Flytec
Wills Wing

Oz Report

Volume 9, Number 106
8 pm, Sunday, May 15 2005

https://OzReport.com
"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
Fri, May 13 2005, 4:00:00 pm EDT

to Table of Contentsto next topic Sink rates

Not a function of wing area

sailplane

Kevin Caldwell «kcaldwel», reacting to my article on the AIR ATOS gliders https://ozreport.com/9.105#4, writes:

Sink rate is entirely dependent on span loading, span efficiency, and drag.  Wing area doesn't effect it, other than more area generally means a lower aspect ratio, and therefore lower span efficiency.  So more wing area generally hurts the sink rate, contrary to the standard hang glider pilot train of thought.

Look at the sailplanes, with 100 sq. ft. Of wing area, very high span loadings, but also very high span efficiencies and low drag.  Their sink rates are down at 60 fpm.

Not flying anymore, but still reading the Oz Report.

(editor's note: I will continue to look at how the VX compares with the VR re sink rate.)

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Fri, May 13 2005, 4:00:01 pm EDT

to Table of Contentsto next topic Kansas Storms

Cyclone alley

video

Bruce «spf» writes:

Twister in southwestern Kansas.  Video and story of a tornado near Ulysses, Kansas

http://video.wjla.com/ktulvideo/ulysseskstornado_0505.wmv
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0505/227969.html

Run, Toto, run.

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Fri, May 13 2005, 4:00:02 pm EDT

to Table of Contentsto next topic New World Record

Still could be faster

Quest Air|record

The flight and task

On Sunday, I set a new world record for speed around a 50 KM FAI triangle after failing to break the record on Saturday (see below). The new record is 44.55 kmh.  My old record was 40.80 kmh.  I did the same task as the day before but in reverse order, going to a turnpoint nine and a half miles north of Quest Air and just north of the Florida Turnpike, then eleven miles west to Center Hill and back southeast 12 miles to Quest in one hour seven minutes and forty seconds.  My goal was to do the task in one hour.  Maybe next time.

The forecast for today was especially good with very light winds and a high cloud base.  Still cloud base was only 4,700' at Quest and I left the 400 meter cylinder around the Quest Air start point at 4,500'. That meant I had to come back with 1,100' of altitude when I entered the finish cylinder.

There were plenty of cu's scattered around to the north so it was easy to stay high and I made the first turnpoint in 18 minutes.  I was trying for 20 minutes per keg, so I was off to a good start.  The next leg 11 miles west presented more problems finding good lift.  The cu's were forming and dissipating quickly and now I was low, at 1,500' AGL four miles from the Center Hill turnpoint.  I had been keeping my eye on a big dark cloud at that location, but I found only 200 fpm underneath it and since I was low and had searched for a couple of miles under the cloud finding only light lift, I stayed with this for three minutes.

The wind was out of the north at 8 mph and although it was away from the turnpoint I decided to head further south in search of stronger lift under the same cloud.  I saw a Black Vulture turning low to my south, came over it and hooked 800 fpm up to 5,500'. It was then a race to the turnpoint and back to the same cloud.

I didn't find that lift when I came to the cloud, went to the next one, and then the next one, newly forming, and finally at the fourth one four miles from goal.  I found good enough lift to get me up just high enough to make goal with enough altitude to get the world record.

I see a number of places where I could have been faster.  I think that it would be quite possible to shave 7 minutes off the time required to do the task.

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to Table of Contentsto next topic Terry Spencer's accident (part 1)

Fri, May 13 2005, 8:00:03 pm GMT
Terry spiraled in in April, 2003 at the Flytec Championships
Terry Spencer

fatality|Joe Gregor|Joseph Andrew "Terry" Spencer|Quest Air

Recently I had a discussion of Terry's accident with pilots from his area which prompted me to write this series of articles.  Here's the background:

https://OzReport.com/7.103#2
https://OzReport.com/7.112
https://OzReport.com/7.113#5

I spoke with Joe Gregor, who wrote the accident report on Terry's accident, at Quest shortly after Terry's death.  You can find Joe's report here.

In my original article on the accident I wrote that, "A competitor augered (literally) himself into the ground today, doing two three sixties very low." (I didn't know who it was at the time). I was criticized by Terry's friends who were with him at Quest Air at the time for this description as they apparently couldn't believe Terry would do this.  They were unhappy with me despite the fact that I was just describing what I and others witnessed.

