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topic: Dutcher Sterling (18 articles)

Blended wing

Wed, Jun 12 2019, 8:10:36 am MDT

Forget the tube

Dutcher Sterling

The concept plane is not as long as the A350, but it does have the same wingspan. The designers say this will enable the Flying-V to use existing infrastructure at airports, such as gates and runways, without difficulty, and the aircraft will also fit into the same hangar as the A350. It will also carry the same number of passengers (314) and the same volume of cargo, 160 m³. But the Flying-V will be smaller, overall, than the A350, giving it less aerodynamic resistance.

Thanks to Dutcher.

Discuss "Blended wing" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Solar Soaring

December 19, 2018, 10:02:13 EST

Solar Soaring

Always harvesting the sun's energy

Dutcher Sterling

http://www.designfax.net/cms/dfx/opens/article-view-dfx.php?nid=4&bid=849&et=mechanical&pn=01

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory are developing technology for unmanned aerial vehicles that has given them the ability to fly for more than 12 hours by harvesting energy from the atmosphere and the sun.

"Sunlight heats up the surface of the Earth, which in turn heats the lowest layer of air. That warm air eventually bubbles up as a rising air mass called a thermal, which the airplane can use to gain altitude. It's indirectly solar powered," said Edwards.

Solar power is also used directly to power the UAV using solar cells, which are semiconductor devices that convert light into electricity. While these devices have been around for some time, it was only recently that photovoltaic technology advanced to the point where a UAV could be solar powered. For an aircraft, every gram of weight has to be justified; essentially, it has to pull its own weight. Until recently, solar cells were not worth the added weight.

"For a long time, even though there has been solar aircraft since the 1990s, the efficiency of the solar cells wasn't high enough to pay the mass penalty, meaning you weren't getting enough energy to justify the additional mass," said Phil Jenkins, head of the Photovoltaics Section in NRL's Electronics Science & Technology Division. "But over the last 10 years, that has really changed. The cells have gotten more efficient and lighter."

The aircraft still carries a battery. However, the battery can be smaller because of the solar and soaring capabilities on board.

"With Solar-Soaring, the UAV doesn't need a huge battery because it is getting energy from the environment," said Edwards. "It just carries more intelligent software in the case of the autonomous soaring algorithms, or a lightweight integrated solar array that captures much more energy from the sun compared to the amount of mass."

Bringing these two technologies together, NRL found the combination works better than either individually. While soaring, the motor is turned off and the solar array can recharge the onboard battery faster. This increases the mission availability of a UAV for warfighters.

"Between the two, you have the most robust energy-harvesting platform because sometimes you'll be able to soar and sometimes you won't have the solar, and vice versa," said Jenkins.

Thanks to Dutcher Sterling.

Discuss "Solar Soaring" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Thermals or Dynamic Soaring?

September 25, 2018, 8:57:13 MDT

Thermals or Dynamic Soaring?

The picture contradicts the text

Dutcher Sterling|Jay Devorak

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180920101605.htm

The words "fly like an eagle" are famously part of a song, but they may also be words that make some scientists scratch their heads. Especially when it comes to soaring birds like eagles, falcons and hawks, who seem to ascend to great heights over hills, canyons and mountain tops with ease. Scientists realize that upward currents of warm air assist the birds in their flight, but they don't know how the birds find and navigate these thermal plumes.

To figure it out, researchers from the University of California San Diego used reinforcement learning to train gliders to autonomously navigate atmospheric thermals, soaring to heights of 700 meters--nearly 2,300 feet. The novel research results, published in the Sept. 19 issue of Nature, highlight the role of vertical wind accelerations and roll-wise torques as viable biological cues for soaring birds. The findings also provide a navigational strategy that directly applies to the development of autonomous soaring vehicles, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

"This paper is an important step toward artificial intelligence--how to autonomously soar in constantly shifting thermals like a bird. I was surprised that relatively little learning was needed to achieve expert performance," said Terry Sejnowski, a member of the research team from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and UC San Diego's Division of Biological Sciences.

