Wills Wing
Flytec

Oz Report

topic: tow

127 articles, page:  1 

Regarding the Control Frame that Came Detached

Fri, Jun 17 2022, 8:51:18 pm MDT

Other possibility

boat tow|control frame|dolly|Paul Voight|tow

«Paul Voight» writes:

It was suggested to me that another possible cause of possible damage to the control bar apex and keel interface area could be if the glider in question was dolly started many times, or had lots of trips in a truck tow / boat tow situation, etc., where the weight of the glider was resting (and shaking) on the control bar apex for excessive periods of time. Pilots who fly by those methods should inspect more judiciously perhaps.

More discussion is found on the forum here: https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=64743

Discuss "Regarding the Control Frame that Came Detached" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Going long over water in Texas

Thu, May 26 2022, 4:51:46 pm MDT

Optional added attraction

altitude|landing|Tiki Mashy|tow|tug|video

Tiki writes:

Saturday, July 16

We have an optional added attraction for this year’s GoLong. Back in 2019 I had one of my most memorable flights in Texas, being towed up over the Gulf by Mick from Mustang Airport near Port Aransas and then gliding back to the mainland some 15km over the Gulf and the lagoon behind the barrier island to eventually start thermaling again on the downwind side of Aransas Pass. Video link: https://youtu.be/O7X3HAeHh_k.

It is a SPECTACULAR route! A feast of colors and coastal scenery below.

The suggestion is that we set up to do this coast to mainland flight on Saturday morning of the 16th, the day before GoLong officially starts.

The flight itself should be fairly easy if you take a high tow to 4,500’+. (I had 2,800’ off tow out over the Gulf 😅 and made the mainland with 800’ but that was enough to get me to the other side of Aransas Pass and climbing again.) There is always a tailwind of 5-15 mph and almost always early morning clouds to guide the best glide line over the lagoon. I’ve identified some of the (dry) landing options you have if for any reason you can’t make it to the open areas downwind of Aransas Pass.

So, who is interested? Looking for a show of hands so we can work out the numbers for the tug (or tugs) we need to get down there. Haven’t yet discussed a price for a high tow with the tug pilots but you can assume it will be roughly a multiple of the standard 2000’ / $35 tow based on the higher altitude.

https://cuhanggliding.com/GoLongInTexas/

Discuss "Going long over water in Texas" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

No Go

Mon, Mar 7 2022, 7:21:09 am MST

Strong blustery winds keep the tug pilots on the ground

tow|towing|tug

Saturday the sky was full of beautiful cu's, but the wind was east at 13 mph on the surface. No one really was excited about towing up.

Sunday, the cu's were very thin and mostly far away with almost none to the northwest. The winds were again strong but now out of the east southeast. Fourteen mph gusting to twenty seven mph at the Leesburg airfield to the north. The tug pilots were not going to tow us in these conditions. The sky conditions did not look good for a proposed task 228 kilometers to Live Oak airfield.

Monday looks better. Looks like we'll have a report later about the day.

Discuss "No Go" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

Aerotow Barrel Release Test Flight

Mon, Jan 31 2022, 9:23:18 pm MST

Do they release with no tension?

aerotow|BHPA|equipment|Mark Dowsett|release|tow

The vast majority of hang gliding aerotows are conducted using a barrel release yet it is rumoured that hang gliding associations around the world (the BHPA are said to be one of these) do not approve of them. The concern is that barrel releases do not meet the requirement that they must operate when there is no tension on the tow line. The exact wording from the BHPA Technical Manual states: "The release must operate and release the line under conditions of zero line tension, so if for example a speed oscillation has developed the glider pilot can drop the line before the next surge". (BHPA_Tech_Manual_20.pdf)

I set out for Cambridge Aerotow Club, based at Sutton Meadows, to test whether my modern barrel release meets the BHPA release requirement. The reason for this test is that pilot equipment and procedures for the 2022 Great British Aerotow Revival must follow the BHPA Technical Manual and most aerotow pilots in the UK and around the world use barrel releases. I always fly with two barrel releases (as it still allows you to release in case of a snag) the one I am testing is actually my back up, my usual main barrel release is the push/pull bungee type that was made by Mark Dowsett (instinct.pro).

Please note that this isn't an endorsement of all barrel releases, just a demonstration that my back up barrel release operates in accordance with the paragraph outlined above. This was was taken from the current version of the BHPA Technical Manual at the time. This document is updated regularly so I take no responsibility for this information being up to date and this is in no way a blanket endorsement of barrel releases as such. Barrel releases, like all releases, have good and bad attributes. If someone can develop a perfect release that has no vices then I would be happy to test it out.

Discuss "Aerotow Barrel Release Test Flight" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

Holding On To Christmas

Tue, Dec 28 2021, 6:13:22 pm MST

Reindeer Tow

Christmas|comic|tow

Discuss "Holding On To Christmas" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

2021 Florida Nationals Series Comps

Wed, Nov 17 2021, 11:37:57 pm MST

airspace|Airtribune|Florida|food|sport|Sport Class|Stephan Mentler|tow|weather|Wilotree Park

Trying to get them published on Airtribune

Stephan Mentler ‹team@Icaro2000usa.com›> writes:

While we are working to get things going on the registration side, here are some details for both comps.

The entry fee is $375 (includes Wilotree Park Fee, $475 after March 10th). NOTE that entry fees do not include tow fees. Aerotowing fee is $375 - this includes a tow on check-in day. Some of the things that we will have:

• Daily Prizes
• Event T-shirt
• Food and beverages the night of check-in (I plan to get he same ice-cream truck for us)
• Prizes for the first three places in the Open and Sport Class
• Awards ceremony dinner
• On-line Turn point Coordinates
• On-line airspace files
• Weather Briefing on Pilots’ Phones via WhatsApp
• Task Sent to Pilots’ Phones via WhatsApp
• Wilotree Park (includes free WIFI, access to clubhouse and amenities [swimming pool, kitchen, pool table, etc.

Our cancellation policy is as follows - receive full refund minus $12 (USD) for withdrawal up to March 1st 2022. Receive 50% refund for withdrawal after March 2nd till April 1st. Refunds for withdrawals after April 1st are at the discretion of the Organizer and Wilotree Park, but not likely as we will have secured aircraft, the grounds, and other tangibles.

Discuss "2021 Florida Nationals Series Comps" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

Constant tension electric winch

Tue, Nov 2 2021, 11:42:49 pm MDT

The Vortex SmartWinch

electric|Instinct Windsports|Mark Dowsett|Nick Jones|Ryan Wood|safety|scooter tow|stationary winch|tandem|tow|Vortex SmartWinch

https://instinct.pro/collections/vortex

We are ready to announce this exciting project we have been working on all this season - we are manufacturing the first commercially-available all-electric hang gliding stationary winch!

We feel it could be quite revolutionary in the industry. The power is there to even tow tandem hang gliders. The intelligence is there to automate the winch operator's job to make it easy for new winch operators to increase your flying communities number of flights.

AND, the foundation is there for us to implement remote-control winch operating - imagine being able to tow yourself up where you want, when you want… all with no need for crew to assist you!

The key feature is the torque-regulated abilities… you just dial in the desired max tow tension and the winch moderates the speed the drum turns to automatically adjust to give the pilot a constant tow pressure, regardless of hitting a wind gust, thermals or sink while on tow.

It is also incredibly portable! There are three components - the motor/drum, the controller box and the battery. All are light enough that they can be taken in and out of an SUV trunk and mounted on your trailer hitch as desired. No storing an entire trailer somewhere - take your winch home and go out to fly where the conditions are prime - rather than relying on a dedicated club site.

We will be taking pre-orders right away with hopes of spring 2022 delivery. We have flight tested the prototype to our satisfaction but are making some alterations for the final configuration. Prices aren't finalized yet but are working on some accurate ball-park figures. As we add features and improve some components, the prices will only go up from what we have listed.

https://instinct.pro/collections/vortex/products/the-vortex-smartwinch

The Vortex is a tension-controlled winch. This is opposed to a speed-controlled (or throttle-controlled) winch.

A speed-controlled winch puts a great amount of responsibility on the winch operator. If they only have speed control, they have some work to do to manage the tension on the tow line throughout the tow.

Some hydraulic winches are smoother but hydro-static winches still require the winch operator to visibly monitor a pressure gauge and adjust their hydraulic flow to attain and maintain a desired tow tension. And the tension can and will change throughout the tow due to glider speed changes, lift/sink, wind gusts and thermals. With a tension-controlled winch, the intelligence of the winch takes care of all that… resulting in a much smoother tow and way more efficient with increased safety.

Scooter winches are notorious for rough tows. All you have is a gas throttle to adjust and most scooter-winches don't have a pressure gauge to monitor. This requires an even more skilled winch operator and often a very rough ride. For this reason, scooter winches are usually only used in low, smooth winds for rather low-tension training tows.

There are also winches based on the LSD (Limited Slip Differential) transmission of a car. These are strictly gas throttle controlled as well and have the same problems as a scooter. They do have the added feature of setting a max tension that the transmission will slip if that max tension is attained to limit the tow from going over the max tension. This adjustment is very hard to set and calibrate as you have to test manually with a gauge and is often set way too high.

Discuss "Constant tension electric winch" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Gregg Ludwig⁣'s Towing Trike »

Tue, Aug 17 2021, 9:27:54 am MDT

Working this week at Cowboy Up for Go Long in Texas

Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|tow|trike

Gregg Ludwig⁣'s Towing Trike

«Gregg Ludwig» writes:

I just finished upgrading to a larger radiator for the big (high) tows.

The cost of getting you in the air

Mon, Apr 8 2019, 7:46:39 am EDT

At the 2019 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2019|Jim Prahl|tow

Jim Prahl «Jim Prahl

Total income. $7,677.00

Tow fees expenses. There were some fees/ accounting with Square so the numbers are slightly off on the total income. Off by $27.00

Plane Fuel $693.54
Tug Pilots(4) $2,800.00 $(700.00 each for the meet)
Tow planes (4). $4,000.00 (Tow planes usually cost $2,000.00 - $2,500.00 per meet)

For this meet tow plane owners get $1,000.00 each for the meet) Normally for up to 20 paying pilots we would have used two planes and tow to 2,000.00-2,500 feet.

So the tug owners received significantly less than what they would normally expect for a meet with actually 18 paying pilots and 11 non paying mentors. It was originally assumed that we would use three tugs and three pilots, but we turned out to need to use four even though pilots were supposed to be restricted to one tow to 4,000' only so as to not have to do continual relights for sport class pilots.

Pilot tow fee was $425.

Discuss "The cost of getting you in the air" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Death at Dunnellon

Wed, Feb 3 2016, 1:53:56 pm EST

Not exactly north Florida

fatality|Tomas Banevicius|altitude|crash|death|news|power|tow

Tomas Banevicius

http://nypost.com/2016/02/03/fatal-hang-gliding-crash-in-florida/

The officials say Tomas Banevicius of New York was killed during his third flight of the day. Reports didn’t list his hometown but said he was about 35 feet in the air when the craft fell to the ground nose-first.

http://www.ushanggliding.com/

http://www.news4jax.com/news/hang-glider-dies-during-training-session

Preliminary information indicates Banevicius was flying a hang glider that was assisted by a power tow line system to build altitude.

During take-off, witnesses said his hang glider rotated right and turned down, causing it to crash.

Discuss "Death at Dunnellon" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Ben Dunn towing on the Wills Wing Falcon 4 195

At Chris Zimmerman's

Ben Dunn towing on the Wills Wing Falcon 4 195

June 14, 2013, 7:22:45 EDT

Ben Dunn|Chris Zimmerman|Mike Degtoff|photo|tow|towing|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Falcon 4

Master tow pilot, Mike Degtoff.

Photos by Ricker Goldsborough

You can tow hang gliders for money

Tue, Jun 5 2012, 7:40:49 am EDT

A clarification asked for by the Soaring Society

FAA|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Jim Rooney|tow|Zac Majors

The relevant FAA document here response to a request in March 2009.

The FAA is revising §61. 113(g) to allow a private pilot to act as pilot in command while towing an unpowered ultralight vehicle for compensation or hire."

Accordingly, § 61.113(g) permits a private pilot to act as PIC for compensation or hire of an aircraft towing a glider or unpowered ultralight vehicle.

Thanks to Zack and Jim Rooney.

Big tow machine

June 7, 2010, 8:52:29 EDT

Big tow machine

For advanced pilots

Blue Sky|Steve Wendt|tow|towing

Steve Wendt at the controls of his big ATV towing machine with a student who is about ready to start truck towing. This powerful machine is not used with new students:

The lens was fogged up.

Discuss "Big tow machine" at the Oz Report forum   link»

New aerotow release from Lookout

Fri, Feb 13 2009, 4:21:01 pm GMT

Gone is the spinnaker shackle

aerotow|release|safety|tow

https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14903

The business end of the release is a major improvement over existing spinnaker designs--the smooth release pin has no sharp edges or catch points--plus will not lock under heavy loads and will still release even if there's no pressure at all in the system. The handle pull is designed to remain on at all times during the tow so the pilot does not need to let go of the basetube in order to activate release, a safety improvement for those situations for a quick bail.

See the pictures at the URL above.

Discuss "New aerotow release from Lookout" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Forbes, day five »

Wed, Jan 7 2009, 1:35:07 pm AEDT

Too windy, isolated thunderstorms, we call the day.

Forbes 2009|tow

The results.

We call the day early at the pilot briefing at 10 AM. We have been calling the task early (9 AM) instead of waiting to go out into the field. The forecasts are good enough for an early call. We also had reports from the tow paddock that it was hailing there and the tugs had been placed in the hangar as it was too windy to have them tied down outside.

BlueSky, low and slow man towing

Mon, May 26 2008, 8:31:25 am EDT

Low and slow

Two hang gliding kids come off the dunes and onto the rope

Blue Sky|scooter tow|Steve Wendt|tow|towing|video

http://www.blueskyhg.com/

Giovanni and Hanna Marie were here on Saturday with their hang gliding dad, Shane Moreland, basically because they showed that they had an interest in hang gliding (unlike some of the other kids in the eleven kid family). They had already been dune skimming at Jockey's Ridge, at Kitty Hawk Kites, and now were ready to take the next step, getting scooter tow instruction from Steve Wendt at Blue Sky Hang Gliding.

The wind was blowing a bit too strong before 7 AM when I went out to help Steve set up the Wills Wing Condor 330 and pull out the Wills Falcon 195 and Falcon 170, which were already setup in their little hangar that they share with the zero radius riding lawn mower. Steve has trouble providing adequate lessons by himself on a Condor 330, especially with light kids and new pilots, when there is wind over 5 mph.

Steve has to operate the scooter tow and he can't run with the pilot at the same time and help them control the glider. Glider control is an issue with such a big glider in any winds. This kind of instruction greatly benefits from having both a scooter tow operator and an instructor to run with the student in these conditions. BTW, how can anyone instruct with a winch or scooter tow operation and not be next to the student when they launch (even with assistants)?

But today he had a bunch of helpers. First of all Shane and secondly Rich Cizauskas, who was playing the role of apprentice instructor. With the extra help it would be possible to overcome the control problems and keep the kids safe.

Still, at first, Steve was concerned about the breeze. He's not used to having the help. So he chose to tow the kids himself with Rich and Shane holding onto the wires. Instead of scooter towing it was Steve towing into a nice breeze, right on the north/south runway, away from the trees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spdg46ncNIQ

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

After a while the winds backed off a bit and we started scooter towing (this seemed to coincide with both Steve and Rich getting tired). Rich and Shane would still run with the young pilot to make sure that they were safe, but a few times they weren't able to stay with the pilot and still Steve kept the pilot quite safe keeping them very low to the ground and watching their progress as he throttled them back a bit on the Honda 50.

The kids got plenty of practice and we got to see the Condor 330 fly in slightly windy conditions with light pilots when the proper safety mechanism were in place. Low and slow instruction in action.

Discuss "BlueSky, low and slow man towing" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

BlueSky low and slow towing

Fri, May 23 2008, 11:00:56 am EDT

Low and slow

Olson from Whitewater here to learn how to scooter tow safely

Blue Sky|Paul Olson|scooter tow|Steve Wendt|tow|towing|video

http://www.blueskyhg.com/

Paul Olson was here on Thursday from the Whitewater hang gliding club with instructions to get instruction from Steve Wendt on how to tow safely so that they won't have another of the kind of accident that they've already had with their scooter tow setup in Wisconsin this year (perhaps we can hear from Rik and Paul about that). Steve brought out the Honda Elite 250 to more closely match the 125 at Whitewater and to make it just a little more difficult to be the scooter tow operator.

On Thursday evening Steve and Rich Cizauskas were the wind dummies and later I got to join them for five flights (and one aborted flight) before the sun went down. The wind had been strong all day, but went to zero at 6 PM so we had great conditions for flying the Condor 330 and the Falcon 195.

The idea was, could Paul keep us within five feet of the ground even though the throttle was very touchy on the 250. (Steve uses it almost exclusively for higher tows with experienced pilots.) Our job was to play little tricks on Paul to see if he would catch us and do the right thing. What's the right thing? Almost always to set the pilot down.

I got my first launches since my crash on Mt. Borah. I wasn't sure that I could even run fast enough to keep up with the scooter tow. I can ride pretty fast on my bicycle, but I haven't been running around too much with my not yet fully recovered leg.

I hooked up to the Condor 330, leveled the wings and said "Clear." Paul twisted the accelerator and the rope starting pulling me and the glider. The V-bridle is connected to the harness and to the glider so the glider and I get pulled at the same time and my job was to keep up.

I was surprised right away about how easy it was to run. My job was to let the glider was to let the glider fly at trim, hand off if I felt comfortable with that, and so I just let the glider go, releasing my hands from the down tubes. The glider was pulled so I didn't have to push it along. This wasn't going to help me directly with the launch issues I wanted to deal with, but my first step was to be able to just run with the glider.

It's easy to run and fly without your hands on the downtubes in this configuration (glider being towed) with the scooter tow operator keeping you as low to the ground as possible with no winds to upset the glider. It is also a lot of fun to just hang there and get the feel how the glider flies on its own.

The release is a bicycle brake type release half way up the right down tube and the idea is to release about three quarters of the way down the runway (marked with a cone) toward the turn around pulley. The brake handle is right next to your hand so it is easy to hit the release. You want to release the rope when it is tight so that the rope goes away from you and so that it is sure to be released.

I hiked the glider back, sometimes running with it with my hands in the grapevine grip, just to get some practice running in this configuration. After three tows I let Rich take another flight, before I took the Condor back. We switched back and forth as Steve helped Paul and watched how he did.

On my next time up I decided to run and hold the glider down by keeping my grapevine grip on the downtubes. Steve had talked about teaching students to keep the glider on the ground and the nose down after they learn how to launch, and this is just what I wanted to do. I didn't tell Paul just to see how he would react to the fact that the glider didn't get off the ground as fast as it had been. Would he try to over power the pilot and pull him into the air (the exactly wrong thing to do)?

I told Paul "clear," and he pulled the tow line up tight and I ran down the field. It was easy to keep the glider on the ground and I just pulled in to keep the nose down. After a dozen steps (running), Steve had Paul stop the tow. I felt that Steve had done that because Paul was trying to over power me and get me off the ground and I yelled out that I was trying to stay on the ground.

But that wasn't the issue. I had forgotten to hook in after I took over the glider from Rick. Each of us had our own light weight training harnesses (no connections to the legs beyond leg loops) and I "never" unhook my harness from the glider. Of course, here we are in a new situation and I didn't hook in. That's why Steve told Paul to stop, because Paul missed the fact that I didn't hook in . Steve didn't and he wanted to see if Paul would see it before I launched or would stop the tow after I launched unhooked. He didn't and Steve stopped the tow.

After hooking in I got to launch right away again, keeping the nose down, my hands in a grapevine grip pulling back forcefully on the down tubes and having a good long run until I finally decided to let the bar out a bit and get into the air. This made it a bit difficult for Paul to correctly judge how much to put on the gas, and I got up to fifteen feet.

The sun was beginning to set. Paul was getting much better with the throttle and learning lots of new lessons on how to safely tow pilots. It is so many little details. Steve had taken a flight and deliberately went way to the right to try to force Paul to put him down. Paul failed to do so and Steve released just before he ran into my trailer. Paul was thinking that because it was Steve he would "save" himself in time. Steve emphasized again and again, if things go wrong, just put the pilot down, because he is already low.

Of course, you might want to give the pilot a few seconds to save himself, say make a little turn to get back in line. So scooter tow operators aren't born, they must be trained and learn how to do all the little things that make for safe instruction and towing (and where better to learn, but at BlueSky). One thing that is crucial is for the tow operator to be next to the pilot when they take off, both for safer towing, and also to be able to see what the pilot is doing in order to be able to make a good critique of the pilot's efforts.

On the last tow of the day, as the sun went behind the trees, I took up the Falcon 195. Again I wondered if I could run fast enough with this "small" glider with the smaller wheels. I wanted to pull it in and keep it on the ground for a good run before getting into the air. It turned out to be no problem. I ran for a good ways while pulling in. I hoped that I was in the grapevine grip during the whole run, but without a video of the tow, I can't be sure. I'll be videoing my instruction from now on, I hope.

I expect to progress through a series of steps:

1. Run with Falcon 195 keeping the glider on the ground for a long time.

2. Run with the Falcon 195 being pulled just from the shoulders and not from the keel. This means I have to push the glider with my shoulders and still keep the nose at the right attitude.

3. Run with the Falcon 195 with my Moyes Matrix Race harness instead on the light harness with no bits of the harness to get in the way of my legs and feet. Maybe go back a few steps to the Condor 330 or to pulling the glider from the keel until I am sure that I feel comfortable running with the harness.

4. Run with my Wills Wing T2-144 with my harness.

In between I will be running on the flat lawn here without being towed just to see how it goes and to see if I am ready to run while being towed.

Discuss "BlueSky low and slow towing" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

How not to do hang gliding instruction/towing

November 30, 2007, 8:28:10 GMT+1100

Instruction

Getting the student way too high

instruction|tow

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10194

More on Dragon fly pilots towing over the weekend

Thu, Sep 14 2006, 5:40:30 pm MDT

Towing

Thanks to Zak and Jim Rooney

Jim Rooney|Zac Majors|Dragonfly|tow

We'll have more news about the new world of towing soon.

Discuss "More on Dragon fly pilots towing over the weekend" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Hold my beer, watch this!

Tue, Feb 7 2006, 9:06:52 pm PST

Beer

"Sailsailing" behind a tractor.

parasail|tow|James Greene

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/13811770.htm

An Austin man was killed in a parasailing accident when gusty winds snapped the towrope of his parasail and he was thrown into a tree.

James Greene, 24, was parasailing behind a tractor driven by his father…

Discuss "Hold my beer, watch this!" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Boat Towing »

Fri, Nov 18 2005, 11:00:04 am GMT

Unlimited roads in all directions for payout winch towing.

Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|students|tandem|tow

Boat Towing

Gregg Ludwigg «Skycruiser3» writes:

For the last two years we have been towing (I like to say) an "old way a new way" with the MalibuLaunchSystem (MLS) on a large inland lake north of Houston, Texas. Our standard tandem tow is to 2,000' but usually ends up being 2,500-'3,000'.

This lake area is ideal because it is very hot during a long summer with little wind. We have had some students walk up and solo after three days and get their h-2/PL as follows:

- day one….3 tandems

- day two…..2 tandems

- day three..1 tandem check ride/ 3 solos

Some students will need additional tandems.

Having a boat and winch is much more expensive than just a winch but our "tow road" becomes unlimited with circle tows and we always are able to launch into the wind. We are also able to take or pick up tandems where the people are.

Learning to hang gliding

Sat, Nov 12 2005, 6:00:02 am EST

Towing at Mission Soaring

instruction|tow

https://ozreport.com/9.224#0

Last week I mentioned a Wall Street Journal article on learning to hang glide (see URL above). You can find the article here: https://ozreport.com/docs/wsjournal.htm.

 Discuss hang gliding at the Oz Report forum

Mike Haas's accident at Hang Glide Chicago

Tue, Sep 13 2005, 6:00:06 pm GMT

The USHGA official hang glider Accident Review Chairman.

Mike Haas

accident|aerobatics|aerotow|Hang Glide Chicago|job|Joe Gregor|Mike Haas|site|tow|USHGA|weather|XC

Joe Gregor «air_medal» writes:

After Angelo's post in the Oz Report I decided to review my information concerning the reporting on Mike's accident. In his e-mails to me, Angelo's concern seemed centered on a lack of acknowledgement for his contribution, and the long timeframe required for the report to hit the magazine.

Angelo did indeed send me a detailed report via US Mail, which all have now seen, and which I used in drafting the Executive Summary for the column in HG Magazine. Other sources include statements from at least four other witnesses and numerous e-mail messages of discussions concerning the accident from a digest maintained by the local club.

At the time of Mike's accident I had been the HG Accident Review Chairman for only a few months. There was no one on the committee but myself. In the previous three months, we had experienced seven fatalities or near-fatalities:

3/3 on an XC from LMFP,
4/22 on a launch from Sugarloaf Peak, CA,
5/17 a structural failure experienced during aerobatics in NC (Bo's accident),
5/28 another structural failure at Dry Canyon, NM,
6/19 a h-2 outlanding at Hull Mountain, CA,
6/24 a severe weather related event at King Mountain, ID,
and 2 days later, on 6/26, Mike Hass' accident.

There is no way that one man (even if he didn't have two jobs and a family) could simultaneously perform a creditable investigation of seven geographically separated accidents and maintain situational awareness with the constant flow of minor accident reports flowing in day-by-day. The only solution was to create a process which relied on local volunteers to conduct the data collection and at least some of the analysis for each major accident.

I tried to outline a vision for this process in one of my early columns. The USHGA SOPs call on the Regional Directors to serve in this role, and they are the first people I look to, but we are all volunteers (the accident review committee has limited resources and no budget) so I would appoint as Principle Investigator whomever seemed willing, motivated, and in the best position to accomplish the task. I would draft an Executive Summary for the column based on their input, be it a larger report (my ultimate desire) or just a collection of facts and analysis they were able to put together and/or send my way. I would share the Summary with the Principle Investigator for their comment and changes before submitting it to the magazine. Is it a prefect process? No, the resources don't exist for perfect, but it was at least functional.

In the case of Mike's accident several names were offered up to me as a potential Lead for the investigation. Angelo's was not one of them, presumably because he was not on-site at the time of the accident. Everyone should be thankful to Gary for stepping up to the plate when no one else was willing. Had it not been for him, it seemed to me at the time, no creditable investigation of Mike's accident could have been accomplished. Angelo's report was received by USHGA on 27 September - three months after the accident - and sometime later forwarded to me. I included it with all of the other information coming to me on Mike's accident, but I continued to look to Gary to lead this particular investigation, as I looked to others to lead the remaining six accidents. When Angelo e-mailed me 6-7 months later wanting to know why nothing had been done, I believe I told him that Gary was on it and that he should send his information Gary's way so it could be included in Gary's report. I agree, it would be desirable for the committee chair to acknowledge every letter, report, and e-mail as they come in. There is simply not enough time in the day.

I also acknowledge the long time it took for Mike's accident to make it into the magazine. I do not know what can or should be done to accelerate the process in this regard. Even running the extremely long columns I was writing, at two accidents per column, and one column every other month, and a two month set-up time for the magazine, it would take over nine months to achieve print on the fatal/near-fatal accidents we had lying in wait. In addition, I felt it would be unfair to unduly rush those who volunteered to give up their time and energy to do the difficult job of investigating these accidents.

In my mind the major point of the magazine column is to relate lessons learned. These lessons will not spoil due to a few months delay. They may spoil if the investigation is rushed, however. Since the magazine column format is ill suited to play the role of instant messaging anyway, I felt that any attempts to rush an investigation would prove counter-productive. If you want immediate dissemination, the Oz Report is the appropriate vehicle, not the magazine.

As for the Conclusions and Recommendations, I probably deserve to take a small hit there. The Probable Cause is the part that relates to what made the accident happen. But the Recommendations, those are there to help others find a way to avoid suffering the same fate. The Probable (and I mean probable) Cause in Mike's accident was, quite literally, a failure to maintain aircraft control. Nothing more definitive than that can be said. But telling pilots that the lesson learned here is to maintain control of your glider, that is less than illuminating. So when I write a Recommendation, it is not intended to outline should have been done in this accident; it is intended to highlight things that could be done to mitigate or prevent a similar future accident.

In the info I received on Mike's accident, there was no objective logbook review. Instead, in addition to Angelo's report, I received things like: "This pilot was very experienced at coastal ridge soaring, and less experienced (although he had recent experience at a FL aeropark) with aerotow." There was no consensus that Mike had ever towed the higher performance wing he was flying the day of the accident, and Angelo himself one e-mail stated that "It's very possible that this was his first tow on the Lightsport." One reporter indicated that Mike had recently taken a few years off to build a house "but still managed a few dune flights each year." His last reported aerotow was in October of 2003. Altogether in my mind, this became an experienced foot-launch pilot who had relatively little aerotow experience, and none of it current. I admit that this may have been a poor characterization, but that is what I came away with from the information presented to me of a pilot whom I unfortunately never knew.

With 20/20 hindsight, in the case of Mike's accident, I should have written "flying a new class of wing" or "after a long break in activity, indicated reduced proficiency" or something similar; rather than using the all-encompassing "new launch method" phrase. Water under the bridge. I have done the best I know how given the limited resources at my disposal. My Reserve commander once said that you know you are in the zone when your employer, your family, and the Reserves are all equally pissed-off at you. By that criterion I have achieved 'balance.' I strongly encourage anyone interested in the position of HG Accident Review Committee Chair to contact USHGA and let them know. I see no need to carry out a task that could be better performed by another willing volunteer. Your application will have my full support.

Discuss "Mike Haas's accident at Hang Glide Chicago" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Arlan

Fri, Sep 2 2005, 3:00:00 pm GMT

Two very unnecessary deaths.

Arlan Birkett

accident|altitude|Angelo Mantas|Arlan Birkett|Cloud 9|competition|crash|fatality|Gary Solomon|Guy Denney|Hang Glide Chicago|HG & PG Magazine|Joe Gregor|John Licata|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Mike Haas|Nathan Martin|news|Peter Birren|PG|power|sport|tandem|tow|tug|weaklink

Peter Birren «peterb» writes:

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I report Arlan Birkett and a student died Saturday evening, September 3, during a tandem flight at Hang Glide Chicago. Arlan's family in Madison, Wisconsin has been contacted with the news and arrangements will be forthcoming.

From the south end of the NS grass runway, John Licata saw the take off. Arlan was towed to the north, across low power lines and a highway, then appeared to have a major problem with the glider. At a height of about 250 feet, the glider turned 180º and, John says, fluttered to the ground like a wounded bird, tumbling and spinning as opposed to a so-called lawn dart. The impact was in a corn field north of the airport. The student's girl friend was present and was interviewed by the police.

A few possible scenarios and situations can be imagined but they are only speculative. The description, however, seems to point to some sort of a structural failure. More information and suppositions will be available tomorrow when the wreckage is thoroughly inspected.

Arlan and Hang Glide Chicago were just this month featured with a nice 2-page article in Hang Gliding & Paragliding Magazine. Arlan had been an instructor for about 10 years (longer?) And contributed greatly to a sport he loved so much.

Angelo Mantas «Angelomant» writes:

I'm stunned. I'm having a real hard time processing this on a personal level. Last year Mike, then another good friend and former HG pilot was killed last month in a motorcycle accident. Now this.

I have very little info on this. Apparently the glider got off line, then the weak link broke at the tug. This happened around 250', according to the tug pilot, Gary Solomon. Despite the altitude, it sounds like they impacted at a fairly steep angle, although this information is third hand. John Licata witnessed this, but didn't want to talk about it anymore, which is understandable since he also witnessed Mike Haas' crash.

Given the time of day, conditions should have been smooth. There are some thoughts pilots have shared with me, but they are pure speculation so I won't mention them at this time. John and Kris Grzyb are supposed to look over the glider tomorrow.

Arlan was a great guy. He was involved with banking, but walked away from that to start a HG business because that's what he wanted to do. When I got recertified as an instructor last year, instead of seeing me as competition, he thought it would be good to have someone around to do hill training, and gave me an old but airworthy trainer. His efforts gave lots of pilots a great place to fly or just hang out. His quiet demeanor and droll wit will be sorely missed.

Nathan Martin «natdogg1» writes:

Easily the best man I've ever met died today and his student barely older than I (20s). Arlan Birkett and Jeremia died on impact today around roughly 6-6:30 PM. Apparently what can only be described as a freak accident occurred. The glider got out of whack and wasn't corrected soon enough, this progressed into a lockout. At this point no-one is yet sure why, but it is known that the weaklink failed to break (250lb) and as far as we understand the tow rope broke (400+lb test) they were at a high angle of roll and had no time to recover. This all occurred immediately after takeoff and they couldn't of been higher than a few hundred feet.

I had known this man nearly six years of my life and had never witnessed anything less than great respect and kindness to all he knew. Jeremiah was in his 20s I believe and was thought to be a slick pilot by other instructors and was expected to solo. Both will be missed greatly and the holes in our hearts will take some time to mend.

(editor's note: These are very preliminary observations. Guy Denney «guydenney» will be writing up a report and sending it to Joe Gregor and hopefully to the Oz Report. Recent reports indicate that there was apparently no problem with the tandem glider in advance of the lockout. I have asked Guy the following questions:

How heavy was the student? How heavy was Arlan?
How many flights did this student have before this flight?
How long was the tow rope? Was it longer than the regular rope used for towing regular pilots? Was it 300 feet long?
Could the tandem have hit the prop wash? Was the tandem below the tug?
Did Arlan have extra handles on the down tubes to allow him to have extra control (like they do here at Cloud 9)?
What was the strength on the tandem side of the weaklink? Was it stronger than the tug side weaklink?

Arlan used an over/under style harness and the student pilot was on the bottom.


Here is the tandem over/under harness setup at Cloud9.)

Discuss "Arlan" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Fatality Report

Learning from an aerotowing accident from last year

Mike Haas

Tue, Aug 30 2005, 2:00:00 pm GMT

accident|aerotow|Angelo Mantas|bridle|cart|Dave Whedon|Dragonfly|equipment|fatality|foot launch|HG & PG Magazine|Matt Taber|Mike Haas|Moyes Litesport|Moyes Xtralite|safety|tail|tow|tug|ultralite|winch

Angelo Mantas «Angelomant» writes:

Analysis - Mike Haas Fatality

Scenario - Mike’s accident happened during midday thermal conditions. He was flying a Moyes 147 Litesport, aerotowing it off of a launch dolly. Several witnesses saw the accident, but I give Dave Whedon’s account the most weight, because a) He saw the entire event, from start to finish, and b) He was watching several tows intently to see what conditions were like, since he hadn’t towed in a while.

The tug was given the “go” signal. Dave said that almost as soon as Mike launched off the cart, he appeared to be having difficulty with both pitch and roll control. Then, at around 50' - 60’, the glider pitched up radically and started arcing to the left. Somewhere around this time the weak link broke, or the pilot released. The glider continued rotating left and dove into the ground, first hitting the left wing tip, then nose. The glider’s pitch was near vertical on impact, confirmed by the fact that the control bar, except for a bend in one downtube, was basically intact, whereas the keel and one leading edge snapped just behind the nose plate junction. This all happened fairly quickly. Based on witness and tug pilot accounts, the glider was never over 100’.