Well, if they still doubt the accuracy and validity of that original observation, I suggest that they check out Joe's report.

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Fri, May 13 2005, 4:00:04 pm EDT

to Table of Contentsto next topic Saturday triangle record attempt

50 km FAI triangle

Dustin Martin|Paul Tjaden|record|sailplane

The flight

The forecast was for winds at 5 to 10 mph out of the east southeast.  On Friday it was 21 mph at cloud base right out of the east.  Dustin Martin dropped by on his way to Brazil to tell us about the winds.

On Saturday I was waiting for a better triangle day, but the earlier winds died down and with beautiful cu's everywhere the sky began calling.  Then Paul Tjaden mentioned how vulnerable he thought my 50 km FAI triangle world record looked at 40.8 kmh.  I went back to my desk pulled up SeeYou put in a 50 KM FAI triangle task and raced out to the launch line.

The lift was not so great at first but we finally found lift to get up to 4,880' right over Quest with a sailplane, whose pilot was hanging around taking pictures of us. I could see the flashes from the cockpit.

A 50 KM triangle is not much of a task.  Paul was just recovered from his cold and from our 150 KM attempt a few days earlier.  The idea is to cover the 50 KM in an hour (say, that's 50 kmh). With this short a task you've got to come back no lower than 2% of 50 KM below your start altitude (3290'). I'd set the world speed records for the 25 KM and 50 KM FAI triangles in 2001 at Wallaby Ranch, also in the middle of May, and hadn't thought about defending them since then:

https://ozreport.com/5.091
https://ozreport.com/5.092
https://ozreport.com/5.093

Once you set a record, you figure it is someone else's job to take it away from you.  But, 50 KM looked like a sweet distance for an afternoon of fun, so we were game for a try.

The first leg was only twelve miles to Center Hill.  Cu's every where.  Five miles out I found our first thermal.  By tightening up in the better core I was able to climb in the VR to cloud base in five and a half minutes at 420 fpm.  Paul was making wider circles, which he felt the VX liked more, and climbed to cloud base in 7:15 at 330 fpm.  I was flying at 38 mph and Paul was flying at 30 mph.  I was in 630 fpm while Paul was in 470 fpm.  His sink rate was 140 fpm while mine was 210 fpm.  Later we talked about him getting the VX up on a tip.

The dry fields out by Center Hill were working so it was no trick getting up from 1,500' and getting to the second turnpoint just north of the Florida Turnpike which also had dry fields nearby and black clouds over head.  Getting home required that we come in at 1,200' in order to be able to meet the world record criteria.  The last leg was the fastest with only one climb required to get home with 500'above the limit.

The time was an hour and fifteen minutes, for a speed of 40.24 kmh just short of matching the record.  It was clear that just a few different choices (like pulling in more on the final glide), it would have been a new world record.  Next time, an hour.

Discuss records at the Oz Report forum

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Fri, May 13 2005, 4:00:05 pm EDT

to Table of Contentsto next topic Big flight in Europe

Not on a Gin Oasis but a VX

Here

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Fri, May 13 2005, 4:00:06 pm EDT

to Table of Contentsto next topic Photo/Caption contest

Flying Monkey

David Glover|photo

David Glover sent this in from Kansas:

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Fri, May 13 2005, 4:00:07 pm EDT

Link to the Oz Report

Please place this link on your web site!  You do have a blog, or some kinda web site, don't you?

internet

If you find the Oz Report useful, why don't you share that belief with your readers and give them a way to get to the Oz Report?  We'd love for you to put up an Oz Report link at an appropriate location on your web site.

Right click the Oz Report logo picture above and click "Save Picture As" and save it in the same folder that includes your web page.  Insert the picture into your web page (with "Insert Picture File" icon on FrontPage toolbar, for example), where you want it.

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If you need a different version of this link contact « me».

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The Oz Report, a near-daily, world wide hang gliding news ezine, with reports on competitions, pilot rankings, political issues, fly-ins, the latest technology, ultralight sailplanes, reader feedback and anything else from within the global HG community worthy of coverage. Hang gliding, paragliding, hang gliders, paragliders, aerotowing, hang glide, paraglide, platform towing, competitions, fly-ins. Hang gliding and paragliding news from around the world, by Davis Straub.

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