A navigational strategy was determined solely from the gliders' pooled experiences collected over several days in the field using exploratory behavioral strategies. The strategies relied on new on-board methods, developed in the course of the research, to accurately estimate the gliders' local vertical wind accelerations and the roll-wise torques, which served as navigational cues.

Thanks to Jay Devorak, Miles Fragerlie and Dutcher Sterling.

Discuss "Thermals or Dynamic Soaring?" at the Oz Report forum   link»

High lift wings for commercial flight

April 11, 2013, 9:31:33 EDT

High lift wings for commercial flight

Combined with Laminar flow for cruising flight

Dutcher|Dutcher Sterling|NASA

http://www.designfax.net/cms/dfx/opens/article-view-dfx.php?nid=4&bid=231&et=featurearticle&pn=04

So to help solve the conundrum, NASA worked with a team led by Northrop Grumman on an Advanced High-Lift Leading-Edge (AHLLE) system for laminar flow wings, developing and testing two ideas that might do the job and that could be integrated into future airliner designs flying during the 2030s.

Thanks to Dutcher

Slide show (power point presentation) of the Australian Morning Glory

January 26, 2011, 9:04:51 AEDT

Slide show (power point presentation) of the Australian Morning Glory

Like when Jonny was playing with it

Dutcher Sterling|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|picture

http://www.powerpointspowerpoints.com/powerpoints/Curiosos/Gloria_matutina.pps

Thanks to Dutcher

The Brisbane Floods - before and during

Tue, Jan 25 2011, 8:02:14 am AEDT

Amazing comparative photography

Dutcher Sterling|flood

http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/qld-floods/beforeafter.htm

Thanks to Dutcher.

Jump over the shark

December 22, 2010, 9:19:29 PST

Jump over the shark

Or be the shark

Dutcher|Dutcher Sterling

http://seabreacher.com/

Seabreacher

Thanks to Dutcher

Flapless flight

November 5, 2010, 7:56:08 PDT

Flapless flight

Using hot air

Dutcher|Dutcher Sterling|UAV

http://www.designfax.net/enews/20101102/feature-4.asp

DEMON unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) called DEMON is designed to fly with no conventional elevators or ailerons, getting its pitch and roll control from technologies that rely on blown air and (hopefully) making it a lot easier to maintain and repair.

The 200-lb, jet-powered DEMON craft made a historic, “flapless” flight from an airfield at Walney Island in Cumbria, U.K., on Friday, September 17, 2010. Developed by Cranfield University, BAE Systems, and nine other U.K. universities. The blended-wing DEMON is designed to be able to forgo the use of conventional mechanical elevators and ailerons that usually control the movement of an aircraft in favor of novel aerodynamic control devices using blown jets of air. The plane has an 8-ft wingspan and sports flight speeds of 70 to 150 knots. DEMON can fly parts of its mission by itself but is not fully autonomous at this stage of development.

The project aims to show that this approach offers several advantages over “moving flap” technology (which has been used since the early days of aviation) because it requires fewer moving parts, less maintenance, and a more stealthy profile for the aircraft. DEMON's trial flights were the first “flapless flights” ever to be authorized by the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority. As well as the successful demonstration of flapless flight technology, the project also aims to showcase new methods of UAV construction, new control systems, and more advanced integration of technologies.

Thanks to Dutcher.

Just another aerocar?

September 29, 2010, 8:27:28 MDT

Just another aerocar?

Stability on the highway

Dutcher|Dutcher Sterling|flying car

http://www.designfax.net/enews/20100928/feature-1.asp

Since the earliest days of the aviation industry, dozens of patents have been filed for “road-ready” airplanes — vehicles that can fly in the air as well as drive on the highway. However, due to the engineering challenges involved in combining a lightweight, aerodynamic aircraft with the stability needed for long-distance driving, none of these plans has been successfully brought to market to date.

Thanks to Dutcher.

