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topic: Rhett Radford (63 articles)

Mitch Shipley »

December 24, 2019, 10:05:57 EST

Mitch Shipley

Doing Well

Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley|Rhett Radford|Wilotree Park

The Rhett Radford on the left, Kate Griffin in the middle and Mitch to the right at the Christmas Party at Wilotree Park. Mitch is growing his beard while his shoulder recovers from surgery.

We've seen Mitch a few times since we arrived back in Florida. He is looking great and doing well after crashing his hang glider at the LZ at Tater Hill in North Carolina. We're happy to see him doing so well and look forward to working with him in the future. The sooner the better.

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Both Bobby and Rhett are here at Quest Air

Mon, Jan 8 2018, 1:08:42 pm EST

So the world goes upside down

Andrey Solomykin|Bobby Bailey|Facebook|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Timothy Ettridge

Andrey Solomykin had a birthday party and we all enjoyed the cake around Timothy Ettridge's fire pit:

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February Fun at Quest Air

February 19, 2016, 8:20:23 EST

February Fun at Quest Air

A northeast wind

Belinda Boulter|Facebook|John Simon|Ken Kinzie|Larry Bunner|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Timothy Ettridge

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/flightinfo.html?dsId=4841821

https://www.facebook.com/cory.barnwell/posts/10100652912375688

https://airtribune.com/3733/tracks__25042

https://airtribune.com/davisstraub/tracks__25043/live

With a couple of days notice using NAM on XCSkies we planned a task to the south west to Venice Beach (178 km) with a turnpoint near Fantasy of flight 33 miles south of Quest Air to keep us on a route between the Lakeland and Barstow airspaces.  Early indication from a few days before said we had a chance for cu's. That disappeared when we saw the morning forecast on Thursday.

None the less we had built up a reserve on enthusiasm, which is pretty much the case when we broadcast a task a few days in advance. Whether that be a triangle or out and return on light wind days. Or a down wind scoot on windy days.

With the wind forecasted to be 14 mph out of the northwest we felt that an attempt at the beach on the Gulf side of Florida was in order even if it was early in the year.

We waited as long as we could and took off with Rhett Radford and Timothy Ettridge towing us. Rob Bunner, Larry Bunner, Patrick Halfhill, Ken Kinzie, John Simon, Corry Barnwell and I were lined up on the southwest end of the field and I got off early.

There was lift despite the lack of cu's and I pinned off at 1,900' in almost 200 fpm. The air was smooth and easy like it often is in Florida but the drift was strong and making it actually to Fantasy of Flight would really not be possible. But that was okay because all we really had to do was intersect the second leg before we hit the Lakeland airspace.

I found some nice lift and Cory and Larry joined up with me. John Simon missed it a little bit and was below us. We didn't see Patrick and we would soon see Ken landing west, downwind of the Seminole airfield. John, we hear, landed nearby.

At 3,900' we headed to the south east spreading out wide and helping each other. The ticket seemed to be to go over pasture lands and not the wooded swamp areas to find the lift. Cory was often willing to go upwind to find the lift to the northeast if we were over a field that was putting off something, but could have been doing better perhaps with a more coherent thermal upwind.

The three of us worked together for the next ten thermals. None of them averaged over 200 fpm. We were getting almost no help from the strong winds as we had to go cross wind to get near Fantasy of Flight. Just northwest of it we climbed out to 4,500' and I headed out in front to find the next lift. I found some broken stuff at 4,000' but it looked better ahead so I continued on. Cory and Larry stopped to work what I had run into and got to 4,800'.

There were plenty of open areas ahead just north and south of I4, but unlike our previous situation the fields weren't working. I pushed over some groves but the lift was too weak and I was getting too low. I headed for a nice big open area with a few cattle as my last chance but nothing there.

Cory and Larry came along a bit later and continued working 50 fpm, but weren't getting high . They could see me in the field. Downwind of it was a large swamp area and unable to get high enough to feel comfortable they headed back toward me. Patrick Halfhill showed up, and knowing that I would get a ride back, landed with me. Then Larry and Cory came in right after him, so we made it easy on Belinda to take four pilots back to Quest Air.

The property caretaker showed up so Belinda got to drive right in to where we were breaking down. We were not the first hang glider pilots to land in this area. It is a reclaimed phosphate mine so it looks quite weird from the air.

Back at Quest Air Kate Griffin had her first thermal/soaring flight and Rob Bunner thermaled and was able to stay close despite the wind.

We didn't get the chance to see what it would be like to actually go downwind on this strong wind day. That would have been nice.

https://www.facebook.com/patrick.halfhill.3/posts/10206803074248018

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Dragonfly AeroSports

Mon, Dec 15 2014, 7:35:32 am EST

Learn to fly the Dragonfly

Bobby Bailey|Campbell Bowen|Dragonfly|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Quest Air|Rhett Radford

Jim Prahl and Jonny Thompson «Jim Prahl and Jonny Thompson» write:

Dragonfly Aerosports is again offering intro flights, Sport Pilot training and Tug Pilot training in the Pittman Air Dragonfly. This is the airplane that has been towing hang gliders into the sky since Bobby Bailey and Campbell Bowen first designed and built the Dragonfly here in Florida, but with a Special Light Sport Airworthiness Certificate which makes it legal to use for training and tours or introductory flights.

Our Instructors, Bobby Bailey, Jim Prahl, and Jonny Thompson are three of the most experienced Dragonfly pilots, south of Rhett Radford, who teaches in Massachusetts.

We are open seven days a week and operate at the premier hang gliding flight park, Quest Air Soaring Center in Groveland Florida. Foreign pilots are welcome. Two of our instructors are registered with AFSP and cleared to train students who are not US citizens. It takes two or three weeks for foreign applicants to clear the requirements, please call if you have any questions.

Come take a lesson, a ride, or begin a new career as a hang gliding tug pilot or refine you towing skills to become the best tug pilot you can. For further information or to schedule a flight call: Jim Prahl at (352) 516-8618 or Jonny Thompson at (252) 207-9597 The Dragonfly AeroSports web site is under construction. Feel free to e-mail: Jim Prahl «jim» or Jonny Thompson «Jim Prahl and Jonny Thompson».

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Neal in a butt bucket

April 3, 2012, 8:17:46 EDT

Neal in a butt bucket

Haven't seen a butt bucket since Rhett Radford was flying them

Quest Air|Rhett Radford

Neal mostly flies his little airplanes here at Quest Air working on UAV contracts, but here he is flying a hang glider:

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Recent flying at Quest Air

March 18, 2011, 6:54:17 pm EDT

Got bored high, so went and got low

Belinda Boulter|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Richard Lovelace|Steve Bellerby

Belinda Boulter|Flytec 6030|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Richard Lovelace|Steve Bellerby

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/flightinfo.html?flightId=-782977620

I arrived back from Colombia late Monday afternoon.  It was a good light wind day that day with all the folks flying here.  Tuesday and Wednesday the sky was full of cu's and the flying was easy.  Soft fluffy thermals under the cu's.  High cloud bases.  Triangles and out and returns flown.  The winds were out of the south if at all.

The cu's thinned out for Thursday with a east wind, still light.  It's been a great run of light wind days all the time I've been here.  Four pilots flew as Richard Lovelace and I stayed on the ground and Richard went to the west coast/beach with his wife Caroline and Belinda.  There were scattered high cu's later in the day and Steve Bellerby flew until after 7 PM.  Sundown is around 7:30 EDT.

On Friday it looked like a few scattered cu's in the forecast, if that, with a northeast wind, light, of course.  Steve and I decided on a short task to the north to the intersection of highway 33 and the Turnpike.  I launched first (to the south east given the light conditions) and Rhett Radford towed me through half a mile of sink before we found some lift.  He started to turn and I pinned off at 1,100' AGL.  I am too embarrassed to stay on tow when the tug pilot is marking obvious lift by turning.

The lift is light, but I move further south and it turns into 900 fpm.  I'm quickly to cloud base at 5,500' under a fast forming cu.  I head northwest to Mascotte where I see a couple of wispy cu's.  None of the cu's seem to be thicker than 100 feet.  There is an obvious inversion.

I climb back to 5,500' and I'm bored.  This is going to be too easy.  Where's the competition?  I decide to fly north and keep flying until I get down to at least 3,000' if not 2,000'.  There are no cu's to the north and few cu's in the sky any where.  I race as fast as possible down highway 33.  I slowed down when I got below 3,000' going into search mode.  I was already drifting west.

I finally found lift at 1,700' just short of the small land fill on the west side of 33.  It is weak, but that is just what I wanted.  It was cold up high and I am flying with my Giro airfoil bicycle helmet and there are lots of holes in it, so it was too cool on my head and there was a lot more wind noise.  Keeping low sounded better to me and a lot more interesting.

I lose the weak lift (or it gave out), and I head north to the land fill which has proven to be a good source previously.  It is blowing maybe five to ten mph out of the east across the lakes further to the east, which for sure is dampening the potential lift.  No lift at the landfill, but down to 800' AGL just to the north of it I find a bit of lift and stick with it.

Like in Roldanillo, there are lots of Black Vultures (buzzards) around and I keep my eye on them.  I climb up slowly for at least ten minutes and then follow a vulture way below me going up wind and find better lift.  I am near the turnpoint point and decide just to go upwind without heading back toward Quest just yet.  After climbing to 3,900', I head upwind southeast to get over to county highway 565 in case I didn't get up.  I find light lift over a housing development at 1,700' and drift to the southwest to where I am almost over the Grass Roots airfield back on 33 and at 3,600'.  Time to head off as the lift dies out.

I push again up wind to the southeast to the huge tree farm east of highway 19.  Down to, well, down to 1,700' again.  I find weak lift.  I'm only five kilometers out from Quest Air, and the 6030 says I have goal made, but I'm not in a hurry and between me and the goal at Quest Air is a lot of not so landable area.  I hang on, well, once again in weak lift, and drift straight south.  Back up to 2,300' I turn and make it back to goal with plenty of altitude.

Steve Bellerby is landing below me as I come over Quest.  He wasn't able to get away from Quest when he didn't get up with me in the first strong thermal.  It was further south of where he was left off.  After getting to 4,000' he found no lift all around Quest and was forced to land.

It looks like it might be blue but with a northeast wind a bit stronger that could send us to the west coast tomorrow to Venice.  This has been a real good March at Quest Air.

Flying into the ground

May 9, 2010, 11:44:38 EDT

Flying into the ground

Confusing ground speed for airspeed

Dustin Martin|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley|Quest Air|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Lovelace|video

A pilot flew fast into the ground today (Sunday) at Quest Air at around 9:49 AM. The wind was north northeast at about 10 mph. There was a bit of turbulence below 600' (on take off) but perfectly smooth above (according to Mitch, the tug pilot). According to one witness the pilot pulled in (the witness saw the angle of the glider decreasing) between 20' AGL and the ground. According to the pilot she pulled in as hard as she could because she felt that the glider had stalled and she needed to increase its air speed. She felt that she couldn't pull in hard enough on her Wills Wing Sport 2.

The pilot flew into the ground hard, the pilot swung through the control frame, the glider nosed over, and the nose of the glider hit the pilot in back of her neck below her Icaro Skyrunner helmet (no damage to the helmet, no damage to the glider). The only damage seen was to the stem of the vario.

The glider was perfectly level on its nose and the pilot didn't move. Rhett Radford and Mitch Shipley immediately ran out to the pilot who landed a few hundred yards south of the club house in the middle of the north/south runway. Dustin Martin and Mike McFaddin quickly drove out in the Quest Air airport vehicle. Mitch quickly called 911 and the local Groveland fire truck/EMS vehicle arrive very quickly (5 minutes?).

The pilot was stabilized by the emergency personnel, two more emergency vehicles arrived, one a sheriff, and the other the Groveland EMS vehicle. They apparently called in the Orlando Medical center helicopter as it soon arrived and the pilot was airlifted out.

Considering the pilot's statements, and the witness statements it appears as though the pilot was not familiar enough with landing in 10 mph head winds and confused her slow ground speed with slow airspeed, pulled in too much, and didn't round out before impact. One witness says that there was no round out and the other says that the glider upon hitting the ground immediately stopped and nosed over. He said that it was violent.

The pilot was recording the flight with her GoPro Hero helmet mounted camera. The camera was off when they saw it according to the witnesses, but I was able to see that there was a MP4 file stored on the camera, but it is corrupted (the camera turned off on impact?) and I am not able to recover or view it. Of course, the video would not show her at all, just the view from her point of view, which would give an idea of what went wrong in the last few seconds.

According to an initial assessment by the pilots who went to attend to her, the pilot is likely suffering from two broken arms. She could feel the pain in her arms and could feel her legs.

To those of us sitting on the park benches by the office and enjoying the morning it seems to be perfect conditions for a little flight, with a moderate wind to make landing easy, not too hot (after the front came through during the night), no clouds, everything very comfortable. The pilot first learned to fly at Quest Air in 2005. She came sporadically to fly and was flying a easy to fly and land glider (Wills Wing Sport 2) with a fin to stabilize towing. Her tow was uneventful.

The pilot had been cautioned by Mitch to keep up her speed on coming into land, perhaps she took that advice too much to heart when she confused her slow ground speed with airspeed. Perhaps getting bumped around in some light turbulence made her want to pull in more than was appropriate.

The turbulence and wind conditions were gentle especially when compared to what we were flying in on Saturday, with a sixteen mph west wind and thermals at 3 PM. A ten mph head wind would normally be considered ideal for landing in as your ground speed would be quite slow making for an easy transition from flying to landing.

Rich Lovelace sent the following photograph:

Should be up on the 6 o'clock news here: http://www.wftv.com/video/index.html.

http://www.wftv.com/news/23501281/detail.html. They actually had the story backwards when it first appeared and I emailed the reporter and it was correct within a few minutes.

Swinging for the fence

April 7, 2010, 10:47:04 pm EDT

Swinging for the fence

Launched at 10:45 AM

Jamie Shelden|Mike Barber|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Tom Lanning|Tyson Richmond

I was torn between going for it today or tomorrow. The forecast (NAM) in the morning was for no cu's or very thin ones. But then they started appearing before 10 AM. Now we had seen these early morning cu's before, and they had all disappeared later in the mornings, to give us blue days, so it wasn't clear that these cu's would we staying with us.

By 10:30 the cu's looked a lot more substantial (but still thin) than they had on previous days. Also the wind was blowing a lot stronger than predicted for later in the day, so I decided to go for it. Everything was already setup and ready to go at a moment's notice.

Rhett Radford hauled me up at 10:45 AM. I pinned off just below cloud base at 2,300' (I like to get towed high if I launch this early). I was right under a reasonable looking cloud street.

The lift was weak but good for this early in the morning. Cloud base was nice and high for this time of the day. I drifted and climbed in the 13 mph south southeast wind to over 3,000'. The drift and cloud street was aiming at just west of Leesburg toward a large swampy area 25 km away, so I knew that I wanted to jump over to the west to the next street as soon as it looked good.

I jumped over just north of Mascot and found lift under thin cu's. Moving a little further to the west under the cu's I found 170 fpm to 3,400' and almost cloud base. But there were no cu's ahead for me.

I made a long jump, 6 km further to the west, which is the direction I wanted to go anyway to get under a few ragged cu's. Down to 1,000' AGL I got under the cu's and worked myself back up again. I was in perfect position for crossing the Turnpike and the swamp to the north of it to get lined up with highway 301 which heads north (pretty much the wind direction - 171 and 10 mph).

The only trouble was there were no cu's to the north, unless you count about 50 km to the north. The cu's had also dried up behind me. Jamie Shelden, John Chambers, Rich, and Olaf were thinking about launching after me, but they were getting discouraged by the disappearing clouds.

I was only able to climb back to 2,600' 6 km south of the Turnpike. Not seeing any better options I headed for the driest fields I could find north of the Turnpike but before the swamp seeing if I could blunder into a thermal. I found bits and pieces but nothing substantial enough to stay with. I landed right next to the Okahumpka service plaza. I had only been in the air for an hour.

Jamie and the crew didn't launch until about 1 PM. By then the sky had refilled with cu's. In fact small wispy cu's started forming over me soon after I landed. Perhaps I should have just stayed back where I was under the last cu's maybe even gone south to a wisp or two and waited for the day to change.

They were able to get up and head north and by the time I got back to Quest they were just south of the Turnpike. The cu's thinned out and disappeared for them also and they were able to get about 40 miles from Quest Air.

Pilots from Wallaby including Tom Lanning, Mike Barber, Tyson Richmond, and Ken Martin did out a returns from Wallaby to Quest Air. They launched about 1:30 PM. The wind had died down enough in the late afternoon to allow them to head back to the south.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/flightinfo.html?flightId=-617188494

http://xc.dhv.de/xc/modules/leonardo/index.php?name=leonardo&op=show_flight&flightID=133555

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:davisstraub/7.4.2010/14:44

Well, we'll see what Thursday brings. So far I am happy with my decision not to really press it on Wednesday and wait and see if Thursday is the better day.

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Quest Air Sunday

April 19, 2009, 8:42:34 pm EDT

Quest Air Sunday

Campbell goes 105 miles, gets a $200 ticket for speeding coming back

Dustin Martin|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Quest Air|record|Rhett Radford

I had been watching the forecast for a couple of days. With a front coming from the west (as they do) it looked like the winds would be good for going north up highway 301 into Georgia and maybe beyond, to try to beat the 283 mile record set by Jonny and Dustin.

The day opened with overcast and a few cu's that were quickly extinguished by the overcast. The wind was 10+ mph out of the south southeast, which was perfect but the cirrus overcast and lack of cu's was not inviting.

Dustin doing a test flight displayed some lift around 10:30 AM. He said the lift was good. So I decided to give it a try while Campbell and everyone else was reluctant to take off. I held on behind Rhett Radford starting a little after 11 AM until we were at 2,500'. We hadn't hit any lift, but I figured I had enough altitude to have a good little look around to see if I could find some without being blown north of Quest Air.

With the wind I assumed that the lift would be lined up so I headed west cross wind to find a lift line. It took a while and I wasn't turning until I was down to 1,700'. Most of the flight for the next hour was taken up with turning. Topping out at 2,700' I came back to Quest Air and got up again to 3,700'.

I looked to the north as I worked the lift and saw thick overcast and little to no cu's. It didn't look anything like a record day. I decided to stay nearby.

I came back to Quest again but coming in over Campbell as he towed up I didn't find anything and landed. Rhett hauled Campbell to the east where it was a bit clearer and he got up as I had and then headed downwind. He was set on going no matter what.

He made it 105 miles to the north up highway 301. He said the overcast went away between Ocala and Gainesville and he found 900 fpm, but then the overcast came back again and he went down.

Pilots at Wallaby took off at 4:30 PM and some made it up to Quest Air. Some just short.

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Quest Air, it's like home »

March 10, 2009, 9:35:39 EDT

Quest Air, it's like home

Every where we go feels like home

Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop|weather|Wills Wing T2C

It was great to show up here last Friday afternoon and see lots of folks flying and ready to go flying. The weather has been good, dry, light winds, cu's. There were plenty of pilots here for the weekend and passengers showed up for tandems on Monday as well as all weekend, so Dustin was busy.

Dustin and I took late flights on Monday to check out the gliders. I'm testing out a Wills Wing T2C -154. Dustin has a new T2C- 144. Dustin swears that the 144 is the right size for me at 170-175 pounds. I'll be flying the 154 a bunch to see if I like it.

There are plenty of tugs. Rhett Radford is here with his. Seems like plenty of tug pilots here also. Nicole is holding down the office. Jamie was here on Sunday flying her Litesport, which she loves. I know how she feels. Steve Kroop was also here and flying. Dustin does the tandems.

There is a great group of pilots here and it feels like a club. No one in charge.

The Flytec Race and Rally

January 31, 2009, 9:11:20 AEDT

The Flytec Race and Rally

Racing from South Florida to Lookout Mountain in north Georgia

Bobby Bailey|Dustin Martin|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|record|Rhett Radford|Rob Kells

Jamie Shelden «justtrademarks» writes:

As many pilots are aware, we having been working on holding the Flytec Championships again in 2009. We tried every way possible to hold a meet at or near Quest and in the end just couldn’t get the permissions we needed from landowners. However, because of the popularity of the Flytec Race of Champions we held in 2007, we again wanted to try a new format. The folks at Quest and Flytec USA have tossed around the idea of a rally style competition for quite some time and we finally decided to give it a go.

So, we’re very excited to announce we’ll be opening registration in about two weeks for the Flytec Race and Rally at the Flytec web site (http://flytec.com). The rally will follow the Rob Kells Memorial competition at the Florida Ridge and will start from the Ridge and end at Lookout Mountain Flight Park in Tennessee. For those who aren’t familiar with the area, the total distance from The Ridge to Lookout Mountain is approximately 700 miles! So, expect very aggressive tasks over the 7 day competition. Early May typically brings gorgeous conditions and light or moderate south winds that should make the 700 mile trek totally doable – this is the same time of year that Jonny and Dustin flew their record-breaking flight of 283 miles to the north two years ago. We will have Cat 2 sanctioning, will be using GAP scoring as usual, and there will be prize money!!

We have arranged to land and tow out of beautiful small airports along the course line where pilots can camp (right under their gliders if they wish) or stay at the variety of low cost motels in the nearby towns. Bobby Bailey, Rhett Radford and Quest tug pilots will fly Dragonflies and the competition crew will drive all towing supplies to each location and we will be able to provide some retrieve for a limited number of pilots (for an extra charge). Of course, once it’s finished, tugs, crew and equipment will all head back down to Florida, so we should be able to help most people with transport back from Lookout Mountain.

This new format should be exciting and it will be great fun for pilots to fly some new parts of the southeast. So, come join the Quest and Flytec gang May 3 – 9.

I'll link to the registration page as soon as it is available.

The final day - Santa Cruz Flats Race

April 27, 2008, 7:52:02 PDT

Day seven SCFR

What happened?

André Wolfe|Brett Hazlett|Chris Zimmerman|Daniel Vé|Daniel Vélez Bravo|Derrick Turner|Dustin Martin|Filippo Oppici|Jamie Shelden|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Leonardo Dabbur|Mike Glennon|Phill Bloom|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2008|Wills Wing T2C

The flex wing results.

The rigid wing results.

The Swift result.

The blogs of pilots here:

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://www.goflyxc.com/

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

With a forecast for a 10 mph northwest wind we call a 50 mile task to the southeast to the Marana airport. Some folks want to come back against the wind, but most don't.

The winds are light at launch with little dust so we are feeling good. The rigid wings get off, but they are not getting too high so this stops the flexies from launching, as the first pilot wants to wait. But Dustin evinces a desire to launch, moves to the front and takes off. This gets us going.

The lift is spotty, but adequate to get us up slowly. 55 minutes after launching I'm at 4,800', and there are lots of pilots nearby. The rigid wings have just left starting their task 45 minutes late given the poor conditions.

A few pilots head out for the first start time and I'm high enough to go with them. We've seen the rigid wings thermaling up at the hills to the east. A few of the pilot stop in light lift right at the edge of the start circle but there are a couple out in front of me heading for the hills. I follow.

After flying though the light lift at the edge of the start circle I hit 750 fpm and it continues for the next three miles as I race to get to the hills high enough to find something. I see a flex wing turning and a rigid wing behind him turning. There is a flex wing off to my right racing with me.

No luck, the flex ahead of me quits turning. The rigid wing disappears behind the hills and I come into the saguaro covered hills to get anything useful. I turn and run through the saguaro to land at the skeet shooting club. My contest is over.

At first, I hear that at least twenty five have made goal. This news seems to come about an hour after the start, which would mean that it was a much better day than it seemed at first. Thirty eight make goal.

Later Jeff Shapiro tells me that the day turned on soon after I left the start cylinder. Jeff O'Brien who I saw far below me in the start circle waited for the third start time getting high and then raced to goal to win the day.

