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topic: Chris Jones (33 articles)

NSW State Titles »

Fri, Feb 19 2010, 9:22:51 am PST

Jonny moves back into the lead, you can't keep a good man down

Øyvind Ellefsen|Chris Jones|Conrad Loten|Grant Heaney|John Smith|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Scott Barrett

http://www.ellefsen.net/

Results so far after four days of flying.

# Pilot Glider Total
1. Jon Jnr Durand Moyes Litespeed RS4 3306
2. Conrad Loten Moyes Litespeed S 4 3146
3. John Smith Aeros Combat 14 2964
4. Oyvind Ellefsen Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 2957
5. Scott Barrett Airborne Rev 13.5 2949
6. Grant Heaney Moyes Litespeed S3.5 2820
7. Dustan Hansen Airborne C2 14 2706
8. Matt Barlow Aeros Combat 15 2700
9. Dave May Moyes Litespeed 2673
10. Chris Jones Moyes Litespeed S4 2632

Fourth task:

# Pilot Glider Time Total Points
1. Jon Jnr Durand Moyes Litespeed RS4 01:47:06 1000
2. Dave Seib Moyes 01:49:31 948
3. Tony Lowrey Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5 02:02:40 794
4. Chris Jones Moyes Litespeed S4 02:12:06 760
5. Neil Peterson Aeros Combat 13 02:12:21 758
6. Grant Heaney Moyes Litespeed S3.5 02:12:57 752
7. Matt Barlow Aeros Combat 15 02:17:03 717
8. Conrad Loten Moyes Litespeed S 4 02:17:20 715
9. Scott Barrett Airborne Rev 13.5 02:16:11 683
10. Dustan Hansen Airborne C2 14 02:23:14 668

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Adam Parer on his tuck and tumble

Fri, Nov 27 2009, 5:31:16 am PST

Wow! Take a deep breath before you read this

Adam Parer|Chris Jones|Conrad Loten|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|Phil Schroder|video|weather

Adam Parer «Adam Parer» writes:

I got out of hospital 3 days ago and tried to put something together about the accident last night. It’s a scary incident but the outcome has nothing but positive implications for all of us. We can survive a parachute deployment at terminal velocity after separating from our glider. Best to avoid such an event but if it does happen it need not be a death sentence. I am very lucky to be alive, and extremely grateful to still be here. Hoping what follows covers all questions but have also attached a more formal report too.

Adam's Formal Report.

It was the 2nd task of the Gulgong Classic and just like the day before the wind gusts and turbulence in the tow paddock were moderate to heavy. It was about 30-35 degrees Celsius at ground level and the conditions seemed stable although the weather report had predicted good instability. Due to the rough conditions weak links were breaking just about every other tow and the two tugs worked hard to eventually get everyone off the ground successfully. The task was 209km, north, to Manilla Airstrip.

I towed out of the airstrip around 1:30pm and went to release height behind Pete Marhiene. During the first thermal I noticed several light inversion layers. Eventually I drifted downwind and met up with Chris Jones, Phil Schroder, Oliver Barthelmes and Dave May and we topped out at 6500' before heading NW in a cross-tail direction to get on the upwind side of the course line.

Chris was ahead by 200m and after a 5km glide I watched him complete two turns in what looked like solid lift. Eventually Dave, Oli and Phil would also head for Chris. Before I got there he had already straightened up and was back into a search pattern. This was typical of the conditions for the day; very short lived 'bubble' climbs, mild to moderate turbulence and generally a stable type of feel to the weather. Way off to the north great looking clouds filled the sky along the Liverpool Range and beyond, we needed to get there but for now we continued to hunt for a core that may be lurking around in the stable conditions of Gulgong.

While Chris, Oli, Phil and Dave tended to search upwind I turned downwind for about 100m and noticed the air felt much better there, still bumpy and stable but at least it was more buoyant I fully expected to only gain a few turns out of any climb I may find before it too petered out. Soon I felt some lift ahead and more to the left so I began a shallow turn in that direction and the vario started to chirp at about 200-300'/min. VG was off except for about 1 arms length of rope. I was flying at about 50kph with a bar position faster than best glide speed.

As I climbed for about a ¼ of the first turn the 'G' began to lighten and the nose started to ease over. For that first split second I expected a 'wire slapper' to precede a return into normal flight. This did not happen. The 'G' went to zero and the nose continued over. I braced onto the basebar and attempted to pull in and maintain hang position. This however could not be maintained. The 'G' went negative and the nose went over. I maintained some grip on the basebar and kept the torso as close to it as possible but the leg/boot end of the harness could not and continued to move toward the undersurface and my upper body would eventually follow. The nose-over motion accelerated and then I lost contact with the basebar.

As I fell weightless through the air the glider proceeded to tumble and I clear the wing without making contact as it passed underneath inverted. Just as the glider came around upright I bottomed out with a thud when the hang strap went tight and for a split second I thought the glider may stabilize however it had more than enough momentum to enter the 2nd tumble. Again I don't recall hitting any part of the glider as it went over a second time. Once again I fell with another thud when the hang straps went tight but this time the tension lasted for a much shorter period of time. I went weightless as if falling straight down for several meters before feeling the beginning of a rotation/spin in the horizontal plane (like a sycamore seed). We suspect the side wire had broken at this point and the wings began to fold together.

The first spin finished quickly but I entered the 2nd spin with much more speed. I tried to go for the parachute handle but the 'G' force had already built up significantly. Soon my arms (and eventually my head) were forced and held out away from the center of rotation preventing me from reaching the parachute handle. I realized I was in a bad way but my life depended on getting to the parachute. Hard as I tried and with all of my strength my arms remained straight pointing away from the harness.

What followed is something I could never have imagined, a force developed by these rotations, an incredible rapid acceleration in speed and the rapidly increasing 'G'. I have watched video of similar motion when a glider folds its wings but on those occasions the rotation seems to reach a maximum after a number of rotations. Not in this case. The 'G' force continued to increase and was transverse to my prone position, pooling blood ventrally in the front half of my body. The eyes sustained advanced hematoma from this force. By the 5th and 6th rotation the load was so severe I knew the equipment would have to fail soon and hopefully before I sustained serious injury. Then in a split second the 'G' force went to zero and I was being thrown through space. At least I could move my arms and hold my head up. I reached for the parachute handle.

I was aware of moving horizontally with a lot of velocity and could also hear the airspeed accelerating very quickly. Motion through the air was like a projectile but soon turned into a freefall. I realized then I had definitely separated from the glider. I located the parachute handle and pulled with my right hand but it didn't budge, and after a few more heaves I was convinced the parachute was going to need a lot more persuasion to come out. (We would discover the back plate had failed catastrophically and the opening of the parachute port was deformed as a result).

As I fought to remove the parachute I was aware of free-falling straight down in a boot-first/head-up/'pencil' position. This would later be confirmed by eye witnesses. Over the next 5 seconds while I continued to struggle with the parachute the sound of the airflow achieved a maximum and I realized I was at terminal velocity.

One arm was not enough so I reached down with the left and with both hands heaved on the handle. After another couple of seconds I felt the parachute finally come loose. I threw it sideways, let go and waited.

What came next was the most painful and violent impact I have ever felt in my life, like I had been torn in half. Extreme pain instantly filled the body with the worst of it concentrated in chest and upper back. I knew I had sustained serious injury and immediately suspected my back was broken. I looked up just enough to see one of the most beautiful things, a clean circular shape of the front 1/3 of the parachute, taut, inflated and in tact. The airflow was quiet now and the earth was no longer hurtling towards me. In less than 15 seconds I had fallen 4000', the parachute and harness survived the deployment and so had I but not without injury, and the pain suggested I was in a real bad way.

The thought of paralysis filled my mind and I needed to know. I tried to wriggle my fingers and they moved. I thought with some dread, 'My legs?' I wriggled my feet and they moved too. Relief mixed with the pain but concern remained that my back was probably broken despite the spinal cord being intact. I needed a soft landing to protect what wasn't damaged. I looked down and the remaining 2000' came up very slowly. I could only just breathe. I needed to get down as soon as possible and get help.

After a minute of trying to get more air into my lungs my color vision started to fade, I was graying out. I remained conscious but gradually blacked out and feared I may have sustained fatal internal injuries.

My thoughts immediately went to my wife who passed away earlier this year. I hoped that if this was what was happening to me then I would be with her soon and I felt content for the first time in 4 months. My soul mate, taken away so early in our life with whom I had shared so much… Pain was no longer on my mind and I felt calm. A few moments passed before awareness came over me, I was not dying, I would survive, and this was not my time. The peace gave way to the pain which returned with a vengeance. Shock set-in and I passed out.

When I came too I was on my back looking up at the sky. I looked around and suddenly the realization of what had just happened came back all at once. I said out loud in astonishment and relief, "I survived!" Then I started to get dragged backwards at a waking pace for a few feet before coming to a stop. I looked over my shoulder and there was that beautiful red colored parachute again, right behind me on the ground and still inflated. A gust came through and again I slowly got dragged along the ground a few more feet.

The pain was worse than ever now and I had to get out of the harness. I rechecked arm and leg movement and all were still working. I unclipped the leg loops and the waist belt. As I struggled in vain to undo the chest buckle I heard a voice from behind, a farmer who had seen my parachute from a distance sitting inflated on the ground drove over to check it out. "Can I give you a hand son?" He asked as he walked into my field of view where I lay on my back. "Yes, undo this buckle and call an ambulance", was my reply.

He too struggled with the chest strap and I thought it may be jammed from the deployment. I had one more go and it released. I rolled out of the harness, stood up, walked over to the shade of a nearby tree and carefully crouched in the least painful position. There I stayed for the next 90minutes until I could be evacuated.

Three things I saw that day will stay with me for the rest of my life. First, a glimpse of that High Energy parachute sitting high above and taking me safely to earth after the wildest and most painful ride of my life. And again as I lay unconscious in that field then waking up, looking over my shoulder to see it there once again, that big red parachute on the ground and still inflated as if it continued to watch over me.

Second was the sight of Oli, Dave, Phil and Chris all coming into land only meters away from where I crouched in absolute searing pain. I watched them get out of their harnesses one by one and I felt much better straight away. They rallied around me in relative silence but their concern was obvious. It took 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive but the pilots urged the paramedics on and tried to hurry them to do what ever was necessary to get me out of there and into hospital. I heard Oli pleading with the Ambulance Officer, "You need to get the helicopter, just send the helicopter right now". "Dave sat next to me and relayed my answers as I could hardly speak. I can't describe how good it was to have them there.

Photo by Tim Ettridge

Then the red and yellow Westpac helicopter arrived! The crew was on the ball and once airborne I finally realised I was safe. We lifted off and headed straight for The John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.