Despite help reaching him almost instantly, attempts to revive him proved futile. Mike suffered a broken spinal cord and was probably killed instantly.

Causes - In examining the circumstances surrounding the accident, it seems to me that several factors, which by themselves might not cause major problems, combined to lead to Mike's losing control of the glider.

1) New, high performance glider.

2) Larger size glider than what he was used to.

3) A fast flying tug (Kolb)

4) Flying through a thermal just after launching.

5) A rearward keel attachment point on the “V” bridle.

Mike had only one previous flight on his new Litesport, in laminar coastal ridge soaring conditions. Although he flew over two hours, he probably never flew the glider at the speeds encountered when aerotowing. Mike had many aerotows on a Moyes Xtralite, but according to Matt Taber, the Litesport doesn’t track as well at high speed. The Litesport was also bigger than his Xtralite, which would make it less responsive and harder to control.

The tug used was a Kolb ultralight. Although this tug had an increased wing span than normal Kolbs, it still tows at a higher speed than a Dragonfly. I can tell you from my own experience that it is harder to tow behind a faster tug.

Soon after launching, the glider and tug flew through a strong thermal. This is confirmed by witnesses watching the tug, and the tug pilot’s reporting a strong spike in climb rate.

Here is where some controversy might come in: on examining the wreckage, Arlan (tug pilot) saw where the upper “V” bridle was attached, and immediately felt that that was a possible cause of the accident. It was attached at the hang point, and in his opinion, was too far back for a stable tow. Since then, there has been debate on whether or not that was a safe attachment point. That positioning on the keel was recommended to him by the seller, and apparently many other pilots have towed a Litesport from the same position. Shortly after the accident, some pilots in Wisconsin did an aerotow of a Litesport from slightly behind the hang point, and reported it towed fine.

I agree with Arlan that the upper bridle attachment point contributed to the accident. The test done in Wisconsin was done early in the morning in stable conditions, and the pilot weighed 50 more pounds than Mike. Just because others have managed to tow with this upper bridle position, doesn’t mean it’s safe, especially for pilots on the light end of the weight range.

To sum up, Mike was flying a glider that was bigger than what he was used to, with less stability at the higher speeds needed to stay behind the Kolb. Even with Mike’s hang gliding experience, these factors would tax his abilities. These difficulties would be magnified by the de-stabilizing effect of the rearward keel bridle attachment and the faster speed of the Kolb tug. Already struggling (as witnesses state), when Mike hit the thermal, a difficult situation became impossible. Mike lost control, and either locked out or stalled, leading to his dive into the ground.

How can we prevent this from happening in the future?

A proper keel attachment would have made the glider fly faster without a lot of bar pressure. It also would have made the glider more stable in yaw, because the tow force would be farther in front of the CG. My own experience has been that since moving my keel attachment further forward, tows are much more stable.

Using a tail fin - Tail fins definitely help stabilize gliders on aerotow, especially high performance gliders that may be less stable in yaw. A too rearward keel bridle attachment can be overcome with a fin. Many aerotow parks use tail fins on their demo gliders. The downside to fins is that they can make thermaling difficult on many gliders, but they can still be a valuable tool to make your glider safer while you figure out where your keel bridle attachment should be.

First tows of new gliders in smooth conditions. It is much easier to aerotow a new glider when the air is smooth. Learn how the glider tows in calm air, make any equipment adjustments necessary, then later tow in midday, thermal air.

Practice flying your glider fast before aerotowing it. If you foot launch or static tow your glider, you can literally fly for years without ever flying at the speeds involved with aerotowing. Even platform/payout winch towing doesn't involve those speeds. Practice pulling in the bar and keep it there. Easy? Now try to make a small heading correction and keep it. Good chance you’ll be PIOing all over. This kind of practice definitely pays off.

Wind streamers along runway. It’s agreed that Mike hit a strong thermal shortly after launching. Placing streamers on both sides of the runway, at regular intervals, would help detect if a thermal is coming through the takeoff area. If all the streamers are pointing the same way, it’s safe to launch. If some of the streamers start moving other directions or reversing, it’s obvious some kind of turbulence is coming through. This is not a new idea, it’s not expensive (wood stakes and surveyor's tape) yet I’ve never seen anyone do this. Maybe it’s time we start.

Mike was a Hang IV pilot with over twenty years experience. He was not a “hot dog” and was very safety conscious. No one who knew Mike could believe that this happened to him. Although I feel I have a better understanding now of what happened, I can’t help feeling that if this could happen to him, none of us are safe.

(editor's noticed: There was an earlier, and different accident report published in June in HG/PG Magazine.)

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

Bridle killed the hang glider pilot

Fri, Feb 11 2005, 1:00:02 pm GMT

Spinnaker shackles

Robin Strid

bridle|Dave Broyles|fatality|HPAC|release|Robin Strid|Rohan Holtkamp|safety|tow|USHGA|weaklink|Worlds 2005

"Special Pro Tow" https://OzReport.com/8.190#5

Other releases: http://www.hanglide.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=LME&Category_Code=AE and http://www.birrendesign.com/LKAero.html

Scare «Gerry» writes:

There are several different types of bridles described, diagrammed, or pictured here: http://hpac.ca/tow/HPAC_Tow_Manual.asp#3.3. We would like to have more pictures too, and would also appreciate any comments or advice you might have. How is it done where you are?

Robin Strid died because the weaklink wrapped around one leg of his spinnaker shackle. The weaklink was too strong to break. The weaklink was made of multiple loops. At least, that's the story that I heard Rohan Holtkamp, who investigated the accident, present to the team leaders at the Worlds.

The ends of the legs of the shackle were thicker than the middle. The weaklink caught up on the thicker ends of the legs after the shackle was opened by the release cable. Look at the first article linked to above to see the fat legs.

One of the legs rotates when the release is opened and the weaklink has to slide over the thicker leg. I'm communicating with Rohan to get better answers to what happened to Robin and how to avoid this in the future.

Another release system: http://www.flycyprus.com/release.html

Dave Broyles (USHGA Safety and Training Committee Chairman) comments on the spinnaker shackle here.

I'll have much more on releases soon. Send me your thoughts on bridles and releases and any pictures of bridles.

Discuss "Bridle killed the hang glider pilot" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flytec Championship - it hurts to be popular »

Mon, Mar 1 2004, 9:00:01 pm GMT

The Flytec Championship is way over subscribed this year, many are on the waiting list and many have been turned away altogether.

competition

calendar|competition|Competition Committee|Florida Ridge|Flytec Championships 2004|Flytec Championships 2005|Oz Report|South Florida Championships 2004|Steve Kroop|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2004|tow|USHGA

USHGA sanctioned meets are required to have an opening date and time for the beginning of registration. This is a requirement to ensure that pilots can register for the meet and be accepted on a first come first serve only basis. The USHGA feels that the system that is most fair to all the pilots is one with a stated registration date and time and first come first serve.

Also the USHGA requires that 66% of the available slots for a meet be set aside for US pilots, until there are no more US pilots on the waiting list.

The 2004 Flytec Championships registration date and time was 9 AM EST on December 15th. Within two hours the thirty one foreign pilot slots were filled up. The ever organized French team had taken twelve of those precious spots.

Within two days the fifty nine US pilot slots were full. Currently that are nine US pilots on the waiting list and twenty nine foreign pilots. There are twenty five class five rigid wing pilots in the meet.

According to Steve Kroop this is the greatest demand by foreign pilots for any of the Flytec Championships. Perhaps the good word about how much fun it is to fly here in Florida has gotten around. This level of enthusiasm has been sustained even though originally when these guys signed up there was no talk about a second meet in Florida, now there is the South Florida Championships at the Florida Ridge.

Steve had originally thought that foreign pilots would re reluctant to come to Florida for only one meet, but it seems not to be the case. Competition turns out to continue to be very popular.

So with a long waiting list it appears as though some pilots will be disappointed this year. Perhaps they can get into the South Florida Championships. As USHGA BOD Competition Committee Chairman I am working hard to get other US competitions USHGA sanctioned so that we can provide more high level competition opportunities.

Check out the ads here in the Oz Report for the Team Challenge and the South Florida Championship. Also check out the Oz Report calendar at https://OzReport.com/calendar.php.

Steve hopes to have additional towing resources at the upcoming meets so that he can allow for more competitors, but it is not clear that he will be able to do so. Perhaps tow pilots can piggy back on the South Florida Championships if enough people enter, so as to afford to come down to Florida.

Discuss "Flytec Championship - it hurts to be popular" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

The 15th Annual Pre-Worlds 2004 - day seven, task four

Wed, Jan 21 2004, 5:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros|Aeros Combat|aerotow|Airborne Climax|Dave Seib|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litespeed S|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|Pre-Worlds 2004|Rohan Holtkamp|safety|Steve Moyes|Tove Heaney|tow|weaklink

Results (thanks to Dave Seib) at:

http://www.moyes.com.au/preworlds2004/

Like I reported yesterday the day was forecast to be windy and with thunderstorms, and it is blowing 40 kph when we get to the paddock. But, unlike yesterday, the safety committee now is committed to waiting to see if it calms down, even if we have to wait until 3 PM. The lift is predicted to stop at 4,000'.

There are some cu's forming in the distant east which look like the precursors of a little over development. It doesn't look nearly as bad as it did the day that we canceled the task in mid flight, but it could be a bother.

The task committee has set a task 137 kilometers to the east down the Sturt highway. We will stick to that task the whole day in spite of arguments for the different directions (not possible given the 40 kph winds), the coming change (slowly coming), and the line of towering cu's (fly under them) in our way.

The safety committee is unfortunately split between two car towing guys and Martin at the aerotowing place. This is a bad idea. In the Hay Open we had all the safety committee at the car towing end, so that they don't get scared by the wind noise in the trees at the aerotowing spot. Also you need to have the safety committee all in one place to make a decision. The task committee doesn't even hear from the two other safety committee members until way late.

No one is setting up their gliders as we wait out the strong surface winds with the thought that it looks like they should calm down. Attila gives us the same report on the upper winds as the day before, with 35-40 kph strengths and bumpy.

Finally, at 2 PM the surface winds die down to reasonable strengths. I don't know if the safety committee at the car towing area is set up all ready or not, but the aerotow folks get their gliders off the cars and begin to setup. We call a three o'clock launch window and a four o'clock start clock.

The launch gets delayed at 3 PM when the surface winds come up again for a few minutes. The clouds are building quite nicely to the east and that is freaking out some people. Paul, Martin, Jonny and I are flaying about trying to get the task going, when I finally realize that we haven't heard from the other two safety committee guys. Paul calls them up and sure enough they are keen to go (Dave Seib, one safety committee member, relies on the other, Phil Schroeder, to make the call). Well, that's a majority, so I say, let's go, it's decided.

The launch reopens at 3:30 and the start time starts at 4 PM. I insist on starting a half hour after the launch window opens because: Everyone was ready for 3 PM, there is no need to wait and we want to encourage pilots to start launching right away and not wait because they thin that they will be blown out of the 20 km start circle before the first start time, in fact, there is no way anyone is going to get to the start circle circumference by 4 PM because it is 20 km away, so I want the start time opened so that pilots can start whenever they get to the edge of the start circle, and finally we set 10 minute start intervals given all the winds.

Bo is off first in our line and I'm right behind him. Unfortunately at 600' the tow rope breaks (I've got a stronger weaklink) under only minimal pressure. This puts me to the back of the line. Not good.

No gaggles form over the paddock as most pilots are blown down wind in light lift. Bo gets to 7,000' over the tow paddock and Jon Durand, Sr. gets to over 7,500'. They are the exceptions.

I don't launch until 4:30 and there are still five or six guys yet to tow. I drift out of the paddock at 2,500' with the wind west at 40 kph.

I'm down to 900' AGL before I find some good lift that gets me to 5,000' at the edge of the start circle at 5 PM. This is a late day, and for the most part the lift is quite weak although on the first two thermals both inside the start circle it averages 300 fpm. It will average 150 fpm after that.

Even with the strong winds and gentle lift I'm really liking flying the Moyes Litespeed S 4.5. It seems very responsive in this air and I'm pushed out circling up in the lift when I find it. I'm relaxed, the glider feels stable, and I'm zooming fast over the ground. My average L/D will be 25:1, so you know the wind is blowing.

About forty kilometers out from the tow paddock I'll come in under three pilots including Steve Moyes. Tove will come and join me low and we'll work from 1,200' to 3,000' AGL in 200 fpm. The guys above us will just continue to stick in the thermal even when it gets very very light.

We'll go on glide from low without the other higher pilots and look for lift along the Sturt highway trying to stay away from the large rice operations with their wet fields. I zig zag about and finally find lift at 900' AGL again while Tove misses it to the right and lands. Steve Moyes is right near me and watches as I dig out from this hole. He and I are going up.

The cu nimbs have formed in a line off to our northeast. It looks like it is possible to make it to goal without getting in under the over development. I can see lightening under the area where it is raining, and a wall of dust stretching about 30 kilometers. The wind has switched with west northwest to southwest as we approach the storm. It feels like the cloud of dust is far enough away and stationary so that it won't bother us. The wind is so strong out here away from the storm that it is hard to imagine the storm doing anything but calming the winds.

I'll circle while drifting almost twelve kilometers getting to 3,400' AGL. Then it is an eighteen kilometer glide toward the wall of dust without a low save at the end, even though I find zero sink at 800' for about five kilometers.

I'll end up 48 kilometers out at sixteenth for the day. Steve Moyes who was just above me will get to within 41 kilometers. Kevin Carter will make goal (among the few) and Bo will go down 89 kilometers out from goal. Bo doesn't find any lift after getting high at the tow paddock. The same will happen to Diego Bussinger.

Some of the pilots who make goal well get nearer the storm cell and ride the air above the wall of dust. The winds die down in this area, but the air gets bumpy. Rohan Holtkamp will fly until 7:45 and get to within 25 kilometers of goal. Kraig Coomber will land 53 kilometers out.

Results from task four:

1

Hazlett Brett

Moyes Litespeed S4

Can

1:36:05

892

2

Pritchard Phil

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

1:51:47

846

3

Bares Radek

Aeros Combat

Cze

1:43:14

834

4

Bondarchuk Oleg

Aeros Combat 2 13

Ukr

1:52:15

825

5

Durand Jon Jnr.

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

1:52:20

820

6

Durand Jon Snr

Moyes Litespeed S4.5

Aus

1:49:06

808

7

Carter Kevin

Aeros Combat 2 13

Usa

2:08:36

761

Overall Results:

1

Hazlett Brett

Moyes Litespeed S4

Can

3602

2

Bondarchuk Oleg

Aeros Combat 2 13

Ukr

3474

3

Durand Jon Jnr.

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

3423

4

Holtkamp Rohan

Airborne Climax 13

Aus

3120

5

Bares Radek

Aeros Combat

Cze

3089

6

Durand Jon Snr

Moyes Litespeed S4.5

Aus

3087

7

Coomber Kraig

Moyes Litespeed S

Aus

3039

8

Moyes Steve

Moyes Litespeed S5

Aus

3018

9

Barthelmes Oliver

Moyes Litespeed S4

Deu

2875

10

Pritchard Phil

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

2847

Oliver Barthelmes «oliverbarthelmes» sends this picture of Belinda and I (that I think Carol took) in from of the Airborne Climax:

The 15th Annual Pre-Worlds 2004 - day six

Tue, Jan 20 2004, 5:00:00 pm GMT

aerotow|battens|Brett Hazlett|competition|Dave Seib|Dragonfly|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Ken Brown|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litespeed S|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|photo|Pre-Worlds 2004|record|safety|tail|tow|variable geometry|weather

Results (thanks to Dave Seib) at:

http://www.moyes.com.au/preworlds2004/

Five days ago the forecast was for 30-35 kph northwest winds on this day, and slightly lighter winds tomorrow with the possibility of showers. I've been impressed with the weather modeling services provided to Len Baron who is handling the weather here, much as I do at the US meets.

I'm also impressed with Len's improved ability to forecast the weather. Having the fast internet connection and the fact that we get a local temperature trace and wind speed and direction at altitude when they send a Dragonfly up at 8 AM definitely helps. Len also has a whirling psychromiter to give us the wet and dry bulb temperatures in the tow paddock.

Today Len's thermometer recorded thirty six degrees dry bulb and nineteen wet bulb. The clouds to the east likewise told the news that cloudbase was 11,000'.

The winds were indeed quite strong, 20 to 30 kph out of the northwest in the tow paddock and, given the instability, dust devils would come through every so often and really stir everything up. My Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 was tied to a tree, tensioned and the wings horizontal, so it was easy to set up while the winds blew hard. There were plenty of lulls that provided for very launchable conditions.

Kraig and Jonny worked on my Litespeed S 4.5 last night and got the pulley back in shape. I also got Kraig to show we how to roll up the sail. I just need to start near the front and not at the tip, and that worked great.

A pilot writes:

Re your VG line jumping off the pulley. It has happened to me twice. First time your shaking method allowed marginal movement. Then I set it back on the pulley for next flight. Last summer though, it got totally squeezed inside of one of the pulleys that are deep in the upright.

Ken Brown sent me diagrams of the mechanism right away. I had to take the whole assembly out of the upright but freed it up. Now, when loosening VG I always remember to let it out slowly not with a mindless snap.

The pulley that got out of whack for me was the one on top of the keel by the pilot's hang point. I was conveniently located to allow Kraig to smash it back together. Everything seems to be working fine now.

Very few pilots were setting up and this is always a bad sign. Dave Seib was on the safety committee and all setup and ready to fly. But the other two safety committee members were not set up.

The task committee looked at the strong tail winds and decided to call a 301 kilometer task, to try to break the record set the day before of 242 kilometers (150 miles) as the longest task set and made in a major hang gliding competition. We could fly to Brown Bothers Winery, or to the Mt. Beauty airport, but to get 301 kilometers we needed to throw in a turnpoint and go to Holbrook, the town with the submarine.

The task was called, but the safety committee voted to call the day given the statement from Attila in the Dragonfly that the winds were 35 to 40 kph and the gusts up above were very strong. Attila and Dave will be among a number of pilots who later take off and try to fly 300 kilometers from Hay. I remember when Conrad flew from Hay to the Mt. Beauty airport (225 miles). He was up in the mountains but didn't feel good about flying over them.

Paul Rundell, the meet director, feels that the day was wasted by a bad call by the safety committee to not fly. He says, "This isn't Disneyland." I think he means Disneyworld, in Florida.

You'll notice that Brett Hazlett is in the lead with Oleg, now that he is feeling better, just behind him. On Tuesday, Brett was following Oleg as closely as he could to make sure that Oleg didn't gain more than a second on him. You've got to be good to follow Oleg, and Brett was being smart to follow the guy who has best chance of beating you.

Wednesday is the last day. The forecast is for thunderstorms.

The people and businesses in Hay have been great to us this year with many vouchers for dinners and other services. We are taking the car in for new shocks and an oil change thanks to the local Toyota dealer.

Oliver Barthelmes «oliverbarthelmes» sends this photo of the setup area in Hay for the aerotow guys. Notice that many pilots have staked their gliders into the ground and set them up into the wind. This works very well with gliders that can be tensioned and then the battens inserted:

Discuss "The 15th Annual Pre-Worlds 2004 - day six" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The 15th Annual Pre-Worlds 2004 - day five, task three

Mon, Jan 19 2004, 5:00:00 pm GMT

Pre-Worlds 2004

Results (thanks to Dave Seib) at:

http://www.moyes.com.au/preworlds2004/

Attila says forget about getting dinner if he is on the task committee. With the winds 10-15 kph out of the north-northeast, we call a 150 mile (242 kilometer) task south-southwest to Victoria and the Bendigo gliding club. Everyone seems up for a long straight out task, so why not.

The last time we had a task like this and we made it to goal was at the previous preworlds when Mad Dog was the meet director and he wanted to average 100 mile tasks. The lift got me to 11,000' on that day under a beautiful cloud street, but today we are forecast to get to 7,000' and it will be blue.

Being on the task committee interferes with getting into the launch line but I weasel my way in and am off third. I'm thinking that maybe the earlier start clock is the go at 1:30 (first start clock) or 1:45. I'm rushing everything to get ready and actually input the task coordinates while I'm on the cart.

Grant pulls me into 900 fpm, but the other pilots around me in the start circle seem to have poor lift and nothing is really gelling yet. I launched at 1:15 and see a couple of pilots out by the start circle circumference at 1:30, but that seems like a thin crew to go with. With poor lift in the start circle after my first climb the pilots are bobbling up and down waiting for the next start time. A few more take the 1:45.

A group of pilots heads for the edge of the circle just before the 2 PM start time and they find a thermal that drift us outside the start circle, but not far enough that we can't get back and take the 2 PM start time. Another group of pilots including the fast guys will wait and go back for the 2:15.

I'm a bit low at the start, and with a radio that will not allow me to transmit, so I head south-southeast to get near the highway to Denniliquin, which parallels the course line. There are ten or fifteen pilots in our group so it looks like I might have company. Jonny Durand has gone off my himself further upwind to the east of the highway.

With pilots out in front from the earlier start times and those who were higher at the start gate there are good markers heading down the highway. We're getting to 5,500' AGL and moving along at a good clip leaving the lift whenever it gets a bit weaker.

I'm noticing that I can't easily adjust the Litespeed VG. It has been hard before, but now I have to shake the glider to get the VG off. I also have to pull the cord across my body with my left arm to get the VG to go to a little past half way. I'm wondering what the problem is as I decide to keep the VG on at about half way and try not to mess with it.

At 80 km from the start the highway does a bit of a jog to the south east and I head out on my own over the dirt roads to the southwest paralleling the course. Yesterday I left my buddies to my great regret. On that day I already had 15 minutes on them, and if I had just stayed with Lenny I would have either won the day or come in second. The difference is that on that day I was acting on pride thinking that these guys were too slow for the likes of me. Today, it just seems like the lift is good and I'm moving in the right direction.

I'm crossing the creek six kilometers west of Waganella, and just getting light lift as I glide south-southwest. It's not enough to turn in, but it's great just to be in lift while gliding. Makes me feel good about my decision to go off on my own. Jonny Durand is to my east also on his own. No fast guys to go with him.

As I glide in the lift I hit a strong core and climb to 7,000' in the best thermal of the day so far. After that invigorating climb I'll go on a 20 kilometer glide and start searching seriously for lift at 3,000' AGL. The Edwards River is up ahead and that means trees along the river. I know that I have to find lift before I cross the trees not because I won't be able to make it over the trees, but because I won't be able to concentrate on finding lift if I also have to think about crossing the trees low.

I am searching and searching finding small bits at 1,500' and heading toward some paddocks that extend further south before the tree line hoping to extend my search before coming to the trees. I circle low in broken loft always searching when I'm finally in the last paddock before the trees and I find lift at 700'. Without a working radio, I've got to make it to goal.

I saw some pilots behind me when I first climbed out to 7,000'. Now after my low save I see three of them to my west more on the course line. I come in under them and the lift is decent to almost 7,000'. I've been on the course for over two hours now and am averaging about 55 kph.

Up ahead I can see the trees that mark the Murray River and that is the line that we cross to get from New South Wales into Victoria. The trees are to our right, west, and in some place they must be 5 kilometers across or more. Further south they appear to be thinner, and that's where I'm heading.

I can hear Bo Hagewood and Kevin Carter on the radio 15 to 20 kilometers behind me. Kevin also started at 2, but Bo took the 2:15. Bo is near the fast guys who took the 2:15 clock. It looks like in spite of my low save I'm progressing along well enough.

As I approach the trees from the east, I can see a few other pilots who are also heading south near the tree line heading for the thin spot to get over them. I come in over a red plowed field and climb out to 7,000' again. Nick, from Switzerland, and another pilot will come in a few thousand feet under me and I get high a few kilometers before the trees.

There is a small gaggle a few thousand feet below me as I head out over the trees. It looks like the fast guys are about 10 kilometers behind and I'm high and on my own. I find a good thermal in the brown fields just on the other side of the river so at 75 kilometers out from goal at 5:15 and right on the course line it looks good for getting there.

A couple of pilots come in under me but too far below me as I climb in this thermal to 6,000', so I'm on my own again going to goal. It will remain that way.

I head off to the west a bit to get over some red plowed fields as I get low and have to search again at 1,500'. I see a few little wisps of dust devils over the field, which is a good reason to go to such a field that can display the lift, drive upwind to them and climb out.

I'll have to repeat that little maneuver one more time to stay up. Meanwhile to my east the fast guys will be finding better lift and catching me as I grovel low in search more over the red fields. Bo and Kevin will be flying together and with the fast guys.

It's a slow climb out 24 kilometers from goal to 5,000', but then it looks like I can go on final glide. It's after six o'clock and I'm looking at a 15 kph tail wind, with buoyant late day air over open fields. There is some sink heading for goal, but at 15:1 L/D required to make it, I can float along until I get close and then dive in.

The last two slow climbs cost me the chance to get in early. Jonny Durand flew the whole flight on his own and won the day. Gerolf landed early.

My average L/D over the flight was 17:1, so you know that the tail wind was a big help.

On landing at goal, I had Jonny look at the glider to see what was wrong with the VG. There was a rope that had jumped out of the pulley and was jammed between the pulley and the clamp holding the pulley.

When I was setting up net to Jonny in the morning at the tow paddock. I had mentioned to him how the Climax VG was much more user friendly, easier to pull, less rope. He stated that that was fine, but he had heard that Rohan had had a problem with the rope jumping from the pulley, so there were problems with the Climax VG, implying that there weren't with the Litespeed VG.

I guess God heard him and punished me by having my rope jump off the VG and then having Jonny find it. I spoke with Rohan at goal and he said that it did happen to him once on the Climax in Brazil and that it was on a prototype setup. Kraig and Jonny were very helpful and took that glider to be fixed. Again, I found something that no one had found before. I'm wonder now if this has been my problem with the VG being hard to pull (part of it being user unfriendly) all along.

Task 3:

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

1

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Durand Jon Jnr.

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:00:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:00:48

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:48

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

977

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bondarchuk Oleg

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat 2 13

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Ukr

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:07

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:07

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

961

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

3

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Hazlett Brett

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Can

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:08

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:08

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

955

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Coomber Kraig

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:24

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:24

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

945

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bader Lucas

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Deu

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:32

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:32

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

939

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Hagewood Bo

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat Ii 150

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Usa

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:32

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:32

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

939

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

7

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Barthelmes Oliver

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Deu

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:39

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:39

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

930

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

8

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bosman Mart

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Nld

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:40

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:40

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

927

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

9

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Hideaki Nagamitsu

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed 4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Jpn

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:15:56

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:00:56

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

918

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

10

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bares Radek

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Cze

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

14:15:00

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

18:16:03

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4:01:03

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

912

Totals after three days:

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

1

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Hazlett Brett

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Can

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2804

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bondarchuk Oleg

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat 2 13

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Ukr

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2745

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

3

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Durand Jon Jnr.

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2696

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Coomber Kraig

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2665

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Holtkamp Rohan

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Airborne Climax 13

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2609

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

6

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Steve

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2535

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

7

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Barthelmes Oliver

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Deu

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2428

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

8

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Bares Radek

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aeros Combat

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Cze

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2332

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

9

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Durand Jon Snr

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S4.5

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aus

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2328

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

10

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Orgler Andreas

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Moyes Litespeed S

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

Aut

0in 5.4pt; height:13.2pt">

2238

Oliver Barthelmes «oliverbarthelmes» sends in this shot of a tow in the dust at Hay:

Discuss "The 15th Annual Pre-Worlds 2004 - day five, task three" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The 15th Annual Pre-Worlds 2004 - day four, task two

Sun, Jan 18 2004, 5:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Airborne Climax|Dave Seib|gaggle|Len Paton|Moyes Litespeed|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|Pre-Worlds 2004|tow|Worlds 2023

Results (thanks to Dave Seib) at:

http://www.moyes.com.au/preworlds2004/

The winds die down to 20 kph out of the south with gusts to 30 kph. The winds higher up are lighter so there is a chance that the winds will die down further. We call a 182 kilometer task to the north to the airport an Ivanhoe, a favorite spot with a turnpoint at Booligal.

The lift is forecast to be good, but stop at 6,000' for a blue day. Given the long task, I'm up for leaving at the third clock at 2 PM hoping to get to Ivanhoe at 5 PM (assuming a 60 kph average). I'm able to get in line a little early and get pulled up third. Bo is at the back of the line, and Kevin gets up at the same time I do in the Moyes line. The fast guys are waiting for a later start.

There is good lift in the tow paddock, but the launches are slow and with the wind there are few gaggles. The early guys gaggle up and head for the the start circle circumference 15 k away. Some of us head back to wait out the fast guys on the ground.

Not much is happening over the tow paddock and I begin to wonder if the fast guys are ever going to tow or gaggle up. I drift out to the start circle and get the 2 PM clock following the early guys by fifteen minutes hoping to use them as markers.

It's a slow go at first in the no man's territory going to Booligal, the first turnpoint. Everyone is happy to be together to get up to 4,000'. I'm thinking that we've got to get going as fast as possible. The fast guys have got to be up over the tow paddock by now.

Ten kilometers out from Booligal I catch Len Paton and Ilan Sallm and the lift is improving as we head into the turnpoint. Now I've got a bad attitude. I just want to fly as fast as possible and I'm thinking that these guys are going to slow me down.

I just can't see them as my friends and after taking the turnpoint I head out on my own in front away from the road and toward the goal. I've been right here before and I'm happy to go over this territory to hook up with the road later.

As I climb up Lenny comes in under me but when we again get back up to 4,000' AGL, he heads back a bit to get over some of the other pilots climbing up below us and I head on toward goal.

It's 120 kilometers from Booligal to Ivanhoe, and we are moving along at 100 kph when we are on glide. It's dangerous out here alone in front, but I'm feeling that the lift has turned on.

I'm down to 1,800' 90 kilometers from goal and climbing good when Len and Ilan come in over me and I climb up to them at over 5,000' AGL.

We head out with Len in the lead. We've left all the other early pilots behind, and it's a question of just how fast we can go. We keep hitting lift and staying high spread out and searching.

Len stops for 200 fpm, but I press on in front for better and fly all the way to the ground. Len and Ilan stay up and soon pass over my head 60 kilometers out.

Ilan will land 3 kilometers from goal and Len will find just enough to make it in. A pilot that we left behind will find better lift and get into goal first.

The fast guys will come in over my head in one gaggle of twelve pilots about a half hour after I land. They'll make goal as will a good bunch of folks.

Results:

Task two:

1

Heinrichs Gerolf

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aut

14:30:00

17:29:36

2:59:36

911

2

Orgler Andreas

Moyes Litespeed S

Aut

13:45:00

17:03:25

3:18:25

867

3

Bondarchuk Oleg

Aeros Combat 2 13

Ukr

14:30:00

17:32:50

3:02:50

858

4

Keijzer Koos De

Icaro Laminar Mr 14

Nld

13:45:00

17:04:59

3:19:59

855

5

Hazlett Brett

Moyes Litespeed S4

Can

14:30:00

17:33:31

3:03:31

849

6

Barthelmes Oliver

Moyes Litespeed S4

Deu

14:30:00

17:34:57

3:04:57

832

7

Durand Jon Jnr.

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

14:30:00

17:35:53

3:05:53

823

8

Moyes Steve

Moyes Litespeed S5

Aus

14:30:00

17:36:39

3:06:39

815

9

Seib David

Moyes Litespeed S5

Aus

14:30:00

17:37:20

3:07:20

808

10

Paton Len

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

13:45:00

17:15:16

3:30:16

807

1

Hazlett Brett

Moyes Litespeed S4

Can

1850

2

Bondarchuk Oleg

Aeros Combat 2 13

Ukr

1786

3

Durand Jon Jnr.

Moyes Litespeed S4

Aus

1722

4

Coomber Kraig

Moyes Litespeed S

Aus

1722

5

Moyes Steve

Moyes Litespeed S5

Aus

1703

6

Holtkamp Rohan

Airborne Climax 13

Aus

1702

7

Bussinger Diego

Moyes Litespeed S

Che

1528

8

Keijzer Koos De

Icaro Laminar Mr 14

Nld

1510

9

Barthelmes Oliver

Moyes Litespeed S4

Deu

1504

10

Durand Jon Snr

Aus

1491


Oliver Barthelmes «oliverbarthelmes» sends this collage of shots from Hay:

Ben’s Big Air Club

Sat, Nov 8 2003, 3:00:00 pm EST

Dragonfly|gaggle|golf|Ground Skimmer|landing|magazine|sport|Sport Aviation|tow|towing|trike|USHGA

https://OzReport.com/toc.php?7.252#1

Ben <dskydawg@msn.com> writes:

Our club is on a cattle farm and this pays for the up keep of the land grass cutting fertilizer, etc. The dues now are $50 annually for $10 tows to 2500’ and $20 tows for pilots who just fly now and then. We have eight members now most are hang 4’s but one new pilot that's a hang 2 that we let fly in no wind conditions. We all enjoy helping him with our experience.

My farm is hilly so landings can be tricky on cross wind days so all members need to have good landing skills for mid day flying and novice pilots can fly in no or little winds that line up with the 1500’ runway. All members need to sign a waver to fly and be a USHGA member.

I have been towing with a trike for eight years and two years with a Dragonfly. We have three other members that are excellent tow pilots on both the Dragonfly and trike and we will all be ready when it’s required to have a Sport Aviation license.

I started this club so that my friends and I would not have to spend as much time driving to the mountains which are 3 hours each way. There we would get maybe two hours flying time, if the winds cooperate.

I've been flying for twenty eight years and joined the U.S.h.G.A. in 1975 when the magazine was Ground Skimmer. I am a charter member and have seen a lot of friends come and go through the years mostly because of family reasons (spending too much time away) or because of the long drive to the mountains. They don’t fly often enough to be comfortable on cliff launches or have anxieties on landing approaches so they don’t enjoy their flight as much as if they were more current. A few years of this and they lose interest in the sport.

Some of our members have families and they come by and fly for an hour or so and head back home in time for supper and quality time with there families. I think this is the key for growth in our sport, accessibility. If you look at it like golfers, go play a few rounds and head home. Golf courses are every where.

If we had airparks near half the major cites in the U.S. think of the possibilities. So I think the more clubs the merrier and hope that pilots in Atlanta area and east Albama will come by and fly and anyone else that likes to fly hang gliders because nothing else makes me happier than seeing a gaggle of gliders above my farm except me being in that gaggle at the top.

Discuss "Ben’s Big Air Club" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Our club, our site in Missoula

Wed, Nov 5 2003, 8:00:01 pm GMT

Karl Hallman|PG|tow

http://www.hangglidemt.com (nothing there yet)

Karl Hallman «Finnbar7» writes:

Our club, Missoula Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club, so far is a good example of a club that deals with several entities in order to continue to fly near Missoula (mainly Mt. Sentinel). We drive through a Forest Service gate onto state land and then onto University land and then we land on university property. What a major pain in my ass.

We've been trying very hard but this year we bought two truck tow units just to hedge our bets for the future. It is an amazing privilege to fly over town and to only have to drive half an hour to do it. We will keep fighting to do it as long as possible, but it is a difficult fight at best. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

(editor’s note: I asked Karl just what he needs help with.)

Discuss "Our club, our site in Missoula" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

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.