Jeff said that he didn't stop for weak lift but watched the pilots ahead to see how well they were doing and just flew through the weaker lift pushing out a bit and waiting for 600 fpm. Larry Bunner flying a borrowed Wills Wing T2 (from Chris Zimmerman) came in fourth. His two week old T2C was the one broken by Rhett Radford early in the meet. Wills Wing is taking it back, replacing the broken carbon fiber spar and providing Larry with a brand new T2C. Quite a gesture.

Jonny and Andre were duking it out with each other over the task with Andre making sure that he covered Jonny. There was no need for him to take any risks to win the day, still he did very well.

Andre finished with two firsts, 1 second, 1 third, and 1 fourth for the meet. He won by a very substantial margin over the world number 1 (for now). Daniel Velez, a small pilot from Columbia, was able to be a bit more consistent than the local, Dustin Martin, to take third from him.

Wills Wing has a program to reward pilots who do well in big time competitions. $3,000 for first place, $1,500 for second, and $500 for third. Ron Kells gave Daniel his check during the ceremonies. Linda Salamone was the top female competitor. (Mark Fruitinger apparently beat her, but I haven't received his track log for the fifth task yet.)

Derrick Turner, an American and Venezuelan (he tried to fly in the last Worlds as a Venezuelan) was the big surprise of the meet doing very well in fifth and winning one day. Nene won one day, had two seconds, and a third, but fell down on two days. Jeff O'Brien did better every day, but didn't quite make it into the top ten. The other Jeff was just behind him.

Chris Zimmerman was in fifth place at one point but gradually fell back. Brett Hazlett had a couple of second place finishes, but didn't make goal on the last day.

The last day:

1. Jeff OBrien USA Wills Wing T2C 154 01:17:19 971
2. Nene Rotor BRA Wills Wing T2C 144 01:19:48 909
3. Andre Wolf BRA Moyes Litespeed RS 4 01:19:50 908
4. Larry Bunner USA Wills Wing T2 01:20:13 901
5. Leonardo Dabbur BRA Wills Wing T2C 154 01:17:29 898
6. Kraig Coomber AUS Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 01:20:50 890
7. Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T2 144 01:21:14 884
8. Derreck Turner USA Moyes Litespeed S5 01:21:30 880
9. Jonny Durand AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 01:22:10 869
10. Mike Glennon COL Moyes Litespeed RS 4 01:23:01 856

The final results:

1 5451 Andre Wolf BRA Moyes Litespeed RS 4
2 5102 Jonny Durand AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5
3 4812 Daniel Velez COL Wills Wing T2 144
4 4720 Dustin Martin USA Wills Wing T2C 144
5 4657 Derreck Turner USA Moyes Litespeed S5
6 4617 Filippo Oppici ITA Moyes Litespeed RS 4
7 4611 Leonardo Dabbur BRA Wills Wing T2C 154
8 4588 Nene Rotor BRA Wills Wing T2C 144
9 4563 Phill Bloom USA Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5
10 4501 Kraig Coomber AUS Moyes Litespeed RS3.5

The conditions were tricky and interesting here. We called tasks that were a bit too long for the conditions. Dustin refused to have 40 mile tasks. I loved the fact that I could make two low saves from 300' AGL, one right over Michael Williams' head. The other was witnessed by Leo Dabbur and Phill Bloom who got very excited about it. Sure you can't go fast when you have to do this, but it really enriches the experience.

I believe that pilots very much liked the competition except for the fine dust at launch, and the fact that not enough of us made it back to goal and landed on the nice green lawns (in the middle of the desert). It was a safe competition with no one hurt.

Dustin says that there are a number of ways that they could reduce the dust significantly. It is great to be able to hang out at the hotel/resort and they want us to make a five year commitment to coming back and holding a meet here. They are willing to do what it takes to keep us coming back. That will require a good word in the hang gliding community to encourage pilots to come here was a country club competition.

The word is that Frank Minnifee will let Quest Air run a Flytec Competition next year at Sheets field (which Frank's family owns) in Florida, so that is a great thing , but there may be a competition for the best dates. I'm sure that Jamie Shelden, who was the meet director here (Dustin Martin was the meet organizer along with the Arizona Hang Gliding Club) can work this out.

Everyone agrees that it is great to have a central location for the competition with a restaurant, bar, rooms, hot tub, pool, green grass, and shade. The flying is about on a level with flying in Florida in terms of strength and elevation (actually often quite a bit higher) and often the winds are lighter than we've seen this year, so we can often come back to the resort.

Jamie and Dustin did a great job. The way we did the scoring, dividing the downloading from the scoring, was a huge success, and I can see many way to improve how the scoring works without putting so much stress on the folks doing the scoring. I only had to take a half hour each night to do it after Jamie did the downloads. I expect something like this to work for the ECC in a few weeks. 

No one makes it back - Santa Cruz Flats Race, day two

April 21, 2008, 11:02:32 pm PDT

Day two SCFR

The task committee over reaches, or maybe it is the fire on the border

Brian Porter|cart|Dragonfly|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Rhett Radford|Rob Kells|Russell "Russ" Brown|XC

The flex wing results.

The rigid wing results.

With a stronger forecast and less winds in the offing, the task committee goes whole hog and calls an 83 mile parallelogram compared to the 63 mile triangle on Sunday. Maybe Dustin and Jonny are trying to push their competition a bit too hard.

Things get exciting in the launch paddock when Rhett Radford, tug pilot extraordinaire, clips the top of my glider and breaks the leading edge of Larry Bunner's glider in front of me. I think that sends Rob Kells scrambling for a new glider for Larry. Kraig Coomber very nicely comes over and checks my glider to be sure that the aluminum and carbon bits are okay and that it is just a mark on the sail.

Rhett came in close to get to the Dragonfly down in front of the line and hit a bit of sink. When he hit the throttle it stalled instead of taking off. Hitting the throttle does that. You need to ease it on according to Russell Brown. There was damage to the tug also.

We were launching in light cross winds. I got on the cart but noticed that the back was too high. I ignored it and off we went. Then the glider was stuck to the cart. I finally jiggled it off the cart, but zoomed right up and blew the weaklink. Now I had to land down wind or cross wind. I tried hard as I could to get the glider to turn into the wind, but no luck (as I was only twenty feet high). So I just flared at the last second and that worked, although I was covered in dust.

I was not the only one breaking weaklinks as it seemed for a while every third pilot was having this problem. You've got to get the keel cradle set right.

Back on the cart again after a clean up and this time through the dust and into the air only to be knocked off the tug (I pulled the release) at 600'. The tug was going one way and I was going the other. The lift was broken and light in spite of what I might have thought from the theatrics on tow, so I had to hold on and be patience as I thermalled over our trailer and Oz Report World Headquarters.

Finally I got up and joined the rest of the pilots as we slowly worked the weak and broken lift to over 5,000' MSL. I saw a few pilots over me heading in the direction of the edge of the start cylinder so I tagged along. This is usually a bit dangerous as I have no one to keep an eye on below me as we left thirty glider behind.

Sure enough I don't find much and go in search mode on my own. Fortunately, I found a great thermal that got me up fast to 6,400' MSL, the highest I would be all day. It was almost time for the start window to open, but sure enough no one wanted to go. I lead out hoping to entice some folks to leave with me but it didn't work, and as I didn't want to go on my own, I went back and lost two thousand feet looking for lift. Ridiculous.

I took a low start at the second start time and it turned out that pilots still waited for later start times. This was a long course up wind. Maybe they thought the day would get better, as the forecast had predicted, but it wasn't to be.

There were a couple of pilots out on course but not much help. I thought that this was supposed to be a race? I got low (600' AGL) pretty quickly and had to settle for a tractor in a dusty field. Fortunately a few little dust devils did appear near it and I was able to get back up, but not high, 3,500' AGL.

Low again after the turnpoint at La Palma, I was down to 300' AGL and looking at where to land. But I was over a big open field and was feeling a bit of lift (that turned out to average 50 fpm), so I just kept turning until I spotted a dust devil nearby and that got me out of there. It was especially nice that the wind was blowing out of the north at 10 mph toward the next turnpoint. Still no one around.

I could not get high and I had to keep working dust devils low to stay in the game. As I drifted toward the Red Rock turnpoint to the southeast I was squeezed in between some peaks and the winds from the south west picked up to 15 mph.  But I did finally find some good lift and got up to 6,200' MSL. This was four miles before the turnpoint which would put me directly back into the wind. So it was nice to get high before the turnpoint.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much lift after that and coming into the turnpoint I  was down in 2,200' AGL. Ahead I could see that there was a long stretch of difficult retrieval into a 14 mph head wind. I decided to go as far as I could and then turn around and land back at Red Rock close to the road.

Many pilots landed just a five miles up the course line and it was a mere twenty miles in to get to them.

Check out the results above. Brian Porter was the only one to make it back on his Swift.

The winds were stronger than forecast, the lift was lighter, and the altitudes reach by most pilots were not as high as forecast.

They are heading to Arizona

April 15, 2008, 10:38:20 pm PDT

Arizona

For the Santa Cruz Flats Race

Dragonfly|Jamie Shelden|Rhett Radford

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Jamie Shelden «justtrademarks» writes:

Bobby’s trailer is all loaded with the last dragonfly and we are leaving in the next hour or so....should be there sometime Thursday evening!!

Jeff Nicolay at Morningside Flight Park «morningside» writes:

Rhett Radford left Quest on Monday flying his Dragonfly to Arizona. When the meet ends he will then fly it to Morningside in New Hampshire for the summer. He generally calls ahead on his cell phone to spend nights with compadres along the way, but in true barn storming style occasionally pulls out his sleeping bag and camps under a wing. As yet he has not shared a field with Don Shimoda.

Discuss Arizona at the Oz Report forum   link»

Santa Cruz Flats Race - flat out »

Mon, Mar 10 2008, 4:10:06 pm MDT

SCFR - flat out

With a huge response, the organizers gear up for a big race

Christopher Moody|insurance|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Santa Cruz Flats Race 2008

http://goflyxc.com/2008/santacruz

The organizers have been overwhelmed by pilots who are desperate to get into the Santa Cruz Flats Race. It looks like this is going to be a big NTSS points meet, 600 points worth, and a chance for pilots to get on the US National team. The organizers felt at first that they wanted to limit the meet to fifty pilots due to the resources that they could marshal, but are in the process of allowing those flex wing pilots already on the waiting list into the meet, so there would be sixty two flex wing pilots.

Also five rigid wing pilots have signed up, and as they have a separate competition and launch before the flex wings, even more rigid wing pilots can be accommodated, so feel free to sign up (see URL above). This should be the best US rigid wing competition in quite a while.

The organizers now have six tugs coming to be organized on site by Rhett Radford. Mike McFadden will be the launch/ground crew director. There will be a crack ground crew at the meet. We are hoping to see Tiki and Bart of Cowboy Up hang gliding, in Jackson Hole Wyoming.

Pilots are advised in advanced to have a Quest Air type bridle and barrel release as they will have to be able to be connected to the tow rope within two seconds. These will be available on site for those not already prepared.

Discuss "Santa Cruz Flats Race - flat out" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flytec Sale

August 6, 2007, 10:12:51 pm CDT

Flytec

The Flytec Tug, Icaro Relax, and Motto Comm headsets.

Bo Hagewood|Dragonfly|Lisa Kain|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop

Steve Kroop at Flytec USA «info» writes:

Flytec Tug Available after Worlds

If you are looking for a Dragonfly, the renowned Flytec Tug will be available after the Hang Gliding World Championship. This is one of the sweetest flying 4-cycle tugs out there, just ask any of the tug pilots that have flown it (Lisa Kain, Zach Woodall, Bo Hagewood, Rhett Radford, Joe Johnston). This tug is a part of recent hang gliding history having towed top pilots from around the world to competition victory and world records.

Equipment: Rotax 912S, custom exhaust system, Warp Drive prop, rear controls, BRS ballistic chute, Alpha MFD electronic instruments, Cockpit cover

Serious inquires: «info» or 800-662-2449

Relax 16 Deluxe available at the Worlds

The most fun you can have in a hang glider, so easy to fly (and tow) it will make you giggle. The fit and finish on the Relax is un-matched by any single surface glider (read about it here: http://ozreport.com/8.068). This one is yellow with speed bar, airfoil down tubes and kingpost. No Hours, has been test flown only. Interested?.... «info» or 800-662-2449

Motto Comm Headsets

A few pilot have contacted me to bring them headsets to Big Spring. I will be bringing some extras but if anyone wants one reserved they should let me know immediately.

Quest Air record attempts

April 25, 2007, 11:05:32 pm EDT

Records

Bo, Campbell, and I give it a try

Belinda Boulter|Dragonfly|Kevin Carter|Quest Air|record|Rhett Radford

Bo took off at 10:24. I was next at 10:29, then Campbell. As I climbed up from 1,600' to over 2,000' right over Quest, Bo came back to get over me and got up under the cloud (cloudbase was 2,500').

We flew north to Groveland as I followed Bo who was still higher than me to a little cloud. I got there at 1,600' and so I had to stay there even though the lift was less than 50 fpm. Bo took a couple of turns, thought the lift was too poor for his attention, and flew over to a cloud to the west. I just had to stick it out.

We had had 400 fpm over Quest so Bo went looking for better lift. As I slowly climbed up I saw Bo low to the northwest. I continued to fly very carefully. Going from cloud to cloud.

As I passed north up highway 33 I saw Bo on the ground. What I didn't know was that he was calling Rhett Radford to come and haul him out of the field behind his Dragonfly. Campbell came in below me and we climbed out as Bo turned around to wait for Rhett.

Campbell went one way and I another but it was still light and I was being careful. I saw him turning under a cu by the Turnpike but when I got there it was not holding together. There were cu's to the west moving quickly to the north. I raced in that direction on the north side of the turnpike and found 400 fpm at 900'. Campbell had gone further north.

Climbing up and jumping over to the south end of the villages, I had to wait and then turn back to find lift as it looked poor ahead. The cu's were pretty plentiful now, but nothing nearby to the north looked all that good. I got stuck and had to work light lift to stay up.

About this time Campbell was going down on the north side of the Villages. He had raced to a cloud that didn't produce any lift. Meanwhile I was in contact with Belinda who said that she had just seen Bo on the ground near the Turnpike. Turns out that Bo had landed twice.

The flight was difficult as I continually had to work light lift to 4,000'. There were lots of cu's, but they weren't lining up into streets. I was continually working to the northwest to get under better looking clouds and hoping to get to the possible convergence. Despite the weak lift the air was rough and quite unpleasant.

I had to work around Payne's Prairie, which is a large swamp and found myself using lots of little fires at sources of lift. As I got near Gainesville I noticed that the wind had changed and was now out of the west. Not good for a record flight.

I kept going hoping that the convergence would kick in but it never did. Finally I just had had enough of the rough conditions and landed 120 miles out.

No record on this day. Kevin Carter holds the Florida state record of 208 miles for a flex wing.

Discuss Records at the Oz Report forum

We got our tug certified

April 4, 2007, 7:18:51 pm EDT

Certification

It took six months, so you had better get ready now

Christopher Moody|Dragonfly|insurance|photo|Rhett Radford|weather

Tiki & Bart, Cowboy Up Hang Gliding, LLC, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, www.cuhanggliding.com, «fly» write:

Two words – WE PASSED!! Our Dragonfly is now a fully certificated aircraft with an FAA Airworthiness Certificate.

We started this process in late September, working on it the whole time, now here it is April 1 and we just had our Airworthiness Inspection. Let us just say, bringing the Dragonfly up certification specs is not a walk in the park. Thank you to the Mike Z for his special help and advice and a huge over the top thanks you to Rhett Radford, whose supplemental expertise was instrumental in getting our Dragonfly to pass. Rhett's plane was certified just two weeks ago.

Our DAR, (Designated Airworthiness Representative) is a former FAA Airworthiness Inspector who has every inspection rating possible, as a matter of fact he just inspected a MIG 15 and now he’s inspecting our Dragonfly - wow.

Anyway needless to say we are quite happy. And just to pass on some very important information our DAR told us: after August of 2007 the FAA will not guarantee that they will be able to process all the ELSA’s before January 2008. This is a huge deal for anyone putting off the process.

It took almost seven months to get ours done – and Tiki was diligent about our paperwork, but things happened; they got our address wrong; one box was missing a printed signature, etc. Tiki was on the phone to Oklahoma City almost every week from December to April – no joke – tracking our paper work. Basically, folks should not wait until the last minute to get this done - six months out to start your paperwork is the bare minimum.

One example – we thought we had everything done on our plane and the DAR was coming in a week. We put a call into Mike Z and Rhett. Both told us of the “hinge bolt” replacements. What!!!? Hinge Bolts!!!? All the hinge bolts on the plane needed to be replaced.

Rhett then proceed to give us the AN numbers and amount of bolts and generally where they go on the plane. Wow, what a life saver – we surely would have failed had we not replaced these bolts. We had Spruce Aircraft overnight $130.00 worth of bolts (actually the bolts were only $96.00 but the overnight shipping was $32.00).

We proceeded to replace all the hinge bolts on Friday (our DAR coming on Sunday). Then there were a couple of bolts we failed to get form Spruce and lucky for us the Aviat Aviation (they manufacturer the Husky and the Pitts Special) are just down the street from our hanger and they supplied us with some really long (4” and 5”) bolts that we needed. Also there were a couple of “little” (not so little) items that Rhett told us the DAR would “ding” us on – so we fixed those also – lucky we did because we would have definitely gotten, as Rhett says, “dinged-on” them by the inspector. Anyway our whole inspection took three hours.

Lastly, we would be more than happy give the benefit of what we’ve learned in our Dragonfly certification process to help any Dragonfly owners who are undertaking the certification process. We aren’t experts and we did have the benefit of Rhett shoring up the seams, but we did it all and we passed. And while Bart wrenched on the plane - Tiki took extensive notes throughout the whole process – including the necessary bolts and where to put them.

Weather permitting Tiki will be taking her check ride for her Private Pilot’s license next week and we will be set for our towing season here in Wyoming.

Oh BTW our “N” number? N412HG (for one to hang glide).

[IMAGE]

Click for higher resolution version.

Quest Air Thursday some flying

March 15, 2007, 7:58:43 pm EDT

Quest Air

The overdevelopment cometh late

Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dragonfly|Dustin Martin|Jim Rooney|Quest Air|record|Rhett Radford

You'll notice that Quest Air is back as an Oz Report sponsor/advertiser. Great to have them on board. Of course, they have always been very supportive of the Oz Report and of hang gliding in general, especially the competitions and the national fly in.

Maybe they felt that they had better get their ad back in the Oz Report just in case any one was spreading a little lie that they were closed down. By the way, the office is now open seven days a week. It used to be closed on Wednesdays, but there was always a tug pilot on site and on duty. The tug pilots love living here.

I love living here. Last night we went out to the enclosed pool area and took a hot tub in the new hot tub. 103 degrees. Perfect. Black night, stars, $5 million dollar view (in the day time). Great place to bring your trailer and fly.

Rhett Radford is here with his Dragonfly, working on it and soon to get it N numbered. He's studying for all sorts of tests as an examiner, instructor, mechanism, etc. for Light Sport aircraft. Flavia is here from Brazil, so is Jim Rooney, and plenty of skilled instructors and tug pilots. Kevin and Dustin are here running their cross country clinic.

This was a good day to watch yourself and the forecast carefully. Dr. Jack's RUC pictures showed spotty lift to 2,700' and the winds 17 knots out of the south. I had a doctor's appointment for my yearly physical exam (got to check out the PSA) at 9:45 AM, and when I got out at 11 AM the low cu's filled the sky. It was a day to be in the air by then, but I had a ten mile bike ride yet in front of me.

With so many spots in the forecast you've got to look at what you actually see in the morning. The wind was 15 mph out of the south on the ground at Quest, which is certainly launchable, but you've got to be ready to hold own tight. The Tjadens broke down.

The cu bases were actually plenty high for this early in the morning and showed lots of lift. With the wind it would have been easy to head north and hang on light lift. The bases rose during the day and the congestion didn't happen until 6 PM when the rains began.

It seems like a day that would have afforded long flights, but not record flights.

The clinic students had a short late afternoon flight before the rains came.

Discuss Quest Air at the Oz Report forum

Big Spring Open

Thu, Aug 4 2005, 6:00:00 pm EDT

The hangar gets full

Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Quest Air|record|Rhett Radford|Ryan Glover|weather

With good weather in the offing, and the Flytec and Quest Air tugs arriving and being put together, the hangar is filling up with happy pilots getting ready for the Big Spring Open. Pilots have been flying the past two days, with cu-nimbs forming in the late afternoon. Plenty of cu's starting at around noon.

I've got Dr. Jack's BLIPMAPS overlayed onto Google Earth and we'll be able to see both the country side and the forecasted lift, cloud base, height of lift, wind speed, direction, overdevelopment potential, and convergence over the course line. See You will display the tasks.

Booby Bailey and Rhett Radford are rebuilding the Rotax engine that took out a crankcase in Leakey. Dave is schmoozing all over town. I'm helping with a weather article for the paper in Lubbock.

There is a five pilot Mexican team here for the pre-pre-Worlds. We've got fast wireless access at the RV park and at the airport courtesy of the Oz Report wireless router. Ryan Glover is here, quitting his golf pro job and flying the Silent 2, which is in waiting for Gary to come set some records.

The Big Spring Open starts Sunday.

Free the Manilla Seven?

Wed, Jul 6 2005, 2:00:01 pm EDT

Who me?

Godfrey Wenness|Rhett Radford

Manilla Seven

rhett «racingrhett» writes:

I would like to see evidence to link me to the "Free Manilla Seven" campaign. For a man who makes no money out of flying, where does my $22 dollars end up. Does that mean I have to pay $22 to go up the hill? If so how do I pay when I am not allowed east of Winbourne Road? Does he have credit card facilities west of Winbourne Road?

From Godfrey:

Incidentally - please be informed that your wife, Lisa, is in Class D : access denied. I will not tolerate abusive emails from anyone that wishes to maintain the privilege of access to my property in any category. Any offensive behavior in the future by your wife will be attributed to you equally - it is in your interests to ensure this doesn't occur if you wish to continue to access my property.

From Rhett:

My wife never wanted to go there in the first place, and has been there four times in the last five years. She'd prefer to be Class Z. "come fly Manilla where the man who shows you the mountain destroyed the mountain"

Weaklinks

Tue, Mar 1 2005, 2:00:01 pm EST

The standard in the US is 130 lb test line in one loop with a fisherman's knot.

Bob Lane|cart|Dragonfly|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop

We were thinking and talking about weaklinks the other day here at Quest Air, given all the discussion about them on the Tow Group on the Oz Report forum and in the Oz Report since the Worlds (search for '"Volume 9" weaklinks' in the Oz Report search box).

Steve Kroop, Bob Lane, and Rhett Radford decided to do a few quick and dirty tests just to see if a looped 130 lbs test line (IGFA DACRON TROLLING LINE) would hold 260 pounds with or without tying the loop so that the knot was "hidden."

We looped one end of a weaklink loop to the loop of a spectra bridle (part of a pro-tow and available here at Quest Air) and the other end to a loop of webbing approximately as thick as the loops that you would find on the shoulders of your harness. Tying the spectra to the hang gliding real life simulator outside the Quest Air and Flytec office entrance, Steve Kroop, and then Rhett Radford, slowly raised themselves up from a seated position by slowly pulling on the loop.

The weaklink broke before they were able to get their weigh off the ground. Steve and Rhett are quite a bit less than 200 pounds. The weaklink broke whether the knot was hidden or not.

Therefore I assume that the single loop of 130 lbs test line is providing a weaklink strength of about 1/2 G , about 120-150 pounds. Rhett remembers earlier tests which showed the strength of 135 lbs braided fishing line at 180-200 lbs. There is one additional strand on the end of the v-bridle at the Dragonfly side.

