Oz Report

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:00 pm EDT

Southern California flying

record

Aeros Combat|record

Aeros Combat|record

Mike Tryon «mtryon» writes:

Along with Bruce's flight south from the Owens, Jerz Rossignol flew his Aeros Combat from Laguna halfway to the Owens, landing north of Kramer Junction for 166 miles.  This is a new site record and San Diego County record.

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Hot pilots and ships at the⁢ Wallaby Open

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:01 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|US Nationals|Wallaby Open 2001

The top flex wing pilots make goal on every one of the five days at the Wallaby Open.  This is also true for the Swift and the ATOS, so we have plenty of data.  The Ghostbuster makes goal 3 out of 5 days, so we drop it from the chart.

This chart gives the maximum speed of the fastest pilot on each day:

Now, the fastest Laminar pilot everyday is Manfred, so this chart gives his average speed over the five tasks.  Hansjoerg is the fastest ATOS pilot on four days, and I'm the fastest on the day he puts the tips on the ATOS prototype.

Notice that the fastest ATOS pilot is 5% better than Manfred on the Laminar.  I would argue that Manfred and gear is probably the better pilot of the three.  Therefore, this data suggests that the ATOS (there are two different versions here) is a little bit better than 5% better than the Laminar.  Hansjoerg has a bit of weight on Manfred even when Manfred is wearing ballast (Hansjoerg is also), so that may account for some of the difference.

Notice, that the fastest ATOS pilot is ever so slightly better than Brian on the Swift.  We have a very good idea from the US Nationals results just how much better the Swift is than the ATOS (28%) so it is pretty clear that Brian is flying very poorly here.  A review of the individual days shows that Brian struggles on a number of them.

The fastest Litespeed pilot (shared among three pilots) is very slightly slower than Manfred on the Laminar.  When we look at the two fastest Laminar pilots and compare them with the two fastest Litespeed pilots, the results are exactly the same (to two decimal points). Since we have top World class Laminar and Litespeed pilots, this would indicate that the Laminar and Litespeed as gliders are very very close to each other in performance.

The Talon pilots greatly improve on their performance relative to what it was at the Flytec Championships.  They are still not up there with the Litespeed and Laminar pilots at this point and will have to wait until the US Nationals to match their performance.  This improvement seems to show that the pilots are getting use to flying the glider (doesn't seem to be enough time to make any improvements in the Talon).

The Stealth pilots still trail a bit as they did in the Nationals (which came later, of course) and the Flytec Championship.  This consistent pattern seems to indicate that either the Stealth isn't quite up to the competition, the Stealth pilots aren't quite there, or a little of both.

Discuss "Hot pilots and ships at the⁢ Wallaby Open" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:02 pm EDT

John on his Laminar

Manfred Ruhmer|Wills Wing

Manfred Ruhmer|Wills Wing|World Record Encampment

Manfred Ruhmer|Wills Wing|World Record Encampment

John Greynauld was here yesterday.  He said that his small Laminar was terrible.  At the WRE he had Manfred bend the battens to the correct shape – the former standard shape, not the way they came to John from the factory.  According to John it was a night and day difference.

Then he got a Wills Wing Control Frame.  He couldn't believe how much difference it made in his glider.  He loved it.

You can contact John at «throgrog».

Discuss "John on his Laminar" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:03 pm EDT

A view of Carson Valley

PG|weather

John "Ole" Olson|PG|weather

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|PG|weather

John "Ole" Olson|PG|weather

From about 11,000' northeast of Carson City.  Highway 50 is below on the lower right.  We are parked near the upper right: http://www.carsonvalleyhomes.com/ccaerial.htm

Gerry Pez writes:

McClellan does offer XC potential if you get up and over the back early enough, and then follow Hwy 50 to the West.  The whole area demands respect of weather conditions.  I was there a few weeks ago and here are some pics.

 

Penguin «penguin» writes:

Photo is Mt Grant Sunday evening - light wing launch from 11000 feet shallow slope - LZ around corner 7 miles away at the Cliff House bordering Walker Lake.  (But it weren't in the Lee that evening, so it doesn't *really* count as a real-man mountain launch.)

