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topic: Big Spring (52 articles)

Big Spring from 30,000'

August 8, 2019, 3:01:15 pm MDT

Big Spring from 30,000'

There were cu's over the airport today

Big Spring 2019

Nathan Wreyford says it looks nice and dry.

Big Support for Big Spring

May 21, 2018, 12:47:49 pm CDT GMT-0500

Cloudbase Foundation adds $1000

Big Spring 2018|Cloudbase Foundation|Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2017|Ken Millard|Quest Air|US Nationals 2018

https://www.thecloudbasefoundation.org/campaign/assist-big-spring-texas-foster-care-children#donations

Today, the Cloudbase Foundation donated $1,000 to our campaign to pay back the people of Big Spring for all their support for hang gliding. In addition, Ken Millard sent us $100 along with his entry fee for the Big Spring Nationals, to help pay back for our losses at the Green Swamp Sport Klassic. Since those losses were already paid back, due to profit from the Quest Air Nationals, we just donated his kind contribution to the Assist Big Spring, Texas Children in Foster Care campaign.

Yes, we are now at $6,155, well over our arbitrary goal of $5,000.

Big Spring »

February 8, 2018, 3:39:12 pm EST

Big Spring

A move to reduce costs

Dave Glover|David Glover

Thanks to Dave Glover.

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

Boom and bust in Big Spring

June 22, 2015, 10:06:26 MDT

Boom and bust in Big Spring

Shale oil

Big Spring 2015

Bloomberg article here.

Midland-Odessa is right next to Big Spring.

Of course, the boom is over.

Big Spring Charity Funding

July 17, 2014, 11:53:25 MDT

Big Spring Charity Funding

Matching funds from the Cloudbase Foundation

Big Spring 2014

Patrick Joyce <<planetarypatrick>> writes:

The Board has voted and with five votes to approve, the new project is approved! We can match your funds up to $1,000.

Big Spring Charity Funding

July 16, 2014, 6:56:49 MDT

Big Spring Charity Funding

Support your team

Belinda Boulter|Big Spring 2014|Davis Straub|Larry Bunner

We continue to support the young children of Big Spring through the Cloudbase Foundation (see here: http://www.thecbf.net/ProjectDetails.asp?id=274981468) and are asking for matching funds from the general funds of the Cloudbase Foundation.

Belinda wrote to the Cloudbase Foundation for matching funds:

Hello Cloudbase Foundation Board,

Davis Straub and I are planning once again to raise money for the Howard County Child Welfare Board at the 2014 Big Spring Hang Gliding Nationals. Your Board member Larry Bunner will be competing at this event.

This money goes to the Rainbow Room, to pay for emergency supplies for foster children in Big Spring, and accounts for the majority of their funding. The money is spent on everything from diapers for infants removed from violent situations to teenagers who want to attend their prom. Big Spring is a small town, part of the oil boom, and has all the social problems that go with that transient population.

We are expecting to raise a minimum of $1,000 in contributions from the fifty pilots registered at the moment. Last year we ended up raising over $4,200 at this event, donated through the Cloudbase Foundation. Will the Foundation match our fundraising, at least to the $1,000 level? Will you match $2,000 or more if we raise that amount?

I have signed up as a volunteer on your website and am entering this as a project there. Davis and I have a long relationship with the Foundation and have supported your work from the beginning. Please let me hear from you at your earliest opportunity.

Patrick, Cloudbase Foundation Board Member writes:

On behalf of the Board, thank you for your project submission! It has been accepted for a vote by the board, so we will let you know shortly.

We will have a way that anyone can support our efforts to give back to the Big Spring community and support one of the ten teams flying at the Big Spring Nationals. More soon.

Big Spring 3D art

July 10, 2014, 9:44:17 MDT

Big Spring 3D art

Awaiting our arrival

Big Spring 2014

Ramon Holguin <ithink219> writes:

I am on a Downtown Committee here and we just had our annual Funtastic 4th Festival. This year i invited a 3d artist named Anat Ronen to come and create a 3d art piece on the sidewalk. This is a temporary piece but the artist says it will still be enact when the Hang Gliders come to town. The location is the Heart of the City park in downtown Big Spring across the street from the courthouse.

Hotels in ⁢Big Spring »

Mon, Apr 21 2014, 8:26:38 am EDT

It's cheap at the Plaza

Belinda Boulter|Big Spring 2014

https://OzReport.com/2014BigSpringNationals.php

Belinda writes:

The Plaza Inn in Big Spring is expecting us back this year, and holding rooms for us during the Nationals. Last year we hang glider pilots accounted for twenty-two paid rooms at the Plaza, and I've told them to expect at least that many this year. They are offering us a room rate during the competition of $50 a night plus tax (Normally $95).

This is an amazing deal when you consider that Big Spring is still booming, many of the motels are full of workers, and most places in town can and do charge a considerable premium. The Plaza staff have gone out of their way to welcome us. Their phone number is (432) 267-1601.

https://OzReport.com/accommodations.php

Other hotels are available for those pilots wishing for fancier accommodations. You might make reservations soon.

Big Spring is soaring

March 25, 2014, 7:43:37 EDT

Big Spring is soaring

We first went there when it wasn't

Big Spring 2014|Owen Morse

Register now for the Big Spring Nationals: http://ozreport.com/2014BigSpringNationals.php

http://usat.ly/1lZNQ42

Nine cities where wealth is soaring.

One factor that may have helped median incomes in these cities grow is that incomes to begin with were often low, say Austin Nichols, senior research associate at the Urban Institute think tank in Washington, D.C.

9. Big Spring, Tex.

- - Percentage increase in income: 17.2%
- - Median household income: $40,943
- - Poverty rate: 20.4%
- - Population: 27,763

Big Spring is less than an hour from Midland, Tex., which is widely considered the epicenter of the state's oil boom. Mining has traditionally been a major industry in Big Spring, accounting for at least 10% of the city's economy in recent years. The sector has not grown considerably, but the state's energy boom across the state is still a likely factor in the city's sharp income growth. Strong growth in the city's housing market in recent years reflects to some extent the region's rising incomes. While home prices have not been particularly high in Big Spring the past five years, they had increased by nearly 25% between the three-year period starting in 2007 and the three-year period starting in 2010, among the most dramatic home value increases nationwide.

Thanks to Owen Morse.

How does ⁢Big Spring⁣ support us »

Mon, Jul 22 2013, 6:49:44 am CDT

A few comments

Big Spring 2013|Jim Rooney

Jim Rooney writes:

The support from Big Spring is nothing short of stunning.

I had heard about it before I went there so I was prepared for a little token thing here and there, then I showed up at the welcome dinner, holy crap! Yeah, they love us. The air conditioned hangar is nice (really nice) and I'm a big fan of the free ice cream. That and all the other traditional support type stuff is super cool and all, but man it's just nothing next to the people. I've never seen such a welcoming community.

Pat Halfhill writes:

In 2010, my wife and I were having dinner at the local steakhouse out along the freeway. I shook the hand of one of the gentlemen that I noticed from the welcome dinner. When I went to pay my bill the waitress said that my bill had been paid! Best darn steak I ever had.

How does ⁢Big Spring⁣ support us »

Thu, Jul 18 2013, 10:08:49 am CDT

Much more than any other town or city in the US

Big Spring 2013|cart

Every year the city of Big Spring and the airport authority provide hang glider pilots with very valuable services that reduce the cost of competition and make it just that much more comfortable for us. They provide:

1) Air conditioned airport terminal for our meetings, registration, score keeping
2) Restrooms
3) Free bottled water
4) Free Ice cream
5) Room in a large hangar for the Dragonflies and for the hang gliders
6) Three or four golf carts
7) Welcoming dinner, dinner location, welcoming address
8) Volunteer organization for preparing the launch and getting pilots and their harnesses to launch from the hangar
9) The airport taxi way for launching
10) Tires to keep us from breaking the taxi way lights
11) $500 in prize money from the Alon Refinery
12) Inexpensive lunch service
13) Cart Retrieval
14) More that I’ve forgotten to list here.

We calculated that the city provided $20,000 in in kind services for the 2007 Worlds in Big Spring.

Thanks to Big Spring for all their help. We attend to once again raise money for a local charity that helps children and funnel the money through the Cloudbase Foundation, "Helping children wherever we fly."

Big Spring competition pilots

Mon, May 21 2012, 8:42:30 am EDT

Who has signed up so far?