As I was wheeled in through the hospital doors a familiar face in a green medical gown stood there waiting, Conrad Loten, fellow hang glider pilot and head of the Emergency Department took over my treatment and directed his staff calmly but with obvious authority and competence. After the CAT scan Conrad came over to my bed and confirmed the damage; 6 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, broken sternum and a flail fracture of the chest. "What about my back?" I asked. With the slight smile he assured me the back was in perfect condition, no damage to the spine whatsoever.

Quietly but with apparent concern Conrad kept in touch of my progress and treatment over the next week. I was very lucky indeed to have him looking after me. Friends visited everyday and thankfully I made a quick recovery in that first week. My family came with real food to spare me and my recovering body what wasn't offered on the hospital 'menu'. While the prognosis is still uncertain it seems as though I could expect to make something close to a full recovery. Everyday I am feeling much stronger.

I was very lucky to have survived this accident and many things were in my favor including a lot of luck. The specialists believe health and fitness gave me a big advantage not only aiding in the healing but also preventing more serious injury. Since my wife passed away some months ago I have lost a bit of weight and I suspect the less momentum I had when the parachute inflated the better. She always looked out for me in the most unusual and often in the least obvious of ways and it feels she continues to.

In hindsight I began preparation for this accident 18 months ago. At Forbes in 2007 I watched Austrian pilot, Andreas Orgler, experience an almost identical accident. While his incident did not involve the violent sycamore rotation he did tumble twice and then separated from his glider. His pilotless wing then descended straight at me, head-on, and only just cleared mine with a closing speed that would have certainly brought me down too. Meanwhile Andreas quickly deployed his parachute during his freefall and well before achieving terminal velocity. Despite his much lower speed the inflation was explosively and the parachute failed. He continued to freefall right before my eyes.

Witnessing such a traumatic event left me deeply affected for a long time but it was the motivation to understand why it happened and then reequip with the most advanced skyline harness and a new High Energy parachute. This equipment that could and did survive this rare and 'unlikely' event where pilot and glider are separated in flight. The accident in Forbes helped prepare me to survive mine at Gulgong. This may be small consolation to those who have never met me and knew Andreas, but the fact is there are many people here now who are very relieved and very happy because I am alive. He helped save my life.

I am very happy to be alive.

My understanding of flying has not changed in any way and I am not left with any doubt about the safety and risks of hang gliding. I hope to fly again but that depends on the ribs, and if I get to fly for another 15yrs I would be surprised if I ever come across the same air that lead to my accident last Monday. Nothing I could have done and no sort of equipment would have behaved differently. The air was tipping me over no matter what.

The Rev is the most stable and beautiful glider I have flown in and when I eventually reequip it will be with the same gear.

Check your equipment and update to the best, the extra few $100 is worth it!

Adam has a lot more to say here.

Pictures of the damage here.

Forbes, day nine, task six »

January 11, 2009, 10:47:08 pm AEDT

Forbes, day nine, task six

We fly until the cu-nimbs become a bit too much.

Attila Bertok|Blue Sky|Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|Curt Warren|Davis Straub|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Robert Reisinger|sailplane|Scott Barrett|Steve Blenkinsop

The results.

The flight and task.

Similar forecast to the day before. We are looking for OD later in the day, with isolated thunderstorms. The day starts with a blue sky and it stays that way until a few clouds appear near noon. Very dangerous as it is an inviting sky with the prognosis for dangerous conditions later.

We called a 142 km task south southeast to Attila's goal, a field just short of the goal on the last day of last year where Attila landed short. We were not to optimistic that we would be flying later in the day, but as soon as we got to the field we set up in the beautiful conditions with the steady north  wind.

We had an hour and fifteen minutes launch window before the first start time. We had moved the start time earlier in order to be able to get as big a task window as we could given the prognosis for OD later. With the 12 to 14 knot north wind we should be able to get to goal in a little over two hours.

Pilots were ready to go at noon and with the sky beginning to fill up pilots were able to climb up to cloud base at a little over 6,000' MSL. There were soon cu's every where and pilots had to be sure to stay clear of the cu's and run away from them as they got close. There was plenty of lift.

Ten minutes before the start window opened at 1:15 PM I moved to the southeast of Forbes, found strong lift and got to cloud base with Blay and Jonny. It turned out to be perfectly timed and I headed off with Jonny under the dark clouds toward the course line. Blay heads further east and was going down quickly, so the clouds looked like the ticket.

I stopped for 300+ fpm as Jonny moved on. He must have found something better, as the next time I saw him he was a few hundred feet over my head. We all went on glide and it was 16 km for me before at 1,400' AGL I found a weak thermal and was on my own.

I had to pay some dues in this weak bunny and get myself back in the game. The drift was good, down the course line, so I hung in there until I could make the next clouds and not risk landing in the forest that was coming up.

The clouds were working and there were some fellow pilots around so I wasn't all along after all. I climb to almost 7,000' with Steve Blenkinsop and then we went on glide for the next 20 km getting down to 500' AGL. Jon Snr was on my right and I saw him make a little slow non climbing turn as Steve headed east. I turned back toward Jon and we worked the weak lift together. I found the better core and Jon came back to me and we climbed out of there.

As we twirl up we look back and see the area that we just flew from. It was black then, now it is dumping hard. This is the first cu-nimb that we see, but soon there is another between us and the goal. It's not looking good.

Cu-nimbs make me nervous and I leave the lift running to get away from the bad area behind us and hoping to find a path around the rain in front. The cu-nimb it shooting out high clouds over us and the sunlight is disappearing from the ground below. But the lift is still there.

I'm beginning to think that the day needs to be stopped if there are pilots behind near the cu-nimb. I race ahead to get away from the front in front of the cu-nimb as the lift continues and I stay at about 5,000' no matter how fast I fly. Finally I hear that the task is stopped (and the stop time will be set back ten minutes).

I keep racing to find sink and not until I see Lenny on the ground at a small sailplane port do I find any sink. The landing conditions are very mellow and it is only after we get everything broken down and in the bag that the rain comes. We hide under the sailplane trailers.

Task Six:
 

# Name Nat Glider Dist. Total
1 Attila Bertok HUN Moyes Litespeed S 5 113.6 900
2 Robert Reisinger AUT Moyes Litespeed RS 4 109.6 879
3 Jon Durand Jnr AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 108.9 875
4 Cameron Tunbridge AUS Airborne C4 14 106.6 857
5 Michael Friesenbichler AUT Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 103.8 835
6 Blay Olmos ESP Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 103.7 834
7 Gerolf Heinrichs AUT Moyes Litespeed RS 4 102.6 823
8 Scott Barrett AUS Airborne C4 102.0 817
9 Maxim Usachev RUS Aeros Combat L 101.7 815
9 Pedro Luis Garicia Morelli ESP Aeros Combat L 13.7 101.8 815
9 Curt Warren AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 4 101.8 815

Totals:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Blay Olmos ESP Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 5330
2 Jon Durand Jnr AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 5327
3 Attila Bertok HUN Moyes Litespeed S 5 4901
4 Michael Friesenbichler AUT Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 4671
5 Gerolf Heinrichs AUT Moyes Litespeed RS 4 4634
6 Chris Jones AUS Moyes Litespeed S 4 4536
7 Lukas Bader DEU Moyes Litespeed RS 4 4496
8 Pedro Luis Garicia Morelli ESP Aeros Combat L 13.7 4288
9 Maxim Usachev RUS Aeros Combat L 4177
10 Davis Straub USA Moyes Litesport 4 4091

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Forbes, day six, task five »

Fri, Jan 9 2009, 10:39:18 am AEDT

We call a long task on a weak day

Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|Davis Straub|dust devil|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Phil Schroder|Scott Barrett|Steve Elliot|weather

The results.

The flight and task.

On day five (Wednesday) the winds died off in the afternoon but there were thick clouds all day with intermittent rain. It was a good call not to go out to the tow paddock. Pilots seemed to enjoy a day off. It rained steady in the evening.

On Wednesday the pilots voted for a "rest" day on Friday o that pilots and officials could attend Steve Elliot's funeral in Sydney (some were flying out from Orange). We expected to do a long task on Thursday as we had a rest day on Friday.

On Thursday morning the task committee looked at the weather and saw a dismal picture. With a strong inversion the lift wasn't supposed to go over 6,000' until about 200 km to the north. The lift looked reasonable at 550 fpm and the winds were supposed to be moderately strong (14-16 knots) out of the south. It would be a totally blue day until well north of Narromine.

I proposed Narromine at 129 km, but Gerolf thought I was out of my mind as the task was too short. I was never sure just what task Gerolf wanted, but I know he wanted a difficult task. The problem has been that the days have been so good that it was hard to make a difficult task if we needed to go down wind (and we went with quartering tail winds) because of the high wind velocity.

Attila though a long task would bring in a too large factor of luck. But still he proposed a 267 km task north northeast to Coonamble, under the assumption that we would not make it. The lift was supposed to drop off around 6 PM to 350 fpm (minus 200 fpm for your glider's sink rate) and the task would take about four hours for the fast guys.

Gerolf was not happy about something and left the task committee meeting.

We started the day a half hour earlier hoping to get more time for better conditions on the long task. We were worried that with all the rain the night before and the forecast for light lift early that it might be weak at first. The first launch time was noon and the first start clock at 1:30 PM.

The launch lines were orderly given the extra half hour for launching and I got off at 12:17. There were a few gliders in the air not very high and not climbing very fast. I joined them and we dribbled to the north northeast a couple of kilometers.

The forecast turned out to be wildly optimistic. We could climb to 4,900' (maybe the bottom of the hard inversion) and the lift was really weak, 220 fpm at most. We had to keep coming back to the airport as we drifted quickly away from it, in order to stay inside the start circle. Scott Barrett got low drifting out and had to go back and relaunch. Another pilot got even lower and didn't make it back having to walk his glider a good ways to get back in the launch line.

The sport and club class pilots waited until 2 PM to start their launch seeing the poor conditions that we were in. Their task was 74 km to Peak Hill. We sent the goalie to Peak Hill as we felt we might have beat him to the long goal if we hadn't.

After going back and forth a few times and not getting very high there were a few gaggles working slowly toward the edge of the start circle and just concentrating on staying in the air. I joined up and did my best to climb up, but was not all that successful getting as high as the top guys.

We drifted and drifted watching the minutes count down and the distance to the edge shrink. We went past the start circle at five minutes to go but we had to stay up so we stayed with the thermal. We saw a few pilots turning back by the edge of the start circle and made our way back to them in time to get the first start window in the start circle. We were still not high.

We headed out on a long (8 km) glide and pilots were fortunately spread out as I saw the pilot to my right catch some lift. The guy to my left in front and low landed. Numerous pilots were in another gaggle further to my right and others had gone ahead. I was just trying to survive.

We hooked up with the bigger gaggle but I was on the bottom. I just ignored the fact that it was too low to follow anyone out on course when they left and just stayed thermaling in broken, small, and weak lift. What choice did I have?

