This is extremely good luck.

Curt’s out in front with another flex wing a bit lower than me. Chris Zimmerman is way out in front low having taken the 2:30 PM clock. He’ll land near the mid western highway to take the wooden spoon (he said it was his personal worst).

Curt and I will find a couple of thermals and get up next to one another. Just behind us the folks (Kari, Jerz, Gordon, Terry, etc.) that went back to get the start circle just behind me are not finding the lift that Curt and I are working and they are getting low quickly. Curt and I will rush off ahead, on are own.

The deal is to fly east and then thermal to the north northeast, so that we can make the turnpoint without having to go upwind. I’m leading with Curt just behind me as we hit the next four thermals. On the last one he is a bit lower and I take off on my own for a long glide (7 minutes) that gets me 11 km but also down to 1,400’ AGL. (glide ratio of 15.6)

Curt doesn’t spend as much time as he needed to in the last thermal and then goes on glide behind me. We are cooking and he wants to keep cooking. He shouldn’t have tried to chase me as he comes in under me at about 100’ to 200’ off the deck. I see him make a valiant effort to get up in the thermal that I’m in, but soon he lands.

Later he tells me that he got greedy. He knew that we were doing really well and he just wanted to keep going for it. That was the worse stretch on the course and he just hit it at the wrong time.

With the strong winds out of the south it has turned into a crabbing contest as alone I work my way east whenever I’m on glide, but go north when I’m thermaling. Thankfully there is reasonable lift to go with the strong winds, so it is possible to go cross wind to the turnpoint at Goolgowi.

I’m impatient to make the turnpoint so that I can drift downwind toward goal with the thermals on the second leg. I come in a little low, but find 400 fpm just before the turnpoint and then gets me to it, even though I drift back in the thermal and have to go upwind to get the turnpoint and then find another thermal right there.

With the winds coming now out of the south southwest, it is still a bit of a cross wind that I have to fight against to go to the north northwest toward goal. Now there are plenty of dust devils on the ground and lots of blowing dust so it is easy to pick out the lift. I just fly from dust devil to dust devil.

I’ll make goal at 5:08, a task time of 2:23 minutes, at a speed of 62 km/h. I’m the first pilot to goal. About 27 minutes later Bruno, who also started at 2:45 will cross the goal line followed by Chris Muller. Then a few minutes later Bo, Gordon, and later Gerolf, Attila (who started at 3 PM), Oleg and numerous other pilots will make it to goal. Kari, Terry, Jerz, and other pilots who started at 2:45 will trickle in.

Didier will win the spot landing contest at goal, as many pilots land short of the spot. About thirty pilots will make goal. Paris Williams will not be among them. Steve Moyes doesn’t make it either. The full results should be available above.

2003 Australian Nationals – practice day »

Thu, Jan 16 2003, 10:00:01 pm EST

Australian Nationals 2003|Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Gordon Rigg|Icaro 2000|James Freeman|Robin Hamilton|weather

Gordon Rigg tells me that there is nothing living out around the tow paddock that the devastation due to the drought is beyond devastation out there. From the air at 4,000’ he couldn’t see a living thing on the ground. We’ll check out it Friday, although no need to take a flight.

Bill Moyes and three tugs are here. Bobby Bailey and Rhett are here somewhere. Jurgen is also piloting a Dragonfly. CASA has allowed Bill to fly and tow under a 9510 exemption which bypasses the Australian Ultralight Federation. There are also three trike pilots here for towing. We have way more aerotow resources than we need – but just as many as we want.

Bill and Bobby have put a four stroke Hirth engine in one of the tugs which we spotted flying over the Hay Caravan Park on Thursday afternoon. Two of the tugs aren’t even painted yet.

Gordon says that he took out an upright car towing on Thursday. Don’t quite know why he wanted that mentioned in the Oz Report. He needed to take another step. He said that only about 50% of the tows were successful in that the pilot got up and out of the paddock.

I’m using the practice day to relax and get everything ready for Saturday. I’ve got the glider out on the lawn and I’ll make sure it is set up right and ready to go.