I assume that we don't want to have a stronger weaklink at the pilot side relative to the Dragonfly side. Still, given these results I think I'll test two loops and see if it can hold my weight. I assume that 1 G or so breaking would be enough to provide a reasonable margin of safety in the event that I came off the cart and plowed in.

I wonder just how strong the brick layer's line in Australia is supposed to be. They use four strands (to six strand for heavy pilots) in Australia of this line. I had always assumed that it was weaker than the line used in the US, just because they used more of it. Four stands were supposed to be at least 190 pounds, so it does seem to be weaker.

Contact the line maker here.

Follow up: Steve Kroop, Rhett Radford and I went out again and tested four strands of this line. Steve was able to lift his 185 lbs off the ground, and when I added a very small bit of tugging (slowly) on the line, it broke. Say 200 pounds. Four strands, still less than I G (300 pounds).

Oz Report Radio »

Mon, Feb 28 2005, 2:00:01 pm EST

Listen to previous interviews on Oz Report Radio and hear Rhett Radford on cart design.

Rhett Radford

cart|Rhett Radford

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

Rhett Radford (see above) talks for under five minutes about cart design. Click either of the three audio buttons below:

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Carts - it's in the rake

Mon, Feb 28 2005, 2:00:00 pm EST

Rhett Radford provides this reality-based report.

carts

Bobby Bailey|cart|Dragonfly|photo|Quest Air|Rhett Radford

On a cloudy, windy day, last Sunday, I had an opportunity over lunch at Choctow Willy's in Groveland, Florida to listen to Rhett Radford explain what it takes to keep aerotow cart wheels from wobbling. I asked the questions and Rhett gave the answers.

Rhett is a long serving Dragonfly pilot at Wallaby Ranch and Quest Air (and other locations, including Morningside) as well as the main Dragonfly mechanic for Quest and Wallaby. He has many years of experience with aerotowing and along with Bobby Bailey is the goto guy when you have any question about aerotow operations.

He stated that quite a few years ago, when they were coming up with the design for the wheels for the tandem gliders at Wallaby, he stated that the best idea would be to rake the wheels forward about ten degrees. Think of Peter Fonda's bike in Easy Rider, although not as much.

Rhett said that it was the rake of the wheels that would keep them from wobbling at all speeds. There was no need for adding resistance or friction to the spindle that held the wheel brackets to the frame if the wheels were raked forward.

There was a problem with raking the wheels forward, they would turn sideways when you first put weight on them and the glider would have a tendency to go off to the side. This was minor, and the wheels would straighten up right away once the glider was being pulled forward. They also added a steering arm to one wheel to allow the tandem pilot to steer the glider and one wheel.

Rhett stated that he got this idea from the rake that is put into the rear wheels on tail dragger aircraft. These wheels don't wobble at a wide range of speeds and loads. The problem with them though, is if you have a hard landing and bend the spindle back to take away the rake. Then they start wobbling.

Of course, forward rake could be put into carts to make them less prone to wobble.

The wobble increases if you build heavy casters/wheel brackets and if you increase the length of the casters. Also if you don't put in rake, the castered wheels will wobble at a certain speeds and not others. You really don't want wobbling over the full speed range.

Bobby Bailey has built carts for years without any rake. But he also builds them with short caster arms and lightweight wheel brackets. If the brackets are light and the caster short, then the wheels have a lot less tendency to wobble until much higher speeds.

The carts built for Marty at Finger Lake Aerosports Flight Park had very heavy duty wheel brackets and significant caster. They would wobble right away. Adding a lot of friction to the spindle reduced their wobble until speeds over 45 mph.

The cart wheel brackets are often made heavy duty because carts are often dropped from a few feet or even more. Then if the carts are built heavy, even heavier wheel brackets are needed to absorb this pounding. Then, of course, we really don't want heavy duty carts, because who knows we might accidentally take them with us up in the air, and struggling in the air with a lighter cart is better.

Not having to put friction in the wheel spindles makes for carts that are easier to maneuver. It seems to me that lightweight carts are a premium, and worth every penny. Building carts with a little rake solves many problems.

Write in with your understanding of these issues.

Bobby Bailey building carts at Quest Air

Discuss "Carts - it's in the rake" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Oz Report Radio »

Sun, Feb 27 2005, 3:00:04 pm EST

Listening on your MP3 device.

Campbell Bowen|CIVL|David Glover|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop

David Glover interviews your editor on Oz Report Radio at the Oz Report World headquarters shown here.

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Please send suggestions for interview subjects «here».

More Oz Report Radio segments soon: Steve Kroop on weaklinks, Campbell Bowen on Thermal Triggers, Rhett Radford on aerotow carts, and David Glover on the recent CIVL Plenary and how the US got the Worlds.

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Morningside towing

Fri, Jun 11 2004, 12:00:07 am GMT

The legal issues.

Barbara Flynn|Jeff Nicolay|Lynsey Haynes|Morningside Flight Park|Rhett Radford

Jeff Nicolay at Morningside Flight Park <morningside@flymorningside.com> writes:

Rob Jacob’s report of the legal problems here are not exactly correct. We currently are operating under a town permit which has been challenged in New Hampshire Superior Court as an illegal decision, the plaintiffs seeking an injunction to permanently close our runway to the use of ultralights. The case has yet to be heard.

Phil Haynes and his wife Barbara as well as myself are also being sued by the same plaintiffs for personal nuisance, including their inability to lead the lives outdoors that they desire, diminished property values and possible adverse health effects. I have incurred thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, sound testing, and surveying of land that the selectmen thought should be removed from current land use, as used for forest and crop land.

Rhett Radford is here now doing tandems, which I was doing until he arrived in late May. The repetitive solo tows are currently happening a few miles from here at Springfield, Vermont’s Hartness Airport.

The strife has left me with a changed vision of what freedom really means. If some person would like to buy my lease and take over the flight park when we win these lawsuits, please contact me.

Discuss towing at the Oz Report forum

Costa Rica flying

Mon, Feb 23 2004, 4:00:01 pm EST

David Glover reports on the latest happenings down south.

Bob McFee|Chris Muller|David Glover|Kari Castle|Rhett Radford

Glover, David «dhglover» writes:

I met Paul Newman the other morning out at our runway, nice guy. People were a bit incredulous when I told them, until he showed up again in the afternoon.

When asked to go hang gliding Paul Newman declined saying "He was too old and too smart." Under his breath, Bo said loud enough for me to hear, "You're half right there Luke.

Your readers might not know who is involved with the Costa Rica - Flying tours. and that the people involved with Hang Glide Costa Rica are: Johnny Benson and Cathy from Morningside, Rhett Radford, Bob Mcfee, and Carolina who use to work at Wallaby. I am helping out with tandems for part of the season.

Kari Castle, Bo and Chris Muller are getting soaring flights everyday from footlaunch and towing. At 9 am yesterday I had to search for sink to get down.

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New World record »

Thu, Feb 19 2004, 4:00:06 pm EST

My 100 km out and return record set last August in Texas is homologated by the FAI

CIVL|Davis Straub|Kraig Coomber|record|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|US Nationals

http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/

This world record is both a Class 2 (Swift) and a Class 5 record. The previous Class 2 record was set by Robin Hamilton in August 2001 in eastern Texas at 48.9 km/h.

This record is one of the fastest world records in hang gliding. The only records that are faster are the out and return records flown along the cliffs at the Australian bite and one Swift record flown by Robin Hamilton. It is faster than all the other flex wing records and all other rigid wing records.

It is one of the few records set in a competition (although I have another set in a competition at Hearne) and it is the first record set which allowed the use of cylinders around turnpoints. The distance determination is the shortest distance between the edges of the cylinders.

CIVL allowed for the use of cylinders, as long as the shortest distance was used, at its last Plenary, but they neglected to say if the start cylinder and the finish cylinder needed to be the same, or whether the finish cylinder should be the one used for the competition. I have asked for that to be cleared up for future records, setting the start and finish to be the same cylinder.

In this record I could have used either and still had the world record speed, but chose to make the finish cylinder equal to the start cylinder. In my case I left and reentered the cylinder at approximately the same location so this seemed to be a fair out and return task. Also the legs of an out and return would be the same if the start and finish cylinders were the same.

The start cylinder in this case was five mile wide, and the finish cylinder for the task, the last task of the 2003 US Nationals in Big Spring, Texas was 400 meters. The out and return task was calculated from the point leaving the edge of the cylinder back to the return point at the edge of the cylinder.

The height difference between entering and leaving the cylinder must be less than two percent of the length of the task. I left the start circle at 10,800 feet (3292 meters) and returned to the cylinder at 7447 feet (2270 meters), for a difference in altitude of 1022 meters. As I flew 107 kilometers this difference in height is 0.95%.

If the finish cylinder had been used for the task, then it would require that I came into goal at a little over 5,000'. In general, this would not be a good idea if the desire is to encourage record setting during competitions.

While I won the task on this day, I was not the fastest pilot over the task. Kraig Coomber, flying a Moyes Litespeed, flew the task to goal eleven seconds faster than I did.

The CIVL rules also require that the pilot not get towed to above 1000 meters AGL. Rhett Radford towed me a long ways from the launch area to a strong thermal with numerous pilots circling in it and I got off below 700 meters.

This record was basically an accidental record. I was on the task committee that set the task, but didn't realize that this task was a 100 km out and return (we were using miles). I was flying with my Colibri IGC-certified data logger, just as a backup for my GPS. It wasn't until a few days after the task that I realized that I had flown at a world record pace and had done the work required to record the flight and make it official.

Sub-class O-2 (HG with a rigid primary structure / movable control surface(s))

Category : General

Speed over an out-and-return course of 100 km : 51.42 km/h

Date of flight: 02/08/2003

Pilot: Davis STRAUB (USA)

Course/place: Big Spring, TX (USA)

Hang glider: AIR Atos C

Ratified on 12/02/2004

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Aerotowing paragliders

Tue, Nov 18 2003, 11:00:05 am EST

Andrew "Drew" Harris|David Glover|Dragonfly|Florida|PG|photo|Quest Air|Rhett Radford

Andrew "Drew" Harris|Bobby Bailey|David Glover|Dragonfly|Florida|PG|photo|Quest Air|Rhett Radford

Andrew "Drew" Harris|Bobby Bailey|Campbell Bowen|David Glover|Dragonfly|Florida|PG|photo|Quest Air|Rhett Radford

Andrew "Drew" Harris|Bobby Bailey|Campbell Bowen|David Glover|Dragonfly|Florida|PG|photo|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Russell Brown

Andrew "Drew" Harris|Bobby Bailey|Campbell Bowen|David Glover|Dragonfly|Florida|PG|photo|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Russell Brown

David Glover « david» writes:

Paragliding history was made at Quest Air 10:37am, Monday November 17th, 2003. Bobby Bailey - Tug Pilot, Dave Prentice - Paraglider Pilot. Dave aerotowed up an Ozone Vulcan Paraglider behind the Bailey Moyes Dragonfly (bi-plane)

Rhett Radford, Campbell Bowen and Russell Brown assisted as ground crew and provided important insights that made for the final three successful tows. About five earlier short attempts were made before three successful high tows occurred. Much was learned. The stunt and expert factor is starting to disappear.

The chances of a Florida Paraglider tow competition just increased

 

 

Photos by David Glover and Andrew Harris

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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

Finger Lakes Aerosports Flight Park

Thu, Sep 18 2003, 3:00:01 am EDT

Dragonfly|Rhett Radford|weather

http://www.longacrefarms.com/flightpark.htm

Blue skies. The calm before the storm. Light winds and moderate lift made for a day of fun flying here as the parking lot again filled up and gliders were every where in the sky.

Rhett Radford flew a Dragonfly from Morningside today starting at about 10 AM after the fog finally raised up. He flew in as we were all climbing out over the field.

No cu’s near us, but what a gas flying over the Erie Canal at over 3,500’ AGL. There were thermals every where.

 

The overview of the flight park.

We expect good weather tomorrow and then the Hurricane on Friday. We have to leave the party before it kicks into high gear on Saturday as we have to travel around Isabel and get to Tennessee for the upcoming Team Challenge which starts on Sunday.

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Finger Lakes Aerosports Park »

Wed, Sep 17 2003, 8:00:01 am GMT

aerotow parks

Finger Lakes Aerosports Park|flight park|Rhett Radford|Dragonfly|Morningside|XC|ATOS|Belinda Boulter|Nene Rotor

http://www.longacrefarms.com/flightpark.htm

Rain, rain has gone away
Oh what a pretty day.

We’re here at the new aerotow flight park in western New York and the place is jumping. With the front going through yesterday, postfrontal conditions setup today. Light winds in the morning and then 10-15 mph in the middle of the day out of the west (oh, Rhett Radford is going to have a tough time flying the Dragonfly from Morningside.

It got up to twenty mph after three, but calmed down to almost nothing and turned slightly north an hour before sundown (seems to be the pattern here). It’s probably due to the huge lake (Ontario) to our north.

The cu’s were popping around noon today and I got up early, only to have the cleat come out of my control frame. I need to pull on the flaps to slow down in the thermals, and as I had gotten off low, I was working 50 to 100 fpm up and wondering why I was going so fast. Finally I realized that the cleat was gone and thought maybe I should land and put a fix together.

I was drifting fast down wind and working broken light lift without my flaps so I decided to land and go back up again. Unfortunately I chose the wrong field. The “farmer” was less than happy to see me and wouldn’t let me take my glider out of the field. I’ve never had anyone do this to before. At least

Fortunately Doug, the owner of the land where Finger Lakes Aerosports Park is located, and who in fact is a real farmer, was next to the phone when I called Belinda from this guy’s neighbors house and came right down deal with this guy.

The neighbors and Doug pretty much got into it with the “faux” farmer, and I was able to break down the glider and get it out of there. They were all cussing and swearing, but Doug calmed him down by just letting him vent until he had had his say. We’ll have to put an X in that field.

Took off again around 3 PM. People had been going up and down but the sky was still full of cu’s and some headed off down wind. John on an ATOS went forty miles down wind in less than two hours – and no driver. Said he got beat up in the air here a bay that headed south toward him. Some mixing in the air.

It was stronger at 3 PM – 20 mph, but the lift was still there. I hung around, but tomorrow I flail off downwind either east or southeast.

Pilots were towing up all day and thoroughly enjoying themselves even with the strong winds. There are just rolling hills upwind and downwind and the lake just to the north.

The parking lot here, a grass field, is packed. Mike Barber and Rob Kells are here demoing gliders. Ron says that Wills Wing is having their best year in seven years (so much for the doom mongers who inhabit the HG list). In addition to good sales in all their product lines they’ve sold 200 U2’s so far this year.

Nene Rotor in Brazil is the world’s largest WW Talon sales guy, and Markus Villinger’s Wills Wing sales are picking up in Europe (didn’t that Euro gain in value over the last year?). Nixon in Brazil is doing well selling tandem Falcons. As I recall the tandem hang gliding business is big at the beach in Brazil.

Doug, the farmer, was the first student of the Finger Lakes Aerosports Park and was flying tonight, I saw him stick some foot landings near dark.

It looks like we’ll have a couple of nice days here before the hurricane comes through. It is extremely beautiful from the air. The corn maze to the north is amazing, and there are farm lands and woods everywhere.

Discuss aerotow parks at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

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Morningside – clouds »

Sat, Sep 13 2003, 2:00:01 pm EDT

Belinda Boulter|Morningside|record|Rhett Radford

As we keep track of Isabel off in the Atlantic the clouds have come over our little slice of the northeast. With no winds it’s a perfect day on the hillside for training. It makes me want to go back and pick up the 40 pound Icaro version of the Moyes Mars (okay, a WW Falcon 140 would be just fine), put on a big set of wheels, and run down the hill. Learning to hang glide on a training hill is just about the most fun you can have in your life (under the right circumstances). I still vividly remember the first time I really flew off a small ski hill an hour from Munich.

Belinda’s training glider was this amazing little light single surface glider that was the most fun, and we should never have sold it. It was just the right size for her, and it was great for me because I was the one carrying it up the dune. She had no trouble lifting it up on launch and running down the sand dune at Cape Kiwanda, on the Oregon coast.

Speaking of clouds, there is a cloud over Morningside in the form of a few neighbors (one in particular) who don’t like the towing operation (or, for that matter any hang gliding operations) at Morningside. You can tell that the conflicts with the very small township of Charlestown where Morningside is located, are wearing down the folks here.

The fight has already cost quite a bit in lawyer fees, and the disgruntled home owner has accused Rhett Radford of lying about where he’s flying when he’s towing. Rhett is keeping a GPS record of every tow and prints out a map of all the tows each day.

The struggle continues as the council people hold hearings. The disgruntled home owner happens to own a local newspaper which he uses to intimidate the council. One option is to move the towing operation out of the reach of the council, and then buzz the homeowner’s house continually.

Morningside is located on a “farm” that is going to be preserved under a “land trust.” The large lz and aerotow area here was a swamp/shallow lake fifty years ago. Phil, who says he’s taken 15,000 launches off his hillside, cleared away the beaver dams that made the current pasture a wetland. Below the grass you’ll find eighty fee of blue clay, which is why the water didn’t percolate through the bottom of the swamp.

Some folks think that the aerotowing operation will be okayed soon by the town council so that the home owner will just have to live with it. We’ll see.

Tomorrow we head for our next flight park near Rochester, New York.

Discuss Morningside at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Flying in paradise

Mon, Sep 8 2003, 5:00:01 pm EDT

Dragonfly|PG|Rhett Radford

As I write this I’m looking out my door at Mt. Ascutney, Vermont’s premier mountain launch, just 9.6 air miles to the northwest of me here at Morningside, New Hampshire. Just to my west is a huge, and I mean huge field that serves as the landing zone for all those who get high enough at Morningside to cross the road.

A little after 2 PM Rhett Radford with Johnny Benson acting as ground crew hauled me up behind Johnny’s Dragonfly for a flight north toward Claremont. Peter Kelley had written to me earlier in the day that no one had ever flown from Morningside to Mt Ascutney, and although it was blowing 10 mph out of the north, northeast, I figured why not give it a try.

Unfortunately the lift was pretty weak, so when I climbed out to 3,000’ AGL, I also drifted back two miles. Heading north again, I lost it all as I got over Claremont, and needed all my altitude (1,000’ AGL) to get back to the field (where I got up again).

Maybe tomorrow.

To my right, east, is the hillside that forms the foot launch aspect of Morningside, the place where students learn to launch and land, and fly in between. Formed as a series of benches, it gives plenty of indication where the student should start given their skills. ATV’s will haul the gliders on carts up to their appropriate launch height.

Morningside has been here for a long time and is a major hang glider and paraglider student producing area for the northeast. Only recently has aerotowing been added (after Johnny Benson hurt his neck and had to get towed up because he no longer could carry his glider around Mt. Ascutney).

It was great flying today in this sweet early September air as I picked little thermals off the hillsides and in the valley also (where they aren’t supposed to be as it is almost under water.) It’s been a wet spring and summer here, with few good flying days, but they seem to be happening now in the late summer.

It’s 6:30 PM now and there are little cu’s right over the field, and off to the north and east over the ridge. We’ll be here for a few days and I’ll report more on what’s up with Morningside.

Tell me, why is it called Morningside when it faces west?

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Big Spring – the tugs »

Sun, Aug 3 2003, 6:00:02 pm EDT

Bobby Bailey|Chris Zimmerman|competition|Dragonfly|dust devil|equipment|Florida|George Longshore|North Wing|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Russell "Russ" Brown|sport|supporters|tow|towing|trike|tug|US Nationals

The US Nationals in Big Spring is an expensive meet to run because it is a meet that is remote from all the resources needed to run it. Still it was the least expensive tow meet of the year for the pilots. This was done to encourage them to come out to Texas and fly.

Quest Air and Flytec from Florida sent out three Dragonflies and one trike. They, by far, were the most generous supporters of the US Nationals and without their help from Florida we couldn’t have the US Nationals in Texas. What they do for the sport is crazy. There is no money to be made sending your tug and a tug pilot out to the Nationals. The compensation is very minimal and you are putting very expensive equipment in harms way. It’s a ridiculous business decision and we thanks them so much for it.

The tug owners are the ones responsible to repair their tugs (and pay for the repairs) if they get broken. The meet isn’t generating the kind of income necessary to compensate them whatever happens to the tugs.

Quest Air and Flytec are doing more to sponsor the towing competitions in the US than any other entity, by far. They take all the risks. They send out the best tug pilots (Rhett Radford and Bobby Bailey). They are incredibly supportive of the competition and hang gliding community and we very much appreciate all that they have done for us. I don’t think that there is any other entity out there that comes anywhere near doing what they are doing to help the sport (at least the competition side of the sport) near in the US.

They weren’t the only ones to put it all on the line at the US Nationals either. Kurt Graham flew in 100% of his Dragonflies from Hobbs and was the tug pilot for his tug. Jim Yokum brought his four stroke tug, and had to suffer a broken wing when his tug pilot hit the fence with it while in a dust devil. Rod Brown came out and flew the Russell Brown’s North Wing trike (which is for sale). George Longshore’s tug was a working Dragonfly until they started parting it out after Jim’s wrecked the wing. Chris Zimmerman brought his trike as a spare if needed. Lisa came from Maryland to fly a Quest Air Dragonfly.

Without the very generous support of tug owners and pilots in Florida, New Mexico, and Colorado (and Chris’ spare – but unused - trike from Texas) there wouldn’t have been a US Nationals in Texas this year. It’s great to see all these non-Texans providing so much for all the pilots who’ve come to Texas to fly in the Nationals. I’m sure the Texans are very happy to see this level of outside support.

Hope I mentioned everyone.

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Flytec Racing Pod

Sun, Mar 23 2003, 8:00:06 pm GMT

Curt Warren|Flytec USA|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop

Steve Kroop at Flytec USA <flytec@earthlink.net> writes:

We are pleased to announce that we have addressed the two major problems with the Flytec Racing Pod warping with heat and stability in turbulence.

Team pilot Curt Warren, who received one of the early pods, brought to our attention that in rough air the nylon universal joint was inadequate and allowed the pod to swing around. Curt, myself and tug ninja Rhett Radford sat down and designed the new bracket universal joint shown below. The new universal joint will accommodate downtube and base tube installations and when tightened eliminates any movement of the pod in rough air. The black handle is reposition able after tightening to ensure that it is aligned with the air flow. While the new universal joint will not allow the pod to drop during flight it will allow the pilot to easily rotate the pod out of the way for landing.

The second issue of the pod warping with heat has also been resolved. Mike Nash at NDTI, who makes the pods, has solved this problem by changing the formulation of the plastic and post curing the pod after it comes out of the mold (similar to the process that rigid wing D-cells go through). Last year we suspended sale of the pods until this issue was resolved. We are very pleased to announce that the pods are now available.

Discuss "Flytec Racing Pod" 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.

Bo and Curt arrive in Oz

Fri, Dec 6 2002, 2:00:03 pm EST

Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|Curt Warren|Dragonfly|Rhett Radford

Bo Hagewood and Curt Warren arrived in Sydney on Thursday and showed up here at the Moyes factory on Friday. Belinda and I have staked out the visitor lounge as our office these last few days as we hook our computer into the big pipeline – Moyes’ fast Internet connection. It’s been a long time without a good sized Internet pipe.

Bo and Curt are looking good and were on their way to find some Telstra pre-paid CDMA phones. They will be staying in Coaldale near Stanwell Park. Curt will be doing tandems again for Chris at Sydney Hang Gliding.

Rhett Radford came in on Saturday. He’s here to do some aluminum welding on the Dragonflies, as well as be a tug pilot at the meets.

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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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US Open – the evaluation »

Tue, Aug 13 2002, 5:00:01 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|cart|Christian Ciech|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|cart|Christian Ciech|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Campbell Bowen|cart|Christian Ciech|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Campbell Bowen|cart|Christian Ciech|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|Oleg Bondarchuk|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Campbell Bowen|cart|Christian Ciech|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|Oleg Bondarchuk|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

It’s time to look back on the US Open and evaluate what went on, both for me and for the other pilots, at least those that I can make some judgment about.

