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topic: speed record (11 articles)

Armand Acchione Breaks His Own Records »

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 6:19:03 pm GMT

Swift 50 km Triangle Speed Record Claims

Armand Acchione|FAI|speed record|Swift|triangle

«FAI - Record officer» writes:

Sub-class : O-2 / HG with a rigid primary structure / movable control surface(s)
Type of record : Speed over a triangular course of 50 km
Course/location : Brussels, Ontario (Canada)
Performance : 60.47 km/h
Pilot : Armand Acchione (Canada)
Aircraft : Swift Light / Aeriane
Date : 2022-07-10
Current record : 51.3 km/h (2021-08-03 - Armand Acchione, Canada)

World and North America record claims.

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Robin Hamilton record claim

Tue, Jun 28 2022, 4:42:33 pm GMT

Swift 100 km triangle speed record

Armand Acchione|FAI|record|Robin Hamilton|speed record|Swift|triangle

«FAI - Record officer» writes:

Sub-class : O-2 / HG with a rigid primary structure / movable control surface(s)
Type of record : Speed over a triangular course of 100 km
Course/location : Wharton, Texas (USA)
Performance : 67,00 km/h
Pilot : Robin Hamilton (USA)
Aircraft : Swift Light / Aeriane
Date : 26.06.2022
Current record : 59,00 km/h (07.08.2020 - Armand Acchione, Canada)

Both World and North American record claims.

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Australian/Oceanian Record Claim

Mon, Jan 17 2022, 5:05:47 pm MST

50 km triangle speed record claim

Australia|Moyes Delta Gliders|Neale Halsall|record|speed record|triangle

Type of record : Speed over a triangular course of 50 km
Course/location : Birchip, VIC (Australia)
Performance : 40.8 km/h
Pilot : Neale Halsall (Australia)
Aircraft : Litespeed RX 3.5 / Moyes Delta Gliders
Date : 29.11.2021
Current record : no record set yet

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Jochen's interview on his record flight

Sat, Sep 11 2021, 11:59:38 pm MDT

50km FAI triangle speed record

FAI|Icaro 2000 Laminar|Jochen Zeischka|record|speed record|triangle

https://www.fai.org/news/jochen-zeischka-after-claiming-new-speed-records-are-there-be-broken?type=node&id=24473

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NAA bashing

Fri, Jul 11 2003, 5:00:04 pm GMT

altitude|art|balloon|Bill Bolosky|book|CIVL|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Dennis Pagen|FAI|G.W. Meadows|Jim Zeiset|NAA|news|Pablo Gomez-Trenor|PG|record|sailplane|speed record|USHGA|world record

Okay, I’ll try not to bash our beloved national aeroclub, and just report the facts. Let’s see, got a letter from Michael R. Pablo, who is the assistant for contests and records about my world record claim. I noticed something funny right away on the left hand side of the letter, a listing of the thirty five NAA board members, including our own Bill Bolosky (as well as John McCain). I asked Bill about this BOD, and he stated:

Being on the NAA BOD doesn't seem to actually involve anything at all other than getting mail. If they actually had a BOD meeting where the members showed up, I'd love to go, just to get to meet John McCain in person.

David Glover mentioned that when he was the USHGA President he was on the NAA board, and the usual procedure was to sign a proxy that let the administrators of the NAA control everything. So it appears while their letterhead looks nice, the real deal is that the administrators run the show and aren’t really responsible to the BOD. Need a salary increase, well just up the dues of the member organizations, like the USHGA.

In the letter was a ransom note, oh, okay, a form requesting $275 for the NAA and $70 for the FAI in order to validate one of my world record attempts. Setting world records in the US, unlike apparently most countries in the world, is a very costly deal.

NAA members (yours truly, for one) can get at no additional charge a yearly record book. Looks like a good money maker for them. Here’s what Bill has to say about that:

I think that the record fees are a major source of funding for the NAA. They publish that record book, and if you look at it, the great bulk of the records are airplane speed records between two points in the US. Basically, for every pair of airports in the US there is a speed record, so there are so many of them that most every pilot can get one.

I don't know how many are on the list, but the number of pairs grows with the square of the number of points, so if there are 200 airports, there are 39,800 available records (the other 200 would be between an airport and itself).

Then there are the serious records (the HG/PG/Sailplane/Balloon/Gyrocopter/etc. records, and aviation records like max altitude and total distance without refueling, etc.) that only take up a few pages.

Bill wrote to tell me that after he unappointed me and appointed Jim Zeiset, the existing alternate CIVL delegate, to be the CIVL delegate, NAA immediately asked for his resume. Presumably, they didn’t have a resume from Jim when he was alternate delegate, just like they didn’t ask for one from G.W. Meadows. I wonder if they ever asked for one or have one on file from Dennis Pagen.