 

Discuss "A view of Carson Valley" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:04 pm EDT

Larry Tudor's articles

Larry Tudor

You'll find Larry's original Hang Gliding Magazine articles on his 300-mile flights at:

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/LT0990_1.jpg

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/LT0990_2.jpg

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/LT0990_3.jpg

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/LT0990_4.jpg

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/LT0994_1.jpg

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/LT0994_2.jpg

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/LT0994_3.jpg

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/LT0994_4.jpg

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/LT0994_5.jpg

Discuss "Larry Tudor's articles" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:05 pm EDT

Oz Report amazes USHGA BOD member

USHGA

Jan Johnson «janj» writes:

Apparently my other calls for nominations got half as much attention as the posting on your website.  Does this mean that you are at least as efficient as the USHGA office?  More?  We've got to stop meeting like this.  Would be good to shake your hand if you make it to the BOD meeting at Salt Lake in October.

(editor's note: It will not surprise long time Oz Report readers that the Oz Report is a pretty good way to get the word out.  Now, think about who you are going to nominate for the Presidential Citation, and send in those nominations—for all awards—to«jeff». Be sure to tell him why you are nominating the person or entity.)

Discuss "Oz Report amazes USHGA BOD member" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:06 pm EDT

Speed to Fly Calculators

http://www.stolaf.edu/people/hansonr/soaring/spd2fly/

Final glide program:

http://spatscheck.com/soaringpilot/

Downloadable Speed to Fly calculator: http://www.zeta.org.au/~gbrown/

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Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:07 pm EDT

New WPRS ranking

CIVL|PG|Robin Hamilton|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

CIVL|PG|Robin Hamilton|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

Paula Bowyer «paula» announces that there have been recent updates to the WPRS (World) pilot ranking.  You'll find them at: http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/rankings/. Robin Hamilton seems to be missing from Class II ranking.

Paula is the new CIVL PR person.  She writes:

I have been flying Hang Gliders for 12 years including competing in World and National Championships.  During this time I was involved in helping to run the British National League and was a member of the Competitions Committee as well as training to be a Hang Gliding Instructor.  I have occasionally been seen on a Paraglider, which is always a lot of fun.

Discuss "New WPRS ranking" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:08 pm EDT

Small ATOS

Felix Ruehle «felix» writes:

I usually recommend the small ATOS for pilots lighter than 70kg (154 pounds). Flying in light condition mostly in flat areas I recommend the regular one if you are over 65kg (143 pounds) naked weight.  If you weigh less than 143 pounds, the decision is simple.  Only in competition would it be an advantage to fly the big one and use ballast, which you don't have to take at light condition.

The small ATOS is only five pounds lighter than the regular sized ATOS, but it handles much better with light wing loading.  You can have two bags for the small (like for the regular sized) to have the option to carry the D-spars separately.

	ATOS	Stalker	Small ATOS
Area	146.0	145.0	129
Span	42.0	39.5	37.4
Aspect Ratio	12.1	10.3	11.3
Nose Angle		146.0
Weight	73.0	84-88	68
Packing Size	8"x18"x19'	8"x19"x19'	8"x18"x16.9'
Min.  Sink	138.0	137.0	142
Min Speed		19.0
Max Speed		80.0
Min.  Take Off Weight	198.0		121
Max.  Take Off Weight	331.0
Best L/D	19	19+/1	19
L/D with full flaps			7.0
Breaking load
Tips	curved	fixed	curved
DHV certification	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dihedral angle		1.5

Discuss "Small ATOS" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:09 pm EDT

Texas for Texans

Davis Straub|Florida|Jeff Hunt|North Texas|photo|Steve Burns|USHGA|weather|Worlds

John P. Russell Jr., «The Lead Sled,» writes:

A couple of thoughts on the comments from "Unrest In East Texas". First, Hearn is considered by most of us Texans to be in Central Texas, not East Texas.  Secondly, much of what was said in the "Unrest In East Texas" portion of the Oz Report could be echoed by many Texas pilots.