The major factor for me at the US Open was fear. Without a tail I mostly thought about tucking the ATOS-C. When I wasn’t fantasizing about tucking, I was able to make a few tactical decisions – like turn in this thermal, or go on glide.

Fortunately, on the last day the conditions were such that I had a bit less fear, although that didn’t seem to help with the results for that day. The first part of that flight was even really enjoyable in the light conditions before the start gate opened.

One’s mind needs to be freed up to make the best decisions. Long before the flight you have to get yourself into a prepared state that lets you contemplate the flight and how you are going to fly it. You need to be able to relax enough to reach back into your stored memory and let the solutions for the various flight problems come to the fore. Fear just blocks a bunch of this.

I’m working on bringing this fear down to a much more manageable level. The tail will help, as it did in Chelan in much stronger conditions. I’m working on other aspects that restimulate the fear, and we’ll see how it goes.

The conditions this week in Big Springwere new and different. You had to go to a cloud or an area that was about to have a cloud in order to find lift. Not all clouds had lift, and many didn’t, but no area that didn’t have a cloud, or wasn’t about to have a cloud had lift.

If you weren’t in lift, you were sinking fast (except on one day where there where high clouds). Good lift, tight cores and lots of sink.

I’m use to the situation in eastern Washington, Florida, Australia, east Texas, south Texas, and so forth, that while you may not be in lift, you aren’t sinking like a stone all the time you’re not. Well, here it was pretty much the case that you were in fact sinking fast if you weren’t in lift.

The hard lesson was first taught (but not fully learned) on day one when I missed goal by 500 yards because I didn’t climb until my flight computer said that I would make goal by 1000’ if the lift and sink would average out on the way to goal. I left when it said I had goal by 200’.

Gliding into goal that day I got 600 fpm down all the way to the ground from 2.5 miles out. I had already had plenty of experience during the task of big sink when not in lift. Still I didn’t have enough mental energy to realize that I had to slow down, climb in the last thermal and make sure I had goal.

Campbell Bowen goes for the clouds. He will go way off course line to get to the clouds. He does this in Florida. He knows where the lift is. It isn’t under every cloud, but it is under some clouds (or in areas that are about to have clouds).

In Chelan there weren’t any clouds. There Campbelldid relatively poorly. In Big Springs there are clouds every day. Campbellgoes way off course to get under them. Campbellmakes goal, while those of us with less useful strategies (run the course line to go the fastest) fall down and don’t make goal.

The one day that there are the fewest clouds, Campbellfalls down early and almost loses the meet.

Campbellis the only rigid wing pilot flying with a tail. Therefore his glider is dampening out the turbulence that the rest of us are dealing with, mentally and physically. Campbellis flying a Flight Design Axxess, not an Axxess +, so no retractable flaps, no fat trailing edge.

Rich Burton is flying the Icaro Stratos. Rich is a very good pilot with only a few hours on rigids. Rich is no Christian Ciech and while he flies very well he is not in that ball park.

Well, no one here at the US Open is equal in performance to Christian, Alex Ploner or David Chaumet. They were far and away better than anyone else at the Worlds in Chelan. Rich is consistent and does well on Christian’s Stratos, but it is clear that Christian isn’t flying it (and you wonder just what it is that Christian does).

Mark P. does very well on the AIR ATOS. He is first every day that he makes goal. So he’s flying fast, but perhaps too fast, as he hits the deck too often. Maybe this comes from trying for records – trying to hit home runs, when hits win the meet.

Launching early is a big factor. Bo starts first almost every day and he comes in second for the meet. The first two days I don’t get to launch early and that doesn’t give me enough time to get up and get in position. Being in the right position at the right time at the start is a very big part of doing well in a meet.

On the fifth day I really do have to go to where the clouds are just about to form. Often during this flight when I go to the clouds they are no longer working and I have to go out in the blue to find the wisps. The wisps are working. I even have to go to where wisps are about to happen, because in a few minutes they are going to turn into big clouds. That’s where the lift is.

Now, there are clouds that are definitely working and when they are thick and black and in a strong cloud street, well you know that at least some of them are indeed working and they do. I even get up in the rain at 600 fpm. Working over a strongly sunlit field under a black cloud street, on the sunny side of a cu-nimb, well, that has a high probability.

Sometime during the meet I get to see Mike Degtoff in the Stalker 2 quite a bit below me circling. I notice after a while how much adverse yaw the Stalker 2 exhibits. Having flown the Stalker 2 I am aware that it has adverse yaw, but it is quite noticeable as I view it from above.

I didn’t get to fly much with Oleg Skriko in Chelan so I don’t remember for sure whether he had so much adverse yaw as I saw Mike and his Stalker 2 exhibit.

On the last day I got a much closer look, and wow that was amazing. I saw so much adverse yaw that it looked like Mike was flailing around with a hatchet in the air going back and forth as he would “circle” in a thermal. It was scary being anywhere near him because you couldn’t really tell just what direction he was heading.

I got to fly with him for about 15 minutes and I was never comfortable with him being in the neighborhood. I wondered just how he felt about it, but when I asked him he had no idea and denied the fact of the adverse yaw. I do know that you can get use to it so that you forget that it is happening, but it is hard not to see it when it is happening right next to you.

I asked other pilots about it and what they mentioned was had badly the control frame shakes. They could easily see this when thermaling with Mike. I had seen it also, but I had forgotten how much it shakes. As I recall there is some slop built in before the ailerons are engaged, but I may have that wrong. Of course, I assume that he is also shaking in pitch from the lack of almost any pitch dampening just like the other rigid wings.

I assume that Mike has put the shaky control bar out of his mind as we all learned to do with the loose control frame on the ATOS (this changed on the ATOS – C). I assume that he just ignores it like we did. Unfortunately, I can’t ignore it anymore.

Of course, the control bar is moving around on its own because it is loose and because the wing is being tossed around. Imagine how a sailplane pilot would feel if the control stick was moving around this much.

Mike can’t see the point of a tail, but then if you don’t notice the lack of pitch dampening you have no reason to want a tail. Once you put on a tail and then notice how much more pitch dampening you have and how much different that control bar feels, then you have something to contemplate.

I did notice that Mike was doing a lot better on the Stalker 2 than on his Stalker (he just added winglets and got the new control frame). The Stalker performed like the Flight Design Exxtacy.

I also notice that Mike is flying around very quickly in the area of lift. He isn’t exactly circling, but it looks like he can’t slow the Stalker 2 down. Now I’ve written about how fast I’m flying when circling in tight cores up on a wing tip, but I’m talking about something different here. I talking about not circling but flying around in the general area of lift.

George Ferris tells me a story about something that happened to him in Zapata this year. He was on tow behind Rhett Radford when the air started getting a bit too turbulent. He decided to pin off. Rhett was feeling that there was a big thermal like the thermal that he hit with Gordon Rigg in Australia.

He is feeling out the air and Rhett is watching him wondering about the air, when George’s ATOS suddenly pitches straight down with most of George in front of the control bar. George stays in front as the ATOS continues to pick up speed and then start to come out of the dive.

George slowly lets the control bar out as he is going way too fast and doesn’t want the glider to blow apart. Later, what George wants to know is what happened to the time between going straight and level and going straight down. It’s one instance one way and the next instant another.

This again is the mind not being able to record continuously. You just can’t get that fine of a detail. The ATOS pitched over so quickly, because it has very little pitch dampening without a tail, that it pitched over before his mind had a chance to record the details. Pretty quick.

George is having a tough time at the US Open also because he doesn’t have a tail. He is scared enough that it is affecting him like it is affecting me. Remember George has already crashed his previous ATOS into the trees. That and all the stories that he’s heard about pilots breaking up their gliders has put him on edge.

George use to think nothing about the control bar on his ATOS jiggling around. Now he has a very tight grip on it (with a wrist strap) and of course every jiggle makes it just that much worse.

I’m flying with a pair of Champro football receiver gloves. They stick to the bar (maybe not a good thing?). They are plenty warm enough for 10,000’ here in Texas. They are light so I can use my fingers to do most anything I need to do in the air (get the bridle out of the way and zip up the harness). They are much more long lasting than the Grippies. $25.

I think that the air conditions in Big Springare quite a bit less turbulent than Chelan and more turbulent than east Texas. I sure liked having the clouds and the lack of inversions. The winds were 10-20 mph, but that seemed to be fine. Cloud base was plenty high enough. I’d say that this is a superior place to fly or have a competition.

Launching on the asphalt was great. We launched in three directions. I doubt that we would ever have a west wind here. Plenty of room for north and south launches, but a little thin for east. It is great to be able to just walk out of the hangar a few yards and get on a cart.

David is looking into coming back to Big Springfor a bigger meet. Maybe the USNationals.

It was good to see Jim Lee do well after he had to leave Floridabecause his neck hurt so bad. The neck pulley that Heiner came up with (Jim had to make his own) worked very well for Jim and I’m happy to see that other pilots find this to be useful.

Bo says that he is learning to fly with other pilots and that’s great. He did a lot better than he has been doing of late and it was good to see him flying so well. Chris Zimmerman pulled it off by being patient and being in a position to win when Jim fell down. Bo says that Chris almost blew it by trying to race Terry on the last day and getting down to 400 feet 4 miles out from goal.

Kari was being a lot smarter and a lot more aggressive than I’ve seen her in a while. She gained back a lot of confidence from winning the women’s worlds. She was flying great and will be a strong member of the USteam at the Worlds next year.

Claire was also much improved and doing very well. She gained more confidence from the women’s worlds and flew to win.

Glen fell down too many times as did Jerz. Big Springwas a bit trickier and these racers weren’t quite ready for it on the first day.

The hangar at Big Spring

The US Open – what makes the meet »

Sun, Aug 11 2002, 6:00:01 pm EDT

David Glover|Jim Lee|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Sam Kellner|Steve Kroop|The US Open

David Glover|Jim Lee|John "Ole" Olson|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Sam Kellner|Steve Kroop|The US Open

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|David Glover|Jim Lee|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Sam Kellner|Steve Kroop|The US Open

Bobby Bailey|David Glover|Jim Lee|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Sam Kellner|Steve Kroop|The US Open

Bobby Bailey|David Glover|Jim Lee|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Sam Kellner|Steve Kroop|The US Open|Tove Heaney

Bobby Bailey|Chris Zimmerman|David Glover|Jim Lee|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Sam Kellner|Steve Kroop|The US Open|Tove Heaney

Bobby Bailey|Chris Zimmerman|David Glover|Jim Lee|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Russell Brown|Sam Kellner|Steve Kroop|The US Open|Tove Heaney

Bobby Bailey|Chris Zimmerman|David Glover|Jim Lee|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Russell Brown|Sam Kellner|Steve Kroop|The US Open|Tove Heaney

The US Open was an amazing event especially considering how quickly David Glover put it together. In the spring he was just thinking that there weren’t enough sanctioned meets this year and then decided to put one on.

Consider the fact that it was an aerotow meet put on not at a flight park, but at a remote location far from any flight parks.

Also, at a site that hadn’t been used for a hang gliding venue in many years. The last time a meet was held here it was a truck towing meet.

But David Glover organized it and pulled it off in great style and certainly made everyone happy including the tug pilots, the competition pilots, the volunteers, the people of Big Springand the city, county and airport officials.

We had a great facility – a former US Airforce air base. We had a large hangar that let everyone setup and still had room for the tugs. We had a new airport terminal for our pilot meetings and for the scoring room. We had a wireless network thanks to the scorekeeper, Tim Meaney, and access to a 500 mbit (2 DSL lines working in tandem) network to the Internet. (All we were missing was SMTP – outgoing e-mail access.)

The airbase was huge and we used a very very small part of it. We operated on the asphalt (which wasn’t melting) right next to the hangar, so we didn’t have to carry our wings very far. We got to roll on the carts on the asphalt, so the carts rolled easy and the doubled up weaklinks didn’t break. The tugs enjoyed landing on the asphalt taxi way also.

The terminal facility was air conditioned, of course, so that helped everyone maintain their cool. It was much cooler setting up your glider in the hangar than outside in the sun. There was an air conditioned pilot’s lounge on one side of the hangar. Everyday, Jim Lee could be found in there putting on his harness.

There are five prisons nearby, and on a couple of days the prisoners came over the swept out the hangar and cleaned up the terminal.

The town’s people provided great support. I mean great support. I have never been to a meet where I got to see and meet so many city, county and airport officials and their wives and/or husbands. The mayor of Big Springcame out a couple of times. The boy scouts came out to chase down carts. The members of the airport development committee, the city council and the county council came out.

Not only did they come out to greet and support us, town’s people volunteered their time and energy to help Dave organize the meet. They made many arrangements in the town that made it that much nicer for us.

For example, at the Texas RV Park, we got breakfast every morning with our donations going to the local humane society. The Chamber of Commerce and Convention Center put on the opening dinner at the airport for every one. The airport development committee got the lessee of the hangar we used to not put anything in it until we were gone. There were many more examples of more help than I’ve ever seen from a town to support hang gliding.

David, of course, is of the philosophy that the customers, in this case the competition pilots, are always right. They get to run the meet. They choose the task committee, the safety committee, and the protest committee from among their fellow pilots. David acted as a facilitator to make sure that we had the best time possible.

It takes a special person to be able to act as an organizer and facilitator, and not take over the meet and run it their way. Of course, David is still a man, so we had to beat down his ego now and then, but on the whole, he’s almost up there with Tove Heaney in my pantheon of celebrated meet directors/organizers.

The meet would not have been possible without the great support from the Quest Air, Kurt Graham, Russell Brown, Bobby Bailey, Steve Kroop, Rhett Radford, Chris Zimmerman, and others who sent their aircraft and pilots to Big Spring so that we could get up in the air. Also other pilots brought truck tow rigs just in case we needed them. All the tug pilots are very much appreciated. Sam Kellner from Leaky was especially appreciated.

Big Springwants us back. They want a lot of exciting activities at their wonderful facility. They want to support us. David is definitely considering it for next year.

One innovation that worked well and has been a long time in coming (how long have has the Oz Report been pushing for this?) and being accepted is virtual goals. After comparing virtual goal times with ground crew goal times at the Flytec Championship, David and Tim determined that virtual goals were just as accurate as goal crews.

David wanted to keep the costs of the US Open down - $195 plus $150 for tows. This is the cheapest meet this year, and for a lot of years before this. One way was to use virtual goals.

Well, it worked out and worked out great. Virtual goals sometimes are not as exciting as manned goals (although they were when Bo and Glen came in 2 second apart), but they work well and keep the meet costs down.

I just hope that the UScompetition committee keeps competition costs in mind when they think about what meets to sanction in 2003. The USOpen was a very well run meet (because the pilots did the task calls, etc.) that costs a lot less than we are used to. Let’s push that trend if we can.

When I first heard that David Glover was going to put the US Open together at this late date in Big Spring, Texas, I was a little skeptical. Sure, I signed up right away, but I wondered could David do this without all the support people at Quest Air and without Steve Kroop. How much was the good organization of the Flytec Championship due to Steve and others, and not to Dave?

Well, David sure showed me. He got lots of help, but he’s the one with the vision and the organizing skills to put it together. He couldn’t have done it without all the help, but the help needed Dave to make it happen.

US Open – day one »

Sun, Aug 4 2002, 6:00:00 pm EDT

Bo Hagewood|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|Rhett Radford|US Open|weather

Bobby Bailey|Bo Hagewood|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|Rhett Radford|US Open|weather

Bobby Bailey|Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|Rhett Radford|US Open|weather

Bobby Bailey|Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|Rhett Radford|Russell Brown|US Open|weather

Bobby Bailey|Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|Rhett Radford|Russell Brown|US Open|weather

www.flytec.com

We’re off to a good start here in Big Spring, with a strong task, a strong field, and substantial weather. The cu’s start forming late in the morning high and the wind just keeps blowing, today out of the south east at about 10 to 15 mph – up high.

The weather models didn’t agree on the wind today other than to say that it would be below 10 mph, until we got up to 10,000’ where it was 15 mph. Windcast had the correct prediction, FSL showed west then northeast – totally bogus. Garywent with southwest.

The task committee – Jerz Rossignol, Terry Presley, and I – called at 3 hour task – 75 miles with three turn points (to keep us along the main roads). First out to the north east, a turned out to be cross wind, then due west, pretty much downwind, then straight up wind on a dogleg to goal.

With a big hangar for storing all the gliders, we basically just wheel out the glider when we are ready to go and the tugs pull us into the air. You don’t even have time to get hot. We’ve got great support from Quest, Russell, Bobby Bailey, Kurt Grahm, Flytec, Christ Zimmerman and others who brought their trikes. Rod Brown is flying a trike, Rhett Radford, Russell Brown, Kurt Grahm, and Luiz are flying the Dragonflies.

I got wild and crazy this morning making sure that everyone felt that this was a special occasion, especially for us old blue hairs.

We set a main start time of 2 PM, and put of couple of earlier start times in just to help anyone out that wanted to go early. Still everyone waited till the last moment making it hard for some folks to actually make the last start time at 2 PM. I’ll just bet that some pilots get going a little earlier tomorrow.

We wanted to be sure that the last start time was the prime time, so that we wouldn’t have pilots wasting the day waiting around for a too late start time. This just moves everything up half an hour which is fine for those guys who want to go early.

There were plenty of cu’s over the airport when we started, but that doesn’t mean nice smooth thermals. It is anything but smooth here. Even with well formed clouds, anything below 2,000’ AGL is ratty. The ATOS is rocking all other the place.

It does get more consistent over 4,500’ AGL (7,000’ MSL) and climbs are good to 9,500’ MSL. A bunch of us at least don’t find anything more than 200 fpm in the start circle for almost half an hour. Finally I get into some 600 fpm that gets me to cloud base just in time to take the last (and prime) start time. I head out with Kari and Mark P.

A few pilots have taken the earlier start time. We’ll catch Mike Degtoff at the first turnpoint. Bo Hagewood started at 1:45. Campbell Bowen is out early also.

Without the V-tail, I am a nervous wreck for the first hour in the air. The ATOS is jumping all other the place (as far as I’m concerned), and I’m just happy to have the football receiver gloves. I try to relax.

It is great to be competing and racing with Kari and Mark as we lead the 2 PMgroup to the first turnpoint. The sink is big and the lift is 700 fpm in small cores. The cu’s are every where, but only half or so work.

Heading to the second turnpoint we are spread out all over the place. It’s hard to know how pilots are doing. I get down to 1,500’ AGL and find out how bad it can be when you get low. I resolve to try to stay high in the smoother stuff.

At the second turnpoint, I again hook up with Kari, Jim Lee, Jerz Rossignol, and Rick Burton on the Stratos. He started the task low, but was able to catch me after I thought I had to go back and get the first turnpoint again – mental error.

We are all together here at the turnpoint because this is now the upwind leg and we drift back pretty darn quick in any thermals. I plow ahead and hook up with Rich at less than 1000’ AGL to find the nicest thermal of the day. Jim stays high and drifts back. Kari pushes ahead with us.

I’m getting use to flying the ATOS-C without the tail. The smooth thermal really helps and I’m not holding on quite so hard. Looks like I’ll have to be without a tail for a few more days.

The thermal starts out weak, but is consistent and easy to core. It builds quickly to 700 fpm to 9,000’ MSL. Jim Lee is floating along high in front of us now. Jerz tries to go with us when we get low and lands.

Up high we have a lot more options heading up wind, and we can find strong lift and keep near cloud base. Past the last turnpoint, nine miles from goal Rich and I climb out to 8,000’ MSL and have an 8 to 1 glide to goal. We head out. Kari is now a ways behind us and Terry Presley is in the vicinity.

Eight to one is not going to make it and down to a thousand feet four miles from goal we have to search to get back up again. My Brauniger IQ/Comp is indicating that we’ve got an east wind at 12 mph and we are heading now due south, but the sink is so bad in between thermals that we can’t count on neutral air going to goal.

Bo, Mark P., Campbell, and Jim have made it into goal. Rich and I are working up from low and Kari and Terry are a few miles behind. Rich goes on glide as I find another thermal and work up. I’ve got goal at 5 to 1.

I move forward and fall like a rock and then find another thermal. I’m climbing at 500 fpm and watching the goal line 2.5 miles out in front of me. Rich is still gliding out in front. When the goal line looks I could almost just fall on it I head out. Again I fall like a rock.

Gliding toward goal, I know I’m in trouble. I see Rich down below and he has turned turtle. I land just beyond him 500 yards from goal. Kari and then Terry come by about 10-15 minutes later as I walk the glider into goal. At least I didn’t have to break it down.

Much later other pilots trickle into goal.

The results should be up tonight at the Flytec web site www.flytec.com

WRE – the last few days »

Sun, Jun 16 2002, 7:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros|Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Bo Hagewood|Combat|Gary Osoba|Jim Lamb|paraglider|record|Rhett Radford|Will Gadd|World Record Encampment 2002

Given the original prediction (last Thursday) that Tuesday would be a super day, and given the light winds in Zapata, pilots flew locally Sunday and Monday while getting prepared for the big day. As Tuesday approached the issue became would the best day be Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday (you’d hate to go long – but not long enough - and not get back for the best day). Also, would the clouds start forming early?

On Tuesday at 6 AM a dark thin low cloud street formed east of the airport toward the paraglider tow paddock at Renato’s. Starting about 5 miles south of Zapata it extended to the north as far as we could see. It looked like there might a possibility of cu’s forming early.

The previous nights predicted sounding for Zapata showed diminished chances of cumulus development early in the day with lighter wind than hoped for earlier, but winds up to 20 mph on the ground in north Texas and higher at 5,000’ The direction looked very good and the winds were predicted to be stronger along the route than any of the previous two years’ record days.

There were scattered cu’s forming above the airstrip as we held our 8 AM pilot meet (moved up to be ready for the big day). Still with light winds, and low moisture there wasn’t any sign of cloud streets reforming. Bo Hagewood (Aeros Combat 2) launched at 8:45 AM. He landed about 4 miles away and we sent Rhett Radford over to pull him up again off a gravel road. He landed back at the airstrip.

A few minutes later he was off again, followed by Peter Lehmann (WW Talon) and Jim Lamb (AIR Atos-C). Gary Osoba had been up since before Bo took off in his Woodstock making sure that he was marking lift in the now blue sky for the pilots who had just released from tow.

By noon the pilots were negotiating their way around the Laredo airspace and hoping for the cu’s to start popping, which in fact a bit later they did.

Bo and Jim decided to land at Uvalde (165 miles out). Pete decided to land 20 miles out on highway 83.

All the paraglider pilots flew, with the Mexican pilots going 40-50 miles. Will Gadd and Dave Prentice landed 4 miles out. Louise landed in the Mesquite 400 yards out, was wet and hot, took off most of her clothes and burned to a crisp.

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Into Thin Air

Thu, Jun 6 2002, 9:00:01 am GMT

Dragonfly|Flytec 4020 XL|Judy Leyden|Just Fly|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Russell "Russ" Brown|Steve Kroop|World Record Encampment 2002|UltraTug|Just Fly Shadow

Steve Kroop <USAFlytec@aol.com> writes:

At this point it is no secret that Russell Brown of Quest Air has been working on a new power plant and drive for the Dragonfly tow plane. Russell's creation made its debut at the Flytec Championship to an awed crowd. A few weeks ago we attempted to set a hang glider aerotow record and tow up to 18k (17999') and came up several thousand feet short towing only to thirteen-five. Since then Russ and another tug ninja, Rhett Radford, have made some improvements and modifications. Russ and Rhett have been testing for the last several days and determined that the UltraTug was ready for a second attempt.