There were enough pilots around that you did have a few thermal markers around to help out. I hooked up with Julia and Warren and a few others and we worked our way slowly to the north not ever finding a real solid core of lift. Pilots were spread out and very hard to see when they were more than a few miles away. The winds were about 16 mph.

After half a dozen thermal (which are more closely situated when the top of lift is low) I lead out with Kenji in an Aeros Combat just above me and right behind me. He wasn't spreading out at all.

Down to 1,000' AGL 105 kilometers from the start I was searching every where for lift and Kenji was right next to me also looking. Finally down to 700' AGL six minutes later we found a consistent core, but now he was 50' below me. We started turning, me right above him and just working that thing as hard as we could.

Ever so slowly I started pulling away from him. Then I started climbing faster and faster in reasonable lift (it averaged over 300 fpm for 12 minutes). He didn't and soon landed. The lift had finally improved a bit.

I headed toward some more pilots that I saw thermaling ahead and found myself in a general area of lift southwest of Narromine with three different small gaggles. It was nice to have the company.

Heading out I ran into 1000 fpm down. I took a 90° left turn and was rewarded with less and less sink until I got into the lift line just south of Michael Williams who I had seen just land. This lift got me up to over 5,800', that was highest I would get all day.

My radio battery had died right away while I was in the start circle so I was really concentrating on getting to goal so that I would have an easy retrieve. We were out far away from paved roads so I didn't want to go down.

I was able to fly with a pilot or two now and then and flew to a couple of small dust devils providing good lift. The lift was consistent although I was often down to 2,500' AGL. The winds had picked up and were now 20 to 24 mph out of the south southwest.

Fifty kilometers out I saw Peter Dall and Dave May very low behind me searching back and forth. I was happy to see a paved road ahead and knew at least that I was safe for a fast retrieval. I went on glide and I got down to 1,100' AGL by the highway. There was a glider next to the road 30 kilometers out.

I headed for the edge of the forest hoping that it would be kicking off lift in the strong winds. It was, very weak lift (averaged 77 fpm), but enough to keep me up and drifting quickly toward the goal. I just stuck with it even when it was zero.

At 2,800' AGL I headed down wind just happy to be within 23 km of goal. I found another patch of weak lift and worked it to let the thermal drift me toward goal. As my required glide ratio to goal got down to below 20:1 I worked weak lift to get high enough to make it. At fifteen kilometers out I had enough altitude and went on final glide getting there with plenty of altitude.

I arrived at the airport to find two glider coming in with me just a couple of minutes head. I had not seen these pilots, Tony and Phil. There were no gliders on the ground, and no cars at the airport. It looked like we were the first three in.

In fact, Jonny had come in earlier and and landed away from the airport as it was surrounded by a fence. Blay and Maxim also came in before us and landed off the airport. Four other pilots ( Peter, Dave, Warren and Chris) landed later at the goal with Chris Jones last. Chris had a reflight and was the last pilot to tow and leave the airfield.

Everyone else went down before the goal. Robert, Gerolf, Attila, Fredrico, Scott, Curt, the whole gang. This should have a big effect on the overall results.

Task five:

# Name Nat Glider Time Total
1 Jon Durand Jnr Aus Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5 04:30:45 997
2 Maxim Usachev Rus Aeros Combat L 04:33:35 970
3 Blay Olmos Esp Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 04:43:26 914
4 Phil Schroder Aus Airborne C4 13.5 04:52:34 874
5 Tony Lowrey Aus Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5 04:54:43 866
6 Davis Straub Usa Moyes Litesport S 4 04:55:14 864
7 Dave May Aus Airborne C4 13.5 05:00:43 845
8 Warren Simonsen Nzl Airborne 05:02:24 840
9 Chris Jones Aus Moyes Litespeed S 4 04:59:52 834
10 Peter Dall Aus Atos D 669

Totals:

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Blay Olmos m Esp Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 4496
2 Jon Durand Jnr m Aus Moyes Litespeed Rs 3.5 4452
3 Attila Bertok m Hun Moyes Litespeed S 5 3995
4 Michael Friesenbichler m Aut Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 3836
5 Gerolf Heinrichs m Aut Moyes Litespeed Rs 4 3810
6 Lukas Bader m Deu Moyes Litespeed Rs 4 3772
7 Chris Jones m Aus Moyes Litespeed S 4 3762
8 Pedro Luis Garicia Morelli m Esp Aeros Combat L 13.7 3473
9 Davis Straub m Usa Moyes Litesport S 4 3421
10 Maxim Usachev m Rus Aeros Combat L 3362

The father and son team of Tim and Keith Howells were the only pilots to make goal in the sport and club class. A few days earlier they both made goal for the first time for each of them.

Friday is the funeral/rest day. It looks flyable but we are all happy for the rest after the long drive.

Discuss "Forbes, day six, task five" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Forbes, going into day four, task four »

January 6, 2009, 8:58:07 AEDT

Forbes, going into day four, task four

After three good days

Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|Davis Straub|Enda Murphy|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Julia Kucherenko|Nick Purcell|Scott Barrett|Steve Blenkinsop|Trent Brown

The results.

Blay from Spain is leading the competition. Julia, who that Russian team almost didn't let fly last year, is leading all the Russians.

# Name Nat Glider Total
1 Blay Olmos ESP Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2809
2 Michael Friesenbichler AUT Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2703
3 Attila Bertok HUN Moyes Litespeed S 5 2665
4 Gerolf Heinrichs AUT Moyes Litespeed RS 4 2522
5 Jon Durand Jnr AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 2497
6 Lukas Bader DEU Moyes Litespeed RS 4 2467
7 Pedro Luis Garicia Morelli ESP Aeros Combat L 13.7 2391
8 Federico Martini CHE Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 2351
9 Chris Jones AUS Moyes Litespeed S 4 2336
10 Trent Brown AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5 2254
11 Jon snr Durand AUS Moyes Litespeed S 5 2248
12 Steve Blenkinsop AUS Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2224
13 Julia Kucherenko RUS Aeros Combat 12 2050
14 Artur Dzamikhov RUS AEROS Combat L 13 1908
15 Guy Hubbard AUS Moyes Litespeed RS 4 1898
16 Davis Straub USA Moyes Litesport S 4 1893
17 Maxim Usachev RUS Aeros Combat L 1830
18 Enda Murphy AUS Moyes Litespeed S 4 1805
19 Scott Barrett AUS Airborne C4 1797
20 Nick Purcell AUS Moyes Litespeed S 4 1792

Forbes, day seven »

January 9, 2008, 11:18:05 pm GMT+1100

Forbes, day seven

300 km day, we decided to go 180, as the RASP model under calls the day

Chris Jones|dust devil|Flytec 6030|Jeff Shapiro|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes

The flight and task.

The results

Jeff Shapiro went early (before the mandatory start time for the top twenty pilots) and forty kilometers out got down to forty feet over the trees when he hit a thermal that almost pulled the wings off the Wedgie that launched into it out of the trees, and knocked a flock of cockatoos out of the nearby trees. He was landing and this thermal saved him at the last moment.

The rest of us were three thousand feet over him screaming up.

We had taken the mandatory start time, with Chris Jones and Lukas Bader. I was right behind those two. They found a good thermal in the blue after an eighteen kilometer glide. It was a second glide of twenty six kilometers to get over Jeff. That thermal showed 900 fpm on my 6030. I came up right in Jonny Durand's face.

I was still in the top five pilots pulling the gaggle with twenty pilots trailing behind. The winds were thirteen mph from the north east and we were heading south west.

I was able to stay with the top four pilots, including Jonny, for the next couple of thermals, by finding a better core than the guys above (who had to circle together and thereby go up slower). But finally, I didn't get the glide that I needed to stay with them next to West Wyalong, 100 kilometers into the flight. I lost sight of them at this point.

The RASP forecast for Forbes was for a blue day. But as we went far away from Forbes the cu's started. The cloud base rose and the predicted winds continued. We found a line of alto cumulus over Jeff, and it was on the other side of this anomaly that the cu's started.

With cu's ahead (and more to the west) we raced on assured that there would be lift. I was now hanging with Chris Jones and Ollie Barthelmes came and joined us. There were pilots now spread out all over the place, as the fastest four got ahead a few kilometers. I was getting to over 8,000'.

Forty five kilometers out from goal Chris and I went on a thirteen kilometer glide losing five thousand feet. I knew that we were getting near lift at the end of this terrible glide as the sink was really strong. Down to 1,600' AGL we found 500 fpm to 7,800'.

Now it was a thirty kilometer glide to goal. Ollie was in the lead. The 6030 showed 1,500' above goal all the way until about 8 km from goal. Then the big sink set in. There was a much better line to the left, and I watched a pilot to the left of me hit lift and climb up fast. But since the 6030 said I had goal with plenty of altitude I kept going.

The sink got worse and it looked like it might be close. I saw a small dust devil ahead and we all headed for it. Three kilometers out and at 800' AGL, Ollie, Chris, and I entered the dust devil. That was enough to get us to goal.

Dave Seib won the day. Attila landed short. Jonny is now in first place. At least I assume so, as the scores aren't out yet.

2007 Gulgong Classic - Day 2 »

November 19, 2007, 10:18:34 pm GMT+1100

Gulgong

108 km out and return with a gust front at the end for the late guys

Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|Don Cramer|Gulgong Classic 2007|Phil Schroder|Scott Barrett

The task committee called an out and return along the highways to the west given the predict of a northeast wind. The winds turned out to be out of the west. The idea was to get the guys with Stings and Sonics out on the course going downwind on the first leg, but it didn't turn out that way.

We started towing up at noon and the cu's were just beginning to form. I found a little thermal over the tow paddock, Scott Barrett joined me and we climbed up to 5,500' AGL. It looked like a good day, but it was clear that we would be heading into a head wind.

The sky quickly filled up and ten of us found ourselves at the edge of the start circle where we finally got some strong lift to 6,800' AGL just before the first start time at one o'clock. Scott and I had already decided to go at the first start clock and it looked like we would have a lot of company.

We headed out splitting the group up into two sets right away, one headed for a thick cu to the left of the course line and the other toward the wispy cu's along the course line. Not much was working that great so we pushed further up the course line into the wind to find better lift. Chris Jones was out leading the way with Scott behind. Cameron Tunbridge and I were further behind. There was no lead gaggle to speak of.

It was slow going given the wind and the difficulty finding strong thermals. Everyone was spread out and few pilots knew where the other pilots were so they had no gauge to tell them how well they were doing.

Down to 1,300' AGL 5 km from the first turnpoint, I found 700 fpm to 5,500' AGL and was joined by a friendly Wedgie and a couple of pilots. It was getting to be a better day. Out in front by the turnpoint Phil Schroder was about to land. I got to see him do so as I came over the turnpoint. Scott Barrett was struggling low just to the north of the turnpoint and Chris Jones was struggling a little bit to the west.