Big Spring 2012|David Glover|Davis Straub|Glen Volk|Greg Kendall|Jeff O'Brien|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kraig Coomber|Robin Hamilton|Tom McGowan

David Glover «David Glover» sends a list of he registered pilots so far::

Markus Venturini, Dave Proctor, Tom McGowan, Randy Brown, Michael Bilyk, Ricker Goldsborough, Eduardo Panuco, Peter Kane, Greg Kendall, Mario Andre Felske, Glen Volk, Jay Devorak, Miguel Molina, Derreck Turner, Kraig Coomber, Jonny Durand, Eduardo Oliveira, Glauco Pinto, Davis Straub.

Robin Hamilton and Jeff O'Brien will be signing up. We expect many others who haven't signed up yet.

Big Spring says thanks

September 29, 2011, 8:27:47 MDT

Big Spring says thanks

Pilots through the Cloudbase Foundation give money to children programs

Big Spring 2011

The school district sends us a thank you letter.

http://ozreport.com/pub/images/BSthankyouLetter.pdf

Big Spring Hang Gliding on Facebook

August 24, 2011, 2:35:02 pm MDT

Big Spring Hang Gliding on Facebook

Please come over to like it

Big Spring 2011|Facebook|photo

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Spring-Hang-Gliding/272623096087478

Please go here and click like and post quick stories of good flying and photos.

Big Spring, the best weather ever? »

August 8, 2011, 9:53:22 CDT

Big Spring, the best weather ever?

Get ready for great conditions

Big Spring 2011|Gary Osoba|US Nationals|weather

Gary Osoba <<wosoba>> writes:

In a year when weather patterns have frustrated competition plans in many parts of the world, the US Nationals in Big Spring have a good chance of being the best ever. Of course, Big Spring is already known as a venue which produces maximum task calls and maximum flying days. A hard combination the beat. However, the weather patterns presently in place might very well produce the finest soaring yet for the site. Of course, it could all change and produce an average (good to excellent) year, or less. But right now, it is looking mighty fine.

Here are a few recommendations:

1) If you have never flown Big Spring and have a chance to rearrange your affairs to do so, this would be a time to pull out all stops and simply do it. Sign up quickly and come.

2) Consider bringing oxygen this time. There is a possibility that at least some time during the comp cloud bases will be higher than previously experienced in the task area. Of course, that means stronger lift, less circling and faster times. As our Australian friends would say, it's "All Good".

I say pull out at 12,000' (10,000' AGL) and pull the bar in. You just don't need this kind of altitude to fly fast. Besides it's cold up there.

Big Spring beckons from the sky

August 4, 2010, 10:30:53 pm GMT+0200

Big Spring beckons from the sky

Popcorn cu's

Big Spring 2010|Jim Yocom

Jim Yocom <<jim>> writes:

I got this picture from a hang glider pilot Wow, Big Spring looks like it is going to be incredible!

Big Spring - the welcoming dinner »

August 21, 2006, 8:41:09 CDT

Big Spring

The town really supports hang gliding.

No town in America supports hang gliding like Big Spring does. Chris Smith sends this photo of the opening night dinner, which we had outside (no rain):



The town puts on the dinner for us and the mayor and city counsel members show up.

Discuss Big Spring at the Oz Report forum

Big Spring - the t-shirt that wasn't »

August 18, 2006, 10:57:21 pm CDT

Big Spring

Too hot?

c. smith «chris» writes:

There was a alternate version of the pre-worlds shirt that was not made available at the comp. I made it available at www.flyintology.com  (redirects to a store at www.cafepress.com). It's a little more "rock star" than the "bible belt" version that was given away with registration. Anyone who might be interested can purchase at the url provided.

Discuss Big Spring at the Oz Report forum

Big Spring - Jim's blog »

August 18, 2006, 4:10:14 pm CDT

Big Spring

Jim Yocom wrote something when he got home

Big Spring 2006|Jim Yocom|PG

Jim Yocom «jim» writes:

I posted a blog entry re Big Spring on the Rocky Mtn Hang Gliding & Paragliding web site. The address is: http://www.rmhpa.org/xccontest/2006BigSpring/BigSpring2006.htm

Big Spring - the flight paths on the last day. »

August 17, 2006, 8:20:22 CDT

Flight Paths

How the pilots got around the rain showers

Big Spring 2006|Tom Lanning

I was west of the course line:

The course line was way into the blue, faraway from any clouds, so I needed to be west of the course line to be on the east side of the clouds. Further to my west and therefore quite a bit west of the course line were the scattered rain showers. This was true until about fifteen miles out where I went east of the course line to get around a shower and then west of a small shower going into goal.

Tom Lanning's track log:

Compared with mine:

Tom started half an hour behind me and at Gail took a much more westerly course than I. He made goal with no problems.

I heard that some pilots flew the course faster than any other course than they had ever flown, pulling the bar in the whole way and going at 60 mph.

Do you have a track log from the last day of the pre-Worlds? Send it along with your story. Funny, but there are no stories of the last day at Big Spring up on any of the pilots' blogs, at least the ones that we track here at the Oz Report, http://ozreport.com/otherblogs.php.

Big Spring - The rain on the last day »

August 13, 2006, 10:56:23 CDT

Rain

Flying near cu-nimbs

Big Spring 2006|Worlds

Joerg Bajewski took this shot on the last day of the Big Spring pre-Worlds:

Click for a higher resolution version.

Big Spring - Nick's dust devil encounter »

Sun, Aug 13 2006, 10:02:09 am CDT

Dust Devil

The glider comes down softly

Big Spring 2006|dust devil

It turns out that Nick was very persistent and actually (according to his story) tried to go into the dust devil five times, getting spit out four times, and only on fifth time was he flipped over when the nose went up at 3,000 fpm. He managed to hold on to the base tube but let go when he was hanging off the trailing edge and needed to throw his chute.

The opening shock of the chute apparently broke his down tube at a foot down from the apex. He bent one batten when he hit the ground. And that was it. The next day he flew the WW T2 120 miles.

Discuss "Big Spring - Nick's dust devil encounter" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Big Spring - playing with little cu-nimbs »

August 13, 2006, 10:01:28 CDT

Big Spring last day

We call a shorter task on a day that is hard to call.

Andrew "Drew" Harris|Attila Bertok|Belinda Boulter|Big Spring 2006|Blue Sky|Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|Dave Giles|David Glover|dust devil|Jim Yocom|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Mark Stump|Mike Glennon

The flight and task on the HOLC and on Google Maps/Earth

Results

On Saturday, the last day of the pre-Worlds, US Single Surface National, US Sport Class Nationals, and Rigid Wing Big Spring Open started with a spot landing contest. Talk about fun and a great show for the local folks. Seppi won the pre-Worlds spot landing contest landing on the cone while I came in twenty feet behind him and had to go to the side to avoid hit him. Mike Glennon was second and Jonny Durand third. Chris Cheney, the only local Big Spring pilot, won the Sport Class, David Duke, the Single Surface class, and Campbell Bowen, in his first foot landing on his AIR ATOS VXR, the rigid wing class. I got five spot landing flights on the WW Falcon 3 - 170, but wasn't in the competition as you had to fly in class, but had two landings within three feet of the spot, beating David Glover in the competition between the co-meet directors.

It sure was great to fly the WW Falcon just for fun and whip it around and come in fast in as much ground effect as you can on a single surface glider. The trick of spot landing well is to get your glider in ground effect at high speed well in advance and then use the stability of ground effect and the speed as control and power to put yourself at the spot.

Most pilots only took one spot landing flight, but I kept going back for more racing with the ultra light Falcon back to the waiting tugs that would pull me to 500' for another attempt. The sky was dark with heavy clouds and we had a little bit of rain earlier, and it was cool enough to make it very comfortable with a five mph south wind.

While there were thick mid level clouds over us, but it was clear to the west so there was hope. The task committee met right during the pilot meeting held a bit later around 11 AM and called a 68 mile task to the north northeast not knowing whether we would have any lift, but hoping to allow us to dribble down wind. We put the launch time back to 1:30.

As the launch time approached the mid level clouds moved east away from us and cu's began to fill in from the south. It was clear to the northeast with just a few dapples of forming cu's. We wondered what would be our fate as the day was so unsettled.

After a weaklink break at 500' for me we all climbed up under the cu's that were forming over the airport and soon were at cloud base at 9,000'. Very quickly the sky was filling with cu's and to the northwest a few of the cu's had already begun to tower. But we were stuck, already so quickly at cloud base and ready to go, but almost required to wait forty five minutes until 2:30 to start the race. Oh, but for a chance to remake that now stupid decision to call a one hour launch window for a mere six pilots who got off in five minutes, even with the weaklink break. Still it looked clear to the north northeast and there was a chance.