Tony was called back to Austria and Ron skinned his leg so they’ve both went back to Sydney on Wednesday. Ron won’t be flying at Hay and it is down to Johann and me in the rigid wing category. I’ve got to take it up a notch to retain my title (such as it is).

Robin Hamilton is here for the Hay meet and flying a Moyes Litespeed 5, instead of what he had been flying, anIcaro2000 Laminar.

The winds have been very light for the last two days at least here in Hay, which is great given that when the come up so does the dust. There are lots of little cu’s very high up now as I look at them outside the window of my air conditioned cabin. It is very hot here and should get into the high thirties or low forties today and tomorrow and Sunday and so on.

We had lots of cool weather throughout the Open and Bogong Cup, so this looks like it will be a lot different.

James Freeman «james.freeman» writes:

Hay competition results will be up here at 2200 GMT (0900 AEST): http://www.dynamicflight.com.au/Nationals/results_2003.htm

Report from the tow paddock today – very hot. The temperature in Hay today – 42 C (108 F) and tomorrow predicted to be 44 C (111 F).

Sweet Revenge from AUF

Sat, Dec 28 2002, 1:00:03 am EST

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly

Over the years Bill Moyes has pushed and gone past the envelope to fly the Dragonfly and tow up hang glider pilots. The Australian Ultralight Federation finally got their revenge. They waited until the last minute to deny Bill Moyes the right to tow us at Deniliquin and probably at Hay. They made it so even though the Civil Aviation Authority gave Bill the approval for towing, he couldn’t do it.

They even rejected a letter from a CAA official that was a direct response to a request from AUF. They waited until Christmas Eve to deliver this little Christmas present. Very Christian of them.

I hope that they are happy. It is the hang glider pilots that are hurt, not Bill.

Bobby Bailey in for surgery

Tue, Dec 10 2002, 2:00:09 pm EST

Bill Moyes

Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey

Bobby Bailey is over here building Dragonflies and is scheduled to be piloting one at the meets. That may be out on hold, as Bobby has a couple of kidneys full of kidney stones.

Bill Moyes had to drag him into the hospital for a cat scan last week. Bobby like other men is very reluctant to go the doctor. When they got the results back, it wasn’t a stone or two, but a rock pile.

He goes in for surgery on one kidney on Thursday and the other in the New Year.

USHGA – the next issues »

Tue, Dec 10 2002, 2:00:06 pm EST

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|USHGA

Jayne has a lot on her plate at the moment. In particular the Sport Pilot Initiative. I spoke with Bill Moyes on Sunday and the USHGA is going to ask the FAA to go with what the USHGA is doing now. Certify the Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly B model (not the new Moyes certified model) and Grandfather in the existing tug pilots and tug pilot training scheme. Sounds good to me.

If this doesn’t fly, then the fall back is the Australian proposal.

Jayne has also stated that she will get me a financial report, as she wrote in late October:

I will send you a condensed version of my report next week with some interesting industry wide stats including dues increases for the SSA, USUA, and the USPA, to really put the situation with USHGA into better perspective. To understand the significance of what happened last year and this year, you have to compare these two years to 2000, and while Bill's report is accurate, he has an excellent understanding of the financials; you can't get a real feel for the changes until we compare them. I will send the report next week when I am in the office again.

I am also waiting to see when the provisional minutes of the USHGA BOD meeting come out. I know that Liz Sharp, the person responsible for collating all the minutes of the various committees, has been sick, so I don’t expect them soon, but would love to see them up on the USHGA web site as soon as they are available.

Bailey-Moyes Dragonflies at the Australian meets

Mon, Dec 9 2002, 2:00:08 pm EST

Dragonfly|Bill Moyes

Spoke with Bill Moyes last night. He said that they will have three Dragonflies and four tug pilots out at Deniliquin and Hay for the upcoming meets. Thirty hang glider pilots are signed up to be towed up behind these tugs.

Discuss "Bailey-Moyes Dragonflies at the Australian meets" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Interview with ⁢Bill Moyes »

Wed, Dec 4 2002, 2:00:01 pm EST

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Rhett Radford

The word at the Moyes hang gliding factory was that Bill very much wanted to talk to me about the new Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly certification that had just been announced on Friday of last week. Bill hadn’t even had time to inform his dealers of the news.