Jim writes:

They did ask and I provided a hang gliding only type of resume. For your readers information the purpose of the resume is to summarize the qualifications of the new delegate for the NAA Publication. In this news letter they notify the world of the new appointment supposedly lauding the appropriate experience of the new choice. The resume is not requested in order for them to pass judgment on.

Please understand that in your chosen position as editor of a popular e-zine you have made thousands of loyal friends and possibly some hostile enemies. Some of these could be sensitive Europeans that may not be endeared to your direct and not always correct style.

Well, Jim should know about direct and not always correct style. ☺ Besides CIVL claims that they weren’t the executioners.

I wrote to ask why they didn’t already have his resume on hand from his days as the alternate. Maybe they don’t care about the alternates.

The USHGA continues to contribute large sums of money to help support the Washington, D.C. life style of these self-regulated bureaucrats whose mission it is to keep records and sponsor airplane art contests for 6th graders. Life is good.

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Flytec/Quest Air WRE – photos and legends

Wed, Jul 2 2003, 1:00:00 pm EDT

cloud|cloud street|George Steinmetz|magazine|Mike Barber|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litespeed S|National Geographic|photo|Quest Air|record|speed record|sport|triangle|Wallaby Ranch|Zapata

Wallaby Ranch’s Mikey Barber gets ready to launch his Moyes Litespeed S for a photo shoot and is kind enough to voluntarily include one of the major WRE sponsor’s logo on his glider. Mikey feels strongly about supporting those who support the sport.

George Steinmetz is still here on assignment from National Geographic Adventure magazine and trying to get the perfect shot that illustrates the magic of Zapata. Of course, he wants the shot of a pilot at cloud base under a 50 mile long cloud street and we haven’t had those for a few days.

Still Mike and Pete get up and get high as the sky fills with puffy cu’s as the cirrus backs off. The winds are light out of the southeast and I’ll go up a bit later thinking about breaking that small triangle record speed record.

We’re watching the clouds and they are building rapidly. As I climb up the rain starts dropping out of the cu-nimb five miles to the south. Most of us decide to land. Chuck stays up but then he finds lift everywhere and then gets concerned enough about not finding any sink than he comes over to land.

The winds will continue to build out of the southeast in all the coming days.

At 7:30 PM we get a tropical downpour. I expect flash floods.

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Flytec/Quest Air WRE – a low save

Tue, Jul 1 2003, 5:00:00 pm EDT

altitude|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Quest Air|record|Ron Gleason|speed record|Swift|tandem|triangle

With Bill about to leave the area, the winds are about to turn around and it looks like Friday may be the big day. The southeast winds should be here tomorrow though. Today it was north very light.

Cirrus completely covered the sky this morning but it opened up a little during the day. Three of us tried to beat the existing fast 25 km triangle speed record: Ron Gleason, Junko on the Swift and me. Mikey, Pete Lehmann, and Bill Ayers got to 6,000’ and headed north east toward the paraglider paddock for a little out and return just before we took off at 2:45.

There plenty of cu’s under the cirrus and like the last few days the cirrus just seems to hold off the over development. The ground was completely shaded, but the cirrus was starting to break up over us.

I climbed up to about 5,100’ AGL in 400 fpm with Junko who launched earlier over me and Ron who went last just below. Bo was in the tandem a bit lower still giving a soaring lesson to a pilot who hasn’t soloed yet.

Ron wants to leave low as we have to come back within 1,600’ of our departure altitude. There is a bit of an inversion at 4,500’ AGL so this is not a bad idea. We all head out with Ron about 500’ lower and to my left.

On the way out to the first turnpoint Ron gets hammered and low before we get there. I find a rough thermal and Junko who I first spot over the turnpoint circling high, comes in under me as we rocket up. In fact it is too good and I leave it at 4,000’ AGL and head for the turnpoint. Junko quickly figures out why I left the thermal and comes with me.

The run to the second turnpoint is sink city and I get hammered like Ron did earlier. He claws his way up but heads back to the airport to find a boomer and get up.

I’m out in the boonies over a cut in the Mesquite by the second turnpoint 5 miles south of the airport working my way down from 450’ AGL to 250’ AGL’. Finally the light sink turns slowly into light lift and I am able to hold on for a total of almost ten minutes before I start to climb out. I really really didn’t want to land out there.

With the low save it is too slow for the record. That’s why we have world records because you don’t set them every day.

Junko didn’t declare her record attempt, so she will have to try again. The good days are coming so I’m getting ready for the big ones.

The cu-nimbs finally do show up and it starts to rain around 6 PM.