We checked the winds aloft. Cape Canaveral was reporting SE at 14-17 knots at 18000 and TampaBay was reporting slightly less out of the east, no problem there. There was a high cloud deck so we checked Unisys and it was at 24000', again, no problem. Even though it was in the mid 90s on the ground we new that it was going to be witch's tit kinda cold at 18k so Russ and I broke out the winter flying gear and got ready to go. Russ fueled up the plane and I started with the many layers of clothes.

We took off at 11:10 and were climbing nicely. The air was a little raspy in the convective layer but once we climbed above 4000' the air was smooth as could be. At around 13000' feet I started to get a little concerned. Not because of the altitude, the cold or the thin air but because this was about where Russ waved me off on our first attempt. I wanted to go all the way, and all the way we went, me and my Shadow 148, right to the legal limit.

Quest Air is at 118' MSL so our AGL was almost the same as our MSL. The view was incredible at nearly 18000' AGL (3.4 miles up). It is a perspective that we don't often get. As far as I know, the next highest altitude in the eastern US was 16201' done by Chad Elchin of highland Aerosports when he set his loop record last year. Even out west where thermals regularly take pilots to 18000' I don't know of anywhere where they can get quite that high above the ground. Anytime we fly on a commercial jet we get that high (and higher of course) but it is not at all the same. When you are on that commercial flight to wherever you are going you are looking through a peep hole they call a window. In a hang glider you are outside the window!

Technical stuff: Take a look at the FlyChart Barogram of the flight. Our time to altitude was 42 minutes. The average climb rate was about 430 ft/min with the best climb rate at the beginning of the tow being around 750 fpm and the low being around 300 fpm just before release. The climb rate seen on this flight (at corresponding altitudes) was noticeably less than seen on our previous attempt. Russell mentioned that he had throttled back a little on this flight, but personally I do not think that accounts for all (or most) of the difference. Personally, I believe that the air mass above convection was subsiding. The free flying sink rate observed (at corresponding altitude) was noticeably greater than seen on the previous flight. Perhaps one of our weather mavens (Gary) could comment.

Equipment Used: Russell's UltraTug - performed beautifully and was a real pleasure to tow behind. Glider - Shadow 148 from Just Fly - I have said it before and I will say it again now, this is the sweetest intermediate glider. It tows easily without a fin, light pitch and roll pressure, tracks and handles well all the way to 70 mph (no sail flutter), and lands great. Harness - M2 Acer, clean warm and comfortable. Instruments/barograph: Flytec 4020XL - simply the best, just ask me ;-)

Russ' UltraTug (affectionately known as Tugzilla) is a proof of concept. It took an incredible amount of work and effort to get it this far and Russ is to be commended for all of his R & D. It is doing real well, but I know that Russ plans on even further refinements. In the next few days the UltraTug will be heading to the World Record Encampment in Zapata and then to the US Open at Big Spring.

(editor’s note: So Steve may be the hang glider pilot who has gone higher above the ground than any other hang glider pilot in the US. Judy Leyden went much higher (40000’) under a balloon in Jordan.)

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Wallaby Open – death gaggles and stop times

Tue, Apr 16 2002, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John "Ole" Olson|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

We are in a very stable weather pattern with light winds out of the east southeast and lots of moisture in the air (and on the ground). Lift is for the most part pretty light and cloudbase is low. This makes for interesting and difficult tasks.

The forecast calls for convergence on the western side of the state with a trough forming right along the west coast in the late afternoon. I advise the other members of the task committee that we probably want to stay away from the west as the convergence will probably be just too much for us. The rain chance is 30 percent, a little less than the day before, and scheduled for the late afternoon.

We on the task committee call a Wallaby Ranch friendly task, a bit longer than the day before – 65 miles. The idea is go north to Quest Air flight park (Sheets) back to highway 27 and 192, the road that goes to Disney. This gets us up on the Floridaridge and the high dry spots with plenty of places to land if necessary. Next is the intersection of 27 and 17/92 in Haines City 11 miles south of Wallaby, with a final leg into the Ranch.

With an east wind predicted this gives us an out and return task that should be mostly cross wind, although some forecasts show a bit of a southerly wind component also. Coming back over the Ranch will give all the kind folks who are volunteering to help out with the meet a chance to see the competitors in action.

Given the shaky weather conditions we are again out early for an 11 AMlaunch and start time at 12:30. Looking at all the clouds forming around the Ranch at 11, I propose to Gerolf and Paris that we set a stop time of 3 PM. I’m afraid that the day will over develop and the meet director will cancel the task (there is no provision to stop the day without this advance notice).

At the last minute we agree to stop the day at 3 PMand of course that puts a fire under the pilots to get going. Bo goes right after we change the task to add this element, and soon every one is lined up in the launch line.

With seventeen tugs and trikes there are the resources here to get every one in the air in a very big hurray. Rhett Radford was instrumental in getting the two Floridaflight parks to agree to share resources so three tugs came down from Quest to help out with the Wallaby Open. The ground crew is very experienced so pilots are ready to go when the tug is there. It takes less than an hour to get almost everyone in the air.

Rhett Radford put Robin Hamilton’s Swift back together last night so he’s ready to take on Brian Porter (who got a score for the first day) in Class 2. Robin was hoping he could carry his time from flying his Laminar into Class 2, but no go. Jim Lamb got a borrowed ATOS to fly from Jaime Ruiz. Mike Z is still working on his broken keel.

With the 3 PMstop time, pilots are definitely thinking about the 12:30start time. The class one pilots are forming a death swarm at 5 miles out holding near cloud base in the skimpy lift waiting for the clock. The rigid wings are at 3 miles out in smaller gaggles. I get low trying to get tricky by flying upwind and getting away from other rigid wing pilots. I find myself at 800 feet over the Ranch at 12:25. Looks like I’m in big trouble.

I slowly climb out and now it is a question of whether to get the start time late or wait for the 12:45start time. A careful calculation would show that we are going to have a difficult time making the 65 miles in 2 ½ hours (in general we average 25 mph), so waiting is foolish. I don’t have time to make this calculation and wait for the 12:45start time.

I’ll get to see a lot of the race today as I now have the opportunity for a whole lot of gaggle hoping. Unfortunately the first gaggle is going to be the stragglers and you’ve got to be very careful. Use them for lift markers, but ignore what they are doing.

With cloud base at about 3,600’ it is a slow slog up to Quest for most of the pilots. With the lift averaging 300 fpm I find Adam Parer in an Airborne Climax a bit north of the Seminole Lake glider port and we work into 400 fpm to 4,200’. The day is looking good. There is no over development and the winds are light.

Just to our north there are half a dozen gliders working weak lift right over highway 33 and they are down low. I slide off to the left downwind a bit to the west of 33 under the clouds and get the rewards that such a move so justly deserves, 500 fpm to 4,100’.

There’s a gaggle over Quest and it is a quick glide from a commanding altitude to get to it after making the turnpoint. I’m on a mission to make up for the 15 minute handicap I have made for myself. The leading gaggles are a great help in this quest. I average 27 mph getting the Quest.

No one is waiting around in puny lift and we are hard charging to the south east toward the intersection of highway 27 and 192. We over the low swamp lands and sand mines, but our goal is the ridge. We’ve got a bit of a head wind, and broken lift that’s averaging 350 fpm. While it takes 48 minutes to cover the 22 miles to Quest from the Ranch, it takes 42 minutes to cover the mere 16 miles to the intersection and my average speed is down to 23 mph.

I come in under the main lead gaggle half way to the intersection, but it proves hard to climb up through them. Everyone is pushing to get to goal before the clock runs out. We get high just before the turnpoint and now it is a race down the ridge to the south turnpoint at HainesCity.

To the south we can see a big cell dumping hard on the swamp to the east of HainesCity. It looks like it isn’t moving our way thankfully. Gust fronts are a concern but the downpour is about ten miles to the east of the turnpoint and we don’t see anything else around that would cause a problem.

Time is now getting very short. Everyone is thinking about getting as far as possible before the time runs out. We are all bunched up so it is quite a squadron that passes by Wallaby and gives the folks there a thrill.

The storm to our east is adding a bit of texture to the air and suddenly the climb rates get quite strong. I come in low at the mid Floridahospital, and catch some of that strong lift. I’m wishing I had John Vernon’s tail, as Felix convinced me to fly without it today to get a feel for the ATOS-C without the tail. I’ll have it back on tomorrow (of course, the air was a lot different today).

I’m thinking that the rigid wings should be out in front but they seem to be mixed in with the rest of the gliders. I guess the gravitational influences of the flex wing gaggle just held them back. Too bad.

With ten minutes left we are all racing toward the turnpoint or just racing back from it. There is so much lift that you just have to ignore it and know that you are going to stay up as much as you need until 3 PM.

Making the turnpoint at HainesCity.

Manfred and Alex Ploner (Italian, Ladino) are out in front and racing. There must be thirty gliders just behind them and the pilots all know that the goal is not obtainable. If we (or I) had only said 3:15 PMinstead of 3 PM.

Some pilots are racing to the ground and others decide that a mile or two isn’t worth not making it back to the Ranch. There is plenty of lift so you can fly straight and fast toward the Ranch and still make good distance before the bell tolls.

Manfred gets a better line and gets ahead of Alex. He is 47 seconds too late coming into goal with Alex half a minute behind him. Manfred dives in, pulls up after the goal line, skims across the top of the dinner tent, dives back down and lands with a no stepper on the goal (or former goal) line to the great applause of all the volunteers at the Ranch.

Everyone is vectoring into the Ranch no matter where they were before 3 PMand the place is a bee hive of activity as those of us that decided not to land out make it back. Earlier I watch as Oleg scares some cows and then gets up from less than 100 feet as they kick off a thermal in a field 5 miles south of Wallaby. The cows charge Jerseyand another pilot.

In the morning you should be able to find the latest scores at: http://www.elltel.net/peterandlinda/Wallaby_Open_2002/Wallaby.htm

There seems to be a problem scoring this type of task with a stop time. We’ll see how Peter Gray does it tonight (maybe all night) with Compe-GPS.

GAP 2002 gives folks who only make it half way as many departure points as the fastest pilots. This seems a bit odd to say the least (although who really cares).

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New Rotor harness

Mon, Mar 18 2002, 2:00:04 pm EST

carbon fiber|Larry Jorgensen|Paris Williams|Rhett Radford|Wallaby Ranch

Carlos Bessa from Wallaby Ranch just came back from the Nationals in Brazilwere he did very well and with a new harness from Nene Rotor. Carlos, after hearing about my tuck and fast descent rate, decided to fly with two parachutes. BTW, Paris Williams, who has had to throw his chute, also flies with two parachutes. Last time I checked, so did Larry Jorgensen, who also has thrown his chute. Do I detect a pattern here?

None-the-less, Carlos looks like a pregnant guppy with two chutes, but they conform very nicely when he tucks his elbows. His harness has white Mylar on the top and a new black material on the sides:

You’ll notice how smooth it is. Like the Moyes Matrix there are pockets in the inside of the sides that allow you to place you bags in there to contour the harness behind the parachutes.

Most of these side mounted harnesses have covered pockets on the side opposite the parachute. Carlos has his radio up inside in a pocket near his shoulder.

The back plate has been changed to widen out near the shoulders and the ends of the back plate curve down to go around the shoulders. You’ll notice in the details shot that a zipper is used to close off the parachute pocket, similar to that used on the Moyes Matrix.

All the buckles are inside and the bottom buckle uses the Tenax system. The top buckle is padded on the inside.

Carlos was also using a specially designed speed bar shown here (just sitting on top of the regular base bar.)

Apparently a number of pilots in Brazilhave attempted to copy this design, but failed because they used only carbon fiber and not carbon and chrome moly steel. Rhett Radford designed and built this speed bar to allow Carlos to old the bar at his chest while racing into goal while other pilots had to hold the bar at their waists. The angles of the bar give him substantial side to side leverage.

The not so Silent

Mon, Mar 11 2002, 1:00:05 am GMT

Alisport Silent|APIS|Bräuniger Motor|Mike Waters|Rhett Radford|SparrowHawk

Leo brought his Alisport Silent over to the Ranch on Saturday and gave Mike Waters and Rhett Radford a chance to fly it. I was going to fly it, but as it was a motor glider, I wanted pilots with power experience to fly it first. I may get a chance to fly it Sunday or Monday if the weather works out.

The Silent is a 300 pound (without the motor) sailplane. With the motor it is 375 pounds. It appeals especially to sailplane pilots who are looking for a smaller and less expensive motor glider. It also appeals to pilots looking for less hassle in a trailer and set up and less weight to push around on the ground.

They haven’t got a handicap for it yet, so it can’t be flown in Open Contests. They are going to work on getting that. Heck, then you could get it going in the on-line contest.

The motor glider version costs $36000. The sailplane version is $24000. The trailer is $6000. It is heavier than the Part 103 weight limit of 155 pounds, so you need a glider private pilot’s license.

The fuselage is very nice inside and the controls were well thought out and very well machines. You sit back in a comfortable seat. Apparently the people who built the APIS copied the fuselage and then put on their own wings for higher performance.

The motor rises up on a pylon right behind the pilot and has only one blade. On the other side is a counter weight. This is to allow the motor and pylon to collapse easily back into the faired portion of the fuselage.

The wing surface area is 110 square feet for this 12 meter glider. More than the 70 sq. ft. for the SparrowHawk and less than the 126 sq.ft. for the LightHawk.

The air barkes were small but adequate. The controls for them were really smooth – much better than I’ve seen on other gliders. Motor controls were simply and easy to remember. You had to be sure that you got the blade back in the right spot before lowering the pylon. There was a clever little mirror that helped you out.

You can read more about it at OzReport.com/Ozv5n174.htm or http://www.alisport.com/.

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Commendations from the USHGA

Sat, Oct 20 2001, 6:00:03 pm EDT

Belinda Boulter|Davis Straub|Dragonfly|Gary Osoba|Malcolm Jones|Pat Denevan|PG|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop|USHGA|weather

Belinda Boulter|Davis Straub|Dragonfly|Gary Osoba|Malcolm Jones|Pat Denevan|PG|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop|USHGA|weather|World Record Encampment

Belinda Boulter|Davis Straub|Dragonfly|Gary Osoba|Malcolm Jones|Pat Denevan|PG|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop|USHGA|weather|World Record Encampment

Newsletter of the Year: The fall USHGA BOD makes the awards that are given out at the spring meeting. Guess what, against strong competition, the Oz Report was chosen as the USHGA newsletter of the year. Of course, we really appreciate this award from the USHGA BOD. Just to be clear the Oz Report is not an official USHGA newsletter, nor is it connected with the USHGA in any way. This is the first time an Internet-based newsletter could be consider for newsletter of the year.

More awards: Hang Gliding instructor of the year: Pat Denevan. Paragliding instructor of the year: Chris Santacroci. Exceptional Service to the USHGA: Steve Roti (for his help with the USHGA database). Presidential Award: Pat Rikert (writing the USHGA by-laws).

Commendations: The USHGA wishes to extend special appreciation to the following individuals for their contributions to the hang gliding community:

Charles Averitt, Bob McVey, Steve Kroop, Gary Osoba, Malcolm Jones, Mark Forbes, Ken Baeir, and Davis Straub and Belinda Boulter.

Bob McVey is the editor and publisher of the Zapata County News (motto, "Without Fear or Favor"). Bob was very instrumental in getting the Zapata County Council to approve our request to use the Zapata County Airport as our base of operations for the two World Record Encampments. He basically told them that they had to do something to encourage people to come to Zapata in the summer when the population was one third of the winter population.

Bob also repeatedly highlighted our efforts in his newspaper putting the WRE on the front page week after week. He sent out the results to the Associated Press and the NY Times. The AP did pick up the results and we found an article in the Houston newspaper.

Bob let the WRE organizers stay in his home at no cost during both encampments. He told us great stories about Zapata and filled us in on all the local dirt. He also introduced us to local leaders allowing us to make plans for future WRE's.

Charles Averitt is the manager of the Zapata County Airport and has been absolutely indispensable in making the WRE a success. He has been a big supporter in the community and has gone far out of his way to make us feel at home at the airport. We gave us full use of the hangar and the airport, without which we would not have been able to carry out the WRE. He moved his airplanes to Laredo to give us extra room.

Charles contacted the FAA to make sure that they knew were supported out of Zapata. He notified all the local pilots that we would be in Zapata and that they were to watch out for us. We consequently got great help from a number of pilots.

Charles stayed with us and helped make us feel that we were part of the community. We helped putting on an air show for the locals at the airport. He helped us make additional contacts with the community.

Because of their help the WRE achieved significant results for the hang gliding community worldwide. These results have encouraged pilots everywhere and pushed the boundaries of what pilots thought were possible. We believe that these results will transform the sport and lead it in new directions.

Gary Osoba conceived the idea of the WRE. He was the one who was able through an examination of the weather data to determine that Zapata was the place to locate the WRE. It is because of his focus on world records and his ability to correctly formulate the problem of long distance flying that the WRE was successful.

Gary has provided significant weather prediction services to all the recent major US national hang gliding competitions. Often he has done this while staying at home in Wichita, Kansas.

Gary has been a voice of reason and innovation through his papers and discussions regarding dynamic flight and lightweight flight.

Steve Kroop gave us his $45,000 Flytec Dragonfly. No insurance (is there ever?). No commitment on our part other than to do our best to make the 2001 Flytec WRE the biggest success ever. We paid the costs, Steve gets the glory.

Without Steve Kroop the 2001 Flytec WRE would not have been possible. We just couldn't get that many pilots in the air in a timely fashion. Steve sent off his plane with Rhett Radford ("the Mountain"), i.e. the best pilot/mechanic in an isolated place, to make sure that all of us could get into the air. I can't imagine anyone else making this kind of monetary commitment to our success.

ATOS for sale

Sat, Oct 6 2001, 9:00:01 pm GMT

ATOS|carbon fiber|record|Rhett Radford|Wills Wing

I'm getting an ATOS shipped to me directly in Australia for the competitions there, so mine is for sale. I can sell it now or next spring. If you want a very cool ATOS (especially with the Wills Wing control frame) and the heavier duty sail clothe. Contact me at «davis». With the WW control frame: $8,500. Without $8,000.

This is the ATOS that set the world record in Zapata – 407 miles. I got it new in the middle of April at Wallaby. It has the reinforced keel and one repair to the leading edge, done by the master of carbon fiber – Rhett Radford. The sail is in quite good shape.

The ATOS is in Minden, NV. I can deliver in California. Other spots across the southern part of the US in February. Or I can ship at the end of October.

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Another Dragonfly goes down

Sat, Aug 25 2001, 1:00:04 pm EDT

Dragonfly|Rhett Radford

A Dragonfly folded a wing on the 21st, this time at Kitty Hawk Kites. Pilot is fine coming down under canopy. The Dragonfly is now a pile of aluminum. Apparently Rhett Radford has gone over to check out the cause of the problem. I've heard that the Dragonfly was recently inspected and sleeved.

Dragonflies are very popular, so you would expect some reports of problems as there are so many out there. Perhaps I'll get a little chart soon that updates the causes of the recent spate of accidents and we'll be able to see a pattern. Great that they come with rocket-fired parachutes.

Moral Wages

Fri, Aug 24 2001, 1:00:01 pm EDT

David Glover|Dragonfly|Gary Osoba|Jeff Elgart|PG|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop|USHGA|weather

David Glover|Dragonfly|Gary Osoba|Jeff Elgart|PG|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop|USHGA|weather|World Record Encampment

David Glover|Dragonfly|Gary Osoba|Jeff Elgart|PG|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop|USHGA|weather|World Record Encampment

Does someone you know deserve a little pat on the back for their service to the hang gliding community? If so, speak up and nominate them for an award from the USHGA!

You can make a nomination, and I very much encourage you to do so, by sending in an e-mail to Jeff Elgart at «jeff».

You can also write him at:

Jeff Elgart, Award Nominations
219 W. Colorado Avenue, Suite 104
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

Nominations need to be sent to the USHGA by October 19th, the start of the Fall USHGA BOD meeting. The awards are given out at the spring BOD meeting.

The USHGA gives out a number of awards. Think about which award would be most appropriate.

First, there is the Presidential Citation:

A. The award provides an opportunity for the Association to annually recognize an individual, group, or organization, which has made a significant contribution to the sports of hang gliding and/or paragliding. It is the USHGA's highest, most prestigious, and oldest award with a history dating to 1975. It is the one of the two awards that may be presented to those outside the Association.

B. Criteria: The contribution must be a significant advancement for one or both sports. The contribution or effort need not have occurred in the current year.

Second, Exceptional Service: service to the Association

Third, Commendation: recognition of volunteer efforts of USHGA members relative to hang gliding or paragliding.

Fourth, Special Commendation: as above, recognition of the support from non USHGA members. This is an excellent opportunity for public relations efforts; to thank members of the community at large/public officials, etc.

Chapter of the Year: activities, safety efforts, member support

Newsletter of the Year: three examples required

Bettina Gray: photography; three examples of work requested

NAA Safety Award: safety efforts

Instructor of the Year: two given, one for paragliding, one for hang gliding. Note affiliate school if applicable. Three letters from students, support of USHGA Director.

Gary Osoba, David Glover, and I will be nominating Bob McVey and Charlie Averitt for special commendations. Bob McVey is the editor and publisher of the Zapata County News (motto, "Without Fear or Favor"). Bob was very instrumental in getting the Zapata County Council to approve our request to use the Zapata County Airport as our base of operations for the two World Record Encampments. He basically told them that they had to do something to encourage people to come to Zapata in the summer when the population was one third of the winter population.

Bob also repeatedly highlighted our efforts in his newspaper putting the WRE on the front page week after week. He sent out the results to the Associated Press and the NY Times. The AP did pick up the results and we found an article in the Houston newspaper.

Bob let the WRE organizers stay in his home at no cost during both encampments. He told us great stories about Zapata and filled us in on all the local dirt. He also introduced us to local leaders allowing us to make plans for future WRE's.

Charles Averitt is the manager of the Zapata County Airport and has been absolutely indispensable in making the WRE a success. He has been a big supporter in the community and has gone far out of his way to make us feel at home at the airport. We gave us full use of the hangar and the airport, without which we would not have been able to carry out the WRE. He moved his airplanes to Laredo to give us extra room.

Charles contacted the FAA to make sure that they knew were supported out of Zapata. He notified all the local pilots that we would be in Zapata and that they were to watch out for us. We consequently got great help from a number of pilots.

Charles stayed with us and helped make us feel that we were part of the community. We helped putting on an air show for the locals at the airport. He helped us make additional contacts with the community.

Because of their help the WRE achieved significant results for the hang gliding community worldwide. These results have encouraged pilots everywhere and pushed the boundaries of what pilots thought were possible. We believe that these results will transform the sport and lead it in new directions.

I will also nominate Gary Osoba for a commendation. Gary is a lifetime USHGA member even though he no longer flies hang gliders. He was an early hang gliding manufacturer (Plyable Mouse).

First, Gary conceived the idea of the WRE. He was the one who was able through an examination of the weather data to determine that Zapata was the place to locate the WRE. It is because of his focus on world records and his ability to correctly formulate the problem of long distance flying that the WRE was successful.

Second, Gary has provided significant weather prediction services to all the recent major US national hang gliding competitions. Often he has done this while staying at home in Wichita, Kansas.

Third, Gary has been a voice of reason and innovation through his papers and discussions regarding dynamic flight and lightweight flight.

We will also nominate Steve Kroop and Flytec USA. Steve gave us his $45,000 Flytec Dragonfly. No insurance (is there ever?). No commitment on our part other than to do our best to make the 2001 Flytec WRE the biggest success ever. We paid the costs, Steve gets the glory.

Without Steve Kroop the 2001 Flytec WRE would not have been possible. We just couldn’t get that many pilots in the air in a timely fashion. Steve sent off his plane with Rhett Radford ("the Mountain"), i.e. the best pilot/mechanic in an isolated place, to make sure that all of us could get into the air. I can't imagine anyone else making this kind of monetary commitment to our success.