Glasses⁣ that work like your eyes used to »

Wed, Sep 29 2010, 8:27:10 am MDT

$895

glasses|Dutcher Sterling

http://trufocals.com/

Each "lens" is actually a set of two lenses, one flexible and one firm. The flexible lens (near the eye) has a transparent distensible membrane attached to a clear rigid surface. The pocket between them holds a small quantity of crystal clear fluid. As you move the slider on the bridge, it pushes the fluid and alters the shape of the flexible lens. Changing the shape changes the correction. This mimics the way the lenses in your eyes used to perform when you were younger.

John Markoff's review

Thanks to Dutcher.

Discuss "Glasses⁣ that work like your eyes used to" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Delicate landings

August 13, 2010, 7:59:35 CDT

Delicate landings

Stalling your glider

Dutcher|Dutcher Sterling|UAV

Thanks to Dutcher.

The article here.

MIT researchers have demonstrated a new control system that allows a foam glider with only a single motor on its tail to land on a perch, just like a pet parakeet. The work could have important implications for the design of robotic planes, greatly improving their maneuverability and potentially allowing them to recharge their batteries simply by alighting on power lines.

Discuss "Delicate landings" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Playing with and on and in between Blaniks

Tue, Apr 27 2010, 8:54:57 am EDT

A guy with a parachute rides the wings

Dutcher Sterling|video

Article, pictures and video here.

Thanks to Dutcher.

Discuss "Playing with and on and in between Blaniks" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

USHGA BOD meeting

Fri, Mar 12 2004, 6:00:01 pm EST

The committee reports. The nuggets aren't pulled out yet.

Dennis Cavagnaro|Dutcher Sterling|Lisa Tate|Mark Timney|Richard Heckman|USHGA

http://www.ushga.org/member-msg-boards-cgi/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true&category=1

I'll be highlighting the important decisions of the USHGA BOD during the week. You can read through the committee reports at the above address.

Here's a couple:

1. Allocated up to $5,000 to digitize all the Low and Slow, Ground Skimmer and Hang Gliding Magazines into PDF files. Will be made available to members on DVD's. Mark Forbes is in charge of this item.

2. Membership surveys: Surveys would be one of students of selected flight schools on what led them to sign up for lessons, one of former instructors and one of former pilots. Cost of surveys not to exceed $5000. Subcommittee to finalize the scope and content of the surveys - Richard Heckman, Paul Gazis, Dutcher Sterling, Lisa Tate, Dennis Cavagnaro, Mark Timney. To be initiated by May, 04 and results available for the fall BOD.

Discuss the BOD at the Oz Report forum

USHGA – Stop the Vote or how some BOD members dropped the ball (again?) »

Tue, Aug 12 2003, 10:00:04 am GMT

Alan Chuculate|Bill Bolosky|Bill Bryden|Chris Santacroce|David Leggett|Dennis Pagen|Dutcher Sterling|Jayne DePanfilis|John Greynald|Liz Sharp|Ron Gleason|Roy Mahoney|Russ Locke|Steve Mayer|USHGA BOD

Let’s first of all look at the minutes of spring (March) meeting of the USHGA BOD:

Bill Bolsky’s President’s report

Assisted Launch

At the Fall meeting the BOD passed a motion to work towards including powered harnesses and powered paragliding. This requires a modification to our articles of incorporation, which requires a membership vote. We need to do a PR campaign to properly educate the members, and solicit proxies. I will schedule a membership meeting when the PR campaign is working.

Policy on Power and Possible Change to Articles of Incorporation

DePanfilis's summary of the USPPA situation (a 200-member organization, modeling their training and rating programs on our programs, wanting a USHGA umbrella) lead to a discussion of changes to the Articles of Incorporation to admit towing activities and power equipment. Much discussion followed on the parameters to use to include some aspects of power and towing activities and exclude activities that are not germane to our sport.

After lunch, this committee will form a statement to add to the Mission Statement to incorporate parameters discussed above.

Ad Hoc Motorized Committee March 7, 2003

Attending: Russ Locke - Chairman, Bill Bryden, Dennis Pagen, Jayne DePanfilis, John Wilde, Frank Gillette, Steve Mayer, Ron Gleason, Dutcher Sterling, John Greynald, Chris Santacroce, Randy Leggett, Liz Sharp, Bill Bolosky, and Alan Chuculate.