Discuss "Big Spring – the tugs" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2003 US Nationals – courage on a blue day »

Fri, Aug 1 2003, 8:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Belinda Boulter|Bobby Bailey|Buddy Cutts|Carol Sperry|cloud|CompeGPS|competition|dust devil|FAI|gaggle|Kraig Coomber|Mike Tryon|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|Phillip "Phill" Bloom|Swift|tow|triangle|US Nationals|Vincent "Vince" Endter|Wallaby Ranch|weather|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Talon

http://www.flytec.com/usnats03/scores.html

First, a few corrections from the last report on the Nationals. The mystery glider was Vince Endter. That mystery was cleared up today when we got together with Tim Meany and used CompeGPS to run the task back on the screen. Quite amazing to live the race over again and see who did what. Campbell and Bruce took a completely different track than the rest of us. And Bruce was way behind us for the longest time but apparently didn’t have to stop and thermal on the way back.

I believe that Buddy Cutts has made goal before, although what I wrote was what my informant told me. Jeremie Hill, you may know him as the chef at Wallaby Ranch, made goal for the first time. He is flying a borrowed Wills Wing Talon (borrow from Wills Wing), and I believe that this is his first competition (don’t hold me to that).

The task committee mistakenly interpreted Gary’s weather forecast as calling for a chance of over development. Sorry for our mistake there. We should have called a longer task, but then Carol Sperry might not have made it in.

There were a few mistypings and I also said that Rich Burton was low on my left. He actually was low on my right. Sorry about any other problems that I didn’t catch today.

Speaking of today. We had a magnificence if rowdy blue day.

The FSL forecast calls for a brisk south-southeast wind (10-13 knots) turning to southwest up high. It also shows an inversion that rises to over 12,000’ after 4 PM. I call for perhaps blue or thin clouds.

There are no clouds when the rigids are set to launch at 1 PM for their race start at 2 PM. It’s easy and fun to do a race with the rigids because there are only fifteen (fourteen with Mike Tryon out of it because of shoulder problems) and there is no crowding in the thermals even at the start gate.

Still given my forecast for the good likelihood of only thin clouds we (Kraig Coomber and I on the task committee) figure that’s just the way the day is and let’s go for it.

I get Bobby Bailey to tow me up and given that I’m the seven or eighth guy in line I let him tow me up as far as he will under the gaggle that is slowly rising in the center of the airstrip. He waves me off before he passes anyone.

The lift is actually pretty good at 200 fpm. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last and the next half hour before the race start we all slowly climb up to 5,000’ AGL. The flex wing guys on the ground are a lot happier to be starting later when perhaps it will be better. There are one or two thin cu’s in the distance. The inversion layer is obvious between 6 and 8,000’ MSL.

The task is a 70 mile FAI triangle (when you subtract the 5 mile start circle), and that may make it available for world records (see article below). The first leg is off to the northeast, then back to the northwest, with a 25 mile final leg to the southeast. If the wind does in fact clock around to the southwest up high maybe it won’t be quite so tough getting in.

We rigids find good lift for the first time right after the start circle which is a surprise (without clouds these thermal are darn invisible) and that gets us to 9,000’ MSL. Another blip a few miles later and the whole crew is sticking together and racing.

Vince and another glider are low off to the north but they get the next thermal first and it is a strong one. The rest of us continue on to find a worse thermal and one that is actually very unpleasant. This will be the story for the next few thermals getting to and around the first turnpoint. Very unpleasant with the gliders doing most of the flying on their own. I’m hoping that everyone realizes that it’s not a good idea to be too close to anyone else.

The rigids thin out with four rigids taking an upwind southern track and Jim Yokum, myself and another rigid or two following the course line. We’ll drift away from it to the north while thermaling as the wind out of the south in measuring well over 15 mph. At three o’clock the four of us hit our first really good thermal that actually gets as high as 700 fpm and I’ll climb out to almost ten thousand feet. I’m not able to keep track of the rigids to the south and there is one rigid that I don’t recognize just 100’ over me.

The last flex wing start time is 3 PM, and Paris will later say that this is when the lift really turns on for them. He’ll take the 3 PM start clock.

I go on a fifteen mile glide without seeing anyone else and from five miles out from the second turnpoint I can see a small dust devil and dust rising in another field from a couple of tractors. I go over to where the dust is rising from the tractors but don’t find anything. I then go to the field where I had seen the dust devil another one or two miles closer to the turnpoint. I’m down to 1,200’ AGL. The dust devil is no longer there, but I’m thinking that the lift will be. It is.

I’ll climb to 10,200’ MSL at times at 800 fpm just before the turnpoint and catch a glimpse of Vince and Bruce climbing just in front of me past the turnpoint. I’ll go on glide and come in under Vince twelve miles later in the only thermal that I’ll take on the last leg of the task. I’ll see 1000 fpm on the averager in this thermal.

The extreme turbulence that we experienced in thermals on the first leg disappeared at 3 PM, and the thermals have been much stronger, much smoother and we are getting much higher. I assume that the inversion breaking was related to this change in the characteristics of the thermals.

I will climb under Vince and Bruce to 10,500’ fifteen miles from goal. Paris will tell me later that when he comes along an hour after us he’ll find 1,200 fpm on the averager at the thermal at the turnpoint and 1,600 fpm on the thermal half way to goal. The clouds are just beginning to form when I get to the second turnpoint and there are a few wispies on the course going back to goal.

From fifteen miles out it’s a 10:1 glide to goal. Vince is two miles ahead and Bruce is about a mile ahead of me. I’m telling Belinda at goal to watch for two gliders and I’ll be right behind.

The lift is good going to goal until about 7 miles out where there is a stretch of 900 fpm down. I’m flying at about 55 mph air speed the whole fifteen miles only slowing up when the bumps from the lift get too hard.

Vince has a problem with his final glide calculator and stops to thermal as Bruce and then I pass unnoticed below him. Bruce will be first into goal and I’ll be a few minutes behind him. Vince will finally see that he can indeed make goal and come in a few minutes later. Then the wait is on for Ron to come in twenty minutes alter and Jim Yokum another twenty minutes later. Twelve out of fourteen rigids make goal.

While we are waiting for the rigids to come in the flexies start coming in with Paris Williams first. He found the strong lift and was able to run very fast. Curt warren came in with Paris but started 15 minutes earlier.

As the flexies came in two cloud streets set up along the course line coming into goal. We had seen the beginnings of these when we were coming in but now they were quite distinct. Still it didn’t help some flex wings who landed short. Bo just made it in by 4/10th of a mile. Rich Burton on a Stratos was just barely in the goal cylinder.

Flex wings:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 2 2:18:20 916
2 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed 2:21:47 833
3 WARREN Curt Moyes Litespeed 4 2:33:41 783
4 SAUER Rich Icaro MRX 2:34:22 769
5 HAGEWOOD Bo Aeros Combat 2 2:37:41 705
6 COOMBER Kraig Moyes Litespeed 2:43:25 698
7 HAMILTON Robin Moyes Litespeed 4 2:48:40 632
8 BLOOM Phill Wills Wing Talon 2:57:15 615
9 ZIMMERMAN Chris Wills Wing Talon 150 3:00:25 592
10 LEE Jim Wills Wing Talon 3:12:55 554

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 2 4998
2 WARREN Curt Moyes Litespeed 4 4795
3 COOMBER Kraig Moyes Litespeed 4685
4 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed 4634
5 HAGEWOOD Bo Aeros Combat 2 4594
6 HAMILTON Robin Moyes Litespeed 4 4359
7 LEE Jim Wills Wing Talon 4300
8 SAUER Rich Icaro MRX 4269
9 ZIMMERMAN Chris Wills Wing Talon 150 4082
10 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 3972

Rigids:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos C 2:35:27 1000
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 2:38:00 937
3 ENDTER Vincent Icaro Stratos 2:40:09 901
4 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos 3:00:51 736
5 YOCOM James AIR Atos C 3:19:14 628

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Total
1 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos C 5152
2 ENDTER Vincent Icaro Stratos 4809
3 SEABERG David Icaro Stratos 4345
4 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos 3946
5 BOWEN Campbell Flight Design Access 3921

Swifts cumulative (30 points separate them):

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 PORTER Brian Aeriane Swift USA 3632
2 NAKAMURA Junko Aeriane Swift Lite JPN 3613
3 MULHOLLAND Mark Aeriane Swift Lite USA 3602

Discuss "2003 US Nationals – courage on a blue day" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Texas Open »

Sat, Jul 12 2003, 2:00:06 pm EDT

aerotow|cartoon|competition|Dan Bereczki|landing|scooter|scooter tow|spot landing|tow|tug|XC

Dan Bereczki <dan@danbarb.org> writes:

2003 Texas Open - July 18, 19, and 20th Leakey, TX

Come join us for most flying fun you'll have this summer at the best Fly-in in Texas.

HGs, PGs, RWs, everyone's welcome. Aerotow, truck tow, scooter tow - whatever your preference, we'll get you in the air. Not tow rated? Come out early, a Quest/Flytec tug is available Sunday 7/13/03. Contact me. We'll have platform and aerotow instructors ready to get you going.

We don't have a cool cartoon character tshirt, but we like ours just the same:

Can't make it out to Leakey? You can still get your very own Texas Open shirt

Click http://www.cafeshops.com/cp/store.aspx?s=hangdog.104328 to see the whole line of Texas Open wear

Don't like being told when to fly, what route to take, where to land? Relax! At the Texas Open, you are the task committee - you check out the day, choose your route and get rewarded for great piloting skills as well as decision making. Don't care to go XC? We've got duration, spot landing and bomb drop contests to show off your skills. See the rules page http://danbarb.org/txopen/html/gps.html for all the details.

The ultimate prize goes to the pilot who has the most fun. Our sponsors http://danbarb.org/danbarb/txopen/jsp/support.jsp have been quite generous, plan on being rewarded for having a great time.

Bring the whole gang - Leakey's in a beautiful spot in the Texas Hill Country. We've had plenty of rain, so the Frio river will be flowing, ready for swimming, tubing or just cooling of after a long flight.

Take a look at http://danbarb.org/txopen for more info.

Discuss local competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Texas Open" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2003 US Nationals »

Fri, Jul 11 2003, 1:00:03 pm EDT

David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|FAQ|tow|towing|tug|US Nationals

David Glover <david@davidglover.com> writes:

Looking forward to seeing you in Big Spring Saturday afternoon July 26th. We have about 55 pilots signed up so far. If you know someone who is interested have them register online at http://www.flytec.com/usnats03/index.html.

Mandatory Pilot Meeting at the Big Spring Airport Hanger/Terminal: N 3212. 880 W 101 (far west side of airport: 6pm, Saturday July 26th.

Meet Hotel is the Super 8 Pool, continental breakfast - Call now to reserve 915 267 1601 - Request the hang gliding rate.

Towing will be available Thursday (possibly earlier) before the event. You will need to pay the tug pilot cash ($20) per tow before the meet. Buffet towing during the 7 day meet is $175 (bring cash or check please). All tow fees go to making the tugs available and getting the tug pilots to Big Spring.

A FAQ is available at http://www.flytec.com/usnats03/index.html Shipping, RV info, etc.

Discuss the Nationals at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "2003 US Nationals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Flytec/Quest Air WRE – a little fly

Thu, Jul 10 2003, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Bo Hagewood|Geoff Lyons|George Stebbins|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mike Barber|Oz Report|Quest Air|Ron Gleason|tow|Zapata

First of all thanks to my good buddy and loyal Oz Report reader Marc Wiscman aka High Flyer (sic) for his very useful URL that updates us on Claudette’s progress.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT04/AL0403W.GIF

Well Claudette’s a ways away yet, and the winds were out of the south today, and the cu’s were forming early here in Zapata so we all went out to Renato’s field for a little fly. Sure there was a front a few hundred miles to our north which turned the winds from south to west, but the sky was beautiful, no cirrus for once, and the cu’s were lining up.

As we drove out the cu’s dried up as the temperature rose and the inversion layer was hit. There were still a few cu’s but with the strong inversion layer and dry air above, they formed and collapsed within a minute or two.

Because of the lack of thermal markers we wait until almost 11 AM when Bo takes off with me right behind him. I get a tow over to the east to get over the north south paved road 4 miles to the east. With the wind at 170 to 180°, I figure why not get over a nice road and not be left out in the boonies behind locked gates.

The down side of this strategy is that it leaves me free to race and not do everything to stay up. I’m down 21 miles out in 28 minutes. It sure was fun though. Great air, nice light thermals, and very fast and easy retrieve.

Bo gets low out in the boonies and has to work it back up. I raced past him but to my own detriment. The rest of the pilots didn’t take off for another hour given the skinny rare clouds above them.

Scott Huber – 20 miles, Pete Lehmann – 16 miles, George Stebbins – 12 miles, Mike Barber – 18 mile cross wind back to the Zapata County Airport, Ron Gleason – 125 miles where he landed after not finding any lift from 5,000’, Bo Hagewood flew back toward him for a ride back home but didn’t quite make it (but did get the ride). Ron was straight north of Renato’s at Pearsall on I35, our most eastern flight yet.

Claudette has slowed down in her approach toward the Texas coast. We are thinking of moving the WRE north to Big Spring for the last week. Geof Lyons had a 275 mile flight out of Big Spring in the nineties.

Discuss the WRE at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Flytec/Quest Air WRE – a little fly" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The Spanish ATOS “incident”

Mon, Jul 7 2003, 6:00:05 pm GMT

accident|aerotow|airline|airspace|altitude|Angelo Crapanzano|bridle|Carlos Avila|certification|cloud|control frame|DHV|environment|equipment|Felix Ruehle|Florida|foot launch|general aviation|GPS|harness|injury|job|landing|military|Moyes Xtralite|parachute|Ron Richardson|safety|site|spin|Swift|tail|technique|tow|towing|tumble|USHGA|Wallaby Ranch|winch

David Cross <d.cross@chello.nl> writes:

I have recently had the unfortunate experience of departing controlled flight in an ATOS rigid wing hang glider. I have written this report to share the experience with my fellow aviators so that any lessons learnt may be shared and the accident assessed by those with a better insight in this field than I.

Description of Flight Conditions

I had launched in the mid afternoon with an aero tow from Aerotow.com's facilities near the town of Avila in central Spain. I was planning to fly some cross country under the tuition of the highly experienced Ron Richardson. It was my second flight of the day. On the previous flight I had found the conditions to be weak with the thermals broken and the climbs poor and I had not been able to stay up for long. The afternoon however improved with the cloud base lifting to about 7000' altitude (average ground elevation of 3000'), with promising cumulus development downwind to the east and no sign of the previous day's overdevelopment.

The second aero tow was bumpy but easy to handle on the ATOS with its excellent control harmony between pitch and roll. I was waved off in some lift over a small ridgeline to the south east of the field. I again found the lift to be broken and the climb weak. Ron was at this stage further to the east overhead the town and was calling a 300'/min climb on the averager. As I was at this stage too low to get over to him I focused on what I had in order to build more altitude. I scratched up to 4800' altitude and then ran for a good looking cumulus on the way to Ron's position.

Loss of Control

Entering the Thermal

I rolled right hand into the lift under the cumulus and worked hard to centre it. The conditions were choppy but not rough and smoothed out somewhat above 5000' altitude to a steady 300 fpm up. The conditions downwind were now looking really good and through each turn I was scanning to pick up Ron's Avian Cheetah on the horizon, and I could hear Darren Blackman heading in towards us on his Swift. Things were at last coming together after a week of poor conditions. I was relaxed, thoroughly enjoying the ATOS and looking forward to the afternoons flying.

Turn Reversal

I had in the last turn noticed a slight increase in lift in the southern sector of my circle. I glanced down to see if there were any birds marking the core and was presented with a magnificent stork circling left hand counter flow to me with slightly intersecting circles. After one more turn I saw that (as always) he was doing a better job than I and so I planned a turn reversal into his circle.

The reversal worked out well. As the stork slid under my nose I experienced a moderate pitch up from the stronger lift and eased the bar in to lower the nose and accelerate while rolling out of the right hand turn into a left hand circle. Due to the fair conditions I had been thermalling at 40-45 km/h (25-28 mph) indicated airspeed (IAS) with 20-25° of bank and had felt very comfortable at this speed.

(editor’s note: Unless the thermal is absolutely light (50-100 fpm) and full with no turbulence, I’m flying at 34-38 mph. The speeds indicated above are much too slow for the conditions described.)

As I had now accelerated into the stronger lift I estimate that the IAS was approximately 48-50 km/h (30 mph) as I started the reversal. The flap was set at 8-10°. The reversal was initiated with moderate spoiler application - I estimate ⅓ to ½ deflection. The altitude was now 6000' (about 2500' AGL due to the ridge below).

Departing Controlled Flight

As the left hand turn was established I felt a light short period aerodynamic buffet on the control frame and almost simultaneously experienced a very rapid nose down pitch rotation through approximately 90° of pitch. I estimate the pitch rotation rate to be 50 -60°/sec. There was also some left hand roll rotation, although this was less than the amount of pitch rotation. I was not aware of any significant yaw.

As the departure started my assessment was that the glider was auto-rotating and that I was in the incipient stage of a spin. I had been thermalling with the bar in the upper chest to lower chin position. As the nose down pitch started I rapidly moved the bar in to the mid chest position in an attempt to reduce the angle of attack, un-stall the wing and stop the autorotation. This appeared to stop the left roll rotation rate but had little effect on the rate of nose down pitch. During the latter part of the initial nose down rotation I estimate that the g loading on my body was 0 - 0.5 g (I felt almost weightless).

The glider then appeared to stabilize very briefly in the vertical nose down position before rotating extremely rapidly in pitch to the inverted position. This second rotation was violent and uncontrollable. As it happened I felt a powerful rearward pull from my hang strap and the control bar was pulled from my grip. I was thrown hard into the undersurface of the glider which was now inverted, next to the A frame. I estimate that this pitch down rate was well in excess of 90°/sec.

The glider now stabilized in the inverted position while descending in what appeared to be a relatively gentle oscillatory spiral. I was somewhat disorientated at this point and so may not be too accurate about the motion of the glider. I do however recall some spiral motion and some oscillation above and below the horizon.

I was lying on the undersurface of the wing to the left of and outside the A frame. I immediately checked the leading edges and tips and observed no apparent structural damage. I assessed that I had sufficient altitude and attempted to right the glider and reached for the A frame to do this. When I grasped the left down tube to attempt to right the glider, the glider entered a very disorientating oscillatory rotation but remained inverted. I assume this was caused by spoiler deflection when I moved the A frame.

After two rapid rotations it did not appear to be recovering. At this stage I was losing situational awareness with respect to the height remaining for recovery. In addition the gliders unstable motion had me concerned about the possibility of being knocked unconscious.

Parachute Deployment

I thus looked for clear air and deployed my emergency parachute hard in the direction of rotation half way between the right hand wingtip and the keel. The parachute deployed immediately and then appeared to semi collapse as the glider was rotated by the parachute deployment into the upright position, swinging me hard to hang to the outside of the A frame. The parachute then reopened immediately.

The system of parachute, glider and pilot now became extremely unstable with the parachute and the glider appearing to work in opposition. The glider appeared to accelerate and pitch nose up, causing the chute to collapse and then re-open before the cycle was repeated by the glider. From my vantage point the parachute was describing a sine curve-like path across the horizon while collapsing partially and re-opening in sequence with the pitch motion of the glider.

The glider and parachute appeared to be rotating rapidly about each other with the centre of this rotation somewhere between the glider and the parachute. At no stage was the parachute positioned above the glider. The centripetal acceleration of this system rapidly became very high. I estimate the g loading to be approximately 3 g and I was swung out helplessly under the wing clear of the A frame unable to control the system at all.

Stabilizing the System

I now broadcast a Mayday call, and informed Ron that I had deployed the parachute and was going down. I described my status and informed him that it did not look promising. At this stage the rate of descent and particularly the angular rotation appeared to me to be very high and I was sure that ground impact in this configuration would have severe consequences.

After several high g rotations I managed to grab the hang strap behind my neck and pull myself toward the A frame and grasp a down tube. Adrenaline is a wonderful thing. I then pulled myself into the A frame. This had an immediate positive effect. The parachute stabilized above the glider, the angular velocity reduced and the g loading reduced. I was now descending through about 500' AGL with a moderate oscillation but no angular rotation at all. I now called Ron to inform him that the situation was under control and proceeded to describe my probable touchdown position to him.

Touchdown

I descended onto the slope of a rocky tree covered ridge. Before impact I positioned myself as high into the A frame as possible as I was not sure what the rate of descent was and I wished to protect myself from any impact on what appeared to be very rocky terrain. I kept my legs bent to absorb as much shock as possible.

I was fortunate to impact into the crown of a moderately sized tree. The A frame took much of the initial impact of the branches. The glider was then swung out of the top of the tree throwing me out of the A frame. As I fell to the ground the glider hooked onto a branch and my fall was arrested with my feet 12cm off the ground. I was completely uninjured. I transmitted to Ron that I was down and safe and that he should cancel any ambulance.

The only apparent damage to the glider was a broken main spar and associated sail damage approximately ⅓ in from the right wingtip. This occurred on ground impact and not in flight. My assessment was that the glider was completely undamaged until ground contact.

Discussion

As with any aviation accident there are several lessons to be learnt. Most accidents are not caused by a single event but by a combination of factors. Often an accident could have been prevented if just one of these factors, however minor it may have seemed at the time, could have been identified and stopped. I will now discuss my background, what I think may have been the contributing factors to this accident and the lessons learnt from it. This is obviously my subjective opinion and I welcome any discussion on these points that may offer a more informed insight.

Flying Experience and Background

I am a USHGA intermediate rated pilot who has been flying for three years. I did my initial training in the French Alps mountain launching and completed my training at Wallaby Ranch where I also obtained an aero tow rating. I did a further foot launching course at Lookout Mountain where I obtained cliff launch, flat slope launch and assisted windy cliff launch ratings. My flying has taken place mostly in Florida and the Alps and has always been under the supervision of more experienced pilots. I currently fly a Moyes Xtralite. One month prior to the accident I had flown under the supervision of Chris Dawes in the UK where I did some winch foot launch training and some aero towing as an early season refresher. Prior to this I had last flown the previous late summer in the Alps.

I am a current airline pilot flying Boeing 747's and a current Air Force reserve pilot on fighter type aircraft. I hold a Glider Pilot's License although I am not at present current on sailplanes. I have some experience flying paragliders although I have not yet completed my license. My total flying experience is 8000 hours.

I have mentioned the military experience as I feel it is relevant with respect to my experience in spinning three axis control aircraft. My air force background has provided me with extensive spin training. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity of spinning a variety of aircraft, from military trainers and fighters to general aviation aircraft, aerobatic aircraft and sailplanes.

Two weeks prior to this accident I carried out a maintenance test flight on a military trainer that included several multi turn full spins and recoveries. I thus feel that I may be considered current as far as spin identification, entry and recovery on three axis aircraft is concerned. This has relevance as there has been much discussion about the advantages of doing spin training on three axis aircraft before flying rigid wing hang gliders.

ATOS Experience

I had come to Spain specifically for the opportunity of flying the ATOS. At the time of the accident I had flown 11 flights on the ATOS for a total of 5.00 flying hours. All flight had been under the supervision of Felix Ruehle and I had been extensively and professionally briefed by him on all aspects of the glider.

Although this was my first experience on a rigid wing hang glider I had felt comfortable and confident on the ATOS from the first flight. I had on the second flight in smooth evening conditions flown the glider to the stall and found the recovery to be simple. I had confidence thermalling the glider in the moderate conditions I had experienced and at no stage had any reservations about the handling of the glider. I found the control harmony particularly pleasant and aero towing simple.

(editor’s note: An inexperienced hang glider pilot, new to an ATOS, was flying it too slow in a thermal.)

Equipment

The glider was a standard ATOS. I had for most of the week prior to the accident been flying another standard ATOS. The hang point for the accident glider (as on the previous glider) had been adjusted towards the forward centre of gravity (C of G) limit, appropriate to my hook in weight. On the accident glider my hang position was slightly higher than that of the glider I had flown previously in the week and the trim speed was slightly lower. Both the hang position and the trim speed were well within safe limits. The glider was fitted with an A.I.R. horizontal stabilizer.

I was using a Woody Valley Tenax harness with the parachute mounted on the right chest. The harness was fitted with a Metamorfosi Conar 18 Gore parachute, which was just over one year old and had recently been repacked by myself. No swivel was fitted to the bridle. My weight is 72 kg making a hook in weight of 87kg.

Airspeed information was provided by a Brauniger Galileo set to indicated airspeed (IAS) mode and a mechanical pitot system fitted by Felix. I used the mechanical system for airspeed reference as I had not yet calibrated the Galileo and was not sure of the reliability of the airspeed display.

Departure from Controlled Flight

I feel that the departure from controlled flight had two distinct phases, a non divergent autorotation phase, and a divergent pitch instability phase.

Autorotation Phase

The autorotation phase I would describe as a gust induced stall in the turn followed by an autorotation and an incipient spin (the incipient stage of the spin being where the aerodynamic and gyroscopic effects of the spin are still influenced by the initial flight path of the glider - in this case a left hand turn). Although the nose down rotation of this phase was rapid it did not feel to me to be divergent. I thus do not feel that the gust had at this stage placed the wing at an AOA/hang point loading combination that had exceeded any static stability margins.

I was surprised by the limited aerodynamic stall warning and the rate of the initial nose down rotation. For these reasons I think the gust onset was significant and rapid. All my previous spinning experience in aircraft had led me to expect an initial rotation rate in roll and yaw that equaled or exceeded any initial nose down pitch rotation. As the initial nose down rotation started I had reduced the AOA aggressively. This seemed to stop any further roll or yaw rotation but had little effect on the rate of nose down pitch rotation. At no stage did the glider enter a stabilized spin.

I feel that there are several factors that could have contributed to the initial autorotation.

Firstly the glider was trimmed slightly slower than that to which I had been used to on the previous ATOS I had flown. As stated this was well within safe limits but may have caused a tendency towards slightly slower flight if I was distracted.

Secondly, I was using flap to thermal. This would move the bar position slightly back and I would, if focused primarily on bar position, have the tendency to move the bar further forward than required.

Thirdly, I had completed a turn reversal prior to the autorotation and the spoiler deflection would have caused some nose up pitching moment. If not corrected this would cause an obvious reduction in IAS and place the glider closer to the stall.

All the above factors are conducive to slower flight. However I am accustomed to flying aircraft that require accurate speed control and feel that I was very aware of the IAS while thermalling. I was also aware that the spin behavior of rigid wing gliders can be unpredictable and had no desire to explore that environment. My thermalling speed of 42-45 km/h (26 mph) felt comfortable for the conditions I was experiencing. I have since been informed that it was perhaps on the low side but not unsafe.

(editor’s note: Pilot is unaware that he is flying too slow.)

I had thermalled at similar speeds in equivalent conditions for most of the week without ever approaching any stall margins. The accuracy of the airspeed reference must also be considered. As mentioned previously my primary reference was the mechanical pitot system as I felt it was more accurate than my as yet un-calibrated electronic reference.

Some points with respect to the turn reversal technique. I normally unload the wing (thus reducing the AOA) before initiating any reversal in order to improve the roll rate. This obviously also results in an increase in IAS. Whether my technique was sufficient to counter any pitch up due to spoiler deflection may be debated. I did not notice any significant pitch up during this particular reversal. My limited experience on the ATOS could of course preclude this.

In addition I had experienced acceleration on entering the increased lift prior to the reversal. I had countered the nose up pitch that this had caused and so feel that my IAS margins on entry to the turn reversal were probably sufficient for normal conditions. I had as well been briefed on the "rule of thumb" safe range for forward and rearward bar positions and at all times flew within this range.

I thus think there must have been some significant gust effect present. Simply approaching the stall in a turn should not result in the almost immediate and rapid rotation experienced with minimal stall warning. I have described the conditions as moderate. I was experiencing an average climb of 300 fpm with maximum instantaneous readings of 1000 fpm.

However, Ron Richardson reported some strong turbulence while descending through the airspace I had been flying in, shortly after I deployed the parachute. My assessment is that a gust rapidly exceeded the critical AOA of the wing. As I was not yet fully established in a stable turn, there would have been some asymmetric loading on the wing, possibly resulting in the auto-rotation. I feel that this is supported by the fact that my rapid reduction in the AOA had no appreciable effect on the pitch rotation rate.

Pitch Instability Phase

I will now discuss what I consider to be the second phase of the departure. During the initial auto-rotation I had not experienced any reduction in g loading on my body - the hang point still felt loaded. Although the initial nose down rotation was high, I still felt that I had some control input and that the glider would recover. However, as the glider passed through about 60° nose down I experienced a reduction in g loading and felt almost weightless.

From this point I felt I no longer had control of the glider and I was unable to hold the bar in any longer. This is when the rapid rotation to the inverted position occurred and I lost my grip on the control bar. Perhaps the excessive AOA of the wing combined with the unloading of the hang point caused the static stability margins of the wing to be exceeded, causing a divergent rotation in pitch. The first auto-rotation phase initially felt controllable. The second phase of pitch instability was definitely not controllable.

Lessons Learnt

Thermalling at higher speed, steeper bank angles and higher g loadings, while not necessarily providing an increase in stall margin, will improve the damping in pitch and make a departure less likely.

It would be of value to calculate the exact stall speeds for the actual wing loading at various appropriate bank angles. With an accurate IAS reference sufficient margins could be applied to these calculated stall speeds for safer thermalling. An accurate IAS reference is obviously necessary. Of even more value would be a vane type AOA reference (Here's hoping!).

I found the ATOS easy and a pleasure to fly. However, in retrospect I feel that more time spent exploring the performance of the glider in smooth air would have been of benefit. I think in particular, the effect of flap on trim speeds and bar position, spoiler effect on pitch in turn reversals and approaches to the stall in wings level and turning flight should have been more fully explored before flying in more challenging conditions.

I think that my initial reaction to the auto-rotation phase was correct. Moving the bar in reduces the AOA and places the centre of gravity in the best possible position for dive recovery. Should this happen again I will do the same while attempting to hold on tighter. I do however feel that it was impossible to maintain grip on the control bar during the rotation to the inverted position.

Some comments on pilot experience. I was very excited to be offered the opportunity to fly the ATOS by Felix, as I consider myself a low time hang glider pilot. His briefing was comprehensive and gave me confidence in the glider while making me aware of how it differed from other gliders I had flown. I flew the glider conservatively and felt very confident with the general handling.

The afternoon following the accident I flew another standard ATOS in moderate thermic conditions for a 1 ½ hour flight. While understandably nervous at first the pleasant handling of the glider allowed me to settle down and soon regain my confidence. In summary I experienced nothing in the handling of the ATOS that should exceed the abilities of an intermediate pilot. In most respects I found the ATOS easier to fly than an intermediate flex wing hang glider.

Some discussion on three axis spin training for rigid wing pilots. I feel the main benefit of this would be spin entry recognition and reduced disorientation. The spin entry techniques and recovery procedures for a three axis aircraft are different to that of a rigid wing hang glider and themselves can vary dependant on the design of the aircraft. Practicing these procedures would I feel have limited benefit for rigid wing pilots and may even reinforce incorrect techniques. In this accident the main benefit to me of my spin training was recognition of the initial situation and orientation in the unusual attitudes experienced.

Some points on the parachute deployment. It has been suggested, considering the glider was undamaged while inverted, that I could have tried harder to right the glider before deploying the parachute. In retrospect I am glad I did not. I lost a lot of height trying to stabilize the spinning parachute/glider combination. Had I deployed the parachute any later I might have impacted before stabilizing the system. At the time I did not feel that this would have been survivable.

I have discussed this with Angelo Crapanzano from Metamorfosi. He commented that although I was experiencing high g loadings, because the centre of gravity of the pilot/glider/parachute system would have been very close to the pilot/glider combination, my rotational speed would actually have been quite low. In addition he said that my descent rate would perhaps have been even less than when I had stabilized the system. He thus feels that even when the system was not stabilized, it was survivable. The perception from the pilot's point of view remains unpleasant.

In addition it is not certain how the glider may have reacted in the attempt to right it and there is a strong possibility of pilot injury in attempting this. This may then preclude parachute deployment. I thus feel strongly that if one is fortunate to survive a loss of control situation uninjured, the priority is to get the parachute deployed immediately. Considering the instability after parachute deployment, I feel the priority should be to get ones mass as close as possible to the hang point.

Angelo Crapanzano recommends that one gets as close as possible to the nose of the glider, or at least in front of the hang point. This can however be difficult and the A frame is a familiar refuge when under stress and can provide impact protection. It would have helped if I had held onto some part of the A frame before deploying the parachute, as this might have prevented me from being flung away from the A frame as the parachute deployed and righted the glider.

Had I been able to remain closer to the A frame the spiral motion might not have developed. I also feel that some thought should be given to the option of releasing from the glider prior to parachute deployment. All my complications were due to the fact that I was still attached to the glider.

I am very pleased that I had the Conar HG18 parachute. The rate of descent once stabilized was acceptable and the opening time impressively fast. It worked as advertised.

Some discussion on communications and search and rescue procedures. I was able to transmit a Mayday to Ron Richardson seconds after deploying the parachute as I had a transmit button fixed to my thumb. Ron demonstrated professionalism and true airmanship. He acknowledged my call, was overhead my position within minutes, plotted GPS co-ordinates and arranged a rescue. He then landed in a difficult location and was at the accident site within 30 minutes.

Had I been seriously injured Ron's actions would have been potentially life saving. The lessons here are to always fly with someone, be able to communicate effectively with them, even under duress, and always be prepared to assist effectively in an emergency. I had water in my harness but no first aid kit or emergency rations. This has been rectified.

Conclusion

In summary, I suggest that this accident was a result of a gust exceeding the critical angle of attack of the wing by a large margin. This resulted in auto-rotation with a rapid nose down pitch and unloading of the hang point. The static stability margin of the wing was exceeded and the wing experienced a divergent rotation to the inverted position.

Contributory factors were the relatively low indicated airspeed while thermalling, the effect of flap on the control bar position, pilot technique in the turn reversal and the pitch up effect of spoiler deflection.

Flex Ruehle’s Comments

I have attached an email from Felix Ruehle with his comments on the report and the incident.

You report is excellent however I think it's hard to see how quickly or slowly everything happened because my experience is that reports from stress situations follow a different clock.

Since hang gliding was born turbulence can be a problem for safe flying. However different developments improved the safety. One of the latest developments is the fixed V-tail with a lifting airfoil from A-I-R. How does it work? The glider is designed to have the same pitch up moment with tail like the standard ATOS with 0° flap.

With thermal, take off and landing flap setting the pitch up moment is significantly higher with the V-tail. Additionally the V-tail increases pitch damping very significantly with all flap settings. Of course instead of a tail the sweep angle can be increased too to get the same pitch damping effect. However this didn't work out as well for the ATOS, because higher sweep in combination with wing bending would cause dynamic problems.

With the V-tail the glider flies significantly more comfortable. In opposite to the opinion of some pilots, that a positive pitch up moment only protects a glider from tumbling, this is not the case. It is a result of several flight incidents with all types of hang gliders and as well with the hang glider drop test made by the DHV a few years ago that even with a certified hang glider it is possible to tumble.

According to my opinion the main parameters are: Pitch damping which can be increased by higher speed and by the wing area distribution in flight direction. For example a higher sweep angle or a tail, increase pitch damping as well as a forward pilot position. Pitch up moment. This is the moment which must be above a certain value for certification. Small distance from aerodynamic centre to CG.

For example a short A-frame is positive. High airspeed in relation to the turbulence is positive too.