Let me start by saying that I want to recognize Steve and Gaye for all the hard work that they put into hosting two outstanding world class meets in two years.  They and their volunteers effectively put Texas on the world's hang gliding map.  I do desire that this momentum continue with a successful bid for the Worlds at Hearne next year.

Steve has got to recognize that to successfully operate an event like the Worlds, he has got to have volunteers.  The best source of those volunteers are us regular Texas pilots.  Unless changes are made in Hearne, I have grave doubts that enough of the regular Texas pilots will turn out to assist with another sanctioned event.  To keep that pool of resources in hand, he and Gaye must have the good will of these Texas pilots.  At this point, that good will is significantly damaged.

To re-establish the good will of Texas pilots to AAS, he should (at least occasionally) make provisions for the recreational pilots of Texas to come fly on weekends.  This may sound sort of like a DUHH, but it's a message that has been missed in Hearne in the last year or so. Sure, the bucks are probably to be made in training and tandems.  True, they probably (at best) just break even on tows for the "regular" pilots.  However, those "regular" pilots are their best source of customers for new pilots (to take advantage of their excellent training programs) and darn sure are their best pool of help for another sanctioned meet at Hearne.

I do not support the desire of the pilot quoted in the Oz Report that we Texas pilots wish that Steve and Gaye would pack up and leave.  I believe that Steve and Gaye have the skills and equipment to operate a successful airpark in Central Texas.  However, this will not happen unless they win back the support of "local" pilots that are willing to drive three or more hours each way to get there.  In my opinion, they need only to make two changes:

A. They need to decide when they are going to be open for towing on weekends.  This decision of course is weather dependent, but it needs to be made well in advance of the weekend.  Deciding on Friday to be open or not doesn't allow pilots the ability to make alternate flying plans should AAS need to be closed.  When pilots do call and are told that AAS will be open, if weather permits, then AAS needs to be available to tow them.

B. Steve needs anger management training/counseling.  He does not endear AAS in the hearts and minds of Texans by cussing us out on a regular basis.  He can not continue to refer to Texas pilots as "You damn Texas Pilots". He can not continue to pronounce that "XXX is banned from Hearn".

Speaking for my small corner of Texas, if Steve and Gaye would make the above changes, I believe that there will be support from us Texans for a Worlds meet in Hearn next year.  However, if they continue down the path of the past year, I suspect that there will be a movement by both the Dallas and Houston hang gliding communities to boycott or possibly actively oppose such a bid.  This would not be in the best interest of Texas, hang gliding in general, or Austin Air Sports.

Well, I've said what I need to. Unlike the other pilot, I'm signing my name.

A local Texas pilot writes:

I am a long time central Texas flyer and did not know whether to laugh or cry when I read the Unrest In East Texas.  The VAST majority if not all of pilots here feel the same way as the author and yet will not say anything publicly for fear of recrimination.  I am sure you will get a slew of e-mails on this subject.

You might publish an addendum called Additional Unrest in Central, North, South, and West Texas.  (I think that might cover all the folks from Austin, Dallas/Ft Worth, San Antonio, Houston, Corpus, El Paso, and all other Texas towns that have had a run in with Steve Burns.  We could make it a Trilogy and reserve the third volume for out of state Steve lovers) And if you were to publish such an addendum I could add colour to the report with tales of such mischief and woe that we might be approached by the Wings Channel wanting to do a syndicated hang gliding based Soap Opera.  We could call it The Tow Sluts.  You know, people that will do and or put up with anything in order to get a tow.

I am writing this for two reasons.  One is to blow off some steam and the other is to hopefully get some facts out in the open about the Hearne "Airpark". If you lived out here you might think that if you looked in Webster's you would be able to find something like this in print;

air·park (ârpärk) n.