Pending approval by the membership of the appropriate change of the Association's Articles of Incorporation, the Association's Mission Statement shall be changed to read:

The purpose of the United States Hang Gliding Association is to promote the growth of sport flying in foot launchable soaring aircraft. This includes providing services and programs for those powered devices that are either a) used to tow unpowered ultralights aloft or b) are capable of being foot launched and can achieve soaring flight .

Action Items:

Write article describing reasons for the above addition to the Association's Mission Statement for inclusion into the Magazine ASAP - Russ Locke

Request appropriate changes to Association's Articles of Incorporation by Corporate Attorney - Jayne DePanfilis

Respectfully Submitted,

Russ Locke

USHGA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING March 7 through 9, 2003 LIST OF ACTION ITEMS (item numbering does not reflect priority)

Executive Committee

EC01 Unspecified person to further refine wording of the Mission Statement. No due date assigned.

EC02 Executive Committee to approve the wording of the Mission Statement before submitting to the attorney to aid in the rewording of the Articles of Incorporation. No due date assigned, but dependent on completion of above Action Item.

EC03 Russ Locke to write article for the Magazine describing reasons for the addition to the Association's Mission Statement ASAP.

EC04 Executive Committee to review and accept wording change for the Articles of Incorporation to be presented to, and voted on by the membership. No due date assigned, but dependent on completion of above Action Items.

Regarding the first action item above. Did the unspecified person get identified and did they further refine the wording of the new USHGA Mission Statement (there was an example of one in the BOD minutes)?

Regarding the third action item, there doesn’t appear to have been any article by Russ Locke in the HG/PG magazine regarding power. It would appear as though this article was due right away after the BOD meeting so that USHGA members could be informed in a timely fashion of the upcoming membership meeting at the next BOD meeting the first week of October. The article that did appear regarding this membership meeting, is the article by Bill Bolosky in the August issue of HG/PG Magazine (also published in the Oz Report).

This article and whatever we get in the September issue of HG/PG magazine hardly consists of a PR campaign to explain the point of changing the Articles of Incorporation so that powered harnesses could be included in our purposes as an organization. The article was too late as the date of record (for determining valid membership) for voting is tomorrow, August 14th.

It seems like there was a lot of talk at the March BOD meeting, a general consensus at the BOD that this direction was a good idea, but little follow up to bring the membership along. Certainly a vote of this magnitude should at least be accompanied by a widespread campaign to get the word out about it. This has not happened.

I suggest that because of the magnitude of the change in the USHGA Articles of Incorporation regarding powered harnesses and powered paragliders, and the fact that some BOD members have been remiss in their volunteer duties that the USHGA executive committee call off the vote about this issue (although go ahead with the vote on towing). This issue needs more discussion and input from the membership (see yesterday’s article by Roy Mahoney).

Discuss stopping the vote at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "USHGA – Stop the Vote or how some BOD members dropped the ball (again?)" at the Oz Report forum   link»

USHGA – Competition Committee »

Tue, Oct 29 2002, 6:00:02 pm EST

Aaron Swepston|Bart Weghorst|CIVL|Curt Warren|David Glover|Dennis Pagen|Dutcher Sterling|Florida|Gary Osoba|John Borton|John Greynald|Paris Williams|PG|Rob Kells|Ron Gleason|Russ Locke|Tiki Mashy|USHGA|Worlds

Aaron Swepston|Bart Weghorst|CIVL|Curt Warren|David Glover|Dennis Pagen|Dutcher Sterling|Florida|Gary Osoba|John Borton|John Greynald|Paris Williams|PG|Rob Kells|Ron Gleason|Russell Brown|Russ Locke|Tiki Mashy|USHGA|Worlds

Aaron Swepston|Bart Weghorst|CIVL|Curt Warren|David Glover|Dennis Pagen|Dutcher Sterling|Florida|Gary Osoba|John Borton|John Greynald|Paris Williams|PG|Rob Kells|Ron Gleason|Russell Brown|Russ Locke|Tiki Mashy|USHGA|Worlds

Ron Gleason «xcflying» sends this very preliminary report on the competition committee:

The competition committee met for more than 10 hours on Friday and Saturday. The committee got much accomplished but much was left undone due the fact that we ran out of time. I am determining if we can cover these issues outside of a BOD meeting or if we need to defer till the spring. Many of the competition committee members are also involved with other important USHGA business. This caused much fragmentation of the CC meeting and the need to table some discussions and try to track down folks before we could finish and vote on the issue.