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Flytec/Quest Air WRE – a new world record

Sat, Jun 28 2003, 6:00:00 pm EDT

altitude|cloud|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litespeed S|Quest Air|record|Robin Hamilton|speed record|Stewart Midwinter|Swift|tandem|triangle|world record|Zapata

The area around Zapata proved to be magical once again. It took a little prognosticating to figure out just what made sense to do for the day, but after that the conditions were just what you’d want for a triangle or out and return record attempts.

The winds were forecasted to be light east until about 4 PM when they would be out of the northeast at 13 knots. It looked like there was a good chance of over development late in the day, but not around noon to 2 PM. The FSL temperature trace (modeled data) predicted cu’s forming early and staying all day.

Since I wasn’t thinking of going 500 miles I got out to the airport around 10 AM. There were plenty of little cu’s dotting the sky already. I wanted to get up and just float around in the light super fun lift that we get here early and see how it went. Perhaps it would be plentiful enough for a world record task.

I was thinking about doing the 100 km out and return. For class 5 there is currently no world record for that distance. Stewart Midwinter and Robin Hamilton have set that speed record in Class 2, but Class 5 doesn’t have an entry. So it was wide open. I could attempt to set it in the early morning lift.

The lift was plentiful, but light and getting to only 3,000’ AGL meant it would be hard to go out 30 miles and back against the early morning 5 mph east wind. Also my zipper opened up so I needed to land after an hour ands get that fixed. Still, it was so nice just going out a few miles and climbing every so slowly to cloud base.

I took off again at 12:30 to give it another try. Junko was going to try for the Swift 25 km triangle record. Dave Prentice was going for the 50 km tandem paragliding record. Mikey was going to test fly the new Moyes Litespeed S. Ron was going to test fly his older AIR ATOS so that David Glover could fly it. Chuck was already up for his first flight and Rick from Salt Lake was about to launch his ATOS.

The climb out over the airport was smooth to 4,500’ near cloud base. On this 10 km task I’m actually allowed a 6,560’ height differential coming back to goal, so in this case I’ve given up 2,000’ of altitude that I could have used if I had been able to climb that high. It’s still a bit early in the day.

I cross the start point sector at 12:50 at 4,100’ AGL and there are cu’s spread out in front of me on the course line. I’m able to stay high and go at 23 mph until 21 miles out I’m down to 600’ AGL. For the next hour and a half I will work against the 10 mph head wind and average a little over 4 mph. I’m over areas that would require a bit of a walk out to get back to highway 16, so I’m concerned about staying up at all costs. Besides any speed sets the record.

Finally I get high enough to glide into the turnpoint near Hebronville on highway 16 and turn around to go downwind. Over the next 55 minutes I’ll average 34 mph heading back to goal. Overall the new world record speed over the 100 km out and return task for class 5 will be 27.6 km/h, not particularly fast. But you’ve got to start somewhere.

And certainly a lot of fun on a pleasant day in Zapata when the winds won’t carry you far to the north. The other day when I did fly north, my average L/D while gliding was 62:1. Today it was 13:1.

Junko will try again tomorrow for the 25 km triangle record for class 2. Perhaps we’ll get everyone out for a try at the 50 km or 25 km triangle records.

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Gary’s records last year

Wed, Jun 25 2003, 6:00:06 pm EDT

FAI|Gary Osoba|Greg Cole|magazine|powered|record|SparrowHawk|speed record|triangle|weather

Pilot Briefing Section of AOPA's Pilot Magazine, June

Ultralight Glider Breaks Tnree World Records

Imagine flying hundreds of miles and hitting speeds of more than 90 mph in an aircraft that has an empty weight of 155 pounds and no engine. Sound far-fetched?

Not to Gary Osoba. He set three world records in a SparrowHawk ultralight glider in conditions that were far from ideal. While it sounds hard to believe, it's all a matter of physics, modern composite construction, and American engineering.

The SparrowHawk, made by Windward Performance, of Bend, Oregon, was designed by Greg Cole and is produced as an uncertified ultralight glider. It has sharp, efficient wings that produce high lift (it has a lift-over-drag ratio of 36-to-1 at 50 knots and 24-to-1 at 75 kt) and can penetrate the wind for good cross-country performance. But with its lightweight pre-impregnated composite construction and swift handling, the SparrowHawk turns tight and can take advantage of narrow thermals and scraps of lift that much heavier gliders can't stay with. It also can be towed aloft by a powered ultralight.

The Federation Aeronautique Internationale, (FAI) recently ratified three world records for Osoba in Class DU that were set late last summer over Kansas and Texas. He squashed the previous speed record over a 300-km triangle course by 33 percent, beat the distance over a triangle course by 21 percent, and set a new record for speed over a 500-km triangle course, a distance that was previously unattainable for the particular aircraft class.