The incident

The air was not very smooth this day and there was over development with rain shortly after the incident at this spot. Ron who landed close to help Dave (thanks Ron) hit some strong turbulence too. However, the day wasn't that rough that pilots usually would stop flying.

According to my opinion the tumbling from Dave was caused due to low airspeed in relation to the turbulence. The thermal speed under this condition was already little slow. The reversal turn reduced the speed probably further. This for example is a very good practice in smooth condition, doing reversal with constant speed. Take care: If you don't pull in during the reversal the speed drops.

I flew to the same spot the next day and felt comfortable with about 55km/h (34 mph) as min. thermal speed. This day looked smoother to me as the previous day.

Does the tail improve the safety? At the online contest (olc) 2002 the ATOS is the glider which has flown the most km before any other wing (including flex wing) and the ATOS flew much more km than other rigids, too. Many pilots have flown sometimes under extremely hard conditions and have reported the good behavior under turbulent condition.

It looks to me like active flying is getting more and more important. With the fast gliders the pilots have the possibility to fly with extra speed or high bank angle without losing too much of performance and it looks too me like the ATOS with the new V-tail is a step to improve pilots safety to a very high level even with the incident of Dave.

Under strong condition the glider gets extra stability with high bank angle and higher speed. While doing a reversal you can easily lose speed and the pilot has no extra g loading. I think this can be an interesting discussion how different pilots handle turbulent air.

Discuss "The Spanish ATOS “incident”" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Flytec/Quest Air WRE – a little flight to Laredo

Mon, Jul 7 2003, 2:00:00 pm EDT

airspace|Bo Hagewood|cloud|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|glide ratio|Ken Ward|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Quest Air|Ron Gleason|Swift|tow

When the clouds first form at 9 AM a strange thing happens. They form into lenticulars at 2,000’. It appears that the winds just above the forming clouds are going faster than the winds that the clouds are forming in. This lasts for about 45 minutes then the clouds take on their normal cumulus shape.

I’m first in the air at 9:55 for a 1000 meter MSL high tow to a 1000’ over cloud base. It is so beautiful and smooth up there and the wind is blowing strong out of the southeast. This high a tow is perfect for making sure that you can make it to the St. Ignacio road, the first pubic road to the north.

I find lift at 1,700’ AGL and work it back to cloud base 2,200’ AGL. For the most part I find that the lift is better with 300’ of cloud base, that it drops off to about half strength between 300’ and 600’ below base, and that I must work a bit above zero 1000’ below cloud base.

Therefore I try to stay high right under the cloud, but there is a problem. The winds are taking me toward the Laredo airspace and I need to jump cloud streets. Whenever I do I get down below cloud base in the weaker lift and have to slowly work my way back up again.

The lift is plentiful and consistently under the forming clouds, it’s just that I’m working between 1,000’ and 2,000’ AGL throughout the flight. There’s no problem staying up but there is a problem going where you want to go with a twenty mile an hour wind that wants to put you into the airport.

I’m really enjoying the flight especially working with the light lift and really maximizing it. I drifting quickly over areas that will require long walk outs if I go down there, so I’m very motivated to stay up no matter how weak the lift or how low I am.

I can hear everyone behind me flying and a few of them seem to have forgotten or never understood that they have to get around the airspace early on. Some are just drifting downwind toward Mexico.

Finally as I approach Laredo I lose my focus as I’m over more friendly territory, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to get around the airport, and I want to get going faster if I’m going to have a long flight. The morning forecast was not that good with lots of moisture to the north, so it’s hard to get real motivated for a long flight. I land at 34 miles out a little later 11 AM. Everyone else goes down behind me.

These early morning flights are quite special. During glides I had an average glide ratio of 71:1. During climbs I was averaging only 67 fpm. The third of the time while gliding that I was actually rising I averaged 280 fpm.

Tomorrow we move to a launch area twenty miles to the east to make it easier to get around the Laredo airport.

Scott Huber is here with an ATOS, Ken Ward with a Swift. Bill Ayers with a flex wing as well as Chuck (so his boss won’t know he’s here). Pete Lehmann, Mike Barber, Paris Williams, Bo Hagewood, Ron Gleason, David Glover, and Dave Prentice. Junko left for Austria this morning.

Discuss the WRE at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Flytec/Quest Air WRE – a little flight to Laredo" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wisconsin Flying »

Mon, Jun 30 2003, 6:00:03 pm EDT

Raven Sky Sports|Rik Bouwmeester|tow|waypoints

We heard that after the Midwest Regionals in Whitewater, Wisconsin the local pilots were jazzed about all the cross country possibilities that were suddenly opened up in their minds. David had also created 219 waypoints which made it that much easier for the local guys to do triangles, etc. Suddenly pilots weren’t just hanging around the tow park but heading out for exciting cross country adventures.

Rik Bouwmeester <quadwingual@tds.net> sends out his report of flying from Raven Sky Sports:

http://personalpages.tds.net/~quadwingual/Sunday.htm

Discuss time at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Wisconsin Flying" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Photo/caption contest »

Wed, Jun 25 2003, 6:00:09 pm EDT

photo|Rick "Ricky" Duncan|Ricky Duncan|tow

Ricky Duncan <RickD@airborne.com.au> sends this:

I thought you might get a kick out of an old photo of my Dad, Kevin Duncan. This photo was from the early 70's. Dad was putting on a demo and the rope broke whilst under tow behind a boat. The kite partially looped and the wings folded. Dad spread his arms and legs to slow the descent and was lucky enough to swim away.

It is interesting to note that kingposts were introduced shortly after!

Discuss photos at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Photo/caption contest" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Flytec/Quest Air WRE – a blue day

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

airspace|Charles "Charlie" Baughman|Chris Muller|cloud|cloud street|glide ratio|Juan Ramirez Rpo|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Paris Williams|Quest Air|record|Ron Gleason|Swift|tow|triangle|weather|Zapata

A couple of days ago when Bo went 165 miles to land near Uvalde he found himself soaring a 60 foot gravel pit hillside for twenty minutes to get up enough to make it over to the road to land. Then yesterday he landed in the high fenced-in drug vehicle impoundment lot near Laredo. Took out a downtube. Bo’s looking for Paris to get here ASAP.

Today Renato Ramirez, the president of the local IBC bank, came by with a reporter and photographer from the Laredo Times in tow. Renato has been very kind to us and especially to the paraglider pilots, setting up a hangar, a new long road, plenty of shade and a shower and water on his property east of Zapata. The paraglider pilots – Chris Muller and Dave Prentice - have been getting 2,000’ high tows and loving the facilities. We may all be moving over there soon to make it easier to get around the Laredo airspace. So far that hasn’t been a problem.

With only a few cu’s we were reluctant to get going early today. Pete Lehmann gave it a try on the Attack Falcon and Gary went out for a check ride in the Sparrowhawk to make sure that the CG was right. He wanted to get it to slow down in the thermal and he finally got it to do that.

The strong winds from our favorite direction, south-southeast, combined with the light lift that he finds at 11 AM dissuade Pete from going down wind. Gary in a plane that can go searching for lift finds 700 to 800 fpm.

The long distance forecast indicated that the dry line and a front line have combined to stop us at about 300 miles out. The lack of clouds in the morning keeps us from going out to check the lift north of Zapata early in the day. Later starting flights would have been very possible.

Yesterday, things were really magical as they can only be here in south Texas. When I looked over the record of my flight I noticed a couple of interesting values. My average glide ratio during the flight was 62:1 over the ground. Strong winds and light sink/lift were responsible for that.

I climbed a total of 22,600’ during this flight, 12,100’ during straight flight. I only circled for 27% of the flight time, which is quite a low percentage for such a weak day. My actual climb rate while flying straight in lift was higher than my average climb rate in thermals. Why?

Well, because I’m thermaling to stay up in really weak lift near the ground. I have to thermal because at that point I have no other choice if I want to stay up. When I get high and under a cloud street I can go straight and glide under the lift which is stronger (but still only averaging 250 fpm Vs. 180 fpm in the thermals). One third of the time I was flying straight I was in rising air.

Ron Gleason, Charlie Baughman, Rick from Montana showed up today so we’ve got quite a group of pilots here. Paraglider, flex wing, rigid wing, and Swift pilots with Juno from Japan. More pilots coming in this weekend, the hangar is filling up.

Charlie, the airport manager, and another big local supporter took much of the crew for a ride in one of the Aero Commanders up to Laredo and they are all going out to dinner up there before driving back. In fact, this whole WRE is a party.

Weather looks iffy for two days for long distance flights, but we may get light winds on Friday for triangle or out and return records. The front is in north Texas tomorrow and may come through here on Friday.

Discuss the WRE at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Flytec/Quest Air WRE – a blue day" at the Oz Report forum   link»

New World Record at the WRE-500!

Sun, Jun 22 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

altitude|cloud|FAI|photo|record|Swift|tow|triangle|world record|Zapata

Saturday was the first day of the WRE-500! And given Gary’s forecast from Friday for the weekend: good lift, high cloud bases, light winds, I figured I’d take the first opportunity to break one of my world records. Since it was the first day I wanted to get a brief feel for the air here, especially after all that wonderfully buoyant smooth stuff in Wisconsin, so I set the task as the 50 km triangle. It looked to me like it would take about an hour if I was racing at world record speed.

Given this short time period required to complete the task, I wanted to wait until the cu’s and the lift were set up perfect. It looked like 2:00 or 3:00 PM would be the ideal start time. The clouds were slow in building up so I didn’t get Russell to haul me up until about 2:50 PM. There were small clouds overhead and out to the east. The FSL chart had indicated that there wouldn’t be much vertical development in them.

Getting off tow at 1,000’ AGL (we’re at 400’ here) I drifted thermaling two an a half miles to the west at about 8 mph while climbing at an average of 380 fpm to 6,000’ AGL. The air was a little raspier than what we experienced in Wisconsin but not bad. In fact some bits were as smooth as what Wisconsin offered.

There were wispy clouds over the Zapata County airport run way so I could run the clouds from my high point and get the start clock open at 5,400’ at 3:14 PM. On a world record triangle of 100 km or less you have to come back with an altitude that is not less than two percent of the course distance. In this case I needed to cross the goal line with 5,400’3,280’ = 2,120’ AGL. I wouldn’t be screaming across the goal line low.

The first leg was almost straight into the wind. There were a number of thin cumulus clouds along the course line, none with black bottoms. I turned a little bit under them, but as I wasn’t getting the 700 fpm that I had experienced for some of the time in the thermal before I started my task, I pressed ahead looking for better.

I came around the first turn point out on highway 16 at 1,300’ AGL near Bustamente and headed downwind toward the second turnpoint low. I was beginning to feel that I had to take whatever I could just to stay in the air although the clouds ahead looked good. At 650’ AGL I found some zero sink that quickly turned into an average of 450 fpm with bits over 700 fpm. It turned out to be a good idea to wait for the better lift.

There were clouds ahead and I went a little off course line to get under the darker ones. These got me to 5,000’ AGL three miles before the second turnpoint. Next the issue was how high would I have to climb so that I could come in to goal at over 2,120’ AGL.

There were clouds on the way back to the airport, so I assumed that I would find some lift and get what seemed to be high enough to make it in high. At a little over three miles out I climbed to 4,000’ AGL and the IQ-Compeo was telling me I could make it back with enough altitude.

Unfortunately along with the lift comes the sink and I lost 2,600’ gliding in and came in at 1,400’ AGL instead of 2,120’. But the clouds were telling me that there was lift right at goal, and I started climbing right away. It only took a few minutes to get the altitude back right over the goal point.

I was able to complete the 52 km triangle in 65 minutes. As I was using 400 meter cylinders around the turnpoints (.25 miles), the actual minimum distance for record purposes was 50.5 km. According to the latest Section 7 of the FAI sporting code you don’t have to use FAI photo sectors any more and you can use cylinders. The distance is the minimum distance using the edges of the cylinders.

The speed around a 50.5 km triangle was therefore 46.6 km/h. The old record I broke was 40.8 km/h.

The Swift record is 45.5 km/h, so I beat the class 2 and the class 5 world record. Tommy’s flex wing world record set a couple of years ago in Wilcanna is 48.8 km/h. Given what happened today, I think I can beat that record.

Discuss world records at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "New World Record at the WRE-500!" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Airspeed/Windspeed

Mon, Jun 16 2003, 2:03:02 pm EDT

CompeGPS|GPS|IGC|record|SeeYou|software|tow|track log

I was lamenting the fact that I couldn’t get the airspeed value in SeeYou from my IQ-Compeo. I checked and sure enough I could get it in CompeGPS (www.compegps.com). The IGC file produced by the IQ-Compeo seems to record both the ground speed and the airspeed.

I had written to Andrej at TeamCu (www.seeyou.ws) about this and he wrote back:

We do care about the wind speed very much, of course. The problem is calculating in on the PC from an IGC file. In the air you get one reading per second. In an IGC file you get 1 reading per 4 seconds if you are lucky, 1 every 20 seconds if you are unlucky. It creates a big fault in measuring the wind. We've tried already, but we haven't found a reliable algorithm for calculating the wind from an IGC file. You can calculate something, but to calculate something useful is another thing.

Sure enough, when I looked at what I assume to be the calculated wind speeds for a number of recent flights in CompeGPS there was nothing there in the graph.

Now I’m recording the IGC file on the IQ-Compeo at 10 second intervals. The IQ-Compeo is gathering data at a rate of once per second. The display on the unit is probably being dampened over some small time interval, but is for sure being updated faster than once every ten seconds.

I wonder what would happen if I set the recording value to every second. I wonder if I would get a reasonable value for the wind speed and direction then.

Mike Tyron writes:

Set up the track log to log every second and tow up and fly for 15 minutes or so at a variety of speeds. Then download the log and see how smooth the track is. Depending on the software you use, you may be able to display groundspeed between each track point. If your GPS software won't do it you can always import it into Excel and have it figure it for you.

Discuss flight data recorders at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Airspeed/Windspeed" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Midwest Regionals – cu nimbs and guys at goal

Sat, Jun 14 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Airborne Climax|airspace|altitude|Bubba Goodman|Carl Wallbank|cloud|competition|Dave Brandt|James "Jim" Lamb|Jim Lamb|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|photo|Rik Bouwmeester|Ron Gleason|sport|tail|tow|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Talon

http://www.flytec.com/mwregionals

Check out the animated track logs (click “Top Tracks” - you have to wait for a few minutes for them to begin animating).

Check out the photo gallery (http://flytec.com/mwregionals/gallery.html)

The FSL forecast shows that there is the possibility of over development, but while I inform the task committee of this possibility I forget to mention it to the pilots. There is large patches of cirrus both north and south in the late morning, and the cu’s are forming slowly and they look soft and weak.

The wind dummies are up and staying up, so it’s a good sign. We’ve got the option of launching at 12:30 PM with a 2 PM start window (way more time than we need to get everyone in the air with four Dragonflies waiting to pull us up).

I notice that Jim Lamb is suiting up early and he’s thinking that its time to go soon after the launch window opens. The task is a 46 mile dog leg to the east south east, away from Class D airspace at Janesville and over to an airport at Monroe where hang gliding pilots use to truck tow.

The five rigid wing pilots all notice that Jim and Dave are getting ready so we all get ready and we are all in line together by ourselves as the flex wing pilots look on. No body wants to be left behind.

We’re up in a few minutes and it is a quick climb to cloud base at 4,400’. The flex wing guys get in line right behind us and everyone other than Paris who has been sitting around in a lawn chair is off before 1 PM. No waiting around today.

The cu’s get thicker and thicker and it looks like we won’t be waiting until the 2 PM start time. Dave Brandt heads out to the south and the rest of us rigid wing pilots up high follow him and Russell out toward the start circle. But Dave doesn’t get up and everyone but Russell turns back to get back up again with the flex wings.

Dave gets lower and lower out on his own, as he’s not willing to come back and join us low, and I’m wondering what the point is. This meet has taught us to work with our friends above all else, and I can’t figure out why Russell and Dave have gone out on their own, way early.

The rest of us are back working lift and getting back up to cloud base. We drift down wind under the clouds and get right up to cloud base and near the start circle circumference. I watch as Ron Gleason and Jim Lamb head out on course as I hold back. Three flex wings cross the line also. I wait and let them check out the lift out in front while I get to start my start time later than them.

Finally I head out and head right for the rigid wings who are five miles out. I get there with their altitude and I’m feeling great. We’ve got six guys together and it looks like we’ll have plenty of helpers.

Eleven miles out we encounter a large cu nimb just to our south. We are working on the northern edge of the cu nimb. The ground is completely shaded. The cu-nimb stretches to the west for another fifteen miles. Thank goodness we are just on the northern side of the cu-nimb and the winds are out of the northeast.

Brad sends over this graphic that shows the raining part of the cu-nimb.

We climb up slowly at first with everyone looking around. Jim and Ron are just above me climbing a little bit better. I have no idea where Russell is.

I’m looking back and seeing Rik Boumeester flashing his wings in a high bank. Ron and Jim who were just above me have gone further along the course line and don’t see Rik a few hundred feet behind us. I go over to him and soon Krzysztof Grzyb and I are two thousand feet over the five guys who’ve gone ahead.

The cu-nimb is right next to us as we head west quickly trying to run past it. Everything is as dark as can be, both the sky and the ground. We continue to find bits of lift on the edge of the cu-nimb and we can see the rain coming down five or ten miles to the south.

As we are circling up I see a lightening strike to the south about five miles away. I’m wondering if the cell is going to come our way. I can see that if we go another ten miles to the west we should be able to get around the storm. I’m hoping that there aren’t any gust fronts or more lightening.

I’m nervous about the storm so I’m leaving lift earlier than usual. I’m leaving everyone behind and I got out fast on my own hoping to get away from the storm. Whoa, I’ve caught up with Russell. I come in under a few hundred feet below him. It is great to be able to cover Russell.

We’re almost to the Albany turnpoint and I climb back to cloud base as Russell heads out. I can see a few of the guys I was with behind me getting up from below. I’ve got to hang with Russell now.

Things are happening fast as it is only an eleven mile leg to goal. I’m at 4,000’ AGL 14 miles out, three miles before the turnpoint. I’m hoping that this is enough with a good tail wind to make it to goal.

Nine miles out I see Russell come in a few hundred feet over my head. We work a bit of lift gaining two hundred feet. I can see the guys behind me at the turnpoint climbing high. Given how low they were when I left them, they must have found much stronger lift than I did.

Four miles out from goal I’m at 1,250’ AGL. That’s a 17:1 glide to goal, so I decide to take the weak lift I’m in and climb 500 feet. Russell continues on to goal to get there first. A few of the pilots behind me catch up and keep going just over my head.

I will have the extra 500’ when I get to goal with 500’ to spare.

Paris started late at 1:45 PM and wins the day getting to goal as the first flex wings. Ron gets across the goal line a few minutes before me. Bubba, Chris and later Dennis comes in.

All the times get moved to 2 PM as everyone started before the 2 PM start clock. The finish times just represent there total time to goal.

Flex wings today:

Place Name Glider Finish Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 15:20:06 932
2 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 15:34:24 776
3 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 15:35:28 756
4 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 15:36:56 742
5 MORRIS Dan Wills Wing Talon 464
6 BURICK Carl Airborne Climax 452
7 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 420
8 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 357
9 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 351
10 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 327
11 CIZAUSKAS Rich Wills Wing FusionSP 258
12 DUGGAN Dan Icaro MR700WRE 68
13 BOUMEESTER Rik Aeros Stealth 59
14 GILLETTE Rhanor Wills Wing Ultra Sport 0

Flex wing totals:

Place Name Glider Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 3556
2 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 2997
3 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 2987
4 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 2899
5 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 2461
6 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 2209
7 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 1679
8 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 1669
9 MORRIS Dan Wills Wing Talon 1416
10 BURICK Carl Airborne Climax 1378
11 CIZAUSKAS Rich Wills Wing FusionSP 1035
12 BOUMEESTER Rik Aeros Stealth 971
13 DUGGAN Dan Icaro MR700WRE 631
14 GILLETTE Rhanor Wills Wing Ultra Sport 409

Rigids today:

Place Name Glider Finish Total
1 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos C 15:35:27 986
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 15:36:03 930
3 BROWN Russ Flight Designs GhostBuster 15:45:16 793
4 LAMB James AIR Atos C 15:53:01 718
5 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 274

Rigids total:

Place Name Glider Total
1 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 4076
2 BROWN Russ Flight Designs GhostBuster 3716
3 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos C 2815
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 2262
5 LAMB James AIR Atos C 2210
6 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + 2026

Discuss "Midwest Regionals – cu nimbs and guys at goal" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wheels for aero-base tubes

Tue, Jun 10 2003, 2:03:04 pm EDT

Blue Sky|Brad Kushner|competition|Dan Morris|Dragonfly|gear|harness|landing|racks|Raven Sky Sports|site|tandem|tow|wheels|Wills Wing

Brad Kushner at Raven Sky Sports <brad@hanggliding.com> writes:

Wills Wing has brought some really great hardware to the hang gliding market over the years, and the current airfoil 'standard base tube' on the Talon and the U2 is something that we would have only dreamed about a few years ago. Who would have thought that an airfoil speedbar basetube would trickle down to the recreational glider market so quickly?

Just one problem, that I see: There is no alternative round basetube option available, and there was no good way to mount wheels directly on the airfoil basetube until now. We've designed something really great to solve that problem.

(editor’s note: Actually Wills Wing has had wheels for the aero base tube for quite a while now. You can see them in the ad for Wills Wing above or go to their web site at www.willswing.com.)

Dan Morris, dba Blue Sky Fabrication (www.blueskyfabrication.com) is a competitor in the Midwest Regional Hang Gliding Competition this week, and he wears many hats around here at Raven. We taught him to fly here about 8 years ago, and he's quickly become one of the best pilots in our club.

He's also a gifted machinist, and he's built some really great things for us here, from launch dollys, to automobile glider racks, to the wheel pants and custom exhaust systems on our Dragonfly tow planes, to the Rascal Tandem Landing Gear on our tandem gliders which he personally test flies. He currently flies a Talon 140 with a Rotor Vulto harness. He's a staff tandem instructor at Raven, and gets to see his handiwork in use almost every day.

Dan and I collaborated on the WHOOSH TM * Airfoil Speedbar Wheel Hubs (Patent Pending) that you see here. The design criteria was simple, but the engineering was challenging: To fabricate a machined plastic hub that would be flexible enough to wrap around and close on the airfoil basetube like a clam shell, that wouldn't slide sideways, and that would accommodate either of the two most popular bolt-together wheel types in hang gliding use today. Oh, yeah, and it has to allow for the normal use of the VG line, without the need to move the VG cleat.

Since this part isn't injection-molded, each one has to be machined out of a solid block of plastic. We did everything that we could to simplify the machining of this part, so as to keep the production costs down. Still, like everything else in hang gliding that is built in batches of a few dozen at a time, and made in America, this wheel adapter will be fairly pricey. But, hey, this is hang gliding, need I say more?

We've got the first prototype pairs machined, and we'll be test-landing them this week during the comp. Any of your readers who are interested in more info, or want to buy a set, can email me at <Brad@hanggliding.com>. It would help us to know how many pilots might want them. We also hope to have some more photos and details up on Dan's website very soon, at www.blueskyfabrication.com.

* WHOOSH TM: Wheel Hubs, Out of the Ordinary, Streamlined Holes! (Patent Pending)

Discuss wheels at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Wheels for aero-base tubes" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Brauniger IQ-Compeo

Sun, Jun 8 2003, 2:03:05 pm EDT

altitude|antenna|competition|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|glide ratio|GPS|SeeYou|tow|triangle|waypoints

I’ve been flying with the Brauniger IQ-Compeo for the last month and for the first time in a competition yesterday. I’ll soon be publishing a series of articles about the IQ-Compeo, but I thought I would start off with a few observations. I’m really enjoying flying with it and perhaps you’ll be able to relate to why.

It’s a lightweight, easy to use package that performs the functions of a vario, GPS, and data logger, which previously I used three different instruments to accomplish. Because it is lightweight it is easy to connect it to my basetube and not have it rotate around the bar while on tow on when hitting turbulence.

David Glover came up with 211 way points for the Midwest Regionals, and the IQ-Compeo can handle “only” 200, so I lopped off the 11 that were furthest away and the least likely to be used. Of course, over 200 waypoints are rarely provided by a meet organizers, so this “limitation” is normally not approached.

The IQ-Compeo provides glide ratio values to each way point, so you’ll want to make sure that each waypoint has an associated altitude. This may not be the case with the waypoints provided by the organizer (unless the waypoints are taken from SeeYou) so you’ll want to go in and add this altitude data.

I’ve often added 4,000’ to waypoint altitudes to give me an idea of whether I can make the waypoint with at least 4,000’ AGL. Of course that depends on how far an individual waypoint is away from the goal.

I’ve got the IQ-Compeo on my base tube so that I can read the values displayed. Frankly it would be nice if the values were displayed in a bit larger font, but then pilots with younger eyes should be better able to read them without difficulty.

I like the fact that I can see the actual values of the required L/D to get to the waypoint (goal) and my current L/D over the ground. On the Brauniger IQ-Comp I had a very hard time seeing the bars that represented these values.

The IQ-Compeo lets you set the value of the radius around each turnpoint, just in case they are different. Well, they are, as the start point can have its own radius which will undoubtedly be different than the radius around a turnpoint or goal.

I still haven’t seen how to define two different radii for a single waypoint which would be your start point and goal in a triangle and out and return. I assume that you just make two way point names at the same location and give them the two different radii. Associating a radius with a way point is important because the IQ-Compeo will lay down track points at an accelerated rate when you get to a waypoint if you are inside the cylinder. No more Mark + Enter.

While racing the other day before the Midwest Regionals began, I noticed that I was losing contact with the satellites for a few seconds as the Speed over the ground went to zero and the number of satellites found went to zero. This was most likely due to the fact that the IQ-Compeo is on my base tube, and I was pulling in putting the unit under my head and shoulders. This blocked its access to the satellites.

I didn’t notice this problem when I was flying on the first day of the Regionals, most likely because I wasn’t pulling in at all given the light conditions. It is my understanding that Brauniger is coming out with a new model soon that has a new GPS antenna (http://www.furunogps.com/scripts/gh80.htm) that can connect to 16 satellites and apparently doesn’t have the problems I experienced. Perhaps upgrades will be available at reasonable rates.

Anyway, more on the IQ-Compeo soon.

Discuss flight instruments at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Brauniger IQ-Compeo" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Aerotow paragliders

Sun, Jun 1 2003, 2:03:03 pm EDT

aerotow|altitude|bridle|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|drogue|electric|government|harness|job|Lighthawk|Mark "Forger" Stucky|Oz Report|payout winch|PG|power|powered|powered PG|PPG|Quest Air|sailplane|Stuart Caruk|Stu Smith|tail|technique|tow|towing|trike|tug|winch

Mark Stucky <stucky_mark@hotmail.com> writes:

I just noticed the discussion on the bigair paragliding forum regarding the recent paraglider aerotowing shown on the Oz Report. For several years I've occasionally put thought into the conceptual design for aerotowing a paraglider. I really think the future is in aerotow and discussed the issues some with David Glover (who is also very interested in it for big meets) last September at the Tehachapi sailplane fly-in. I wish we could have talked more but most of my attention at the time was dedicated to the Lighthawk flying debut.

The obvious issues with aerotowing are the slow flying speed of a paraglider and the relatively small amount of pitch and airspeed control available. Some comments on the web about concerns with the vertical distance of the canopy from the tow point are not that big of a deal due to the low thrust and drag forces involved. After all, if a paraglider couldn't handle 80 lbs of thrust near the CG of the pilot then powered paragliders would not work either!

I see three methods for aerotowing a paraglider.

Method 1: The obvious solution is a tug that tows at a compatible speed and climb rate. This method would involve conventional "follow the tug" procedures and a fixed length of towline. While having a PPG or powered PG trike arrangement has some appeal due to their slow flying speeds, I think they will cause more problems than they solve. I think a better tug would be a fancily flapped ultralight or a very large yet lightweight hang glider trike. Until such an exotic tug is designed we will have to make due with exotic procedures.

Method 2: Perhaps the best solution for paraglider aerotowing is to make a lightweight payout winch that can handle 2500 feet of spectra. Until we can get the tow airspeed slow enough to match the speed the paraglider pilot would like we will need to figure out how to handle a speed differential. With a payout winch you could use existing tug aircraft with procedures similar to a ground payout winch tow, the paraglider could simply climb up behind the tug without regard to maintaining the same relative altitude as the tug.

Let's assume we can get a tug that can tow at 45 feet/sec (30 mph) and have a paraglider that wants to fly at 30 fps (20 mph) for a differential speed of 15fps. I think a comfortable climb rate for a paraglider from a ground tows is 500 fpm. If the tug was also climbing at 500 fpm then the total climb rate of the paraglider would be 1000 fpm so a two minute tow to 2000 feet AGL would require 1800 feet of tow line (plus whatever amount you initially laid out). The benefit of an aerotow winch would be that you could use a small field and any wind direction instead of being tied to a long road.

Additionally, the tug could tow you to a thermal although once the line pays out beyond a few hundred feet the tug will be limited to shallow banks or short, quick turns (similar to ground circuit towing). The winch would have to have some kind of rewind capability and a small drogue to ensure it couldn't recoil into the tug's propeller.

Method 3 is obviously not for the faint of heart and requires advanced skills at both ends of the towrope. It is designed to make due with existing tow aircraft and uses a small fishing reel as a short duration payout winch. One way to manage a small speed differential is by using differential bank angles to fly concentric arcs with the paraglider flying a slower speed on the inside of the turn.

Stu Caruk's comments about delivering a bag of goods from a Cessna by hanging it out a window and flying circles around it has some merit. I was once involved in a government program that built upon that technique in an attempt to hover a small spy package several feet off the ground. The package contained sensors and fed position and altitude information back to the aircraft that was equipped with an exotic hydraulic winch which would make the fine high speed in/out corrections to the tow line while the pilot make the rough corrections by following guidance to fly an exact arc thousands of feet overhead. The program got cancelled and I sure wish I could have figured out a way to get my hands on the winch and the 10,000 feet of spectra!

To tow successfully without a high capacity payout winch, we need to manage not just the airspeed but also the climb rate, turn rate, and rope length. To manage the rope you need to first start with the proper length of towline. Too short of a rope and the workload is too high, the allowable lateral/vertical errors too small, and the probability of a lockout is too high. If the rope is too long then the turn circles are no longer concentric and havoc will quickly result.

We need to fly the proper arcs at an angle of bank that does not require extraordinary piloting skills or decrease the climb rate excessively. This means we need shallow bank angles so we can increase or decrease them as required without generating excessive turn rates that would be impossible to manage in a tethered relationship.

Successfully aerotowing a paraglider with this method requires a change to the traditional paradigm of towed flight in which the glider must dutifully follow the tug. Both the paraglider pilot and the tug pilot will have to abide by a pre-coordinated plan for dealing with the continuous corrections that will be required. In the absence of such an advanced plan, the aerotow will be short-lived.

If our 45fps tug flew at 13° bank then his radius of turn would be 275ft at a leisurely turn rate of 10° per second. To achieve the same turn rate with the 30 fps paraglider, it would use 9° of bank for a radius of turn of 178ft. At these conditions I computed a 160 ft towrope as optimal. Under these conditions the paraglider is approximately 45° off axis from the tug (i.e. with both aircraft in a left handed turn, if the paraglider is pointed north, the tug would be pointed northwest).

While this would normally be disconcerting to a tug pilot used to conventional aerotows, it is possible to tow with the line leaving the tug at a 45 degee angle (and only 70% of the tow tension providing thrust to the paraglider). As always, though, the paraglider pilot should strive to keep the towline square to the harness and canopy. Note that if the towrope was routed to the tug's tail then the drag of the paraglider would always be trying to pull the tail inline with the glider and the tug would have to have sufficient rudder power to counter the torque of the off-axis tow or else have some sort of CG/bridle hook up.

If both aircraft are climbing out at the same rate then everything is perfect but chances are there will be some errors. Here is where the pre-planning is required. If the tug is climbing faster than the paraglider, then the paraglider should decrease its bank slightly to increase its speed and climb rate. If the paraglider is climbing above the tug (more likely) he should increase his angle of bank to cut to the inside. Here is where a smart tug pilot will make or break the tow.

He needs to evaluate if the paraglider pilot has been doing a good job and if it has room to make the required correction. If the paraglider is slightly out of position but correcting back then the tug may just observe. If the paraglider pilot is already in the planned position (about 45° inside the turn) then there isn't much more he can do and the tug pilot should either throttle back or increase his bank angle to decrease the climb rate. His course of action should be based upon his interpretation of the paraglider's 3-D position and heading (if the paraglider has dug far inside the turn and the tug turns harder then the paraglider will have to deal with a huge change in heading and possibly even slack line).

If the plan is properly coordinated and well flown by both pilots then a small payout winch could be mounted on the tug. The purpose of the winch would be to handle short periods of excess tow pressure. The winch could simply be a large fishing reel with some pretty small towline (or large fishing line - depending upon your point of view). I'm not a fisherman but I think you could get a commercial product with 500 feet of line that only weighs a few pounds.

You would set the drag for say 20% more than the planned tow force and it could handle short periods of time while the aircraft are transitioning back to the proper positions to reset the planned steady-state conditions. A small electric motor could wind the line back in at the completion of the tow. The reel should be mounted in the field of view of the tug pilot and the line could be routed through guides or pulleys to route it clear of the propeller.

(editor’s note: I believe that all of these methods are being looked at and attempted in some cases at Quest Air.)

Discuss aerotow paragliders at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Aerotow paragliders" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Superflytec PG Championships

Sat, May 31 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

cloud|competition|Florida|Josh Cohn|PG|tow

The winds were forecast to be a little bit higher than they were yesterday, when the pilots called the day, late in the day, ostensibly because of the winds. That didn’t stop us from going out to the northwest to our open field five miles south of the Okahumpka service plaza on the Florida turnpike.

The forecast was for southwest winds at 10 knots on the ground and 14 knots at 6,000’ at cloud base. The cu’s started early, and it looked like while there would be some vertical development, it wouldn’t be so extensive as to shade out anything.

The winds at launch were brisk, but no worse than yesterday. When pilots started getting up pilots’ attitude perked up and somehow the stronger winds just weren’t that much of a problem, or at least not as insurmountable as they were the day before.

Still it was a struggle getting out of the tow paddock and we had to keep hauling some of these guys up a few times. The cu’s were flowing like gang busters over their heads and the more experienced pilots hooked into something and got out of there.

The task was 41 miles straight down wind to a friend’s private airport near Deland. The tricky part of the task was the portion of the task a few miles down of the start circle that consisted of a 5 mile track over the widest part of Lake Harris.

This little bump in the track made sure that pilots thought about what direction they could actually do and whether they were willing to head straight over the lake. They had better make sure they were high enough before they headed across a rather formidable obstacle.

Some pilots went to the south side of the lake (easy enough to do), and found that they lost the lift. Some were too low to even make it over the narrow little Lake Harris on the south side. Some headed right up the narrow portion over the bridge and continued a ways up highway 19 toward goal.

Pilots were, in some cases, able to get to 5,200’ which was cloud base. Seems like at least one kept going up a little bit. There were a few miles of forest before the goal and this proved to be another obstacle that made a few pilots decide that they were rather not land in the middle of a forest.

Only one pilot made goal, once again, and again it was Josh Cohn. A few pilots were able to get close.