(editor’s note: This is an unfortunate structural defect in the USHGA BOD deliberations. Important matters just can’t be dealt with in a calm and reasonable fashion because there is too little time available.

I have been begging for years that the BOD and CIVL members avail themselves of the Internet to carry out virtual meetings. I wrote up proposals well in advance of the meeting and got them to BOD members. Ron Gleason was a bit late with his, but still in advance of the meeting. Still this was not enough.

Ten hours of meetings is just too draining. Your mind goes off the deep end. Even splitting up the work among multiple subcommittees over the weekend is not good enough and quite inefficient.

The USHGA just needs to come up with a better way. I have proposed a number of times that a subcommittee of the CC forms just to deal with the USHGA Competition Rulebook. They would meet over the Internet after the competition season and agree on changes that would then be ratified by the CC and the BOD.

I sure hope that Ron can get the CC members to work on the rest of the issues over the next few weeks. I’m sure that other BOD members have other suggestions about how to make this work better.)

I want to personally thank all the folks that made the meeting work and got decisions made; Russ Locke, Tiki Mashy, John Borton, Dixon White, Douglas Sharpe, John Greynald, Russell Brown, Aaron Swepston, Bart Weghorst, Rhett Ratford, Mike Vorhis, RR Rodriguez, David Glover, Gary Osoba, Eric Reed, Rob Kells, Dutcher Sterling, Paris Williams, Curt Warren, and JZ.

Here is what the competition committee covered:

Stay tuned for information on price, number of pilots, pilot requirements, and special sign off's as no one turned in sanctioning paperwork.

Hang Gliding XC:

2003 Flytec Championships - April 12-18, 2003

2003 Wallaby Open - April 20-26, 2003

Chelan XC Classic - June 30 through July 6, 2003

Five Class Nationals - July 27 through August 2, 2003 Big Spring, TX Class 1, 2, 4 and 5

(editor’s note: So far the Chelan Classic has not attracted enough ranked pilots to make this meet worth anything as far as NTSS points are concerned. Maybe the CC passed the measure that gave meets a minimum of 300 points.

It sure would be nice if there were more cross country meets in 2003 that were worth some NTSS points.)

Speed Gliding

Chelan Speed Gliding Nationals - May 6-10, 2003

(editor’s note: I expect more speed gliding meets to ask for sanctioning.)

Paragliding

Starthistle Fly In - May 31 to June 1, 2003 Class B sanctioning

Florida PG Tow Meet - May 25-31, 2003

PG Five Class Nationals - July 27 through August 2, 2003 Big Spring, TX, Tow meet

(editor’s note: Notice that the Nationals in Big Spring, Texas are for class 1,2,3,4,and 5. The Big Five Nationals.)

CIVL Issues - Dennis Pagen

Plenary meeting upcoming and he needs to vote on the following:

Stop and cancelled tasks Definition- It was agreed that Dennis should vote yes on the motion to vote for a rule change, propose that the rule should be changed. The idea that the local rules should be the place for the definition sounds correct. CIVL should provide examples to be utilized.

(editor’s note: Now if we just knew what the proposal was.)

Safety committee structure - It was agreed that Dennis should vote yes on the proposed changes for a committee to work in conjunction with a safety director. Task committee structure - It was agreed that Dennis should vote yes on changing the rule.

(editor’s note: These proposals get the pilots involved in safety and task calling at the Worlds and European Championships.)

Rule Book Changes

There were 31 proposed changes to the USHGA Competition Rule Book. Russ Locke chaired a sub group consisting of Eric Reed and David Glover to review and make recommendations.

19 were approved 2 were approved but deferred pending outcome of clarification by 12/31/2002 10 were rejected

More details to follow.