On Tuesday, I drove right away over to the Dragonfly shop behind Bill’s auto body and repair facility in Bondi Junction and caught him in the middle of sending out Wayne to pick up Dragonfly parts. Bobby was working downstairs building Dragonflies. Bill wanted to tell me all about the certification situation.

First, there have been three fatalities with the Dragonfly and the question was what happened. What caused the Dragonfly to crash in these situations?

Bill feels now that they finally have an answer based on eye witness reports from a Canadian accident. In this case, there were two people in the Dragonfly, the pilot dove the tug, pulled up hard, and tried to perform a quick roll by throwing the stick to one side. The wing was torn off.

Too much load was placed on the wing due to the excessive speed and weight, the high load due to the hard pull up and then finally the excessive load due to the hard roll input by the pilot. The load exceeded the carrying capacity of the strut and the leading edge tube. They failed.

It is easy for a pilot to initiate a roll with the Dragonfly because the ailerons are at the aerodynamic center of the wings. There is little to no force opposing the pilot’s wrist action. Therefore the pilot can try a quick roll with the Dragonfly, but if the loads are all ready high, the loads may now be too high.

This, by way of a precursor to the new Bailey Moyes Dragonfly certified edition, which after additional sleeving in the leading edge tube, and beefing up in other areas is now certified in Australia. The Dragonfly has already passed the certification process in German (BFU).

The new Dragonfly certified model (slightly beefed up from the B model) is load tested to 450 kilograms (990 pounds). The leading edge strut and tube are required to hold 74% of this maximum rated load.

The certification standards used in Germany (BFU) are accepted by CASA in Australia as are the British standards. Bill states that they will be taking these standards (and at least four others) to the US and the FAA as part of the process for determining sport pilot aircraft certification. The FAA is requiring that the sport aviation and manufacturers associations come up with the standards for certification

If the FAA accepts the standards proposed by the sport aviation and manufacturers associations then, the Dragonfly will be certified in the US as a consequence of its certification in Germany and Australia. The next hurdles are towing, towing as a business, and tug pilot qualifications. BTW, Rhett Radford is coming over to Oz this weekend.

The sport pilot process currently does not allow towing or commercial activities. Bill states that they believe that they will be able to provide the FAA with their towing manual which will lay out the proper practices for safe towing. He is of the opinion that the towing documentation will allow towing to be a part of the practices approved under the sport pilot initiative.

Commercial operation is handled by not having any. Flight parks are divided up into the towing clubs and park operations. Towing is handled as a part of the club and expenses are allowed to be reimbursed in the sport pilot initiative according to Bill.

There are currently pilot qualifications found in the ultralight association manuals. It is proposed by Bill and all the other Australian sport aviation and manufacturers associations that the current flight qualification be used to license Dragonfly pilots. This would also be proposed to the FAA under the sport pilot initiative. This fits with the current philosophy espoused by the people at the FAA in charge of the initiative.

So, if Bill is right, all the issues that we in the US have regarding flight parks, towing, heavy ultralights, and the Sport Pilot Initiative will be constructively solved by the current process.

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In the next issue

Tue, Dec 3 2002, 7:00:07 pm GMT

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly

An interview with Bill Moyes on the importance of the recent Australian certification of the Moyes Dragonfly.

Discuss "In the next issue" at the Oz Report forum   link»

New standards for paragliders

Tue, Dec 3 2002, 7:00:01 pm GMT

BHPA|Cross Country Magazine|DHV|Paul Klemond

Paul Klemond <paul@kurious.org> sends in this URL from Cross Country Magazine:

Will your aircraft be facing new CEN standards too? http://www.xcmag.com/read/article.cfm?id=281&language=International

In the article Mike Cavanagh writes:

The desire for this new standard has come from the associations that are meant to represent our needs in various countries. In the UK this is the BHPA. Being a British company we are obviously quite interested in how we have been "represented", I am sad to say we have been disappointed. We are not happy with the CEN standard, as we understand it, as we see the potential shortcomings that might drastically hinder the sports development.