I flew passed the turnpoint and found 550 fpm to over 8,000' AGL. Scott was working his way up slowly, Chris was out in front with Cameron not far behind. Chris was out in front most of the time but we rarely saw him.

Chris got the second turnpoint first and I came in two minutes after him. It was a fifteen km glide after a strong thermal before the turnpoint, around it and back to the lift again. But we had plenty of altitude from the last thermal.

There were big areas of shade ahead. Also there was a cu-nimb off to the east in the mountains clearing out an area in front of any cu's that might help us get to goal. It looked like we could get home but the guys behind us might have a problem.

Just past the third turnpoint Chris was low and found a strong thermal. Cameron, Scott and I raced ahead not seeing Chris ahead of us, and low still. Cameron is the highest at 7,000' AGL. We all headed for the clouds just passed the turnpoint and the obvious lift.

I just missed it and had to search a bit. Cameron got it higher than Chris or Scott and soon headed for goal. He was way too high. Scott followed Chris but from above and was able to over take him going to goal as Chris had to stop for a bit of lift. I stayed in the thermal until I got high enough and then glided the 20 km into goal.

The gust front didn't hit until later and one pilot, Don Cramer, did come in and land at the airport as it hit.

Scores for both days are up at: http://www.soaringspot.com/2007gc/results/

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2007 Gulgong Classic - Day 1 »

November 19, 2007, 6:52:21 GMT+1100

Gulgong

We start with a short task and lots of cu's

Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|Gulgong Classic 2007|Scott Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|Flytec 6030|Gulgong Classic 2007|Scott Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

We are here to have a great time and we are having it. The tugs are pulling us up fast, the lift is there. The winds are light. The cui-nimbs don't form until very late in the day. Most pilots make it back to goal.

What I saw:

I'm first in line twenty minutes after the start window opens at noon. No one is rushing to launch obviously. They will get going a bit earlier tomorrow as they probably didn't get launched exactly when they wanted to on Sunday. A bunch of us had our gliders already setup in the hangar (you'd think that we were in Big Spring) from the practice day, so we just had to slide on over to launch. They've got five dollies here so there is no crowding.

I pin off at 1,000' AGL in an obviously fat thermal (I've got the averager set correctly now to 15 seconds), and gently climb to 6,500' AGL. and cloud base. There is plenty of lift around. The glider is a joy to thermal in and the thermals are as smooth as can be.

Scott Barrett says to thermal the C4-13.5 just push out, and the glider does the rest. And, in fact, that is all there is to it. Push out and the glider starts turning into the thermal. That makes it pretty easy.

I see Chris Jones head out low just before the first start clock toward some clouds to the west, but they look further than 5 km away from the center of the 5 km start circle to me, so I go back and play in the lift and wait until the second start time at 1:20 PM. I'm high then and head out with four other pilots. There are cu's right up the course line after a patch of blue.

The task is an out and return to a 25 km radius turnpoint circle around Wellington to the west south west. That would make for only a 77 km task.

After a thirteen kilometer glide through the blue three of us have to stop in 100 fpm at 1,700' AGL and work our way slowly back up.

Still it finally turns on and the lift is strong under black clouds after that. I'm having a bit of trouble knowing just where to go. The direction arrow on the new Flytec 6030 is much smaller than on the 5030 and with my 20/30 vision and astigmatism it is really hard for me to make it out. So I get off course a bit, but maybe that is a good thing cause the clouds there are working.

The C4-13.5 is thermaling great. I'm having a bit of trouble getting a feel for the glide though. This will take a few days to feel natural. There is a lot of rope on the VG line which makes for an easy pull, but I'm unsure as to how much to pull. Learning once again.

Scott Barrett started at the first start clock by himself and is out in front doing well. He was further to the north when he started and I didn't see him at all or I would have gone with him then. Many pilots will start later at the 1:40 PM start time.

I get to the 25 km radius turnpoint without realizing that I've made it. I didn't hear or register hearing the beep of the point being lay down in the turnpoint cylinder by the 6030. I'm too used to the 5030. Also, the 25 km radius for the turnpoint was enough to throw my thinking off a bit.

After realizing I've gone too far into the turnpoint cylinder I race back and come in low over a hill that has a nice black cloud over it. This is the last climb I need to get to goal. Unfortunately the cloud is dying not forming and I land 15 km out. Most pilots make goal.

One pilot got a little confused and made it to a 400 meter cylinder around the turnpoint and back to goal for the longest flight of the day. Scott was first into goal. Cameron Tunbridge won the day taking the second start time and going faster than Scott. Chris Jones landed out on the leg out.

Cameron and Billo at the last minute asked to use my SeeYou scoring script for OzGAP 2005 so I'm helping with the scoring. Scores are up at: http://www.soaringspot.com/2007gc/results/

I have limited internet access here in this town that time forgot, so things may be a little spotty.

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Fun with physics

February 16, 2007, 9:41:02 PST

Physics

Getting a cart to go faster than the wind downwind

cart|Chris Jones|video

How does this cart work? Check here for the video also: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/06/video_can_a_vehicle_.html. The link to the discussion is here. Thanks to Chris Jones.

A picture of the cart here: http://www.dcss.org/bauer_cart.jpg

Here's a Youtube video of a wind-powered cart (with R/C steering) that goes downwind faster than the wind (DWFTTW) "No it is NOT impossible!".

Jack Goodman in Florida built this cart to end a long argument on the Amateur Yacht Research Society website (www.ayrs.org) about whether DWFTTW is even possible -- but it just led to more discussions, with some believing the video is a hoax. Google "DWFTTW" for more, and there's a ton of discussion on the ayrs Yahoo! Group. Here's Jack's writeup (PDF).

Discuss Physics at the Oz Report forum

Attila number 1

February 9, 2007, 10:39:07 AEDT

Ranking

It's Australia if you want to be at the top

Adam Parer|Andreas Olsson|Attila Bertok|Brett Hazlett|Chris Jones|CIVL|Corinna Schwiegershausen|David Seib|Davis Straub|Gerolf Heinrichs|Joseph Salvenmoser|Kraig Coomber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|Robert Reisinger|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|Scott Barrett|Thomas Weissenberger

http://civlrankings.fai.org/?a=326&ladder_id=1

rank name nation points
1 Attila Bertok Hungary 302
2 Jon jnr Durand Australia 300
3 Gerolf Heinrichs Austria 285
4 Oleg Bondarchuk Ukraine 282
5 Mario Alonzi France 269
6 Michael Friesenbichler Austria 262
7 Bruno Guillen France 260
8 Andreas Olsson Sweden 255
9 Balazs Ujhelyi Hungary 246
10 David Seib Australia 238
11 Robert Reisinger Austria 230
12 Lukas Bader Germany 213
13 Adam Parer Australia 211
13 Steve Moyes Australia 211
15 Brett Hazlett Canada 202
16 Oliver Barthelmes Germany 200
17 Kraig Coomber Australia 191
18 Joseph Salvenmoser Austria 184
19 Fabien Agenes France 183
20 Rohan Holtkamp Australia 182
20 Scott Barrett Australia 182
22 Raymond Caux France 180
23 Chris Smith USA 174
24 Corinna Schwiegershausen Germany 173
25 Carl Wallbank UK 172
26 Chris Jones Australia 171
27 Jon Gjerde Norway 168
28 Thomas Weissenberger Austria 164
29 Olav Opsanger Norway 161
30 Len Paton Australia 157
69 Antoine Boisselier France 96
69 Davis Straub USA 96

The 2007 Gulgong Classic

December 4, 2006, 7:56:03 PST

Gulgong

The story, not just the results

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|Gerolf Heinrichs|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|sailplane

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|sailplane

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|sailplane

http://ozreport.com/10.238#1

Adam Parer «adamparer» writes:

The Airborne Gulgong Classic runs through the last week of November and this small NSW town becomes home to a field of hang glider pilots hoping to sample its world class flying. Gulgong is out west, but it's not strictly flatlands. It's less than 1000ft AMSL, there are small hills in most directions with spectacular terrain to the southeast and seabreeze convergence can also kick-in late in the day. The Gulgong sailplane operation boasts a long, wide grass strip, big hangar space and all the amenities of a camping site, and just for our benefit the club puts on a top feed every night. Anyone who was here for the inaugural event in 2002 scored phenomenal flying with huge climbs, long glides and 14,000' cloud bases and this year saw a return to those incredible conditions. As usual the caliber of the competition was red-hot. Five out of the world top ten, the European Champion, the Pre-world champion, German team pilot Jorge Bajewski, US number seven, Chris Smith, past Oz National champions and the bulk of the Oz top ten were all here.

Day one, 10am and the briefing started with Gerolf Heinrichs presenting a compelling argument about FTV and it soon became clear he was preaching to the converted. But when a vote was taken, it was decided that OzGAP 2005 would be used instead. Then the task committee set a triangle of 110km. The four tugs fired up and within an hour had the whole field airborne. The day started out well with climbs averaging between 200-700ft/min getting us to altitudes of 8000ft but early into the first leg high cloud moved in from the south and threatened to sour the day. Shadow overtook the pilots and the course line. The thermals slowed down and extended glides ate into the altitude. Patient pilots who dropped down a gear were rewarded when the cloud opened up, let some light in and eventually half the field made it to goal. Timing was everything on the last leg: some flew the last 28km straight directly to goal, while others found it a huge area of sink and struggled to make it home. Gerolf made goal first but Michael Freisenbichler won the day.

Day two saw the task committee set a cat's cradle covering over 161km with six waypoints. The local pilots assured us it was a good day and they weren't wrong! Cloudbase looked to be around 14,500' and we soon found standard climb rates of 1000ft/min with many pilots finding much stronger averages. During the race the lead pack dropped some big names towards the end of the course. At 500' and 10Km short of the last turnpoint Jon Durand drifted in zeros while Chris Smith and Jorge circled above him in sink. As they met up with Jon they flew off in search of something better but landed instead. Jon hung with the zeros, eventually drifted leeside behind a small hill and was rewarded with an average of 1300ft/min. Jonny got 6th and Attila won the day.

Day three didn't look as good as day two so a 132km task was called with goal at Glen Alice via Mudgee and Coolyal. But the locals assured us we were in for another good day and once again they were right. Again the cloudbase looked above the 14,000ft mark and climb rates averaged 900-1100ft/min. The last leg provided an incredible vantage point to watch the bush fires raging in the Bylong valley to the east. As a change approached from the south the last leg of the course thickened-up with powerful looking cumuli that quickly developed into a cloud street 20km long, pointing along the course line and into goal. ten made the distance with Jorge Bajewski making it in at 6pm after ridge soaring, below hill height, for ninety minutes. Michael Freisenbichler won another day.
 