(editor’s note: Well, great. Now we await word about just which ones got through.)

WRE – small creatures »

Fri, Jun 28 2002, 5:00:01 pm GMT

Dutcher Sterling|USHGA BOD|World Record Encampment 2002|Dave Prentice|wildlife

There are lots of friendly tarantulas here in Zapata. Miranda, a nine year old girl who is visiting here with her father, USHGA BOD member Dutcher Sterling, now has a new pet. Dave Prentice gets up close:

Discuss "WRE – small creatures" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Thanks for help with the WRE

Fri, Aug 10 2001, 4:00:05 pm EDT

Dutcher Sterling|Gary Osoba|record|Ron Gleason

Dutcher Sterling|Gary Osoba|record|Ron Gleason|World Record Encampment

Dutcher Sterling|Gary Osoba|record|Ron Gleason|World Record Encampment

Gary Osoba writes:

I have been disconnected from the Internet for the past month or two (Walden Pond, 2001) and have been enjoying the peace and quiet. Even so, I intend to reconnect soon and would like to write some about the experiences at the Zapata World Record Encampment. Hopefully, this will serve to encourage those interested in flying long and flying far.

In the mean time, I would like to reiterate special thanks to Dutcher Sterling and Ron Gleason for their generous support of the event. Even though neither pilot was able to attend, their donations served to transition from last year's exploratory venture to this year's more comprehensive activities. This also allowed us to combine donated funds with additional donated services and to give significant value back to the airport facility which so nicely accommodated the event, helping to ensure future activities.

Thanks guys! You have a full share in the world class accomplishments and records, which came out of all of this.

World Record Encampment – return to Zapata »

Wed, Mar 21 2001, 2:00:01 pm EST

Dave Sharp|David Glover|Davis Straub|Dutcher Sterling|Florida|Gary Osoba|record|sailplane|Steve Burns|USHGA|weather|World Record Encampment

Gary Osoba «go777» writes:

Zapata 2001- Call For Participants-PLEASE FORWARD

In the summer of 2000, I invited a handful of pilots to accompany me to a previously unflown region of extreme south Texas- Zapata. Having made a serious study of the meteorological and flight strategies from this location, the gathering was titled the "World Record Encampment" even prior to its undertaking. I have experience setting world records in sailplanes, and was reasonably confident that Zapata would yield several distance records for foot-launch pilots as well. As an early pioneer and manufacturer of HG's, and a founding director of the USHGA, I have an interest in such things.

Once the World Record Encampment was underway, pilots were assisted in developing their flight strategies and in correctly documenting their flights for SSA, NAA, and FAI. In addition, the Texas weather was closely monitored and discussed every morning. Despite a remarkably low number of overall attempts and much to their credit, Dave Sharp and Davis Straub set 3 new world records. Other significant achievements were attained as well.

This year, we will return to this site and arrangements are being made for many more pilots to participate in the 2001 World Record Encampment. This is not a simple matter, as flying from this site is in its infancy and normal soaring operations are not conducted from the facility. Additionally, extreme combinations of weather & terrain exist and there are other logistic factors, which are far from normal. As such, the Encampment needs to be well planned and well executed.

Even so, we want it above all, to be fun! As such, even though top international pilots plan on attending, the field of participants will represent a comprehensive mix of pilot type, gender, nationality, and experience level. Weekend pilots who simply wish to extend their personal best will be among those selected to attend. If a pilot who has never flown further than 100 miles could do 200 to 300 during this Encampment- which is possible given the right circumstances- it would certainly rank as an achievement on par with any world records which will be set.

Two successive encampments of up to 20 pilots each have been arranged for. These will be conducted during the latter part of June and the early part of July. The term of each will be from 10-14 days in length. The precise durations, start, and finish dates will be set soon, following an initial questionnaire which will be distributed to possible participants. So if this is of interest, we will need to hear from you very soon!

Last year's effort resulted from 3 years of study and 2 trips to investigate the possibilities. I have a non-profit research entity, which undertakes things like this, and some of the pilots who attended last year donated to the effort. I would like to acknowledge first and with great appreciation a generous donation by Dutcher Sterling who simply wanted to help fund the deficit from this preliminary work and also make possible a transition so that another encampment could be planned for this year. He was not a participant in last year's effort...he simply wanted to help out.