From what we have been told there is every chance that all our gliders from the Atom (DHV 1) to the Octane (DHV 2) would be sat in the B class. This is the same for most other manufacturers and their ranges. This is obviously not ideal as we know that these wings have very different characteristics and are suitable for different levels of pilots. To have such a vast difference in the most popular class is very dangerous.

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The Gulgong XC Classic

Fri, Nov 15 2002, 1:00:01 pm EST

Bill Moyes|record|Ricky Duncan

Bill Moyes|cart|record|Ricky Duncan

We’re here just west of the Great Dividing Range and northwest of Sydney and New Castle for the Gulgong XC Classic. Guglong is an old mining town pop. 2000 that has somehow managed to hang on and is the town where Australian poet and author Henry Lawson grew up.

It is about four hours from Sydney’s western suburbs and about that from New Castle. Bill Moyes has his Dragon Fly about an hour south at Rylstone, also on the western side.

This meet is being put on by the New Castle Hang Gliding Club with support from Airborne and maybe we will be towing behind the latest version of the Airborne trikes. Bill Moyes is also bringing over a Dragon Fly to help tow.

Speaking of Moyes, heard some interesting news this morning from someone who should know. From the looks of it the Litesport is a big success. So big that it has cut the Litespeed sales in half, from 10 gliders a week down to about 5 a week.

With folks buying king posted gliders, there should be increased interest in competitions that include king posted gliders racing against king posted gliders. There was only one king posted glider at the Hay meet last year, but heaps of them at Deniliquin.

The contest begins tomorrow, on Saturday, but a few of us were out at the airport today. The cu’s started forming at 8 AM, and they were moving fast. Reminded me of Zapata. We are not that far from the coast here and the Great Dividing Range ain’t all that Great.

I’ll bet that no one has thought about going early (8 AM) from Gulgong to try to set a distance record and that no one has taken off at 8 AM in an attempt. It was over developed here at 11 AM, but then it broke up again a bit later and started blowing on the ground (where it had been still before).

We decided to forgo practice days when the winds got a bit strong. It would have been great if we started earlier.

Looks like I will be flying an Airborne Climax C2, a topless flex wing during the meet. Ricky Duncan at Airborne offered me the use of the glider about a week ago. I had originally thought about flying a Sting, but when I realized that the meet was out west (as opposed to a little fun meet in the coastal mountains), I thought better of that prospect.

Here’s a shot of the glider set up (very easy, other than the battens – relative to the new Moyes battens). It sure is something to stand next to a control frame that seems to be a couple of feet higher. I’ll be sure to have the keel up high on the cart.

Pilots in Wings

Mon, Aug 19 2002, 12:00:02 pm EDT

Bill Moyes|Heiner Biesel|sailplane

«Snelly14» writes:

In response to Heiner Biesel's comments regarding foot launched sailplanes I am in full agreement. The fact that there is not a single popular, foot launched, conventionally tailed design in the 40 year history of hang gliding speaks volumes. Mr. Sandlin's designs while interesting (found here: http://home.att.net/~m-sandlin/x_gliders.htm) are not especially practical at over 100lbs. Neither were Volmer Jensen's.

If you think recent advances in materials might change things check out the recent attempt with the archaeopteryx. Last time I heard it was 120LBS and climbing. How many people with foot launched sailplanes actually foot launch them?

Pilot in wing designs as mentioned have aesthetic appeal but the problems of pitch control, loss of pendulum stability and control augmentation are problematic. The Houghton Bros. concepts might be adaptable to foot launching, but Bill Moyes wasn't able to pull it off. Neither was Laurent Kalbermatten with the disastrous Delka.

As Heiner notes the landing flare is critical to foot launching. Elevons pitch the wing up well enough but reduce the coefficient of lift at the same time (and vice versa). Sliding seats have problems as well - as demonstrated in the Avifiber canard 2FL - firstly control authority is reduced due to loss of pendulum and the pilot can slide forward or backward as the wing pitches, needing some strength to control.