On day four we woke to high winds and most pilots admitted they could do with the rest so by day five they were ready for a cracker of a task: 211km with two turn points. But when we got on course it was a surprise to struggle under a solid inversion at 7000ft. After the previous two tasks 7000ft felt low, but the guns pushed hard, with mixed results. Gerolf and Dave Seib bombed out as did many other pilots who had a hard time with the elusive thermals, but those who made the first turnpoint enjoyed better climbs and a higher ceiling for the rest of the way. But the first leg was slow and time was now the problem. Johnny and Attila managed to make goal and enjoyed final glides of better than 16:1 in the buoyant evening air. Some pilots landed after 7pm. Jon won the day.

Task five was a short 81km with a turnpoint at the half way mark. The conditions were inverted again but most pilots pushed hard and were rewarded with improving conditions around the turnpoint with smoother climbs, nicer air and higher altitudes. Gerolf took the turnpoint with the lead gaggle and pointed towards goal with a required glide of 22:1, and made it! The others thought this a bit aggressive and were at least 5 minutes slower after stopping for a top-up along the way. Twenty four pilots made it to goal. Gerolf won the day with Chris Jones in 2nd and Len Paton in 3rd. Overall Attila was ahead of Johnny by over 200 points but when someone suggested this lead was good enough Attila replied in his strong Hungarian accent, "Jonny never gives up".

Task six was another 'spaghetti on the map page' affair: 119km with four turnpoint's that intersected throughout the course. The conditions were great and big climbs averaging 1000ft/min were common. The air was constantly changing and depending at what time you flew the course determined whether you flew directly to turnpoint or sank like a stone. Some big names went down including Rohan Holtkamp, Joerg Bajewski and Cameron Tunbridge. Just as Attila predicted Jonny didn't give up, on the contrary, he won the day with Gerolf in 2nd and Michael Freisenbichler in 3rd. Overall Attila had just four points up his sleeve to stay ahead and win overall.

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Canungra Classic »

October 26, 2006, 7:40:00 pm PDT

Canungra

Jonny builds his lead

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|Corinna Schwiegershausen|David Seib|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|Scott Barrett

http://www.zupy.net/Canungra06/

Overall results:

PlaceNameGliderTotal
1JON JNR DurandMoyes Litespeed S 43762
2DAVID SeibMoyes Litespeed S 53619
3RICK DuncanAirborne Climax C4 13.53223
4STEVE MoyesMoyes Litespeed S 43219
5ATTILA BertokMoyes Litespeed S 53130
6SCOTT BarrettAirborne Climax C4 13.53103
7CORINNA SchwiegershausenMoyes Litespeed S 3.53069
8CHRIS JonesMoyes Litespeed S 42942
9ADAM ParerAirborne Climax C4 142927
10JON SNR DurandMoyes Litespeed S 4.52751

Fifth task:

PlaceNameGliderTimekmTotal
1JON JNR DurandMoyes Litespeed S 401:22:0142.3914
2DAVID SeibMoyes Litespeed S 501:24:2442.3890
3ATTILA BertokMoyes Litespeed S 501:26:1142.3854
4JON SNR DurandMoyes Litespeed S 4.501:29:5342.3835
5CHRIS JonesMoyes Litespeed S 401:43:3742.3795
6STEVE MoyesMoyes Litespeed S 401:48:2842.3778
7GLEN MacLeodMoyes Litespeed S 4.501:50:1042.3772
8ADAM ParerAirborne Climax C4 1401:59:0542.3745
9RICK DuncanAirborne Climax C4 13.541.3660
9SCOTT BarrettAirborne Climax C4 13.541.3660

Canungra Classic »

October 25, 2006, 4:29:09 pm PDT

Canungra

We have just finished the 4th round of the comp and the weather here has been excellent.

Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|Corinna Schwiegershausen|David Seib|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|record|Scott Barrett|weather

Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|Corinna Schwiegershausen|David Seib|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|record|Scott Barrett|weather

Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|Corinna Schwiegershausen|David Seib|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|record|Scott Barrett|weather

http://www.zupy.net/Canungra06/

jon durand «jonnyjnr80» writes:

Day 1: was a 44km task with very challenging conditions with only 4 pilots making goal.

Day 2: Was cancelled due to strong wind.

Day 3: This was probably the best day I have seen here for some time and if the comp was not on it would have been a record day. The task was set to Lake Moogera then crossing over the Great Dividing range to Millmeran with a total distance of 194kms. Atilla won the day in 3hrs 34mins and there were 19 pilots to make goal. There were about 30 pilots that set a personal best that day and many more smiling faces after a great flight.

I estimate that this day we could have gone at least 500kms if we had started four hours earlier instead of midday.

Day 4: Well another great day and the pilots are ready for another long task. We set a dogleg task to Killarney which takes you through some of the nicest terrain you will see in this area. We then set goal back at Millmeran to make a total distance of 204kms. I was lucky enough to win the day in 4 hrs 15 minutes and Steve Moyes was just behind me. We had a lot more personal bests again today with over 20 pilots in goal. I think the drivers are starting to wear thin after some long days.

Day 5: Back to the Tamborine launch so no more distance for us. Another dogleg of 78kms was called with goal at lake Moogerah. It was a hard day and many of the top pilots did not make goal however there were still 11 pilots in goal. I won the day again with Dave Seib 6 seconds behind me. Ricky, Moyes. Atilla and Scott did not make goal.

We are using the Fixed Total Validity  scoring system and we will be using this for all the Australian comps this year.

This is how the Fixed Total Validity scoring system works: http://www.zupy.net/Canungra06/ftv.htm.

Place Name Glider Total
1 JON JNR Durand Moyes Litespeed S 4 2212
2 RICK Duncan Airborne Climax C4 13.5 2073
3 STEVE Moyes Moyes Litespeed S 4 2050
4 DAVID Seib Moyes Litespeed S 5 1997
5 SCOTT Barrett Airborne Climax C4 13.5 1976
6 ATTILA Bertok Moyes Litespeed S 5 1941
7 CORINNA Schwiegershausen Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 1817
8 CHRIS Jones Moyes Litespeed S 4 1764
9 GLEN MacLeod Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 1564
10 TREVOR Purcell Moyes Litespeed S 5 1501

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The recent tucks and tumbles

Fri, Mar 3 2006, 10:27:02 am EST

Tucks

Is there something going on here?

Chris Jones|Ferenc Gruber|Rob Hibberd

Flying straight. VG on. Flying fast. The bar pulled in. The nose goes over and the glider tucks and then it tumbles.

Rob Hibberd pointed out that the glider from Mick's tuck was likely in a configuration that would make it so that the glider would not necessarily recover from a tuck. Gliders have to be able to recover when their noses go over suddenly, which they apparently do because of the "conditions."

Now Gerolf describes another tuck here: https://OzReport.com/10.027.4. And to add to that apparently Ferenc describes the bar coming way back on him before it got ripped out of his hands. Apparently he was trying to pull the bar forward when the bar was pulled way forward. What was going on there. Conditions again?

And then we continue to wait for word from Chris Jones (why does almost everyone clam up at times like this, it sure wasn't my first instinct) re what happened to him. Was he really flyin straight and level, fast, with the bar pulled in and ¾ VG. The nose goes down, the glider tucks and then tumbles without recovery. Aren't these gliders supposed to recover from tucks.

If the gliders aren't recovering from tucks, like my ATOS C didn't recover when I was flying straight and level pulled in, then not only do we wonder why, but we might wonder what we are going to do about it.

Why don't we talk about these incidents openly and honestly first?

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Chris Jones' tuck and/or tumble

February 27, 2006, 5:27:01 pm EST

Chris Jones

A report coming in this week to the HGFA

Chris Fogg|Chris Jones|tumble

I carried on a bit of an email conversation with Chris Fogg, HGFA manager. He says that Chris Jones has told him that he will be sending in a report this week. Maybe Chris will make it more available.

Discuss Chris Jones at the Oz Report forum

Tucking in Oz?

February 24, 2006, 9:14:28 pm EST

Chris Jones

I can't get anyone to talk to me about this.

Chris Fogg|Chris Jones

I got a report from a generally reliable source that Chris Jones tucked and tumbled at Manilla during the NSW Titles (February 5th through 11th). I've been trying to track it down for a few days, but no one will talk to me about it to confirm or deny it. So I figure it I get it out here in the Oz Report someone will pipe up and say no or yah.

The story as I heard it was that he was flying along straight, pulled in, 3/4 VG on. The nose went down and over he went. The glider destroyed itself in the air.

Did this happen? If so it sounds very much like another tuck that I am intimately familiar with. Come on talk to me. If this really happened and no one told me, did they expect to be able to hide it from me? Wouldn't it be better to tell me up front and not let it come out this way, which makes it look like you are trying to hide something? If it happened?

On Saturday morning I received an email from Chris Fogg, HGFA manager, saying that he had heard about the incident also, but even after requests hadn't received a report.

Discuss Chris Jones at the Oz Report forum

Francis Rogollo films

January 18, 2006, 11:47:34 pm AEDT

Paresev

Movies of the Paresev glider.

Chris Jones|Francis Rogallo|PG

http://www1.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/movie/Paresev/ Thanks to Chris Jones.

The Paresev (Paraglider Research Vehicle) was the first flight vehicle to use the "parawing," which was a simple, delta wing design patented by Francis Rogallo of the NASA Langley Research Center. This little glider was designed, built, and flown at Dryden to evaluate the parawing concept and determine its suitability for Gemini spacecraft. The parawing was envisioned as a replacement for the space capsule's parachute landing system, so it could be landed more like an airplane instead of making "splash downs" in the ocean

Discuss Paresev at the Oz Report forum

2006 Bogong Cup - last day »

January 15, 2006, 10:18:14 pm AEDT

Bogong Cup

It ends on a beautiful note.

Bogong Cup 2006|Chris Jones|Scott Barrett|weather

This year we had excellent weather, perfect for challenging tasks that separated the sheep from us goats. It wasn't quite as magical as last year, but we flew seven of eight days with a rest/rain day after four days. I don't think that it could have worked out better.

The tasks have been challenging not just because the sky was often blue and the thermals had to be worked even when weak, but because the task committee was committed to sending us in different directions to make it that much more interesting. On the last day, the day that getting to 5,500' (1,000' over launch) was a challenge, we went the furthest. And we crossed four valleys and five ridges to get to the second turnpoint and then back around to come home, as we did every day to the Mt. Beauty airport.

To make the task a little less challenging we opened up the turnpoints to 4 km cylinders so that it would make it easier to take the last turnpoint without having to go out into the fifth valley. You could just get in the lee of the last ridge and make the turnpoint.

I was ready to launch but apparently the pilots launching in the open launch before ordered launch were not getting much above launch, so when Chris Jones pushed we all let him go to the front and launch. He was able to stay up. Finally at about 2 PM, the first start time, Jonnie and Dave Seib came forward to launch and that got the rest of us going.