Seventh day:

Place Name mph miles Total
1 COHN Josh 26.25 41.4 945
2 HOFFMAN Doug 38.6 706
3 BROCK Gary 37.6 694
4 PRENTICE Dave 37 684
5 HOISINGTON Zach 33.3 614
6 SZAFARYN Len 27.9 498
7 HUEY Jeff 25 439
8 SPORER Rob 18.4 327
9 FARRELL Jeff 17.8 317
10 SWAIN Gavin 12.4 218
11 KEARNEY Bill 8.5 144
12 MOOK Tom 1.7 34

The final results:

Place Name Total
1 COHN Josh 4007
2 HUEY Jeff 2887
3 BROCK Gary 2760
4 PRENTICE Dave 2647
5 HOISINGTON Zach 2621
6 FARRELL Jeff 2541
7 SWAIN Gavin 1814
8 HOFFMAN Doug 1803
9 SZAFARYN Len 1543
10 SPORER Rob 1490
11 MOOK Tom 1183
12 KEARNEY Bill 548

Discuss competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Superflytec PG Championships" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Photo/caption contest »

Fri, May 30 2003, 2:03:03 pm EDT

Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|photo|tow

Gregg Ludwig <Skycruiser3@aol.com> sends this photo of preflight blessing of the tow vehicle for paragliders in Slovenia:

Discuss photos at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Photo/caption contest" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Superflytec PG Championships

Fri, May 30 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

Andrew "Drew" Harris|competition|Dave Hopkins|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Davis Straub|food|Jamie Shelden|Jeff Huey|Kate Diamond|Paul Pearce|PG|Russell "Russ" Brown|scooter|scooter tow|tow|towing|winch

In spite of having a forecast for the best conditions of the week, only one of the pilots was able to get away from the tow paddock at all. There were dark, black bottomed cu’s every where, but no one could find any lift under them.

There was a 10 mph wind out of the west-northwest, pretty much like the day before, but with repeated launches and no one getting up off tow morale was getting lower and lower. Rob, the only pilot who had thermaled out and left the field, felt that the winds were a bit too strong coming into the field where he landed a few miles down wind. He phoned back his concerns to the pilots not getting up in the tow paddock.

Then a less experienced winch operator let the pressure off on a pilot just getting up a bit sideways and sent him sprawling across a couple of paragliders. Low morale, winds, sprawling pilot, the phoned in report from Rob, and only a few minutes left in the original end of launch time (which had just been extended), and pilots voted to stop the day.

It sure was hard to say why no one was able to get up off tows to 2000’ (the winds helped get pilots higher). On the worst looking day, we have the easiest time getting everyone into the air, and on the best looking day, we have the hardest time.

There are more helpers than contestants in this small first PG towing contest:

Paul Pearce's Hydraulic pay in - Drew Harris
Greg McNamee's Scooter tow rig
Russell Brown's Double wire drum pay in
ATV/Pulley return tow - Lois Nuebaeur
Rope Pull Back - by Hank Camp, Drew Harris, Joe Johnston
Retrieve Drivers - Jamie Shelden, Bruce Hopkins, David Glover, Martha Huey
Traffic Control - Kate Diamond, Damon Wooten and Bruce Hopkins
Launch Help Pilots/Winches- Davis Straub, Bruce Hopkins/David Glover
Food - Reily, Connie, Darrien, Lois

Discuss competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Superflytec PG Championships" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Superflytec PG Championships

Thu, May 29 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

airspace|altitude|cloud|competition|Florida|Orlando Stephenson|PG|power|tail|tow|weather

Apparently the weather this last month or so in the mid Atlantic states has been miserable with clouds and rain almost every day and nary a peek of the sun. There seems to be a persistent low pressure over the mid Atlantic states that is responsible for this sorry state of affairs.

Thursday’s conditions.

Down here in Florida the spring has been dominated by west winds, and that has been no different this week, even though the summer wet season conditions have gone away, thankfully. The west winds were stronger than predicted today, so it was quite a good idea that we headed north again to tow paragliders from an open field three miles south of the turnpike.

We called a 44 mile task, the longest of the meet, in light of the predicted high cloud base, moderate lift, and good tail winds. Unfortunately, in order to keep the paragliders out of the Orlando airspace, we needed to give them a somewhat cross wind leg.

We sent them down wind at 80° 21 miles then made them turn to a heading of 30° for 15 miles, before an 8 mile leg at 60° going into goal. It was on this second leg that a number of pilots would go down unable to keep from being blown down wind of the turnpoint.

The red area is the Orlando airspace with a 6,000’ MSL floor.

The winds were predicted to be 5 mph rising to 10 mph at the start of the inversion at 4,500’ out of the west-northwest. Above the start of the inversion they would be stronger up to 25 mph out of the west-southwest. With mixing the winds all the way down were supposed to switch to west-southwest by 3 PM. Apparently they stayed west-northwest all day, making the second leg that much harder.

Most pilots experienced good lift at the tow paddock as soon as they found a thermal, which often meant finding one from down low. In one case low and just in front of the high tension power lines down wind of launch. Some pilots reported 500 fpm as they climbed out to over 5,000’.

Out on the course they were able to get into a convergence zone before the first turnpoint and find 1,100 fpm to 1,400 fpm to almost 6,000’. But it was at the first turnpoint where the helpful winds turned into a hindrance. Pilots were down to 3,000’ at the turnpoint and didn’t have enough altitude to make it cross wind to the next turnpoint.

Pilots who just took the western edge of the turnpoint and immediately turned north were the only ones with an opportunity to make the fifteen miles to the second turnpoint. Others found themselves in the unfortunate position of fighting a 20 mph head wind as they tried to get back on the course line. Many landed nearby the turnpoint.

Three pilots mention that they’ve never seen faster ground speeds on their GPSes. One pilot says that after he landed winds of about 30 mph came through for 20 minutes.

Two pilots made goal. Day Five:

Place Name mph miles Total
1 COHN Josh 29.19 44.6 933
2 HOISINGTON Zach 22.81 44.6 763
3 HUEY Jeff 34.7 553
4 SWAIN Gavin 33.5 542
5 PRENTICE Dave 33.1 537
6 HOFFMAN Doug 28.3 463
7 SPORER Rob 28.2 461
8 BROCK Gary 28.1 459
9 FARRELL Jeff 26.4 418
10 SZAFARYN Len 14.5 158
11 MOOK Tom 3.8 50
12 KEARNEY Bill 2.1 28

After five days:

Place Name Total
1 COHN Josh 3062
2 HUEY Jeff 2448
3 FARRELL Jeff 2224
4 BROCK Gary 2066
5 HOISINGTON Zach 2007
6 PRENTICE Dave 1963
7 SWAIN Gavin 1596
8 SPORER Rob 1163
9 MOOK Tom 1149
10 HOFFMAN Doug 1097
11 SZAFARYN Len 1045
12 KEARNEY Bill 404

Discuss competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Superflytec PG Championships" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Superflytec PG Championships

Wed, May 28 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

competition|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Florida|gaggle|Jeff Huey|Josh Cohn|landing|PG|picture|Quest Air|radio|tow|towing|Wallaby Ranch

A cold front slowly moved through central Florida today changing the wind direction somewhat from west to west-northwest. The winds basically died down to light and variable.

With a raft of high level clouds accompanying the front the day looked dismal as we contemplated a task at 10:30 AM. The green dot is Groveland.

The BLIPSPOT predicted lift continuing along in the same vain as the previous days , 450 fpm, but it sure didn’t look like we would get any convergence and therefore help with increasing lift. We wondered if we were going to get any cumulus development at all.

We held the launch window back to 1:30 hoping to get enough filtered sunlight to heat up the ground and produce some lift. The cu’s started forming under the thinning cirrus, so it didn’t look completely hopeless, just almost completely hopeless.

We had had so many tows under beautiful cu filled skies, that the tow crew was not looking forward to hundreds of tows under skies that promised very light lift if any. Josh volunteered to wind dummy if he could get his place back and we let him go over shaded ground to see if there was anything out there. He didn’t get up.

Still that didn’t stop folks who decided to start towing anyway as Josh slowly came down. There was a break in the cirrus and a cu formed over the middle of the field. A few pilots got up and started to stick. Suddenly everyone wanted to go.

Fourteen tows later for twelve pilots and everyone was sticking and gaggling in the same thermal in the middle of the Quest Air tow field. They were climbing slowly but they were together and there is a strong incentive to stay with everyone else and not come back to the field on your own.

So on the worst looking day we have the easiest tow operation and get everyone out of the tow field in less than an hour. One pilot comes back after landing within the two mile reflight zone, but after two tows, decides to go on retrieval and pick up his flying buddies.

The task committee called a 23 mile task from Quest, fifteen miles southeast to the intersection of highway 27 and 474, and then south-southwest 8 miles to Wallaby Ranch. The idea was to keep pilots away from the difficult to retrieve areas and over landable areas on the final glide into goal.

Three pilots including Dave Prentice got high and left together. The next eight had to wait longer and get higher within the two mile start circle before they could head out after the lead gaggle.

The lead gaggle didn’t make it to goal and landed further from goal than the later gaggle. I heard Jeff Huey in the air on the radio early on saying it looked like every one would make goal. Looks like he landed a mile short. Josh Cohn was the only one to make it to Wallaby.

Wednesday:

Place Name mph miles Total
1 COHN Josh 18.09 23.3 855
2 HUEY Jeff 22.4 648
3 BROCK Gary 21.7 635
4 FARRELL Jeff 20.8 614
5 HOISINGTON Zach 18.5 546
6 SWAIN Gavin 15.4 443
7 HOFFMAN Doug 15.4 441
8 MOOK Tom 8.6 261
9 PRENTICE Dave 6.6 223
10 SZAFARYN Len 6.4 219
11 SPORER Rob 5.9 204
12 KEARNEY Bill 2.4 83

After four days:

Place Name Total
1 COHN Josh 2129
2 HUEY Jeff 1895
3 FARRELL Jeff 1806
4 BROCK Gary 1607
5 PRENTICE Dave 1426
6 HOISINGTON Zach 1244
7 MOOK Tom 1099
8 SWAIN Gavin 1054
9 SZAFARYN Len 887
10 SPORER Rob 702
11 HOFFMAN Doug 634
12 KEARNEY Bill 376

David Glover writes:

Picture by: Sir Geoffrey Farrell of http://www.4superfly.com Quest can be seen in the middle far right of the picture - spring fed pond on the east side of the field.

Discuss competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Superflytec PG Championships" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Superflytec PG Championships

Tue, May 27 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

competition|Florida|Jeff Huey|Josh Cohn|landing|Orlando Stephenson|PG|power|tow|towing|winch

We head northwest to the wide open areas of central Florida south of the Florida turnpike in order to use a larger field to accommodate the continual western winds. Going northwest we can also more easily get the paraglider pilots away from Orlando and downwind to some small airports north of Lake Apopka.

The task today was a 20 mile down wind leg straight east to Bob White airport and then a 30 mile slightly off downwind leg to the Orlando County Airport. After landing at a private airport yesterday, we wanted to land at a public airport today.

The forecast was for winds of 5 to 10 mph out of the west with 400 fpm lift to 5,200’ in the last afternoon. If the winds came up we didn’t want to force the paraglider pilots to go cross wind in light lift (400 fpm lift – 200 fpm sink rate).

We convoy out to the field off sand roads and setup under some high tension power lines while the winch tows get taken down to the western end of the field as we hold onto the wires at our end. We can’t quite see the winches beyond the rolling hills, but they can see the paragliders when we kite them. There is enough wind to make this easy to do.

We spend the next four hours towing up twelve pilots on four tow rigs until finally every one gets away. We tell the last pilots that they have to turn and go downwind because the sea breeze has wiped out all the lift (if there ever was any) over the field, and they need to run to the clouds in the convergence zone to the east. Otherwise, they won’t get up. They follow our advice and most do get up.

We are able to tow pilots quite high in the prevailing winds and those that are clever stay with any lift that they can find hanging on for dear life. It only gets better as they quickly drift away toward the convergence zone. Jeff Huey reports 500 fpm climb to 5,500’ in his last thermal.

Pilots at goal reported watching Josh Cohn head off in the wrong direction after the first turnpoint. He finally figured out where he was supposed to go, turned around and didn’t make it back enough to make goal. Turns out he was watching the arrow on his Garmin eTrex and it was not pointing toward the GoTo point.

The first pilot to make goal left the start circle at 1:30 and made goal before all but one other pilot who made goal left the start circle. The last pilot to leave the start circle was the last pilot to launch and left at 4:20, almost three hours later.

Seven pilots make goal and everyone leaves the field.

Place Name mph miles Total
1 BROCK Gary 23.55 23.4 612
2 HUEY Jeff 23.14 23.4 603
3 PRENTICE Dave 21.46 23.4 541
4 MOOK Tom 20.69 23.4 516
5 HOISINGTON Zach 19.48 23.4 493
6 FARRELL Jeff 15.91 23.4 482
7 SZAFARYN Len 15.52 23.4 401
8 COHN Josh 22.9 279
9 SPORER Rob 16.3 212
10 SWAIN Gavin 2.2 40
11 HOFFMAN Doug 1.6 38
11 KEARNEY Bill 0.6 38

After three days:

Place Name Total
1 COHN Josh 1274
2 HUEY Jeff 1247
3 PRENTICE Dave 1203
4 FARRELL Jeff 1192
5 BROCK Gary 972
6 MOOK Tom 838
7 HOISINGTON Zach 698
8 SZAFARYN Len 668
9 SWAIN Gavin 611
10 SPORER Rob 498
11 KEARNEY Bill 293
12 HOFFMAN Doug 193

Discuss competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Superflytec PG Championships" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Big Midwest Flying

Mon, May 26 2003, 6:03:02 pm GMT

book|cloud|cloud street|communication|Dan Morris|dust devil|helmet|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|landing|Larry Bunner|maps|Peter Gray|radio|record|site|tow|triangle

Larry Bunner <LBunner@aol.com> writes:

As Brad reported yesterday there was some good flying out of Whitewater. We also had some good air down south at the new site Cushing Field (10 miles east of Leland). I am writing this for my log book.

Due to some high overcast in the morning, Kris Grzyb and Dan Duggan decided to go to Whitewater instead of flying out of Cushing. I passed them on the highway as I headed south. Kris phoned me to discuss the conditions, however I had checked the Blip maps and the satellite photos as well as the Flight Service forecast and felt that conditions would shut down early to the north.

I had no driver and was contemplating doing a triangle however Jerry Bannister showed up with a friend (Jeff) who said he was willing to drive. Jerry and I worked out a plan where I would tow first and wait for him. Then we would head south get high before the Illinois River and see what kind of miles we could get. Jerry had his first 25 miler two weeks ago and was raring to go.

The only radio communication was between me and the chase vehicle. Just short of the river, Jerry and I were thermaling up in some light stuff when we lost each other and he headed back up wind and landed. I was unsure of how willing they were to chase and wallowed around a bit, considered landing with Jerry before the thermal turned on and made the decision for me. I headed down wind and struggled for the first two hours making only about 40 miles.

Off in the distance I could see the first cu's lined up and thought that if I got there the day would really turn on. I kept pushing to the SSE toward the clouds working tractor thermals (my apologies to Peter Gray but they seem to have worked for me for 25+ years) as I went. I headed for those with big plumes of dust trailing skyward.

At the 45 mile mark I spotted a huge dust devil ahead. About ¼ mile before, I entered good lift and kept flying straight until I hit solid 600 fpm. Looking down I see four hang gliders flying around. A group of Reel Tow Pilots were flying at the Cullom tow road. Cool!

I topped out with Warren Seipman and thought he might follow as I headed out. One thermal later I hit the first cloud and climbed out in a boomer over 1000 fpm and left at 7800' when my averager dropped below 500 fpm. Communications with the truck were spotty as my PTT had failed and I had to grab my radio and wedge it up toward my helmet to talk. This was going to be a long retrieve so I told them I would get 100 miles and then land. They were more than agreeable so it was off to the races!

I cranked up the speed and spent the next hour and a half climbing fast and screaming downwind. With good clouds above and dust devils ripping through the fields below it was easy to stay up. I reached 100 miles just before Danville thermaling up again at 900 fpm. Looking downwind a huge cloud street had set up to the SE.

I half heartedly tried to coax Jerry and Jeff to continue on but already felt I had overextended my welcome. Alas I spent 45 minutes circling downward in very buoyant air and landed south of Danville for 114 miles the new site record. I know this area and the conditions well and this definitely had 200+ potential.

The second half of the flight I was averaging about 35 mph. Oh well. C'est la vie. Better preparation and another day will yield the results I'm looking for. Back up north, Dan Duggan had his personal best 80 mile flight landing just north of Cushing. Kris landed with about 100 miles landing at the Morris airport and Dan Morris got his personal best of around 120 miles.

Update: my new site record lasts one day. Kris Grzyb flew 185.5 miles (just short of 300km) and lands at 5:00! Kris flew to the SW landing just short of St. Louis, Mo.

Discuss "Big Midwest Flying" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Super Flytec PG Championships

Mon, May 26 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

competition|PG|Quest Air|tow|towing

<FlyMrPuffy@aol.com> writes about the first day:

Ok, I got out of the tow paddock first. Jeff Farrell followed me on an XTRA large Oasis, I got about 7 miles away, on two big thermals, flying by myself in the lead (like a real man), eventually I landed in a swamp hip deep in vile reptiles.

Thirty minutes later, the alligator I was wrestling with stopped halfway through our battle and pointed to the sky and said " hey, it looks like all the rest of your pussy friends are flying over your head, and it also looks like they're holding hands while they're flying together, so even though I'm trying to kill and eat you, you've earned my respect! ".

So that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!

Monday was an amazing day in the tow paddock. I’m sure that some pilots got close to a dozen tows. We were lined up on the shorter east west runway with the full spectrum of winches next to highway 33. The winds were right out of the west just like yesterday, but this day we were towing right into the wind. Pilots got a lot higher.

There were beautiful cu’s everywhere and no chance of over development. It sure appears as though the prevalent winds will be out of the west for the rest of the week. We started the towing at 12:30, an hour later than Sunday and stayed there the rest of the day towing, and towing, and towing. The Superflytec Championship became the Quest Air Tow Clinic.

Slowly as the lift improved, pilots began dribbling away to the northeast toward the goal, a small private airport, twenty one miles away. Some pilots even began step towing and getting quite high. The pilots who made goal didn’t leave the two mile start circle until 2:30 to 2:50.

We ended the day with only two pilots still not able to at least get out of the field and four pilots at goal. The rest were strung along the course line. Monday:

Place Name mph miles Total
1 COHN Josh 18.75 21.6 614
2 HUEY Jeff 17.78 21.6 561
3 SWAIN Gavin 14.86 21.6 488
3 FARRELL Jeff 13.95 21.6 488
5 BROCK Gary 14.4 277
6 PRENTICE Dave 10.9 234
7 KEARNEY Bill 7.3 172
8 HOISINGTON Zach 4.5 122
9 MOOK Tom 2 72
9 SPORER Rob 1.4 72
9 HOFFMAN Doug 0.4 72
9 SZAFARYN Len 0.2 72

After two days:

Place Name Total
1 COHN Josh 995
2 FARRELL Jeff 710
3 PRENTICE Dave 662
4 HUEY Jeff 644
5 SWAIN Gavin 571
6 BROCK Gary 360
7 MOOK Tom 322
8 SPORER Rob 286
9 SZAFARYN Len 267
10 KEARNEY Bill 255
11 HOISINGTON Zach 205
12 HOFFMAN Doug 155

Discuss competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Super Flytec PG Championships" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Bailey-Moyes German certification – not quite there yet

Sat, May 24 2003, 2:03:04 pm EDT

certification|Dragonfly|job|school|tow

I ask Bill if he had received the final final certification in Germany for the Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly. He <moyes@zip.com.au> wrote back:

Not yet, but will be. Juergen is doing final flight test measurements now. He's done certification on floats. Has done 912S, 914 Rotax engines and doing 3 Cylinder Hirth engine also now.

Certification is an on going never ending job. We are not rushing him. We don't need it till our summer. Juergen spent a month in Spain to set up a new tow school and delayed his tests.

Discuss the Dragonfly at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Bailey-Moyes German certification – not quite there yet" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Super Flytec PG Championships

Sat, May 24 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

airspace|communication|competition|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Josh Cohn|Orlando Stephenson|Oz Report|PG|Quest Air|radio|Russell "Russ" Brown|scooter|tow|towing|winch

This variously-named paragliding competition (recently referred to in the Oz Report as the PG Gator Classic) got under way today with twelve paraglider pilots all towing at Quest Air. Our tow line up setup consisted of Russell Brown’s two wire static tow rig, Gregg McNamee from http://www.graybirdairsports.com/ with his scooter on a platform tow, a big reel winch tow setup, and the simplest and fastest turn-a-round tow system, the static line with a pulley tied to a tree and an ATV. This was more than enough for the twelve competitors.

Some pilots got many tows as we towed them cross wind in light winds down the longer north south runway. Because of the cross winds we weren’t able to get them as high as we did a couple of days ago (1,100’ on that day) and pilots had to scratch their way out of the field from 500’ or less feet. A total of six pilots were able to do so after three hours of towing.

The task was Umatilla airport 30 miles to the northeast given the predicted southwest winds (245°). The 5 to 10 mph winds were in fact about 270°, so it made for tough going in the often light lift. Straight east of Quest you’ll soon find Orlando and controlled airspace starting at a bottom of 6,000’, although getting to 2,100’ was a feat today.

Unlike the past few weeks, there was a much reduced chance of over development and the sky was full of friendly cu’s from 10:30 AM onward. 50 miles to the south there were thunderstorms. It looks like tomorrow should have a further reduced chance of showers. The rest of the week looks good also.

The pilots who did get away generally got away in pairs. Dave Prentice and Josh Cohn were the second pair out. Josh went 20 miles and Dave 24 miles. Dave said that he decided that Josh was getting more help from Dave than Dave was from Josh, so he tried to get away to see if he could shake him. At that point they took very different routes.

These were the longest flights of the day that was worth about 430 points.

David Glover is the meet organizer/director and is handling the launch coordination at the pilot end. I’m down at the other end of the field coordinating the winch end of the launches, basically making sure that the radio communication is clear. Given the long lines, we had Kate in the middle at the road handling the car/truck traffic crossing the lines.

We had to shut down the hang gliding operation for three hours to make sure the paraglider pilots had a chance to get up and out, but the hang glider pilots had good flights before and after the paraglider towing operation. Tomorrow with the west winds, we will be towing from the same location as the hang gliding operation, so we probably won’t have to close them down at all.

Place Name miles Total
1 PRENTICE Dave 24.1 428
2 COHN Josh 20.4 381
3 MOOK Tom 10 250
4 FARRELL Jeff 7.9 222
5 SPORER Rob 7.4 214
6 SZAFARYN Len 6.6 195
7 HOISINGTON Zach 1.2 83
7 BROCK Gary 0.5 83
7 HUEY Jeff 0.4 83
7 SWAIN Gavin 0.4 83
7 KEARNEY Bill 0.4 83
7 HOFFMAN Doug 0 83

Discuss competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Super Flytec PG Championships" at the Oz Report forum   link»

PG Gator Classic

Thu, May 22 2003, 2:00:05 pm EDT

competition|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|David Prentice|Josh Cohn|PG|Quest Air|tow|towing|winch

This weekend a paraglider towing meet begins here at Quest Air. David Prentice has been here all spring getting ready for this meet. Josh Cohn and other paraglider pilots are here getting ready for the meet, rehearsing their towing skills.

David Glover is the meet director and he and David Prentice are working with the winch tow rigs. Right now it is pouring rain, but it has been quite flyable for weeks here, even with the rain in the afternoon or evening. It is the rainy season.

Discuss competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "PG Gator Classic" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Thule HG rack

Mon, May 19 2003, 2:00:02 pm EDT

gear|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|magazine|picture|racks|tow|USHGA

http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=13875764&parent_category_rn=9647564

Gregg Ludwig <Skycruiser3@aol.com> writes:

Thule hang glider rack. It fits into a standard two inch hitch receiver with an anti wobble bolt. Most trucks can accept a front mounted tow hitch like my Tahoe.

This is the Thule Goal Post car rack under paddling solutions. $149 and is normally used for canoes/kayaks.

It is designed to plug into a 2 inch hitch receiver. I went to the hitch store and had them install a trailer frame hitch on the front of the truck. If you view a hitch catalog you will see the applications for either front or rear hitch location. Most front mounted hitches are used for off road front mounted winches.

The anti-wobble bolt is used instead of a receiver hitch pin. You simply instert the bolt where you would normally place your receiver pin. The rack has a nut welded on that this bolt screws into. (a picture is worth a thousand words…)

Near the hood height is a pin that allows the rack height to adjust.

Dealer Doug Coster from Michigan Soaring also distributes Thule gear in addition to gliders. He advertises in USHGA magazine and can be contacted at <wingman@traverse.com>.

Discuss hang glider racks at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Thule HG rack" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Girl Power

Sat, May 17 2003, 5:00:02 pm GMT

Ann Dunlap|Australia|competition|girls|humor|Kari Castle|photo|power|radio|Rob Cooper|Tony Lowrey|tow|Victoria Lee Nelson

Jorj Lowrey at the Right Invite <info@therightinvite.com.au> writes:

This year's "Flatter than the Flatlands" hang gliding competition (Birchip, Victoria, Australia at Easter) had perhaps, the first ever, (world wide?) all-girls team outside a women's competition. Well, that was until two days before the comp. when one of our team mates had to pull out due to a bad back (Marlies Eicher).

Unfortunately, we could only find a bloke to fill in. Fortunately, he did come complete with tow vehicle, radio, tow gauge, rope and sense of humor! Pity we couldn't pull off the all-girls team. Maybe next year!

"Team Cumulobimbo's" L-R: Nicky "Miss Birchip 2003" Shaulders, Ann Moss, John "Priscilla (Queen of the paddock)" Mitchell, Vanessa Sparke, Jo Cooper and Jorj Lowrey - shown here in the team T-Shirts we painted especially for the occasion.

Thanks to Kari Castle for the inspiration - we saw the photo of her T in 'Cross Country'.

Discuss "Girl Power" at the Oz Report forum   link»

WRE-500!

Sat, May 17 2003, 1:00:01 pm EDT

David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|picture|tow

David Glover sends this picture:

Gary writes of the paragliding tow field:

Word today that the work on tow paddock is nearly done. Expecting to hear back from Renato soon. Hangar/set-up/shade structure built. Bathroom facilities done, generator for electrical installed. Water well done. Will request some sort of large tank/pool that we can feed cool water in and out of. Should be set.

Discuss the WRE 500! at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "WRE-500!" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Aerotowing PGer’s

Fri, May 16 2003, 12:00:05 pm EDT

aerotow|bicycle|cost|David Prentice|DHV|Dragonfly|Gerard "Gerry" Farell|Gordon Rigg|Hans Bausenwein|Laurent Thevenot|parachute|payout winch|PG|powered|release|tail|tow|trike|tug|winch

Hans Bausenwein <Hans@aerosport.de> writes:

Great attempt by Dave Prentice! I think the solution would be to fix a small payout winch to a Dragonfly, run the rope through a steel tube to the end of the tail and off you go. I have such a unit made by Christoph Schuhwerk an engineer and hang glider pilot from Germany.

This little payout winch only weighs 20kg, has a Kevlar drum and an exact means of setting the thrust to anywhere up to 100 kg (ideally you set it to the pilots body weight). The unit has a small bicycle bell on it that rings with every revolution. So you hear how fast you are paying out rope and can speed up or slow down accordingly.

It is usually used on a car and is ready to mount on a 50mm ball head of a tow bar. It even has a guillotine to cut the rope in an emergency. The release rope of the guillotine is run to the driver’s seat. We use a large mirror (like a traffic mirror) mounted on the bonnet of the car with big suction cups to see the pilot all the time.

The drum has 600m of 3mm spectra rope and can hold more than 1000m. I will be coming to southern Texas end of June and could bring it if anybody wants to try to fix it to a Dragonfly. Contact me if you are intersted <hans@aerosport.de>. The unit even has a DHV Gütesiegel. It is several years old, but I only have used it a little bit (less than 50 tows). Cost was around 3000 US $. I do not know how much it will cost today.

Gin Gliders have bought two of these Schuhwerk payout winches just recently to use them on an expedition to Mongolia. The expedition is not happening now and Gin wants to sell them again. Contact <gin@gingliders.com> if you are interested. Gin Seok Song also had the intention to come to South-Texas for long distance flying, but wasn't sure if he will find the time.

Mike Dillon <mikedillon@flightconn.com> writes:

It was good to hear that someone has finally aerotowed an paraglider. I've been daydreaming about this for years. The way Dave and Bobby accomplished this sounds fun, but I don't know if it would catch on, it sounds way too complicated.

I think a more practical way to aerotow would be behind a powered parachute (not a paraglider, but one of those large, low performing square chutes powered by a trike). I think they have a top speed of about 28 mph and a bottom speed of about 24 mph (maybe even slower). I've thought for a long time that this would be the ideal tug for a paraglider. I don't have the balls to try it, but it sounds like David Prentice just might - anyone?

Gordon Rigg writes:

Gerard Thevenot did some experiments aerotowing paragliders in 1996 or before using a trike. Given up as too unsafe.

Discuss aerotowing PG’ers at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Aerotowing PGer’s" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Aerotowing a paraglider

Thu, May 15 2003, 7:00:03 pm GMT

aerotow|David "Dave" Glover|David Prentice|Dragonfly|photo|tow|tug|weaklink

On Tuesday we had what we think is the first “successful” aerotow of a paraglider behind a Moyes-Bailey Dragonfly. Bob Bailey was able to tow David Prentice to 250’ before Dave took too much of an inside track as Bobby circled and Bobby gave him the rope.

Photo by Dave Glover

The mechanism was a long line of spectra and a small set of metal cylinders that connected to the normal line on the back of the Dragonfly. The spectra was wrapped around the cylinders in just a way at to allow the spectra line to slide through them but with a significant amount of drag.

One portion of the line was about 200’ long and went to the weak link that connected to Dave at the paraglider. The other portion of the line was about 600’ to 800’ long and was laid out on the runway.

Bobby was given the wind up signal and started down the runway. Dave resisted, brought the paraglider up and then ran behind the Dragonfly as the spectra paid out toward him reducing the speed that he had to run and the tension on him.

The spectra line continued to payout as Bobby and Dave climbed out. Then at a reasonable height Bobby began circling the tug and the idea was that Dave would circle to the inside of the tug’s circle thereby flying slower while still connected to the tug.

Dave took a track that was a little too much inside, got out of whack and Bobby gave him the rope and the drag device.

The rope melted as expected in later experiments that evening. Perhaps they will try again with a different drag device. The trick is to get just the right amount of drag that lets the paraglider get towed without breaking the weaklink, but doesn’t create so much friction that the heat gets to be so much that it melts the spectra.

Discuss "Aerotowing a paraglider" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Static tow rigs

Fri, May 9 2003, 2:00:06 pm EDT

competition|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Florida|tow|towing

David Glover <david@davidglover.com> writes:

I would like to get some of these static tow rigs as a back up to the winches for the late May 2003 Florida paragliding competition. I will buy or rent. Anyone who knows where to get these, let me know. Anyone who can make of a couple, please contact me.

Discuss static tow rigs for paraglider towing at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Static tow rigs" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2003 US Nationals registration

Fri, May 9 2003, 2:00:03 pm EDT

CIVL|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Swift|tow|USHGA|US Nationals

http://flytec.com/usnats03/

David Glover <david@davidglover.com> writes:

Register on line now for the 2003 Big Spring US Nationals July 27th through August 2, 2003 (Sunday to Saturday).

USHGA Class A and CIVL Category 2 sanctioning
Maximum Competitors: 75 total (Flex, Rigid and Swift)
Entry Fee only: $250 for early registration (tow fee separate)

Discuss the Nationals at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "2003 US Nationals registration" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Sign the Morningside Aerotowing Petition

Wed, May 7 2003, 3:00:02 pm EDT

petition|Rob Jacobs|tow|towing

Rob Jacobs Manchester, NH writes:

Last fall, we ran into some opposition to our towing operation here in New Hampshire and in a very small town, it doesn't take much to cause locals to stand up and take notice.

We as pilots have the opportunity to effect change by showing our local town council that aerotowing is indeed a viable and desired method of becoming airborn and serves as a tried and true method for training new pilots.

In addition to these facts, the influx of pilots to the local area, and the commerce they support and allow to thrive, brings a far higher value to the community. The towing operation at Morningside is very young, and we've been put to the cross more than once in its short life so far, and we have an opportunity to put the issue of towing to bed once and for all, and secure the right to tow for many years to come.

I ask that if you are interested in aerotowing at Morningside, now or in the future, please take a minute and sign our petition which can be located at:

www.vhga.org/towing.htm

Many thanks to those who have supported us in the past, and in the future.

Discuss aerotowing at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Sign the Morningside Aerotowing Petition" at the Oz Report forum   link»

AIR ATOS newbie

Fri, May 2 2003, 4:00:04 pm GMT

altitude|cart|competition|control frame|equipment|gloves|GPS|harness|helmet|Peter Gray|polar|spin|tail|tow|tug|wheels

Peter Gray <peter@graynet.net> writes:

I hadn't flown a rigid wing since the early '80s, with the Fledgeling 2, a much higher-drag glider with hand-operated rudder controls. Last Sunday, we set up Johann's ATOS-C, 2003 competition version, with plans to take a morning sled ride, then later soar it in the afternoon.

The first thing we discovered was that there was no practical way to make my Wills pod work in the ATOS control frame, so I used Johann's Rotor harness. Since it was only going to be a sled ride, I brought minimal equipment: a vario, helmet, and T-shirt. No GPS, no gloves, no airspeed indicator.

Johann had advised me that the ATOS would lift its tail early in the ground roll, and would quickly support its own weight, but that I should stay on the cart a little longer than with a flex wing, until I lifted the wheels off the ground. Johann also told me about roll lag and responsiveness (or lack of), and the potential for roll-yaw PIO.

The tail-up effect didn't feel much different from a flex wing, and the take-off roll was about the same. If anything, the ATOS-C felt easier than a flex wing to keep at the correct elevation relative to the tug.

For the first 100 or so feet of climb, I found myself moving back and forth laterally more than necessary, but that gave me a quick feel for how the spoilers work, and it didn't lead to any PIO. It felt somewhat more sluggish in response, but considerably less likely to yaw or roll off the tow line, than what I've been used to. Also, the more efficient wing seemed to make the rigid quicker to climb to tug level if I got low.

I had been flying with half flaps on tow, and a little more for scratching under the clouds, and now I let the flaps up to zero. Wow! Pitch pressure dropped to nothing while the wing rapidly accelerated to 30-35 mph. It trimmed there, with light nose-down bar pressure and fairly heavy nose-up pressure.

It was immediately obvious that the ATOS has long legs. A moderate headwind felt like nothing. I had flown a late-model full-race Laminar MR13 a few days earlier; the ATOS-C has a much flatter glide and its advantage in glide retention at high speed felt even more dramatic.

By the time I found a workable thermal, I was down to 600 feet AGL, over the woods in gliding range of Wallaby. At first I flew in the kind of low-bank, stately circles that I've seen most rigid pilots use, and soon found that it worked better to fly a route through several nearby cores, than to try to stay in one small core.