I would also like to acknowledge the generous offer of Steve Burns and Austin Air Sports to come and support a small effort this summer with free aerotows. After weighing the benefits of a modest, donation-based participation against that of a more comprehensive encampment, we elected to enlarge the field...there is simply too much interest among pilots to come and fly from this site! So the towing, organization, and logistical support will go up significantly and this will change things from a minor effort to a lot of work. As such, there will be a fee associated with the 2001 participation, but it is reasonable and necessary in order for things to go smoothly as planned.

As such, we are currently planning to charge $500/pilot for a single session of 10 to 14 days (duration yet to be determined). This fee will be used for organizing and administering the event at a remote but first class facility, for covering the costs of aerotowing, and for coordinating short distance retrieval behind numerous locked gates. For the more typical and very long flights... well, you and your ground crew will be on your own!

I have some experience with film documentaries about soaring flight, and have reached an initial agreement with a talented and experienced filmmaker to shoot a prime-time documentary about this effort. He is a pilot himself, and has much experience with both feature filmmaking and network television productions. In recent years he has specialized in films about various forms of flight. His interest in the World Record Encampment has led him to consider shooting footage at the Florida meets as well as the upcoming Nationals in Hearne, TX and he is therefore reaching a similar agreement with the USHGA. In this manner, he intends to develop much background footage, which will represent the state of the art in foot-launched flight. He has many potential distributors who he has worked with, including 3 who have expressed real interest in the project: National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and NOVA (PBS). The agreement is preliminary, and we will see what develops.

Steve Burns, Davis Straub and I have been engaged in an extensive planning process via e-mail for this year's World Record Encampment. They along with David Glover will assist in the organization and implementation of this year's effort. Davis, with his experience and success at last year's gathering is in a position to receive queries from possible participants and will be sending out a questionnaire in this regard very soon. He can be reached online at: davis@davisstraub.com, or you can reach me at the above address and I will see that you receive a questionnaire.

Once we receive the responses from pilots who wish to attend, we will immediately study these and be in a position to make definitive decisions regarding dates, etc. We will also select and issue invitations to participants based upon the previously mentioned parameters. David Glover will be in a position to help more directly during the actual Encampment. Although David is the current USHGA President, his work with the World Record Encampment is not connected with the USHGA. He will be helping as an individual, something I greatly appreciate.

In this regard, the World Record Encampment is not affiliated or connected with the USHGA. The event is not sanctioned by the USHGA (it isn't a competition). Records earned by pilots will need to be homologated by the SSA, the NAA, and FAI, and this will be their individual responsibility although coaching and suggestions to assist them will be provided.

Of course individuals other than the direct participants will be associated with the effort. Pilots will need to arrange for their own driver/ground crew, although we will help organize collective retrieval from the crews that pilots bring. There will also be much activity surrounding the event, which will require support. So any one who would like to come and serve as a volunteer to help with the effort should also contact us. The number of these will be limited. There will be provisions for volunteers who are also qualified pilots to fly later in the day when the field is off and if other attending duties have been handled. This is, after all, a pretty incredible site. However, this should not be their primary motivation in volunteering to attend.

In the time period leading up to and during the initiation of the encampments, 5 areas will be addressed in an effort to assure success:

1) Accurate flight strategies and techniques for record flights.

2) Safety factors related to the vagaries of the regional terrain and weather.

3) Required documentation and observational requirements for official records.

4) Launch logistics and safety issues, coordination with ground crews.

5) Interactive requirements with any filming efforts.

Pilots who are invited to join us at either of the WRE sessions will receive e-mail based instructions on these issues, as well as on-site instruction.

PLEASE FORWARD this announcement to individuals, organizations, clubs and manufacturers who may find it of interest. I do not maintain an extensive list of e-mail contacts and am sending this message to a few general sources. As such, the proliferating nature of the Internet is being relied upon to help the message reach those who might find it of interest.