Oz Report

The Worlds – Day Five

Fri, Jul 30 1999, 10:00:00 pm GMT

Worlds 1999

In the morning it is blowing over the back again at Monte Cucco (which we have yet to launch from), but the only clouds are on the hills, so we are headed for Tre Pizzi with its east launch.  By the time we get to launch, at 10:30 AM, the clouds are right at launch and we can't see 100 feet, but the wind is less than ten miles per hour straight up, so we set up.

The clouds clear and the day looks great, even with the low cloud base.  Finally, they call a task which both Class I and Class II gliders will attempt, 55 miles, up and down the ridge with little forays out into the valley for some turnpoint photos.

The rigid wings are the first off again with a start gate at 12:45. The flex wings will follow with three start gates beginning at 1 PM. With the flex wings starting 15 minutes behind, the best flex wing pilots will soon be catching the slower rigid wings.

We gain a few hundred feet right off launch, but it is mostly ridge lift.  Most of the us work it down the ridge to the start gate where there is a convenient thermal that gets the first ten rigid wing pilots out on course and headed 19 kilometers to a small church on the hill side (the first turnpoint). There is reasonable lift and staying away from the ridge works as we work the thermals in the valley and smaller hills.

With a northeast wind, there is plenty of head wind on the way back to the second turnpoint north of the launch.  Hansjorg Truttman, Christof Kratzner, and Brian Porter are in the lead, with Felix Ruehle, myself and another ATOS pilot just behind them.  As the first three pilots make the second turnpoint, the second gaggle gets stuck low on a ridge just before the turnpoint, and have to find a thermal out in the valley.  Just as we enter it, Manfred Ruhmer and Johann Posch in an ATOS join us. We climb to 4,800' (3,300' AGL), which is quite high for this meet so far, and race to the second turnpoint.

One piece of advice: if Manfred is turning in weak lift, stay with him.  I don't and land soon there after.  Three rigid wing pilots and Manfred keep turning at the second turnpoint in broken lift.  Johann and Manfred (at least) make goal.

Manfred was the first flex wing pilot to launch and got the start gate at 1 PM. Therefore, he was able to catch the second gaggle of rigid wing pilots about an hour into the flight.

Here's a shot of Manfred just before he launched:

Dave Sharp got low early but was able to slowly work it up. He makes the second turnpoint about ten minutes after the second gaggle, and continued on course, but was unable to get to goal landing at the last turnpoint.  Felix Ruhle made goal along with a number of other ATOS pilots.  Jim Zeiset landed early after the first turnpoint.

Hansjorg, Chritsof, and Brian (in the Utopia) battled it out for the lead working their way toward the turnpoints out in the valley, and scooting back when they didn't have enough altitude to make them.  They would then gain altitude back at the ridge, before making another try.

Hansjorg was finally able to get away, and while Brian was doing a few extra turns wondering where the goal field was, he flashed into goal to win the day.  Brian figured it out, and came in next.

Here's a shot of Hansjorg at goal:

After a few more ATOSes made goal, Manfred came in alone only to be followed by more ATOSes.  It was a very long time before another flex wing made it into goal – maybe an hour or more before Gerard Thevenot came in followed by about ten flex wing pilots.  Chris Arai was the only American flex wing pilot to make goal.

It looks like Manfred might jump into the over all lead after being 97 points down after the first day.  Hansjorg should jump into first place in the rigid wings, as Johnny Carr, in the Swift, came in quite late (for a rigid wing pilot).

There may be results at: http://www.fivl.it/mondiali/cucco99.html

The three small shots above: Pilot meeting, Jos Guggenmos's red E-7 with winglets, an ATOS launching.

The photos above were taken by David Glover (http://www.1800hangglide.com).

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Ghostbuster passes DHV load test

Fri, Jul 30 1999, 10:00:01 pm GMT

DHV|Flight Design Ghostbuster|Gerard Thevenot|Mike Eberle|Top Secret

Mike Eberle writes that the Flight Design Ghostbuster was able to pass the load test yesterday.  Now all that stands in the way of DHV certification is a bit of necessary paper work that will take a couple of weeks to complete.

It's fun to see all the different rigid wing gliders here at the Worlds, including Gerard Thevenot's prototype Top Secret, battling it out to see which pilot / hang glider is the best combination.

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