My first instinct in roll, carried over from flexwings, was to "weight shift" excessively. Feedback from the spoilers is fairly light and subtle, and it wasn't immediately obvious when a spoiler hit the stops. Although I knew intellectually that going beyond the stops would have absolutely no effect on roll rate, it took some repetitions to train myself to be patient and not waste effort.

My main goal for a first flight was to tow safely and land gently, so I hadn't paid as much attention to what Johann told me about flap settings, and I probably thermaled with too much flap most of the time. One thing that became immediately clear was that the ATOS did not want to thermal with zero flaps. Or at least that's how it felt to me. I tried a few thermaling turns without flaps, but I wasn't inclined to find out whether it would stall at higher speed with flaps off than with a climb setting.

It was fun to just look out at such a different kind of wing while circling. The glider felt quite solid and predictable at a wide range of bank angles and speeds. With some patience, I climbed to a comfortable 3,000 feet, and later to 4,500 or so. That allowed me to range much farther from home than I could have in a comp flex wing, and quite a bit faster.

Although I had could make sensory estimates of speed, it would have been nice to have air and ground speed indicators, as well as net climb (although I didn't have an ATOS polar in my Brauniger IQ Comp anyway). To test energy retention, I flew several times in smooth air at what seemed like a fast glide (trim with flaps off), then pushed out enough to get the vario beeping, and rolled into a shallow turn. The glider could do almost a full, large, 360, climbing at 50-100 fpm, before slowing to near a stall.

Since the air was mostly smooth and balmy, I was tempted to put the wing through some high-banked turns, and practice a spin onset and recovery, but I remembered the warnings against spinning the ATOS, and decided to err on the side of caution.

I don't consider three and a half hours nearly enough to tune in to a really different type of wing, so more experience could change my mind, but the glider felt less versatile and capable than a flex wing for scratching in weak or inconsistent lift. I am used to being able to slip, skid, and continually adjust my turn to try for the best climb rate, and it felt odd at first not to be able to do that.

Now I'm beginning to understand why rigids usually thermal in such a stately manner. They don't have a very high roll rate, and whenever a spoiler is deployed, there is some loss to drag. However, the ability to glide to another source of lift with little altitude loss, combined with a lower sink rate, probably makes up for reduced maneuverability, in most conditions.

Back at the Ranch, I pulled on full flaps and followed Johann's advice to make a wide, gentle approach. In almost zero wind, I flared and landed normally with a couple of steps. It didn't seem noticeably more difficult to land than a high-performance flexwing, but I imagine it would be in rougher air. The main difference was that the wing stalled and dropped onto my shoulders a little more suddenly and heavily.

Discuss "AIR ATOS newbie" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Midwest regionals

Tue, Apr 29 2003, 12:00:07 pm EDT

aerotow|book|Brad Kushner|CIVL|competition|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Dragonfly|flight park|Garmin GPS|GPS|landing|magazine|NTSS|photo|Raven Sky Sports|safety|school|site|Swift|tandem|tow|USHGA|weather

Here is the official announcement that went to Hang Gliding Magazine. Brad Kushner at Raven Sky Sports <brad@hanggliding.com> writes:

June 7-14, 2003: 2003 Midwest Regional Hang Gliding Competition at Raven Sky Sports.

Purpose: to have a safe, fun and fair competition. Our focus is to have a relaxing and affordable meet that is a great time for everyone involved.

Dates: June 7 (Saturday) - June 14 (Saturday), 2003. Potentially an 8-day meet, weather permitting.

Sanction: USHGA Class B and CIVL / NTSS points Flex, Rigid, and Swift class.

Location: Raven Sky Sports Flight Park at Twin Oaks Airport. N463 County Road N, Whitewater, Wisconsin 53190.

Facility: World's first dedicated aerotow flight park. 4 Dragonfly tow planes are planned for this event. Additional aerotow vehicles may be added. We have 3 grass runways for launches in up to 6 possible directions. Days are 15 hours long with sunset around 8:30pm in June.

Meet format: cross-country race to goal with or without turnpoints.

Rules: 2003 USHGA Competition Rulebook, latest edition.

Registration: Begins March 12, 2003. Limit ~30-40 competitors (to be determined).

Entry Fee: $300, 50% deposit required to validate registration (add $50 after May 7).

To Enter: email: <comp@hanggliding.com> or by phone: (262)473-8800 or by fax: (262)473-8801.

Meet Organizer: Brad Kushner and Team Raven

Meet Director: David Glover

Safety Director: Bob Linebaugh

Score Keeper: To be determined.

Awards and Prizes: To be determined. Minimum will equal (# of contestants) times ($50), fairly distributed.

Mandatory Pilot Briefing: 5:15 pm - Friday, June 6, 2003.

Contingency Plans: No official rest days are planned. The meet will be up to 8 days in length, weather permitting. Sunday, June 15 will be a contingency day, to be added in the event that flight tasks are cancelled by the meet director on 4 or more days due to weather or other causes.

Other info: Welcome to our first-ever Regional/Points Meet, we aim to make it great. Volunteers will be greatly appreciated. Applications will be accepted in the order received until capacity is reached. Pilots who have not competed before must have approval of meet organizer, meet director and/or safety director. Prior experience in a USHGA aerotow competition is helpful, but not required. Pilots must have current USHGA Advanced ratings (or foreign equivalent) with aerotow and turbulence signoffs. Additional signoffs for restricted landing field and cross-country will be weighed favorably.

Intermediate rated pilots (with appropriate experience and skills) may be allowed at the discretion of the meet director. Foreign pilots will be required to have USHGA 90-day competition membership (available on site at time of contest). Approved Garmin GPS units may be required (to be determined). Aerotows for recreational flying and tandem lessons will be available every day, but will shut down (in favor of the competitors' needs) during the competition launch window.

Photo of airport (looking southeast) was one that you published last summer, showing our main runway N/S, and our shorter E/W runway (at bottom of photo), and our newest NE/SW runway, then under development…we seeded that runway in the autumn, and it's greening up nicely this spring.

Competitors can book reservations at the local AmeriHost Inn, only two miles from the flight park, at special discounted rates. There are also two other motels in Whitewater, but they have neither a swimming pool, nor a hang glider with mannequin to hang over it (photo). Purple and White are the school colors at UW-Whitewater.

Discuss competitions at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Midwest regionals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Young DraachenStein

Sun, Apr 27 2003, 2:00:03 pm EDT

aerotow|cart|cartoon|cloud|Cloud 9|competition|cost|David Maule|donations|Dragonfly|equipment|FAA|flight park|Florida|Flytec USA|food|foot launch|game|glide ratio|government|harness|instruction|landing|Maureen Grant|Moyes America|Moyes USA|parachute|photo|record|release|Rick Agudelo|Rob Kells|safety|site|sport|Sport Aviation|Spot|spot landing|storage|students|tandem|tow|towing|Tracy Tillman|training hill|transport|travel|tug|USHGA|weather|Wills Wing

aka the Dragonfly Cup - a new comp with a tall attitude and monster-size prizes.

by Tracy Tillman and Lisa Colletti

(from Reality Check cartoon series)

While working in the laboratory late one night, we created a new hang gliding competition for 2003, the Dragonfly Cup. The comp will take place at Cloud 9 Field in Michigan, home of the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club. The value of prizes to be awarded is over $6000. Major sponsors include Wills Wing, Moyes USA, Flytec USA, High Energy Sports, AV8/Icaro, and Cloud 9 Sport Aviation.

Hot Comps

Many of the most successful meets taking place across the world use aerotowing as the primary means of launch. At a good site, it allows launching into any wind direction, and enables a large number of pilots to launch in a short period of time (provided that there are enough tugs and tug pilots available). The large cross-country meets that have been hosted by our friends in Florida and Texas over the last five years are a great example of the popularity and success of aerotowing as a launch format. The mass launches are an awesome site to behold, and participation in those comps is an experience that one will never forget. By all means, one should try to get to one or both of the Florida meets, as a participant, tug pilot, volunteer helper, or spectator.

The good flying conditions and high-level of competition at these meets bring together some of the best pilots in the world. These are relatively complex, work-intensive, and expensive comps to run, which results in entry fees being near $400, not including tow fees. With travel, food, lodging, and support crew costs added, the overall cost for a pilot to participate in one or both of the Florida meets is significant. Never-the-less, registration for both of these meets fills up almost immediately after opening.

Despite the popularity of these meets, it has been difficult for some clubs to run a successful meet in other parts of the county. Here in the Great Lakes/Great Plains region of the country, poor weather and low pilot turnout has resulted in the cancellation of meets more often than not. We can experience great soaring conditions across the summer flying season in this part of the country, but the weather patterns are not as consistent as in Florida or Texas. Also, many average Jo/Joe hang glider pilots who live in this part of the country are more interested in participating in a lower-cost, fun-type comp, rather than in a higher-cost, intensely competitive cross-country competition; and, it may be difficult for some pilots to take many vacation days away from work to attend a meet.

The Dragonfly Cup

With these issues in mind, and after some discussions with Rob Kells of Wills Wing, we created the Dragonfly Cup hang gliding competition for the summer of 2003. Aerotow and hill slope will be the primary means of launch. The comp will be hosted by the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club (DFSC) at Cloud 9 Field in Michigan. It is a low-cost comp to benefit the DFSC, with large prizes sponsored by major hang gliding companies.

(A good summer day at Cloud 9. Photo by Rick Agudelo)

To avoid weather cancellation issues, the Dragonfly Cup is running season-long, from May 15 through September 1 (Labor Day), 2003. To avoid weather-related cross-country task problems, there are five different task categories: Race, Distance, Duration, Spot Landing, and Glide Ratio. To avoid retrieve problems, all task landings are at Cloud 9 Field. To reduce expenses, the cost is only $10 or $20 per comp flight, depending upon the task(s) declared by the competitor, plus the cost of the tow for that flight. A pilot can enter and declare a flight as a comp flight as many times as he/she likes across the season. To enable any level of pilot to win, a handicap system will enable lower-performance gliders to release from tow at higher altitudes. Pilots will foot launch from the newly-constructed training hill at Cloud 9 Field for the glide ratio task, which will enable non-towing student pilots, and even paraglider pilots, to compete in the meet. (Note: It is not a large hill; using a light, slow, high-lift wing may offer an advantage for this task.)

Results will be recorded across the season. Those who finish at the top of each category will be eligible to win one or more of the major prizes available. So far, the prize list and sponsors include: (a) Falcon 2 hang glider, sponsored by Wills Wing and Cloud 9 Sport Aviation ($3075 value); (b) Contour Harness sponsored by Moyes America ($950 value); (c) 4030XL variometer sponsored by Flytec USA ($899 value); (d) Quantum 330 reserve parachute sponsored by High Energy Sports ($650 value); and (e) PVC storage/transport tubes sponsored by AV8/Icaro ($500 value).

The cost for declaring a hill flight as a glide ratio comp flight is just $10, which means that for as little as a $10 entry fee, a pilot could win a brand new Falcon 2 glider worth over $3000. The cost for declaring an aerotow flight as a comp flight is $20 (plus tow fee), but the pilot can choose two of the four aerotow task categories for that flight: (a) Race, which is the fastest out and back 16 mile round trip time to the neighboring Sandhill Soaring Club field; (b) Distance, which is the most out and back round trips to the Sandhill Soaring Club field; (c) Duration, which is the longest time aloft; and (d) Spot Landing, which is landing (by foot or wheel) within a prescribed circle. All landings must be on Cloud 9 field; out-landing flights will be disqualified. For the aerotowing tasks, the tow height limit is1500 feet AGL for rigid wings, 2500 feet for topless flex wings, 3500 feet for kingposted double-surface flex wings, and 4500 feet for kingposted single-surface flex wings.

(Lisa, Tracy, and DFSC club members. Artwork by Bob and Maureen Grant)

The DSFC will host comp parties on Memorial Day weekend, July 4 weekend, and the first weekend in August, to encourage pilots from other clubs to schedule a trip en masse to fly here with us. The grand finale party will be held on Labor Day weekend, with final results determined and prizes awarded on Labor Day.

The winners of each task category will have an equal chance at winning the major prizes. A drawing of the task winners' names will be held on Labor Day to determine who gets which prize.

We feel that events like the Dragonfly Cup can help the sport to grow, as do several major manufacturers and distributors. Wills Wing, Moyes, Flytec, High Energy Sports, AV8/Icaro, and Cloud 9 Sport Aviation are offering significant donations in support of the 2003 Dragonfly Cup. These companies are dedicated to supporting our sport with their excellent products and services, please support them in return.

Cloud 9 Field and the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club

If you have not flown with us before, please be aware that we have a specific operations formula that may be somewhat different from what you have experienced at other aerotowing sites. Because we have a nice site with a very active club, some pilots mistakenly think of our DFSC club site as a commercial flight park-it is not.

Cloud 9 Field is our sod farm, private airfield, and home. We purchased the land specifically with the intent of building a house, hanger, and private airfield, and to create a home base for the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club. We are on the executive board of the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club, and are the owners of Cloud 9 Sport Aviation, which is a supplementary mail order hang glider equipment business that serves Michigan and the Great Lakes region. We are also the owners of Cloud 9 Field, Inc. sod farm.

We allow DFSC club members and guest members to camp on our property (temporarily, not permanently) at no charge, and bathrooms and showers are available in our hanger for members and guests to use. The hanger has a second-floor club house/game room/kitchenette and observation deck overlooking the field. Our airfield is flat and open, and allows smooth cart launches and foot or wheel landings in any wind direction on mowed and rolled sod grass. Last year, we also built a 30 foot training hill on the edge of the field with the help of several club members (thanks Rick, Mark, and Jim!).

(Cloud 9 Field hanger and DFSC club house.)

The DFSC has been active since 1997, and has been flying from Cloud 9 Field since 1998. Even though we gained prior approval from the local, state, and federal government for the establishment of our private airfield for aircraft, ultralight, and hang glider operations, the local township government reacted to complaints from a neighbor about our towing operations, and sued us to prevent us from flying. As a result, we purposely kept a low public profile (but did not stop flying) while battling the lawsuit over several years.

Since that time we have learned how common it is, all across the country, for legal action to be initiated against people who own or establish airstrips and conduct flying activities. We also discovered that it is very important to find attorneys who are well versed in the appropriate areas of law, and who really care about your case. At a significant cost to us, we settled the lawsuit last year. In addition to having a great pair of attorneys working for us, one of which is a hang glider pilot and now a DFSC club member, we also had to do a great deal of work to help them develop an understanding of the case and to build a solid legal argument for the court. We learned a lot, but it was very time-consuming, stressful, and expensive.

During this process, we were inspected twice by the FAA. Their visits and reports supported our legal argument by helping to verify that we are not a commercial flight park operation, that we are operating properly within FAA regulations and exemptions, and that we are operating safely and relatively quietly. After getting to know us and the nature of our operations, the FAA asked Tracy to serve as an Aviation Safety Counselor for the FAA Detroit FSDO region, which also had a positive impact for us in court.

We are both ultralight basic flight instructors, and airplane private pilots. Lisa is the main tug pilot, and Tracy is the tandem hang gliding instructor for the club. We have two Dragonfly tugs, one with a Rotax 914 engine, and one with a Rotax 912 engine. We also own a Maule STOL airplane, painted in the same colors as our Dragonfly tugs.

In consideration of our neighbors, we have been successful in significantly reducing the engine/prop noise generation levels on both of our tugs. We use quieter and more reliable 4-stroke engines, custom-designed Prince propellers that provide increased thrust and reduced noise, after-muffler silencers with exhaust stacks that direct the noise upward, and towing/flying techniques that minimize noise levels on the ground.

(Tracy and Lisa with one of their Dragonfly Tugs)

Our operations formula has been refined over time to best meet FAA, IRS, USHGA, USUA, and other federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations. As such, all of our hang gliding instruction and flying operations take place via the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club, Inc., which is a not-for-profit, mutual benefit organization to promote safe hang gliding and instruction. Club members share in the cost of our operations for their mutual benefit, such as site preservation and maintenance, tow operations, and instruction. All flights conducted by the DFSC are considered instructional flights. Instruction is free, but the club collects membership dues and fees from each member to cover their own specific towing expenses (non-member pilots can fly with us a few times a year as guests of the club without paying membership dues, but club members pay less for tows).

Our field is a private airfield for non-commercial use, not a public flight park for commercial use; therefore, all pilots, students, and visitors must contact us prior to coming out to our field to fly---on each and every visit. We try to be available for flying on most good days, but will be away from the field on occasion, so call before you come. Our season runs from May 1 through October 31. We are available to tow after 10:30 AM six days a week (not on Tuesdays), and on weekends only after Labor Day (when Tracy has to resume his faculty duties for the fall semester at Eastern Michigan University). We conduct tandem instructional flights in the evening, in conditions that are appropriate for students.

Everyone who flies with us must be a DFSC club member or guest member, a member of USHGA, sign our club waiver, and follow all club rules and procedures. We are very safety and instruction oriented, and expect pilots to do what we ask of them. Anyone who does not, will be reminded that they are at our home and on our field as our guest, and will be asked to leave. We would hope that pilots understand that there are many complex factors and issues involved in the establishment and operation of a successful aerotow hang gliding club, which mandates that we do things in certain ways. So far, our approach seems to work--we have an excellent safety record, a great group of pilots, a lot of fun, and a good reputation among students, pilots, and FAA officials who know us.

In spite of the cost and effort (on top of our regular professions) that it has taken for us to create and maintain the field and buildings, equipment, and club operations for the club, we support the club and its members because we love hang gliding and flying. We have had good success in bringing new pilots into the sport and we have helped to improve the flying skills of our club members.

Now that we have settled our township-related problems, we can be more open about our club's flying activities. We are hoping that more pilots will come to learn and fly with us in 2003, and we are very much looking forward to hosting the Dragonfly Cup this year.

Instruction and continuous improvement of flying skills and safety are the prime directives of our club. We take that very seriously. Accidents and injuries are not fun-safe flying is more fun for everybody. We will continue to focus on helping all of our club pilots improve their flying skills throughout the year, and we think that the Dragonfly Cup is a great way to help make that happen.

We are looking forward to having a great flying season ahead. Come fly with us, and enter the Dragonfly Cup - you've got a good chance at winning big!

For more information about the DFSC and the 2003 Dragonfly Cup, visit our website at http://members.aol.com/DFSCinc, email us at <DFSCinc@aol.com>, or call us at 517.223.8683. Fly safe, Lisa and Tracy.

Discuss competition at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Young DraachenStein" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Flying with Vultures

Fri, Apr 25 2003, 8:00:08 pm GMT

altitude|book|cloud|fire|James Oakley|job|Knut Ryerson|landing|Maria Diekmann|Mark Griffin|Markus Hanfstaengl|news|record|Rob Manzoni|smoke|space|survival|tow|trike

Rafael Dubois <Rafael@geebroadcast.co.uk> sends in his story about the previous Flight for Plight

Once upon a time, in a very remote and exotic land lived the world's loneliest hang glider pilot. He was lonely not because he was an ageing pilot who refused to join a trendy para-world and flew solo through crowded skies bursting with inflated, multicoloured rags. No, our hero flew alone because there were no humans sharing his aerial realm. In that magical land his only companions were vultures, eagles and buzzards, who would share the strong thermals that would take him aloft, high above the pristine, stunning and endless landscapes.

The happy pilot was married to a beautiful Queen and together they worked hard to preserve their wonderful kingdom from the evil forces of irresponsible commercial farming and apathy towards nature. One day, after discovering that a group of their beloved feathered subjects were in serious peril, the Queen commanded her winged knight to set forth on a noble quest. But such an enterprise was difficult and our pilot, together with his faithful glider and trusted vario, couldn't face alone the enormity of the worthy mission. He needed to recruit outside help and thus the "Flight for the Plight" was born…

Namibian pilot Jörg Diekmann is the country's last active hang glider pilot. He lives with his family in a farm in the middle of that beautiful but almost uninhabited corner of the world, where his nearest neighbour is another farm over 50 km away. The Diekmanns are concerned about the survival of a rare species of African vulture: the Cape Griffin, whose last Namibian colony nests at the Waterberg Plateau's cliffs near the Diekmanns' farm. But this is not an issue of merely liking vultures or wanting to have them around as thermal markers. Theses birds do a vital job as refuse collectors in their natural habitat, eating away decomposing carcasses and leaving the savannas clean from decay and disease. Consequently, in 2000 the Diekmanns established a conservation fund called REST (Rare & Endangered Species Trust) with the aim of saving this vulture species.

Namibian farming is a tough business: droughts combined with abundant predators kill thousands of cattle every year. The easiest solution is to kill hyenas, jackals and leopards with poisoned carcasses. However it is often the birds that find these deadly baits first with terrible consequences - one treated carcass can kill over 100 vultures. Although a total poisoning ban would be the best environmental solution, this couldn't be realistically enforced due to the remoteness and spread of the farms. The best pragmatic solution is to educate the farmers, so that they voluntarily minimise the ecological impact of poisoning by using it in a controlled and responsible manner.

After the successful launch of REST, the next step was to embark on a national campaign of awareness and education aimed at the farming community. To achieve that, the Diekmanns needed to come up with something high-profile and original in order to generate news in the local papers and media. Their solution was the "Flight for the Plight", an international free flying rally to raise money and awareness for REST.

The event took place during the first two weeks of November 2001. The first week was located at the base of the Waterberg Cliffs, from where daily tasks were set. The second week consisted of a "traveling rally" covering the most spectacular sights of Namibia by flying to a different goal everyday, where pilots spent the night and took off the following day. In between, there was a full day dedicated to the local press with an aerial display at Otjiwarongo, in the heart of the Namibian farming community. Although everybody was welcome, the majority of participants were hang gliding pilots, 17 in total, with only 4 paraglider attendees. There were pilots from South Africa, Holland, Germany, Britain and Venezuela.

That is how I found myself in an Air Namibia flight looking through the window, imagining I was gliding, spotting flying routes and landing fields. To my horror, after more than 30 min flying over the bushveld of near Windhoek, I had not seen a single tiny patch suitable for landing a paraglider, let alone a hang glider. My first impression of Namibia was one of hundreds of square kilometres of desolated emptiness that were evenly covered with boulders and nasty looking thorn scrub - later inspection confirmed my worse fears: each plant has thousands of incredibly hard, sharp and pointy lethal spines.

Namibia is not only a really beautiful country; it is also a fascinating place full of surprises. The drive from the airport to the Diekmanns' farm revealed troops of baboons, herds of kudu & oryx, warthogs and a jackal. The same impromptu safaris were repeated daily on our way to the tow field, with the constant addition of more species. Watching giraffes running near the car against the sunset and searching for ostriches feathers at the tow field were just part of the experience. Despite all these idyllic descriptions, we were flying in an area far from being a wholesome paradise. I took notice of this during my first pilot's briefing where the main emphasis was on avoiding dehydration, the possibility of spending days in the open bush waiting for retrieve and how to handle dangerous wild life such as snakes, hyenas, and leopards! There is no where to land but on gravel roads, which are sometimes narrow and perpendicular to the wind. Dust and thorns are everywhere ready to damage your sail. The sun is so strong that my eyes became strained despite of wearing sunglasses constantly - we towed from salt pans and the glare was worse than climbing a glacier on a cloudless day. Perhaps the worse were the number of strong dusties which damaged several gliders during our adventure.

Having said all of that, Namibia is a pilot's paradise well worth the extra care. Conditions were absolutely outstanding: one of the best I have ever had the pleasure to fly in. There were cross country flights over 200 Kms (The longest flight was Germany's Markus Hanfstaengl of 283 km) I broke my own altitude gain record reaching cloud base a little over 5,200 Mts. and being over 4,000 Mts. above the tow field! (For those of you still living in the Neanderthal Imperial system, this is 13,100 feet over the ground) And believe me, terra firma was an awfully long way down.

I could write a book about all the great experiences we had in Namibia, but due to space constrains I'll limit myself to only 5 anecdotes that should illustrate the diversity and uniqueness of the adventures that we enjoyed.

1. Petrol: the most precious commodity for the Namibian drive.r Being a relatively unpopulated country there are few petrol stations. Often during an all-night retrieve we were forced to take 60 to 80 km detours from the main route just to fill up the tank. One night after collecting all the pilots we didn't have enough fuel to make the 60 km needed to reach home, so we were forced to drive in the opposite direction 40 km to the only known 24-hour petrol station, which of course increased the total driving distance to 140 km. Upon arrival, the service station was closed and no matter how much we banged the door and beeped the horn the owner understandably didn't feel like filling our tank up at 2:00 AM. Eventually we went to the police station for help. The officers, still wearing their pyjamas but carrying their machineguns, managed to wake the owner and have him sell the precious liquid to us. We eventually reached home at 4:30 AM.

2. Kalahari sands. Flying late in the evening towards the end of a fantastic cross country, I was enjoying the beginning of the sunset. Suddenly, against the sun, I noticed the smoke of a large fire far in the horizon. After a few minutes gliding I glanced again towards the smoke to check the wind direction. To my horror I realised it was now ten times bigger and coming fast toward me: it was a sand storm! The sight from the air was breathtaking; it was shaped like an arrowhead, but slowly moving like a gigantic wave, continuously growing and advancing. Fascinating as it was, I knew I was in trouble so I had to think fast. I was still high and I didn't have time to land before it reached me, so I decided to ride the front and get as far as possible from the point of the "arrowhead". When I reached the gust level my glider started to fly backwards, so I descended full VG on completely vertically with very poor visibility due to the blasting sand and the twilight. Luckily I was over a farm with a large cleared field and my retrieve was already waiting, ready to assist me with the difficult ground handling. Children don't try this at home!

3. Biblical times. Often, we had to deliberately cut short a cross country to land at a farm in order to use their phone. You need to do this as there is no mobile coverage, the lack of distinguishable land features and few inhabitants for what can be several dozens Kms. At a very remote farm, even by Namibian standards, I landed in the middle of what I thought was a party due to the amount of cars parked there. Instead of a jolly atmosphere, I was very solemnly escorted inside the farmhouse to a phone. I was beginning to feel completely out of place with dusty feet & sandals and Oakley sunglasses pushed over my head. As I picked up the receiver, I froze in front of an unforgettable sight. I was facing around 30 God-fearing Afrikaners, who after a long awkward silence and plenty of stern, disapproving looks, chose to ignore me and started to sing religious hymns accompanied by an old organ and 3 accordions. All of them were modestly dressed in conservative, Victorian-style clothes which I suspected had changed little from the ones worn by their Boer ancestors who trekked to these lands in the late 1700's! After I finished my call, I was politely ushered out of the house and had to wait for my retrieve outside. This was the only farm were I wasn't welcomed to wait inside I wonder why.

4. South Africa: Land of Saints We were lucky to count on two of our very own South African Saints, who share the same name although they couldn't be more different of each other. Saint Rob Manzoni was everybody's guardian angel, happily helping anyone who had the slightest need of assistance. I have never met someone so self-giving, who really put everybody's need above his own and his interest in flying. Thanks St. Rob! The other, Saint Rob Rademayer, was the democratic joy-giver who shared his immense love of flying with anyone who showed interest in it, regardless of their relationship to our group, age, gender, race or social status. Saint Rob generously brought a dual-seat trike just to give people rides over the majestic Namibian landscape without expecting anything in return. Everybody, from a tourist who-happen-to-be-there, to 70 year-old ladies working on conservation projects, from humble farm workers to pilots' children, from drivers to people simply hanging around. For all of them, Rob was always there smiling and ready to share the miracle of flying. Thanks St. Rob!

5. What if… After a late start, a 120 km out-of-return was set on the last day. On the way back, the only two pilots close to goal were Germany's Knut von Hentig and I. We weren't very high, the sky had deteriorated very quickly and it was obvious that the day was dying fast. We were only 20 km from goal and a brave Knut went for a direct glide over no-man's land. The glide was very tight and he risked the possibility of shredding the glider to pieces in a thorny bushveld-landing and, in the case of surviving it, walking all night to the nearest road. I mentally wished good luck to the courageous German ace, but personally restrained myself in following his path to glory. Instead, I settled for a chicken run, safely flying two legs over the dirt track that added an extra 10 km to goal - rather than flying Knut's hypotenuse shorter route. Obviously my judgement spared my glider but didn't take me to goal; I landed 14 km short despite scratching in the air for another 45 minutes until sunset. Luckily Knut did indeed land in goal but only just. He said that the worst was not skimming the harsh thorn scrubland or dodging tall trees for what it seemed ages. No, what really scared him was the sudden realisation that the last 5 km to goal involved flying over a wild lion reserve that we were strongly warned against doing three days earlier!

…and so the noble quest was a success. The Queen and her winged knight managed to raise money for REST and communicate the message of the vultures' plight to the farmers. Are they going to live peacefully ever after? I don't think so because the Diekmanns are planning to repeat the Flight for the Plight in November 2003, which means that lots of pilots will have fun in their magic kingdom once again! For more information please check www.restafrica.org or contact Jörg and Maria at: <awt@iafrica.com.na>

Discuss "Flying with Vultures" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Flight for Plight II

Fri, Apr 25 2003, 4:00:07 pm EDT

cost|history|Maria Diekmann|record|site|space|survival|tow|world record

www.RESTafrica.org

Rafael Dubois <Rafael@geebroadcast.co.uk> sends this announcement:

The Rare & Endangered Species Trust (REST) is excited to announce the scheduling of its second Flight for the Plight of the Cape Griffon Vulture. This year's Flight will take place from October 14 - 23, 2003, and will raise funds for Namibia's most endangered species, the Cape Griffon Vulture (Gyps coprotheres).

The Plight

We must act to save this species from extinction now! The Cape Griffon Vulture is endemic to southern Africa and is experiencing continuous declines as the result of poisoning, electrification, habitat destruction and diet deficiencies. There are only an estimated 8-11 birds remaining at Namibia's last colony at the Waterberg Plateau Park near REST Headquarters.

The Flight

October 10 - 13 will be arrival and test flight days with participants arriving from all over the world at REST headquarters near the town of Otjiwarongo. From October 14 - 16 pilots will launch near REST. Flight days will consist of downwind races with open distance in order to accumulate as many sponsored kilometers as possible and to add to the possibility of a pilot breaking a local or world record.

On Friday, October 17 we will hold a Community Awareness Fly-in day at the Otjiwarongo Airfield. The public and press are invited to visit and watch the pilots launch. There will be information on Cape Griffons and REST founder Maria Diekmann will be on-hand to answer questions. Nelson, REST's educational Cape Griffon vulture will be on hand to meet visitors and show off his beauty.

On the 18th our pilots will depart on a cross country tour, heading towards a mountain launch site in the south of the country and ending at the edge of the Kalahari desert for more tow launching.

Two years ago 23 pilots representing 3 continents and 6 countries participated. Because the pilots and the vultures share the same air space and use the same engine - thermals and the sun, we feel that this is an excellent way to raise international awareness and to generate funds for this endangered species.

Why help?

This is a marvelous opportunity to save this majestic yet misunderstood bird from extinction in Namibia. If we lose these vultures, it will be only the second time in recorded history that Namibia has lost a species, and the first species, the white rhino has recently been successfully reintroduced.

All funds generated from this fundraiser will go to the following projects:

Satellite telemetry collars for the ultimate flight - so that we can collect vital information on the bird's foraging, behavioral & social patterns.
Testing the birds for contaminates & heavy metals.
Photographing and expanding our 'vulture passports' so that we can positively identify the current population.
Supplemental feeding programs at REST's vulture restaurant.

Outputs from Flight for the Plight I - 2001

N$15,000 was earned and covered the cost of building materials for the vulture hides that the international volunteer organization Raleigh International built for us. This hide has become the center of all of our observations - both for pleasure and scientific research. Photographers and filmmakers have commented on the enhanced quality of their productions based on the design and location of our viewing hide.

On the 19th and 20th of April 2003 this hide held observers who discovered 3 new young birds in our Namibian population. This was a major breakthrough for our research. REST owes the pilots from the FP 2001 a huge thank you for your contributions to the survival of the Cape Griffon in Namibia!

To register, contact:

Jörg & Maria Diekmann
REST
PO Box 178
Otjiwarongo, Namibia 9000
Telephone: 00264.67.306226
Email: <awt@iway.na>

Discuss flying birds in South Africa and Namibia at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Flight for Plight II" at the Oz Report forum   link»

FAA, Lookout and their Tugs »

Wed, Apr 23 2003, 4:00:02 pm EDT

aerotow|Bill Bryden|EAA|FAA|flight park|instruction|Jayne DePanfilis|Lee Gardner|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|Orlando Stephenson|parachute|sport|Sport Pilot|Sue Bunner|survival|tow|towing|USHGA

Jayne DePanfilis <jayne@ushga.org> writes:

The recent situation at Lookout Mountain Flight Park regarding the suspension of aerotow operations by an FAA field inspector from Atlanta helped to focus the FAA on the need to either issue a new Towing Exemption to the USHGA or to revise the current Towing Exemption held by the USHGA to allow for the use of heavier ultralights for the purpose of aerotow launching hang gliders.

The FAA understands the importance of aerotow instruction/flying for the survival and growth of our sport. The FAA indicated a desire to help the USHGA address the need to revise the Towing Exemption when USHGA representatives first met with them at the Spring BOD meeting in Ontario, California in February of 2002 to discuss Sport Pilot initiatives. The USHGA Sport Pilot Task Force, members of the Executive Committee, and Sue Gardner continued to address the need for an increased weight limit for the towing vehicles at the Fall USHGA BOD meeting held in Orlando last October.

The issue of primary importance during these discussions was the (excess) weight of the ultralights that are in use at flight parks for the safer conduct of aerotow operations. The FAA understands implicitly that the Bailey Moyes Dragon Fly Ultralights currently in use at LMFP is essential to most aerotow flight park operations. They know that the Dragon Fly has recently been certificated in Germany. They know that the USHGA considers it to be a "standard" for the implementation of safer aerotowing operations. The USHGA Sport Pilot Task Force provided the FAA with documentation supporting the use of these ultralights as early as the spring of 2002. This valuable information did not fall on deaf ears. The USHGA has been working very closely with Sue Gardner for more than one year now on these matters.

On Monday of this week I spoke directly with Sue Gardner, the FAA's Program Manager and Technical Expert for Sport Pilot, and I explained the situation at LMFP to her in great detail. Sue indicated to me that she intends to immediately move forward with the USHGA's request to increase the weight limit of the ultralight vehicles used to aerotow launch hang gliders. The request to increase the weight limit of the ultralights that are used to tow hang gliders was formally submitted to the FAA by me in December of last year. The request was drafted by Bill Bryden. The situation at Lookout these past two weeks has shown Sue that the USHGA needs "immediate relief" from the FAA regarding the need to increase the weight limits of these ultralights so they can be used without question to aerotow hang gliders.

It is my hope that the revision to the USHGA's current Towing Exemption can be made within the next two or three weeks. The current weight limit for these aircraft is 254 pounds. Discussions are currently underway to increase the weight limit to 496 pounds plus allowances for (more) weight similar to those that are provided to ultralights operating now under the EAA, USUA, or ASC exemption for two-place training in an ultralight. The two-place towing exemption maintained by the EAA, USUA and ASC includes allowances for a parachute system, floats, etc. Bill Bryden is currently negotiating this new weight limit with the FAA on behalf of the USHGA.

The USHGA knows that Sue Gardner is a friend to recreational aviators and while the USHGA recently recognized her with an exemplary service award, I would like to publicly thank her once again for understanding what the USHGA needs most from the FAA to ensure that we will be able to continue to conduct flight park operations, aerotow operations, in the safer manner to which we have become accustomed.