Finally, we released ourselves and having scattered before the start window time, I headed north to the northeast edge of the cloud street and to the east of the little bits of rain showers and virga. There was plenty of sunshine and blue sky to the east.

Dave Giles was over to the west under the darkest clouds and near the virga high and racing back to the start circle as he had to go outside to get up. He would stay high the rest of the flight. On the other hand  after a twelve mile glide I was at 1,700' AGL searching for lift at the edge of the clouds. Fortunately, it was where I was searching.

I could see virga and dust devils a few miles to my west, but I was quite a bit west of the course line already and wanted to stay near the edge of the clouds in case I needed to run from the conditions. After getting up, the lift improved and I joined Ollie as we headed toward Gail half way to goal. We noticed Mark Stump way off to our west under the clouds deciding to land.

In spite of the presence of cu-nimbs nearby the air felt great, so unlike Monday when we continued to fly near a cu-nimb that was many orders of magnitude larger than what we experienced on this day. The lift was solid and not over whelming.

Ollie didn't find any lift at Gail as I headed in a different direction and climbed out quickly. Now there were three or four small rain showers to the west and virga to the northwest. I kept to the east side of the clouds, but well west of the course line.

Belinda was driving out in front of me and reporting that Jim Yocom was low a few miles in front under the dark clouds. I tried to run to the northwest to get on the west side of the clouds but after three miles noticed that there was an even thicker cylinder of rain between that direction and the goal. I turned back to the northeast to run for eight miles to get around a small cylinder of virga.

The lift was good under the dark clouds and I stayed well below them. It was easy to get around the virga and then I headed right toward the goal from fourteen miles out on the west side of another small patch of virga getting a little wet in the process.

I had Belinda at goal telling me that the main rain was five miles to the west, which I could also see, and that the conditions at goal were benign. It was all in the shade for the last fifteen miles and I wanted to be sure I was a long ways away from cloud base as at first I had plenty of lift. We had been over rough land for almost the whole flight, but the airport was just over the lip. You wanted to get to the airport to have an easy landing.

It was benign at the airport with just enough wind to make for an easy landing. Dave Giles was already there and Bo Hagewood, who started at 2:00 PM ignoring the flex wing start time at 3:00 PM, was right behind me. Soon flex wings were pouring in behind me.

Attila Bertok, who was leading the meet, won the day. The conditions stayed benign at the airport, but darkened considerably behind us along the course. This cut off pilots who were later or slower. Many pilots landed or flew back to Big Spring because of the conditions that they encountered.

There was serious discussion after the fact about the safety of the conditions. Drew Harris, the safety director, and David Glover were continually in contact with pilots and drivers during the task and, unlike in Florida during the Worlds, they didn't stop the task as they were getting word that pilots were safely negotiating the conditions. For me it was always easy to run off to the east and land if things got out of whack.

Later Attila, who did not like the conditions and complained at goal about how we should not have flown in the conditions, was easily persuaded to protest the day and the protest committee ruled the day invalid for the pre-World class. The task counted for the other competitions.

For me the day felt much better than Monday and while it was very exciting because of the presence the rain showers and the cu-nimbs, the air was a pleasure to fly in. The fact that there was, or at least it seemed to me there was, an escape, while on Monday the cu-nimb was just too big and there were others squeezing us from the west.

Belinda took this shot earlier in the meet. Click for higher resolution version.

Big Spring - animated track logs »

August 11, 2006, 10:24:12 pm CDT

Big Spring tracks

Mark Dowsett has put the pre-Worlds tasks up

Big Spring 2006|Mark Dowsett

Mark Dowsett «mdowsett»

I put the animated track logs up on my site. It is a paid service now and I picked up the cost (40us for each Flex Wing task) and I'll be accepting contributions to help cover my costs.

They are at http://events.dowsett.ca/results

Big Spring - longest task? »

August 11, 2006, 10:23:47 pm CDT

Big Spring task

There was another long one in Australia years ago.

Big Spring 2006|Jules Makk|Pete Bolton|record|Steve Blenkinsop

Steve Blenkinsop «blenkinsop» writes:

Deja vu? An article a few years back in the ozreport, with coincidentally an almost identical task length: http://ozreport.com/5.20

Pete Bolton (who wrote the article above) writes:

I'm not sure if you're suggesting that it's a WORLD record for longest goal distance made in a comp, but there was an Australian comp goal distance record set in the South Australian State Comp long ago of - would you believe - 251km. This was in the king-posted days of 1989 (if I remember the year correctly). four pilots made this distance - Steve Blenkinsop, Garry Fimeri, Jules Makk and Chris Charters. I believe Steve had the documentation for an FAI record claim then.

There was a 265km goal set in a more recent Aus comp, which no one made.

Looking at the task I get three distances for it. Race gives 251.8 km, SeeYou with the FAI spheroid, 251.4 km and with the WGS 84 ellipsoid, 250.7 km. Looks like it is equivalent to the task in Australia. On that day pilots were getting to 15,000' AGL, 5,000' higher than the legal limit. On Thursday pilot were getting to 7,000' AGL.

Big Spring - 156.5 miles (252 km) »

August 11, 2006, 10:19:54 pm CDT

Big Spring

How it went in the blue on the long flight on Thursday

Big Spring 2006|Campbell Bowen|Dave Giles|Glen Volk|Jim Yocom|Mark Stump|Ollie Gregory|weather

The flight and task on the HOLC and on Google Maps/Earth

Results.

We didn't fly on Friday due to an occluded front right over our heads. The forecast was for great lift to great heights, but that didn't happen at all. So much for the forecasts. Once again the weather models failed to deal with mid level clouds.

Speaking of forecasts, the Thursday forecast called for a blue day, which was spot on, but also for southwest winds, which was not the case. In fact the winds were south southwest which proved crucial. The task committee originally looked at a downwind task 205 miles (330 km) to the northeast, but with the wind socks at the Big Spring airport showing winds at 190 degrees, I quickly added a secondary task to the north northeast as the pilot meeting with a new goal point at a grass air strip on the east side of the town of Silverton. Unfortunately, I made an error with its altitude, lowering it from 3,250' to 2700'.

Out on the flight line I chose to go with the secondary task given the continued south southwest winds. The start circle is fifteen miles given the strong winds.

There were no clouds over the airport when we launch and it was clear (or is it hazy?) that there was an inversion at about 5,000'. I took off after Jim Yocom and we both climbed slowly to 5,000' as we drifted out of the airport at 14 mph. We could see other pilots getting up better to the west of the airport and Jim raced toward them. He got low but found lift just past the launch line. I followed found the lift just below Jim at 500' AGL and we climbed out to 6,500' and drifted two and a half miles to the north.

I jumped out in front and headed north to find weak lift and all the rigid wings plus a flew flex wings spent the next fifteen minutes inside the start circle just hanging on as Mark Stump landed below. We were not able to cross the fifteen mile start circle until fifteen minutes after the start time at 1:30 after we found 250 fpm to 7,500'.

To the west about a hundred miles we could see the dry line marked by cumulus clouds and some over development stretched out for hundreds of miles to the south west and north northwest. But where we were flying there were no clouds at all, but we could see that the inversion had broken.

I was with Jim Yocom, Campbell Bowen, and Ollie Gregory, three pilots who are ahead of me in the standings, and I needed to to get away from them, as quickly as possible. Jim and I jumped out in front our little gaggle as often as possible, him to pull, me to get away. Still we hung together as Campbell and Ollie kept catching up as we slowly left Dave Giles behind.

Despite the lack of clouds we were quickly able to find lift averaging between 350 and 450 fpm and I was not able to escape my pursuers in spite of long glides out in front designed to make myself disappear.  Finally at eighty miles out I got another chance. Campbell and Ollie had hung back to work lighter lift and Jim was searching around near me. At 7,000' (4000' AGL) I ran out in front off the agricultural plains and over some rougher territory.

Three miles away I could see the rocky south facing faces of an east west creek and headed for them. I followed along the creek to the west over these hot rocks and quickly found 600 fpm on average, the best lift so far, to 9,700'. Finally, I had escaped my pursuers. Now the task was to stay ahead of them.