It was pretty weak and broken and we had to work light lift to get up. Dave Seib took the 2:30 start time, but everyone else had to work just to be able to take the 3 PM start time. I started at launch level, 4,500' (3,500' AGL) at the south end of the gap at Coral Bank. We were all pretty low.

There was lift every 3 to 6 kilometers along the ridge line to the north to the first turnpoint at Gundowring. We didn't have to go out in the valley to get the turnpoint because it was a 4 KM circle. This made it a lot easier to get higher on the ridge and then jump over the back (there was a 5 mph west wind) to the next ridge.

We had to work whatever we could find on the ridges, and I noticed, Jonnie, Ollie and Lukas with me as we tried to catch the faster guys just a few kilometers ahead. I joined up with Chris Jones and Len Paton (both wearing red harnesses) and Len found a good thermal on the second to last ridge before the turnpoint at Bullio. We jumped over the last ridge, picked up a little altitude and came back to the same thermal which the lead gaggle was now in and found 500+ fpm to 5,300'. Sure would have been nice to get higher.

We again found lift going back against the wind on the lee side of the next ridge with the lead guys just on the other side getting up slowly. Most of the time when we were climbing, we were climbing slowly.

I jumped over the ridge, didn't find what the lead guys had been in, and didn't quite have enough to make over the next ridge. Running down the ridge line to the north I found a small patch of lift on the side facing into the sun. I was able to climb back up and then join Chris again as we climbed out to almost 6,000'.

This was enough to get us back on the ridge on the eastern side of the Kiewa valley and back to the turnpoint at Gundowring, where another thermal awaited us. As we climbed up Chris Smith and Scott Barrett joined us. I noticed that the sun was going behind thicker cirrus clouds, and it looked like this might be the last thermal. It took us to 5,000', 33 kilometers from goal at 30 to 1 glide.

Chris and I went on glide with the other three not quite making it up with us. We hugged the hill side and there was no sink, but of course, that also meant that there was no lift. After another thermal (well, there was some lift) we went 14 kilometers on glide and just over the Ceccanti winery in the gap at Coral Bank found 90 fpm to get us back to 1,900' AGL. I had just scraped over a saddle at about 50 feet over the trees to get into the gap, so it was really exciting for me.

It was then a 13 km glide at 24 to 1 to an out landing 2 KM from the edge of the finish circle at goal. It was great just floating along a few feet above the trees on the hill side in light conditions at around 6:30 PM.

You can see in the results who made goal and who came close on this last day. It was great fun and quite a challenge to one's patience and climbing skills.

Carol and Heather did a great organizing job and got $10,000 in prizes and cash for the pilots. That was great encouragement. They had a lot of support from Mt. Beauty and they most definitely want us to keep coming to the town and the surrounding area.

The competition is great fun and a little tricky. You've got to think about how you are going to approach the various challenges. It is a very international competition with the top five finishers representing non Australian countries.

The great thing about competition is that you have other pilots to tell you how good you could have done on any given day. This gives you a marker to show you how much you could improve your skill level.

Discuss Bogong Cup at the Oz Report forum

Replaying the Bogong Cup

Sun, Jan 8 2006, 8:05:48 pm AEDT

Replay

View the pilots as they fly at the Bogong Cup

Andreas Olsson|Ashley Wilmott|Attila Bertok|Cameron McNeill|Chris Jones|Conrad Loten|Corinna Schwiegershausen|David Seib|Davis Straub|Ferenc Gruber|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jack Simmons|Jon Durand snr|Kevin Carter|Mart Bosman|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|Paul Allen|Phil Schroder|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|Rolf Schatzmann|Steve Blenkinsop|Trent Brown|Wesley "Wes" Hill

Gerry writes:

You can set how many seconds apart your screen will be refreshed. If it can't keep up it just does it as often as it can. Default=5. You can set how many times real time you want the replay played at with the " speed="parameter. Default=20 but I may up that, it's pretty slow. You can list the names of the pilot(s) you want to display, capitalized like in the list (Andreas Olsson, Andy Schmidt, Ashley Wilmott, Atsushi Hasegawa, Attila Bertok, Balazs Ujhelyi, Birgit Svens, Cameron Mcneill, Cameron Turnbridge, Carole Tobler, Chris Jones, Chris Smith, Conrad Loten, Corinna Schwiegershausen, Craig Dorich, David Seib, Davis Straub, Dick Heffer, Eduardo Oliveira, Ferenc Gruber, Fumihiro Sato, Gabor Sipos, Geoff Ward, Gerolf Heinrichs, Gunther Tschurnig, Guy Hubbard, Imre Balko, Jack Simmons, Jim Prahl, Joerg Bajewski, John Blain, Jon Gjerde, Jon Jnr Durand, Jon Snr Durand, Karl Ruckriegel, Kevin Carter, Len Paton, Lisa Miller, Lukas Bader, Mark Stokoe, Mart Bosman, Michael Friesenbichler, Nic Pallett, nozumu, Oliver Barthelmes, Paul Allen, Peter Aitken, Peter Leach, Phil Pritchard, Phil Schroder, Regan Kowald, Richard Breyley, Richard Olbrich, Rohan Holtkamp, Rolf Schatzmann, Sam Prest, Scott Barret, Shigeto Ishizaka, Siggi Schitzler, Steve Blenkinsop, Steve Moyes, Stuart Coad, Tony Kenney, Trent Brown, Warren Simonsen, Wesley Hill), with"+" signs instead of spaces, separated by commas.

https://OzReport.com/KML_track.php?data=2006+Bogong+Cup+day+1&names=Davis+Straub,Kevin+Carter&refresh=1&speed=80

Leave off the "names=…" and it'll display ALL of the tracks.

You can also start at a particular time (in GMT since that's what the track logs are in). Otherwise the replay starts at the time of the first listed person's track log, probably a while before they even get their butt off the ground.

You can get rid of the displayed names by adding "label=0". Default=displayed.

https://OzReport.com/KML_track.php?data=2006+Bogong+Cup+day+1&refresh=1&speed=50&label=0&time=2006-01-07+02:00:00

It would take too long to refresh the tracks each time, so if you want to see the tracks during the replay just have them loaded & displayed first. Yeah, all the gliders just point north, making them point sort of in the average direction they had been traveling in will happen later. And yeah, they're all the same color.

Discuss "Replaying the Bogong Cup" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Angelo d'Arrigo going over high mountains again

Thu, Dec 15 2005, 8:45:20 pm PST

Angelo

Why doesn't Gianni tell me about this flight over the Andes?

Angelo d’Arrigo|Angelo d'Arrigo|Chris Jones

Chris Jones help me out with this URL: http://www.flymicro.com/aconcagua/

OBECTIVE: To tow a hang glider with a Microlight over Aconcagua in December 2005 / January 2006

TIMETABLE 2005/6

1 December 2005 All equipment despatched to Argentina.

10 December Complete team assembled in Buenos Aires.

12-18 December Establish base camp at Mendoza and advanced base camp at Puente Del Inca.

19 December - 12 January 2006 Flight operations.

16 January Return to Europe.

Discuss "Angelo d'Arrigo going over high mountains again" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Canungra Classic »

Fri, Sep 30 2005, 2:00:00 pm EDT

After seven days.

Attila Bertok|Cameron McNeill|Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|David Seib|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|Scott Barrett

Michael Zupanc «mike» sends:

http://www.hgfa.asn.au/Competition/results/2005/results.htm

http://www.triptera.com.au/canungra/classic2005/index.html

Seventh day:

Place Name Glider Start Finish Time Total
1 David SEIB Moyes Litespeed S 5 12:00:00 13:52:16 01:52:16 996
2 Jon Jnr DURAND Moyes Litespeed S 4 11:45:00 13:51:10 02:06:10 902
3 Scott BARRETT Airborne Climax C4 13 12:00:00 14:07:20 02:07:20 849
4 Chris JONES Moyes Litespeed S 4 11:30:00 13:53:43 02:23:43 822
5 Cameron MCNEILL Moyes Litespeed S 4 11:30:00 13:54:01 02:24:01 820
6 Rohan HOLTKAMP Airborne Climax C4 13 11:45:00 14:05:10 02:20:10 802
7 Attila BERTOK Moyes Litespeed S 5 11:45:00 14:07:19 02:22:19 788
8 Bruce WYNNE Moyes Litespeed S 4 11:30:00 13:59:21 02:29:21 785
9 Rod FLOCKHART Moyes Litespeed S 4 12:15:00 14:29:20 02:14:20 780
10 Cameron TUNBRIDGE Airborne Climax C2 14 11:45:00 14:10:47 02:25:47 768
11 Steve MOYES Moyes Litespeed S 4 11:45:00 14:11:53 02:26:53 762
12 Trevor PURCELL Moyes Litespeed S 5 11:30:00 14:11:22 02:41:22 716
13 Katrinka Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 12:00:00 14:33:32 02:33:32 707
14 Len PATON Moyes Litespeed S 4 11:45:00 14:28:22 02:43:22 682
15 Dave STAVER Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 11:45:00 14:35:17 02:50:17 654

Totals:

Place Name Glider Total
1 Jon Jnr DURAND Moyes Litespeed S 4 3448
2 David SEIB Moyes Litespeed S 5 3433
3 Attila BERTOK Moyes Litespeed S 5 3394
4 Rohan HOLTKAMP Airborne Climax C4 13 3061
5 Steve MOYES Moyes Litespeed S 4 2827
6 Scott BARRETT Airborne Climax C4 13 2659
7 Chris JONES Moyes Litespeed S 4 2625
8 Dave STAVER Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2624
9 Katrinka Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2606
10 Cameron TUNBRIDGE Airborne Climax C2 14 2543

Let me say how great it is working with Zupy to make sure that I get results that I can publish. He reformatted the fields output from Race and published the results in HTML, an internet standard. He plays well with others, in other words. Thank you so much.

He also chased down the miscreant pilots who just didn't seem to think it was important that they correctly identified their gliders. The two glider manufacturers who sponsor this competition, Moyes and Airborne, I'm sure very much appreciate his efforts and success.

I have published the results of the Canungra Classic, because Zupy, as the scorekeeper, was more than willing to work with me to make sure that his output was publishable. Other scorekeepers have not been nearly so forthcoming, and in those cases I have not been able to publish their results. I believe it is their loss.

Canungra Classic »

Wed, Sep 28 2005, 4:00:00 pm EDT

After five days.

Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|David Seib|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|Phil Schroder|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|Scott Barrett|weather

Michael Zupanc «mike» sends:

http://www.hgfa.asn.au/Competition/results/2005/results.htm

http://www.triptera.com.au/canungra/classic2005/index.html

Fifth day:

Bad weather.