1. A tract of leveled land where utlralights can perform take off and landing operations in order to tow unpowered hang gliders aloft, usually equipped with hard-surfaced landing strips, hangars, refueling facilities, and accommodations for various support equipment and personnel.  (If you reside in Texas see definition two)

2. A tract of leveled land where you park your vehicle and look into the air wishing to be there by some magical mystical means.  Is equipped with hard-surfaced landing strips, hangars, refueling facilities, and accommodations for various support equipment.  Personnel are some where else.  (See stoned, hung over and lazy)

I am hoping to make a point about what is going on in Hearne by being somewhat humorous about the subject but it is hard to conceal my real feelings.  I hope you don't mind being a landing pad for all of this crap.  Maybe you could consider it another perk of being a "Self-appointed" journalist.

There are so many pilots here that are tired of putting up with Steve's crap and yet every time someone tries to make a stand the others gather around and prevent any action in order to prevent the elimination of the meager towing they do have.  If you're looking for a mental image imagine 35 craps in a bucket.  Every time one gets a good claw hold on the rim and starts to pull himself out five of his "buddies" grab him and pull him down before he escapes.

It has gotten so bad that one of the local pilot has purchased and become proficient at towing with his own trike.  It is easy to become permanently "banned" from areo towing at Hearne by Steve and so people walk on egg shells.  The towing here is erratic at best.

Experience has taught us that you have to call the day before to confirm and even then the success rate is somewhere south of 35 percent.  Don't bother showing up early (10:00 or 11:00 am) unless you just like to commune with nature in the peace and quiet because Steve will not show up until 12:30pm regardless of what time he said he would be there.

We have been blessed with a wonderful volunteer tug pilot (John the Bomb) who flies down from North Texas in his personal airplane using personal funds weekend after weekend.  (None of the hired hands that Steve finds seem to want to stay around for more that a couple of weeks at best.  As a matter of fact a few weeks ago there we saw the two latest additions (soon to be deletions) to the AAS staff.  Both in perfect concert left town quickly and quietly less than a week after starting.)

John flies the tug for us despite the abuse and disrespect he receives at Steve's hand.  If he or Gaye (Do you have the canonization nomination form handy?  She should defiantly be named a saint for all of the times she has had to calm the waters in the wake of the SS Steve) were to leave the sham that is AAS would self-implode with nary a sound.  Truck Towing anybody?

Pete Hammer «hngdog» writes:

The Sunday after the Nats, I was sitting in the passenger seat next to John as we were leaving, and Steve came over seemingly to say goodbye and/or apologize for our not getting to fly.  I say seemingly apologize, because Steve said something to the effect that he was sorry that they couldn't 'meet our expectations'. John expressed his disappointment about it (just as that, disappointment - mentioning that he had called and spoke with Gaye on Fri who said we could fly both days). This was when Steve said something about 'damn Texas pilots', and while not with anger, that we 'shouldn't come back'.

John and I spent half the drive home trying to puzzle through what had just happened.  Now, many of us have known Steve for a while, and have learned to dismiss these occasional statements as just Steve being Steve.  We come back later, and he seems reasonably friendly, so we learn to ignore these things.  Part of the problem may also be in the coordination between Steve and Gaye.  Gaye tends to be AAS' primary contact by phone or email.  This can sometimes lead to disconnects, as Gaye can obviously not predict the weather or read Steve's mind with 100% accuracy either.

As it happened, as John and I drove off that day, several remaining comp pilots were setting up anyway, and ended up flying.  Earlier, John and I would have been quite happy with a few sled rides, as he was taking practice tows on a glider he had just bought, and I was trying to tune a glider a customer of mine had flown all during the Nats with a bad turn.

The point with Steve seems to be inconsistency.  I know several local and visiting pilots that were in Hearne in the weeks before Nats, and while Steve was happily employing them as volunteer labor, he wasn't encouraging any flying for them.  This had the net effect of chasing these pilots away, yet as the competitors trickled in, they all seemed to get to fly each day.  Now that could be seen as their right as paid competitors, to get that priority.  But it does tend to gall the locals, especially when we are the pool that he pulls volunteers from.  There seems to be a trend here, because some of the hotshot local pilots who have made great strides in the rankings (Zimmerman, Williams, Degtoff) have seemingly gotten preferential treatment (getting to fly on weekdays or some of those weekends AAS was officially 'closed', for instance). Bully for them, they have done really well in the comps and we are proud of them.  But it just makes the rest of us more frustrated when Steve runs us off.