Despite weak lift, the long FAI triangle runs sent Osoba over a wide area of varying terrain and weather conditions. One leg took him above inhospitable terrain in Texas. Looking down on mesquite trees, cliffs, and coyote and roadrunner habitat, Osoba didn't have many places to land if things went bad. During his final 25-mile glide on the 500-km triangle course, Osoba reached an average speed of 91 mph.

Windward Performance officials said more records are on the way.

(editor’s note: Indeed Gary is here to set more records in the same Sparrowhawk,)

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WRE - Wednesday »

Wed, Jun 26 2002, 9:00:02 pm GMT

camera|Hans Bausenwein|Mike Barber|paraglider|Pete Lehmann|speed record|triangle|weaklink|World Record Encampment 2002

The forecast was again for light winds with cu’s forming after noon. This pattern was predicted to stay around for a few days, so we continued to think of possible triangle. At first Bo wanted to go for the 380 km triangle, but it didn’t seem like it was possible to do such a long task starting after 1 PM.

Alex wanted to do a 200 km triangle as the existing record was not that fast - 43.44 km/h. Attila’s flex wing speed for the 200 km/h looked vulnerable also. Gary was going to try for the 300 km triangle speed record in the SparrowHawk.

Bo was the first pilot off at around 2 PM and other pilots dribbled out to the runway as the cu’s which started as whiff’s to the east and south (over the paraglider paddock) at 12:12 built into a sky full of puffy clouds.

Mike Barber broke a weaklink at about 300 feet and ever so slowly circled up. Quite a bit later he had to come back and get new film as his camera had popped open. He was going to try to break Bo’s new 100 km record.

Finally after trying a few starts Mike landed back at the airport. Alex made it to the first turnpoint but decided to fly back to the airport. Gary went into a thunderstorm and decided to land at Hebronville. Bo gave up the attempt as did Pete Lehmann. Hans Bausenwein landed five miles short of the second turnpoint on his paraglider 100 km triangle record attempt.

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Whose got the record?

Sun, Jul 5 1998, 7:56:16 pm EDT

altitude|CIVL|FAI|FAI Sporting Code|flight park|Martin Henry|photo|record|speed record|towing|triangle|world record

While reading Tim's reports that I resent to the hang gliding mailing list, Michael "Hollywood" Champlin noticed that the meet organizers may have been using an incorrect specification for the required start height - too low. He immediately sent a message to Tim, to see if they could check this out.

Here is what Mike wrote:

On a related note, it was reported that the pilots flying for an official world record 100 km triangle needed to take their start photo below 3,000 feet AGL in order to meet the altitude/distance requirement. According to my copy of the FAI Sporting Code Section 7 the start height allowance should be 2% of the total distance flown. 2% of 100 km is 6,561 feet, so it seems a start height of about 6,500 feet should be allowed.

Tim responded immediately, and said that yes, Mike might be right. They are currently awaiting a clarification from CIVL. Perhaps Rohan will set the world record 100 km triangle speed record afterall.

At Hollywood's urging I also sent a message to Martin Henry, the current holder of the 100 km speed record, set last summer in Chelan. Martin lives just to the north a couple of hours, and not too far from a great flight park as well as a number of wonderful mountain hanggliding sites. Martin wrote to Tim:

I thought I would pass on some info re: the triangle records. I know that the FAI has been working on a new standard for start and finish alts but the 2% rule is as follows:

The difference between the start Altitude and the Finish Altitude must not exceed 2% of the total course length (to insure that the course is flown with out the advantage of an extremely high altitude start.)

On a 100km triangle, the difference between the start and the finish altitude cannot exceed 2km (2000 meters). This rule was intended to prevent individuals from towing to extreme altitudes and blasting around the course with the unfair advantage of the initial start.

So if a pilot Starts at 3000 meters AGL and arrives at goal at 500 meters AGL on a 100km speed course, the 2% rule has been exceeded and the speed would not be valid. A pilot must Start and Finish within the 2% rule to negate an altitude advantage.

Keep in mind that the rule is based on TOTAL COURSE LENGTH. Not the declared category. Also on a longer course the 2% rule is less and less a realistic problem. The shorter the course the more important it is to get the 2% rule correct.

It's a very difficult rule to enforce as most pilots use photographic evidence to prove start and finish.

Just thought you would appreciate the Info.

Martin Henry

PS: BTW, According to the certificate hanging on my wall… Its my 100km speed record that was broken (set July 22 1998, near Chelan WA. USA flying an Aeros Stealth 151) at 35.06 km per hour. Ah, glory is sweet, but so short…Stinking OZ comps!

When Tomas set the 150 km triangle record last year at Hay, Martin realized just how hard it would be to beat that record in Chelan.

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