Back up over farm land to the north, I noticed lots of green circles so I was searching for the driest areas. I found lift between the circles and things continued to go well. I could see little wispies twenty miles ahead of me and was making every effort to get to them. Also the dry line was getting bigger and closer and looked like it was near the goal to the north.

Twenty five miles out I was down to 1,600' AGL and climbing. After getting up I race to the east to get under the first wispy that I could get to and was rewarded with 500 fpm to 10,000'. There were more wispies ahead and I raced toward them. Then I made my mistake. Heading for a set of wispies, I flew through 500 fpm. I should have stopped as I didn't find any lift at the wispies.

The wispies were dying out because there was a large cu-nimb about twenty miles north of goal and the out flow from its top was beginning to shade the land near goal. This would slow down the pilots just behind us.

Thirteen miles out I saw Campbell just above me. Ah, they've caught me. I headed for further wispies toward goal and had to work 250 fpm for five minutes to make it into goal. Jim Yocom got in four minutes ahead of me and Campbell three minutes. Ollie landed a mile short.

We three broke down without seeing anyone else. As we headed back toward Big Spring we could see five flex wing pilots very low about a mile short. I later learned that I had miscalculated the altitude at goal by five hundred feet. This made the difference for a few pilots who left light lift near the end a little too low.

Seppi was the first flex wing into goal followed by Nels, Gerolf, then Glen Volk. Glen was seeing the discrepancy as he came toward goal, but did not figure out the problem until later. He just got inside the goal cylinder, turned his glider around and rounded out at five feet to land. Bruno and a few others landed just short counting on that extra altitude. My apologies for my mistake.

Click for a higher resolution version of this photo of the airport by Joerg Bajewski.

Big Spring - 156 miles (250 km) »

August 11, 2006, 0:32:49 CDT

Big Spring

Down wind in the blue.

Big Spring 2006|Jim Yocom

The flight and task on the HOLC and on Google Maps/Earth

Results.

Back late. Longest task ever called and made in a hang glider competition? Perhaps.

Jim Yocom first, followed closely by Campbell, me and much  later David Giles. Ollie landed 1 mile south.

Four flex wings made it in after we left. Gerolf, Seppi, Nels, and another one. Some close. We saw them as we headed south back to Big Spring. Got in just before midnight. More news Friday morning.

Big Spring - a 98.6 degree (mile) triangle »

August 9, 2006, 11:33:40 pm CDT

Big Spring

Back against a 11 mph head wind.

André Wolfe|Big Spring 2006|Bubba Goodman|David Glover|dust devil|Jim Yocom|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Mark Stump|Roberto Nichele|Robert Reisinger|weather

The flight and task on the HOLC and on Google Maps/Earth

Results.

With the standard August North Texas weather having returned yesterday and forecasted to stay with us during the competition, we get back to calling tasks that take advantage of the reliable and consistent lift. The task committee can't decide between a large (160+ mile) dog leg and a 98.6 mile triangle. We propose a vote of the pilots, and they decide for the triangle.

I forecasted thin cu's, moderate south winds (10-12 mph), no overdevelopment, 600-700 fpm lift, and comparatively warm at cloud base - 54 degrees.

Responding to pilot requests we put a twenty five mile entry start circle around the first start point off to the northwest. This allows for a little strategy and I take advantage of this.

I'm off first, which used to be part of my strategy, which I seemed to have relaxed a bit on the first three days. I got off high at 2,500' AGL under a cloud, and low an d behold finally there was good lift under a cloud near the airport.

Now the tug pilot was very kid and took me to the west of the airport in the general direction of our start and first turnpoint. Since I was high and getting higher I had the chance of heading due west and escaping my compatriots, perhaps unseen. With the strong south wind, the ticket would be to get twenty five miles due south of the start point before the start window opened. Since I started early, I had a chance to do just that.

I snuck off to the west. I knew that others would figure out this strategy, but I thought that if I got our of their view I wouldn't be an attractive nuisance and I could disappear. The only problem was this would put me out on my own, but I needed to win big to catch up, so taking chances was what I needed to do.

This strategy worked, and I jumped from cloud to cloud staying reasonably high and not seeing any of my flying buddies. Just before the start time at 1:30 I got a glimpse of Jim Yocom and another rigid wing pilot, but they were down wind of me, so I had the advantage.

The winds were strong out of the due south and the cu's were scattered and thin but the lift was good and that meant it was quite possible to run down wind to little wisps quite a long ways away. Fortunately many of them were working.

After I got the first turnpoint I saw Mark Stump coming toward me and I got the feeling that my strategy had not worked at all. Where were all the rest of the rigid wings? Were they already further out on the course line?

The second leg was almost straight east, so it was cross wind. But again the lift was good and this made it possible to punch ahead into the wind while gliding. The cu's were thicker and closer than on the first leg so the probability of getting up improved even with the cross wind.

Half way out Mark and I were joined by a flex wing pilot and I was thinking, oh my god, are we really that slow that the pilots who started half an hour behind us have caught us? Geez. We were screaming up in the best lift of the task, averaging 800 fpm, and then the flex wing pilot pulled in his VG cord and headed in the opposite direction. Whoa, he hadn't gotten to the first turnpoint yet and was way too far to the north given the south wind.

The strong lift allowed for me to leave Mark behind and get to the second turnpoint with little difficulty. As I approached the turnpoint I noticed that there were lots of clouds on the way back to the airport. It looked good. Once I made the turnpoint I realized that these clouds formed a cloud street, a very long cloud street that stretched south and north of me. I'd seen this cloud street before in previous meets at Big Spring.

The cloud street didn't exactly go back to the airport but to the east side of Big Spring. Still it was a great little lift highway and I used it for all it was worth. I stayed under it until I was almost due northeast of the airport and would have mostly a cross wind component going into goal.

Climbing at 400 fpm I left when my 5030 said it is 9.8:1 to goal. Gliding at 42 mph I headed across the town of Big Spring from the refinery and got a very good view of it as I came into goal with 250 feet to spare after an eight and a half mile glide. That was close enough for me. I was the first pilot into goal, much to my surprise.

Eighteen minutes later Mark Stump and Jim Yocom came in. Campbell and Oliver came into together about half an hour after I came in just as the flex wing pilots started to come in.

Andre Wolf was the first flex wing pilot followed by Attila, Brett, Kraig, Jonny, Bruno, Chris Smith, Mario and Leo (see the results above). A few pilots landed a little bit short, including Nene, Bubba (whose on the task committee), Robert Reisinger, Phil Bloom, and Gerolf.

David Glover had the top thirty pilots (at least) start the task at 2:15, and all but one pilot, Jim Prahl, who made goal, started at that time.

The single surface task was a sixty mile task out to the north, northwest with a turnpoint at La Mesa. The winner, and the only pilot to make goal was Anne-Odile Thomas on an Icaro Relax. She told me before going out to fly the task that there was no way that she was going to make it and that she'd probably just land a short ways out from the airport. Wow!

The Sport Class was sent 90 miles north to the goal at Town, an airport just south of Lubbock. The top sport class pilots haven't returned this evening, so we assume that they made it.

Roberto Nichele had a discussion with a dust devil that he lost. He told David Glover that he tried three times to enter into a dust devil at 1000' AGL and got spit out all three times. He tried one more time and the dust devil tiring of this foolishness tossed him about bad enough that Nick through his chute in order to soften his landing. If you see dust here in Texas you can be assured that the lift is a bit too strong. This is not Chelan with its very powdery soil.

Tomorrow looks like even stronger south winds so we might be going long down. There were multiple long thick cloud streets over Big Spring late this afternoon and well into the evening. We would all love to get under one of those clouds and just glide for as long as the cloud lasts. That takes a good weather forecast in the morning.

Big Spring - Personal Bests »

August 9, 2006, 0:06:25 CDT

Big Spring

The single surface goal is made.

Big Spring 2006|Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Jim Yocom|weather

The flight and task on the HOLC and on Google Maps/Earth

Results.

The National Weather Service was calling for a thirty percent chance of rain. As it blew up on the day before with only a twenty percent chance of rain, we are very concerned about the possibility of flying near huge cu-nimbs once again. After a vigorous discussion in the task committee we decided to go back to the Brownfield airport, downwind and away from Big Spring. We had a secondary task to the west if it blew up to our north, but a task that would be cross wind for 70+ miles.

The south wind was indeed strong enough, 10 mph below cloud base, but 16 mph near cloud base. The lift was weak once again near the airport but picked up right away when we went north. I got let off under Jim Yocom, but didn't find what he was circling in and went south to find better and really did go south, having to work much less than 100 fpm to get back up again. This left me a little below my compatriots at the start.