Cracks on my ATOS

Mon, Aug 6 2001, 6:00:04 pm EDT

carbon fiber|Davis Straub|Rhett Radford|USHGA

carbon fiber|Davis Straub|John "Ole" Olson|Rhett Radford|USHGA

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|carbon fiber|Davis Straub|Rhett Radford|USHGA

carbon fiber|Davis Straub|John "Ole" Olson|Rhett Radford|USHGA

Upon landing on July 25th, I heard a cracking noise on my right wing. I thought I might have cracked a rib. The right wing touched the ground slightly. Not enough to turn the glider or cause any noticeable problem, other than the cracking sound. I landed into a slight breeze on my feet with a slightly early flare.

I didn't notice any cracks in the ribs and it wasn't until the next day that I noticed that there was a crack in the upper surface of the d-cell. It was a long crack than went all the way back to the d-spar. It wrinkled the sail, or I wouldn't have seen it.

When I took off the sail it was clear that the d-cell had been compressed either from the bottom at the tip by contact with the ground, or from the top pushing down at about 6 feet in from the tip.

The compression break ran to the back of the d-cell and then delaminated the d-spar. When we sanded off the carbon fiber you could see that the spar foam and the foam in the d-cell were also cracked.

It is hard to believe that the slight pressure on the d-cell on landing would have caused such a crack. In fact it is unnerving if this was indeed the case. The forces were so light that it is troubling to think they were enough to cause a major structural failure.

I'm wondering if leaving the glider set up may have caused this problem at an earlier time. Perhaps the glider rocking in the wind got compressed a few too many times. This seems like the most likely cause.

Rhett Radford was able to very quickly repair all the damage. He put four layers of carbon fiber cloth on each side of the d-spar (2", 4", 6", and 8" wide), an addition to replacing the tow material (which we created from the woven cloth). He cut a 3" hole out of the top surface of the d-cell to get into work on the d-spar, then repaired the hole. The leading edge and bottom surface of the d-cell were still intact.

He was able to fashion two layers in the interior, lay up micro balloons to replace the foam, and then put three feathered layers on the outside after we sanded down the micro balloons to create a bit of a cavity. The repair looks great.

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2001 Flytec World Record Encampment »

Wed, Jul 25 2001, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Betinho Schmitz|Curt Warren|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Kari Castle|record|Rhett Radford|weather

Betinho Schmitz|Curt Warren|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Kari Castle|record|Rhett Radford|weather|World Record Encampment

Betinho Schmitz|Curt Warren|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Gary Osoba|Kari Castle|record|Rhett Radford|weather|World Record Encampment

Betinho Schmitz|Curt Warren|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Gary Osoba|Kari Castle|Paris Williams|record|Rhett Radford|weather|World Record Encampment

The early morning forecast called for moisture (dew point temperature tracking the air temperature), but light winds. It also called for too much moisture up in the panhandle for Gary (who needs to fly over 650 miles in his Woodstock). When we got to the airport at 7:30 winds were anything but light, and for once a bit more out of the south. Clouds were forming as predicted at around 8:30 AM, so pilots were encouraged.

The MAPS sounding predictions for Zapata, Laredo, San Angelo, Midland, and Amarillo showed moist air at higher altitudes also, so there was a chance of over development.

Gary Osoba has been over at my trailer every morning at 6:30 AM checking out the weather charts. This has been a pretty thankless task on most days because the weather has just not been cooperating. Gary has not been able to set a world record throughout the encampment.

I get to peek over Gary's shoulder and see what's up. Then I to report to the Oz Report audience how Gary does the weather. Fortunately I've been able to pick up just enough to get myself into trouble on the really complex days.

This morning, I had a crack in one of my D-cells, so I would spend the day playing nurse to Rhett Radford, formerly known as the Mountain, today known as the Doctor, as he put my d-cell back together. The other pilots were there are the airport early, just like they should be. Curt Warren, Kari Castle, Paris Williams, and Betinho Schmitz all got up and out under the beautiful cloud streets.

The flights were fast with Paris and Betinho launching first and leading the way. They were at 100 miles out around 12:30. It looked like records were possible.

Unfortunately, there was indeed over development up on the Edwards plateau. Paris went down at about 290 miles out. Last we heard, Betinho was very low at a little over 300 miles. He was going for a new world record distance to declare goal record at 311 miles, so maybe he got it.

Curt flew 260 miles to Sonora. His previous best was 95 miles. Kari flew 200 miles, just to the last field before you leave the hill country and get up on the Edward plateau.

Curt doesn't have a driver, Bo and Paris are heading from where Paris landed to Hearne. Hopefully Curt will get a hold of Betinho's driver and get a ride back to Zapata.

2001 Flytec World Record Encampment »

Tue, Jul 10 2001, 1:00:00 pm EDT

André Wolfe|Bo Hagewood|Dave Glover|David Glover|Dustin Martin|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|James Stinnett|Kathleen Rigg|Manfred Ruhmer|PG|record|Rhett Radford|weather

Some of us have very high standards here. If there is only a slight chance that you can fly 370 miles, then what's the point? Almost everyday is a 200 mile day, but so what?

Today the flex wing pilots didn't let this stand in their way, but then of course they weren't launching until after 11 AM (so what was the point?). All the flex wing pilots and paraglider pilots got off. No rigid wing pilots flew.

Andre Wolf was first, shortly afterwards followed by Manfred Ruhmer. Arnold, a South African paraglider pilot, was third, truck towing, and found the first good thermal. Manfred and Andre raced to his 600-fpm thermal. They slowly drifted down wind in the light breeze (first we've had here).

Around 2 PM the high cu's started popping so maybe folks went far. We'll see. Kathleen Rigg landed at 11 miles next to highway 83 (smart girl). Dave Prentice landed his paraglider 3 miles out, and had someone in a truck right next to him when he landed on the gravel road behind gates, that fortunately weren't locked. Drove him out and back to the airport. Arnold went 22 miles as he had to leave his first good thermal since the airport as it started to take him out over the Rio Grande and into Mexico. He landed by highway 83.

Just got this word in. Bo Hagewood flew 50 miles out to the north and then came back 47.8 miles. He was on the radio and Rhett went up in the tug to horse around with him as he came in. 2.9 miles out he was at 4000'. Then he played around and oops, he wasn't going to make it. He landed on a gravel road. Rhett swooped in and pulled him out of there.

Manfred and Andre landed at 70 miles out. Andre got airsick.

Paris and James Stinnett landed about 40 miles out. Paris landed in a field with a bull. The bull charged and Paris got out of there. Apparently most of his equipment, including his glider has been destroyed.

Dustin just landed (6:30) at the airport after a 50 mile out and 50 mile return (like I said, light winds today).

Now, after the news, back to the commentary

You set different expectations and standards for different sites and for different goals. So far Zapata is best site in the world for long distance hang gliding. Three world record flights have been flown here in one year. No other site even comes close to providing the conditions and opportunities that Zapata provides for setting distance world records.

If you disagree, prove it.

So when I complain about the weather here in Zapata, it is with a very high standard in mind. I want to see those record settings days every other day (it takes a day to drive back). I want to see cu's at 7 AM. I want to see 20 to 30 mph winds (40 up high). I want to see 800-fpm thermals that you can circle in with one hand on the base tube.

I can't think of another site where I would use these criteria as the basis for judging the site. It would be unfair.

 

Rhett Radford, known here in Zapata as the Mountain.

Thanks to Dave Glover and Rhett Radford for being out at the hanger at Zapata every morning at 7:30 AM (or before) to get us in the air, just in case it is on.

2001 Flytec World Record Encampment »

Fri, Jun 22 2001, 1:00:01 pm EDT

David Glover|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Gary Osoba|PG|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop

David Glover|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Gary Osoba|PG|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop|World Record Encampment

David Glover|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Gary Osoba|PG|record|Rhett Radford|Steve Kroop|World Record Encampment

The first session begins tomorrow. Most of us are here and today took a little bit of a practice round launching around 2 PM. No big hurray, just getting use to the site for most folks.

Dave Prentice set the Texas state paragliding record, at over 88 miles launching after 1 PM on his first flight here. The clouds started to form way late after breaking through the inversion at 3 PM. Dave flew for 6 hours, had plenty of 1,200 fpm, and no collapses. He flew along the Rio Grande River toward Del Rio.

Gary Osoba, David Glover (major organizer and encampment director) and I decided to rename the 2001 World Record Encampment to the 2001 Flytec World Record Encampment to show our appreciation for the incredible support that we have received from Steve Kroop and Rhett Radford. Steve sent the following out with Rhett to Zapata:

1 Flytec Tug
1 Spare 2 blade Propeller
2 Spare main landing gear wheels
1 Spare Tail wheel
6 4020 Variometers w/ hang gliding brackets
2 Launch carts
2 Tow ropes
3 Tow bridals
1 Partial spool weaklink
2 Gas cans
1 Case AA Eveready Energizer batteries
1 PC interface cable
1 Parallel printer cable
1 FlyChart CD ROM
1 4020 Manual w/updates
4 Velcro straps w/ clips and screws
1 HP 350 Printer
30 Flytec T-shirts (15 large & 15 x-large)
4 Flytec speed sleeves
1 Flytec Banner
1 Large Flytec glider logo (white)
5 Medium Flytec glider logo (blue)
1 Antenna
1 Sky Floater harness w/ parachute
1 Windsock

Rhett will be towing all of us up for the next four weeks (in addition we have two truck two rigs for three hang glider pilots and two paraglider pilots). We are still working on getting a trike for another aerotow operation.

Steve Kroop has put up $3,000 for prizes at the 2001 Flytec World Record Encampment. $1,000 for the paragliding World record, $1,000 for the flex wing World record, and $1,000 for the rigid wing World record if set using a Flytec vario as the primary vario/barograph

World Record Encampment »

Thu, Jun 21 2001, 5:00:02 pm EDT

Belinda Boulter|David Glover|Dragonfly|Florida|Quest Air|record|Rhett Radford

Belinda Boulter|David Glover|Dragonfly|Florida|Quest Air|record|Rhett Radford|World Record Encampment

Belinda Boulter|David Glover|Dragonfly|Florida|Quest Air|record|Rhett Radford|World Record Encampment

Rhett Radford drove from Wallaby and Quest Air in Florida yesterday morning and arrived in Zapata, Texas less than 24 hours later today. The man is a legend. It would have taken Belinda and I three days to drive there directly from Wallaby.

He's got the Flytec Power Dragonfly and hopefully has found someone around the airport or in town to help him put it back together.

We arrive there tomorrow evening.

Southeast winds again today at South Padre Island, just southeast of Zapata. Huge cloud streets, lots of cumulus development, but no over development.

This just in from David Glover, WRE director on the road in Amarillo. Rhett pulled the plane out of the truck by himself. Set it up by himself and took a test flight. Said today he saw the best looking cloud streets he's ever seen in his life. Just like every day in Zapata.

Overstressing the Dragonfly

Sat, Jun 9 2001, 1:00:05 pm EDT

Dragonfly|Florida|Mark Tulloch|PG|Rhett Radford|Wallaby Ranch

Bobby Bailey|Dragonfly|Florida|Mark Tulloch|PG|Rhett Radford|Wallaby Ranch

You may have seen the following message on the hang gliding mailing list:

From: Steve Parson Date: 03 Jun 2001

It is with great sadness that I share the news of the death of my friend, and co-owner of Airdreams Hang Gliding, David Palmer on Sat. June 2nd approx. 4:15 pm. David was taking a licensed pilot for an introductory flight on the Moyes Dragonfly, setting up for final approach on runway 12 at the Port Alberni (Vancouver Island) airport. He pushed the nose down for a steep descent and pulled up hard at about 300 to 400 ft. At this point the left wing broke off the ultralight. The Dragonfly rolled over and descended rapidly. Both David, and his female passenger, were killed instantly.

David was meticulous in his upkeep of the tug. Earlier in the day I had towed him and a tandem passenger to 3000 ft. No hint of what was to come. David has been hang gliding for many years and is a cornerstone of the Vancouver Island Hang gliding/Paragliding club. He will be dearly missed by his family, and many many friends in the flying community. No news yet of funeral or service. His spirit flies on,

Last week Rhett Radford flew to Vancouver to represent Moyes, meet with the Transport Canada officials, and to inspect the wreckage. The officials had to go to another crash site, but Rhett did inspect the wreckage. He also brought the key parts back to Florida for Bobby Bailey to inspect. He also brought back key parts from Mark Tulloch's crashed Dragonfly.

I had a chance to speak with Rhett at Wallaby Ranch the day after he returned. Re the Vancouver Island crash. He didn't find any fatigued metal. It appeared to be the case of the Dragonfly being overstressed in the flight as per the above description. The fact that there was additional weight due to a passenger on board would have made it easier to over stress the Dragonfly. The leading edge of the Dragonfly failed under positive load exceeding its loading carrying capacity.

The tear marks on the leading edge tubes are what indicate over stressing. There was no indication at the edges of the interior sleaving of metal fatigue.

While Rhett didn't rule out metal fatigue completely on Mark Tulloch's crash, it is also his feeling that over stressing the glider is the most likely cause of the accident.

What speed and maneuvers would constitute over stressing the Dragonfly?

The Dragonfly has a VNE of 65 mph. I've seen both Rhett and Bobby loop the Dragonflies. I'd seen them do plenty of what seemed to me and others to be radical maneuvers, but then I've always seen them do them alone, and well below VNE.

Rhett spent the rest of the weekend in Packwood, Washington (near Seattle), upgrading Larry Jorgensen's A model Dragonfly (shorter inner sleaving) to the B model. Rhett did not find any signs of metal fatigue in Larry's Dragonfly.

Rhett's brief comments to me do not constitute an official report, nor necessarily his last word on the matter. Bobby Bailey may come to a different conclusion.

In addition, this wasn't a hang glider accident, in spite of the fact that this Dragonfly was also used to tow hang glider pilots. It was an ultralight accident. As we rely on Dragonflies to get us into the air, we do want the Dragonfly pilots to be as safe as possible.

At last (or it's about time) Georgia

Sat, May 13 2000, 8:00:00 am GMT

Belinda Boulter|Rhett Radford|Terry Reynolds

I woke up feeling miserable. During the night I had had a coughing fit, and came out to the living room (such as it is in a travel trailer) and downed a couple of tablespoons of Robitussin. My head ached. I had no motivation. I hurt too much even to sleep all day.

The ATOS was all setup and in the hanger. I figure that with no motivation, I didn't need another hurdle to getting going in the morning. Starting early is difficult enough, without having to setup the glider in the early morning heat.

On Tuesday I made my second attempt of the week to get to Georgia. At 9 AM the sky was blue, at 9:15 AM it was filled with cu's. At 9:30 AM, the cu's had formed continuous streets, and at 9:45 AM the streets were starting to over develop.

I launched that day at 10:08 AM and climbed quickly out to 2,300' cloud base. The lift was consistent under the streets, so you could basically run under them and only turn once in a while. It was interesting being so low, but still being able to stay up.

Still the over development led to isolated rainstorms that I had to navigate around. I got caught in the rain at the edge of one, but got away from it. I could see from the winds on the lakes, that there were no strong gust front associated with the rains, even though the rains were heavy.

At 1 PM, 65 miles out, north of Belleview, I finally got caught in a shaded area, and landed just before the heavy downpour.

I was thinking about this abrupt transformation of the sky as I watched the Friday morning tandem flights here at Wallaby Ranch. I had just pulled up the wind casts, and they were encouraging, if ambiguous.

Winds forecasted for 8 AM, 2 PM, and 8 PM

The early morning wind cast showed the light west winds, which we were experiencing. Later in the day a convergence was supposed to form on the eastern side of the state, providing a light tail wind into the Georgia notch (see the a in Jacksonville) . My experience of predictions of convergence on the eastern side of Florida is that they are not as reliable predictions as those for convergence on the western side. The predicted lines of convergence are wider and less defined. The predicted placement of the convergence is often to the east of one's desired route.

The actual area of convergence often turns out to be less defined, which is good because it is also larger than the western side. This at least gives you a chance of matching the convergence up with your planned route.

I was thinking a lot about convergence, as I was still in mourning for my mistake on Sunday, when I didn't fly to the west and get under the convergence late in the day. Terry Reynolds had come up for breakfast on his way from his home in Tampa Bay to the Seminole sailplane port. He told me a story about a sailplane pal of his who was up in the convergence on Sunday at 9,000' at 9 PM. He had to land because the battery for the landing lights was weak.

Given my thoughts about convergence and the wind cast, I planned a route up the western side of the Ocala National forest toward the notch. The soar cast didn't have any data, so I had no idea about the predicted lift, but in Florida that rarely matters as there is lift almost every day. The surface analysis showed high pressure over all of Florida, so there wouldn't be any influence from any fronts to the northwest.

I now had a plan, whether I could fly the plan was another matter. There were no clouds in the sky, my head hurt, I didn't feel like moving.

At 9:30 AM, a few small cu's started to form just above the ranch. I thought that this might be the start of something big, so I hurried my ATOS out to the east side launch, to catch the last tow of the day before breakfast. By the time I was launching the small cu's had disappeared and it was all blue. As I got hauled up I could see two distinct inversion layers. One at about 1,500' and the other at about 4,000'. Nothing was getting through these layers from the ground.

Carlos hauled me up behind one of Rhett's charged up Dragon Fly's. I was going up at 900 fpm in smooth air. I've been use to 400 to 600 fpm on tow, so this was quite marvelous. You get to 2,500' very quickly. Without any lift, but very little sink, I fly all around checking all the parcels of air out, and then land in time for breakfast. It looks like the day isn't going to be happening. There is a light western breeze.

I hang around in the shade but still in the heat. It's already ninety degrees, and I'm feeling it. The sky is still blue until about noon, I see little cu's with high bases far in the distance. It looks like something is getting through the inversion. The trigger temperature has been reached in some areas, although there are no cu's over the ranch.

I decide that I will just get in the air and see what it up. I'm worried that the west wind will be a little too much for any long flight, but I might as well check it out. It's that, or go back to bed and suffer in silence.

Carlos hauls me up at 12:25 PM and right over the newly cleared area on the northwest corner of the ranch he starts turning in big smooth lift that registers 1,400 fpm up on my averager. I could pin off right away, but it is completely smooth, so I wait to 1,500' and then let go. It isn't 500 fpm, like you would expect, but it is going up well enough to get me to 3,500'. There isn't a cloud over me, but the cu's are closer to the ranch now and I head up wind to the northwest to get under a small one (they are all small).

I'm still not committed, but I'm testing out the air. The lift is pretty light, even at this late hour, but I can easily jump from cu to cu. I call Belinda on the radio and ask her to chase today (Sam has been doing most of the driving). We've finished with the latest book (Windows ME Secrets), which she made big contribution to, so we can afford to let her get out.

I work myself to the northwest whenever I'm gliding. This is facilitated by the fact that there are now plenty of cu's in all directions and I'm getting up over 4,500'. I'm west of the Seminole sailplane port and then west of Quest by 1:30 PM. Every where I look there is lift, and I only have to stop for good lift.

I don't like some of the lift I'm getting as I head past highway 50. There seems to be some turbulence up high, like I'm in the inversion layer. I experienced this on Sunday, and I don't like getting jostled about. This keeps me lower as I just keep flying when I don't like the lift.

As I approach the Turnpike I'm down to 1,600', but under a street. I'm hoping to get low enough to find a good smooth core, and ride it all the way back to cloud base. The countryside is wide open here (not even any roads), so I'm thinking that there is plenty of area to build a strong wide thermal. Every time I thermal up, I drift straight to the east.

I pass just to the east of Wildwood. Belinda is below me on 301 heading north toward Belleview. I get down to 1,700' and she catches sight of me just to the west of the road. This is the last time I will get even a little bit low.

I look out and notice that to the west it is all blue within a few cloud sets. Looks like the west wind is definitely cutting off the lift to the west of me, and that I had better be careful about not getting too far west. I'd been heading northwest the whole time, so I now decide to head north.

There are plenty of clouds in front of me. Their bases at 6,000' and they are scattered widely enough to allow plenty of sunshine to heat the ground below. They aren't climbing more than a few thousand feet above their bases, and there is no chance of showers.

I run along the highway north out of Belleview toward Sliver Springs, getting strong lift, and smoother thermals at 500 fpm or above. The cloud base keeps rising, and I approach 7,000'.

Just south east of Orange Lake, I see that there is a bit of a blue hole on it's down wind side. I've never gone up the west side of the lake as there always seemed to be a strong west wind whenever I was here before, but I can see a few farms over in that area, and I'm willing to give it a try. Previously it had always looked like nothing but swamps between Orange Lake and Lochloosa Lake.

I have to run for the clouds and get a good thermal right over Cross Creek, the shallow creek that runs between Lochloosa and Orange Lakes. This is the home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who wrote The Yearling and Cross Creek. I'm just happy to find good lift on this thin peninsula.

I always find abundant bird life in this area, and this time I am joined in the thermal by a swallow-tail kite and later a bald eagle just turning white.

North of Cross Creek, the farms disappear and for the next five to ten miles I'm flying mostly over forest plantations. I'm plenty high, so I don't worry about what's on the ground. I'm way to the west of highway 301.

I'm now getting into territory that I haven't flown in before. I'm over a hundred miles out, and the furthest I got last year was 118 miles, to Stark. I'm just west of Stark, at 7,300' and I get a great view of the huge state prison. I'm still drifting east every time I thermal up, but Belinda tells me that highway 121 to Georgia heads off to the northeast from the northwest side of the prison. I'm still on a line for the notch.

The lift has been getting smoother as the day wears on. I'm at Starke at 5 PM, so I know I have a good hour and a half at least to get to the border. There are clouds everywhere, and I can't see the blue line to the west. I can jump to the west a bit after each climb, just to keep a northerly direction. I can see from the GP that I'm still west of the course line to the intersection of highway 121 and the Georgia border.

I cross 121 heading north toward the southwest corner of the Georgia notch. I'm fifteen miles out, but I'm over 6,500', so I know that I have Georgia on a glide. I'm not sure of the countryside in Georgia, but there have been plenty of farmlands to fly over in Florida, once I got a bit north of Hawthorne. I'm happy to be away from the tree plantations. It's nice to be able to check this countryside out and know that it is safe for flying.

At about Interstate 10, the deep cu's thin out, and now there are only thin wisps of clouds at the high cloud base. They don't look like they will provide much lift, but now it doesn't matter. All I need as an average of zero sink and I'll get the border. I've been counting off each of the last ten mile segments to Belinda as I approach it, and only a big patch of sink could sink me. It doesn't look like that will happen.

At 6:15 PM at 3,800' I cross the tiny St. Mary's river that forms the border with Georgia. I can see a few farms to the northwest, and a couple of very small patches of cultivated land up highway 121, which is now designated 23. The rest is tree plantations. There are some cleared areas where the trees have been harvested. I'm worried about landing barefoot in cut over forested lands.

Still I have buoyant air this evening and I glide seven miles into Georgia before landing in a small patch of former woods that Belinda suggests will be OK for me. The ground is burnt off, but there are light green plants growing just above the burnt area, and the soil proves to be soft.

The flight lasts a little over 6 hours. I make 155 miles, 7 miles into Georgia. I quit worrying about climbing anymore 22 miles from the end of the flight, when I'm sure that I have the border. I have a very slight tail wind, but unlike last Sunday, I don't have to fight a head wind component when I head for the target. The last seven miles in Georgia is down wind.

Finally someone has been able to get to Georgia from Wallaby Ranch and win the $1000 purse. I've been actively trying for two years. The first two years of the four years I've been coming to Wallaby Ranch it seemed impossible.

It turned out to be incredibly easy once I found the right day. All I had to do was connect the dots in the sky. I had a plan, and I flew the plan, which was great, because I sure didn't have much mental capacity in the air. This time, unlike Sunday, I didn't need to think that much in order to be able to accomplish the goal. Also, unlike Sunday, the goal was clear.