Discuss heavy tugs and the FAA at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "FAA, Lookout and their Tugs" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Coated wires

Tue, Apr 22 2003, 8:00:04 pm GMT

"Awesome" Bob|Betty Pfeiffer|CIVL|Dennis Pagen|injury|Kathleen Rigg|Steve Kroop|tow|USHGA|winch

Steve Kroop <flytec@earthlink.net> writes:

Mike's wire injury brings the "uncoated wire injury" count to 3 in less than 2 weeks. IMHO these injuries are unnecessary and avoidable. I, for one, would like to see the manufactures ship all their gliders (including comp models) with coated wires. If a comp pilot feels compelled to remove the coating (which really is foolish) then he can do so, but at least the majority of pilots will end up with coated wires.

Think my comment about stripping the coating is foolish then consider this: What performance edge does Kathleen, Greg and Mike have when they are on the ground from uncoated wire injury?

Furthermore, Betty Pfeiffer (the manufacturer of one of the world’s best parachutes) has cautioned pilots for years about the potential risk of being separated from their reserve in a deployment situation by uncoated wires cutting through the reserve bridal. I know that a lot of pilots that fly with uncoated wires try to comfort themselves with the notion that they have a Kevlar bridal. Well I would like to see some test data on that notion.

In the old truck tow days we bought a very expensive roll of Kevlar towline which we used for one day and then we tossed it because it kept cutting itself on the spool of the winch. If the Kevlar can cut itself, I think that it is well within the realm of possibility that a very sharp uncoated wire would do the same. If you are unsure ask yourself the question: do you want to be the one that finds out?

Again, there is only one pilot out there that should even consider uncoated wires and that is the pilot that is 2 seconds behind the guy in first place. Every one else is taking unnecessary risk.

I was talking to Awesome Bob about this and he told me that he was also commenting how dumb uncoated wires are in front of a group of top pilots. Manfred apparently was present and commented that he would use coated wires if everyone else would. Sound like this needs to be on an agenda some where.

(editor’s note: Dennis Pagen, USHGA’s alternate representative to CIVL has posted a survey on the bulletin board here at the Wallaby Open to ask pilot’s opinion about mandating coated wires in Category 1 and 2 competitions. Also about whether a carabineer would be required to attach the pilot to the hang glider (not just a bolt through the keel).

Discuss CIVL and wires at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Coated wires" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Chad continually remembered

Sun, Apr 20 2003, 5:00:04 pm EDT

beer|cart|golf|landing|Lisa Kain|students|tow|tug|tumble

Lisa Kain <Girlpilot1@aol.com> writes:

You probably know Chad, he was around hang gliding for a long time. Maybe you met him at Ridgely or Kitty Hawk or Quest or a dozen other sites. Maybe he taught you to fly, or towed you up, or fixed your glider when it had that little turn in it. Maybe he passed you a wrench or a beer or gave you that crooked wiseass smile when you made a great landing. These days he was looking like a badboy, huge muscles, huge motorcycle, hair cut down to nearly bald, and he was afraid of absolutely nothing. He drove it and rode it and flew it like he stole it.

He loved to scare the crap out of passengers on the bike, hauling down the runway at 110 mph, knowing he couldn't see the end (he'd counted the centerline stripes and knew precisely where he was). I always hated to hear people talk about his sight because the fact that his vision was compromised annoyed the living hell out of him. He refused to let it slow him down, but it really pissed him off that he wasn't allowed to fly jets and every other aircraft ever built. To tell the truth, I never could figure out exactly what he couldn't see, although I got pretty good at making a face at him without getting caught.

When we flew, he saw targets I'd missed, and he always knew what was going on down on the ground. I never once saw him get close to anything else in the air, unless he was chasing birds and buddies in GA planes. In the evenings he would fly the field down low, banked 80° with the wing a foot off the ground, then buzz the golf cart by inches. He never missed, he never screwed up, he just flew beautifully, right on the edge, with intelligence and confidence and the skill to make anyone jealous. That boy was hungry to fly, it was nearly all he needed to live and he was uncompromising in his precision. He was like that with just about everything, it was either right or it wasn't, and you can see the difference in his students.

To the group of friends living in Ridgely, Chad was our Alpha Dog, that's what we called him. He led, never ever followed, and we all became better for it, even when it did aggravate us. We often referred to "The Chad Enigma", because for all his toughness we also knew his heart. If you met him, even years ago, I can tell you that he did remember you, and most likely cared about you more than he let on.

I listened to his stories about you guys for the last three years, and I was amazed how easily he was touched, or hurt, or worried for you. Showing you that part of him was pretty rare, but if he hugged you hello he meant it and a whole lot more. He worried that when you said hi, he might not recognize your voice and he might be too far away to see you, and you might think he was snubbing you. If he saw you fly too slow on final, he searched for the right way to bring it up without making you mad, because he'd feel so awful if you ended up getting hurt.

At the end of the day he stayed in the office past midnight to talk with you about your flight, or answer your question for the 5th time, or just to hang out with you. This wasn't because you spent $20 on a tow, it was because he cared deeply about you and your flying, and you were more important to him than eating dinner or getting enough sleep. And boy, he was fun to be with, wasn't he?

I often told Chad he was unkillable, he'd been through so many windshields (when he was thinking he'd mindlessly rub his fingers across the bits of glass still in his forehead), he'd smashed into so many dunes, walked away from a tug wreck, flew out of a tumble and continued looping his Stealth (in typical form his reaction was purely logical: the glider flew straight and turned fine in both directions, uniform bilateral structural damage was nearly impossible, so the only conclusion was to keep on flying). It's so hard to believe he didn't walk away from this one.

He lived a large life in 30 years, with large plans and ability and intelligence and caring. I watched him run a business that took every bit of him and the others to keep it going, and I admired every one of his decisions. I listened to him waffle night after night about how to handle the tough problems, I saw him get tired and frustrated and finally come up with the right solution. His business acumen was phenomenal, and every single thing he did at Highland Aerosports was so that you could fly safely and affordably, even if it was at his expense.

Here at Quest I'm flying a tug in the first comp I've ever attended, and now I get it. I see the vision he had for Highland. I hope Adam and Sunny know how important they are, how many people love them, how many will give anything and everything to help if they decide to continue.

Adam and Sunny and the people closest to Chad may not believe it, but I lost my soul mate last week and I, like them, can't stand that he's gone. Chad taught me to fly a hang glider, then the tug. We dated and lived together and worked together and fought and broke up and got back together and argued, and most days the planet wasn't big enough for both of us because we were too competitive and stubborn and retarded to care for each other well. We talked about everything with one exception: I never told him I love him so much because he is the brightest light with the biggest heart I've ever known.

I'll bet you caught a glimpse of that, too.

Discuss "Chad continually remembered" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The 2003 Flytec Championship

Wed, Apr 16 2003, 7:00:02 pm GMT

cloud|cloud street|fire|Flytec Championships 2003|Jim Lee|Joe Nance|landing|survival|tow|tug|weather

The scores when they are done will be at:

http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/scores.html

Pilots ask the task committee to let them go downwind for the first leg, as they want to have some fun at this meet, not just determine who has the highest piloting skills. Of course, straight downwind puts them right over the Green Swamp, and we don’t want to test both their restricted field landing skills and their survival skills.

We decide to send them to the south west just around the corner of the Green Swamp, given the forecast for northeast winds. Of course they look awfully southeast when we actually line up for the task. Still we do go downwind on the first leg to Rockridge and highway 98.

I’m the first rigid off again, even though they now let us task committee members have priority launching to make up for the fact that we have to spend an hour each morning getting the task together. I’m here for an hour reviewing the weather models in advance of the task committee meeting.

While most of the pilots stick, I spend an hour below 2,400’ making low save after low save before I come in for a relaunch. A few of us in line wait for the chopper to come in and go (see story below).

Joe Nance gives me a tow, and he can’t believe the sink. We’re going up at 400 fpm in the turbo tug. I direct him to a couple of pilots turning and pin off just under them to find that they are milking 50 fpm. It’s a hard day to get going and our start circle is upwind to the southeast.

There are half a dozen of us later guys and I’m circling up with Jim Lee and a few other flexies. We get to cloud base and are actually able to take the 2:15 start clock, so that works out okay. Earlier would have been better, but at least we are on course.

To the left of the course (it goes to the southwest) is a black canopy of clouds from the east. They are attractive. There is also a fire to the south near the glider port where a farmer is burning a pile of trees and brush.

I head for the fire as it is more on course line and the flexies behind me stay high in the dark cloud canopy. A flexie and I get up over the fire and drift into another cloud street to the southwest and join up wit the rest of our little group of 2:15 starters as we find light lift and little sink down the street. We’re hoping to catch the 2 PM stragglers soon.

The lift continues to be strong under the vertical cu’s as we make the turnpoint to the southwest no problem and head up highway 98 to Clinton for the next turnpoint on the west side of the Green Swamp. A cloud starts in the middle of a blue hole and as I’ve climbed away from my flex wing buddies, so I hook up with some stragglers and we get high heading north.

The idea is to stay away from the sunny areas and go for the clouds. They are streeting and working. Just go off course line and get under the clouds. Don’t ask questions, just do it.

Finally I have to jump to the east and find Alex Planer and another ATOS turning just before the east cloud street over the Green Swamp. We climb out to almost 5,000’ and head north hoping for one last climb before goal at Cheryl airport.

We leave the Green Swamp behind, but also the clouds twelve miles from goal at 4,400’. It is almost enough to get to goal. There are gliders scattered all about looking for just that last little bit of lift. There is an east wind and we are to the southwest of the goal.

I can see a few wisps in the distance and head for them. At 700’, two miles from goal I start climbing and drifting away from goal. I’m able to gain 500’ which gets me to Rich Burton who also lands .6 miles from goal. There are gliders down all around us.

See who made goal and the overall results at the URL above.

Today was a lot more fun than the punishing day yesterday. This contest has been a real test of pilot skills, not just blow downwind flying. It’s been very technical (which means you just can’t fly the course line and hope you blunder into a thermal).

Discuss "The 2003 Flytec Championship" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The 2003 Flytec Championship

Mon, Apr 14 2003, 5:00:02 pm GMT

ballast|Brett Hazlett|cloud|David Chaumet|Flytec 4030|Flytec Championships 2003|gaggle|GPS|Hansjoerg Truttmann|harness|Johann Posch|Kraig Coomber|Mark Bolt|Paris Williams|picture|radio|Ron Gleason|Timothy "Tim" Ettridge|Timothy Ettridge|tow|track log

The scores when they are done will be at:

http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/scores.html

Yesterday Bo was able to grab the bag that David was holding up at goal for $50. David said he could see him aiming at him from 3 miles out.

Photos by Timothy Ettridge (as was the camel picture yesterday)

There was an inversion at about 1,000’ and it didn’t break until a little after 1 PM. Mark Bolt and Bo gave it a try at 12:30 and both came down and then relaunched. The second time they stuck, but Bo had to circle up from about 300’ at the west end of the runway.

I had been waiting in the ready line waiting to see if anyone stuck. As we watched Bo slowly climb out pilots began to get ready. I just waited here the front of the ready line until there was pressure from behind to get going and launched at 1:25 PM. That meant that 95% of the pilots now had to get launched in 35 minutes if they wanted to get in the air by the first start time. What it really meant is that the first start time would probably not be the favored start time.

Amazingly it looked like only a couple of wings were still on the ground at 2 PM. Pilots must have pinned off low to get the tugs back on the ground so quick for the next tow.

It was a strong climb to 3,500’ and then a slow steady climb thereafter to over 6,000’ and cloud base. It was great to be bundled up in warm clothing which I made sure that everyone knew they might need today.

I was on the radio with Johann Posch and watching David Chaumet climb up to cloud base with us from a later launch. We let the 2 PM start time go by even though we were high as it didn’t look like anyone wanted to go. David headed west (downwind) and Johann and I followed him to keep him in our sites. We were again at cloud base at 2:15 PM and it looked like David wasn’t going to go. Then he did and we were right there with him.

I always want to fly with the fastest pilots and here was David off by himself and I wanted to be sure I was sticking with him today. We didn’t have any of the other fast guys, but they were starting also from cloud base to our east, upwind.

We were right on a line for more clouds (there were less to the northeast) so this looked like the hot spot in spite of the fact that we were a bit downwind of the course line. We were hitting the clouds right as we went north so that looked good.

David has a superior glide. Johann was slightly out gliding me, but David was going faster and staying even with us as he moved out ahead. At first we were all together going in the mid thirties speed wise and I couldn’t see any difference between us. When we started flying in the mid forties, then he pulled ahead and still had the same glide.

I was carrying 22 pounds of ballast (hook in weight of 222 with ballast). Either he carries more ballast, or his glider/harness has less drag than the ATOS-C with me or Johann on it. He is a skinny guy.

We were able to keep up with David by finding the cores faster and climbing quickly. His climb rate was about the same are ours. No dramatic difference there. The question is is this a one of a kind La Mouette Tsunami or are the others like this one? We haven’t seen another Top Secret (Tsunami) perform this well at all, so it is hard to know if this is a production model. It seems to be the same glider he had at the worlds in Chelan.

We came in under Hansjoerg by the prisons (surprise, there is a new prison going up next to the other two southeast of Coleman) and got back to cloudbase. Then off to Wildwood for the next cu. We joined up with Jim Yokum there who had started from a position to our east. We could see flex wing gliders also to our east.

Gliding toward the first turnpoint, I got out in front, a little lower and in the wrong position and the wrong tape went off in my head (the I can get ahead and find lift under these clouds even though I’m getting low tape). I tried to save my sorry ass at 1,000’ but just couldn’t stay with the weak lift drifting fast to the west.

Johann, Jim and David got up in the strong one that I refused to go back to (part of that bad tape), and got high before going into the turnpoint where they also found good lift. I was scratching too low one mile to the west and couldn’t chance going up wind to find that thermal.

There had been blue holes and clouds on the way north, but the blue hole got bigger as pilots headed south to Center Hill. Jim and Ron Gleason fell back to the west and got up to 7,200; over highway 75 quite a bit to the west, while Johann plowed through the blue and landed just south of Center Hill.

The flex wings were gaggling up and helping each other out more. By starting at 2:45 Bo, with Paris, Brett Hazlett, Johnny Durand, Jr. and Kraig Coomber, they were able to catch the 2:15 and 2:30 starters. Manfred started at 2:30 PM.

With a big lead gaggle they made their way through the blue hole and then at the second and last turnpoint 12 miles out from Quest were able to make it back against the head wind.

Bo won the day followed by Paris, Johnny Durand, Brett and Kraig. Johnny Durand had his GPS go out on him and he saw Bo and Paris go for it. He said that he wished he had a Flytec 4030 Race for this final glide.

Christian won the day starting a half hour after David. David was second.

To see how the top pilots did check the URL above and click Top Tracks. The animated track log for Sunday for rigids is at http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/top5/rigidtracksat.HTML (ignore the paraglider symbol).

You’ll need http://www.flytec.com/flytec_champ_03/comprigid.html to know who is who. Go to the scores URL above and click competitors to get their numbers.

Discuss "The 2003 Flytec Championship" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Chad

Sat, Apr 12 2003, 6:00:03 pm GMT

aerotow|cart|Chad Elchin|donations|Douglas Henderson|Dragonfly|flight park|G.W. Meadows|Gary Collier|helmet|Jayne DePanfilis|job|John Harris|Kitty Hawk Kites|National Geographic|Oz Report|PG|Quest Air|record|Russell "Russ" Brown|sport|Steve Kroop|students|tandem|tow

Gary R. Collier <grincloudbase@yahoo.com> writes:

4- 5 years ago I was at Quest Air learning to aerotow, Chad was there learning to tow so that he could open his own flight park, As I remember I was the first pilot that Chad towed up. I was not ready on the cart quite yet, and then all of a sudden Chad took off, I yelled back to Russell Brown and Steve Kroop. Well, I Guess I am ready NOW. I can hear their laughter even now.

It turned out to be a great tow. He was smooth and slow, and took me to a thermal. Chad was always good to me, and was happy when I had a good flight. I talked to him on the phone just 5 days ago about a helmet I ordered from him, and told him that I want to come back East and fly at his Flight Park some day. I really did want to fly with him.

Douglas Henderson <eagle220132@yahoo.com> writes:

Thanks for reporting. Everyone in our area cherished Chad. He was a wonderful pilot, person and mentor to many.

Jayne DePanfilis <jayne@ushga.org> writes:

I worked with Chad Elchin for about 5 years while I was the Director of Marketing at Kitty Hawk Kites. He was an Advanced Hang Gliding Instructor on the training hills/sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge State Park, he was an ATP, and a Tandem Instructor too. He eventually managed the aerotow program too. He was so dedicated to his job and to his students that he decided to move away from the beach to a trailer park on the mainland just across the street from the Currituck County Airport where aerotow operations were conducted.

As has been reported, Chad broke the hang gliding loop record last year with 95 consecutive loops in a hang glider. His best friend, Sunny, towed him up for the record attempt. Chad was supposed to try to break his own loop record again this year during the Hang Gliding Spectacular at Kitty Hawk Kites in May.

Most of the instructors at Kitty Hawk Kites would look the other way when they saw me walking down the hall at Kites because they knew that I usually needed their help with a marketing project. I was always asking the instructors to set up a hang glider and distribute brochures somewhere on the Outer Banks. Chad always obliged. He was kind and soft spoken. Chad participated in my hang gliding training, we flew together many times, we flew together for National Geographic and other public relations events and we flew together just for fun. Chad flew with me when he knew I wasn't confident enough to fly by myself even though I was a well trained pilot. He never wanted me to get too far away from "that flying feeling."

Many other hang glider pilots commented that "Chad was a natural hang glider pilot", he was a natural aviator, and he was. Chad was in his early 30's and he was co-owner of Highland Aerosports Aerotow Hang Gliding Flight Park, Ridgley, MD.

My deepest heartfelt sympathies go out to Sunny/Paul Venesky, his business partner and closest friend, his brother Adam, who is also a hang glider pilot and to the rest of his family as well. In fact, KHK employed Chad and Adam as hang gliding instructors at the same time that their sister managed the kayak ecotour program. I will miss Chad very much.

I would also like to share John Harris' comments about Chad with Oz Report readers. I don’t think John will mind. John's hang gliding program at Kitty Hawk Kites has cultivated really good hang glider pilots and really good instructors, too many to count. I've always felt a part of the Kitty Hawk Kites family and for those of you who have shared in this experience, you know what I mean -- or you have flying related families of your own. We have lost one of our own today…

John Harris of Kitty Hawk Kites writes:

"Jayne, Well said. Chad was a solid individual. He always took great care of his students and could always be counted on. He and Sunny have done a great job growing the sport in Md., producing many solid pilots. What a loss-of a friend and to hang gliding. He will be missed by all of us at Kitty Hawk and the many people he touched."

G W MEADOWS <gw@justfly.com> writes:

I wanted to take a moment and share with your readers what a great community of people hang glider pilots are.

Since yesterday's Oz Report went out - approximately $1000 of donations has come in - to support Highland Aerosports. Truly, we are among the greatest group of people on the planet.

I often explain to folks that if you put all the hang glider pilots in the whole world into a professional football stadium, it wouldn't even fill it half way. That's a little scary. The flip side of that is that it would be the coolest group of folks ever assembled.

Thanks to all of you who have donated so quickly. Also, others, please consider a donation.

I'd like to share with you some of the comments from some of the donors and wellwishers. I'll leave their names off because I didn't ask permission to reprint.

I just received notification of a $1000 donation. I wasn't given permission to give out the name of the donor, but I would like to just let the hg public know the status of what's going on with this fund.

Please donate what you can to:

The Chad Elchin Fund

This paypal account: <chadfund@justfly.com>

or

By Mail: Chad Elchin Fund attn: June Livesay BB&T {Branch Bank and Trust) North Croatan Highway Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina 27948

100% of the money raised here will go to paying the bills directly associated with this flight park. Please donate what you can.

----------

Thanks for reaching out to the pilot community and letting us know about this tragedy and how we can help.

As a father of 2 small kids, I think about the potential consequences of our sport often. HG & PG is such a part of who I am that NOT flying is not an option. May God watch over all of us as we fly. My deepest sympathy for Chad's family and all those who were touched by his life.

----------

I'm unemployed so don't have much money but I do own a Dragonfly and appreciate what you are doing for his family and business. God Bless

------------

I know money cannot replace a friend, but I hope that this little bit that I can do will give you the time you need to grieve the loss we all experienced today. If there is anything else anyone can do to help, just ask, we will all come together and be there for you as you have been there for us. With deepest sympathies

--------------

Under the best of circumstances, we seldom get to hang around this planet as long as we want. Some of us leave way too soon. Chad sounded like the kind of friend that should of hung around, perhaps for "one more loop…"

--------------

GW, thanks for having the presence of mind to get this fund going so quickly. We can't ease the pain of losing Chad, but maybe we can mitigate the financial hit on Sunny, Adam, and the rest of the guys.

--------------

I recently was injured and I am financially strapped at this time, but as soon as I am able, I will send you all that I can to help Chad's family and Sunny. As soon as I get the OK to drive and fly again, I would also offer my services to Sunny as a Tandem Instructor.

Discuss "Chad" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Chad Elchin »

Fri, Apr 11 2003, 12:00:04 pm EDT

accident|aerotow|Chad Elchin|Dragonfly|fatality|flight park|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|instruction|record|school|sport|tandem|tow|towing|ultralite|USHGA|world record

https://OzReport.com/Ozv5n135.htm

G W Meadows «gw» writes:

I would like to take a moment to introduce you to a great person who died today. Chad Elchin started hang gliding at Kitty Hawk Kites about 12 years ago. He was originally from Pennsylvania. During his time at Kitty Hawk Kites, Chad became quite the hang glider pilot. He could often be seen out soaring the dunes or towing up from the flight park. During his tenure there, Chad achieved his instructor rating as well as his tandem instructor rating and managed the flight park for a year.

It was at KHK, that Chad met Sunny, another tandem instructor and fellow Pennsylvanian. The two of them together, decided to start a flight park. After much searching for the right location, they settled outside of Baltimore - on the 'eastern shore' of Maryland. Ridgely Maryland became the home for "Highland Aerosports". This was about 5 years ago.

Since starting the business and living on a 'shoestring' due to the nature of hang gliding schools in general, the guys grew the business until they had two Draggonfly's and had just purchased a FlightStar for 'side by side' ultralight instruction. These guys tried very hard to reinvest into the hang gliding community every way they could. They produced dozens of hang glider pilots and supplied not only product but friendship to the pilots in the area.

At this moment, Sunny must truly be wondering how he can go on without his partner. I can tell you that running a hang gliding business is a 'high wire act' of cash flow management.

It is for this reason, that I have opened a 'Chad Elchin Fund' for the hang gliding community to donate to this much needed flight park. Today, a great guy passed. Chad was a fellow who you could always depend on to be there for you. No questions asked - you needed him - he was there for you. During his accident, a $40,000 tow plane - specifically purchased for towing up tandem instructional flights was destroyed, so now not only has a major partner in the business died, but also one of the most important tools of the trade has also been rendered unusable.

We have way too few people teaching hang gliding as it is in the U.S. I am asking that we rally around Highland Aerosports and Sunny, Adam (Chad's brother) as well as the other people who have dedicated their recent lives to show the masses the beauty of our sport.

Sunny does not know that I have decided to do this and he is not asking for money. I am just intimately familiar with this (and other) hang gliding schools and I know that catastrophes like this can put them under. We need this hang gliding school to survive.

Please donate what you can to:

The Chad Elchin Fund

This paypal account: «chadfund» or

By Mail: Chad Elchin Fund attn: June Livesay BB&T (Branch Bank and Trust) North Croatan Highway Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina 27948

100% of the money raised here will go to paying the bills directly associated with this flight park. Please donate what you can.

We have lost a truly great person today.

Chad Elchin has been teaching for 10 years. He holds USHGA Advanced Pilot, Advanced Instructor & Tandem Instructor ratings along with the United States Ultralight Association Basic Flight Instructor rating. Chad is also a Tandem Administrator and Aerotow administrator for the USHGA. He has taught over 3,000 tandem lessons and towed more than 5,000 gliders in the Dragonfly. Chad is the world record holder for consecutive loops in a hang glider - 95 loops from 16,000 feet!

(editor's note: By passing the hat we raised $2,400 here at the meet.)

Discuss "Chad Elchin" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Get on the sectionals

Tue, Apr 8 2003, 2:00:04 pm EDT

airline|Dirk Darling|FAA|Gary Osoba|Jayne DePanfilis|maps|Mark Forbes|Quest Air|safety|site|tow|towing|USHGA|Wallaby Ranch

Jayne DePanfilis <jayne@ushga.org> writes:

Mark Forbes has created a document template for the charting of hang gliding and paragliding sites on the Sectional VFR sectional chart. The templated MS Word document is available by contacting the USHGA (<ushga@ushga.org>). It is not online at the USHGA's website yet, but we plan to add this form, along with many other useful forms, to the USHGA's website in the upcoming months.

I am happy to help expedite this process. The template is self-explanatory and needs to be completed and sent to the USHGA office for my signature. I will expedite this request on behalf of the USHGA, its members and approved chapters, immediately upon receipt of the paperwork.

I have only expedited one request since joining the USHGA in 2001 but the process was a flawless one using this templated process.

(editor’s note: At first I couldn’t get the template to work here and when I asked about this, got some quasi religious gobbledygook. I then read the template document into MS Word XP and saved it as a template by first choosing to save as an HTML (but not saving it) then choosing to save it as a template. Word XP then successfully found the correct folder to store the template document as a template.

To use it as a template, I then clicked File, New in the MS Word XP menu, and it found the template correctly. It looks to me like the template could be stored on a web site and MS Word XP could find it their by its URL. Don’t know if earlier versions of Word can do this or not.)

Gary Osoba <wosoba@cox.net> writes:

Geoff May wrote:

"It seems ridiculous, maybe reckless, that somewhere as busy as Wallaby is not marked on the FAA air maps and has not been widely publicized among the many flying schools in the area."

My response is:

I don't know about ridiculous, but it does seem highly irresponsible that the principles at Wallaby would not have taken care of this matter. After all, it is up to them to initiate cartological identifications within the flying community. Mr. Jones regularly (and incorrectly) claims to have pioneered the aero-towing operation concept, and to be the singular person who does this properly anywhere in the world.

Why he would not have looked after an essential safety issue for the pilots flying at his facility is beyond me. I do realize that at times, people who come from a family of attorneys conduct themselves as if they are living within an insulated bubble which gives freedom from liability- after all, they can fall back upon resources not common to others. However, safety issues remain paramount, with or without tort ramifications

Spoke here at Quest Air with Jay Darling, an airline pilot who flies and lives part time with his family (wife and four boys) at Wallaby Ranch. He felt that the Dragonflies should have strobe lights. He says that it is a lot easier for the smaller plane to see the bigger plane, but not the other way around.

He also says that they should not tow in a straight line for an extended period but make turns to give a bigger profile.

Discuss "Get on the sectionals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Mid airs

Mon, Apr 7 2003, 2:00:03 pm EDT

accident|Bart Doets|book|collision|FAA|Gary Osoba|job|Jules Gilpatrick|Ken Ward|NTSB|Oz Report|Richard Heckman|safety|sailplane|school|site|Steve Kroop|tow

Ken Ward <kenward1000@mac.com> writes:

Typically in a mid-air they cite both pilots for "inadequate lookout". Check NTSB records for IAD99FA041B and MIA99LA051B at http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/query.asp

In each case you would think that they would fault only the sailplane pilot, but they end up blaming both pilots. It's also possible that unless something gross was done by the sailplane pilot, that 103.13(a) will be cited and the HG pilot faulted.

You can find the FAR’s that are applicable to hang gliders here:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfrhtml_00/Title_14/14cfr103_00.html

§ 103.13 Operation near aircraft; right-of-way rules.

(a) Each person operating an ultralight vehicle shall maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid aircraft and shall yield the right-of-way to all aircraft.

(b) No person may operate an ultralight vehicle in a manner that creates a collision hazard with respect to any aircraft.

Jules Gilpatrick <freeflite@centurytel.net> writes:

Steve Kroop hit it right on the head. I can tell you from first-hand acquaintance with a number of FAA guys,.attempting to hide accidents from them only pisses them off and causes them to redouble their efforts to get to the truth. And if they think they've been diddled, you can book microscopic scrutiny with a regulatory noose at the bitter end.

There are reams of articles regarding the harshness with which the FAA deals with miscreants and they almost always get backed up at the highest authority when they go after someone. Like any hierarchical bureaucracy they have their share of "never-got-any-respect-in-high-school" d…kheads, but overall they are few in number. I have been a licensed pilot for over 50 years and every FAA guy I have ever encountered has been a serious, true-blue, safety oriented, sincerely "I'm-here-to-help" kind of guy. All they want is cooperation in helping them do their job. A little respect doesn't hurt, either.

It has been well established that the rapport that the free flight community has with the FAA is excellent. Much of that rapport is based on mutual trust Misguided attitudes like Mike Williams' do nothing more than destroy part of a very carefully constructed respect for each other's integrity and responsibility. The primary aim of an accident investigation is to learn what can be done to prevent it from happening again. If the accident ends up being blamed on someone's lack of responsibility for their actions, as they say in Russia, “Too bad” (I’m getting filters stopping the Oz Report because of bad language). The "perp" has a number of avenues to discharge any penalties laid, and their severity will depend very much on the amount of cooperation the FAA gets. None of us should ever lose sight of the fact that the primary aim of accident investigation is prevention, not punishment, but if the FAA thinks you are hampering an attempt at the former, you can be 100% sure that the latter will ensue!

Part 830 of the NTSB regulations specifically requires immediate notification of the NTSB of an in-flight collision (Sec. 830.5 {5)) All pilots should be familiar with AIM Section 6, 7-6-1 which provides for the waiver of certain disciplinary actions in exchange for timely reporting of aircraft accidents. Hiding behind the definition of an "aircraft" as opposed to an "ultralight vehicle" will avail you nothing.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of a lot of free flight pilots, we have a good thing going with the FAA. Let's not screw it up with immature and sophomoric attitudes towards the serious responsibilities we take on when navigating through the air, regardless of the craft we choose to do it in.

You did the right thing!

Bart Doets <bart.doets@hetnet.nl> writes:

I remember a report from France, in the eighties, where near the launch of St. Hilaire du Touvet (today a site overpopulated by paragliders) a hang glider got hit by a sailplane passing under him. The rudder of the sailplane hit the control bar of the hang glider and broke it in two, apparently injuring the hands of the pilot in the process. The glider did not fold up immediately which gave the pilot a chance to grab the downtubes and hold on for some time, to get more ground clearance, after which he threw his chute. The sailplane had only slight damage.

If that bar had been fitted with a cable, as was already custom back then in German gliders, the two might well have joined together with much more serious consequences.

Richard Heckman <hekdic@worldnet.att.net> writes:

No ultra lights have right of way over any aircraft. We are required to give way in all instances. It doesn't matter who was in the thermal first. We should hope the there would be some courtesy shown between all soaring types but legally speaking I think that we have the short end of the stick.

Gary Osoba <wosoba@cox.net> writes:

What Mike Williams needs to understand is that if a sailplane, or any other registered aircraft moves into his area or thermal, he either needs to be able get out of their way quickly if they decide to fly into him, or he needs to leave the area before they arrive.

I thought your "tone" was quite neutral.

I'm not trying to be a jerk about this, or unsympathetic, simply point out something that most ultralight pilots seem completely unaware of even though they are supposed to have studied the pertinent FAR to be rated by private orgs. Someone is going to get burned financially, legally, or worst of all corporally if they continue to operate under ignorant supposition.

Same thing applies to the tow plane incident

Discuss mid airs, the FAA, sailplanes colliding with hang gliders at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2/.

Discuss "Mid airs" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Hang gliding innovation stopped by class definitions?

Mon, Apr 7 2003, 2:00:02 pm EDT

Bart Doets|competition|Exxtacy|FAI|Paris Williams|power|Quest Air|sprogs|tow

Bart Doets <bart.doets@hetnet.nl> writes:

Seems to me that the (quite interesting) power steering developed by Xavier Verges for Icaro, would turn an FAI class two glider into a class five glider.

We have been discussing this question here at Quest Air. Paris Williams mentioned that they were half finished with this type of “wing warping” mechanism at Altair and it basically died because of this issue. Let’s see what the problem is.

Competition flex wing hang gliders would be hard to turn if they didn’t have a good amount of anhedral, as they don’t have enough sail billow to allow weight shifting to change to shape of the sail quickly and easily. But adding anhedral makes for an unstable hang glider that is harder to keep straight. Dihedral makes for hang gliders that are easier to tow.

Of course, class five hang gliders are very easy to control because they use separate aerodynamic surfaces and they are stable because their wings go up as they go outboard – dihedral.

The problem is that flex wing hang gliders with “wing warping” (reshaping the sail using internal levers like the sprogs or tip struts) would likely not be competitive with rigid wing hang gliders. At least that is what the manufacturers think. They want to have their “wing warped” flex wings still in the flex wing category.

Of course, “wing warping” is used in flex wing hang gliders it is just used “passively.” That means that there is no clearly defined, observable additional mechanical device that shapes the sail. The sail shaping is done through keel pockets, and other devices that “look” just like part of the sail, and whose activation mechanisms are less transparent.

Now, it is obvious that this kind of innovation would be great for flex wings. It would make the competition flex wings much easier to fly. This is something that obviously should be allowed by the rules.

Remember that the Flight Design Exxtacy (a rigid wing hang glider) was originally designed to compete directly with the flex wing hang gliders in Class 1. The Exxtacy builders felt that it fit the then current class definition for Class 1. The flex wing manufacturers made sure that it couldn’t go into Class 1.

Well now we are faced with the possibility that a good innovation for flex wings is being stopped by the rules that put the Exxtacy and the rigid wings that followed in another class.

Personally I would like to see the flex wings continue as a viable class. I would also see single surface and king posted hang gliders have their own classes so as to encourage competition. The single surface contest here is doing great things.

I would hope that we can craft a rule for Class 1 that will allow this type of innovation but restrict the class to “flex wings.”

How would you solve this problem? Discuss classes and innovation at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2/.

Discuss "Hang gliding innovation stopped by class definitions?" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Small plane almost kills Dr. Don

Sun, Apr 6 2003, 6:00:05 pm EDT

Don Netlow|Dragonfly|FAA|Kerry Lloyd|Quest Air|tow|Wallaby Ranch

I spoke with Don Netlow here today at Quest Air after he and Brian flew from Wallaby Ranch. He stated that while on tow behind Kerry Lloyd (piloting the Dragonfly) between the Ranch and highway 27 a small plane came within 15 feet of him and Kerry coming in from behind under his left wing and Kerry’s also. The plane was flying from west to east (as I recall) and Don says there were about ten hang gliders in the air over the Ranch.

Don would like to see a designation on the FAA sectionals for the Ranch.

I thought that I would tone this one up a little, just to tweak a few noses.