I will definitely echo what others have said about being glad that Texas is now 'on the map' in hang gliding competitions.  Most of that is due to the efforts of Steve and Gaye.  But some part of it is us 'weekend warriors' that just want to work on our own skills, at the best place to do it.

It's pretty obvious there really is no money in the day-to-day operation of a flight park, and Hearne is more than an hour from any significant pool of potential pilots.  Texas is not quite the same vacation destination as Florida.  So it would seem that the established local pilot community would be a key part of the business plan, despite the fact that the one-tow-a-day intermediate/advanced pilots are the least profitable (most unprofitable?) segment of the business.  I myself have attempted to support AAS as best I can.  I have bought 10-tow bundles ahead of time, even risking losing the remainder of them at the end of the year.  I designed the 2000 LSC shirt and coordinated it's printing, with my only compensation being a free shirt.  This year, I intended to compete, but had to back out due to work commitments.  Yet I still worked the launch line and shot photos the first weekend of the Nats, and came back for the presentations.

Perhaps the only money to be made in hang gliding is in running these events.  What seems to be missing here is the 'loss-leader' concept.  The local pilots that fly a lot and evangelize hang gliding to their co-workers and friends are the main source of information and guidance to interested newcomers.  We are in the position to recommend where to learn.  And just by the nature of word-of-mouth and testimonial advertising, if we don't feel that a given school is reliable, we won't recommend it. Despite this, AAS is currently the best place in Texas to learn hang gliding.  As a recently rated Basic Instructor, I still recommend it as such, and I intend to refer my foot launch students to AAS for their aerotow ratings and as the quickest way to learn.  Despite this, Steve is a bit peeved at me for becoming a Moyes dealer up here in Dallas.

Now, our Regionals is supposed to happen on 9/15-16 (finally - rescheduled twice due to weather and Steve not wanting to break anything before Nats). Steve has already expressed a desire to not provide aerotowing for this event, at least if we don't organize some launch crew volunteers ourselves.  That's fair, but at this point, I am wondering if it will happen at all.  We could always truck tow, but even with the handful of pilots in the region interested in competing, it will be a pain getting up that way.

I don't want to piss Steve off either, and I don't have quite the huevos that John has to just CC this out on the local Tx Soaring list.  But I can confirm what John stated in his notes, so just add me to the list of 'concerned local pilots'. And if you hadn't managed to piss Steve off yet with the Tommy Clark report, this subject will do it. (I was there that day but at the hangar, so I don't have much to add to the facts as you already have them.  Jeff Hunt is a friend of Tommy's and his original instructor, you might ask him about it.)

I know that Steve and Gaye are frustrated living in Hearne, and I think they are likely to reduce AAS to a peak-season or even competition-only operation.  Too bad that kills the fun for the rest of us.

It is frustrating having these local squabbles, but I don't have any personal issues with Steve, he has made the best route he could through a pretty tough career choice.  Indeed, what is foreboding about all this is that if I intend to proceed forth with my instructing, the obvious path is to eventually setup an operation just like AAS up here in DFW.  Won't the shoe be on the other foot then.

A North Texas pilot writes:

I appreciate you publishing the report about unrest and disappointment at Hearne with AAS having zero concern for the hang gliding community in general. I have heard these same comments made by pilots from Arkansas and Florida.  I personally would quit flying rather than attempt to go back to Hearne for all the reasons that were stated by the article titled Unrest in East Texas and for some other reasons that are even stronger.  I would love to see someone else come in and run a real flight park at Hearne.  It is certainly on the map now and has what would appear to be a great potential business.

Proud Supporter of:

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