It may be possible to hinge the wings and shift them forward and back in relation to the Cof G as birds do. This was attempted successfully with the Exulans project with the wings hinged at the mid point rather than the center. Since the MAC is moved in relation to the CofG this is a far more efficient method of pitch control.

Look at the simplicity of bats and pterosaurs - no wing reflex, no tail and minimal washout yet they retain excellent pitch stability. Some time ago I made a pivoting wing prototype out of old windsurfer sails. The wing pivots need not be complex and it worked well enough from dune hops to warrant further investigation. I never had the courage to try it higher.

Follow up from Bill Moyes

Fri, May 31 2002, 2:00:02 pm EDT

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Glen Volk|sailplane

Bill Moyes «moyes» writes:

The German Competition was a Regionals at a famous Sailplane area Liebertingen. Rigid wings and Atos are popular inGermany as they were developed there. They wrongly believed that Flex wings could never match their performance.

The winner was Andre Bjamarani. He has finished between 20th and 25th in the German League over the last few years till he got Bob Baier’s old Litespeed. He moved quickly up to between third and sixth place at meets now.

Juergen Rudinger is a member of a private club. They have 5 trikes, one Dragonfly, one Challenger and about 12 Atos and no flex wings. Juergen is going to introduce a Litespeed to test its acceptance in an Atos world.

(editor’s note: It is great again to hear that the topless gliders – I assume Bill also means the Litespeed – are equivalent to the ATOS. I guess that means that by winning the 2002 Australian Nationals I’ve only got me to blame.

Perhaps Bill and Vince, who also wrote in saying that ATOSes and topless flex wings had equivalent performance, will want to see us all in the same class. Of course, I’m sure that Glen Volk, on a Litespeed, who saw me getting higher and higher than him (he started out 50 feet higher than me) as we both glided seven miles into goal on the day that Vince refers to when he claims equivalent performance, would object.)

Update from Bill Moyes

Fri, May 24 2002, 2:00:02 pm EDT

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Manfred Ruhmer|record

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Harry Martin|Manfred Ruhmer|record

Bill Moyes «moyes» writes:

I just arrived back fromGermany yesterday. We have the preliminary certification. This means they've accepted the physical tests, mathematics and we have permission to fly, tow, and record noise measurements and flight measurements inGermany for final certification.

Spent last week end in the Pisgau inAustria at the Austrian Nationals. Manfred did it again. Martin Harry, second, and Gerolf, third. I think Bob Bayer 4th. The rain moved in again after two excellent days and I left before the comp ended, although I did not miss any flying as the next two days were unflyable. The Moyes Boys took the next 5 places after Manfred.

I took the new Certified Dragonfly to Liebertingen to tow at their Regionals. They also had 2 cancelled days. The event had 20 Atos and 3 Flex Wings. The event was won by a pilot flying a Litespeed without the use of their handicap System. I had to fly the Dragonfly 50 miles to and from the comp site. On route we went through a hail storm. I didn't know how much hair I don't have on my head till the hail bounced off the bald patches.

(editor’s note: I’ve written back to Bill to get more information on certification and what it means to Australians and US pilots. I’ve asked other questions and hope to have an update of this update.)

Another Dragonfly solo and new Midwest flight park

Thu, May 2 2002, 3:00:08 am EDT

Bill Moyes|Dragonfly|Florida

Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Dragonfly|Florida

Bill Moyes|Bobby Bailey|Dragonfly|Florida|James Gaar

Gaar, James R. «GaarJ» writes:

Warren Narron, aKansas City based tug pilot for bothFlorida competitions and founding Member of Adventure AirSports, LLC also took a short ride with Bobby Bailey and soloed. He was flying Dragonfly # 72 that Adventure AirSports has just purchased from Bill Moyes. You may have noticed it as the only white tug with 2 seats.

Warren, a skilled and experienced trike pilot told me he quote, “…greased his first (solo) landing, and then took two more.”

The Dragonfly is in transport toKansas City where Adventure AirSports will be opening a tow park and flight school for theMidwest in the very near future.

Visit our website for more information. http://www.AdventureAirSports.com