We started launching a half hour earlier than on the first two days, at noon, and the clouds over the town started quite a bit later than on the previous days. It looked like there was less chance of over development than was forecast.

As we headed out on course there were no signs of over development unlike on the previous day and the sky was dappled with cu's. As soon as we left the area of the airport the lift improved significantly and we were in race mode right away.

There was no overdevelopment all day and it took a little under two hours to go 76 miles. Campbell Bowen won the day in rigids. He was out in front all alone the whole way.

Brett Hazlett won the pre-Worlds, with 70+ pilots at goal. Brett took the second clock and almost caught the few pilots who took the first one. Attila was right behind him.

Greg Brown was the only single surface glider to make goal at La Mesa, about half the distance of the pre-World task.  Adrian Van der Reit won the sport class. Seven sport class pilots made goal in La Mesa. Looks like we need longer tasks all the way around.

Big Spring - only one competition today »

August 7, 2006, 8:34:03 pm CDT

Big Spring

The rigids get out early, but just why is unclear.

Andrew "Drew" Harris|Big Spring 2006|David Glover|Jim Yocom

Results: http://www.flytec.com/Events/2006/Big_Spring/scores/scores.htm

We seem to be having a lot of moisture here in Big Spring. Maybe that's why there is a big spring here.

Like on Sunday the cu's started forming just over town to the east at 11:00 AM. This was not a good sign as the forecast called for no clouds at all at 1 PM. Earlier we had set a triangle task near Big Spring but with the clouds forming this early that looked a little too iffy.

Out on the flight line as we saw plenty of vertical development in these clouds we changed the task again to the backup, straight out 92 miles to the northwest to the airport at Denver City. There were no clouds in that direction, so we weren't sure that we'd find lift out there.

The rigids were off first and we found weak lift toward town aways. Campbell, who was off first, was high under the thick clouds over town, while Jim Yocom and I climbed to his west in weaker lift to 7,000' (4,500' AGL). There were by then plenty of clouds forming out to our northwest.

At a little before 1:15 PM, our start time, Jim and I followed Campbell out toward the start circle toward the good looking clouds. Things seemed fine except for the cu-nimbs to our north near La Mesa and to our west and northwest, sort of along our course line. This was not looking so good.

As we thermaled up we noticed that it was raining back at the airport. We had cu-nimbs on three sides of us. Not only that, but the air felt a little too weird.

David Glover and Drew Harris checked around to see how we were doing and then decided to call the day as it was raining on the launch area, and raining hard. Plenty of pilots had been flying in the rain near the airport.

I left Jim behind and headed for some thicker clouds to the west. The cu-nimb over La Mesa was blowing out its top and I could see lightening hitting the ground from it. It was still forty miles away, but the air was still weird, or I was.

I was no longer in race mode, but just staying up, heading in the general direction of goal, continually checking the sky to see if the cu-nimbs were building and spreading, the one over La Mesa was. It looked like it might be possible to get around them.

After a while Jim caught up with me, and we headed north toward La Mesa, as that's where the cu's were. The cu-nimbs had apparently cleared out the cu's to the northwest. 

I was no longer interested in being in the air, The cu-nimb to our north was just way too big. I got low on a glide and was happy to be closer to the ground where the air seemed a lot better. I hung around in light lift for a while but it gave up and I landed in a cotton field.

The other rigid wing pilots went on for a ways but then ran out of lift in the areas cleared of cu's.

Thirty percent chance of rain tomorrow.

Big Spring - the four competitions »

August 6, 2006, 11:25:03 pm CDT

Big Spring

The pre-Worlds and the Nationals

Big Spring 2006|Campbell Bowen|David Glover|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jim Yocom

The competitions began today. The Single Surface Nationals, the Sport Class Nationals. The Big Spring Rigid Wing Open, and the Big Spring Pre-Worlds.

The flight and task on the HOLC and on Google Maps/Earth.

The forecast was for  700 - 800 fpm lift to 9,000' with the 10-15 mph wind going from east south east near the ground to due east at cloud base. Also plenty of cu's forecast with a ten percent chance of rain.

The winds turned out to be 10 - 15 mph out of 150 degrees instead. Fortunately we changed the task on the staging line to go to the north northwest because we saw too much development to the east south east, where our triangle task would have taken us. With that much south wind there would have been a lot fewer happy pilots.

The rigid wing pilots were off first. I pinned off at 1,000' AGL (3,500' MSL) when Rhett found the lift, right under Jim Yocom and Campbell Bowen. We only climbed out to a little over 3,000' AGL. The lift was good in that thermal, 220 fpm, but when I went looking for better, I didn't find it.

I went over three rigid wings below me to find some lift and there wasn't anything there, then over tow under lots of clouds, nope, not there, then back to the airport down to 1,000' AGL before I found something. Meanwhile my erstwhile flying buddies had stayed in the weak stuff and stayed up, although not that high. Still they weren't groveling like me and were able to get out on the course past the five mile start circle in reasonable shape.

I was alone and groveled for the next hour, going from cloud to cloud looking for the Easter eggs. It wasn't Easter and I had to take whatever was there just to stay in the game.

Finally, I found strong lift as I got seventeen miles away from the airport and climbed to 8,400' MSL. Now I could start the task an hour late.

There were plenty of cu's off the course line so it required flying not quite straight to get under the better lift and avoid the blue areas. The sink was quite strong between the thermals so you had to go from cloud to cloud to be sure that you would get up. The goal was 76 miles to the north northwest and with the unexpected southerly winds we didn't have a problem getting to goal. I was quite slow given my initial groveling.

Not too long after I landed the first gaggle of flex wings came in lead by Gerolf Heinrichs. I asked him why he took the first start time and he said that he was with a group of good pilots so he figured that they would fly the fastest together. As GAP 2000 is being used, there are not great leading bonus points, so there was no encouragement there to take the first clock.

The pilots kept piling into goal and probably half the field, at least, made it in to Brownfield.

The Sport and Single Surface class had open distance tasks. I had originally sent them west, but given the strong south component called David Glover while I was flying and had him change their task.

When I get the URL for the results I'll post it in the Oz Report.

Big Spring Lodging

February 22, 2006, 11:23:51 EST

Lodging

Dormitories at the RV Park

Big Spring 2006

Bonnie Lambert «dblambert» www.txrvpark.com writes:

I have opened up the Hall now as a Hostel because it is insulated and paneled. I am sure they will find it comfortable now and the air-conditioning will not cost us a small fortune to run either.

It is a group facility with no walls but it would do well for friendly people . We will make sleep platforms for each camper and form separate dressing areas for cowgirls and cowboys.

I don't want to jam to many people in there but would like at least 10 to make it be a Hostel .One year we had this idea and one guy had the whole building . That was pretty silly and a huge expense to air-condition the whole place for one guy. Let's hope this goes over.

If there are tenters that want to sleep in their own tent but use the kitchen we can work it out better this year. The Hostel guest only pays an extra $2.00 to sleep in the building as opposed to bringing their tent along and wondering about the elements . But of course they have no privacy really so I guess it is just whatever is more important to that person.

Big Spring Photos

Fri, Oct 7 2005, 8:00:04 pm EDT

From 2004

Big Spring

Big Spring 2005|John Fierro|photo

John Fierro «jrf» writes:

A gaggling photo from 2004: http://www.buck-a-meg.com/Acabeast/BaM/gallery/gagglingx.jpg

I submitted this photo to 'AVWeb'an aviation on-line megazine, scroll to the very bottom, the picture of the 'Swift:' http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/279-full.html#187970

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Big Spring Videos

Thu, Sep 29 2005, 4:00:05 pm EDT

Launchings and landings

Big Spring|John Fierro|video

John Fierro «jrf» sends this URL for his three videos: http://home.comcast.net/~fier76c/index.html

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Big Spring »

Fri, Aug 19 2005, 5:00:05 am EDT

Making sure they know we love them

calendar|David Glover|PG|Quest Air|sailplane

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't personally praised all the folks, including David Glover in particular, for all their good work in pulling off the 2005 Big Spring Open. I hope that they can forgive me for my oversight. The 2005 Big Spring Open was another great meet and now we have flown 42 out of 42 days in our major Texas meets, and had valid tasks for 41 out of 42 days.

David has been working hard with the good folks of Big Spring and together they have created a juggernaut. David has recruited many folks from the community to work on the Big Spring Open and we have incredible community support. There is no other community in the US that supports hang gliding like Big Spring does.