Discuss "Small plane almost kills Dr. Don" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Roll Control – rubber wings

Sat, Apr 5 2003, 5:00:07 pm EST

Brett Snellgrove|Jean Louis Foglia|tow

Brett Snellgrove <Snelly14@cs.com> writes:

For some time I have noticed pilots commenting on the superior handling and roll control of single surface gliders. It's interesting what pilots will tolerate for higher performance in advanced wings especially if the changes are incremental. Personally, I don't find the roll control in single surface gliders ideal either. On two occasions in the past I have been gust turned into the ridge despite immediate reaction with full pull in and full opposite correction, in a single surface wing (probably flying too slowly, but a wing should be controllable at all flight speeds IMHO). Which begs the question why, even with loose sails and billow shift floating keel mechanisms, do we still have gliders sticking a tip and refusing to turn? I noticed in a review of the Offpiste Skyfloater Discovery the pilot commented on how, despite excellent handling, the wing still needed a firm hand and plenty of correction in rougher air or to turn into lift. The large sail was blamed but I doubt this is the underlying cause or 747s would be uncontrollable.

For what I can ascertain, the inertia and tension of the wing half that is unloaded on weight shift, tightening and flattening, resists the keel shift toward the loaded side that billows up, slowing or eliminating control response in certain situations. Adding anhedral as is done in most high performance wings, is a partial solution that also adds roll instability. One solution I read about in C.C a year or so ago was coupling a tip lifter to the hang strap with various activating mechanisms and cams. This was supposed to be available as an after market add on but I've since heard nothing more of the idea.

Jean Louis Darlet approached the problem differently and without the complexity of linkages, by first moving the virtual hang point higher to allow lateral hang point motion - or hanging from the king post, with his French connection which now has a popular adaptation in modern wings. A lesser known idea of his was to split wing sail down the center above the keel pocket, between the first ribs. The wing halves were rejoined with rubber straps. This allowed one wing half to billow up under load independently of the other half. The other half did catch up later so performance loss due to sail laxity was not problematic.

The wing was thoroughly tested and, apparently, had exceptionally positive roll control with no vices and virtual immunity to lock outs on tow. I'd be interested to hear why the idea was never developed further. Possibly, such modification would provide overly sensitive response at speed, especially in high performance wings and I suspect performance goals superseded handling issues. I wonder with the renewed interest in lower performance single surface skyfloating wings whether pilots would be again be interested in this modification?

Discuss "Roll Control – rubber wings" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Spectacular day in Florida

Sat, Apr 5 2003, 5:00:03 pm EST

Betty Pfeiffer|Campbell Bowen|Florida|instruction|Mike Barber|Orlando Stephenson|record|Ron Gleason|sailplane|site|tow|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing|world record

Well, first it was a pilot (name withheld until notice goes to next of kin) pounding in and doing a nose avulsion (the forcible tearing away of a body part by trauma) here at QuestAir. Dave Prentice, EMT, was on site and got to the pilot right away. Pilot was taken by ambulance to Orlando but fortunately didn’t have to spend the night in the hospital.

Were the pilot’s wires striped of their protecting coating? You bet they were.

Then it was the sailplane whacking into Mike Williams in a thermal just a quarter mile north of Wallaby Ranch. He was under World Team Academy instruction at the time from Mike Barber. The DG 303 piloted by Nathan Miller came into the thermal with four or five hang glider pilots and got real close.

According to Mike Barber apparently while Nathan was watching the other pilots he missed seeing Mike Williams off to the side at this point and getting up from below the sailplane.

Apparently Mike was hit hard by the sailplane with his hang glider draped over the canopy. All Nathan could see, from what I’ve heard, was red. Mike Barber watched and it looked bad as he thought Mike could have been killed or at least knocked out at this point.

Then Mike Williams and his glider slide off and it was 2000’ before Mike got the chute out in the proper order. Apparently when he pulled out the chute the lines dropped out first and over the hang glider wires. Took him a while to get everything straight. Didn’t have the proper diaper bag from Wills Wing or Betty Pfeiffer. Don’t leave home without it.

Haven’t heard of a sailplane hitting a hang glider before. Perhaps if you have you can write in to me. I heard that Nathan is going to make good on the hang glider. Mike Williams may be back in the air tomorrow.

Thanks to Mike Barber for sharing this story with me. I first heard about it and about the other pilot pounding in from Ron Gleason, who was on tow at the time as we were driving to pick up Campbell Bowen on our way back from our little morning flight.

I immediately got on the phone to Mike to get the story and then it finally came out that Mike Williams was his student at the time. Mike Barber had just said to Mike Williams that maybe this sailplane pilot was being too aggressive and perhaps they should bale.

Luckily this took place near the Ranch and not near the sailplane port. We fly with sailplanes all the time, but I’ve never been really close to them. Certainly nothing like this.

It’s great that everyone came out okay. I’ll report more on the pilot when I see the pilot in the morning. I’d given the pilot my Colibri data logger for world record attempts.

Discuss "Spectacular day in Florida" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Upcoming PG meet in Florida

Fri, Apr 4 2003, 5:00:07 pm EST

Florida|magazine|Oz Report|PG|site|tow|USHGA|XC

http://www.superflychris.com/Florida%20XC.htm

Gavin <gavinlisaswain@cox.net> writes:

I originally heard about the May Florida PG tow comp via the Oz Report and thought I'd send you a link to the website. Note that the USHGA magazine incorrectly lists the comp as taking place in April and the Quest link takes you to the wrong site.

I'm a paragliding pilot and read the Oz Report on a regular basis, as do many of my fellow SoCal PG pilots. Thanks for the excellent service you provide the free flying community via the Oz Report

Discuss "Upcoming PG meet in Florida" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Moyes LiteSport »

Thu, Apr 3 2003, 10:00:05 pm GMT

Aeros Discus|landing|Moyes Litesport 4|Paris Williams|tow|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing U2

http://www.moyes.com.au/Frameset.htm

Model Litesport 4
Area 13.7 sq m (148 sq ft)
Glider Weight 31.8 (70 lbs)
Hook-In-Weight 68-110kgs (150-240 lbs)

I took the Moyes LiteSport for a test flight today after days of flying mostly intermediate gliders. The LiteSport may have a kingpost, but it is not marketed to intermediate pilots and not as an intermediate glider. The Moyes marketing message:

Welcome to the new evolution of king posted hang gliders - the Moyes Litesport. The Litesport performs similarly to a non-kingposted glider, but handles like an intermediate glider, making it suitable for many pilots whether competitive or recreational.

I’d flown the LiteSport a few times before last spring at Wallaby Ranch.

https://OzReport.com/Ozv6n58.shtml

Now I had a chance to fly it after flying some intermediate and single surface gliders. The LiteSport is positioned to sell to advanced pilots, and I would say that it handles a lot like an advanced hang glider. It doesn’t have quite the lag in response and it isn’t quite as stiff, but that advanced hang glider feel is definitely there.

It was easy to set up once I realized that the VG was on in order to allow the wings to be folded together. The tips were reasonably easy to put on, although not quite as easy as the Discus. Much easier than the 1996 Laminar.

With half VG, the tow was a handful in light winds and mid day lift, about equivalent to the WW Talon 150 (at least on the days that I flew each of these two gliders). I got knocked around a bit, but the glider kept flying straight.

Off tow the glider was flying big. By that I mean that the glider was flying me some and I had to fight it. This was also true on the Talon 150 (154 sq. ft.). I noticed that it yawed every now and then, and would put a wing down every now and then and I would climb the opposite down tube to try to get the thing straightened out.

I asked Paris about what he felt in the air today and he mentioned how light the lift was and how much less turbulence there was than yesterday.

After a while things settled down, I quit yawing the glider as much, and I got into thermaling in the 60 fpm at 600 feet over the ground just trying to hang in there. I was able to slowly climb up.

The glider was steady in turns and had no tendency to spiral in at low speed and shallow bank angles I was using. Once in a turn it stayed there. The VG was very easy to use.

The landing was fine with a nice long glide in ground effect with ¼ VG and an easy run out.

Relative to the Wills Wing U2 or the Aeros Discus, the Moyes LiteSport is a glider for advanced pilots, just because of its handling characteristics. I’m assuming that it handles better than a topless, but I’ll have to take more topless flights to see if I still feel that way.

I have no way of knowing about any performance difference between the hang gliders that I’m test flying. That takes side by side comparisons with very similar pilots, in similar harnesses to make any good judgment calls.

Discuss "Moyes LiteSport" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Aeros Discus »

Wed, Apr 2 2003, 8:00:03 pm GMT

Aeros Discus|Ron Gleason|Steven "Steve" Pearson|tow|Wills Wing Talon|Wills Wing U2

https://OzReport.com/Ozv7n76.shtml#4

https://OzReport.com/Ozv7n78.shtml#2

I made sure that I flew the Aeros Discus again today so that I could compare it with the Wills Wing U2’s that I had flown over at Wallaby. I still haven’t had a chance to get on the Icaro 2000 MastR 14 again.

The air was very rough so I didn’t have a good opportunity to compare again its flying characteristics. I wasn’t the only one being tossed around.

The pitch pressures were light on tow with the VG half on. Not as light as the U2, but lighter than the Talon 140 which was pretty light. The tow was rough as was the flying. This is so weird given that there wasn’t any wind. The Discus didn’t get turned sideways like the old Laminar did yesterday on tow.

I had two flights, after getting off too early on the first one. Both landings were a piece of cake in light switchy winds. It’s easy to pull in and gain speed. I came in with one hand on the down tube and one on the base bar pulling in.

The VG was easy, but not as easy as the Wills Wing U2. I had flown the U2-145 with the Spectra VG cord and Steve Pearson thought that might lend to making it easier to pull. Ron Gleason had flown the WW U2-160, with the cloth cord and also found the Discus VG not as easy to pull as the U2. Still, much easier than the Wills Wing Talon, for me at least (Ron didn’t fly the Talon).

Otherwise, it was not a good day for testing. I flew for about an hour and got high from low in ratty light lift that kept kicking me when it wasn’t light.

For the first time in my flying life I got out thermaled by a paraglider in a thermal. No reflection on the glider, of course. Dave Prentice just did great on his paraglider. I came in just underneath him and he climbed away from me.

Discuss "Aeros Discus" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Texas Open 2003 »

Mon, Mar 31 2003, 7:00:08 pm GMT

aerotow|competition|Dan Bereczki|Texas Open 2003|tow|winch

Leakey, Tx
July 18-20

http://danbarb.org/txopen

Dan Bereczki <dan@danbarb.org> writes:

Come join us for most flying fun you'll have this summer at the best aerotow Fly-in in Texas.

Take a break between the WRE and the Big Spring Five Class Nationals in the heart of the Hill Country in Leakey, Texas.

Beautiful scenery is a welcome change of pace from the desert and flatland flying. The Frio River offers relaxation and fun for the whole family. The hospitality of the great people of Leakey is unmatched and they can't wait for us to come back.

All levels of aerotow rated pilots are welcome, we'll also have a winch or two for paragliders and platform tow pilots. Everyone from the novice aerotow pilot to the hottest comp pilot has a chance at Hill Country Fame by competing in a variety of fun events. We have the smallest prize offering of the 2003 competition season, with the main emphasis on FUN! The cool merchandise prize pile is growing, though, so you could walk away with more than a big, silly grin.

Register early and save big bucks. Get more info and see what you missed last year at the URL above.

Discuss "Texas Open 2003" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wills Wing Talon 140 »

Sun, Mar 30 2003, 10:00:05 pm GMT

competition|Dirk Darling|Exxtacy|Joe Balbona|landing|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Rob Kells|tow|tug|Wills Wing Talon|Wills Wing U2

http://www.willswing.com/prod2.asp?theClass=hg&theModel=talon

Joe Balbona <Joe@arara.us> writes:

I flew the same glider earlier in the day. The tug pilot waved me off in a thermal and I went up at ¼ VG to 4,000 feet my limit yesterday in a short sleeved shirt. I toured around for a while and flew into a thermal with the Exxtacy down low. He climbed past me, but then I cored and went past him and joined a couple Litespeeds high.

I was impressed with the tow as very little bar pressure or corrections were required compared to my Litespeed 4.

(editor’s note: I also felt that the Talon 140 has light bar pressures and it was easy for me to pull in and stay right with the tug. I’m glad to hear that he felt this was also true earlier in the day when there was stronger lift.

I was comparing the Talon 140 bar pressure to the U2 145 bar pressure, and it is much less on the U2. I haven’t towed a Litespeed in a while, so I don’t remember what the bar pressures were like on it, so we’ll have to take your word on that.)

The VG wasn't any harder to pull than the pull cord on a ceiling fan. No muscles required to tension up. A pilot couldn't ask for an easier VG.

(editor’s note: Well, actually they could. Just try the U2 VG with the spectra line. Much easier. Just a flick of the wrist. If you didn’t feel that the VG was a problem, then it isn’t a problem.)

I thought you were tossed around like a rag doll on final landing approach because you were flying too slow.

(editor’s note: Actually I was referring not to my final approach but to the air I was experiencing at 500‘ as I did S turns over the trees. I wasn’t concerned about any bumps on landing.

I don’t doubt that I was coming into landing too slow on the Talon 140 – you should have seen the 150. I had heard Rob Kells talk about landing techniques the night before, and he was criticizing pilots for coming in pulling down on the down tubes. Since I often pull down on the down tubes to get the glider going fast on final approach, I thought I would try a couple of final approaches with just a really light touch on the downtubes and put all the weight on the hang strap.

What I neglected to do was pull in enough (while rotated up), keeping the speed up to as fast as it would have been while pulling down on the down tubes. None the less, the Talon 140 landing was uneventful.)

I disagree with you the summation of your review. I am a non-comp pilot (They don't make GPSes that old guys can see.) and would not hesitate to fly the Talon every day. It handled like a dream being responsive to all inputs.

(editor’s note: The Talon 140 was much more responsive to me that the 150 and I found it easy to fly. I just found the Wills Wing U2 145 a more fun and easy to fly. Given that it is a high performance glider, I continue to wonder what is the point of choosing a Talon 140 over a U2 145, or any topless over a high end new design king posted hang glider.)

While you may classify the Talon as a competition glider, the one we flew was quite tame so that a pilot using it in a comp would have it rigged tighter. The Litespeed is a comp glider but mine is responsive. When I borrowed one that was flown in the comps last year, I could not turn it with full VG.

(editor’s note: I do believe that Wills Wing thinks of the Talon as a competition glider, although of course, you are right there are many settings that can be tweaked for more competition performance. WW writes:

The Talon is our top of the line, competition class glider.

I spoke with Pete Lehmann, and he just got his new Mylar Talon 150. He said that the handling was so light and it feels so much different that what he expected (he had a Talon 150 before also). He was trying to figure out what was causing the difference. What it the Mylar? I thought that was supposed to make the gliders stiffer.

I also spoke with Jay Darling who was loving flying the Talon 150. He normally flies a Moyes XS. He hooks in about 15 pounds heavier than me, and hadn’t flown the U2 145 and a bunch of single surface gliders, before he flew the Talon 150.)

Discuss "Wills Wing Talon 140" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Pilot report – Laminar MR700 13

Sun, Mar 30 2003, 10:00:03 pm GMT

control frame|glider comparison|Kenneth Martin|Laminar MR700 13|landing|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|sprogs|tow|towing|wheels

http://www.Icaro2000.com/Products/Hang%20gliders/MR%202003/MR%202003.htm

Kenneth Martin <2kwm@attbi.com> writes:

Last may I bought the latest version of the Icaro topless glider from Paris at Quest, a Mylar MR700-13. I had been flying the Ddacron year 2000 model which I loved. I weigh 155 pounds and fly strong conditions at Funston, and therefore, a smaller glider is preferable. Some guys here fly 109 sq.ft. topless gliders.

I bought the new glider because I was having trouble gliding with Mike Barber on his Litespeed. This is partly because I fly with wheels and stock control frame when towing. In any case, my neck was getting sore from looking up at Mikey all the time. Terry Prestley was also performing better on his Talon. The new MR700 and other new topless gliders have compensated sprogs which means that tip washout can be optimized for conditions and task.

I have never been so happy with any glider as my MR700. VG off the glider is light yet very nimble, perfect for flying close to terrain or light thermaling. Some guys like Paris prefer to thermal with a lot of VG to maximize climb. I do not. Tow with ⅓ VG for light bar pressure. Lots of VG is intended for high speed glide and it really works. Some guys like landing with about ¼ to ⅓ VG because the glider does not want to stall. I land with VG off because we have headwinds and turbulence to deal with.

I highly recommend that you test one of the factory spec MR700 gliders. The 13 is supposed to be a 13.5 now and may be a surprisingly pleasant experience for you after the Talon ride. Sorry I sound like an advertisement, but now I understand how Mikey feels about his Litespeed 4.

(editor's note: If you have a similar story about your own glider comparison, please send in an article or discuss it on the Oz Report forum.)

Discuss "Pilot report – Laminar MR700 13" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wills Wing Eagle 145 »

Sat, Mar 29 2003, 9:00:03 pm GMT

aerotow|Airborne C2|cost|glide ratio|tow|Wills Wing Eagle 145

www.willswing.com

A few days ago, I had an opportunity to take a short flight on the Wills Wing Eagle 145, which is a glider positioned between the Falcon and the U2 in terms of the capabilities required by pilots in order to fly the gliders safely. As I reported earlier, it is easier to aerotow from your shoulders than the Falcons (even a bit easier than the Attack Falcon) basically because it can fly a bit faster and so on tow you are not near the top of its speed range.

The Eagle is light handling in lift and has a better glide ratio than the single surface gliders. Without the VG of the U2, you are not going to be going 70 mph, even if you could hold the bar in with all your might.

It was almost as easy as the Falcon to land, allowing the pilot to slow the glider way down before having to flare. In terms of skills required it is a small jump up from the Falcon or any other single surface glider.

The glider classification scheme has a few funny aspects. Part of the reason that gliders are divided into classes is to give the customer some idea of the skills needed to fly a certain glider. Skills come only through practice and practice takes time.

If you apply yourself, have reasonable ability to break bad habits and learn good behavior, than over a certain amount of time and hours of practice you should pick up the skills to progress from one glider to the next. It isn’t always clear if there is a four stage progression, or three stages, or just two – single surface then rocket ship.

The Eagle is meant to be the second stage in a four stage process (advanced hang II, beginning and intermediate hang III). Wills Wing believes that an experienced hang III (intermediate) pilot can safely fly a U2.

Most hang glider manufacturers want to sell their “intermediate” gliders to both intermediate pilots and advanced pilots. On the other hand Moyes advertises their Litesport as an advanced glider, i.e. a glider for advanced pilots.

These king posted gliders are intermediate in other senses. They are intermediate in cost. They are intermediate in performance, perhaps some are closer to the performance of the topless gliders than others. They are intermediate in handling (the issue re pilots’ skills).

Not all thee intermediates overlap, because there are plenty of pilots with advanced skills who would be plenty happy flying an intermediate glider, just as long as everyone recognized that they were still advanced skilled pilots. They’d like to save the money, but they also want to save face.

This makes for a difficult marketing proposition for the hang gliding manufacturers. How do they signal to everyone that this is a cool glider, even if it doesn’t have the highest performance? How can they say that its handling characteristics are reasonably benign without threatening the manhood of those who might choose easier handling?

Then there is the perception that topless gliders are a handful. Maybe they are and maybe not. I sure found the Airborne C2 to be perfectly fun and easy to fly (well, not completely true, see below). I’ll have to try a Wills Wing Talon again and see how I feel about that.

Discuss "Wills Wing Eagle 145" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Towing the Aeros Target

Sat, Mar 29 2003, 8:00:06 am GMT

Aeros Target|harness|Paris Williams|powered|tow|towing|Trevor Birkbeck

I mentioned that Paris and Bo were towing the Target off their shoulders and that I hadn’t basically because I had learned to tow single surface gliders off the keel/shoulder combination. I also stated that I would give the shoulder only tow a try in the near future.

Trevor Birkbeck <trev.birkbeck@freeuk.com> writes:

I don't understand why you couldn't tow the Target from normal shoulder straps. I have towed my Target (bought for powered flying) with out any problem from my Woody Valley harness and was surprised how light the bar pressure was. Normally, I fly an Aeros Oleg Racer or Combat and it didn't seem any heavier than those.

Discuss "Towing the Aeros Target" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wills Wing Attack Falcon »

Sat, Mar 29 2003, 8:00:04 am GMT

aerotow|control frame|Icaro 2000|tow|towing|Wills Wing Attack Falcon

http://www.willswing.com

They built this is a joke. Well, the joke’s on them. This is a great little (170 sq. ft) glider. I highly praised the Icaro 2000 Relax 16 the other day. Well, this glider is almost as nice as the Relax.

First of all, the tow pressures are substantially reduced relative to the standard Falcon 2 170 and I assume that this is due to the reduced drag of the aero control frame. I was towing it off my shoulders and I found that I didn’t have to pull in nearly as much as I did on my previous aerotow with the Falcon 2 170.

Before when towing the standard Falcon 2 170 I had to make a number of quick course corrections, with this Attack Falcon it was steady and smooth as she goes. I do wonder if it is just the control frame. It was very similar on tow to the Relax.

Next, I got off in a light thermal and flew around in light thermals for about forty five minutes. I been flying the U2 a few hours previously, and without a VG to set to the wrong setting, I didn’t cause myself any problems. The glider was really sweet to fly, which was also true of the 170 that I flew two days ago to Quest from Wallaby.

The handling was very nice and easy, but this has been true of all the single surface gliders I’ve flown so far. It is hard to beat just how great they feel in the light air floating around.

Discuss "Wills Wing Attack Falcon" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wills Wing U2-145

Sat, Mar 29 2003, 8:00:03 am GMT

cloud|Rob Kells|tow|variable geometry|Wills Wing U2 145

http://www.willswing.com

Took up the first production version of the Wills Wing U2-145 today for a thermal flight. It continued to be very easy on tow with light bar pressures with ¼ VG. The lift was light at first and I got to chance to fly slow and feel the air.

I made a big mistake. I thought Rob Kells was telling me to thermal with ½ VG and to land with ¼ VG. But he really was saying thermal with ¼ VG. When I tried to thermal with ½ VG I found it was a bunch of work, especially flying slowly. I had to keep bumping the control bar.

Finally I decided to take off the VG and suddenly everything changed. And that is the theme of this flight and this article, how everything changes.

I let the VG off and pulled in for a straight flight. There was plenty of bar pressure. I could still pull in, but it was hard. Then I put on a quarter VG, and the bar pressure was pretty good but not bad. I could pull in just fine. Then half way, and the bar pressure got lighter. Then all the way and the bar pressure went down to a reported 3 pounds per hand, but it seemed like nothing.

It just seemed amazing to me that there was this absolutely large range of bar pressure with this easy to pull VG. I mean it was nothing to change the VG setting, and the glider felt completely different. I’d flown with VG’s before a bunch, but somehow this glider really drilled it home to me how much the glider changes.

When I was thermaling with the VG off, it was light and easy to the touch. It quickly got stiffer as I added any VG. It was like a Wills Wing Eagle with the VG off, and like a Talon with the VG on. An easy glider to a big boy’s glider with the flick of a wrist.

The lift got good and I flew around for an hour at cloud base checking to see if the glider would maintain a turn. Yes, with VG off, no, with it on ½ VG. I had to keep bumping it to stay in the turn in the lift with the VG half on. You can’t fly that slow and fly with ½ VG.

More speed, then more VG. That’s the rule.

Going fast with full VG and light bar pressure is a real pleasure. This is something that we can’t do on a rigid wing. There is some variable geometry on the rigid wing hang gliders, but it is not any where near as dramatic as on a flex wing. You can pull on the flap on a rigid wing and the glider slows down a little, and the bar pressure goes up a little.

Discuss "Wills Wing U2-145" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Aeros Target 180

Thu, Mar 27 2003, 9:00:04 pm GMT

Aeros Target|aerotow|bridle|Icaro 2000|tow|Wills Wing Falcon

http://www.justfly.com/gliders/targetdata.htm

I’m sure that this is the first of a number of reports on the Target as I will have several opportunities to fly it over the next couple of months (as we race for the 100 mile flight). I had an opportunity to take an extended flight on the Target in good lift conditions on Tuesday. My previous flights had been short cross country flights to the northeast from Quest and I didn’t have time to get a feel for the glider.

Of course, as a single surface glider it is easy to set up, break down, launch and land. It is a bit difficult to aerotow, as it is a single surface glider and needs to fly near its upper speed range while on tow. Put a keel attachment to connect your tow bridle to some what in front of the cross bar to reduce base bar pressure while on tow.

I thought at first that the glider might be a bit stiff in initiating a roll, but that turned out to not be the case. I just wasn’t used to the glider. I also thought at first that it wanted to tighten up while turning.

I tested this extensively. While turning left in moderate lift, I found that I had to high side the glider a bit. While turning right in light lift, I didn’t have to do anything but let the glider fly itself in the thermal. It seems like the glider I am flying has a slight left turn.

It is not as light handling as the Icaro 2000 Relax 16 (170 sq ft), but more similar to the Wills Wing Falcon 2 170, although a little bit more of a handful because it is 8 sq feet bigger. But essentially it is very easy to turn and fly relative to the higher performance hang gliders.

Single surface gliders are so much fun to fly. They really put the pleasure back in hang gliding. Except, of course, when you try to go up wind or you want to take a long glide downwind to the next patch of lift. All those paraglider pilots put up with this limitation, so maybe you could also.

Discuss "Aeros Target 180" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Aerotowing single surface and intermediate gliders

Wed, Mar 26 2003, 9:00:06 pm GMT

Aeros Discus|Aeros Target|aerotow|bridle|control frame|Dragonfly|Icaro 2000 Relax 16|Rob Kells|sport|tow|towing|tug|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Falcon|Wills Wing U2

I’ve had an opportunity to at least aerotow quite a few different gliders recently so I thought I would first speak to their aerotowing characteristics.

I’ve aerotowed the Icaro 2000 Relax 16 (170 sq ft) from my shoulder bridle, the Wills Wing Falcon 2 170 from my shoulder bridle, and the Aeros Target 180 from a bridle than went to the keel and my shoulders. Single surface gliders are normally towed with the assistance of an attachment to the keel to reduce the bar pressures. According to Rob Kells you can move the keel attachment point forward until there is no bar pressure at all. Something that would be quite useful for aerotowing newer hang glider pilots on these gliders.

I have the tow point about a foot forward of the apex on the Aeros Target , just under the cross bar, and it is not far enough forward to reduce the bar pressure to a comfortable amount. I am able to tow with it in this configuration, but it would be nice to further reduce the bar pressure.

I aerotowed the Wills Wing Falcon2 170 today just from my shoulder bridle. It was quite possible to do this but the bar pressures were moderate to moderately high and I needed to make a lot of corrections early in the flight. I was not as steady on tow as I have come to expect. Not uncomfortable, and I would definitely do it again, but not perfect. I had the bar pulled into my waist.

The Icaro 2000 Relax aerotows with no problem from the shoulder bridle. It is very steady on tow. Newer pilots will probably want to use the keel tow point method also, just to reduce how much you have to pull back the bar (which is a lot), but bar pressures are minor.

In all three cases you really have to pull the bar in to get the speed up fast enough to stay with the Dragonfly. The Relax was just a lot easier to control with the bar stuffed.

All of the intermediate gliders were much easier to tow than the single surface gliders just from the shoulder bridle. Again, you overcome this using the keel attachment.

Both the Wills Wing U2 145 and 160 were a joy to tow. This is so totally unlike their predecessors the Super Sport and the Ultra Sport which required fins for aerotowing.

Both U2’s were rock steady on toe reminding me of the ATOS and other rigid wing hang gliders on tow including the Aeros Stalker. They were a pleasure to have behind the tug. I could tow with one finger on the base bar.

The bar pressures on these two gliders are very light. This made the aerotowing even easier. Rob Kells states that with about a foot of throw around trim the bar pressure is about ½ a pound on each hand and that it rises to 3 pounds per hand at the extreme end of pull in. This is nothing. But it is there and very reassuring at speed.

The Aeros Discus was also steady and very towable with one finger on the control frame. It’s bar pressures weren’t quite as light at the Wills Wing but very close. I’m going to have to aerotow it again to remember just how close it was, but as I recall it was a pleasure to tow.

The Icaro 2000 MastR 14 was also very easy to tow, but it didn’t shock me about how easy it was like the U2’s did. I think a little more bar pressure, but I’ll have to check that again. I’ve only had one flight late in the day with it.

The Wills Wing Eagle 145 was no problem towing. Very steady with slightly more bar pressure than the U2’s. I had to pull in a bit more than the higher end intermediate gliders to get the glider flying faster.

Discuss "Aerotowing single surface and intermediate gliders" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Icaro 2000 MastR »

Mon, Mar 24 2003, 8:00:04 pm GMT

Aeros Discus|bridle|Icaro 2000 MastR|landing|Paris Williams|tow

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to take a short flight on the Icaro 2000 MastR 14, the 155 square foot, kingposted intermediate glider. Now before the topless Laminar ST, earlier versions of this glider used to be the top line glider for Icaro 2000. So it is a pretty advanced glider for your normal intermediate pilot.

I had the chance to thermal it in very light lift, and found the glider a pleasure to fly. It is not nearly as light to the touch at the Icaro 2000 Relax (single surface glider), but then it is a high end double surface glider that is a bit too big for my weight. I should be flying the MastR 13.

I found it to be about as stiff in roll as the Aeros Discus, or I could say about as light in roll. That is, it was darn easy to turn. Paris said he measured 2 second 45 to 45° roll rates on it, about ½ second faster than the Laminar MRx.

It was very easy to tow, which, of course, wasn’t true of the very early Laminar ST’s. I pulled the bar into about my chest and used the bridle off my shoulders. Landing was simple in no wind, and I had a short run out.

I think I would find the 13 more appropriately sized for me with quicker response. I’d class this is a high end intermediate glider that has predictable handling, but a bit of a lag which requires pilots to learn how to time their roll inputs. I didn’t notice it wing walking at all, so PIO shouldn’t be a problem. There is not need to go at very fast speeds anyway near the ground.

Discuss "Icaro 2000 MastR" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Peter’s wild ride

Fri, Mar 21 2003, 6:00:03 pm GMT

dust devil|Felix Ruehle|harness|Peter Dall|tail|tip wands|tow|towing

Peter Dall <Peter.Dall@casa.gov.au> responds (finally) to my request for his story:

It is always interesting to read how outsiders perceive stressful situations we find ourselves in. My impressions of going upside down at Hay are a little different to what Grant reported (https://OzReport.com/Ozv7n24.shtml)

I had finally gotten around to trying the tail Felix sent me for my ATOS (early model). I wound the nose catch in 2 turns to compensate. Not sure why I did this – probably something I read in the Oz Report ☺ - or maybe something Tony or Johann had told me.

At first I didn’t like the way the glider felt with the tail on.

I found the yaw characteristics of the glider were changed, and I couldn’t do yawing turns like I used to when tightening up in a thermal.

I also found stall buffet to be annoying, in thermalling, and also when pushing the bar out on car tow. This problem was diminished when I moved my hang point forward, or maybe I just got used to flying faster. I guess I was in the habit of flying a bit slow. But I had gotten used to recognising the onset of stall and wing drop, and this was always benign and felt comfortable. Of course I made sure I had plenty of height before slowing right down.

On the second last day of the comp I took the tail off again, and put the nose catch back to how it was before. But now I didn’t like this either! The tail certainly does damp out the pitch twitchiness.

So on the last day I put the tail back on, readjusting the nose catch as before. I was feeling glad that I’d done this, as it was a big day, with huge dust devils. Easily the biggest diameter dusties I’ve ever seen, with dust towing to well over 1000’.

At 1100ft on tow, I flew abreast of one of these monsters, so pinged off, and headed into it. Being big, it didn’t look as violent as some of the small tornadoes. It was rough, but not too scary.

My harness zip kept catching on my pants, so this distracted me, and I was having trouble finding a nice core, but I’d climbed up to around 3000’ in turbulent lift. My team mate called up and said I should come over because he had 1600fpm of very smooth lift. Sounded good, so I opened up my circle downwind and headed over.

The next thing I know, I pitched up, then down over the falls, pointing at the ground with one wing low, but not quite under me. A few seconds later I’m upside down, looking at the sky. I’d always wondered if you could fly a hang glider inverted, and here I was doing it. Nothing seemed to be broken, but perhaps it was time to deploy the chute. I must admit that I found it a bit hard to reach for the chute while hanging on for grim death.

I had only a short time to ponder this problem, when the glider took another wild pitch and did a nice half loop. I came out flying pretty much straight and level. At no time did I lose my grip on the base bar, so when I was upside down I probably only experienced a small negative load. I don’t recall hitting the sail or the A-frame, but I guess the harness back plate supported me wedged in the A-frame.

I don’t know how fast I got up to when pointing at the ground, but I didn’t have the feeling that I might have over-speeded. I wasn’t going particularly slowly when it started. I’m guessing 50-55kph. Certainly comfortably above stall, and basically straight and level. (less than 15º)

I guess I wasn’t too shaken, since I flew back into the dust devil, climbed out to 10,000’, then flew 200km to goal.

I was expecting that this wouldn’t happen when the tail was on. I can only think that my rotation speed would have been a lot faster without it, and perhaps I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hold on the base bar.

I’ve since spent a lot of time retuning the glider. Despite flying back into the dustie, I’m finding that my confidence has been shaken.

It seems logical that the tail should add some extra static stability margin as well as improving the dynamic stability, therefore allowing a bit less washout or a bit less sweep. But I have since been told that I shouldn’t have changed the wing sweep.

(editor’s note: Not necessarily true. See Oz Report interviews with Felix Ruehle published on the first day of the Australian Nationals https://OzReport.com/Ozv7n17.shtml and https://OzReport.com/Ozv7n18.shtml before Peter had his flight.)

I checked my rib angles and adjusted a couple of outboard rib to give more washout. They weren’t perfect, but overall not too bad. One #8 rib was 0.5º low, and one #9 rib was 2º low. I’m still not sure whether to measure these with the sail on or off, or what difference this makes. To put this into perspective, 1º equates to about 1cm at the trailing edge.

My next flight back in Canberra was on a really twitchy day. Looked good with moderate winds, but there was some real awful soup up there at a shear layer that we just couldn’t get out of. I think the storm cells were dropping a cold stream that was hitting the shear layer, and spreading out in all directions. You would be flying along, at cruise, do nothing, and suddenly the glider would stall because of tail gusting. The glider was really spooking me, making me think it was going to go over any second, so I landed after 25 minutes. I was relieved to find that my two buddies also landed soon afterwards because they also found the air unpleasant, and reported similar stalling.

Nonetheless, I still kept thinking that even in shitty air, the glider should make me feel more secure than it did. Back to the drawing board.

My glider is the first one built, so the sail has a few years on it. I have noticed that the outermost seam no longer sits over the #9 rib. I figured the sail has shrunk. Maybe this would also explain why I had suddenly started breaking tip wands, after not having broken one since the glider was built. Also I could never seem to get the trailing edge Velcros to line up, especially over the flap. The top Velcro overshot the lower, almost to the point where they made no contact. I addressed the first problem by sewing an extra piece of Velcro onto each side of the centre zips, effectively moving each sail 2 or 3 cm outboard. Suddenly everything fit perfectly (well after a lot of adjusting), including the trailing edge Velcro (not sure why this would change, but it did).

Subsequent flight testing is encouraging, with the glider now flying very sweetly. Still remains to be seen how I shape up to the big air again next season. One thing I noticed is that the sail strap and rib tension seems to make a lot of difference. Probably more than playing with sweep and washout. Tight is good.

Discuss "Peter’s wild ride" at the Oz Report forum   link»