Also, while I was sick, and my head hurt the whole time, I wasn't as sick as I had been the week previously. I got to enjoy the flight a bit, and I always enjoy it when the birds join me for a little thermaling action. Lochloosa Lake is always great for that.

I feel that numerous other pilots could have accomplished the task yesterday, I was just persistent enough to get enough chances that I finally won the right day. I haven't heard if the boys were flying at Quest, but I didn't see any activity when I flew near it at 1:30 PM. Of course, by then they would have already taken off.

The next goal is to shoot for 200 miles, the Florida state record, and the east coast record. I really appreciate the fact that Malcolm was willing to put up $1000 to encourage us to go for this record. It's not the money, but the fact that someone has made it meaningful to do this particular task. Of course, the whole thing is arbitrary and capricious, but it sure focuses our attention. Malcolm says he will come up with something for the 200-mile task. Maybe he can spilt the flex wings and rigids, so they won't feel at a disadvantage.

And today, the sky is filed with cu's. There's a slight west wind. Maybe you could go to Georgia today.

Discuss "At last (or it's about time) Georgia" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The secret »

Sun, Apr 9 2000, 5:00:02 pm EDT

carbon fiber|Ghostbuster|Rhett Radford|Wallaby Ranch

The secret glider I wrote about in https://OzReport.com/Ozv4n77.htm is the Top Secret from La Mouette. It was supposed to have a pilot for the upcoming meets, but that didn't work out. Don Reinhard of the Personal Flight, the US importer of Cosmos trikes and La Mouette hang gliders, was looking for a top level pilot to fly it in the meets. Gerard Thevenot, the owner of LA Mouette, was also here for a day or two of Sun 'n Fun, and to bring in the Top Secret.

Gerard tried to bring this rigid wing in as baggage. We all laughed when we heard this and sure enough when I picked him up at the airport he had just found out that it didn't get on the plane (flight with Delta) with him in Paris.

A few days later I went out again to the Orlando airport, this time to Delta Air Cargo. There was the Top Secret quite revealed in its purple bags, as the cardboard that Gerard had packed it in was barely there.

US Customs had opened the triangular box and then taped it back together. It no longer provided any support for the leading edges, or anything else. It was just hanging on the d-cells with tape.

Brought the Top Secret to Wallaby Ranch and took the sail off to access the damage. There were multiple breaks all along the leading edges (although not the spar).

Gerard has done something different with the Top Secret. The leading edges are just one layer of carbon fiber. The ATOS, Ghostbuster, and Exxtacy, have a sandwich of carbon fiber, foam (or honeycomb) and then another layer of carbon fiber. The Kollman Raptor II prototype is another rigid wing that doesn't use a foam sandwich in the leading edge.

With only one layer of carbon fiber, the leading edge of the Top Secret is quite flexible. You can bump it pretty good and it will just dent in and then pop out. I guess they hit it a little harder than that in the cargo hold, or rounding some corners a bit to quickly.

There was plenty of work to do yesterday as Gerard rolled up his French cuffs, and got to work with my ATOS repair kit and carbon fiber from Rhett Radford's R/C model shop. Here are Gerard and Betinho hard at work:

They patched and patched, and fixed some, but not all of the cracks in the leading edges. Just the major ones as Gerard felt that many were not worth the trouble. He stated that the sail holds the leading edge in tension (pulled to the back), and the cracks on the leading edge were not that troubling. Of course, the leading edge also takes a torsional load, so it is pretty important. We just don't know the specifics of how the load is distributed between the spar and the leading edges.

Gerard has to fix a rib:

An example of the patches:

I sure hope Gerard is right about this leading edge business. The glider is definitely very light (we haven't had a chance to weigh it), undoubtedly due to the light weight leading edges. Repair is much easier with only one layer of carbon fiber. I would like to hear more about the spar, and what guideline Gerard offers for repair and care of the glider. I assume that dents aren't an issue, as there is no foam on the leading edges to dent.

I did notice that there seemed to be a regular pattern of indents down the leading edge. It was hard to tell what these were. The previous Top Secret prototype had an exposed leading edge, with the sail material starting at the high point of the camber. Now the sail goes all the way around the leading edge.

Last evening Betinho and I had a chance to test fly the Top Secret in lift evening air. In this air it flew fine. It was very light in handling and felt very much like the Flight Design and AIR gliders. I liked it right away.

Betinho had never flown a rigid wing glider, so he went after me (at least that was his excuse):

Betinho thought is was very easy to fly.

Today I took the Top Secret up for a real test flight. I was at launch at 10:15 AM and got off at 10:47 AM. Four launches later I was able to finally find some lift and slowly work my way out of Wallaby Ranch. The other pilots were not at launch for another hour. (I just can not fathom this behavior. Don't they want to go far?)

The Top Secret was flying fine and easy in the light lift. I was really enjoying it. I could hear the other pilots on the radio still at launch as I made my way west of Quest. The lift was only averaging 250 fpm (the Brauniger IQ/Comp kept track of this for me).

North of highway 50 over state route 469, I suddenly felt like I was in terrible sink. I was in sink running low to the next thermal, but this was worse.

My bar was pulled way back and I was dropping off to the left. I looked around to see what was going on and then I noticed that there was something terribly wrong with my left wing. The four Velcroed straps that held the top of the sail to the bottom through the ribs had come undone and the sail was folded and creeping toward the leading edge. I wasn't happy. I immediately landed hoping that the left wing wouldn't dive down near the ground.

The Top Secret uses a great little system of folding ribs. You pull the last rib and all the other ribs are pulled into place and straightened out. You pull on a handle at the nose to release the ribs.

While this is a clever little system it does cause a bit of a problem. You can't get the sail that tight (at least the way Gerard does it). There isn't an aluminum piece along the trailing edge like there is in the Millennium.

The sail balloons up in flight. This is pretty obvious especially around the three shear ribs on the last ribs on each side. You can see quite an indent at shear ribs. Gerard stated that he didn't notice a difference in flight with or without the shear ribs. The sail balloons up all along the span..

Once you set up the Top Secret, you leave the top and bottom sail surfaces attached to the ribs with the Velcro pieces. The Velcro tab is on the bottom surface and you don't need to touch it when you re setup the Top Secret. Gerard, Betinho and I originally attached the Velcro tabs to the bottom surface.

When we first saw these Velcro pieces on the outside of the sail, we really wondered about them. They seemed so dirty, aerodynamically, and it seemed like they should be inside the sail.

Well it appears that there is another reason not to have the Velcro on the outside. The wind peeled back the Velcro on ribs 2 through 5 as I flew the Top Secret. The bottom of the sail was now free to move forward held back only by rib number 1 and 6 through the end.

I had heard that the Top Secret was in production, but perhaps it should go back into development. It seemed to perform almost as well as the ATOS and Ghostbuster (I have only a very rough feel for this), and it had excellent handling. (Unlike the Raptor II and the ESC, I didn't fly it in extreme turbulence.)

I could fly the Top Secret without having to pull in excessively at around 40 mph (5 mph faster than the Exxtacy and 5 mph slower than the Ghostbuster and ATOS). The hang point for the Top Secret seemed somewhat undefined, and I didn't see a way to move it forward and have it stay there.

ATOS – the whole nine yards »

Mon, Feb 28 2000, 8:30:00 pm GMT

ATOS|David "Dave" Sharp|Exxtacy|Flight Design|George Ferris|John Reynoldson|Rhett Radford|Wallaby Ranch

This Oz Report is a dedicated report on the ATOS. This report with the quite a few more photos can be found at http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/atos.htm.

We all like what we fly, whether it is objectively that great or not. That said, my ATOS is by far the best hang glider that I have ever flown. It glides the best, it climbs the best, it is the easiest to handle, and it lands great. This says it all: my longest flight before ATOS – 165 miles (Exxtacy, Hobbs, NM.). Longest flight (so far) with ATOS 232 miles (Manilla, NSW, OZ).

Just because I think it is the best, doesn't mean it's perfect (or that someone else won't come out with a better one soon). There are lots of little things about the ATOS (and the pilot, for that matter) that I wish were a little bit better. I thought that it would be useful to list them (and qualify them where I could), so as to open a discussion about these issues, and to push along the development of rigid wing hang gliders.

Oz Report readers will remember that I wrote a long article about the little problems with the Exxtacy not too long after I got it. I also let Flight Design provide answers to my issues. I published the whole give and take and other publications picked up on it.

I have sent this list of issues to Felix and Berndt at AIR. I know that answering this article just cuts into their research, development, and production efforts, but then customer relations are also an important part of a total business operation. I have included their answers to my points, so that I can present a balanced picture.

Felix's responses are in blue.

As I go through these points, I may not be clear on certain items. Hopefully the give and take between Felix, Berndt and me will clear up any misunderstandings.

I found a good-sized crack in one of my leading edges (not the spar).

As I have not crashed my ATOS, and I didn't find any damage around the crack, I wondered where it came from. Did it come from transportation, i.e. while on a car top? There was no denting at all around it.

It was very easy to fix, but it made me nervous about where such cracks come from.

Was there a small deformation or just a crack, can you sent me a picture with description of the location?

Reconsideration and reflections:

I fixed the crack easily. There was no deformation in the d-spar.

Lots of dents

Perhaps these are entirely my fault. It appears that rigid wing gliders (well this didn't seem to be the case with my Exxtacy) need to have extra special care taken when transported. Padding that is good for flex wings is not enough for rigid wings. Racks should be square (they are on my truck, and Gilbert's son's car that I have here in Australia) and not round tubes. The racks should be well padded.

I've checked the Exxtacy and an ATOS prototype with honeycombs. The spar with honeycombs looked at first much better compared to other ATOS D-spars with foam and similar hours (about 200 hours). Checking later however we found more and bigger impacts on the spar with honeycombs. Because it is easy to check, the D-spar with foam sandwich is more practical be cause all damage done to the spar is visible.

Never the less every carbon surface is sensitive to puncture loads and shouldn’t be placed on an unpadded rack. We have special foam pads in stock which work well when transporting the glider on your car or cable car. These pads are fixed around the glider back with Velcro and can be stored in the glider during flight.

I wish the sail would resist damage a bit more successfully

Compared to flex wing hang gliders, the ATOS sail is very, very thin rip-stop nylon. Even compared to the Exxtacy it is very thin. This has a couple of advantages as far as I can tell. One is weight reduction. Two, elastic fit around the D-cell leading edges and to the trailing edge.

The disadvantage is that it is easy to cut the sail, put holes in it, permanently deform small bits of it, and weaken it. Almost all the damage comes while the glider is packed up. Other surfaces inside the sail and outside it rub together and cause the problems.

A number of these packing problems were, in my case, due to manufacturing errors, or lack of final quality control. There wasn't a rubber piece over the piece of keel where the back wires connect. There wasn't a foam piece over that rubber cover. There isn't a foam cover over the flap pit pins at the keel (I added one). This is necessary to keep the pins from punching holes in the sail (too late for me).

During packing, getting the wires anywhere near the back edges of the D-cell and the downtubes can cut the sail. You have to be sure that the pad around the apex is pulled down (or when the glider is on the ground up-side down, up) to protect the sail when you lay down the down tubes.

The bolts on the rib that raises the spoilerons were put in backwards on my ATOS. This caused quite a bit of wear on the sail in this area. Felix at first told me that I was doing something wrong. I didn't believe him, and then I discovered the manufacturing error. Lesson, better not to blame the customer first, as it may come back to haunt you.

The edges of the carbon fiber (the back edge and the wing tip edges) are sharp and can wear on the sail or cut it. If you pack up the sail by folding the wing tip sail material at the ends of the D-cell, this can cause the sail to wear there. You would do this to allow the glider to fit more easily into the bag, for example (more on this later).

This issue of easy sail damage is probably one of the biggest problems. AIR must make sure that they manufacturer the glider correctly, that they pad everything, and that they send out repair material. I'm sure that anyone looking at my six-month-old glider would be quite upset to think that their glider would look like that in six months. I have little patches everywhere and there are new holes forming. This doesn't do a great sales job for ATOS.

I know that Felix has tried thicker sails. Perhaps they have disadvantages that pilots won't put up with. At least AIR could ship the gliders with a complete patch kit for the sails.

We tested many different sail materials. The ATOS sail (polyester) is not only lighter it showed less wear compared to a thicker sail we’ve tested. The main reason for the damage you detail are locations were the sail touch hard parts like screws or carbon edges. A thicker sail wouldn’t help much. It is more important is to solve the problems at their source.

We spent a lot of time discovering all the points and padding them. Your glider was one of the first gliders made and in some cases we didn't detect the wear points in advance be cause the gliders before were packed little bit different or just had less flight time.

Thanks to the feedback of the first pilots we have improved this. We have protections at pulleys , rib hinges and for the edge of the D-spar (see pictures below). All this things are available as retrofit and the first customers will get this parts for no cost just be contacting us. Additionally the very first customers who had the option price like you can get a new sail for manufacturing cost.

Reconsideration and reflections:

Recently here at Wallaby Ranch, I looked at George Ferris' ATOS sail and it is absolutely pristine. He had better protection and was able to avoid all these problems.

It's not clear how to fold in the wing tip extra material

The ATOS comes with curved wing tips. Take out the tip wands, and the tubes that connect to the end of the D-cells, and you have quite a bit of material that needs folding. Even Felix couldn't figure out a good way to fold this when I saw him do it in Italy at the Worlds.

The problem is that you have to fold the material enough to allow the bag to go around the ends of the D-cell. You also have to allow the spoilerons to fold correctly onto each other so that they can fit in the bag on top of the D-cells. I sure wish there were a good formula from AIR for how to do this.

That’s right it is a little bit difficult be cause there are many possibilities.

Enclosed you'll find the method which we determined to the most practicable.

Turnbuckle breaks off pieces of the whack tube's outer sleeve.

This was a problem with the Exxtacy also. If you don't rotate the turnbuckle all the way counter clockwise before spreading the wings (one of the first things you do when setting up the ATOS), the unclipped end of the turnbuckle will lodge itself inside the whack tube sleeve and knock off a piece of it on the left hand side (pilot facing forward). Even if you do rotate it, it is easy for it to fall back and still hook the sleeve when you spread the wings.

I've knocked off three pieces of the sleeve so far, and I try to be sure that the turnbuckle is swung out every time. I lost one of the A4 bolts (cylinders actually) that connect the turnbuckle to the leading edge of the D-cell. I have replaced it with a hardware-store bolt while I await a new A4 bolt. The replacement bolt holds the turnbuckle in even more and has helped me take the last two sleeve pieces off.

See below.

I wish I had a cam or a lever rather than a turnbuckle

The nose turnbuckle has the advantage of being very flexible. You can adjust it as your glider adjusts (you make measurements of the nose angle). The problem is that often it is difficult to turn, and you feel that you may be straining the system.

I often find the tail end of the keel is sitting on the ground when I am attempting to tighten the turnbuckle. The tail is supposed to be off the ground in order to allow the pilot to push down on the front of the keel and take tension off the turnbuckle while turning it. The wing tips are supposed to be on the ground so that pushing on the front of the keel pushes the leading edges together as the wing tips are held in place.

I often find that this doesn't work, even on flat ground. Perhaps the keel should be a little shorter.

I am a bit torn by this issue. I like the solid nature of the turnbuckle, and worry about a cam just flipping open. I know that the turnbuckle has been designed to fail before the carbon fiber rings on the D-cell. I also know that the forces on the front nosepiece should be no greater than the sail tension.

When I inadvertently lost my A4 bolt to my turnbuckle, I was running with my ATOS in a field into a 20 mile per hour wind without the turnbuckle connected and the wings did not fold up (except about 1° of nose angle), so I have had some experience with the forces on the nose.

If Berndt and Felix want to say that it is just the case that the customer has to be careful, I can accept that. But I do know from speaking with Oliver, who worked at the factory, that even Berndt and Felix would have the same problems as I do.

The turn buckle is a well designed part for its purpose, but it requires special attention like you mentioned. Our new lever has several advantages. You tighten the fitting before fixing the tip and ribs. Then it is possible to insert the tips without holding the wing. This method help you also to keep the sail clean and makes it more comfortable to insert the tips.

The fitting folds out automatically and can’t damage a part if you forget to fold out the fitting.

It is not necessary to remove a bolt or ring (except one Quick Pin) so you can’t lose them and you save assembling time.

The new fittings are already available as retrofit. If you however used to the turnbuckle and don’t care about the extra assembling time or comfort there is no need to change.

new nose catch saves assembling time (available as retrofit)

Reconsideration and reflections:

I have found that if I just move one of the wing tips forward when the turn buckle gets hard to turn, that this solves the problem. There was no need to shorten the keel, or really complain. I just had to know to walk out to the tip and pull it forward an extra couple of inches (after I had already done this before I started turning the turn turn buckle.

I wish the whack tube wouldn't tear a hole in the sleeve in a hard whack

I'm a bit torn on this one also. I realize that the whack tube and its sleeve are supposed to be sacrificial items. That is, you are supposed to replace them if you have a very bad landing. I have had only two nose overs in my ATOS (I have wheels). One was in a gust front at the Austrian Nationals. The only damage was a bit of lengthening of the hole in the sleeve that allows the pop-up from the whack tube to lock in.

The present design is probably the right design, but perhaps we should get a couple of extra whack tubes and sleeves when we order a glider (just as standard items). My whack tube itself has suffered no damage (other than a slightly bent pin, which I was able to straighten). People who saw me flying my Exxtacy might remember that my whack tube didn't have a cap. That way when I whacked, I could use the ground as a cushion, since I could dig a divot.

I've found the ATOS really easy to land, so the percentage of whacks is now quite small (say compared to the Exxtacy, which wasn't that hard to land). The light weight of the ATOS contributes to the ease with which one can rotate it. I also recommend not pulling on the flaps all the way for landing, as the ATOS (and the Exxtacy) pushes back hard when you flare if you do have them all the way on. The only reason for full flaps would be a very short field.

That’s right. It is easier to flare with less flap. It is possible to land shorter with full flap deflection. I personally prefer to use only full flap position for landing to have enough practice if I need it.

There are now little folds of sail material near the ends of the D-cell

The sail material shrinks a bit, as you can see by looking for a bit of carbon fiber leading edge near the nose of the glider. At the factory there is no little strip of leading edge showing here. Perhaps there is a way to adjust the sail so that the little folds are taken away, but I don't know what to do at the moment.

I don't know how much difference it makes, but everyone always wants to have a nice tight sail. It may require that I tighten up the ribs (more on this later). Maybe tightening the tip wands, but at the moment they appear to want me to loosen them up.

I have noticed that on one sail the Velcro keeps unhooking at the wing end of the D-cell. Perhaps this sail is too tight (too close to the nose). I guess that I am just looking for some guidance here.

Unlike flex wing gliders, the Exxtacy and the ATOS are very adjustable. This puts some responsibility on the pilot to adjust them correctly, and responsibility on AIR to tell you how to adjust the ATOS. You can adjust the nose angle, sail tension straps, zipper tension, sail placement at the nose and ends of the D-cell, batten tension, flap and spoileron placement, spoileron wire tension and stop point on the spoilerons. A lot of adjustments to get correct.

The sail material shrinks a bit, as you can see by looking for a bit of carbon fiber leading edge near the nose of the glider. At the factory there is no little strip of leading edge showing here. Perhaps there is a way to adjust the sail so that the little folds are taken away, but I don't know what to do at the moment.

I don't know how much difference it makes, but everyone always wants to have a nice tight sail. It may require that I tighten up the ribs (more on this later). Maybe tightening the tip wands, but at the moment they appear to want me to loosen them up.

I have noticed that on one sail the Velcro keeps unhooking at the wing end of the D-cell. Perhaps this sail is too tight (too close to the nose). I guess that I am just looking for some guidance here.

Unlike flex wing gliders, the Exxtacy and the ATOS are very adjustable. This puts some responsibility on the pilot to adjust them correctly, and responsibility on AIR to tell you how to adjust the ATOS. You can adjust the nose angle, sail tension straps, zipper tension, sail placement at the nose and ends of the D-cell, batten tension, flap and spoileron placement, spoileron wire tension and stop point on the spoilerons. A lot of adjustments to get correct.

answer below (tightening the rib)

The top and bottom trailing edges don't line up

The bottom trailing edge near the wing tip on one side is now a little forward of the top trailing edge. This means that the Velcro doesn't line up. One would think that the sail isn't fitted around the leading edge correctly. I'll have to check this again.

The bottom trailing edge near the wing tip on one side is now a little forward of the top trailing edge. This means that the Velcro doesn't line up. One would think that the sail isn't fitted around the leading edge correctly. I'll have to check this again.

A small tolerance here is acceptable. It has no influence to the aerodynamic. However to get it optically perfect you can attach the sail at the root that the upper side is little bit longer the bottom side should be little bit shorter to get a nicer look. The Velcro connection which fix the sail at the tip has to be adjusted in the same direction to adjust the sail right.

The sticky Velcro is stronger than its glue

Sticky Velcro is used on the flaps and spoilerons. The problem is the Velcro is stickier than the glue. If you try to undo the Velcro, it comes unglued first. AIR has sewn some of the sticky Velcro on the flaps to overcome this problem. Unfortunately they didn't completely sew it on the flaps or the spoilerons. Take off a spoileron, and the Velcro tries to come off the spoileron first.

The Velcro at the outside ends of the flaps is not sewn, so it comes off. I really can't get mine to stick now. Perhaps if I had a really strong sewing machine I could fix this up.

The Velcro is now completely stitched and not as strong. I hope you find somebody with a stitching machine there or you can wait for the next check at AIR or ALTAIR. If not we will replace the spoiler. Till then you can fix with new sticky Velcro. The standard Velcro is not as strong and not stronger than the glue.

The fiberglass at the outside ends of the spoilerons has broken

Perhaps due to folding problems, the fiberglass pieces have split along the Velcro line. In one case the split went along the Velcro about 4 inches. I have tacked it back together with carbon fiber, although I could have used fiberglass.

Perhaps the spoilerons are too long to be folded easily. Perhaps there just needs to be a little reinforcement there.

We reinforced this area with Aramid and additionally shortened the spoiler there so that it is little bit easier to pack . The easiest way for fixing if this occurs is to use a self sticking sail or Velcro at this area from the bottom side.

area which needs special attention when packing the glider

critical area for packing (outer side of the spoiler)

It is difficult to keep the bottom trailing edge of the sail covering the front edge of the flaps.

This just seems to be a fitting problem. Perhaps the bottom of the sail could be made a bit deeper to cover the front edge of the flaps that are Velcroed up inside it. Perhaps it just requires that the pilot Velcro the flaps further into the sail. I noticed that everyone at the Worlds had this problem, including Felix. You would have to take your finger and go along the bottom trailing edge of the glider by the flaps, and make sure that the sail wasn't tucked under the front edge of the carbon fiber flaps.

This just seems to be a fitting problem. Perhaps the bottom of the sail could be made a bit deeper to cover the front edge of the flaps that are Velcroed up inside it. Perhaps it just requires that the pilot Velcro the flaps further into the sail. I noticed that everyone at the Worlds had this problem, including Felix. You would have to take your finger and go along the bottom trailing edge of the glider by the flaps, and make sure that the sail wasn't tucked under the front edge of the carbon fiber flaps.

The tolerance to install this was quite small. After some flights the flap comes little bit out. To get the right fit the flap has to be fixed with the Velcro more inside that the position after some flights is still right. A good way to fix this is to adjust the Velcro and deflecting the flap several times to check the position once again.

At the new sails the bottom sail is longer and provides a higher tolerance for the adjustment.

Perhaps the flaps are just a bit too long, because if you move them out a bit when installing them the outside end of the flap interferes with the rib.