David will be working hard to put on the Worlds at Quest Air next spring and the pre-Worlds and Worlds in Big Spring in 2006 and 2007. He'll also be working to make sure that the WRE comes off next year and in 2007. There is no finer meet organizer and meet director than David Glover.

I'll be working on an idea: Texas Celebrates Free Flight, 2006-2007. The point of this idea is to vastly increase the awareness in Texas that Texas is a special place in the World for hang gliding, gliding (sailplanes), and paragliding. I want to see a general distribution calendar that goes out throughout Texas to tell people where and when they can go and see these free flight events. I'll have much more to say about this later.

Big Spring Paper

Thu, Aug 4 2005, 6:00:01 pm EDT

Dave speaks to the Rotary

Big Spring

Big Spring

http://www.bigspringherald.com/

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Big Spring »

Fri, May 27 2005, 5:00:06 pm EDT

Check out the Open

David Glover

David Glover

David Glover «davidhglover» writes:

Big Spring Open 2005, entries and breakdown: http://2007worlds.blogspot.com/

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Big Spring - Hay with a hangar? »

Fri, Mar 4 2005, 1:00:01 pm EST

A response to this characterization of Big Spring.

Big Spring|calendar|cart|Heather Mull

On Thursday evening I published a piece by Heather Mull where she stated:

I've had it on good authority that Big Springs, Texas is just like Hay but with a hangar, and you need to watch out that things don't get stolen from your car by the rednecks at night!! Maybe a little more PR work would be a good start for the Worlds preparation, Davis?

Hmmm! I doubt that this is good (or at least correct) authority, but it may be a prevalent view, or perhaps a shorthand way of differentiating Big Spring from Slovakia or even Florida. Let's look at the facts.

Like Hay, Big Spring is a dry flat area. Like Hay it has big fat thermals sometimes to 10,000' AGL. Like Hay it can be warm to hot. Also, we aerotow there to get into the air.

Like Hay, Big Spring has farms and ranches (stations) surrounding it with plenty of places to land. Like Hay, there are no (well, a few) trees to grab your glider when you attempt to land. Like Hay, big flights and big triangles or out and returns are regular affairs in Big Spring.

So how is Big Spring different than Hay?

The tow paddock at Big Spring was formerly an air force base. It is right next to the town of Big Spring (and three miles from the nearest hospital). The launch area is a paved taxi way. The hangar means that pilots can leave their gliders up at night, or if they land out, set them up the evening before. It is also a short push on a cart from inside the hangar to the launch area, so you can keep your glider under cover until you are about ready to launch.

Not only is there a hangar, but next to it is an air conditioned pilot lounge with broadband wireless internet access. Also there will be at least one hot food stand between the hangar and the pilot lounge. You can get cold drinks and food there also.

Do I really need to publish two pictures side by side here for you to get the picture?

The area around Big Spring is for the most part cotton or peanut farms although there are also areas of ranches. There are many more roads for access around Big Spring than there are around Hay, and you won't be spending the night out 15 miles from Big Spring (as happened this year in Hay).

Unlike at Hay, we have flown every single day we have competed in Texas. The winds we have experienced in Big Spring over the last three years, have averaged much lighter than the winds we have experienced in Hay. Big Spring does not get as hot as Hay (it is at 2,400' elevation as opposed to 400'). While I have generally, over the years, really liked the thermals in Hay, this year they were not nearly as much fun as those that I have found in Big Spring.

You can find out more about the upcoming Worlds in Big Spring and what you can expect there here.

Is it fair or accurate to represent Big Spring as Hay with a hangar? Not if you mean that Big Spring is a hell hole with one mitigating factor. I don't really think of Hay as a hell hole (but others do), but frankly Big Spring is no where near as hard on pilots (aren't there any men left in this sport?) as the Croidon tow paddock.

You can find out what top pilots think about Big Spring here. You can read about Big Spring over the last three years (and about flying in Texas in general) in back issues of the Oz Report.

As to the comment about theft at the motel in Big Spring. Two cars were broken into and one was stolen. This occurred two years ago, and since then the city of Big Spring has provided security for the hang glider pilots. No problems since they started that program.

Will pilots who come to fly in Big Spring this year (at the pre-pre-Worlds and Big Spring Open), and the next two years enjoy their experience? I think that they will be very happy with the accommodations and the conditions at the launch area as well as what they find in the air.

Will this presentation of the facts change the perceptions that Heather feels are out there? Perhaps not. It's a two way street here. I can write, but you have to read and think.

Big Spring »

Mon, Feb 7 2005, 8:00:04 pm EST

A Texan speaks up

Robinson, Kent, CMO «kentrobinson» writes:

Big Spring is about five hours from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. While this is a bit of a drive, it makes travel and shipping fairly straightforward. Direct international flights, cheap and easy car rental, and an international hub, all right in the same location make for easy logistics. Don't need to worry about additional flights on regional planes or issues with vehicles.

Big Spring is cheap. Lodging and food are very economical. Anyone traveling on Euros will find it even cheaper unless our dollar picks up in the next two years.

Friendliest town you'll ever see. The people there are thankful for our presence, rather than looking down on us for being the rather alternative crowd that we all are.

Discuss Big Spring at the Oz Report forum

2007 flex wing Worlds - why Big Spring?

Sat, Feb 5 2005, 6:00:00 am EST

The pilots first.

the 2007 Worlds

Big Spring|cart|CIVL|David Glover|Dragonfly|dust devil|Quest Air|Steve Kroop|Worlds Flex Wing 2007

Too often in the past the choice of a venue for the Worlds has been based on considerations other than what was best for the pilots. For example, Pilots were sent to sites that had very poor soaring conditions. Competition pilots were often not consulted by their CIVL representatives as to where they wanted to go. Hopefully this year competition pilots will have enough information about the possibilities to inform their representatives before the February Plenary makes the decision.

What does the Big Spring bid/proposal offer to pilots?

Consistently good flying conditions. We've had five national-level meets in Texas over the last five years, the last three in Big Spring. We have flown every day of all five competitions.

Thirty five days straight of soaring. The number one thing pilots want first at a hang gliding competition is good conditions. Everything else is secondary. Ask any pilot if they could choose just one attribute what would they say.

Good lift in fully-packed thermals. The area around Big Spring is flat dry farm and ranch lands. Thermals are well formed and large. They can provide lift to over 10,000' AGL. Big Spring has been characterized as Florida on Steroids.

High cloud bases. Lift is found most often to over 6,000' AGL.

Friendly cu's to mark the lift almost every afternoon. Almost all days display cu filled skies which provide convenient thermal markers for pilots looking for lift and not necessarily interested in just hanging with the gaggle. The ground is dry and hot below, but the moisture in the air up from the Gulf of Mexico makes for cu's.

Easy starts at the start circle circumference under the clouds. Most often the start window will open with most pilots at cloudbase under a couple of different cu's marking the edge of the five mile start circle. Pilots get a good opportunity to start with the fastest pilots as almost everyone can climb up in the conditions and get to the proper starting point.

Good lift over the airport. We'll be towing at a very large airport (with little to no air traffic, non scheduled) that provides a wealth of thermal generators over the hot concrete. With lift marked by cu's it is most often an easy job to get high there.

Minimal turbulence. Due to the lack of obstructions on the ground, the lift for the most part is consistent, steady and without mechanical turbulence. It can be powerful with thermal turbulence.

Wide open terrain with easy and accessible landing areas. Most of the flying takes place over cotton and peanut farms, although some is along open range and ranching areas. There is no worry about tree landings.

Turnpoints are chosen so that pilots are over main highways for easy retrieval. In the vast farming areas there are numerous dirt roads off the main highways to provide for access to off road fields.

Out and return and triangle tasks. On most days these kinds of tasks will be chosen. The winds are lightest in Big Spring in August which is why we choose to go there then. On some days there will be a 10 to 15 mph south wind, and we have many airport landing zones to the north.

Airport goal fields. All goals will be located at small unrestricted airfields, of which there are many in the area. These will allow for easy access and well known landing areas.

Virtual goals. All goals will be virtual at the GPS coordinates given to the pilots in their pilot packs and downloaded onto their GPSes. The goal at Big Spring for return flights will be a virtual line. The physical description of the virtual line will be given to the pilots so that they can focus on it on their final glide. Goals at other airports will be 400 meter (.25 mile) cylinders centered around the provided goal point.