Overall:

Place Name Glider Total
1 Attila BERTOK Moyes Litespeed S 5 2734
2 Jon Jnr DURAND Moyes Litespeed S 4 2650
3 David SEIB Moyes Litespeed S 5 2527
4 Rohan HOLTKAMP Airborne Climax C4 13 2423
5 Steve MOYES Moyes Litespeed S 4 2129
6 Phil SCHRODER Airborne Climax C2 14 2092
7 Dave STAVER Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2059
8 Katrinka Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2010
9 Scott BARRETT     1930
10 Chris JONES Moyes Litespeed S 4 1926

Canungra Classic »

Tue, Sep 27 2005, 3:00:00 pm EDT

After four days.

Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|David Seib|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|Phil Schroder|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|Scott Barrett

Michael Zupanc «mike» sends:

http://www.hgfa.asn.au/Competition/results/2005/results.htm

http://www.triptera.com.au/canungra/classic2005/index.html

Fourth day:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 SEIB, David Moyes Litespeed S 5 02:15:18 992
2 HOLTKAMP, Rohan Airborne Climax C4 13 02:41:47 886
3 MOYES, Steve Moyes Litespeed S 4 02:58:26 856
4 Katrinka Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 03:01:41 847
5 BARRETT, Scott     03:09:38 815

Overall:

Place Name Glider Total
1 Attila BERTOK Moyes Litespeed S 5 2734
2 Jon Jnr DURAND Moyes Litespeed S 4 2650
3 David SEIB Moyes Litespeed S 5 2527
4 Rohan HOLTKAMP Airborne Climax C4 13 2423
5 Steve MOYES Moyes Litespeed S 4 2129
6 Phil SCHRODER Airborne Climax C2 14 2092
7 Dave STAVER Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2059
8 Katrinka Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 2010
9 Scott BARRETT     1930
10 Chris JONES Moyes Litespeed S 4 1926

Canungra Classic »

Mon, Sep 26 2005, 2:00:00 pm EDT

After three days.

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|David Seib|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|Phil Schroder|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor

Michael Zupanc «mike» sends:

http://www.hgfa.asn.au/Competition/results/2005/results.htm

http://www.triptera.com.au/canungra/classic2005/index.html

1 Attila BERTOK Moyes Litespeed 5 2046
2 Jon Jnr DURAND Moyes Litespeed 4 2018
3 Rohan HOLTKAMP Airborne Climax C4 14 1681
4 Phil SCHRODER Airborne Climax C2 14 1612
5 David SEIB Moyes Litespeed S 5 1610
6 Dave STAVER Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 1577
7 John STRICKLAND Moyes Litespeed 5 1476
8 Adam PARER Airborne Climax C2 14 1467
9 Chris JONES Moyes Litespeed S 4 1435
10 Glen MACLEOD Moyes Litespeed S 4 1387

Canugra Classic »

Fri, Sep 23 2005, 5:00:00 pm EDT

The Durand's backyard

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Chris Jones|David Seib|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|Phil Schroder|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor

Michael Zupanc «mike» sends:

http://www.hgfa.asn.au/Competition/results/2005/results.htm

http://www.triptera.com.au/canungra/classic2005/index.html

Place Name Glider Total
1 Attila BERTOK Moyes Litespeed 5 1977
2 Jon Jnr DURAND Moyes Litespeed 4 1934
3 Rohan HOLTKAMP Airborne Climax C4 14 1639
4 Phil SCHRODER Airborne Climax C2 14 1584
5 Dave STAVER Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 1535
6 John STRICKLAND Moyes Litespeed 5 1449
7 David SEIB Moyes Litespeed S 5 1420
8 Chris JONES Moyes Litespeed S 4 1399
9 Adam PARER Airborne Climax C2 14 1386
10 Glen MACLEOD Moyes Litespeed S 4 1370

2005 Australian Nationals »

Sat, Jan 1 2005, 10:00:00 am EST

Cirrus everywhere. Shade everywhere. The wind is blowing like stink. Let's fly!

Attila Bertok|Australian Nationals 2005|Brett Hazlett|Chris Jones|Curt Warren|Davis Straub|Dustin Martin|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Michael "Zupy" Zupanc|Oleg Bondarchuk

http://www.hgfa.asn.au/Competition/Denni/Denni.htm

Zupy has been unable to put the results up on the HGFA server above.

There are just some days that you fly in a contest that you'd have normally not flown if you weren't in a meet. It isn't that these days are particularly dangerous, it's just that they look pretty marginal, so why bother unless it is to determine just who is the coolest dude in the place.

I've flown plenty of days in Australia where the sky looks like a gray blanket, and it's hard to imagine that there is any lift out there. Today was one of those days. I've had some of my most interesting flights here on those days.

It started off gray in the morning with cirrus covering most of the sky, and only later in the morning did it open up a little to give us a peek at the sun and hope that its rays would warm up the ground. Of course, even with a gray sky, the sun does get its energy into the earth and light the fire that keeps us aloft.

The wind is fifteen to twenty kilometers per hour out of the southwest and with the poor prospects for soaring, the task committee mercifully calls an exactly straight down wind task to a goal that they pull off the map. I am truly thankful as there was little chance to go in some other direction today.

Setting up in the tow paddock in this amount of wind is no easy task and it brings out frayed nerves as pilots get ready to launch. I'm always launching before 97% of the other pilots are ready to go, so I miss most of this, but today, I have to pin off low when I get too high behind the trike and can't get it down. I land and still have an opportunity to launch first again as others are holding back waiting for others to show them where the lift is at.

Pete takes me to where two pilots are slowly thermaling and sure enough the lift is quite weak. It is just enough to keep me barely over 2,000' for the next twenty minutes as I drift downwind for 7 kilometers. This is typical as I can see from the other pilots. Apparently Mario Alonzi uniquely found 800 fpm right over the paddock.

I hook up with two pilots and we go on glide down to 450' AGL just outside the ten kilometer start circle before I find 600 fpm that gets us to 4,000'. It had appeared that the day was already over before it began with the poor prospects actually turning out to be true and the pilots scattered about near the tow paddock. But, luckily we survive to fly another day. 

I'm staying with these guys hoping to triple my chances of staying up. There are large areas of shade from the cirrus and patches of sun that hold greater promise. Even when I find the next thermal (lucky twice), I hang back to stay with these guys and not head off on my own.

I'm more than willing to stay in zero or slightly negative lift as long as we are drifting downwind at about 20 mph. About an hour into the flight, and now two of us, the third pilot got higher in one thermal and left us, are down to seven hundred feet. This time the other pilot finds the good lift first and again we climb up to just over 4,000'. Two low saves already in the flight, and we are barely a third of the way into it.

Twenty minutes later I'm back down to 700' over Coleambally, our first sign of paved roads and about half way into the task. The other pilot who had held back comes and joins me in weak drifting lift.  I will drift continuously thermaling for the next forty three kilometers. I will spend the first 35 kilometers below 3,500'.

Coleambally marks a division in the sky. In the first part of the task it was a mix of cirrus and blue open sky with patches of sun light amidst the shade on the ground. Ahead there are strato cumulus clouds and they are getting thicker the further to the north I go. I am carefully monitoring the land below looking for sunlit areas as it looks like the last forty kilometers is all shaded and thickly shaded at that. No wimpy cirrus.

My pilot friend dove a little to the north as I hung on in slightly better than zero to find some decent lift. I come in under him and don't get much but continue circling in light lift drifting toward the last sunlit patch. I can see him circling there so I widen my circles, search around and find better lift that slowly turns into 200 fpm. This is the best lift in a good long time and I'm sticking with it, especially as it doesn't look like there is any lift ahead. I'm 38 kilometers from goal.

As I climb from 3,000' to 7,000' Chris Jones and Brett Hazlett come in over me. I'm watching the required glide ratio to goal drop with 38 to 1 to 14 to 1 as I climb up. Given the strong tail wind I'm sure that I can make it, but after spending almost the whole flight groveling, I want to be sure.

It appears to me that the 36 kilometers of dark area ahead will basically provide zero sink and lift, except where I can see a few small patches of sunlight. If that's true then it is an easy glide to goal, even from this far out.

I go on glide and Brett and Chris join me as I keep it at best glide, still spooked by the weak day and numerous low saves. Sure I'm now at 7,000', but vanity will get me no where quick.

It doesn't take long to realize that we aren't going down, this is a new day and it's time to pull in the bar and go for it. Still I can only get it down to 2,200' AGL at the goal. Two pilots have just landed and three including Chris and Brett come in just in front of me. A total of twelve will make it to goal today.

Curt Warren was feeling poorly, and  played tug pilot for a while before flying. He didn't get too far. Kraig Coomber and Steve Moyes made it in. Oleg was the second one in. Jonny and Dustin landed short. Kevin Carter made it in after Craig and before Steve. The two pilots that I had flown with didn't make it in.

The task was 157 kilometers and pilots were slow to make it back in for scoring.

While getting so low is disturbing, I love flying on these tough days, as long as I can successfully overcome the adversity, even if it is just a matter of luck. I felt very lucky today.

Many pilots landed in  area just north east of the tow paddock where there were scattered dirt roads. They sent out trikes to help guide the drivers toward their pilots.

Day three:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 COOMBER, Kraig Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 02:18:38 944
2 BONDARCHUK, Oleg Aeros Combat 13 UKR 02:26:03 925
3 BOISSELIER, Antoine Moyes Litespeed S 4 FRA 02:26:27 919
4 BERTOK, Attila Moyes Litespeed S 5 HUN 02:19:53 917
5 WARREN, Curt Moyes Litespeed S 4 USA 02:26:31 915
6 ALONZI, Mario Aeros Combat L FRA 02:20:16 910
7 DURAND, John Jnr Moyes Litespeed S 4 AUS 02:27:14 908
8 HAZLETT, Brett Moyes Litespeed 4 CAN 02:27:40 902
9 MARTIN, Dustin Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 USA 02:28:15 895
10 GERARD, Jean-Francois Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 FRA 02:28:20 889

Day four:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 ALONZI, Mario Aeros Combat L FRA 02:21:53 862
2 BONDARCHUK, Oleg Aeros Combat 13 UKR 02:23:03 817
3 HAZLETT, Brett Moyes Litespeed 4 CAN 02:32:29 769
4 CAUX, Raymond Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 FRA 02:45:34 732
5 JONES, Chris Moyes Litespeed S 4 AUS 02:45:54 729
6 STRAUB, Davis Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 02:54:29 725
7 COOMBER, Kraig Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 02:41:06 716
8 GUILLEN, Bruno Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 02:49:46 715
9 GIAMMIGHELE, Tony Moyes Litespeed S 4 AUS 03:00:26 699
10 PALMARINI, Jean-Francois Moyes Litespeed S 3.5 FRA 02:48:20 698
11 CARTER, Kevin Aeros Combat 15 USA 03:04:50 671
12 MOYES, Steve Moyes Litespeed S 4.5 AUS 03:04:57 664

Overall after four days:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 BONDARCHUK, OlegAeros Combat 13UKR 3584
2 HAZLETT, BrettMoyes Litespeed S 4CAN 3363
3 DURAND, John JnrMoyes Litespeed S 4AUS 3338
4 COOMBER, KraigMoyes Litespeed S  4AUS 3312
5 CAUX, RaymondMoyes Litespeed S 3.5FRA 3109
6 MOYES, SteveMoyes Litespeed S 4.5AUS 3061
7 ALONZI, MarioAeros Combat LFRA 3053
8 SEIB, DavidMoyes Litespeed S 4.5AUS 2957
9 BERTOK, AttilaMoyes Litespeed S 5HUN 2952
10 MARTIN, DustinMoyes Litespeed S 4.5USA 2903

Jonny Durand flying the first day.