The length and breadth of the flaps is a bit arbitrary to begin with, so it wouldn't seem to be a big deal to remove an inch or so from the end of the flap to keep it from interfering with the nearest rib. The pilot can install the flap a tiny bit closer to the keel, and that solves the problem, but it seems like the tolerances are a bit tighter than they need to be.

I was able to get rid of any waves in the flaps by unhooking the flaps and re Velcroing them back into the sail. I believe that John Reynoldson was referring to the wavy flaps on my ATOS when he said that there were some minor problems with the ATOS trailing edge. It was easy to fix.

But once I fixed it, I noticed that the end of the flap was too close to the nearest rib. I could undo the flap again and reposition it, but it didn't seem to be that much off to begin with. Perhaps AIR wants to make sure that it isn't required that the flap be exactly in the right spot.

The flaps are in the right place when they didn’t interfere each other in the middle and when the distance between the flap is not wider than about 10mm (we adjust it with 5mm). The flap at the very first Atos like you have were a little bit longer than now. If you shorten and round the outer side of the flap you will get the same shape like we have now and it will be easier for packing. A good distance between flap end and rib is about 6cm.

The pulley at the back of the flap rope flips over and causes the flap rope to wear out.

AIR puts in a shrink-wrap piece that is supposed to keep this from happening, but it is now wearing out on my ATOS. I expect that the pulley will soon flip and cause the rope to wear.

AIR puts in a shrink-wrap piece that is supposed to keep this from happening, but it is now wearing out on my ATOS. I expect that the pulley will soon flip and cause the rope to wear.

Even if this shrink tube wears the pulley will not flip over if the knot

It was easy to fit my Exxtacy speed bar onto my ATOS

AIR sent me two end plugs that fit into the ATOS control frame hardware. I fashioned two shims that allowed the plugs to form a tight fit with the sleeves in my Wallaby Ranch, Rhett-and-Ryan Exxtacy aero-steel base-tube. All I had to do was bolt the plugs into the base tube using the already perfectly positioned holes, and I had an aero base tube.

The large pulley wheel on one of my D-cells has partially disintegrated

Perhaps it got a bit wet. It is made of bakelight. The other pulley is fine. The other pulleys are metal, but they need to be greased or the bearing don't work very well and the rope wears. I've put some Phil's grease on all my pulleys. I noticed rope wear around all the pulleys.

AIR sent me two end plugs that fit into the ATOS control frame hardware. I fashioned two shims that allowed the plugs to form a tight fit with the sleeves in my Wallaby Ranch, Rhett-and-Ryan Exxtacy aero-steel base-tube. All I had to do was bolt the plugs into the base tube using the already perfectly positioned holes, and I had an aero base tube.

The large pulley wheel on one of my D-cells has partially disintegrated

Perhaps it got a bit wet. It is made of bakelight. The other pulley is fine. The other pulleys are metal, but they need to be greased or the bearing don't work very well and the rope wears. I've put some Phil's grease on all my pulleys. I noticed rope wear around all the pulleys.

Water should not be a problem for the pulleys. However while these pulleys are built to an aeronautical standard, the quality is not perfect. Perhaps one pulley has a different look because we sometimes smoothen the surface if we find irregularities at the check. If there is a damage at the pulley especially at the area where the control cable is connected the pulley has to be replaced.

The bag needs more padding at the ends, especially the nose.

There is a lot of metal in the nose, and it wears out the bag.

Perhaps I'm a wimp, but cams on the wing tips would be nice.

Perhaps it is just an issue of getting the proper adjustments, especially as the sail shrinks a bit, but at the moment the wing tips are very tight (too tight?). It is quite a struggle to get the lines on and off.

I really enjoyed the cams on the Exxtacy. They were inside the sail and they were easy to use. I sure hope that Felix decides on how to deal with this issue.

There is a lot of metal in the nose, and it wears out the bag.

Perhaps I'm a wimp, but cams on the wing tips would be nice.

Perhaps it is just an issue of getting the proper adjustments, especially as the sail shrinks a bit, but at the moment the wing tips are very tight (too tight?). It is quite a struggle to get the lines on and off.

I really enjoyed the cams on the Exxtacy. They were inside the sail and they were easy to use. I sure hope that Felix decides on how to deal with this issue.

The news Atoses have cams which work well and provide a possibility to adjust the sail with different tension. This levers are available as retrofit.

tip lever

Reconsideration and reflections:

The problem I was having was due to the fact that the sail had shrunk about ⅜" along the span of the wing, and I hadn't increased the length of the string on the tip wand, or moved the sail away from the nose by that amount. The tension kept getting tighter and tighter, so it became quite difficult to put the tip wands on. Once I started adjusting the sail to make up for the small shrinkage all thes problems went away.

Is AIR going to come up with their own speed bar with skids?

I do like my thin little steel speed bar, but I can't put the wheels with brakes on it because the hubs are too small to go around the bar (at least it seems that way to me). I currently have to use my other thin plastic wheels that don't have brakes on them.

Yes we have a carbon speed bar available with skids right now.

Reconsideration and reflections:

Send me one!

One special hassle is connecting the spoileron to the base tube

My ATOS is a bit older so that it is more of a hassle. You have to pull the pit pin almost but not quite all the way out of the plastic piece at the bottom of the down tube, in order to slide in the spoileron wire. You have to do this while the glider is completely set up. It is a pain.

Fortunately the design was changed for later ATOSes so that you didn't have to pull the pit pin out quite as far. I hope those pilots like this change.

I must say that the hardware on the ATOS is for the most party very streamlined, elegant, and well thought out. If it wasn't for this spoileron wire connection problem I would say that these corner brackets are the best I've ever seen.

My ATOS is a bit older so that it is more of a hassle. You have to pull the pit pin almost but not quite all the way out of the plastic piece at the bottom of the down tube, in order to slide in the spoileron wire. You have to do this while the glider is completely set up. It is a pain.

Fortunately the design was changed for later ATOSes so that you didn't have to pull the pit pin out quite as far. I hope those pilots like this change.

I must say that the hardware on the ATOS is for the most party very streamlined, elegant, and well thought out. If it wasn't for this spoileron wire connection problem I would say that these corner brackets are the best I've ever seen.

connection of the spoiler cable (important: safety cap must be on to secure the pin and to keep the end of the pin clean)

Yes it is changed and the first brackets can be replaced or reworked (drilling a longer whole) to get the new connection. A longer Quick Pin is necessary.

I like the heavy duty construction of the spars as shown at the nose conjunctions

The ATOSes look beefy at the nose, perhaps even beefier than the later Exxtacies. It gives one the perception of a safe joint connecting the two leading edges together.

The ATOSes look beefy at the nose, perhaps even beefier than the later Exxtacies. It gives one the perception of a safe joint connecting the two leading edges together.

It is very hard to say something about the strength from the look but the design load of the Atos is the same as at the Exxtacy and some things have received an additional safety factor like this root connection of the spar.

End of rib was chipped away

The ends of the ATOS' carbon fiber ribs seem to be made of some other material. They are formed into U-shaped slots that fit the metal cams that connect the sail to the ribs. The end of the outboard rib on my right-hand d-cell flaked off so that the cam wouldn't go on it any more.

I saw something similar happen to one of the ribs on an ATOS at the Worlds.

I was able to repair the end of the rib using carbon fiber, epoxy, and filler. We'll see if this lasts. Perhaps we could get some guidance on how to fix this problem.

The ends of the ATOS' carbon fiber ribs seem to be made of some other material. They are formed into U-shaped slots that fit the metal cams that connect the sail to the ribs. The end of the outboard rib on my right-hand d-cell flaked off so that the cam wouldn't go on it any more.

I saw something similar happen to one of the ribs on an ATOS at the Worlds.

I was able to repair the end of the rib using carbon fiber, epoxy, and filler. We'll see if this lasts. Perhaps we could get some guidance on how to fix this problem.

At some of the very first ribs the fibres didn’t go to the very end at the area where the metal cams are fixed. If the trailing edge touch the ground at a hard landing the metal cam of the outer rib can damage the end of the rib. After detecting this we changed the lay up process and additionally we used new designed metal cams which should fail before the rib fail. With this combination we haven’t had a failure there.

I've had three broken ribs (on my ATOS)

Two of the ribs were broken at the Worlds. Dave Sharp added a bunch of carbon fiber to them when he fixed them, and there are been no problems since. These first two were the number eight ribs at the ends of the D-cells. They are easy to break if your flair isn't perfectly even and one wing touches before the other.

AIR is well aware of this problem, and one fix is to install little pins that break off first. I wonder if they send out a bunch with each new ATOS?

The third rib was an outer rib. It also was quite easy to fix and hasn't caused a problem since. This rib is hinged so it should take any impacts. I saw another rib like this one broken at the worlds.

Fixing ribs is very easy and quick. I flew with the broken number nine rib for a week before fixing it as it had just delaminated and otherwise was fine.

Two of the ribs were broken at the Worlds. Dave Sharp added a bunch of carbon fiber to them when he fixed them, and there are been no problems since. These first two were the number eight ribs at the ends of the D-cells. They are easy to break if your flair isn't perfectly even and one wing touches before the other.

AIR is well aware of this problem, and one fix is to install little pins that break off first. I wonder if they send out a bunch with each new ATOS?

The third rib was an outer rib. It also was quite easy to fix and hasn't caused a problem since. This rib is hinged so it should take any impacts. I saw another rib like this one broken at the worlds.

Fixing ribs is very easy and quick. I flew with the broken number nine rib for a week before fixing it as it had just delaminated and otherwise was fine.

This is a very sensitive location for rigid wings. On one hand the wing has to be stiff in order to not change the pitch up moment but on the other hand it has to be flexible or strong enough too not break during a hard landing. The first Atos rib were not very strong in order to protect the D-spar. We reinforced this rib after noticing this week point and fixed it with a special bolt to get a predetermining breaking point there. This rib bolt fails before the rib or the D-spar get damaged. If the tip would be stronger the outer rib wouldn’t fail cause the load is taken by the tip and introduced the load to the D-spar, which can fail like it happened at very hard landings on the tip of the Exxtacy.

We've had good experience with this solution at the Atos now and haven’t had a broken rib since, considering the last four month and about 150 gliders. However it still could be damaged and is designed to fail before something fails at the D-spar. It must be checked after a hard landing.

It is unclear how tight to set the cams at the rib ends

The ATOS comes from the factory with really pretty tight ribs. The tightness is adjusted by a piece of Velcro that sets the placement of the cams on the rib ends. It would seem that you want to adjust the Velcro so that the cams can be put in place without undue stress on your fingers and arms, but as tight as possible. I want to be able to just flip on the cams with my thumb without creating any creases in my thumb.

The ATOS comes from the factory with really pretty tight ribs. The tightness is adjusted by a piece of Velcro that sets the placement of the cams on the rib ends. It would seem that you want to adjust the Velcro so that the cams can be put in place without undue stress on your fingers and arms, but as tight as possible. I want to be able to just flip on the cams with my thumb without creating any creases in my thumb.

To tighten the sail well it is usually necessary the tighten the ribs with different tension. The tension should increase from the root rib no.1 to the tip rib no.8+9. We set the ribs a little bit stronger when the glider is new. The reasons is, that the sail and seams get stretched a little bit and after the first flights the chance is pretty good to get the right tension. However this only works well when the temperature and humidity changes are not too big. Under very warm and dry conditions it will be necessary to adjust the sail to be a bit more lose and under cold and wet conditions it will be necessary to retighten the sail. If the tension is too high you get wrinkles like it is shown in the picture below.

You can see in the picture below the right way to tighten and untighten the ribs. Two things are important: 1. Be sure that the cam fits correctly before turning. 2. Never pull or push at the rib, only the metal lever.

tightening the rib wrinkles in the sail when the tension is to high

After some flights or under different conditions it is also necessary to tighten the webbing which connect the sail to the keel. If it is too tight you will have wrinkles and the nose fitting is hard to close.

To adjust the tip with the right tension we tighten it till the trailing edge gets lose and loosen it again to have high tension with a tight trailing edge. The tension there is usually quite high. With the new levers you get this tension easy so it is good to check the tension at the trailing edge in order to not overload the sail or rivet. Without lever it is hard to get to much tension.

checking the tension at the trailing edge

With the rib ends completely inside the sail, the trailing edge doesn't form a smooth edge

There are rises in the top surface of the trailing edge as the sail goes over the ribs. The top Velcro doesn't contact bottom surface Velcro at these points. There is not a smooth trailing edge.

There are rises in the top surface of the trailing edge as the sail goes over the ribs. The top Velcro doesn't contact bottom surface Velcro at these points. There is not a smooth trailing edge.

It should be smooth but there are small rises be cause there is no Velcro close to the rib to have a better handling when opening the cams. (hope I understand you right here )

Reconsideration and reflections:

I just meant the the trailing edge wasn't smooth and tight. Because the ribs are inside the sail, the trailing edge has a series of bumps in it at each rib. Also, you can't close the trailing edge at the rib, as it gets in the way. So the trailing edge is open a bit.

The sail is attached to the leading edge at the nose using Velcro. The Velcro on the leading edges in epoxied onto the leading edge. It doesn't come unglued.

Unlike on the older Exxtacies, the Velcro on the ATOS doesn't come unglued on the nose. This is a great relief. I personally epoxied the Velcro on my Exxtacy, so it is good to see this on the ATOS.

The sail comes off the ATOS is about ten seconds

This makes it easy to examine the leading edges (which unfortunately appear to need regular examination).

It’s very easy to repair carbon fiber

Some of my repairs even look good. Took me about half an hour to repair the large crack in one D-cell. I'm getting better at this, but with a little practice anyone can do it. I carry around a small repair kit with epoxy and carbon fiber from Flight Design. Every pilot should obtain a repair kit from AIR or Flight Design.

Adjusting the zipper is problematic

I just decided to loosen the zipper at the starting ends, as I could never get it to start zipping otherwise. Felix says to leave it tight, but that didn't work for me. I assume that as the sail shrinks you need to loosen the zipper a bit.

That’s right. The zipper should be loose to get an easy start then tight and a little less tight to the end. This is usually the best setting in order to avoid wrinkles.

Reconsideration and reflections:

As my problems with the zipper and the tip wands were due to the fact that I hadn't adjusted the sail the account for its mall shrinkage. Once I did that, everything worked well. It was easy to adjust the Velcro on the zippers. If the sail shrank much more (which I don't think it will do), I would appreciate having 3" on Velcro on each side of the zipper instead of just 2".

Thanks for your report and feedback, your glider was one of the first and many things are changed with thanks to the good feed back of many Atos customer. All things we changed are available as retrofit. A new sail for the very first customer is available for the manufacturing price and the pads for no cost. An other update is the new nose cover (see picture below) which covers the nose tube and improves slightly the aerodynamic in this area. Enclosed more pictures of some new details which are available.

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Weaklinks

Sun, Jun 6 1999, 6:00:03 pm EDT

James Freeman|PG|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|US Nationals|Wallaby Ranch

Bobby Bailey|James Freeman|PG|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|US Nationals|Wallaby Ranch

During the US Nationals I wrote a bit about weaklinks and the gag weaklinks that someone tied at Quest Air.  A few days after I wrote about them, Bobby Bailey, designer and builder of the Bailey-Moyes Dragon Fly tug, approached me visibly upset about what I and James Freeman had written about weaklinks.  He was especially upset that I had written that I had doubled my weaklink after three weaklinks in a row had broken on me.

I told him that I would be happy to publish anything that he wrote about weaklinks, but I never received anything from him or anyone else at Quest.

A few weeks later I was speaking with Rhett Radford at Wallaby Ranch about weaklinks and the issue of more powerful engines, and he felt that stronger weaklinks (unlike those used at Wallaby or Quest) were needed.  He suggested between 5 and 10 pounds of additional breaking strength.

To compensate for the greater power of the 619 engine that Rhett has on his tug, he deliberately flew it at less than full power when taking off or in anything other than absolutely smooth conditions.  He started doing this after he noticed that pilots towing behind his more powerful tug were experiencing increased weaklink breakage.

A number of the pilots at the US Nationals were using "strong links" after they became fed up with the problems there.  These "strong links" were made with paraglider line and were meant to fool the ground crew into thinking that the pilot had a weaklink.

The problem with strong links (neither Bobby Bailey nor I was aware at the time of the US Nationals that pilots were doing this) is that they endanger the tug pilot.  If the hang glider pilot goes into a lock out, and doesn't break the weaklink (because there isn't one), they can stall the tug.  I assume that Bobby Bailey won't hear about the use of strong links at the US Nationals until he reads it here.

This is of course a problem that Quest Air brought on themselves by their mismanagement of the weaklink production process, but it could have had disastrous consequences both for the competing pilots as well as for the Quest Air tug pilots.  Hopefully in future everyone will learn from this mistake.

I would suggest that the tug pilots at Quest Air get together will Rhett and come up with a new standard for weaklinks to be used with the Turbo tugs.  That Quest Air tie their weaklinks with a shorter length to alleviate the problem of the weaklink catching the release.  That they organize the weaklink tying process so that there is sufficient quality assurance.

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Straight out 90 miles

Fri, Apr 23 1999, 4:00:00 am GMT

Betinho Schmitz|Brian Porter|David "Dave" Glover|David "Dave" Sharp|Felix Rühle|J.C. Brown|JC Brown|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Rhett Radford

Gibbo and JC Brown, the meet director, prevail and the JC over rules the task committee, that wants to call a 75 mile task, and sends us down wind 90 miles to Williston airport.

The forecast calls for winds out of the south east at about 10 mph. The cues start forming, with a low cloud base, at around 10 AM. The sounding calls for maximum lift of 580 fpm to 7,400'. It looks like the strongest day of the meet.

The weather service is calling for an on shore flow on the west coast, which in central Florida isn't very far away, We are driving northwest to the west of Gainsville, so this could be a problem. We may be in for a cross wind and the thermals shutting down.

Instead of a start gate at only one time (2:30 PM) like yesterday, they give us three start times (1:45, 2, and 2:15 PM). Because of the predicted winds, people are nervous about launching too early, afraid that they will get blown down wind past the start gate, before it opens. We don't start taking off in earnest until after 1 PM.

As I get hooked up to the tug, with Rhett at the controls, a dustless dust devil sweeps through the end of the gliders, tipping a few over. It then starts with the tug. Suddenly the tug is jumping around like a gyro copter. Rhett hits the release, throws the throttle forward, whips the tug around 90° and takes off going straight up. I'm so happy that he hit the release.

Carlos comes in right behind him, and yanks me up into the sky. A couple of days previous I had pinned off at 600' just over the launch (Carlos hit a bump and I saw two vultures circling below us), but I wait till Carlos hits a thermal at 1,500' today.

There are now lots of clouds in the air, and it is very easy of every one to climb up to cloud base at 5,100'. The air is warm, no need for gloves or bar mitts. I'm only wearing my shorts, and a light coat.

Now the waiting game begins. I'm also providing live commentary in the air as David Glover types it in and sends it off to the hang gliding mailing list.

We are able to stay just at cloud base, just as the clouds keep forming to the south of the start gate. There are about twenty pilots alternately whisping in and out. Oleg and I almost meet under hard circumstances as he pops out of the cloud.

This goes on for half an hour as we wait for the 2:15 PM start gate to open. A few pilots start on course at 1:45 or 2 PM. We are perfectly poised for the start.

As soon as we go out on course, Brian Porter gets near or into the lead. Thank goodness, he can finally show us the next thermals, and use that performance of his for the good of the rest of us.

There are plenty of clouds and we race to Quest averaging 45 mph over the course line. We are blazing fast, and not really stopping to thermal much. Brian and Dave Sharp are often leading. I can't get over Manfred, Oleg, or Betinho but leave the lift as soon as everyone else. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to stay with these fast guys.

Past Quest there is a blue hole to the north, and we need to move to the west to get under the cloud street to Coleman (the first turnpoint). We put this turnpoint in to keep people away from the swamps to the west of Coleman.

Dave Sharp heads out into the blue on a more direct route, while the rest of us fly west to get under the cloud street. By now we've caught the first gaggle for the earlier starts.

We aren't going quite as quick under the weaker lift, and Dave Sharp is getting low before Coleman. We also break up a bit, with Brian forging ahead and leaving us behind. I come in under a cloud southeast of Coleman where I see Gibbo getting up. It looks like the clouds stop, or at least thin out dramatically after Coleman. I decide to stay climbing under the cloud, when I see Gibbo go off by himself into the blue toward the turnpoint.

A cloud actually forms to the west of the Coleman turnpoint and we head out to it. We join upo again with Manfred, Oleg, Betinho, Andre, and other pilots there. Dave got low but in beaming back up.

After leaving the thermal, and moving a little east to get the turnpoint, we head out into the blue to the northwest, with the promise of a few thin cues way ahead. Brian has already blown past Coleman, and headed out into the blue all by his lonesome. We won't see him for the rest of the task.

We are keeping high, but everyone is unsure about the blue. There is a line of clouds miles to the west going north, and it looks like the convergence line for the on shore flow. It's doubtful that we will be able to make it there. The only hope is that there is lift in the blue. Into it we plunge.

Turns out the blue is happening. Ever now and then a small cu forms and we can also get up under that. We continue to stay high and get up to 6,000'. Pretty Cool.

The whole time I've been doing real time commentary on the radio and David is typing it in back at the trailer at Wallaby Ranch. It goes out on the hang gliding mailing list. By now it's getting pretty thin as all the pilots are spread out.

I'm able to make it over to the west leaving a gaggle behind, and I find Felix Ruhle there. He started out early, got low in the blue as Brian passed him, and is now playing it safe getting really high (6,000') 15 miles out from goal. I climb some of the way up to him, and then turn to go on final glide.

The goal is well placed in a large field about a mile from the airport. There is very little traffic at the airport. It's very easy to make it in to goal. The goal quickly fills up with more pilots. Ramy has flown his Millenium in an hour earlier after his early start, so finally there are three Milleniums at goal, as Mark Mullhand makes goal (and hopefully his start gate this time).

Dave Sharp is the first hang glider (albeit rigid wing) pilot to goal after Brian in his foot-launchable ultralight sailplane. Oleg is the first flex wing glider pilot to goal.

Another epic day of flying in Florida. The flex wing pilots may be sore by now, but us rigid guys are loving it. Actually, I do have a sore arm, and it isn't getting any better under all this use.

There is one problem. We have used a goal field (Coleman) as a turnpoint. The problem is that the actual physical point in a field is not unambiguously defined. The co-ordinates given for the goal field (used as a turnpoint) are quite a bit (.45 miles) north of the center of the field (marked serendipitously by an orange cross). Half the field that makes it to the turnpoint misses the GPS turnpoint.

Because of the ambiguous definition of the turnpoint, the scorekeepers decide to make an error circle around the turnpoint of 1 kilometer (.6 miles) and to validate all track logs that go through that error circle.

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Follow up on the IXBO story

Sat, Mar 6 1999, 11:00:04 pm GMT

David "Dave" Glover|Flight Design Exxtacy|Rhett Radford|Tecma Ixbo

While I haven't heard from Kenny, I thought I might add a few points. Following the method described by Flight Design, I indirectly measured the nose angle of the IXBO and my Exxtacy. The Exxtacy nose angle was at its widest, therefore it had the least sweep, and the least pitch pressure within the limits of the design.

While the Exxtacy method may or may not be applicable to the IXBO, I used it anyway. I found that the IXBO was swept back about 2 inches further then my Exxtacy. This could explain much or all of the differences in pitch pressure.

Also, the IXBO twist angles may be different (greater) then the Exxtacy settings. It appears that these are adjustable on the IXBO (and not so easily on the Exxtacy).

I also had a chance to fly another Exxtacy today whose nose angle was set to the middle of the range. I experienced slightly more bar pressure then I did on my Exxtacy, but nothing like the IXBO. This Exxtacy had been previously damaged in shipping (fork lifts through the leading edges). David Glover bought it from the insurance company, and Rhett restored it. It was in great shape, and Ray got a great deal from David on it. What a sweet glider.

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