Professional towing. The tow pilots are very experienced having towed at numerous meets in Florida and Texas over the past four years. Many tow regularly at flight parks in Florida and other locations. They'll have seven years of experience by the time of the Worlds in 2007.

Quest Air tugs and tow pilots. Quest Air, the large flight park in Florida, will be providing many of the tugs and experienced tug pilots for the Worlds. They are putting on the Women's and Rigid Wing Worlds at Quest in 2006 and have put on many national level meets previously.

Professionally built carts (dollies, trolleys). Bob Bailey, the designer and builder of the Moyes-Bailey Dragonfly is the designer and builder of the carts that will be used at the Worlds. These carts and their design have been successfully tested at Quest Air and at Big Spring for a number of years. All carts will be of the same high quality.

Well organized and safe launching system. The single or two row system that we use at Big Spring and Quest Air has been perfected over the last number of years to provide for the fastest and safest way to get into the air. Ground resources are concentrated to get pilots ready early and fully prepared. Tugs spend minimal time on the ground and pilots spend minimal time overheating. Everyone is checked and checked again. Safety is the first concern.

Easy roll out on the taxi ways. We will be taking off from the taxi ways at the airport. There is minimal resistance to the cart rolling and this makes for less strain on the weaklinks.

Good launch conditions. The area around launch has been shown to be consistent with wind direction and has not caused problems with unseen dust devils. Flags are placed along the taxi way to check for any unsafe launching conditions.

Support from the town of Big Spring. The US meets and now the Worlds are a big deal for the medium-sized town of Big Spring. Many residents, some former fighter pilots attached to the Air Force base there, come to volunteer at the meets. The city council and airport board put on the welcoming dinner. There will be plenty of other support from the town to help pilots enjoy their stay in Texas.

Air conditioned pilot lounge. A new airport terminal right next to our take-off point will be open and for the most part dedicated to pilot use. Pilot (or team leader) meetings will take place there. Wireless broadband will be available there.

Hangar for overnight storage of hang gliders. On all tasks that return to the airport, pilots can leave their gliders setup and stored in the large hangar right next to the next day's takeoff spot. The hangar can accommodate well over 100 hang gliders. Tugs and trike are stored in another hanger further away.

Camping at the local Caravan (RV) Park. There is a well maintained RV Park two miles form the airport where all pilots who are camping or in their trailer stay. The owners are very welcoming with an inexpensive breakfast and broadband wireless access.

Local motels. Big Spring is much bigger than Hay or Greiffenburg. It is located on a major interstate freeway and has numerous motels. The Motel Eight will provide special security for hang glider pilots, their cars and gear as well as a pool to cool off.

There are numerous restaurants in Big Spring providing a range of cuisine, including Texas barbeque. I expect that Dave will have a number of meal vouchers and meal deals available for pilots. I'm sure that Dave will also schedule pilot get-together dinners at various restaurants to encourage socializing after flying (on out and return days).

Food stands will be setup at the airport to provide a variety of lunches for pilots before they fly. Bottled water and other drinks will be available next to the pilot lounge.

Big Spring is not too far from a good sized airport at Midland-Odessa. Rental vehicles are easily available for teams coming from overseas. Pilots can arrange to first fly into Dallas-Houston and then drive from there if they like or from other regional airports.

Professional organization. Dave Glover and the crew from Quest Air, including Steve Kroop and Flytec USA, are very experienced at world class meets with significant international pilot attendance. They have been highly praised for their fine meet organization by pilots from all over the World, and especially from Europe and Brazil.

In the end, will pilots enjoy themselves and their flying if the flex wing Worlds are held in Big Spring in 2007? I think that they certainly have a great opportunity to do so. It looks like from our experiences in Hay at the 2005 Worlds, we, as a community, need to work on a few issues, which can spoil the fun (and cause tragedy), but we all have an opportunity to work on those issues over the next two years.

I feel that David Glover is flexible enough to make whatever changes we all feel are necessary, based on our recent experiences both at Hay and Millau, to have a successful and safe Worlds.

Please, write in if you have any questions or concerns that I haven't addressed or haven't addressed to your satisfaction, and I'll try to get an answer from Dave.

I invite the Slovakian pilots to send in an article promoting their site.

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Maps - speaking of elections (as we do above) »

Fri, Nov 12 2004, 3:00:03 pm GMT

Seeing America from a bird's eye view.

traveling for hang gliding

Big Spring|Christopher Moody|insurance|maps|Oz Report|politics|site|software

I love maps. I use maps all the time. I especially use maps for traveling to hang gliding spots and for hang gliding when I get there. I plan out courses and see where I flew.

Lately we've had an election in the US and this gives us a chance to look at some very colorful maps. Maps, that in general reflect the vote by state, by county, and by city. I haven't seen any by precinct or census district.

I wanted to look at these maps and compare them with my recent travels throughout the US to hang gliding sites to see if I was traveling to blue areas or red areas or both. I assumed that because hang gliding takes place in rural areas that I would mostly have flown over red areas.

Red stands for areas that by majority voted for George W. Bush. Blue stands for areas that by majority voted for John F. Kerry. Of course, there is a mix of voters in all these areas, and with a very deeply divided country there are for the most part large percentages of voters of each persuasion in all areas shown on the maps which are gross in their representations.

So here are some of the maps I found. On election eve I was hooked on this map because it was so interactive and I could drill down quickly to get the latest county by county data. I could also enlarge the state wide maps to see what was going on in general. I understand that there is some very powerful software underlying this map.

Geography does not equal Electoral College votes. If the states are sized to match their population then this is what the map would look like. (It should be changed to match the actual number of Electoral College votes.)

Click on the map shown here to see the votes by county adjusted for population. You can enlarge it easily and move it around to get a better view.

Here's USA Today's map colored by county which easily allows you to make a comparison with the last Presidential election.

But the most sophisticated view of the country is found here. This is Purple America. A mixture of reds and blue to reflect the fact that the country is pretty evenly split (51% Vs. 48%)

I found that I voted in a red county (Polk) and lived in the Spring in a red county (Lake) in Florida. This is the infamous I4 corridor which gave Bush 400,000 more votes than in 2000.

Zapata is a blue county, but Leahy and Big Spring are in red counties. The south Texas counties are blue or purple unlike much of the rest of the state.

Kansas near Ottowa was red, and Caroline County in blue Maryland was also red. Richmond Virginia was blue, but the county around it was red. Teton County (Jackson Hole) in Wyoming, where Dick Cheney lives when he isn't in Washington, D.C., was the only blue county in Wyoming.

In rural New York, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, the hang gliding sites are in pinkish counties even in these blue states.

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Big Spring »

Tue, Jul 27 2004, 3:00:00 pm EDT

It's raining.

weather

I've been watching the weather conditions in Big Spring since the beginning of July and it is only in the last few days that there has been much rain. Yesterday and today it has been pouring, which should soften up the thermals if it turns back to the normal sunny weather.

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BLIPSPOT for Big Spring

Tue, Jul 6 2004, 3:00:02 pm EDT

David Glover buys a BLIPSPOT

Big Spring|BLIP|David Glover|weather

Big Spring|BLIP|David Glover|weather

Dr. John W. Glendening «drjack» writes:

I have created a "BigSpring_TX" BLIPSPOT. It can be accessed either through a newly added link on the main BLIPSPOT page, http://www.drjack.info/BLIP/RUC/SPOT or directly via http://www.drjack.info/BLIP/RUC/SPOT/FCST/bigspring_tx.txt.

Also, I have added the location of the new BLIPSPOT to the regional "grid orientation" map - it can be accessed via http://www.drjack.info/BLIP/RUC/regional_grid_orientation_info.html.

(editor's note: You can also find it at the Oz Report weather page: https://ozreport.com/weather.php). Just click Texas.

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Big Spring RV Park

Tue, May 11 2004, 2:00:06 pm EDT

Wireless in Texas.

Big Spring|US Nationals

If you are going to the US Nationals in Big Spring check out: http://www.txrvpark.com/facilities.htm. We've stayed there the last two years and last year we convinced them to go DSL and wireless.

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Big Spring – the air »

Tue, Aug 5 2003, 4:00:03 am EDT

Big Spring|PG|sailplane|US Nationals|Worlds

Big Spring|Campbell Bowen|PG|sailplane|US Nationals|Worlds

We’ve now had four recent major competitions in Texas. Two US Nationals, the US Open, and the Lone Star Open. All of these competitions have been major successes. In the last two meets in Big Spring we’ve flown every day. We’ve had great flying conditions that encouraged strong racing efforts. We were able to call tasks against the winds knowing that the strong lift would provide the energy needed to get back against them.