Discuss Oz Nats at the Oz Report forum

Demos - a call to manufacturers and pilots

Sun, Apr 25 2004, 5:00:02 pm EDT

Demo days coming to Europe.

demo days

Chris Jones|Demo Days 2004

Chris Jones «chris» writes:

www.aerotow.com is organizing a glider demo camp in central France in August. We have interest from manufacturers, but we need to know if pilots would be interested in attending!

Our aim is to provide an event along the lines of the Wills Wing demo days at Wallaby but encompassing more than one manufacturer. The event is in the planning stage, but I'd like to here from any pilots who would like to try "before they buy" this August. The aim is to have a range of gliders not just hot ships. We hope this will enable pilots to find the right glider for them and to show some skeptical pilots that the latest gliders really have advanced the sport.

Pilots wishing to buy will be put in touch with dealers closer to their home base. Any pilots who can not already aerotow will be able to learn at the event.

If you would be interested in attending at anytime in August we'd like to hear from you with dates, whether or not you would need aerotow training and what gliders you would be interested in test flying. email: «info».

Our home page has some little movies of what the event might look like www.aerotow.com.

We would of course also be interested in hearing from manufacturers who would like more information about the event.

Discuss "Demos - a call to manufacturers and pilots" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Helmet⁣s »

Fri, Jan 16 2004, 5:00:01 pm GMT

Chris Jones|David "Dave" Swanson|Helmet

Dave Swanson «DavidRSw» writes:

After much difficulty in finding the EN 966 helmet standard (the standard used for flight helmets), I've finally succeeded.

EN 966 specifies zones on the helmet for impact testing and each helmet is impacted in two zones (1 impact per zone) - 1 impact with a flat anvil and one with a kerbstone anvil. The energy of impact depends on the size of head form being used (the smaller the size the lower the energy).

For the smallest head form (size 'A' - 500mm) the impact energy is approx. 46 Joules and for the largest head form (size 'O' - 620mm) the impact energy is approximately 90 Joules. Five helmets are tested on the smallest impact headform for its size range and five on the largest.

Reviewing information on these standards (some old & some current):

Snell m2000 2 impacts 150 & 110 joules (motorcycling)
Snell RS-98 2 impacts 150 & 110 joules (recreational skiing)
Snell K-98 2 impacts 150 & 110 joules (karting)
EN Reg. 22.4 1 impact 132 joules
Snell B-95 2 impacts 110 & 72 joules (bicycle)
DOT FMVSS 218 2 impacts 90 & 90 joules (older motorcycle)
CEN 1077 1 impact 69 joules
ATSM F1447 2 impacts 98 & 57 joules
CPSC 2 impacts 98 & 57 joules (bicycle) and
EN 966 2 impacts 90 & 90 joules

Chris Jones «chris» writes:

There are many sites that describe helmets on the web. A good one is for bicycles check: http://www.bhsi.org/guide.htm. This describes what is actually required of the helmet in a crash.

The SNELL sites describes the tests for motorcycle helmets, but is a bit dry: http://www.smf.org/testing.html, site also has ski helmet info, etc.

New research into motorcycle helmet performance can be found here http://www.cordis.lu/cost-transport/src/cost-327.htm. Heavy going for the casual reader though. This does show that bikers tend to whack their head on cars and the ground, hard, a lot. From personal experience I can confirm this.

This is a good page on bicycle helmets again: http://www.dft.gov.uk/
stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/
page/dft_rdsafety_507998-06.hcsp

Key sentence there could be "There is little evidence that helmets of different standards perform better in protecting the wearer."

I also like "The amount of the head that a helmet can protect is driven by the needs of the bicyclist. Ideally, the helmet should provide protection against impacts anywhere on the skull, including the face, but the need for the wearer to see upwards and sideways, hear traffic and be able to tilt their head back when riding because of the seating position limits the extent of coverage significantly. "Substitute" pilot as required. If you have a major high impact whack on rocks, a motorcycle helmet might be the best for you, but for most people a "wearable" safe compromise is required.

Bike helmets are designed for big whacks where ski and bicycle helmets would seem to be designed for whacks closer to the stuff us HG pilots might encounter.

The CEN 966 standard is designed for us by people who know more about this kind of thing than most. It is not the same as bicycle, ski or motorcycle helmet standards, but is similar to them all (shock absorption, penetration resistance…). They must have a clue as to what kind of crashes we have. Bottom line is probably any standard is better than none, but a big heavy helmet is not better than a lighter one of the same standard. And we all know whatever you use change it every few years.

What to I wear? I wear a motorcycle helmet. Why? Couldn't find a flying helmet that fitted my big head and appealed to my sense of aesthetics.

Check out this link about helmet replacement: http://www.helmets.org/replace.htm and this on helmets in general http://www.helmets.org/other.htm

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Photo/Caption contest »

Wed, Dec 24 2003, 12:00:05 pm EST

Chris Jones|photo

Chris Jones «cjones» sends:

Taken at the back of the Royal Hotel in Manilla, Australia. The Proprietors Tom and Vic have made use of an old Moyes GTR as a shade umbrella for their courtyard. It is rigged up in a semi-permanent arrangement.

A suitable caption might be "The invisible man puts down in a very tight LZ".

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Aerotowing over Everest

Fri, Dec 12 2003, 10:00:03 am EST

Chris Jones

http://www.flymicro.com/everest/

Chris Jones «chris» sends the above URL

https://ozreport.com/toc.php?7.101#3

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Aerotow.com

Mon, Sep 8 2003, 5:00:06 pm EDT

Chris Jones|Julian Harman

Mark writes:

Aerotow.com winds down in Spain at the end of September, 28th to be exact. All the kit will be moved back to the UK where we will run a slimmed down winter operation in the UK with the two trikes before investing in new ones for 2004.

I would like to thank our many customers for their valued business. Boy, have we learned a lot. The customer surveys have been instrumental in tuning our service.

Chris Jones will be writing a report on the first year operation - detailing the things we could and will do better and highlighting a few of the more spectacular flights. Chris quickly mentioned that he reckons he has seen the next world champion in action. If it impressed Chris then it will be a story worth reading!

Julian Harman, Nick Pain and others are enjoying the late summer flying doing some big out and returns and cats cradles. The famous Piedrahita "meto" conditions at last seem to have returned!

Before we close out we would love to welcome you. Flights to Madrid are dirt cheap right now and getting out (even for a long weekend) is not such a great hassle. Especially with only £15 to carry you're glider!

I will be there from Friday the 26th Sept till Monday 29th. Let's make an end of year party of it! If you want to join me; just let Helly know and she will take care of things.

We have an ATOS, Cheetah and Tsunami for sale...... Come and try before you buy :-)

I'll bring the beers and vodka redbulls.... you bring your wings and things and lets party!

Thanks again for all the support. To think that 12 months ago this was simply a 10 day road trip.

Discuss aerotowing in Spain at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

More Thanks

Tue, Feb 18 2003, 11:00:00 am GMT

Abhijeet Gole|Alan Blake|Ben Davidson|Brent Harsh|C. Kevin Morris|Chris Ingoldsby|Chris Jones|Dan Critchett|Daniel Pifko|David Hempy|Don Jones|Frank Campbell|Frederick Straccia|Frode Halse|Grant Hoag|James "Jim" Lamb|James O'Reilly|Jamie Shelden|Jules Gilpatrick|Keith Smith|Larry Applebee|Mark Taggart|Michael Derry|Mike Glennon|Mike Rabe|Paul Olson|Paul Voight|Robert Bay|Robert Simmons|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Tek Flight Products|Tim Collard|Vim Toutenhoofd|Vim Toutenhoofd

Wow! More great positive responses from Oz Report readers.

Thanks to the following readers who wanted to help out and sent in $10 on Monday: Brent Harsh, Jules Gilpatrick (snail mail), Don Jones, Vim Toutenhoofd, Grant Hoag, Michael Derry, Mark Taggart (England), C. Kevin Morris, Frederick Straccia, Jamie Shelden, Paul Olson, Paul Voight (snail mail), tim collard, daniel pifko, David Hempy, Dan Critchett, Mike Rabe ($20), Ben Davidson at Tek Flight Products, Mike Glennon (hand deliver in Florida), John F (snail mail), James Lamb, chris jones (England), Keith Smith, Frode Halse (Norway), Steven Pearson (from Wills Wing), Larry Applebee, James O'Reilly, Abhijeet Gole, Robert Bay, Frank Campbell (who is not my biggest fan), Chris Ingoldsby, Robert Simmons ($20), and Alan Blake. Thanks so much.

Vim Toutenhoofd writes that without the Oz Report he wouldn’t have known that he had to get on the ball and register quickly for the Florida meets in order to be able to get in at all. Being on top of time crucial information like this is one of the primary jobs of the Oz Report. In this case it really mattered, not only to Vim, but to a lot of other folks as well.

Looks like I can now at least pay the web and mailing list hosting expenses for the coming year.

See below on how to send in $10 to help support the Oz Report. I’m looking forward to thanking every one in the Oz Report.

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Solar winging it

Sun, Mar 19 2000, 7:00:02 am GMT

Flight Design|Solar Wings|Chris Jones|Darren Arkwright

Doctored photos? Virtual reality is so easy to manipulate these days. An Oz Report reader who wishes to remain anonymous writes:

Solar Wings and Flight Design have come to an agreement whereby Flight Design will make the wing of the Solar Eclipse 'to an existing design'. Solar will, apparently, put there own control frame fittings on, and (they say) change the rigging so that the glider can be rigged flat (ideal for windy English hillsides). They have taken delivery of their first Ghostbuster, and they are working on the modifications at the moment.

As an aside, Solar Wings is part of Pegasus Aviation, who is the UK importers of the Flight Design CT microlight.

Chris Jones, <chrisinusa@freewwweb.com>, writes:

Darren Arkwright (Solar designer) told me about this new Solar glider a few weeks ago. He said they were going to use the leading edge moldings from a GB supplied by FD. I know they'd been doing some work on the trike version of the Exxtacy so it is sounded feasible. He said they would announce it in six weeks time.

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