Last year when we came to Big Spring for its first aerotow meet, we weren’t sure that this was a great venue. There was the possibility of strong south winds everyday which would make it hard to do triangles and out and return tasks which make it easier on the pilots and crew racing day after day. We weren’t sure that the thermal conditions would be reasonable enough to allow pilots to enjoy their time in the air. We weren’t interested in scaring everyone to death.

I’d just come from flying in the Worlds in Chelan, and frankly was feeling a bit beat up by the sometimes overpowering conditions of my home site. I was glad I had a tail on my AIR ATOS there. Unfortunately, I gave the tail away in the expectation that I would have it in Big Spring. Turns out I didn’t.

Therefore, my reports on Big Spring last year were undoubtedly colored by the fact that the air felt worse to me than it would have if I would have had a tail on my ATOS.

This year I had a tail, but I approached Big Spring with a lot of trepidation. I’d just been flying in Wisconsin with its light and friendly conditions (on most days) and it was a joy. Right after that I was in Zapata enjoying the wonderful morning thermals and delightful conditions of south Texas. And just before coming to Big Spring, I’d been unhappily experiencing the “nervous” air in Leakey, Texas.

I was upset and concerned about how things would be in Big Spring. I knew that high level competition really helped me overcome any queasiness and focus on the task at end instead of my uncertainties, but I wasn’t sure that would be enough.

The first day of the competition proved to be a bit unnerving with turbulent thermals. Campbell Bowen is rolled over in one of them. The ATOS seems very twitchy which I find quite unpleasant. I’m holding on extra tight which doesn’t make for a pleasant experience. Still, even on this day we get some good consistent strong thermals. We are able to race against a fifteen mph head wind. We get lines of lift going into goal. Plenty of pilots are happy with the conditions.

After the first day, things changes and the air turned into a gentle beast. Everyday was a love fest as pilots came back with big smiles on their faces. The strong thermals were just what the doctor ordered and we took full advantage of them to get high and go fast.

The thermals were not necessarily fat. You often had to turn tight in the cores, but the cores were for the most part consistent. Even when there were edges to them, you could still search around a bit more and find the best parts without getting scared and then stay in the best parts. Plenty of times the thermals were big enough for slow flat turns at near minimum sink. In either case it was a pleasure being in them and going up so fast.

On the second to last day we had our first day of an inversion and thin high cu’s instead of the thick ones we’d experienced all week. The rigids started their task just before the inversion broke, and because of that many of them got caught in rowdy conditions in the first thermal or two out on the course line.

It was just hard to find a consistent core and we were getting rolled and pitched around without any strong lift nearby. Some pilots left it was worse than anything they had experienced in the Owens. Fortunately it only lasted for 45 minutes, because everything changed at 3 PM. The inversion broke, the cores became much stronger and much more consistent. We were able to get much higher, and the race was on.

Some pilots felt that the last day was the best day of flying that they had ever experienced. It sure was a great day and again like the previous day there was an early inversion and later high clouds and strong lift. On this day, after our previous day’s experience with the inversion, we waited an extra half hour to get going and that changed everything. We were able to get 4,000’ higher at the start and we didn’t experience any unpleasant air.

Texas, both east Texas and central Texas, has big strong flying conditions. That’s why the sailplane pilots come here to fly. Pilots need to be prepared to get high and fly fast. But, the thermals are for the most part within the acceptable boundaries of good taste. They are not going to threaten you with your imminent demise.

I don’t think that there is any better place in the World to hold a hang gliding (or paragliding) competition than Big Spring or Hearne (or other sites nearby in east Texas). These sites certainly match or even surpass in terms of air conditions Hay, Deniliquin and Forbes, Australia.

We’ve flown everyday of the two competitions in Big Spring, and the pilots loved being there. People were saying that they were sorry to leave Big Spring as we neared the end of the meet. Every day pilots had the biggest grins on their faces.

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Big Spring »

Sat, Jul 26 2003, 3:00:01 pm EDT

US Nationals

The cu’s start earlier today, around 11 AM over the airport as the hangar is full of contestants who have just shown up and tugs that are getting put together. The winds are fifteen mph out of the south.

Tomorrow the US Nationals begin.

 

The hang gliding prairie dog at the welcoming dinner.

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Big Spring »

Fri, Jul 25 2003, 5:00:01 pm EDT

World Record Encampment

Fifteen and twenty mile per hour winds out of the south today. The cu’s starting forming at one. A few pilots decided to flay off to the north, and others climbed out to 8,000’ AGL near the airport.

 

Nice cloud streets in Texas today. Kind of like the kind that we didn’t get at the WRE.

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Big Spring »

Thu, Jul 24 2003, 4:00:01 pm EDT

Jim Lee|record|Ron Gleason|US Nationals

Aeros Combat|Jim Lee|record|Ron Gleason|US Nationals

Aeros Combat|Jim Lee|record|Ron Gleason|US Nationals

The US Nationals begin on Sunday, and today even more pilots showed up just in time for a great day of flying triangles. I wanted to be sure that Jim Lee’s mother, who wrote me today, knew that Jim, Kathy and Rachel are here and Jim said he had a wonderful flight in very nice air (he launched around 4 PM).

It was blue all morning and into the afternoon but the FSL chart showed that there should be plenty of cu’s later. It also called for light winds in direct contradiction to the Windcast which had it right on, south southeast at 10 to 15 mph.

Around 2 PM little scattered wispy cu’s started forming high over the airport. Slowly they began multiplying and building. And as they did pilots started taking off, many with the thought in mind of doing a 100 km triangle, one of the many that I have set up prior to the meet for record purposes.

The cu’s build and I waited looking to see if I could break my 50 km triangle world record set last month in Zapata. It looked like there would be plenty of high cu’s and that would be exactly what I was looking for. The unfortunately part, was it also looked like there would be a strong wind from the south southeast.

Finally, as Lisa pulls us one after another up out of the airport, I get my turn at 3:30 as a cloud street builds over the airport. I get under it as it begins to fill in and climb to over 8,400’ MSL (5,800’ AGL) still quite a ways from cloud base. I don’t necessarily want to get too high as I have to come back at 3,200’ below my take off altitude.

I can hear the pilots out on the course getting to over 9,000’ MSL. The cu’s are filling in on the east, but only scattered to the west. The cloud street over the airport is really setting up and it leads right to my first turnpoint.

Well, it does until I discover that I’ve pulled up the wrong triangle. I’m punching buttons on the Galileo trying to get it right as I glide fast to the first turnpoint, and then finally realize that I’ve chosen the wrong one on the Colibri datalogger currently located in the sail also. Oh well.

Pilots come back later with smiles on their faces from the good conditions and great clouds. Ron Gleason on an AIR ATOS-C started fifteen minutes behind Jerz on his new Aeros Combat 2, doing the same triangle course (100 km) and beat him back to the airport (Jerz didn’t see him 2,000’ over his head). They were the first pilots back to goal.

Here’s a small sample of the clouds at 7 PM.

 

The clouds are there at least until sundown. Might have been a good day at Edinburg south of Zapata. Sure would have been good for a late ending flight if they could have flown this far.

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Big Spring »

Wed, Jul 23 2003, 4:00:01 pm EDT

US Nationals

Pilots are beginning to show up for some practice rounds before the US Nationals. The hangar is already filling up with tugs and gliders.

We had a few clouds today getting better as the afternoon wore on with plenty in the afternoon. It blew up all around us as this 7:45 PM shot shows:

 

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Big Spring – The US Open »

Fri, Aug 2 2002, 6:00:02 pm EDT

Big Spring|record|US Open|weather

We’ve got 29 pilots here for a meet that looks like it will be great. The weather has been beautiful over the last couple of days, and flyable for the last two weeks. There are ten rigid wing gliders here.

The mayor, the head of the airport development authority, a county councilman, and other dignitaries greeted us at the dinner put on for us by the Chamber of Commerce and Convention Board. We are a perfect function for their old air force base.

Lots of prairie dogs around the field, with burrowing owls, which live in prairie dog burrows. The owls are out in the day time and they are very cool. They eat snakes, which I’m sure the prairie dogs appreciate.

We are all packed into a large hangar with the tugs and the SparrowHawk. Garymay be able to be here another day or two to set further world records.

Thanks to all the great folks who’ve helped get us set up in Big Spring. Let’s hope the weather cooperates.